Day 4938

It was a little cooler today and it made a big difference. Temperatures in the mid eighties are a lot easier to handle than temperatures in the high nineties. Our early morning walk with Dawn was actually quite pleasant. Dawn certainly enjoyed her walk. If only the temperature would stay like this for the rest of the day.

We had another big weekend breakfast this morning and then I got ready to go to the mall. I try to leave earlier now so we can take Dawn on her Sunday outing earlier as well. Everything is based on the temperature these days. I was surprised to get caught in the rain while I was driving to the mall. I usually keep track of the weather and this rain was unexpected. The rain didn't last long unfortunately. We could have used a little more.

The mall was very quiet and almost empty when I arrived this morning. I like it this way. Most of the window displays have finally changed to summer apparel and I noticed that one new store had opened. I have been doing this long enough now that I have a mental map of all the stores and what is in their windows. The mall is arranged around a large outdoor courtyard, so you end up walking in a giant circle. It's a square actually, but you get the idea. Each circuit is a little over a half mile. I walk around the place five times, so I end up walking about two and a half miles. When you add Dawn's Sunday outing, I end up walking about the same distance as other days.

It's more interesting looking in store windows than walking around the indoor track at the gym. At certain times of year walking in the park is the most interesting of all, but not this summer. It is just a hot wasteland out there now. I try to keep a decent pace when I'm mall walking, but I'm always a bit slower than I am at the gym. Looking in windows, even if you keep moving, apparently slows you down. I still wonder who buys this stuff. There is nothing essential in any of these stores.

It was still cool enough to take Dawn on her Sunday outing when I got home. We walked a little slower and Dawn did fine. She enjoyed having new things to small. I still seem to walk slower than everyone else. Janet and Dawn arrived back at the car quite a while before I did. Hmm. I think I'm in reasonably good shape, although I might be kidding myself. 

As always, we went for ice cream cones on the way home. The cones have been softer for the past several weeks, but they still taste good. Maybe something is wrong with their machine. These cones are certainly no bargain, but it's a nice little tradition. Dawn loves ice cream too. It's nice to see her happy.

I doubt that we'll do anything special over the holidays. I'm just glad I survived Fourth of July as a kid with all my limbs intact. You could still buy cherry bombs and M-80's back then and my friends and I would spend the day blowing up things. Seems strange now that our parents never supervised us. Once we found an old iron pipe and made a cannon out of it, sending tin cans filled with sand hundreds of feet in the air.

If it stays cooler tomorrow I might mow the grass in the morning. It certainly needs it. The rest of the day will be pretty predictable. I'll go to the gym and write another uneventful blog post.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4600

Only 400 days to go. Kind of a strange goal to write something for 5000 consecutive days, but I'm thinking I'm going to be able to do this. We're getting close now. Maybe a few more interesting and unexpected things will happen along the way, but probably not today. I got excited when it looked like we might get some rain this evening, but it missed us again. Still bone dry.

Today really was a lot like yesterday. Our sunrise walk with Dawn was warm but tolerable. My breakfast was boring but easy to fix. I made the bed, checked my messages and headed for the gym. I'm glad I have this option. It's been way too hot lately to take my normal walk in the park. 

Fridays are Dawn's favorite day. Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday morning and Dawn loves to watch as the food is being put away. She's not nearly as interested when I return from the store because I tend to buy the bulk items like laundry detergent and trash bags. Janet buys the sliced turkey which Dawn dearly loves.

I probably should stay at the gym longer. I always walk two or three miles on the indoor track and shoot free throws on the basketball court, but I'm seldom very tired when I'm finished with my workout. I should probably try a little harder to elevate my heart rate. My goal is mostly just to keep moving. Hey, I burn just as many calories as I did walking outdoors and I don't get sunburned. It's hard to argue with that. If I remember, I'm going to try mall walking this Sunday when the gym is closed. I have no desire to walk outdoors again until this heat wave is over.

I practiced using the star tracker again this afternoon. I was going to wait until the new firmware update was released, but boredom intervened. For the first time in ages there were no error messages today. Everything worked perfectly. I try to be consistent but I still can't figure out why I have good days and bad days with this thing. Even if I don't spend a lot of time doing astrophotography with the tracker, it was probably a good investment. It has already provided hours of entertainment. Although frustrating at times, testing the tracker is much more enjoyable than mowing the lawn.

I'm still waiting to hear more about the Artemis-1 launch. I've already made my reservations, but it would be nice to know whether I picked the right days to travel. I've been invited to attend several other launches in the interim, but I can only afford one more trip to Titusville this season. I need to just be patient and wait. Eventually, I'll get a schedule from NASA and I'll be on my way.

Tomorrow I do my share of the grocery shopping. I've got my list ready and expect prices to be higher again. It's probably time to fill the car with gas too. No shredded wheat in the morning. Janet cooks a big breakfast on the weekends.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4518 - Mother's Day

Well, Dawn is certainly a mother. I bet she was a good mom. Lord know how many litters of puppies she had when she was a breeding dog at the puppy mill. I don't think those were pleasant days because she is still very fearful. She loves her new life now, but I think she's always waiting for the other shoe to drop. We suspect that one of the reasons that she's fearful of riding in the car is that she's worried she might be going back to her old life in Marshall, Texas. Dawn enjoys her walks and likes her Sunday outing, but is always relieved to be back at home in her safe spot, sitting on our big bed.

