Day 4142

Today was a little different. I took my long walk right after breakfast so I would be back in time to take Janet to the dentist. Yesterday there was a lot of rain in the forecast but today it was just overcast. I was surprised that I made good time today. Often I don't when I walk early.

When I returned home there was a surprise in the mail. My long awaited computer memory chips have arrived. They certainly took the slow route to Dallas, but the package appeared to be in good shape. I'll probably upgrade the computer tomorrow, unless I'm feeling especially clumsy. I'm never wild about making computer modifications. There are a lot of tiny screws and very fine wires inside these things. I try my best to be careful, but the truth is that I am pretty clumsy. I gave up watch repair as a hobby because there are a lot of very tiny parts inside watches as well. I managed to get quite a few watches running again, but I ended up breaking way too many. Luckily, upgrading the laptop's memory is very easy. All I have to do is remove ten screws, take the back off the laptop, disconnect a few wires, and replace the existing memory. This should only take about ten minutes, but it will probably take me an hour.

Janet's dentist was still operating under Covid protocols. They didn't want me to come inside. I dropped her off at the front of the building and then I was supposed to call them from my car when I returned and they would bring her down to me. Her extraction didn't take nearly as long as mine did a few years ago. I was only home a short time before I got a call saying that it was time to pick her up. 

We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up her meds, but they weren't ready yet. I took Janet home, watched Dawn curl up next to her on the bed, and then returned to the pharmacy. Dawn will make a good nurse. She never leaves Janet's side. I walked up to an empty counter and picked up Janet's meds, but when I was leaving two snarky ladies hissed at me and said "guess you didn't see the line" under their breath. I guess not. They were so far away from the counter that I thought they were shopping for something else.

I've either got to start going to the gym or just accept the fact that my body is wearing out. I was watching one of those Life Alert commercials while I was eating breakfast this morning and found myself wondering if I should get one. "I've fallen and I can't get up" is beginning to seem very real. I'm thinking of getting a walking stick for my trip to the observatory. I might take a folding camp chair as well. One of the bad things about astrophotography is that you often have to get down on your knees to point the camera at the proper section of sky. I remember hating getting up and down so often on my last trip. Maybe a walking stick and a folding canvas chair will help. I still refuse to call the walking stick a cane, but you get the idea.

The Artemis-1 SLS booster I saw at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans a few years ago has finally arrived at Kennedy Space Center. Over the next several months it will be assembled into a moon rocket and hopefully launch before the end of the year. This is the one launch I really don't want to miss. Since I can't really count on NASA anymore, I'm going to have to get to know the people in the Air Force media office again. The people I used to know are gone now, but if I did this once I guess I can do it again.  

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4141

I almost forgot it was Monday today. I was getting ready to take my long walk when Janet reminded me that it was time to go see the rescue Dalmatians. I took my camera in case the new female in the program was at the kennel, but when we arrived we learned that she had already been adopted. Charlie and Cooper were glad to see us as always. We've been pretty good at teaching these active guys to "go out for a pass" and catch a toy football in midair. We need to try to teach them some manners. Maybe they would find a home quicker.

We had already taken Dawn on her short walk before we left for the kennel, but there was still time for me to take my long walk after we returned home. I knew I was going to be slow this afternoon because my foot was bothering me before I even left the house. It's kind of irritating that the only thing my foot doctor was able to recommend were new shoes and some topical pain cream. There is just no magic bullet when your cartilage begins to wear out. I'm going to keep walking though. I have a feeling that things would get worse rather quickly if I quit moving. I know other people with arthritis and the fact that I can still walk six miles a day is proof that I'm really not doing all that bad. It could definitely be a lot worse.

My package isn't in Indiana anymore. With any luck it might arrive later this week. I wonder why USPS surface mail is so much slower than FedEx Ground or UPS Ground? Most UPS Ground orders arrive in three or four days. I know why Amazon Prime is so quick. They have giant warehouses all over the country and most things we order on Amazon are already in the Dallas warehouse anyway. Maybe I should be glad that the post office is slow. It gives me something else to track every day.

I watched the Delta IV Heavy NROL-82 launch on the ULA live stream this afternoon. I've always wanted to see one of these launches in person because the Delta IV Heavy is huge. I was approved to see the last Delta IV Heavy launch in Florida but the trip didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Since these rockets are almost always used to launch giant school bus sized spy satellites you don't get a lot of access at a launch. It would still be great to see one lift off though. There are only three of these aging giants left, so I'd better get planning if I want to see one of the remaining ones fly.

