Day 3974

I got an e-mail today saying that NASA was providing a limited number of one-on-one interview opportunities with Crew-1 mission specialists prior to the launch. I signed up to interview the Commercial Crew Program Launch Integration Manager and was subsequentially approved. Good grief. Why did I do this? I guess I'm really a reporter now. I'll have to think of some intelligent questions to ask before I leave. Do I record the interview or make notes in a little reporter's notobook? Personally, I'd rather just listen and write down what I remembered later. That would probably look very unprofessional though. A lot of reporters I saw the last time I was at the Space Center carried little notebooks with them. Maybe I'll do that. I'd better remember to take something to write with too. I forgot to take a pen with me when I went to McDonald Observatory. A pen is definitely simpler than a tape recorder. Somehow I hate to add audio equipment to the camera gear I'm already taking.

I found a raincoat I liked at REI. I took a coupon with me that I got in the mail a few days ago which said I could save 20% on any item in the store. When I tried to use the coupon the clerk said it wasn't valid until three days from now. I bought the raincoat anyway, but I kind of felt cheated. If someone sends you a coupon you ought to be able to use it as soon as you receive it without reading a bunch of fine print with a magnifying glass. Janet said that maybe I should have bought a larger size, but the coat looked good in the store mirror. It's going to be warm at the Space Center anyway. It might be wet, but with temperatures in the 80's I don't think I'll need a sweater under the raincoat.

I didn't feel like getting up this morning. I'm definitely not a morning person. I usually wait until I hear Janet call out "thirty minutes" before I get out of bed. Dawn and Janet are always up before I am, but thirty minutes gives me enough time to make the bed and get dressed before we leave on our morning walk. It was pretty warm this morning. I'm always surprised at how different each day begins. Yesterday I needed a warm coat. Today a t-shirt was fine.

I got Emma up on the Dalmatian Rescue website today. It wasn't really necessary to add her to the site since she is already adopted, but people are always interested in learning about new dogs in the program. I used to work on several animal rescue websites, along with my regular clients, but the Dalmatian site is the only one I've got left.  I think if I didn't update this site periodically, I would forget how to work with HTML documents entirely. It's kind of alarming how much I've forgotten already.

I'm not going to get my special N-95 masks in time for my trip. The company said that they would refund the fee I paid to expedite my order, but that they were running behind and wouldn't be able to ship for at least another week. Why did I not anticipate this? I thought I ordered in plenty of time, but I should have known by now that nothing goes smoothly in 2020. Oh, well. I have other masks. We bought a ton of them back when toilet paper was in short supply.

Tropical storm ETA is less of a worry now, but I'm sure I'll find other things to worry about. Lets face it, I'm just not a good traveler. Hey, what are you going to do? You can't see many stars in Dallas and they definitely don't launch rockets here.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3659

Another decade is drawing to a close. This is my seventh decade on this planet and I'm still having trouble with these arbitrary measurements. We use these ten year blocks of time to neatly classify pop music and identify trends, but if we didn't use the decimal system, the whole concept of a decade would be meaningless. There isn't even a compelling reason to start the year on January 1st. Wouldn't it make more sense to start the year on the shortest or longest day of the year? Nope. We start the year on January 1st because in 46 B.C. Julius Caesar decided it was time to reform the Roman lunar calendar and go back to the way the Egyptians measured time. He chose to start his new Julian solar calendar on January 1st. to honor Janus, the god of new beginnings. The day stuck, despite the fact that the Chinese still start the year between January 21 and February 21 and the Hebrew calendar begins in the Fall. March 1, March 25 and Dec. 25 were all considered New Year’s Day at various points in history. Go figure.

I got waitlisted again for an upcoming launch at Kennedy Space Center. This is the second time I've been waitlisted in recent months. There is kind of a community of folks who obsess about these NASA invitations. It doesn't take long to learn who got accepted and who didn't make the cut. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the selection process. Sometimes you can get selected several times in a row. And then there are long dry spells where your application seems to be ignored. It is easy to be disappointed when your applications isn't selected. After you've been to one launch, you want to go to all of them.

There's still a chance that I may get press credentials to attend the Solar Orbiter launch, but that remains to be seen. I'm still a little unsure how the press accreditation process works and my contacts at the magazine that would be sponsoring me are out of the office on Christmas vacation. This will all be resolved in due time, but it's hard to be patient when nothing else is going on.

I added all the new dogs to the Dalmatian Rescue website today. Considering that none of the dogs would stay still, I think the pictures came out pretty good. This is the only website I maintain anymore. I don't even update my own site these days. I used to maintain dozens of different websites and was busy making additions and changes every single day. Those days are long gone. Most of my old clients retired even before I did.

Janet and I found a forgotten bottle of champagne in the back of a kitchen cabinet, so we will toast in the New Year if we can manage to stay awake for a few more hours. Other than a very sad day last April, 2019 wasn't a bad year. You can always hope the new year will be better though. Hope keeps you moving forward. Here's hoping that all of you find yourselves happy and fulfilled in the year ahead.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3587

I added the new Dalmatians to the rescue website this afternoon. That was about all I accomplished today. The rest of the day was spent walking and at the gym. As I was editing yesterday's photos, I kept thinking that this was the best looking group of dogs we've had in a long time. If you've been thinking about adding a Dalmatian to your household, this might be the perfect time to adopt one.

