Day 801

I was surprised to receive a plate of French Toast this morning when I went out for breakfast. I thought I had ordered a waffle, but then I remembered thinking waffle while actually saying the words French Toast. Oops. I do stuff like this more often than I care to admit. Later in the morning when I was paying a stack of bills, I realized I had paid Janet's cell phone bill instead of mine. Oops again. Hey, it's an easy mistake to make. Our bills are as similar as french toast and waffles. We both have iPhones and our names both start with a J. Occasionally, my lack of attention works in my benefit though. I was surprised to get a check almost immediately from my newest client and then realized I had forgotten to include the words "30 Days Net" on my invoices like I usually do. They must have assumed my terms were pay on receipt.

Texas weather continues to confuse me. The temperature must have dropped 30 degrees last night. Instead of yesterday's Springlike conditions, I was forced to dig my down jacket out of the closet again. Back and forth it goes like this. Tomorrow it could be 80 degrees again. At least the furnace is still working. It would be embarrasing to have to call the furnace guys out for a fourth time this Winter.

We're going to go up to the boarding kennel tomorrow and walk Odie and the other Dalmatians. I don't think we'll be bringing Odie over to the house again this time. Dot made it pretty clear last week that two Dalmatians were enough. We'd like to see Odie again before he finds his forever home though. He's already getting some interest and I have a feeling he's going to find a home quickly.

I turned in this month's assignment for my writer's group this afternoon. The topic this time was "Patience." I've got lots of patience. I just don't know what I'm waiting for.

Nora is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 800

We had a scary incident in the park this morning. A large white dog that looked almost identical to the one that attacked Dash when he was younger came after us again. If it was the same dog, it was considerably older now, and maybe that's what saved us this time. I screamed at the dog to stay while keeping my body between it and Dot and Dash. Amazingly, the dog did stay, while we made our retreat. Dash was terrified. I don't think he will ever forget the attack that almost killed him. I was bitten during the attack as well and will never forget the incident either. To this day, I am extremely nervous around loose dogs in our neighborhood. People need to keep their gates and fences secure and always keep their dogs on a leash in public areas. I just don't understand why so many people let their dogs run loose in a busy city like Dallas.

I think the groundhog might have been wrong this year. It was over eighty degrees today. I can't remember a February this warm. Usually, this time of year is pretty nasty. If there is going to be snow or ice in Dallas, it almost always happens in February. Hey, maybe we'll catch a break this year. It was so warm today that I seriously considered turning on the air conditioner. The only reason I hesitated is that I remembered doing unseasonal things like this with the HVAC system usually causes it to break. I left the AC alone and opened the windows instead. It's such a novelty to actually open your windows in Texas. It's almost always either too cold or to hot to do this. Today was the exception though, and we enjoyed a nice breeze through the open windows and hopefully cleared out some of the stuffy air inside the house.

Did any of you guys actually think I would be able to go 800 days without missing a single post? I certainly didn't. This is day 800 though. I made it, despite neck problems, power outages and the occasional weird travel schedule. Now, 1000 days really seems within reach.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 799

Here's why I hate computers. I get this e-mail from Quark Express about a month ago telling me not to upgrade to OS 10.7.3 yet, because it was not compatible with Quark. I dutifully go to my control panel and deselect the automatic upgrade option. Several weeks go by and one morning when I start up my computer I get a dialog box asking if I'd like to upgrade to OS 10.7.3. By this time, I've completely forgotten about the earlier message from Quark, so I just click "yes" and the upgrade is installed. About an hour later a client says they need a reprint of a poster I did for them last year. I click on the Quark application so I can print the file, and you guessed it, the application doesn't work anymore, just like Quark warned me. Very frustrating, to say the least!

My Quark Express is toast. I finally figure out how to print the poster my client wants from an old PDF file and then halfway through the printing process, I run out of ink. I drive over to the printer store and buy $150 worth of ink, just so I can make a single courtesy print of an old poster I'd completely forgotten about.