She must have known that today was a special day. She was full of energy this morning and ended up walking twice her normal distance on our sunrise walk. We always led her lead the way and are curious to see where she'll go. Usually she just follows her familiar one mile loop, but occasionally she gets adventurous.

After our walk we had breakfast and then did some household chores while waiting to take Dawn on her Sunday outing. We always wait until the ice cream store is open because getting ice cream is a big part of this Sunday adventure. I thought Dawn might be tired because she already walked quite a bit. Nope. She enjoyed this second walk too. She loves smelling new things. We have to steer her away from the poison ivy though. Lots of poison ivy in this park.

The ice cream store seemed short staffed this morning. Probably because it was Mother's Day. The staff seems too young to be moms, but thats just an old guy's perspective. Everybody seems young to me. Probably most of the staff are in their mid twenties. We all enjoyed our cones today. Dawn always seems calmer after having ice cream. She is always remarkably calm on the ride home.

I decided to mow the grass today. It was a little hot for my taste, but the traffic is much lighter on a Sunday. I don't enjoy mowing down by the street when everyone is in a hurry. I'm not close to the road very long, but even a few minutes seems too long when cars are racing by just inches away at fifty miles an hour. I'm not sure how much longer the electric mower is going to last. At the very least it needs new batteries. There used to be enough charge in the battery to mow the back yard after I finished the front. Now I have to let the mower recharge for a while before I can tackle the back yard. I could buy a new mower, but I really ought to just start paying the guy who is willing to mow my yard for me.

I felt industrious today, so I tried to fix the running toilet again. It's a shame that the parts I really need aren't available anymore. I've tried, but even the best plumbing supply store in Dallas can't find them for me. I do what I can and usually my repairs last about a week. My last attempt only lasted two days though. It's probably time to break down and get a Toto.

I didn't take a long walk today. After two walks with Dawn and mowing the grass I had all the steps I needed. It was hot this afternoon and I was tired. There is no need to punish myself just to keep my Fitbit happy. I"ll probably go back to taking a long walk tomorrow. Hey, what else is there to do?

I wish I'd get some feedback from the Benro people in China. I'm in no particular hurry to use the star tracker for astrophotography, but it's driving me crazy that I can't get it to work correctly. Since I had at least a partial success with the tracker out at McDonald Observatory, I can see it's potential. It's a pretty cool little piece of machinery. I'd like it a lot better if it worked though.

I like weekends because they inject a little variety into my life. Tomorrow it's back to shredded wheat for breakfast, long walks, and looking up random information on Google. 

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3321

I got a bill from my web hosting company today. I've been a good customer. So why was my bill 30% higher than it was three years ago? This happens again and again. Companies continue to screw their best customers while simultaneously offering special deals to attract new customers. It doesn't make sense. The storage warehouse, the phone company, the cable company, and even my gym tend to raise prices annually for existing customers while at the same time offering special promotional prices to new customers. This is backwards. I've always thought the most loyal customers should get the best rates.

I play by the rules. I always pay my bills on time. I watch my weight. I monitor my blood pressure and cholesterol levels and do what it takes to stay within acceptable guidelines. I even make my bed every morning. Maybe this is why it seems normal to me that the Chinese government wants to surveil and classify every one of it's billions of citizens. Wouldn't you want to know who the good people are so you could reward them? Our country tends to do the opposite. We romanticize bad behavior, making heroes out of everyone from Bonnie and Clyde to Walter White. Hey, what could be more American than a high school chemistry teacher who turns himself into a drug kingpin.

When I go to the gym, I'm pretty sure that the other customers play by the rules, just like me. I see the same people over and over again. They are so dutiful, striding purposefully on their treadmills and stairmasters. I don't know who any of these people are, but we definitely need more of them. I'll take someone on a treadmill any day over someone riding around on a motorized shopping cart stocking up on Cheetos.

Dash got me up early enough this morning to see Venus and Jupiter close together in the predawn sky. Dash has been so good recently that I'd almost forgotten that every night is a potential disaster. He woke up as he was pooping in bed this morning and tried to get off the bed. This was a mistake. Since he wasn't fully awake, he stumbled and fell in the poop. Instead of an easily contained mess on a puppy pad, there was poop everywhere. I had to go outside and hose off the soiled bedding before it could go in the washing machine. While I was doing this, Janet was cleaning Dash. By the time we got everything cleaned up, it wasn't worth going back to bed again. So much for sleeping in late on Sunday morning.

I was going to clean the house today, but it took too much time to clean and dry all the laundry. Vacuuming can wait. Hey, Dash got two walks and all the poop is gone. That should be enough for one day. I still can't tell if the new My Pillow I got is helping me sleep because Dash keeps waking me up all the time. I don't think those happy people in the My Pillow commercials spend all their time cleaning up dog poop.