Janet is having a wisdom tooth removed tomorrow, so I'll need to take her to and from the dentist. Whenever you have a wisdom tooth removed you kind of wish you'd taken care of this earlier in life. Wisdom tooth roots go on forever and it is not always easy to remove them. My dental surgeon told me that the hole where the tooth used to be would fill in over time. It never did. There is still an indentation in my jaw that is easy to feel at the gum line. Hopefully Janet's extraction will go smoothly. We've stocked up on tasty soups so she'll have something to eat while she recovers.

We're starting to think that Dawn used to just be fed once a day. She still eats the same amount of food, but her schedule has changed. She isn't as interested in breakfast anymore and wants to eat more at dinner. I guess this is OK, but it seems weird to have a dog that isn't interested in breakfast. We couldn't fix breakfast fast enough for all our other Dalmatians. To each his or her own I guess. As long as Dawn continues to eat a normal amount of healthy food, we're not going to worry about when she eats. 

I'll continue eating my own breakfast at the same time every morning. Hey, I'm not a dog, even though I act like one at times.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1968

I know it sounds impossible, but I've lost all interest in food. I still get hungry, but it's so hard to find food that doesn't get hopelessly lodged in the gaping socket the wisdom tooth left behind, that I don't look forward to meals at all. All the dentists have told me that this hole will close on its own as part of the healing process, but I'll believe it when I see it. In an effort to find something soft and easy to chew, I broke down and fixed myself French Toast this morning. This was a lot better than the crunchy granola and fruit I ate yesterday morning, but the bread got lodged in my teeth anyway. I've thought about a liquid diet of tomato soup, but acidic things like tomatoes give me heartburn. Even scrambled eggs get caught in my teeth. This sucks. I thought about going to the store and getting a package of hot dogs and eating them without a bun until my jaw healed. Maybe I'm just hungry for hot dogs right now. I have a feeling that they wouldn't work any better than anything else I've tried.

I had a huge website update to complete today. Somehow the new person responsible for social media at the company didn't realize I needed to be in the loop and when it finally dawned on them that the website was out of date, I was three months behind. More than anything, this shows you how completely Facebook has replaced the company website as the go-to place to show the world what you are doing. This website was hopelessly out of date and nobody even noticed.

I spent the remainder of the day writing an article for another client about an upcoming trade show. Many of my clients actually used to send me to these trade shows and conventions back in the day. Every one of them has abandoned the practice and just have me pretend I was there instead. Apparently Wikipedia and a little imagination are all you need these days. I kind of miss going to trade shows. It was a chance to stay in nice hotels and discover interesting restaurants using other people's money. Of course, this is probably why everyone quit sending me to these events. Nobody really needs to go to trade shows anymore. They are an anachronism. If it weren't for all the people desperate to get out of the office, trade shows would have died out quite a while ago.

I bet my electric bill is going to be higher this Summer. The severe trim the power company crews gave my Live Oak trees is already letting a lot more sunlight into the house. I've always liked the thick tree cover in the back yard and have been convinced that the shade keeps the house ten degrees cooler in the Summer. I certainly hope this massive tree trimming effort in the neighborhood eliminates our power outage problem. It looks like we're going to have bad weather for the rest of the week and if the power still goes out after the power company ruined my trees, I'm really going to be pissed.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1963

Now that the swelling is subsiding, I'm starting to notice that there is a rather obvious hole where my wisdom tooth used to be. I had initially thought that they would stitch this hole up or do something to eliminate it, but apparently not. The dentist has indicated that the hole where the tooth used to be will eventually go away, but I don't see how. Right now it's a nuisance. It's almost impossible to eat anything without food particles getting stuck in the cavity. I can't brush vigorously, or use a water pic yet, because this would break apart the blood clot and I'd start bleeding again. I can swish warm salt water around in my mouth but that's about it. I wish I had my crooked tooth back.

Despite my eating difficulties, I went out for breakfast this morning. My favorite dish on the menu is fairly soft and easy to chew. No problems there. I did get iced coffee though, instead of my usual steaming hot cup of joe. Iced coffee is surprisingly good as a breakfast beverage. Who would have thought?

One of my clients recently upgraded their websites to "mobile friendly" status with an easy-to-use automated widget provide by their web hosting company. The whole process just took a few minutes and only cost $200. The finished mobile sites looked pretty decent and passed Google's "mobile friendly" test. Jeez, how can I compete with that? It would have taken me weeks to duplicate the site created by the point-and-click mobile widget. Although I'll soon be able to create decent looking mobile sites myself, I could never convert something this inexpensively or fast. It's all pretty discouraging. Why am I spending all this time learning to write complex CSS code? This train has already left the station.

My photoshoot went well this afternoon, but that was a bit discouraging as well. I was supposed to candidly capture the active, vibrant personality of a busy office, but I was only there a few hours. I did get some nice shots, but not nearly enough. I will have to come back many times to capture the images the client is looking for. The office staff could probably do far better than me if they would just start taking pictures with their cell phones whenever an interesting interaction took place. Cell phone pictures are looking better and better every day. I would use my own phone on photoshoots like this, but a big heavy camera with a huge lens looks much more professional.