Talking with tech support at Quark while trying in vain to revive my ailing application wasted several hours this morning. Talking with Network Solutions to help another client move one of their domains to a less expensive registrar ate up even more time. Evidently my name was listed as the technical contact for this domain, but it didn't show up in the list of domains I manage. I must have created an account for the domain years ago and then totally forgotten about it. The client forgot too, because no website was ever developed for this domain. Since I couldn't figure out how to log-in to the control panel of the mystery account I have created, I had to convince Network Solutions that I really was who I said I was and get them to make the changes for me. Maybe we should have just let the domain expire. It will probably still sit around unused for another five years.

For some reason Dot didn't want to go to class tonight. She refused to get out of the car and glued herself to the back seat, just like she does when we take her for a bath. She wouldn't budge. I finally had to get in the car and carry her out. Once she was out with the other dogs, she did just fine, but she clearly would have rather stayed home this evening. I can't figure out why she balked tonight. It was really one of the nicest evenings we've had all Winter. Even after dark, the temperature was still over 70 degrees.

A large printing company that used to send me lot of annual report writing work finally responded to my query. Apparently, all their customers are writing their annual report copy themselves this year. Why am I not surprised?

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 798

It was an absolutely beautiful day. It's hard to believe this is still February and we could still have snow. Somehow, snow doesn't even seem a remote possibility when it's 75 degrees outside and you can see green buds on the trees everywhere you look. I'll have to admit though that maybe the trees are getting a little ahead of themselves. We've had terrible weather during the second half of February before. I can even remember snow in March, although it's been a long time.

If I had more time, today would have been a good day for birdwatching. I must have seen at least twenty different species of birds on my morning walk with Dot and Dash. Unfortunately, just because I can see the birds doesn't mean I can photograph them. Many birds have a habit of flying into thick brush just as I approach. My bird photography has no technique whatsoever. I never wait patiently in a hidden blind for birds to approach. Instead, I announce my approach with two barking Dalmatians who like to chase birds. Amazingly, I still get a good shot now and then.

I can tell tax season is approaching by the increasing number of envelopes that come in the mail with "Important Tax Information" printed on the outside. I seldom understand what this information means, but I put all the messages in a big manilla envelope for my accountant anyway. Since it was a holiday yesterday, quite a few things came in the mail today, including another package from Klout. This time it was a poster autographed by the cast of a TV show I had never even heard of and definitely never watched. I could understand getting the dog blanket. I write about dogs all the time. This poster was a mystery though. Why they thought I should have this, I'll never know.

Either I'm getting more work than I had last year, or I'm just getting slower at completing assignments. I can never seem to get caught up anymore. Just when I think I'm getting close to catching up, more things for me to do arrive in my in-box. I guess it's good to be busy, but I really don't have time to do anything new anymore. I get up in the morning, walk the dogs, fix breakfast, take a shower, write and update websites, walk and feed the dogs again, eat dinner, write the blog and go to sleep. This routine almost never changes.

Maybe if I was smarter with my investments, I wouldn't have to work so hard. The Dow briefly hit 13,000 today. It's been a long time since the market was this high. Sadly, I have less money than the last time the Dow hit 13,000. This is counter-intuitive, but I bet a lot of other folks are in exactly the same situation. I would have been better off if I had quit looking at my brokerage statements for the past three years, and instead of trying to course correct, did absolutely nothing instead. During the big financial crash of 1978, I did absolutely nothing. I just quit looking at my statements and ignored the market. Eventually, the market rebounded and I did just fine. It's hard to ignore the market when everyone around you is saying the sky is falling however. This time, I listened to my friends and my broker and tried to outwit the market. Bad move! I would have been much better off today if I had just ignored the big crash three years ago. Markets eventually rebound. It just takes a while.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 797 - President's Day

What a busy day! Janet and I picked up Odie this morning. Odie is what is called an owner surrender in animal rescue circles. He wasn't running stray or lost. His owner just didn't want him anymore. I can never understand why so many people just turn their backs on their pets like this. We see cases like this again and again. Often someone has lost their job, is involved in a messy divorce, or is moving to another part of the country. There is always a reason for dumping the dog, but these reasons never make a lot of sense to me. I think when times are tough is exactly when you'd need a dog the most. Dogs never criticize when you get yourself into a mess. They're just as loyal when you screw up as when you are doing great. If things were going poorly for me, I'd never want to give up my dogs. I'd eat dog food myself before I'd abandon a dog.