The weekend went quickly. It always does. Now it's back to five more days of fruit smoothies. At least the park will be empty again. It was super crowded today because the weather was so nice. Lots of people ask about Dash's red boots when the park is busy. I usually just tell them that Dash is old. I've learned that very few people are interested in a long winded explanation involving neurological disorders, heart problems, Plavix, and bleeding risks.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2885

I went to the storage warehouse and got some of the gear we'll need for the Santa Paws photo shoots. We've accumulated a lot of Christmas themed muslin backdrops over the years. Probably the best way to select a backdrop at this point is to smell them all and pick the one that doesn't smell of dog pee. The equipment is getting so old that I need a backup for everything. I take extra power packs for the strobes, extra camera bodies, and lots of extra camera batteries. What I really need is an extra me.

I wanted to walk Dash early this morning so I could go out for breakfast at a reasonable hour, but it wasn't meant to be. We all got up late and even though Dash was eager to walk, we didn't return home until almost 10 AM. I went out for breakfast anyway, although I should have just had an early lunch. I think I'm losing my touch at picking new restaurants. For the second week in a row I had a meal that was way too heavy on a plate that was way too large. Maybe I should just start ordering from the children's menu. Something has changed. I'm just not as hungry as I used to be.

As I suspected, I'm going to have to learn how to use a new Wordpress theme before I can start my latest website project. I don't even try to argue against Wordpress anymore. Everyone but me seems to love it. The Divi theme the client has selected is supposed to be powerful, versatile, and easy to use. Piffle. I still like HTML better. At any rate, my assignment over the weekend is to learn to be a Divi expert as quickly as possible.

Dash is acting weird again today. He'll go outside and then just stand frozen in place like he's lost or confused. He's done this before and I think it must have something to do with his vestibular disease. If you give him time, he usually returns to normal in an hour or two. Our morning walk was pretty normal, but our afternoon walk took forever because Dash would stop about every twenty feet and just stand there looking confused. It usually works best if I am patient and let him set his own pace. We eventually made it back home and now he's back to normal again. Go figure. I worry about this behavior but there is not much I can do at this point. The vets don't have an answer. The vestibular disease might be giving him a sensation of vertigo from time to time. Maybe his eyesight is going bad and he has trouble seeing in some situations. The truth is that Dash is just getting old. It's probably just a matter of time before I start standing around looking confused too.

The weather forecast convinced me that it was going to rain this week. Now the week is over and the rain never appeared. I could have finished my repairs on the roof if I just ignored the weather forecast. That's always risky though. When I ignore the forecast, it always rains.

I just saw a cockroach walking across the office floor. I went to get a fly swatter so I could kill it, and by the time I got back, the bug was gone. I'm sure it's still around here somewhere. We don't have a big problems with bugs anymore since we've gotten the humidity in the house under control. I still see them occasionally though. I hate these bugs, but I've resigned myself to the fact that if you live down South, you're never completely free of them. They're everywhere outside. It's inevitable that some will get inside.

I have no plans for the weekend at all. This usually means I'll end up cleaning on Saturday and going to the gym on Sunday.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2837

We have time to experiment on weekends. We walked Dash before we tried to feed him this morning to see if it would improve his appetite. It didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference. He is eating a little more consistently now. He'll eat the Castor & Pollux stew in the morning, but still wants to take his morning pills with banana bread. After 11 AM he'll usually eat other brands of wet food, including the Hills ID he is supposed to be eating. By evening he'll sometimes even eat dry food. It's complicated feeding him, but I do think Dash is getting enough nutrition now.

The knee brace we ordered came in this morning's mail, so we gave that a try on our evening walk. I think we must have attached it wrong, because it didn't seem to stay in place very well. The rubber booties we've started using to protect Dash's paws seem to stay on a lot better in dry weather. It's also a lot easier to find them again when they slip off when Janet and I are walking together. I'm still worried about Dash getting a cut. The vet said that the blood will still clot when using Plavix, but it will take longer. A nurse told me this morning to apply compression to the wound for five minutes and use an ice pack. I'm not sure how practical that is with a frantic dog. Hopefully, we'll all be careful and Dash won't get cut.

Today was filled with routine weekend errands. I filled a prescription, got gas for the car, went to the bank, and picked up the things we buy in bulk from Sam's Club. Premium gas seems to be in short supply again. I had to go to three gas stations before I found one that had premium. Peaches and strawberries must be going out of season because I've noticed that they've been getting more expensive for the past several weeks. I always forget something when I'm out shopping. Today I forgot laundry detergent and peppercorns.

I got a letter from my supplemental insurance plan saying that they were planning to discontinue several benefits that I've grown to like. I bet this is going to continue happening as long as I'm alive. Healthcare is such a mess that I can't imagine that it will ever get better. I just hope that it gets worse slowly. One of the few benefits of being older is that I don't have to worry about a lifetime of lousy care. The insurance system worked pretty well when I was younger and Medicare works reasonably well now. I just hope the program stays solvent for the next twenty years.

Now the the reality of Dash's medical condition has set in, I think we're going to be OK. We don't have a lot of options, but we still have a wonderful dog. We'll take things one day at a time. We'll monitor his condition the best we can. And we'll do our best to keep Dash's life enjoyable and fun as long as we can. If we're lucky with the Plavix, his condition may even improve.