Since the weather looks like it's going to stay nice for a few days, I went up and got the water off the roof this morning. It's been several days since the last heavy rain, but unfortunately not much water had evaporated. I'm almost resigned to the fact that keeping the roof dry is going to be a never ending process. One thing is certain. I'm never going to buy a house with a flat roof again.

I hope my mouth gets back to normal soon. Eating is one of my few remaining pleasures, and this tooth extraction has definitely thrown a wrench in the works. I almost feel like skipping meals, because it's just too much trouble. Nothing can be too hot, or too cold, or too chewy. Even if you eat very carefully, some sort of evil hidden magnet still pulls food particles directly into the empty socket. All this makes a liquid diet sound good. Especially if the liquid was Scotch.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1962

We're making progress. Dot walked in the underwater treadmill without her special harness for the first time today. Dash managed to keep his protective sock on during his entire walk and hardly limped at all. The bleeding has almost stopped from the empty socket where my wisdom tooth used to be. I fixed a fairly normal breakfast of scrambled eggs this morning and since I still can't drink hot liquids, I let my morning coffee cool down to a lukewarm temperature before drinking it. It wasn't the best coffee in the world, but lukewarm coffee is still better than no coffee at all.

I wisely postponed climbing on the roof to remove standing water until I'm finished with my dental surgery meds, but I'm pretty much up to speed on everything else. I completed all my writing assignments today, went to the bank, and made a few website revisions. I did most of this in the morning, because the afternoon was reserved for Dot's physical therapy.

I hope I sleep better tonight. Last night, I woke up about 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep again. I spent the rest of the night listening to the two dogs snoring on either side of me and counting the times the furnace went on and off. Ideas often pop into my head when I have insomnia like this but they are usually wasted. I recall thinking of several clever ways I could improve my responsive website experiment, but I forgot them all by the time I turned on the computer the next morning. I worried about getting a dry socket and got up and drank some water. By the time I got back to bed, Dash had stolen my covers. It wasn't worth waking him up to get the bedspread back so I grabbed the nearest dog blanket, pulled it over my head and tried to get to sleep again. Luckily, I don't have  insomnia very often, because I don't enjoy it.

Our rainy Spring weather been good for the wildflowers this year. The meadows in the park are becoming more colorful by the day. I see a new variety of flower coming into bloom just about every time we go on a walk. Today I noticed that the Milkweed plants are starting to bloom. I've always liked the symmetry of these odd little spherical bundles. We call the little five sided green blooms Antelope Horns down here. I don't know why. The Milkweed flowers will last about a month and then they'll be replaced by something else. It's a nice time of the year for a visual person like me.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot. Dot is doing well enough now that I'm comfortable leaving her for two or three hours. I'll be able to go out for my Friday morning breakfast as well. I'm not sure what I'm having yet, but I'm sure there's something on the menu that's easy to chew. Most of the forbidden foods are back in play after 48 hours anyway. I've already taken the trash out to the curb, but I still need to remember to charge up the camera batteries for tomorrow. I think I'm ready fora good night's sleep this evening.

April has already come and gone. This month was tiring and a bit stressful, but it went quickly. It's hard to believe that it's the first of May tomorrow. May is usually when it starts to get hot here in Dallas. Let's hope our unusually cool Spring lasts a bit longer.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1961

Maybe I was overly apprehensive about the dental surgery. Either the procedure wasn't as terrible as I anticipated, or the drugs haven't worn off yet. My jaw is uncomfortable, but the pain is nothing compared to the time I pinched a nerve in my neck a few years ago. Regular blog readers may remember this episode as one of the worst trips to Las Vegas in recorded history. Maybe I wouldn't be so fearful of dentists if there weren't all those consent form you have to sign. They are very graphic. Today, I had to initial a paragraph that said I understood that the dentist might break my jaw if the extraction was particularly difficult. To the surgeon's credit, he told me that he had never broken anyone's jaw, but that it does happen. I also had to initial another paragraph that said the dentist might have to leave a portion of the root attached to the jaw if he decided at his discretion that it would be more harmful to remove it.

Dentistry is a messy business. Unlike most other forms of surgery you can't just put a bandage on the results. Most dentist don't even suture the hole after they remove wisdom teeth. They just wait for a blood clot to seal the wound. Until that happens, you have to keep putting a gauze pad in your mouth to soak up the blood. I went through a lot of gauze pads today. I also wore a weird elastic contraption around my head that held a cold pack on the right side of my face. It looked like something out of a 1940's horror movie, but it worked. Whenever one of the cold packs melted, I would replace it with a frozen one in the freezer. I don't think I'll wear this device out in public, but it's great for sitting at the computer. I'm not a big fan of narcotics, so I definitely prefer ice as a pain reliever to Tramadol and Codeine. The dentist gave me a prescription for Codeine. I haven't used it yet, and doubt that I ever will.