Our job this morning was to take Odie from his former owner and deliver him to the Dalmatian Rescue vet. The vet was closed for lunch when we picked him up however, so we brought the dog over to our house for a while. Odie, the new guy, seemed much more well adjusted than our own dogs. Territorial Dot barked at Odie and timid Dash was scared of the big guy's size. To calm the waters, we took all the dogs on a walk together. Cesar Millan says the best way to introduce dogs to each other is to take them on a walk together. This tactic has certainly proved to be true in our own experience. At the end of the walk, all three dogs were getting along fine.

President's Day certainly wasn't much of a holiday. In theory, Janet got the day off, but she had to go back to work anyway after we took Odie to the vet. I never get holidays, or maybe everyday is a holiday. I can never decide. I did have plenty of work to do today however. Once Odie was safely at the vet, I went back to the business of writing articles and updating websites. Even with all the other activities going on today, I seemed to get as much done as I usually do.

Tomorrow, Dash goes back to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot. Our mail carrier will start delivering the mail again and hopefully it won't rain. I'm actually looking forward to a boring, uneventful day.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 796

We spent most of the day at the Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras parade in McKinney, Texas. McKinney is one of those beautiful small towns with a town square that has a courthouse in the middle. Most of the shops in the historic town square have been converted into chic restaurants and antique stores, but visiting this town still brings back memories of the town I grew up in. This is what America used to look like. It's kind of sad that towns like McKinney survive by turning themselves into architectural theme parks, but what are you going to do? The industries that used to keep towns like these thriving all across America left long ago. I have a feeling that places like McKinney will become thriving retirement communities. When you think about growing old in a quaint little town like this or a crime ridden city like Dallas, the choice is pretty clear.

Dalmatian Rescue has been coming to this Mardi Gras parade for three or four years now. I don't think the dogs understand the tradition of pre-Lent reveling, but they do seem to enjoy being outdoors and getting to see lots of other dogs. Dot seems to enjoy being in charge of the Dalmatian Rescue booth. As soon as we get the tent set up and are ready for business, there she is, standing tall at our table and greeting visitors. People seem to love seeing Dot take charge this way. She's a bossy girl, but she can be quite charming.

Dash was a hit during the parade. As the procession wound its way around the town square, Dash barked continually at everything he saw. He was wearing a Texas Rangers baseball costume and the crowd would yell "Go Rangers" as we passed. He seemed to enjoy the attention, especially when an endless stream of little kids came up to pet him at our booth. Both dogs were tired at the end of the afternoon and slept on the way home. We didn't hear a peep out of Dash during the entire long ride back to Dallas. Our strange boy is finally starting to mature.

Tomorrow is President's Day. This holiday has become so vague that I can't even remember which president's we are honoring anymore. Janet gets the day off, but I still have to work. I was hoping to get a little writing done today, but the day went by too quickly. Hey, I can write any day of the week. It was nice to get out in the sun today and enjoy a little taste of an early Spring. Tomorrow, I may need to forgo the pleasant weather. I'm behind on everything.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 795

Today was a day only a duck could love. It rained and rained and rained. In fact, it's still raining. You guys probably know how I feel about rain by now. Janet wanted to give the dogs a bath because of the big Mardi Gras parade tomorrow. It was hopeless keeping them clean though. It was equally hopeless trying to keep the water off the roof. I went up twice today to sweep away the standing water and both efforts were futile. Within thirty minutes, the roof looked like a stock pond again. I'm surprised there were no ducks swimming around on the roof. There was certainly enough water for them. The rain will eventually stop, but until it does, I've resigned myself to cleaning up the dripping spots inside. Hopefully, the rain clouds will move on to the East tonight. This certainly isn't the best weather for a parade.