If I want my own condition to improve, I really need to start going to the gym more often. I'm going to try to go tomorrow. I've got to finish my article tomorrow as well.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2654

I miss having a favorite restaurant. The days of having exactly the same thing every Friday morning for almost three years in a row are gone. I drift from place to place now, trying something different every time. Occasionally, I think I've found a new home, but I've had trouble staying loyal for more than a month at a time. Nobody seems to make things the way I like any more. The eggs are either too runny or too hard. The pancakes are too thick. And the bacon is too flat and crispy. I'm not trying to expand my horizons or be adventurous. All I want is a place where I can enjoy eating the same thing over and over again. Maybe this is impossible now. I've noticed that there is a lot of turnover in the restaurant business. Every time someone gets a new chef, the recipes change a bit.

Absolute consistency is my holy grail. When I walk Dash in the morning, I find it strangely comforting to see certain cars in the neighborhood leave for work at exactly the same time every morning. When we pass the tennis court on our walk, there is very often a brown pickup truck that turns a corner and passes us. On Friday morning, the garbage truck typically arrives exactly when I leave the park and head down my street toward home. Often people I don't know wave as I pass by. We've been repeating these patterns for a long, long time. The clockwork precision of repeating events makes me feel oddly connected. I'm sure a lot of random stuff happens as I walk by, but I only notice the consistencies.

I got the telephoto lens I've had my eye on for the past month or so. This is a great lens, but it kind of bothers me that many modern lenses no longer have an aperture ring on the barrel of the lens. A lot of them don't have a focus or depth of field scale either. You can still change the f-stop within the camera, but I'd still like to be able to use a lens completely manually. I guess I've got to keep up with the times. I'll have to admit that these new lenses are much better optically than the ones I used to use with my old Nikon F. Who knows. Maybe you'll see some better bird pictures in the days ahead.

I wrote another letter to my sister today. I'm definitely not keeping up with the times with her. I wish more people would revert to quaint old fashioned things like hand written letters. I guess I'd like it if doctors still made house calls and kids still liked electric trains too, but hand written letters are a start.

I tried to catch up on odds and ends this afternoon. I called the roofer again and made an appointment for the landscaper to come out and take a look at our back yard. Dot did pretty well today, although it was to hot to walk her during the day. The days are getting longer, so we can wait until after dinner now. All in all, it was a good day.

The skies are clear, but I'm too tired to go out and look at the stars. There's supposed to be a comet that will be visible through binoculars in the pre-dawn sky this weekend, but I bet I'll be preoccupied trying to keep Dot from peeing on the floor. We'll see.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2637

Weekends are supposed to be relaxing. Mine are typically hectic. I seldom see anyone during the week. On weekends I get to deal with traffic jams, rude people, and crowded stores. I wish there was a reliable, cost-effective way to get groceries delivered, but even if there was, I wouldn't trust anyone to pick strawberries for me. Stores are diabolical about hiding bad strawberries inside a package of seemingly good ones. It takes me forever to sort through each package, looking for the illusive package without any hidden rotten berries.

Even buying packaged goods can be a challenge. I was suspicious last week when my favorite brand of coffee pods had a different looking box. Maybe just the packaging changed, I thought. Nope. The coffee tasted different. I think they decided to put fewer beans in each pod, because the coffee is definitely weaker than it used to be. Every time I buy detergent, the bottle gets a little smaller, while the price stays the same. It's a jungle out there. Don't even get me started about the traffic. I need to figure out a way to do all my errands while other people are at work, because I'm tired of dealing with the traffic. Amazon drones that deliver everything to your front door couldn't come soon enough for me.

I ended up having to wash a lot of rugs again this morning. Somehow getting up one hour later on Saturday morning makes all the difference for Dot. Usually we can make it safely outside if I get her up at 6 AM. Waiting until 7 or 8 AM is almost always a disaster. You'd think I'd learn, but I'm always so tired that it take quite a commotion to wake me up in the morning. The only reason things work during the week is that Janet gets up at the crack of dawn to get ready for work. Left to our own devices, Dot, Dash and I would sleep till noon.

I'm probably going to wreck the washing machine continuously washing these heavy rugs. I don't think there's much of an alternative though. I've tried cleaning them outside with a hose and they never really got clean. Unless I decide to sleep next to the back door with Dot, I think I'm just going to have to live with this situation. I see those ads for Depends on TV all the time, but I hope I never become incontinent myself. It's a horrible mess.

I only used five gallons of gas last week. That's not very much, is it? Sometimes I worry that I'm becoming too isolated. Then I turn on the television and realize that there's a good reason I have no desire to get out much. Society appears to be crumbling. I don't think a lot of people even realize how nice life was back when I was a kid. I'd like to go back to those times, but unfortunately it isn't going to happen. Like it or not, it's onward toward the apocalypse.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2602

I only go to the mall when I need a haircut. I'm always amazed at how many weird specialty stores there are and wonder how many of them manage to stay in business. Some stores only sell soap. Others just sell shaving supplies. I've never seen any customers in Versace or Valentino, yet these high end retailers remain at the mall year after year. Every expensive Swiss watch brand seems to have its own store. I guess people don't go to jewelry stores anymore. I've never understood the appeal of Nespresso or Peloton either. There are so many very expensive things that the kids who hang out at the mall couldn't even begin to afford. The Tesla store doesn't even sell anything; you can just look. All of this out of reach extravagance must mean something, but I can't put my finger on it. I must be out of sync with the rest of the world, because every time I go to this very popular place, I can't wait to get back in my car and go home again.