The dogs are very intuitive. Whenever Janet or I have become sick, they become very calm and act like little nurses. Today when Janet brought me home loopy and full of anesthesia I knew the only thing to do was go back to bed. The dogs quietly curled up beside me and I slept for three hours. When I woke up, I couldn't really remember what happened at the dentist. I know that I talked to the surgeon right after I woke up, but I couldn't remember a thing. Janet said he gave all the same post-surgery information to her, telling her that I wasn't going to remember a thing. Those must be some powerful drugs.

As the day progressed, I began to feel increasingly normal. About mid-afternoon I felt good enough to sit down at the computer and write an article. It may not sound coherent to the client, but it looked pretty good to me. Dash is getting better too, so I took him on a longer walk this evening. His special sock stayed on for the entire walk and he hardly limped at all. I made sure he walked at a slow, measured pace, even though he loves to run. We've all got to do things at a slow measured pace these days.

I had Mac & Cheese for dinner, because it was one of the things on my "OK to eat" list. I should have had soup. I feel little particles of pasta stuck between my teeth and I'm not allowed to brush for another 24 hours. This is going to drive me nuts. I hate having little food particles in my teeth and use one of those dental water pics every night like a miniature pressure washer to remove the debris. Jeez, I'm not supposed to use a water pic for a week. What am I going to do?

Tomorrow that attention shifts from Dash's limp and my teeth to Dot's ongoing rehabilitation. We're scheduled for another session in the underwater treadmill. Things are getting back to normal.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1960

I think the antibiotics are working. Dash did a lot better at keeping all four paws on the ground today. He still limped a little when he tried to walk too fast, but his condition was visibly better than yesterday. It wasn't all smooth sailing though. Dash woke me up twice during the middle of the night to go outside. He raced around the yard on three legs like he was possessed. Dash acted like he had an upset stomach and needed to poop. After several tries, he eventually did. It could have been the Clavamox. On the other hand, it could have been something bad he ate in the park. The important thing was that Dash eventually did his business and we finally got some sleep.

I made some website revisions today and after I uploaded the new content, the client sent me an e-mail saying that nothing had changed. This happens all the time. Am I the only one who regularly clears my browser cache? I patiently explained that he was looking at an old version of the site and that if he re-loaded the page, cleared his browser cache in the preference menu, or just restarted the browser he would probably see the new changes. Since I never heard back from him, I guess one of those remedies worked.

I had some writing jobs today, but I got side-tracked experimenting with my mobile friendly test site. Today I learned how to create drop down menus that automatically re-size for different devices. Life was so much easier when everyone was looking at the same 17" CRT display and used their phones for making phone calls. I'm slowly getting comfortable working in this new responsive design environment, but I'm also getting bored with it. It's a race against time to see if I can learn enough to be useful before I get sick of the whole thing. It's getting harder to find a reason to stay on the cutting edge of anything anymore.

Tomorrow is the big day. I can't eat anything after 10 PM tonight and Janet has to drive me to the dentist tomorrow. I'm supposed to take an antibiotic and a pain killer one hour before surgery. There is a nice steak in the refrigerator, but Janet froze it, saying that I'll probably be eating soup for the rest of the week. The procedure is only supposed to take an hour or so, but somehow I think I'll be dealing with the aftermath for a lot longer. I just hope when I wake up from surgery that only one tooth is missing. I still have a fear than more than one will be removed if the oral surgeon decides that some other teeth can't be saved either. I know that the tooth right next to the impacted wisdom tooth has been damaged, but I'm hoping that all it will need is a filling. If the second tooth has to be removed, I will need an implant. Dental implants are a long, expensive process. Let's keep it simple. Just remove tooth number 32 and be done with it.

Tomorrow will be interesting. I've got lots of writing and website work that needs to get finished. The dogs still need their walks. Tomorrow's blog post needs to be written and published as well. I hope the anesthesia wears off in a hurry. I don't have time to be loopy all day.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1946

My impacted wisdom tooth is starting to hurt again, so I reluctantly re-scheduled my dental surgery. Since this surgery was supposed to take place in early February, I was kind of hoping that we would have to start all over again with new consultation visits and the surgery itself could be postponed until June or something. No such luck. They were able to work me in rather quickly. No extra visits needed. One of the reasons I postponed the surgery so long is that the money I had put aside to pay for it got used for Dot's spinal surgery. The other reason, was that I never wanted to have my wisdom teeth removed in the first place. I have been warned that painful teeth can go from mildly unpleasant to excruciating almost overnight, so I can't continue to delay this forever. I'm always a little nervous that even good dentists seldom use board-certified anesthesiologists for surgical procedures. They often just handle the anesthesia themselves. Jeez, I'd hate to wind up the way Joan Rivers did.