I connected the new shock mount I got yesterday to the microphone I got 25 years ago and everything screwed together perfectly. I was absolutely amazed. How many products stay exactly the same for 25 years? Not very many! the microphone was so old it said "Made in Western Germany" while the shock mount just said made in Germany. Despite the age difference, not a single dimension had changed. Best of all, the old mic is even more desirable today than it was then.

I like products like this. That's why I like my Defender 90 so much. The car has remained essentially unchanged for decades. Back when photographers still used film, I loved shooting with a Leica. There were no batteries. No real frills at all. It was just a precision tool that took great pictures and remained essentially unchanged for over thirty years.

A lot of people worship change these days, but not me. I'm irritated that my computer is continually out of date. I was happy enough with the computer I had ten years ago. It did everything I needed. It might not have been fast by today's standards, but it certainly seemed fast at the time. You couldn't give this ten year old computer away now. Nobody would want it. People collect old watches, old cars, and old cameras, but old computers are destined to become land fill.

When we took the dogs for a bath today, we discovered that the place is moving. The landlord had doubled the rent for the building and the owners are being forced to move elsewhere. What a shame. This place is so convenient that I can walk the dogs over to give them a bath. Once again I am reminded that change is not always for the better.

I do hope the weather changes soon though. We'll be going to the Krewe of Barkus parade whatever happens, and it would be so much nicer for everyone if the weather is cooperative.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 794

I went out for breakfast again this morning. On one side of me were two old ladies who kept taking the cash out of their purses and counting it over and over again for the duration of their meal. I don't know whether they were trying to calculate their tip or were worried that they didn't have enough to pay for their eggs. On the other side of me was a young couple wearing Doc Martins and festooned with tattoos. The shabby way these two were dressed, you could have sworn they lived in a trailer park. I knew better though. They were probably just advertising creative people. She was carrying a $1500 Coach purse and he had a pair of Porsche Design sunglasses perched on the top of his head.

I was trying to explain Klout to Janet recently. "It's this new website that sends you free stuff, based on how popular they think you are on the Internet," I told her. "If you're really popular, you might get free airline tickets or even a cruise. If you're like me, you'll get this grey dog blanket that came in the mail today." Hey, I'm not complaining though. Dot and Dash can always use a new dog blanket to go with the 27 others they already have.

Along with the grey Klout dog blanket, I also received a shock mount in the mail for a microphone I bought over 25 years ago. Why did I wait twenty five years to get a shock mount for this particular microphone? Lord only knows. Twenty five years ago, I was a serious songwriter. I wrote a new song every couple of days and was even considering moving to Nashville. I wonder what happened? Today, I'm just a guy who likes to get stuff in the mail.

I spent most of the day writing watch articles. My watch client has started a new marketing push that will keep me busy until the middle of March. I really need to check the Guinness Book of Records and see if this category has been covered. I can't imagine anybody writing more watch articles in a single year than I have.

Janet is finishing up costumes for the dogs to wear at the big Mardi Gras parade on Sunday. I think Dot is going as Miss America and Dash as a baseball player. Why? You'll have to ask the dogs about that.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 793

Why do software updates come so frequently now? I just installed Lion on my computer a few weeks ago and I'm already getting e-mails about the impending release of the next Apple OS, strangely named Mountain Lion. I'm assuming that this breed of Lion is different than the Lion I already have and will cause me just as many problems when I eventually decide to upgrade. I'm having the same problem with the Avid Media Composer software I recently started using. I literally just finished installing version 6.0 of Media Composer when I get an e-mail saying that version 6.01 is here and that it is an essential upgrade. Avid never makes it easy to upgrade either. You usually have to completely uninstall the previous version of the software and start over from scratch. Sometimes you even have to re-register the upgrade.