I make the trip every month or two because I always get a great haircut. I've been going to the same stylist for over ten years. She cuts Janet's hair too and we all share a love of animals. Today we talked about how we both love bacon, but feel guilty every time we see a cute picture of a pig on Facebook. The struggle is real if you've been eating meat all your life. I'll ask how her cats are doing and she'll ask about Dot and Dash. I could probably just go to a regular barber in the neighborhood and nobody would know the difference, but I like this little ritual.

Dot woke up while I was cleaning up her poop last night, so I decided to take her outside to pee. Maybe I should always do this on weekends, because when we got back inside and went to sleep again, there were no leaks in the bed the next morning. We all slept soundly until well after sunrise. Believe me, in our house this is a real luxury. Dot just can't make it all the way through the night anymore without leaking or peeing in her sleep. I still hate to wake her when she's sleeping soundly though.

I went up on the roof for the first time in over a month this afternoon. There was very little standing water, since it's been relatively dry lately, but there were a ton of leaves. I swept all the leaves over the edge of the roof, where they joined an even larger pile of leaves on the ground. I used to rake leaves every weekend in the Winter, but it is kind of pointless when you live next to a huge park full of trees. The landscaping guys come once a year now in the Spring and haul all the leaves away. With all the leave removed from the roof, I was pleased to see that all the patches the roofers had applied last Fall were holding up pretty well. I have enough to worry about, so it's nice that the roof isn't as much of a priority now.

I guess I'll go to the gym tomorrow. This is another little ritual I've grown to like. You'd think I'd be lusting after one of those expensive Peloton stationary bicycles I saw at the mall so I could exercise at home with the dogs. Exercise machines at home don't appeal to me at all. Go figure. An anti-social person who likes going to the gym. Maybe I just like to shoot the basketball.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2504

Dash followed a path this morning we hadn't been down in years and all of the sudden it was like old times. It was a nice day and we ended up walking three miles. We used to do this every day, but it's been a long time. I noticed that leaves are already starting to turn in some sections of the park. Late Fall flowers are blooming. It was good to get reacquainted with this part of the neighborhood. On the way home, I noticed some new houses under construction and even talked with a few neighbors.

I asked one guy about a home that has remained vacant ever since it was completed several years ago. "Are you guys ever going to move in," I asked the owner. "I haven't been able to convince my wife to move yet," he told me. It seems like they would have worked this out before they built the elaborate house, but what do I know. When I asked whether he was going to sell the place now, he indicated that it was turning out to be a pretty great man cave for him. It must be nice to have the resources to build a million dollar house and then not even bother to live in it. The guy drove away in a perfectly restored 1966 Corvette and Dash and I continued our walk.

I love the cooler weather. Maybe that was why Dash was eager to take a longer walk this morning. Of course, he might have just wanted to get away from the chaos he woke up to. Dot had pooped in her sleep and then rolled over in it when she woke up. She was a smelly mess and I still had to figure out how to get her outside before she peed all over the place. After I took her out to pee, hosed her down, cleaned up the soiled blankets, and washed my hands several times, it was time for breakfast. I've decided that weekdays are easier than weekends. The discipline of getting up very early just works out better for everyone.

My convenient Scan and Go app crashed while I was grocery shopping this afternoon. I thought I'd have to start over, but discovered that the app saves your scanned items to the cloud and all the purchases I'd made before the crash were still there after I re-booted my phone. I decided to use 4G instead of the store's WiFi to complete my transactions and everything worked just fine. Even with this weird glitch, I still managed to get out of the store much faster than I would have if I'd gone through the check-out line.

Janet went to a friend's gallery opening after dinner. While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Dot came out to greet me, covered with poop. She'd done it again. I stopped what I was doing and took her outside and hosed her off a second time. Then I did a forensic search of the house and cleaned up the mess. Dot's not even aware of what she's doing. I can't get mad at her, but I do swear a lot now. This is very tiring.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. There are a ton of chores that need my attention, but I'd like to do something interesting for a change. Unfortunately, the only thing that interests me at the moment is sleeping.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2491

Once again Sunday turned into a marathon. I woke up earlier than I should have, trying to anticipate when I'd need to make a mad dash to the back door with Dot. I was successful at getting her outside to pee, but was less successful at convincing her to go back to bed for a while. She and Dash didn't want to sleep in. They wanted their breakfast. There's no point to arguing with a dog, so we all got up.

After breakfast and a walk with Dash, I went back to the grocery store to pick up all the things I forgot yesterday. There was another website update to make when I returned home. This update was a bit more extensive than the one I completed yesterday, so I got to postpone the onerous job of vacuuming the house for a couple of hours. Vacuuming is harder on my wrists and shoulder than going to the gym. I've grown to hate vacuuming, but it can't be avoided. The house simply gets too dirty.

It's almost impossible to avoid today's presidential debate, but I'm going to try. I just don't want to hear any more from either candidate. The reporters can't seem to get enough of this stuff though. The salacious nature of tonight's debate has whipped them all into a frenzy. They are acting like a pack of wolves ready to go for the kill tonight. We'll see what happens. I won't be watching. I'll finish writing the blog, see if I can finish re-grouting the leaking parts of the shower stall, and go to bed. When I turn on the television tomorrow morning, I'll sure someone will immediately tell me who won.