Since my mind was on medical things today, I also made an appointment for Dash's annual physical.  Last year when Dash had his annual exam, he was still going through radiation treatment for his thyroid cancer. I hope this year's exam is a lot more routine. The exam won't be long and Dash's vet is nearby, so this will be a good time to see how Dot does on her own. Since she can sit and stand reasonably well now, I think she'll be fine. I'll leave her in a secure area with a non-slip rug under her feet and hope she doesn't bark the entire time I'm gone. If this goes well, I'll feel better about leaving her for a longer amount of time when I go to have my wisdom tooth removed.

There was a noisy commotion in the alley behind our house this morning when city street crews brought in a road grader to grade the surface. Years ago the city greatly improved the dirt alley by mixing a cement product with the gravel that created a hard surface after being exposed to water. For some inexplicable reason, the grader removed all of this hard surface today. Now, the alley is just raw dirt, which will instantly turn into a mud pit the next time it rains. Luckily, we don't use the alley for our cars, but this new development will make the dogs harder to clean up on rainy days. I'll be the first to admit that the alley needed improvements, but the city just made it worse. Go figure.

Work was still slow today, so I continued my quest to rediscover my inner audio engineer. I downloaded missing instruction manuals for more old audio gear and began to re-learn what I used to know by heart. I could probably spend the rest of my life re-learning essential skills that I've forgotten. After I become competent at recording and mixing again, I could get out my watch repair tools and learn to fix watches again. I've certainly got plenty of watches that need fixing. I could learn to process black and white film again and start taking pictures with my old Nikons. I could hook up a keyboard and learn to play the piano again. The list is endless.

I enjoy dabbling. It's too bad I still need to work to pay vet bills, dentists, landscapers, and accountants. I'd be fairly content to get up every morning and re-learn things I've forgotten. If that got boring, I could start re-reading books in my library. These books will seem like new again, since I can't remember how half of them end anyway. I doubt that I'll get the opportunity to be this indulgent though. Re-learning how to record tunes on forty year old gear and re-reading a floor to ceiling wall of novels isn't going to pay the bills.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1878

Today was one of those days where I wish I was sitting in front of a roaring fire, sipping a cup of hot chocolate as I read a good book. It was miserable outside. The temperature hovered around thirty degrees as a light mist made everything seem even colder. Technically, the rain should have frozen, but luckily it didn't. Icy roads and Texas drivers aren't a good mix. I don't even attempt to go out when the roads ice over anymore. It is just too treacherous.

Writing jobs have started to trickle in again. I was beginning to think that everyone had forgotten about me, but maybe they were just reading the blog and knew I was in California. I think most people know better than to ask me to do two things at once anymore. I don't multitask well at all.

It was Dot's physical therapy day today. She seemed a little tired in the underwater treadmill and appeared to be tense during her acupuncture session. Maybe it was my fault. I was talking to the vet while she was receiving acupuncture and Dot is not really fond of me talking. Most of the time I spend with the dogs, I don't say much of anything. Why should I? It's just me and them. After years and years of spending our days like this, I think Dot sometimes gets alarmed when I talk. We have lots of non verbal communication, but talking just isn't normal. When neighbors stop me to chat on our walks, Dot often starts barking at them. I don't know what she's trying to say, but I suspect it's something like "Go away, he's mine and we've got walking to do."

The date for my dental surgery is drawing closer and closer. I'm dreading this surgery and still don't know how many teeth I'm going to be left with when it's over. I do have a bad cavity on the wisdom tooth that is going to be removed, but I don't understand why a dentist can't just put a filling in and leave the tooth alone. Three different, very reputable dentists have all told me that this is impossible, but it doesn't make sense to me. This tooth came in crooked and is partially impacted, but the root is still good. Why can't they just fill the cavity in this tooth like any other tooth?

It appears that I am not out of the woods yet with my video project. The sound is excellent. The images are well lit and very pretty. I followed the clients instructions exactly. Nevertheless, now that there is a finished product, the client sees new things she'd like to add and wants me to come back and re-shoot a large portion of the video later this month. No change in the budget unfortunately. Jeez, I'm not making much on this in the first place, so this doesn't appeal to me at all. So much for a long series of videos that will keep me busy for the rest of the year.  I'll finish this one, but I don't think I'll be doing any more. It's just too discouraging when people think that shooting a video is easy because they can do the same thing using their phone.