I just heard thunder outside. This wasn't supposed to happen. As recently as 48 hours ago the forecast showed clear skies for the next five days. Now, there's another cold front headed our way. All these cold fronts seem to be preceded by a line of thunderstorms. The rain doesn't last long, but it is often quite heavy. It's certainly been enough to disrupt my roof repair plans. I've had the silicon coating material for several weeks now and the roof still hasn't gotten dry enough to apply the coating. It's frustrating to say the least. Most of the roof dries quickly after I've swept the water away. Unfortunately the damaged areas retain moisture and are slow to dry. I"ve learned over the years that you can't fight the weather. You just have to be patient.

I hope the leak doesn't reappear tonight. I can't run the pumps when it's dry and if I'm asleep when the rain starts, the water can build up quickly. Sometimes the pumps get clogged and don't work anyway. I guess I'll strategically place a few buckets where water might leak before I go to bed tonight. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I thought the Great Egrets were gone for the winter, but I saw a ton of them at the lake today. I know these birds fly South for the winter, but maybe we are a southern destination for the northern birds. Truthfully, I know very little about Egrets and Herons. They come and go, very often surprising me. I guess they're kind of like the weather.

There were very few people at the gym today. This always happens when it is nice outside. For most of the day you'd never dream that we'd be under a severe weather alert this evening. It was clear and warm and the park was full of picnickers and bicycles. Things change quickly in Texas. According to the latest forecast the rain is supposed to start in six minutes.

Well, six minutes have passed and we're under a tornado warning now. I just heard the sirens go off. The weatherman on the television is telling people to go to their safe place now. Where would that be? I always worry about tornadoes because every room in our house has an exterior wall with lots of glass. There really isn't a safe space. I quit writing for a while and sat in the one corner of the office that wasn't right next to a window.

A tornado did hit the ground in Dallas and apparently did quite a bit of damage. I got lucky though. There was a confirmed tornado several miles to the north and another severe weather system to the south of us. Our neighborhood by the lake was in a little corridor between these two storm systems and we didn't even get much rain. So far, we haven't lost power either.

I'll have to admit I was a little nervous this evening. This was a very bad storm and the tornado came within several miles of the house. I'm sure some people I know in North Dallas experienced damage. It's over now. All is fine here and looking at the path of the storm, the Dalmatian kennel escaped damage as well. I think this is enough drama for one day.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3575

I got a request to make a minor change on a website this morning. Not a problem. I made the changes and got ready to upload them to the server. I couldn't connect. Was the server down? Had the client changed their password again? Was my version of Dreamweaver so old that it had finally stopped working? I did some checking and discovered that some other accounts on the same server still worked fine. Somebody had changed the password. I called the client and got transferred to voicemail. Eventually I got a text with a new password and ID. I tried the new login information and still couldn't connect. Finally, after a long call with customer service we determined that the information the client sent me was only partially correct. The magic combination that let me connect was a mix of old and new information. My ten minute fix took me three hours. Is it any wonder that I have little interest in doing websites anymore. Very few people want me to design anything these days but there are still a lot of lost passwords.

Today was a catch up day. I made an appointment to see the eye doctor. I called the people who fix sliding glass doors again. I wrote another letter to the roofer asking when I was going to get my container of silicon elastomer. The weather is very nice so thought about calling the carpenter about greenhouse repairs. I chickened out at the last minute. I'm still not ready to spend the money.

The most significant thing I did today was call McDonald Observatory to ask some questions about their on-site volunteer program. I had a nice conversation with the director of the visitor center and I'm definitely still interested in living at the observatory for several weeks. I told them to go ahead and begin the background check process. If I am approved, I may return to the observatory to help with Star Parties and other events this Spring. They still prefer people who own an RV or travel trailer, but I could stay at the astronomer's lodge if space was available. The director seemed interested that I now have connections with Sky and Telescope and had been working on an article. I'm going to see if I can interest him in doing some communications projects for the observatory as well. Working out the logistics for an adventure like this is going to take some time, but it will give me something to do over the Winter.

The furnace came on for the first time last night. I guess Fall is officially here. I'm glad that the furnace seems to work perfectly. There were no problems lighting the burners at all. Now that the heat is back, on my gas bill is going to be higher. The electric bill is going to be a lot less though. Air conditioning is the bulk of the electric bill during the Summer.

Not only are things changing at the house, they are changing at the park as well. As soon as the temperatures became cooler, the Pelicans returned. There are at least a dozen of them now. I think a group of Pelicans are called a pod. The birds always return to the same spot, which is now called Pelican Bay. Turtles seems to like the cooler weather as well. When I was walking today I saw water turtles basking on almost every submerged log. I even saw a Hawk swoop down and pick up an unlucky mouse today. You don't see many raptors in the Summer but they are abundant at the lake during the Winter.