I just don't get the necessity for all these upgrades. Most people, including myself, don't even fully learn the old software before it's time to trade up to something new. Personally, I was happy enough with Photoshop 6.0 and would still be using it if my clients hadn't shamed me into upgrading to CS5. I'm sure it's better, but after years of use, I still hadn't learned all the secrets of Photoshop 6 and 7.

As recently as five years ago, I would have been knee deep in annual report writing by mid February. New annual report jobs awarded so far this year? Zero. That's not good. Writing annual reports used to be a good source of income for me. It was a good source of income for a lot of photographers and designers I know as well. Somehow it has totally fallen out of fashion for companies to produce elaborate annual reports these days. I guess they don't want shareholders to think they are being wasteful. The old style reports were a bit expensive, often having a unit cost as high as $5 each, but they kept a lot of small businesses like mine alive during the Winter and early Spring. Jeez! What's a boy to do when companies of all sizes just staple a cover to their 10-K Form and call it an annual report? There's nothing to write anymore.

I think I'll go out for breakfast again tomorrow. It's a sign of just how boring and predictible my life has become when I start looking forward to a waffle in a restaurant once a week.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 792

It was a busy day. I methodically moved from one thing to the next and by the end of the day I had accomplished a lot more than I thought I would. I used to have at least one day a week where I would work in the yard or tackle some household repair project. These days, I can't seem to get away from the computer. Between the website updates, the writing assignments, and the seemingly futile efforts to get my Klout score above 50, there just isn't any extra time. I've settled into a routine that starts with the dogs and ends with the blogs. I guess I'm glad I've gotten playing in a band and having gallery shows out of my system, because I really don't know where I'd find the time for these activities anymore.

Even with too much on my plate already, I still keep adding more things to my daily routine. I'm actually glad I added daily photographs to my list, even though it makes the walks with Dot and Dash a bit longer and more difficult. I've taken more photographs in the past month than I typically take in a year. I'm developing a whole new style of shooting as well. If you don't think it's difficult to take nature photographs while holding two very strong and rambunctious Dalmatians on a leash, just try it sometime. I've learned to quickly wrap the leashes around my foot when I see something interesting, so I can steady the camera better. I've also learned to start shooting as I approach something, because if I wait for the perfect vantage point, the dogs will invariably scare the critters away. Thinking quickly and shooting fast isn't usually the way I approach photography, but this run and gun style has actually improved my eye. I'm starting to see things I never noticed before.

I wish I could figure a way to do my writing assignments as fast as I do my photography now. I don't think it's going to happen though. Writing has always been a slow, methodical process for me. I write a sentence, take a sip of coffee, change a word or two in the previous sentence and then move on to the next sentence. I have to concentrate more when I write as well. When I'm working in Photoshop, it's fine to listen to music, but I never listen to music when I write. It destroys my concentration.

I don't think music affects the dogs one way or the other. What destroys their concentration are other dogs. At training class tonight, there was a young pit bull in the beginners class that would snap and growl at any dog that came anywhere near it. Even though we were in a completely different class, this behavior put all the dogs in our class on edge. They knew exactly what was going on.

Even though it was sunny most of the day, it must have rained again last night. There's water up on the roof again. I didn't have time to get up there today, but it's first on my list for tomorrow. Water leaks are kind of like death and taxes. You can ignore them, but you can't make them go away.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 791 - Valentine's Day

You could tell that I didn't have much going on today. Once again, I waited forever in an impossibly long Valentine's Day line for some seriously overpriced cupcakes. Yup. I went to Sprinkles. I'm not complaining though. I really like these cupcakes. Sprinkles is a way to be genuinely indulgent without actually spending all that much money. Hey, you don't have to go out and buy a Porsche 911 or a Cartier Santos watch. Just go pick up half a dozen cupcakes at Sprinkles.