At least tomorrow is Friday. I will go enjoy a delicious breakfast at my favorite restaurant and as I sip my morning coffee, I suspect I will contemplate retirement a little more seriously than I have before.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1857

I saw the sun today. It's amazing what a little sunlight and blue skies can do. It was still cold outside and I had way too much work to do, but today was much more satisfying than yesterday. Let's hope the clear skies continue for long enough for the ground to dry up. Although the sun made me happy today, cleaning my muddy boots didn't. I don't know how Northerners keep their houses clean. It all seems pretty hopeless to me.

I've heard that tonight is an ideal time to try and see Comet Lovejoy. I doubt that I'll be able to see the comet with all the city lights, but since I didn't even think I'd have the opportunity, I'm going to go out with a pair of binoculars and give it a try. The comet is located near the constellation Orion. This is something even I can find in the night sky, so maybe there's hope.

I called the oral surgeon's office today to confirm my surgery appointment and discovered that the estimate they gave me was for having all four wisdom teeth removed. Whoa! I thought that estimate was too high. The last thing I want is to go to the dentist thinking I'm having one tooth removed and wake up to discover that four are gone. The receptionist explained that almost everybody has all four wisdom teeth removed at the same time, so they just assumed I was going to do this too. "That's not what the dentist and I talked about," I said. Jeez. If I ever have to have all my wisdom teeth removed, I prefer to have them removed one at a time at ten year intervals.

Dot did great at her physical therapy session today. I'm amazed at how much stronger she seems than last January. Since a large part of the year was spent recovering from cancer, her new found strength and stamina seems even more remarkable. I keep thinking that if Dot can do this, maybe I can too. Hopefully, after a year or so, my own physical therapy efforts will start paying dividends as well. I've got to remember that nothing dramatic ever happened during Dot's therapy. There were no decisive moments. She just very slowly began to improve over a long period of time.

There are articles to write tomorrow, broken websites to fix, photo shoots to schedule, and a pile of bills to pay. I'm still going to have a nice breakfast at my favorite restaurant though. I deserve it.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1855

I did end up going out for breakfast this morning in an effort to add some life to this cold, grey day. My meal was delicious, but the weather remained absolutely awful. The dogs and I have reached a consensus not to walk quite as far in the mornings. What is the point? All we get for our efforts are wet paws, muddy boots and a strong desire to take a nap when we return. When I returned from breakfast and opened the back door so the dogs could go outside and pee, they just glared at me from their dog beds. They had no desire to go outside again. I certainly couldn't blame them, since I was planning on spending the rest of the day inside as well.

I didn't have to worry about being bored today. There was plenty to do. I spent most of the day writing, and when I was finished with my assignments, there were the inevitable website updates as well. The work isn't rocket science, but I really can't complain. With all its drawbacks, I still prefer staring at a computer in a quiet house to working in an office. I don't think I could ever go back to an office again.

I hate to admit that I'm a little nervous about having my wisdom teeth removed on Friday the 13th. I need to think of a better excuse than pure superstition before I call the dentist and change the date however. I hate to think of myself as a superstitious person, even though I am. A regular blog reader told me today that he's lived with a dead tooth for over 40 years. That sounds good to me. All I really need is twenty-five years. No self respecting dentist would ever leave a dead tooth in your mouth though. They'll fill your head with dire warnings until you're convinced that you're going to die if you don't have the tooth removed immediately. I don't know why I have such a fear of dentists. I was in far greater danger when I had Hepatitis C, but the fear of having a tooth removed has always trumped everything.

Even since I got my new Bluetooth UP 24 band, I've been noticing that my phone battery has been draining almost twice as fast. This is irritating, because I hate to charge my phone more than once a day. Any decent battery ought to last at least a full day. I tried all sorts of schemes to extend battery life until I stumbled on the obvious. I just turn the phone off at night. Works like a charm. When the phone is completely powered down, the battery doesn't seem to discharge at all. So far, I see no downside to this technique. If anyone calls me in the middle of the night, I don't want the call anyway.

I think I need to tell my physical therapist to back off on the stretching exercises. Every time I go for my therapy appointment, the therapist adds three new exercises. If I did all these exercises faithfully, I'd spend half my day stretching. I have gained some mobility, but it comes at a price. I'm constantly sore these days.

I'm hoping for warmer weather tomorrow. I've got a lot of writing to do so I won't be outside much anyway, but it would still be nice if I didn't feel like I was heading toward the North Pole when the dogs and I head off on our morning walk.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1819

Some days are more discouraging than others. I woke up with a sore throat this morning. I knew I was going to catch a cold yesterday, when several of the volunteers for our photo shoot turned up with bad colds. If I'm around someone who has a cold, I almost always catch it. Ironically, I almost never get sick, because I'm not around other people very much. Children are the worst. If I'm even in the same room with a child, I catch a cold. I wish this weren't the case, but it is. I've lost my immunity to people.