Life goes on. The security light stayed on all night yesterday. That hasn't happened in a while. The problem with the light sensor must be temperature related.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3511

We went and met the new boy today. Rolly is a sweet four year old male who seemed like he'd been living on the streets for a while. He was skinny and has heartworms. If you made any sudden movements he flinched and moved away from you. Once he decided that we were OK and didn't want to hurt him, he was extremely gentle and friendly. Rolly wasn't interested in chasing a ball, but he loves treats. As soon as he puts on a few pounds and we treat his heartworms, this dog is going to make a wonderful companion for some lucky family.

The rest of the crew was in fine form. Treasure has perfected her roll over trick. Charlie can now catch his treats in mid air. And Hank wanted to make sure we knew he was the fastest. The kennel staff treats our dogs really well. They are all more relaxed than when they initially arrived. You can tell with each passing week that they are becoming well socialized canine citizens.

It's still extremely hot and humid. With the exception of Rolly who actually seemed to enjoy being outdoors, all the Dalmatians wanted to stay inside. Who could blame them. I should have stayed inside myself today. I probably keep walking because I can't think of anything better to do. I'm hooked on getting as many steps as I can too. It's weird that a little band on my wrist controls my day.

My memory is better than I thought it was. I've been trying to memorize things I see on my daily walks and I'm surprised at the level of detail I've been able to retain. I know what signs say now before I approach them. I remember the street numbers on people's houses. When little things change, I notice now. It's just a silly game, but maybe it will prevent me from getting Alzheimer's someday.

The AT&T crew still hasn't showed up to bury my fiber optic cable. The roofer hasn't showed up with his long promised bucket of silicon material either. For the moment I don't feel like adding to this list of suppliers who are ignoring me by calling the electrician. I may have to though. The security light in the back yard still won't stay on all night. All these things are irritating, but none of them really matter. Maybe things don't get done because I seldom get mad. It's a waste of energy to get mad about most things.

Tomorrow I'll update the Dalmatian Rescue website, adding Rolly and marking several other dogs as adopted. I guess I could do this tonight, but it's getting late and I'm ready for bed. I need something to do tomorrow anyway. I don't think I'll be watching the business channel during breakfast. I'd rather enjoy my meal. Something tells me that today's nasty selloff is going to continue. It's probably best not to turn on the TV at all. There's no good news anywhere these days.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3462

By my low standards it was a very busy day. I made my travel arrangements for the Florida trip. In the end, flying turned out to be the better alternative. I'd hate to be driving along the Gulf Coast and learn that the Falcon Heavy launch had been postponed until the middle of July. If I had to turn around and come home when I was halfway there, it would be a long trip for nothing. At least if fly Southwest I can reschedule things at the last minute if necessary. Looking at the weather forecast, there's a good chance I would be driving in the rain as well. Jeez. I don't even like to drive to the post office in the rain. Spending hours on freeways in heavy rain seems like a miserable idea.

After breakfast this morning I fixed the pumps and cleared all the water off the roof. Luckily, I saw the FedEx guy arrive when I was up on the roof. I had one of those 'signature required' deliveries today and I was sure I was going to miss it. FedEx and UPS used to seem so convenient but now getting a package is frustrating because almost everything seems to require a signature. I never seem to be home when FedEx arrives. I guess getting a signature makes sense since there seems to be an epidemic of people stealing packages off porches. It's a shame though. One more reason why people can't have nice things anymore.

I hope the roof stays dry for a while. This is one chore I've grown to hate. So far, I've been able to prevent the leak from reappearing, but keeping the roof clear of water is a lot of work. This loathsome chore had to substitute for my morning walk today. Pushing the big broom was definitely good exercise, but walking is a lot more relaxing.

I paid the stack of bills that has been accumulating on my desk and took them to the post office. Everyone seems to want me to set up my accounts to autopay every month, but that seems like a bad idea. I would quickly lose track of things. Paying bills on time and always balancing my checkbook is a discipline I learned long ago. Living on a fixed income is something I'm still learning. Retirement is somewhat of a paradox. When you've got the time, you don't always have the money. Working is just the opposite. When you've got the money, you seldom have the time.

Xander, Little Penny, and Chloe all got adopted recently. This is great news. Most of our dogs seems to get adopted quickly. I need to remember to update the rescue website. Maybe I'll have time to do this later tonight. Otherwise, it's on my list for tomorrow.

Now that I'm more or less caught up on things, I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. I hope sleeping in late is part of the plan. Bad weather and power outages have really disrupted my sleep. I need to start looking for a carpenter to rebuild the greenhouse. I used to know several excellent carpenters, but they have all either retired or died. I guess there's no hurry. There is nothing growing in the greenhouse anyway.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3385 - April Fool's Day

I went to Fry's to get some printer ink today. This used to be the place everybody went for anything related to technology. The store is a ghost town now. The aisles look like they haven't been restocked in months and there are usually only one or two people manning 45 empty check out registers. Most of the printer ink was gone. The few ink cartridges that remained seemed like they'd been sitting on the shelf for five years. Of course they didn't have the ink I was looking for. I really wonder how this store manages to stay open. It looks like I'll have to start buying all my ink online.

I had a lengthy work related conversation this afternoon. It's been a while. A former client and I were trying to figure out something we'd done five years ago. Google was finding html documents that we both thought had been erased long ago. Where were these files located and how could we get rid of them? We finally figured out how something had slipped through the cracks and were able to find the files on a server I thought wasn't even being used anymore. Hopefully, we erased the files correctly this time.