Texas weather keeps confusing me. This morning I wore a down jacket while I walked the dogs. By the afternoon, it had warmed up so much that didn't need a coat at all. It was practically T-shirt weather this afternoon. I hope the warm spell lasts through the weekend. We have a big outdoor Dalmatian Rescue event this weekend. It's an annual Mardi Gras pet parade and you never know what to expect because the date for Mardi Gras changes every year. This year it's a bit earlier than usual, but if this nice weather continues, everything will be fine.

I'm watching Westminster Dog Show as I write this. This year a Dalmatian actually made it to the finals for the best of show competition. Amazing. Dalmatians never seem to win this show. I can't even remember the last time a Dalmatian won the Westminster. Maybe this will be their lucky year though. As soon as I post this, I'm going to go root for the Dalmatian in the best of show competition.

The Sprinkles cupcakes were delicious. Especially with a glass of champagne. Valentine's Day is a weird little holiday. Nobody ever gets off work for Valentine's Day and yet it's quite important for many people. It's kind of like Halloween. Merchants love this day, even though nobody gets the day off. I think we should get off work on Halloween and Valentine's Day and just forget about President's Day. Who even cares about President's Day?

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 790

I'm still thinking about the Grammy's from last night. I didn't even realize that Glen Campbell had Alzheimer's until Taylor Swift announced it on the show. Such a long time. I remember years ago that my ex-wife once played the cello in the string section of his touring band. I briefly met Brian Wilson once at a book signing. At that point in his life, he was a mess. I never dreamed that he would ever be back on stage with the Beach Boys again. I never thought that I'd see a big chunk of the Beatles Abby Road album performed live on TV either. Especially not with Paul McCartney jamming on stage with Bruce Springsteen and Joe Walsh. I don't spend much time watching TV at all, but I love this kind of stuff.

It's bird identification time again. I saw what I think is a large hawk on our evening walk today, but I'm not exactly sure what kind of hawk it is. There are actually quite a few varieties of hawks and falcons in the area. I wish I could have gotten closer to get a better picture, but these birds don't let you get very close unless you happen to be a rabbit or something else that's tasty to eat.

One of my favorite clients is driving me crazy. They love to barter and make deals. I don't know how to tell them that I'm Swedish, not Middle Eastern. The bartering gene just isn't in my DNA. Sometimes I'm amazed that my little company has done as well as it has. I don't like to make deals. I'm not very competitive. And I absolutely hate dog and pony shows. Hey, Just give me some work to do. Pay me fairly. And leave me alone. That's all I ask.

It was still very cold and wet today. That meant I spent a lot of time sweeping standing water off of the roof and cleaning mud off of the dogs every time they came inside. I did manage to get some work done, but it was kind of accidental while I was waiting for wet clothing to dry.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 789

Where is streaming video when you really need it? I've been trying to watch the Grammy's while I write this and I thought it would be easy to just open the show in a separate window and write while I watched. No such luck. Apparently, some folks still want you to watch the show on a regular TV. I've been going back and forth between the office and the nearest large flat screen. I like watching the Grammy's better than the Oscars or other awards shows because some of the live performances are amazingly good. I just finished watching the Beach Boys reunion and the harmonies were still pretty tight. Brian Wilson looked a little out of it, but it was amazing that he was even there with the rest of the band.

I've started noticing that the colder the weather, the larger and more aggressive the dogs are at the dog park. It was only a few degrees above freezing this morning, so the park was filled with huge, very active dogs. Dash totally lost his nerve and wouldn't play with anyone. I couldn't blame him. It was pretty rough and tumble today. We took the dogs Winter coats off, thinking they were cramping their style, but without his coat, Dash just ran away from the other dogs a little faster.