When I took my car in for service this morning they informed me that this was going to be a "major" service. Major almost always means expensive. They replace all the fluids, clean the fuel injectors, install new brake pads, rotate the tires, adjust the suspension, and all sorts of other preventative stuff. When all is said and done, you get back a car that looks and feels exactly like the one you drove up in. I'm never able to tell any difference whatsoever after a major service. I always do everything they say however, because I don't want to be calling a tow truck with a sick dog in the back of the car.

Even though it looks like my service visit will be expensive, I'm sure the cost will seem trivial compared to the cost of my upcoming dental work. The specialty dentist I went to today examined me and said he didn't feel comfortable extracting my wisdom teeth because of the unusually long roots. Now, I have to go see another, even more advanced oral surgeon who is an MD as well as a dental surgeon. Dentists always assign teeth a number. Both of the dentists I've seen so far tell me that when tooth number 32 is extracted, they suspect that number 31 will need to be pulled as well. Since the molar next to the wisdom tooth has a cavity below the gum line, they are not sure that a root canal could save the tooth. They aren't even sure if the tooth is still alive. The general consensus so far is that after I have the wisdom tooth removed, I will then have to replace the adjacent molar with a dental implant.

Getting an implant done properly is a long and very expensive process. The damaged tooth is removed and sterile bone power is placed in the jaw where it fuses into new bone in four to six months. When this new bone is solid and stable, a titanium post is implanted in the jaw. The bone slowly grows around this post, attaching it firmly to the jawbone. This process takes another four to six months. When the post has fused with your jaw, a crown is attached and you're done. The whole procedure takes up to a year to complete and involves three different dentists. I'm not looking forward to this at all.

So, there you have it. The stock market had another terrible day and I'm beginning to think some of my assumptions about China and the energy markets were wrong. Dental insurance is more or less worthless if you need anything serious done. After investigating my options I don't think I'll even bother with it. I'm still busy, but my remaining clients keep cutting their budgets. At a time where it would be nice to have more money, I am faced with having less. I shouldn't whine though. I need to remember that even though this was a bad day, it has basically been a pretty good year. Both dogs survived cancer this year and I no longer have Hepatitis C. Sometime in the future I'll look back and be glad I fixed my teeth.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1818

Today's Santa Paws photo shoot was in Lewisville, so I had to get up a little earlier than usual to make the 40 mile drive to our location. The crowds were a little lighter than yesterday, but I still ended up with almost 800 images on my memory cards. There were no mishaps today at all. The dogs were friendly and all the equipment worked. I even managed to get the MicroSync transmitter that broke yesterday working again.

It's surprising how many people come to these events year after year. One photo session made me sad today. A dog I have known almost since he was a pup is finally approaching the end of his life. His family wanted some special portraits to remember him by, since they didn't think he would make it another year. I have taken the final portraits of many Dalmatians over the years and I always wish they could live a little longer. Dogs live just long enough to work their way into your heart and then they are gone. Maybe Jasper can make it one more year though. I certainly hope so.

We had Pizza for lunch today. These photo events are the only time I ever eat lunch. If I ate lunch every day, I'm sure I'd be twenty pounds heavier. I don't see how people do it. Even if it weren't for all the extra calories, three meals a day just takes up too much time. I like a leisurely breakfast, but that's about it for me. I certainly don't spend much time on dinner. That being said, the pizza was delicious. I figure I deserve to indulge on days like this. The work is tiring and I'm surprisingly hungry. Maybe if I worked hard every day, I could eat like a horse. I suspect that if I did manual labor for a living, I'd be dead by now though. My bones and joints are just barely holding together as it is.

Dot was surprisingly energetic on our evening walk. I guess this shouldn't seem that surprising since she and Dash just slept all day while we were gone. Janet thinks I worry too much, but I still hate to leave the dogs for long periods of time. When I photograph all these old dogs, it really hits home just how short their lives are. I read an article recently saying that since dogs have been domesticated for centuries, they age in a very similar way that we do. They tend to get Alzheimer's, dementia, and cancer at almost the same rate as humans. The point of the article was that since old dogs live longer when they eat the best possible food, take lots of naps, and continue to stay active with long walks, we could do ourselves a big favor by living our own lives the same way. I ought to do pretty well, since just about all I do is shop for healthy food, take lots of naps, and take long daily walks with Dot and Dash.

Tomorrow I take my car to the dealer for a service check and go see the oral surgeon who is going to remove my wisdom teeth for an initial consultation. My car and my teeth have both been remarkably reliable. I really have had no problems at all with this new car, which is certainly a change of pace from my old Defender. The Defender was always in the shop, but I loved it anyway. Whenever I do see a dentist, they always tell me I have great teeth. They also tell me that if I saw a dentist a little more frequently, I might not have any problems at all. The decay in my wisdom tooth is totally my fault. Dentists told me ten years ago that I should have the tooth removed because it was coming in at an angle and was prone to cavities. They were right!