Dash is getting really picky about food again. This has happened before, but I thought we'd put this problem behind us since Dash has been eating well for quite a while now. It's been really hard to give him his meds this week and we've had to look for alternatives to his regular meals. He'll eat a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but you can tell he just isn't interested in food. Today he only ate about half of what he should be eating. This isn't good. Dash was losing weight even when he was eating well. I'm really hoping this is temporary. Maybe he just has an upset stomach. We've got a vet appointment scheduled for Wednesday. Maybe the vet can give us some suggestions.

I couldn't find my regular coffee this week, so I bought another brand that seemed similar. It tasted fine, but there is more caffeine than I like. My head has been buzzing today. I've also got heartburn from eating leftover pizza. None of this stuff used to bother me. It sucks getting old. I'm sure Dash would agree. Probably something similar is going on with his stomach. I wish he could tell me what is bothering him. If I knew, I'm almost certain it wouldn't be that hard to find something he would eat.

I've got a dental appointment tomorrow. In theory this is just a routine cleaning, but you never know when you go to the dentist. I guess I'll take the broken Essix retainer with me. I'm hoping they'll tell me that I don't need to wear this thing anymore, but probably they'll want me to come in next week so they can make new impressions.

The first bid to replace the roof came in today. A little higher than I expected. A lot higher actually. I think I bought my first house for less than these guys want to put on a new engineered roof. I wish I could fix the roof by buying a few cans of that Liquid Rubber in a Can that you see advertised on TV. Unfortunately nothing is ever that easy. Maybe the remaining bids will be more reasonable.

The roof can wait. All I want now is a good night's sleep. Are you listening Dash? I need you to cooperate.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3096

Summer is noisy. In the morning I'm greeted with a cacophony of lawn mowers and leaf blowers as the lawn care companies descend on the neighborhood to take care of chores that everyone but me seems to have abandoned. The evenings are filled with the sound of Cicadas. Why are these bugs so loud? Their song starts in the afternoon and continues unabated through the night.

I'm pretty quiet myself. The noisy neighbors would never know I'm here. I never play loud music and I don't even make much noise when I mow the grass. My electric mower is very quiet, but it isn't self propelled like a lot of gasoline mowers. I was very tired after I finished mowing the grass today. I've thought about using one of those lawn care companies myself, but they seem expensive to me. I try to tell myself that chores like mowing the grass are just as effective as going to the gym. I'm pretty sure that I burn more calories mowing the lawn that I do on the treadmill at the gym.

The landscaper didn't replace the dead grass today. Why do people make promises they never intend to keep? Eventually, the dead sod will get replaced, but it will probably take ten more phone calls to get any results. The landscaper is probably hoping that that healthy grass will fill in the dead spots and he won't have to replace so much. Either that, or he is waiting until he has some left over grass from another job.

I've been doing some research on the Internet to find out more about the art I'm trying to consign. It's amazing how much information is out there. Pick a subject and you can find out volumes about it in a matter of minutes. Today, I discovered the name of a painting I've had for thirty years. It has a history.    This thing has been hanging in my office for all these years and I knew nothing about it. The only problem about looking up things on the Internet is that a lot of the information is inaccurate. I've been looking up the names of flowers I see in the park for years, and about half the information I find is total nonsense.

I made some updates to an animal rescue website this afternoon. This time the edits worked. I still don't know what went wrong with my upload yesterday. I'm not even going to bother calling technical support until Monday. You can never get a problem resolved on the weekend. I don't know who they hire to work the weekend shift, but they need to take a refresher course in website maintenance.

Dash continues to do well. Three months ago nothing seemed to be working, but now he seems almost normal. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but that's probably the wrong attitude. You can't spend all your time walking on eggshells. Dash wants us to treat him like a normal dog. No, scratch that. I think Dash really wants us to treat him like royalty. He likes being spoiled.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3095

I spent most of the afternoon thinking it was Saturday. How could this happen? The day started out like Friday. I retrieved the garbage can from the curb after the trash truck arrived and then went out for breakfast. I guess that wasn't enough. All these days seem the same now.

I had a request for a small website update today and when I uploaded the changes to the server, the site still remained unchanged. This was a new one on me. I was able to access the FTP server. I could see that the revised files were actually in the client's folder. Nevertheless, I couldn't see any changes on the web. This turned an easy little fix into a head scratching mystery. I'll have to call the hosting company tomorrow. How can the new files be on the server and the old files still show up on the web? Yes, I emptied my browser cache, like I'm always telling clients to do. I wonder if this has anything to do with thinking it was Saturday.

I was finally able to contact the landscaper today and he told me that he could probably come out this afternoon. I left the gate open, but he never showed up. In the guy's defense, he did say that if he wasn't able to come today, he'd come tomorrow or Sunday. The probably means that he'll come sometime this Summer. I want him to come quickly, because if he comes in July, he'll just claim that the grass was dead because I didn't water it properly.

I saw some Gladiolas today and I couldn't remember what they were called. I asked Janet and she couldn't remember either. We spent the rest of our walk with Dash trying to recall what this silly plant was. This should have been easy, because I used to buy these flowers every week and put them in a vase on the coffee table. Eventually, we remembered. Jeez. What did old people do before there was Google to jog their memory?