I ended up going to Target this afternoon to get a waterpic to ease my fears of being without a dentist. I hate going to Walmart and Target, but that's where you find these small appliances these days. I don't think I've been inside a Target or Walmart for several years. I prefer to imagine these stores don't even exist. I think I can sum up the discount superstore experience in four words: great deals; weird people. I did get my waterpic though. I'll probably still get a cavity before I find a dentist again.

I won't be doing Valentines pictures for the Dalmatians this year. It's getting harder and harder to find a good venue. We will be doing Easter pictures though. Get your little dogs ready for impossibly cute pictures sitting in an Easter basket, or on an egg, or something like that. Until then, I'll try try to keep myself busy writing about oilfield technology and shooting the inevitable employee pictures for websites you'll probably never see. Oh, in case you didn't notice: Adele was fantastic at the Grammy's tonight.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 788

Janet and I got up early this morning to pick up the new Dalmatian Rescue dog at our rendezvous point in Grand Prairie. Our job was to take her the rest of the way to the vet. When we met the volunteers who pulled the dog from the Burleson, Texas pound, they told us they had named her Lady Gogh because she had lost a bit of one ear, like Vincent Van Gogh. Lady was scared, so I rode in the back seat with her on our way to the vet. She was a friendly little thing and immediately sat on my lap. As soon as we got on the freeway back to Dallas and couldn't easily stop again, she proceed to poop all over me. It wasn't her fault, but it did give me another of my frequent Rodney Dangerfield moments. As I told Janet, I'm always getting shit on for one thing or another. Lady is a wonderful little dog though and I bet it won't take her long to find a home.

It was really cold today. The temperature hovered around the freezing mark all day long. I don't know why February is the worst month of the year here in Texas, but it almost always is. It is supposed to get down in the low twenties tonight. I need to remember to go out to the greenhouse and turn the faucets on so they drip a bit. Occasionally, I forget to do this and the result is a big plumbing problem as soon as it warms up a bit.

I'm finding that I'm taking more pictures of birds than animals lately. The dogs scare all the critters away as we approach. Birds seem to know that dogs can't fly though. Mockingbirds seem particularly fearless. You can walk right up to a Mockingbird and it won't fly away. Right now they seem nice enough, but when they nest in the Spring these birds can become aggressive and a bit annoying. If you get anywhere near their nest, they will dive bomb you and even peck at you. A Mockingbird landed on Dash's back last Spring and scared the daylights out of him. No wonder that dog is jumpy.

I hope it warms up a bit tomorrow. We're going to freeze at the dog park. We'll still go though. We always do.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 787

Today was one of those "death by a thousand cuts" type of days. There were no major disappointments. Just a lot of little ones. The routine nature of my life wouldn't seem so onerous if the routine things I did over and over again were actually fun. For the most part, they aren't. I find myself continually fixing the same things around the house, only to find them break again a few weeks later. I keep working on an endless stream of projects for less than half of what I really think I should get paid. Even when I walk the dogs, I am continually pulling disgusting dead things out of their mouths whenever I drop my guard for a minute and start looking at the scenery.

I went out for breakfast again this morning and am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that my own breakfasts are much better. I just wish I wasn't so slow. I spend forever dicing bell peppers into precise little cubes and whisking my eggs just so, to ensure that there are no lumpy spots in my omelet. I can't even make coffee quickly, since I insist on grinding fresh beans every morning.

I've been noticing that when I go out to eat, I'm one of very few people who eat alone. Women never seem to eat breakfast alone. Most of the men don't either. When the occasional solo diner does appear, it is inevitably a disheveled looking man who looks like he lives under a bridge somewhere. I certainly hope I don't appear that way to other diners. Maybe I do though. I certainly don't get much objective feedback from the dogs.