I know I take better care of the dogs, my cars, and my cameras than I take care of myself, but I really thought my teeth could make it another twenty years on their own.  I guess, like everything else in life, they're going to need a little help.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1814

Well, the news wasn't good at the dentist. I have extensive decay in one of my lower wisdom teeth and the tooth will have to be removed by an oral surgeon. This particular wisdom tooth has always been a problem because it came in at an angle and is pressing against my other teeth. The cavity on the wisdom tooth has spread to the adjacent molar and the dentist won't be able to tell whether this tooth can be saved until the wisdom tooth is removed. Evidently the location of the decay in the molar might make it very difficult to repair. I need to see an Endodontist as well, to see if telltale signs of a root canal problem in another tooth that showed up on today's x-rays needs further attention. So, that's three different teeth and three different dentists. I'm not looking forward to this.

On the plus side of things, the dentist I went to today was fantastic. Janet, who has had every dental problem imaginable, recommended him and as far as I'm concerned, he lived up to his "super-dentist" reputation. This guy, who mostly does complex Prosthodontic dentistry, was extremely knowledgeable and had an array of high-tech equipment that I didn't even know existed. Have you ever had a panoramic dental x-ray? You stick your entire head into a large machine which takes a 360 degree digital picture of your mouth. Digital x-rays are kind of amazing, since you see them on screen as they are being taken. You can blow them up quite large and see all the tiny little blood vessels that keep the teeth alive. I've never seen my teeth in such detail.

On my way home from the dentist, a message appeared on the instrument panel of my car that said "Service Required." I'd never seen this message before, so I stopped by the Land Rover dealer to see what it meant. It turned out that there was nothing wrong. The message was just a reminder that it was time for my next scheduled service. Evidently these messages are pre-programmed into the car's computer and appear when the car decides it's time to hand over some more money to the dealer. I went ahead and scheduled a service appointment while I was at the dealer. I've had Land Rovers for long enough to have learned that you ignore maintenance on these cars at your own peril. I'd much rather have a little sign on the dash remind me now, than have to call a tow truck later. At any rate, with three dental visits and a car repair, it looks like it's going to be an expensive month.

It was much warmer today, but it was also much cloudier. It looked like it was going to rain all day, which probably means the rain will just be delayed until it's time to take Dot for her physical therapy session tomorrow. Maybe it will just rain while we sleep tonight. That would make life a little easier.

I'll investigate dental insurance tomorrow, but I'm not expecting much. If you need anything complex done, dental insurance only pays a small fraction of the total cost. Every little bit helps though, so I'll see what I can find out. I got approved for physical therapy on my shoulder today as well. That will be one more doctor I need to add to my contact list. Oh, to be 25 again. I'm sure Dot thinks the same thing whenever she sees a squirrel. We're both doing the best we can to age gracefully, but as far as we're concerned, getting old sucks.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 672

I went to the dentist today. This visit was a lot easier than it was last year, when I finally broke my ten year dental hiatus to get a broken filling fixed. This year, the hygienist just cleaned my teeth, while the dentist explained to me why it was almost inevitable that at least one of my wisdom teeth will have to be pulled. The problem tooth is coming in a bit sideways and putting pressure on the tooth next to it. This is what caused my filling to break last year and it looks like the replacement filling is now being damaged by the same errant wisdom tooth. Knowing my aversion to dentistry, my dentist told me that I didn't need to make a decision immediately and suggested that I get a second opinion from a good oral surgeon. As much as I hate the idea, my dentist is probably right. I'm pretty sure that the tooth has to go.

A cold front blew through last night and it was quite a bit cooler this morning. I not only had to wear a jacket on our morning walk, I ended up wearing one on the evening walk as well. It won't be long before we'll have to turn the furnace on at night again. We've got the time change coming pretty soon too. I've noticed lately that it's still dark in the morning at 7 AM. That's fine by me. I'm not a morning person anyway and I'd much rather have darkness when I make the bed in the morning instead of when I walk the dogs in the evening. As soon as standard time returns, it's going to be difficult to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down.

I've started putting a photo from my portfolio on my Google+ page every day, mostly because I certainly don't have time to write anything on yet another social network. Today's photo received 27 +1s, which is almost as good as some of the famous photographers. I know I shouldn't care about such things, but it's real easy to get sucked in to all the Internet ranking systems. I've heard that some companies have even started to factor your Klout score into their hiring decisions. I wonder how someone who grew up with all this stuff feels? It would be a sad day if your self worth was determined by your Internet ranking.

Lil' Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day