It's taking me longer and longer to decide what I want for breakfast on Friday. I ended up with a waffle, even though I didn't want something that sweet. I guess I really wanted a breakfast taco, but I don't like the ones that are available in the neighborhood anymore. They are either too dry or taste like they were made last week. The place that made the breakfast tacos I've been craving went out of business two years ago. Increasingly, I'm finding that everything I like is gone. My favorite stores have gone out of business. There are no more Citroëns and Land Rover Defenders on the streets. The comedians on TV aren't funny anymore. What's a guy to do?

Dash has been doing really well this week. For the past several days he's slept all the way through the night. His appetite has been good and he has more energy on his daily walks. It's so surprising that the blood clot in his heart has returned. By all appearances, he is getting better and yet the echocardiogram says he is getting worse. I'm glad Dash isn't as worried as we are. He seems to be enjoying himself this Summer.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3073

Today was slow. Who am I kidding. Every day is slow. I did manage to finish updating an animal rescue website today, but for the most part, the day was almost identical to yesterday. We completed our walk this morning without losing a shoe. Maybe I'm getting better at attaching Dash's boots, but it was probably just luck. I used a fitness app on my phone this morning to see how far we actually traveled and it told me I was on pace to run a 35 minute mile. Dash and I are really slow.

After breakfast, I watched the new episode of The Expanse that I recorded yesterday. For the first time since the series started, I was disappointed. They skipped way ahead from the previous episode to move the story arc forward. It was disorienting to see different characters doing different things with very little continuity. It was almost like the show runner knew how he wanted the series to end and was trying to cram four seasons into three. It's too bad if this is the case. This show deserves at least four seasons.

There were a bunch of calls I should have made today and I didn't make any of them. I'm tired of bothering the roofer and the landscaper every single day. I don't even think it helps. Sometimes being the squeaky wheel does more harm than good. There are also a couple of website projects on the back burner that I need to follow up on. I'm reluctant to push too hard to get these jobs because I honestly don't think a website is going to change things for either of these people. They've got bigger problems than their online profile. I'd love to have some additional work, but I hate to overpromise. A good website can't fix everything.

It's going to be a long, hot summer if I can't come up with a better way to spend the ample amount of time I seem to have. Practicing the piano went nowhere. I haven't even looked at the keyboard in several weeks. My plan to upload hundreds of pictures to my stock photo site is languishing on the back burner too. I have some old images that I think might sell, but it's hard to get interested in these things. I keep coming up with excuses why the images wouldn't get accepted anyway. People are always saying that you need to follow your passion, but the truth is that I've never been passionate about anything. I've always preferred the term "dispassionate." Why has this emotion never gained popularity? A dispassionate person is always cool, calm and able to be rational and impartial in any situation. That's a good thing, isn't it?

I've taken the trash out to the curb, but I'm not really sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow. I don't feel like going out for breakfast and household chores don't sound very appealing either. Who knows. Maybe I'll wake up motivated. If I don't, I can always take a nap with Dash.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2992

I'm not guessing anymore. I've definitely got a cold. All the symptoms are there. I've got a lot of congestion. My nose won't stop running. I have a sore throat. And I'm feeling very tired. All this happened overnight. When I went to bed, I still thought I might be suffering from seasonal allergies. Nope. This is a cold.

I didn't get a lot of rest because the cold actually feels worse when I am lying down. The sinus congestion is terrible when I am in a horizontal position. I tried the trick of pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth while applying pressure with a finger between my eyebrows. This accomplished nothing. I can't take antihistamines, so I tried an Alka-Seltzer too. That didn't do much either.

Since resting didn't make me feel any better, I just went about my normal day. Janet and I walked Dash in the morning and then we all ate breakfast. After breakfast I went to the gym. Surprisingly, the congestion went away while I was using the hand bicycle. It came back again unfortunately while I was on the treadmill. I'm pretty sure I got this cold from Janet since she has exactly the same symptoms. Where she got it is anybody's guess.

I guess this is my yearly cold. No matter how hard I try to avoid people and stay inside my protective cocoon, I still manage to get sick occasionally. If you want to catch a cold quickly, just hang around people who have children. Children always seem to have colds in the Winter and they quickly spread to their parents and teachers. Maybe teachers build up an immunity. I think I would be sick all the time if I were a teacher.

At least Janet and I don't appear to have the flu. Neither of us had a fever. If it weren't for the fact that my head feels like it is going to explode, I really don't feel all that bad. Maybe if I get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll feel better in the morning. I certainly hope I'm not under the weather for very long. I've got a lot to do next week.

I tried to watch the Oscars for a while this evening, but after about ten minutes I'd had all I could take. Hollywood celebrities seems like alien beings now. I have so little in common with them that I can't even relate to anything they're saying. When did this all change? I can remember years ago that I enjoyed the Academy Awards enough that I would go to Oscar watching parties with my friends. The only film I've seen all year is Blade Runner 2049 and I think it is only nominated for Best Cinematography. Some of the films that were nominated this year I've never even heard of.