I wish I could get Dash to remember what I worked so hard to teach him during all those years of taking him to obedience classes on Wednesday evenings. He used to heal like a champ, but I'm having real trouble getting him to follow my lead these days. There is one alley he likes to go down on our way home that I call the alley of death. There are three very aggressive dogs that would tear Dash to pieces if they ever managed to jump over their fence. Of these dogs is getting closer and closer to getting over the top, but Dash seems to be oblivious to the danger. I tried to get Dash to take an alternate safe route home today, but he stubbornly dug his heals in and refused to take my suggestion. He even barked at the aggressive dogs as we walked down the alley. You're living dangerously Dash.

Have you noticed that the stores are already filled with Christmas merchandise? It isn't even Halloween yet. Janet reminded me to make our Thanksgiving dinner reservations this week. I waited too long last year. If I'm too late with over a month to go before Thanksgiving gets her, I give up. This year is just barreling along like a freight train. I wish everything would slow down a bit.

Dot actually did pretty well this week. I think the cooler weather is her friend. She stumbled a few times during the week, but today she was eager to go on a walk. I hope this cool weather continues. Dot is always my priority. I've also got to get my October invoices out next week. Maybe I'll bill out enough to pay my electric bill. Next week might be a good time to try some more vegetarian dinners at the vegan take out place. I'll try my best to keep Dash from going down the alley of death. I'll get some silly requests from clients and I'll wonder why I'm still in business at all. The dogs will bark at me while I try to enjoy my banana and strawberry smoothie. It's probably going to be a pretty normal week

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2476

Weekends always start off with an accident these days. We don't sleep in that much longer, but it's enough to throw Dot off her schedule. Once again, when she woke up, she wasn't able to make it outside in time and left a trail of pee on the rugs leading to the back door. It's not a big deal, but it does make sleeping in kind of pointless.

The Scan and Go app didn't work at the grocery store today.  Everything worked fine on my end, but the little hand held device the store uses to confirm your purchase as you leave the store was broken again. The store manager was called and he wrote down my information on a piece of paper and said he'd confirm my purchase by hand. This is the third time this has happened. When you're an early adopter of anything, you run into these little glitches frequently. I'm not sure this new system is ready for prime time. It's supposed to be a time saver, but if the manager has to write all your information down by hand, it doesn't save any time at all.

I took my dog walking boots to the shoe repair shop for the third time to get new taps put on the heels. I thought that shoe taps were a great idea that would extend the life of the shoes, but they only seem to last about a month. The shoe repairmen always screws the taps on the shoe using three little screws, and as soon as the head of the screw wears off, the taps fall off and get lost. I keep asking if he could just Superglue the taps on instead, but the man speaks limited English and I'm not sure he understands. Maybe there's a good reason why glue wouldn't work. I just got the three little screws again today.

The Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament was supposed to be tomorrow, but it got postponed because we're scheduled to be getting some severe weather very soon. I thought the storms were going to start tonight, but so far it's still dry. There was a lot of thunder and lightning about an hour ago, but it appears that were were right on the edge of the storm and the bad weather moved to the North of us. The thunder and lightning was loud enough to scare the dogs. Dot started barking and Dash went looking for a safe corner to hide in. I hurried to get the rugs that were drying in the back yard back on the porch where they wouldn't get wet, and started charging backup batteries in case the power went out. By the time I had everything ready, the storm had already moved out of the area.

I decided to remove Google Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote from my computer today. I used to need these things to keep corporate clients happy, but they are just a nuisance now. Google Drive is the worst, because it seems to talk back and forth to Google about a hundred times a day. They probably gave it away for free just so they could suck information out of your machine. It feels good to be free of the cloud. My computer boots up faster too. I'm sure Apple is still sucking information out of my computer, but I can't figure out how to get rid of Apple's intrusions. They're built into the system.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. If the weather is as bad as the forecast says, I won't be going anywhere. Here's hoping that the power stays on and that Dot and Dash stay calm.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2468

We got some bad news today. After six months of remaining stable, one of the tumors in Dot's liver has started to grow again. There is also a new small cyst in her spleen. None of this is very surprising, but it is discouraging. This is what cancer does. It progresses erratically, often staying in remission for long periods of time, only to reappear again later. Dot's oncologist said she wasn't alarmed by the rate the cancer was advancing. There's not much we can do anyway. Palladia pills aren't the only type of chemotherapy available, but they are less invasive and have fewer side effects than the other alternatives. The oncologist doesn't recommend chemotherapy for an incontinent dog anyway, because the poop becomes toxic. That's all I need right now is poison poop.

I went back to the hipster restaurant this morning. One thing about this place is that the people who eat there seem happier than at other restaurants.  It gives the place an authenticity that is hard to explain, but easy to acknowledge. Even though I don't belong here, I kind of feel like I belong. The food is good too. If these guys would just start serving their meals on real plates and quit using plastic silverware, I'd be a happy camper.