Tomorrow, Janet and I are going to pick up another abandoned Dalmatian. This dog, like the previous one we picked up, is coming from an out of town animal shelter, so we'll be meeting another volunteer who will pick up the dog from the pound and take her to a halfway point where we will take her the rest of the way to the Dalmatian Rescue kennels in Dallas. We've been able to find homes for these dogs very quickly this year, so this girl probably won't be with us long. I'll take some pictures and show her to you tomorrow.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 786

I spent the morning updating pictures on one of the animal rescue websites I manage. The animals were all puppies and kittens when I initially put them online, but they had grown so much that they didn't look the same anymore. You'd like to think that all rescue animals find their forever homes quickly, but sometimes it takes quite a while.

After I got all the animals straightened out, I went to work on writing a brochure for my latest client. This was a small job, but I'm always a bit apprehensive when doing something the first time for someone new. Some people are happy with just about anything, while others are so picky that nothing will please them. You never really know what kind of client you've got until you turn in that first job.

I almost ordered some new gear today. When I went to the website to place my order, it said the item I wanted was out of stock. This was actually a good thing. By the time the object of my desire is back on the shelves, I may have lost interest in it. Hopefully, this is what will happen. I am continually buying stuff I don't really need at the moment, just so I'll have it in case I need it in the future. People who don't buy equipment at all and just rent what they need when the job comes along probably do a lot better than me. Unfortunately, I don't like to rent things. I'm always nervous that I'm going to break the rented equipment, plus it's just no fun if the gear isn't mine.

Have any of you other bloggers heard about Google Friend Connect being discontinued on March 1? Apparently, the service will still be available to those who host their blog on Blogger, but everyone else may lose their followers. I've always thought it was a good idea to have a Blogger blog, since I'm convinced that Google always takes care of its own first. I know people though who have Wordpress or Typepad blogs that still use Google Friend Connect however. I wonder what these people will do? It would be sad to spend years building a good follower base and then lose it all just because Friend Connect disappeared.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast again tomorrow. I've enjoyed eating out on Friday morning for the past several weeks. I'd get fat in a hurry if I ate out every day, but I don't think one day a week could do a lot of harm.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 785

I got a note from my tenant today saying that she was moving out in March. Oh, well. This one stayed over two years, which is a lot longer than some of my tenants. The young ones never stay very long. They fall in love. They find a new job. They evolve into something new, and then they're gone. The older tenants stay a lot longer, but they eventually get so grumpy that you wish they would leave.

I don't really like being a landlord. The renters never take care of the place very well and I'm always horrified to discover that they've taken the lovely white interior and painted the rooms some atrocious color. I think it says you can't paint right in the lease, but nobody seems to listen. Renters start to think it's their house until something breaks, and then they call me immediately to fix it. I really should just sell the place, but the younger crowd who likes the mid-century architecture can't seem to qualify for a mortgage anymore. Nobody seems to be able to come up with a down payment unless their parents give it to them. If I'd sold the rent house ten or twelve years ago, before the bubble burst, it would have been a good investment. I don't know if anything is a good investment anymore.

I lost the lens cap on my camera this morning while I was walking the dogs and discovered that Dot and Dash hate to retrace their steps. I was determined to find the lens cap, since little things like this are almost impossible to buy separately. Eventually, I found the elusive cap, but Dot and Dash certainly weren't any help. They were continually pulling on the leash to go in the opposite direction.

Somebody brought a really aggressive dog to training class tonight. Luckily, the dog was in the beginner's class instead of ours. Nobody in any of the classes wanted to go anywhere near this dog. I felt sorry for the owner. I'm sure she adopted the dog from a shelter, thinking she would give it a better life. You can never rest easy with an aggressive dog though. Even with the best training and care, you can never, ever let down your guard. If you adopt a dog like this, you are always going to wonder if today is the day your dog is going to snap. There are far too many nice, gentle dog who need good homes. I would avoid the mean ones.

It's going to get real cold again tonight. I'm pretty sure that this is what the rest of our Winter will be like. One day it will be 70 degrees and the next day it will be below freezing. That's just the way it is in Texas. We'll have a few really nice days in April and then it will suddenly be too hot again.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day