I added some new dogs to the Dalmatian rescue website this afternoon. I haven't met any of these dogs yet, but they all look fabulous. A few lucky people are going to be very happy with their new companion. The dogs will be even happier to finally have their forever home.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2989

Dash finally got some good news today. The large blood clot in his heart is a little smaller this month. The change isn't dramatic, but it is a step in the right direction. This is the first time the blood clot has become smaller since we began measuring it. I asked the doctor what was happening with the second blood clot. He said this secondary clot appeared to have been reabsorbed. This is good news too. Now, we only have one blood clot to worry about.

At this rate, it is still going to take a long, long time for Dash to return to normal. It is encouraging though that he has made it three or four months without getting worse. We will continue the blood thinners and the monthly echocardiograms, always hoping for the best. I wish Dash would behave better at the cancer center. He used to be so good when we came here for radiation therapy after his thyroid cancer. Now, he has decided that he hates the echocardiogram procedure and refuses to cooperate. Simple things like routine blood work have become quite difficult now.

As always, the vet appointment took longer than expected and Janet and I got off to a late start. By the time I finished breakfast and was ready for work, it was already afternoon. Shortly after I turned on the computer, I got a frantic call from someone who said their website had been hacked and was infected with malware. This had to be a client or former client, but I couldn't place the guy's name. I asked the guy some questions, hoping that his answers would reveal who I was talking to. Eventually something clicked and I remembered working on the guy's website. He actually used to be a pretty good client, but my records showed that I hadn't uploaded anything to his site since January of 2015. He asked me what he should do and I suggested completely erasing his current site and then reloading my old file copy. This sounded too drastic for the guy, so I said "How about if I just get rid of some of the stuff that looks really weird and shouldn't be on the server." This seemed OK. How did these files get on the server in the first place? It wasn't me and it wasn't my former client either. He didn't even remember his password.

It rained a lot last night, but by the time we arrived for our vet appointment this morning, things were already starting to dry out. By mid-afternoon the weather was quite nice and Dash and I were able to take a long walk. Maybe it will stay dry enough for me to take a look at the roof this weekend. I'm not really looking forward to going up on the roof again, but it needs to be done.

When I went to the post office today, I discovered that the price of stamps had gone up. Now it costs $50 for a single roll of first class stamps. This seems ridiculous. Maybe I should start paying for things online. With a gas guzzling car and stamps costing fifty cents each, it probably costs more to take my bills to the post office than I realize.

Another panel fell off the greenhouse roof this morning. I must have repaired this building with duct tape the last time I was having problems. The greenhouse is so old that it is starting to disintegrate. I'll add the building to the growing list of things that are starting to disintegrate. I'm pretty sure I can fix things myself, but it's a big job and my heart isn't in it.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow. It's been a long, dreary week. Ordering a stack of pancakes with sausages might perk me up.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2869

I thought I'd fix breakfast early this morning, so I could finish eating before Dash wanted to walk. All this accomplished was that Dash decided to walk earlier than usual. Apparently, it is not the time of day that motivates our boy. It is how much he can disrupt my schedule. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter when I eat breakfast or run my errands. I'm just happy that Dash is walking again. We were out for over an hour this morning. Dash was slow, but he was walking normally and seemed comfortable. I'm always worried that something will happen with Dash's heart when we're far from home, but the only alternative is to do nothing. Doing nothing would frustrate Dash and a frustrated Dalmatian is not good for anyone's health.

A firetruck went by with sirens blazing while we were walking today. Joining the siren was a cacophony of howling coming from a thicket of trees about a quarter of a mile away. I knew this sound well. We have a den of coyotes in the neighborhood again. From the sound of the howling, the pups are still very young. This Winter, they'll be old enough to hunt though. I wish I could warn the bunnies and the ducks. I made a mental note not to let Dash get too close to the coyote's den. I don't really trust urban coyotes. They have lost their fear of people.

The weather was nice today, but there was still water on the roof from yesterday's rain. As I expected, the patches I applied yesterday were ruined. I swept the water away and hopefully the roof will dry in time for me to make my repairs before it rains again. I had trouble mixing the viscous liquid yesterday, so I went to a hardware store and bought a paint stirring tool that I can attach to a power drill. I don't think I mixed the coating completely when I opened the bucket because it didn't have the same consistency as the first batch I used. The silicon compound is much thicker than paint, so it is hard to mix. I also got a ladle so I could transfer the coating from the large heavy bucket to a smaller can without making a huge mess. Hopefully, if I'm better prepared, I'll have a greater chance of success the next time I try this.

I had some website revisions to make today. The jobs are so few and far between now that it almost seems like I've gotten the assignments by mistake. Today's revisions took a couple of hours, but it certainly wasn't enough to fill the day. Recently, I was listening to NPR in the car and an author was being interviewed about a book they'd written about aging. Part of the conversation was about finding fulfillment by continuing to work. Website design was mentioned as one of the jobs that old people are well suited for. I had to laugh. The only way old website designers are going to find work is if their clients are even older.