It's always kind of sad sitting in the lobby at the cancer center. We had a long wait today because the dog that was getting an Ultrasound scan ahead of us was having difficulty coming out of anesthesia. While I waited, I talked with some of the other people about their dogs. There is always someone who is visiting for the first time and is very nervous. There is usually someone else who has a dog that has been a patient even longer than Dot. There was a mother and daughter who were crying because they'd just learned that their dog had leukemia. I wanted to tell them that their dog would probably survive and that it would get easier after they'd been coming here for two or three years. I don't know whether that would have helped though. The relentless nature of cancer is what makes it so hard.

It's just as well that I didn't have much work today, since these vet appointments keep taking longer and longer. Well, I felt that way until I got my Visa bill later in the day. Then I wished I had a lot more work. I made a few minor website revisions, but that was about it. It's hard to get used to my new daily routine. Without deadlines to meet and meetings to attend, there isn't a lot of activity. I've had to trade efficiency for patience. Taking care of Dot requires lots and lots of patience.

The city picked up my trash this morning. That's always a good start to the weekend. I'm hoping that Dot continues to recover from her fall. She was walking a little steadier today, but she still has a ways to go. Probably lots of rest would do us all some good tomorrow.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2414

Sometimes I think I'm mildly autistic. I fixate on minuscule details that others don't even think about. When I shoot baskets at the gym, there are eight basketballs to choose from. Only one of them is properly inflated. It bewilders me that after three years, nobody has bothered to pump up the other seven basketballs. The one good ball looks scuffed and worn, because I'm probably not the only one who has noticed that the other balls are worthless. Why has nobody fixed this?

When I'm using the treadmill I don't try to achieve a targeted heart-rate. I don't necessarily try to walk a certain distance either. I just try to create a perfect triangle on the LED display by increasing the inclination and speed every time the blinking light moves to a new row. I don't even know what this means, but the display looks very pretty by the time I'm finished.

I don't really have a horse in the race, but I find myself being drawn to the ongoing political debate like a mosquito to a bug light. Maybe I'm just watching the conventions because I like a circus. So far, I haven't been disappointed. Ted Cruz gives a lengthy speech were he fails to endorse the nominee and is booed off the stage. Melania decides she likes some of Michelle's words better than her own and the resulting plagiarism controversy just causes everyone to comment on how beautiful she is and compare her to Jackie Kennedy. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is forced to resign in disgrace after leaked e-mails reveal that Bernie was right all along. The system was rigged. Instead of apologizing immediately for trying to use the fact that Bernie is a Jew to undermine his support in the South, party leaders immediately try to blame the Russians for the leaked e-mails, claiming that Putin is trying to get Trump elected. You really can't make this stuff up. Then, Obama's own brother joins the fray, saying that he is going to vote for Trump because he's mad that Obama killed his friend Muammar Gaddafi. And of course you can't forget that Nordstrom sold out of the dress Ivanka was wearing in just a matter of hours when the Instagram girls all decided they had to have it. In a country where people obsess over the Kardashians and Kanye West and can't even name all fifty states, I guess this is all pretty normal.

I am cursed to have an almost equal number of friends on both sides of the political fence. All of these people are freaking out about the Supreme Court. I find this troubling. I'm convinced that politicians and their followers are obsessed with the Supreme Court because they basically don't trust the voters. If you can pack the Supreme Court with people who agree with you, you don't have to worry about the fickle voters anymore. I really think that all these politicians should pay a lot more attention to voters. They should learn from history. There are consequences when you go around saying "Let them eat cake."

I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It is one of those routine annual exams where they make you wait in the lobby for an hour and spend five minutes with you when you finally get in to see them. I'm not going to the doctor as much as I used to. Maybe I'm actually healthier, or maybe I've just grown tired of doctors. It's hard to tell. Dash got a bath today, but I didn't bother vacuuming. At least something is a little cleaner.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2399

I didn't pick a good day to clean the roof. This morning, the skies were clear and it looked like a typical July day. By mid afternoon, the skies had turned dark and ominous and we had another unexpected thunderstorm. My efforts to remove the water from the roof were totally wasted and I had to race to get a bunch of rugs I had drying in the back yard indoors again.

You can probably guess why there were three large rugs drying out in the back yard. I'm beginning to hate weekends because any deviation from Dot's usual schedule is usually a disaster. I tried to get her outside as soon as she woke up this morning, but I wasn't fast enough. When I got her out the back door, I looked behind me and there was a trail of poop all the way from her bed to the door. This wasn't firm, easy to clean poop either. It was a runny mess. The rugs needed to be treated with the enzyme that breaks down the organic material and then sprayed with a pressure hose. These type of accidents happen frequently enough that we have several spare rugs that can be placed on the floor while the wet rugs dry. This cleanup ritual is not one of my favorite things, especially when I'm only half awake and haven't had my morning coffee yet.

I don't know why I decided to get an early start on my Saturday errands today. I filled the car with gas, picked up some prescriptions, and finished my grocery shopping well before noon. That left plenty of time to clear the water off the roof and try to catch up on the sleep that eluded me last night. I was tired and a ten minute cat nap turned into a two hour snooze. When I woke up, I turned on the TV and it appeared like the city was in lockdown again. There was apparently a suspicious person inside the police headquarters garage along with a verbal threat delivered over the police radio system by someone that was not on the force. How could a stranger gain access to the police radio system? Your guess is as good as mine.

I'm thinking about buying a steam cleaner to deal with accidents on the rugs. I looked at a few on Amazon this afternoon, but the reviews didn't inspire me with much confidence. It appeared that these machines were more difficult to use and don't typically perform as well as most people expect. I used to depend on online reviews but I've learned recently that some manufactures have started to give their products away for free to a select group of people in exchange for a good review. It doesn't take long for money to corrupt the system, does it? I've got to do some more research, but a steam cleaner still seems like a better alternative to the cleaning methods I'm using now.

These weeks go by so quickly now. I guess I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on how much unexpected cleaning Dot adds to the agenda. Today's Dalmatian of the Day was one of ours. Greta was very sick when we adopted her, but we did the best we could and managed to give her two good years. That was all the time she had. I measure time by the number of little urns on our coffee table now.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2398

It's a sad day in Dallas. I learned about the shootings just before I went to bed last night and watched the unfolding carnage on TV for several hours before I drifted off to sleep. The next morning I woke to find myself in a city that was coming to grips with a massacre. At breakfast and later at the grocery store I overheard people talking about the shootings. I'm sure there was anger, but the prevailing sentiment seemed to be profound sadness. What have we become? When I think about recent events, I feel like I'm witnessing the decline and fall of civilization itself.

It wasn't always this way. There was a time not all that long ago when Americans genuinely thought of our country as a great melting pot. People came here from all walks of life and were proud to adopt a commonly held sets of values and call themselves Americans. Assimilation was not only regarded as a good thing, it was the only thing.

All that has changed. Somewhere along the line, we have abandoned the concept of our country as a great melting pot and started worshiping diversity and multiculturalism instead. In my opinion, the results have been disastrous. We no longer have a common set of shared values. We have reverted to a strange kind of tribalism where people's loyalties are only to their own tribe. I've been around a while and I've never seen the country more divided. We may talk a good game about how American society is different, but when you look what is happening, are we really that different from the Israelis and the Palestinians or the Shiites and Sunnis? Basically, we all hate each other.

It was a slow, very hot day. Dot pooped in the house. I paid a few bills. And I spend way too much time trying to convince the U-Verse people to remove the non-return fee from my statement and credit the $150 back to my account. Eventually, some help desk people on the opposite side of the world told me that the situation had been resolved and that I should just pay my normal monthly bill. On the plus side of things, the sink doesn't leak anymore.

I'm hoping that the water on the roof has evaporated. I'm getting really tired of removing it every time it rains. At least we didn't have any downed trees during our recent thunderstorms. High winds blew over one of our neighbor's trees, creating a real mess and blocking a city street for two days. I always worry that one of our old Oak trees is going to come crashing down, but so far all they are doing is killing the grass. I need to think of something more exciting than vacuuming and going to the gym this weekend. We'll see how it goes. I've been so tired lately that whenever I find myself with free time, I just take a nap.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2194

I spent most of the day replacing my computer's obsolete operating system with another obsolete operating system. The move from Lion to Mountain Lion was much more complex than simply downloading the current operating system, which is what most people would do. I'm very wary of new Apple operating systems. All too often when you install a new system, you have to update half your software as well. I'm happy with my old software and the last thing I want to do is buy it all over again.

Eventually, even people like me are forced to upgrade though. It's almost a law of nature. I picked Mountain Lion because it was old enough to support most of my existing software and still new enough to support Pro Tools 12. The problem with installing something so old and using it as a new system is that there are a lot of dependencies that need to be resolved. X Code wouldn't work anymore which meant I could no longer run Unix programs on my Mac. I couldn't just install the new X Code, because it was too new. I had to find am old copy of version 5.1.1 which Apple no longer supported. Some of my security software wouldn't work either. It could have been worse, but I ended up spending most of the afternoon testing each of the applications I use and making upgrades when necessary. The important things all work now, but it was a monumental effort for a system that is already obsolete. I've still got Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan to go.

I built some online forms for a client today. I made sure to do this before I attempted to upgrade my system. You never know what is going to be broken after the upgrade. It could easily have been Dreamweaver. Luckily Dreamweaver, Photoshop. Microsoft Office, Colorburst, Final Cut Pro, and Quickbooks Pro still work. That's all I really use these days anyway. I thought about upgrading my phone as well, but that would just be asking for trouble. One major upgrade a day is plenty. I'm sure IOS 9.2 can wait. I still don't know why I bothered to upgrade to IOS 9.1. Basically all these software upgrades are a giant pain.

Breakfast was good today. Actually, everything was pretty good today. The weather was nice, the humidity was low, there were very few surprises, and the bird didn't poop on my car. Dot didn't have any accidents today either. As far as I'm concerned, a day without poop is always a good day.

I don't have any big plans for this weekend, but I'm sure I'll be busy. There are leaves to rake, software to debug, rugs to clean, and dogs to walk. I need to remember to turn the outdoor faucets on just a bit so they drip a little. I don't want frozen pipes, especially in the greenhouse. If it doesn't get down to freezing tonight, it will soon. It's weird. Even though I accomplished virtually nothing today, I felt oddly energized. Trading one obsolete operating system for another equally obsolete system is fairly complex. My brain got a little exercise today. Sadly, that's somewhat of a rarity. Most of my daily activities require no thought at all.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day