The refrigerator is working great now. Too bad it is almost empty. I didn't feel like grocery shopping, so I picked up some Thai take-out again. I thought I had enough reward points for a free meal, but the    lady at the check out counter said that you have to use the points within thirty days or they expire. This happens to me all the time. I'm always throwing away Bed Bath and Beyond coupons and forgetting that I have accumulated reward points somewhere. Everyone has some sort of loyalty program these days. I'm a very loyal person, but these programs don't seem to benefit me.

I need to remember to get the lab work for my annual physical done tomorrow morning. I won't be able to have breakfast before I leave the house. Hopefully, this temporary change of schedule won't throw Dash off his game. I wonder if he'll still walk if there isn't a meal he can interrupt?

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2850

It was a fairly benign Friday the 13. Nothing really bad happened. I didn't tempt fate though. I didn't climb up on the roof today or attempt to remove wasp nests. All I wanted was a quiet, peaceful day where nothing went wrong.

It's often hard to tell if something is wrong with Dash, or if he's just being stubborn. Today he refused to take a morning walk, even though the weather was nice and he ate all his breakfast. I don't try to force him to walk because so many thing are wrong with him now. Maybe he was feeling weak due to his heart condition. Maybe his leg hurt. It's hard to tell with Dash. He's often reluctant to leave the house, but once he arrives in the park, he has a great time smelling every bush along his path. I wish I knew whether he was in a mood to walk before I spend ten minutes getting him suited up in his protective gear. I initially thought he might be reluctant to walk because he didn't want to wear the knee brace. He walks just fine wearing the brace though. When he's in a good mood, he's not even aware he's wearing it.

I try to give Dash a pass for his occasional moodiness, because I can feel the same way myself. Some mornings I'm really eager to go out for breakfast on Fridays, and other mornings nothing interests me at all. Today I mostly went out because there was nothing in the refrigerator that didn't require a lot of preparation. If we still had peaches and strawberries, I probably would have just stayed home and made a smoothie.

When I returned from breakfast and grocery shopping for tonight's dinner, I got started on repairing Dash protective boots. I cut several pieces out of the rubber tire patch material and then glued them in place using the Shoe Goo that I purchased the other day. I debated whether to use rubber cement or the Shoe Goo and decided that the Shoe Goo would last longer. If this doesn't work, I'll use the rubber cement next time. The flexible cement has to cure for 24 hours, so we'll try the boots out tomorrow. If the repair seems to be holding up after a few walks, I'll repair the other boots Dash has already ruined.

I actually had a website problem to solve today. Sadly, the problem isn't actually solved yet, but at least I got the process started. I remember a time when you could call technical support and resolve fairly complex problems on the spot. Most of those knowledgable people have disappeared. Now, it's rare to talk with anyone who can actually code or solve IT problems. The friendly guy I talked with today just took down my information and said he'd pass it on to his supervisor. He didn't have a clue how to fix problems with forms and databases.

Dash walked just fine this evening. I think he just wants the whole family to walk with him. I don't know what we're going to do when Daylight Savings Time begins and it gets dark an hour earlier. It's already sunset when Janet returns from work. Life was so much easier for Dash when Dot was alive. She was always the alpha dog who showed Dash how to behave. Now, he just seems lost.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2783

I tried to clean up some loose ends today. I called about a long overdue invoice and was told that a check was going in the mail today. Even though I was skeptical about this claim, I didn't feel like arguing. When someone tells you that they put a check in the mail, you have a good chance of getting paid eventually. It's when they claim that they don't even owe you the money that you've got a problem. Next, I called about a watch repair that was two years overdue. When I listened to the recorded message, I noticed that the name of the company had changed. This was not a good sign. I'll have to follow up on this one if the watch repair guy doesn't return my call. I was going to enquire about the estate of a relative that has been tied up in probate for even longer than the watch repair, but I've been told that this kind of delay is not that uncommon. Maybe I'll wait another six months and see what happens.

I've become accustomed to the fact that nothing goes smoothly anymore, but some delays seem ridiculous. Should any type of repair take three years?  Does the little notice on my invoices saying "30 Days Net? mean absolutely nothing? When I was told that it would take 90 days to get a refund on the fraudulent gift card recently, I kept thinking that this really meant six months and a lot of frustrating phone calls. You've got to keep trying though. That's the only way you get results these days.

Dash wouldn't eat his breakfast this morning. He has always been a finicky eater. We keep two brands of food on hand, knowing that if he won't eat one, he will usually eat the other. I knew that we had inadvertently picked the wrong brand this morning when I offered Dash a handful of the other brand and he gobbled it up. Unfortunately, the dry food in his bowl had already been mixed with wet, so I couldn't just put it back in the bag. I put the uneaten mixture in a different container and saved it for later. At lunch, I made a big show of preparing the food he refused to eat at breakfast and served it in a different bowl. This time, Dash gobbled it up. As difficult as Dash can be sometimes, he is still easier to deal with than a late paying client.

I've been wondering why I haven't received any updates for one of the websites I manage. I was going to ask where the updates were and then I noticed that I already had them. They arrived two weeks ago. The delay I'd been fretting about was actually my fault. How could this have happened? It appeared that I had updated my local version of the site, but that the changes had never been uploaded to the server. I still don't know whether the upload had failed or I simply forgot to finish what I started. At any rate, I apologized for the mistake and made sure the changes were actually on the server this time.

The website snafu and Dash's weird eating habits occupied most of my morning, but by mid-afternoon I was dead in the water again. I looked for a movie to watch on Netflix, but the one I chose wasn't nearly as good as The Expanse. That's what happens when you watch a really good series. I want to watch Season Three and Season Four, but they haven't even been filmed yet.

I don't have any big plans for tomorrow. I don't have any little plans either. I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2738

Janet's home nurse didn't show up this morning. We thought we could just change the bandages ourselves, but quickly realized we were out of our depth. I couldn't even figure out how to open the bottle of sterile saline solution. The instructions the hospital left us with made such a huge deal out of germs and cleanliness that it left me wondering if my hands were still clean if I turned off the faucet after washing them. And what about cutting a bandage in half with a pair of scissors? Where do you draw the line?

It wasn't surprising to learn that the problem with the home nurse involved paperwork. Someone had failed to send the proper authorization forms to the right person. Basically very little happens in healthcare unless the provider knows they are going to get paid. The doctors and nurses are excellent. It's insurance that always screws things up. Janet called her regular doctor to see if they could help arrange something and by the end of the day we were back in business. I used to think the whole concept of concierge doctors was a waste of money, but Janet's doctor has made me a believer. You basically pay more to get treated decently, but if you need help, don't want to wait forever to get an appointment, and are having trouble navigating the insurance maze, the cost is well worth it. I've been going to the same doctor for a long time, but I'm thinking of switching to Janet's doctor. These guys have been amazing.

It was so hot today that Dash didn't want to walk at all. On the theory that dogs know more about the weather than I do, I didn't try to make him go outside. You hear so many stories about dogs getting heatstroke in the Summer that I've become very cautious about taking walks during a heat wave. You've got to remember that dogs can't sweat and can become overheated quite quickly.

I did get out and about myself, but I've got a good air conditioner in my car. I went out for breakfast, even though it was almost lunch time by the time all the home nurse confusion got straightened out. Today's errands included picking up more medical supplies at CVS and getting some tasty things for dinner that didn't require cooking.

I wonder how nurses deal with the stress. There are so many things that can go wrong. Patients often don't follow directions, and what works for one person sometimes doesn't work for the next. This isn't something I'd like to do for a living. I have a tremendous respect for doctors and nurses, but I don't think modern medicine would work at all if the body didn't have an amazing ability to heal itself. A healthy diet and a strong immune system are probably more important than any pill.

I had to update some more mobile websites today and grew increasingly frustrated at the need to use both my laptop and desktop computers to make the updates. What would have been a thirty minute job before my design application stopped supporting my desktop computer ended up taking two hours. I hate to spend a ton of money updating software on my desktop just so I can continue to use this application, but I may have to. It is taking way too much time to go back and forth between the two computers.

I guess tomorrow is Saturday although all days seem the same now. There are lots of errands to run and I can tell it's going to be a busy day already. I always forget how much Janet does to keep the house running smoothly until I try doing it myself for a while. Hopefully this new routine will become easier for both of us with a little practice.

Boo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2651

I found a website update request from four days ago that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I was surprised that I'd forgotten about this because I'm usually very prompt. When I took another look at the e-mail, I saw the fatal words "there's no rush on this" and immediately knew what happened. I have to approach every job as a rush job or I'll just forget about it. I made the changes the client requested and apologized for the delay. Don't ever tell me to take my time. You may not hear from me for a year.

Dot threw up again this morning. She's been throwing up more frequently now and that's never a good sign. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think she's drinking too much water. When she gets restless, Dot goes back and forth between her bed and her water bowl. She doesn't seem to know what to do, so she does this over and over again. I'm right there with her, holding up her rear legs, but I hate to take her away from the water. She takes such tiny sips now that maybe she's not actually drinking too much. I'd hate for her to get dehydrated.

I guess I've got one more question to ask the oncologist. Does the vomiting have something to do with her cancer? Is she just drinking too much water? Or is this something else entirely? It only seems to happen about once a week, but when she was healthy she would only throw up about once a year.

I'm not doing so well myself. When I woke up this morning my neck hurt and I could barely move my right arm. I did my stretching exercises and things got a bit better, but I'm thinking that I need to go back for another round of physical therapy. My physical therapist would probably be horrified at the way I'm using my arm these days. Holding up Dot's rear legs tends to pull straight down on my shoulder joint, which is weak already. I hope I don't have a rotator cuff injury. It's all speculative at this point, because I don't really have time to go in for physical therapy anyway.

It's getting harder and harder to get anything done during the day. Dot is increasingly restless and I need to spend more time attending to her. When Dot is moving around, there is more chance of a mess, so I'm doing more laundry and cleanup as well. It's all very tiring. I've started taking short naps when Dot is asleep. Sometimes it's the only rest I get.

I forgot what day it was again. For most of the day I thought it was Wednesday. I guess it doesn't really matter. All these days seem the same. I still haven't watched The Expanse. I haven't downloaded Arrival or Passengers either. Maybe I'll skip Passengers, since it got terrible reviews. Maybe I'll skip all these movies. Dot doesn't stay asleep long enough to watch a movie anyway.

Doc is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day