Day 1980

I had to renew some prescriptions today and a bottle of pills that cost me $30 last month suddenly increased to $160. Yes, I've entered the so called doughnut hole again. Part-D prescription drug plans have always seemed overly complex to me. There are six or seven different categories of drugs, each with it's own co-pay rate, and then there are three different benefit stages that plan members must navigate during your plan year. You start out with a reasonable co-pay, then after you've received a certain amount of benefits, you enter the doughnut hole, where rates skyrocket for a while. If you keep refilling your prescriptions, you eventually reach what they call the catastrophic coverage stage, where you pay next to nothing for your meds. I know the government is trying to save money, but do they really need to make things so complicated? Wouldn't it be much simpler to just have a somewhat higher co-pay all year long and keep the coverage constant? I feel the same way about taxes. A simple flat tax would be so much easier for everyone.

It was strange to see blue skies this morning as we walked the dogs. I haven't seen the sun for quite a while, so today's mild weather was a welcome treat. The dogs enjoyed the sunshine as much as I did, and Dot had one of her best days in a long time. We walked up and down several hills and she got some much needed exercise. Since the long range weather forecast is still predicting rain for the remainder of the week, I thought I'd take advantage of this rare clear day to mow the grass. The grass had grown so rapidly as a result of almost a month of solid rain that I had to raise the mower blades a bit. At the regular setting, the thick grass was just too much for the little mower.

It was pretty busy for a Monday. In addition to going to the pharmacy and mowing the grass, I began working on my first mobile website for an actual client. My initial efforts are nothing to write home about, but I'm definitely making progress. Two months ago I didn't even know what responsive web design was. Since I'll probably eventually have to redesign every site I manage, I'm trying to tackle the easy problems first. If this goes well, I'll try something a little more difficult next time.

All the rain we've been having must be causing the foundation to shift a bit. The screen door at the back of the house is getting sticky again and this morning I watched a ceramic tile in the bathroom crack right in front of my eyes. I thought I'd superglue the chipped tile back together again and ended up gluing my fingers together in the process. I need to make a mental note that nail polish remover does not work to remove superglue from skin. Acetone does work though. Luckily, I had a small bottle of acetone in the utility room, or my thumb and forefinger would still be stuck together.

The dogs immediately started barking this morning when they saw me get the bananas out for my breakfast smoothie. They wanted to make sure that I remembered to save a banana for them. I didn't forget the dogs, but in the confusion of the moment, I did forget to add the eggs to my smoothie. Oh, well. This morning's concoction probably wasn't as nutritious as it should be, but it still tasted good. At least the dogs were happy. In addition to remembering to add eggs tomorrow, I need to remember to take my car to the dealership. I have an appointment to get the wheel fixed that I damaged hitting a large pothole. Hopefully, I won't hit another pothole driving up to the dealership. The roads are really that bad.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1979

Although we had heavy thunderstorms last night, our power stayed on. When the skies cleared and the sun came out later this morning, our power went out. Go figure. It's anybody's guess what caused the problem this time. It wasn't the weather, and it wasn't the trees. The power company had just finished trimming all the trees in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. Maybe a piece of equipment at one of the sub-stations was underwater. We've certainly had our share of flooding recently. I haven't seen the lake this high in years.

There's not a lot you can do when the power goes out. We walked the dogs and Dot did surprisingly well. Earlier in the morning, she threw up, but it was probably just storm phobia stress. The thunder was loud and relentless last night and Dot didn't like it a bit. I was afraid she would try to hop up in the bed and hurt herself, so I slept on the floor with her to keep her calm. No wonder the dogs like to sleep in the bed so much. The floor is pretty hard. Sleeping with Dot calmed her down though, so it was worth the sore back in the morning.

Since the computer, the television, and even the coffee maker were all dead, I decided to wash the outside windows. I've been avoiding this task, since the windows were not only dirty, they were filled with spiderwebs as well. I think most of our resident spiders are harmless, but I've never liked spiders and do my best to avoid them. I disturbed a couple of big ones today, but the windows are a lot cleaner.

Since clean windows didn't bring the power back, I had no choice but to go to the gym. I think it's been well over a month since I've visited the gym and the dogs aren't walking very far either. I'm out of shape again. I tried to do my regular workout routine and was amazed at how quickly I'd regressed. It seemed like I was starting all over again. My doctor says I need to get on the treadmill more, to counteract a gradual loss of bone density, My physical therapist says I need to do lots of stretching exercises to keep from getting a frozen shoulder. If I did everything I am supposed to do, I'd be at the gym all the time.

The power company eventually restored our power and life returned to normal again. I cleared all the water off the roof from yesterday's storms. I fired up the computer and made a few minor website updates. Janet fixed a nice dinner. And I didn't need to worry about making today's blog bost using a laptop with a half dead battery.

My mouth has finally healed enough from the wisdom tooth extraction for me to go see a different dentist next week. I'm not looking forward to this, but it would be silly to postpone things. The whole reason I had the wisdom tooth removed in the first place was to save the tooth next to it. If I delay getting this tooth repaired, it might have to be pulled as well. This whole dental journey has been like opening Pandora's Box. I just hope it all ends reasonably soon.

I think we'll see a little sunshine tomorrow, but starting Tuesday the thunderstorms return. The long range weather forecast says to expect the storms to continue all the way through Memorial Day. Too bad we can't send some of this water to California. We've got way too much here.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1978

We began walking Dot and Dash together again, and just as I expected, Dot was much more energetic and seemed determined to keep up with Dash. Both dogs are incredibly stubborn. She just didn't want to walk by herself while Janet was away. We walked the dogs very early since Janet had a training seminar she needed to attend. I took the opportunity to go out for breakfast, since the rain kept me away yesterday. The dogs just went to sleep since they were both tired after their walk.

The ground is still too wet for me to mow the grass, so I decided to write another article on my to-do list before I ran my regular Saturday errands. While I was writing, I noticed that Dot was licking the blanket in her dog bed. Not a good sign. Sure enough, a few minutes later she began trying to throw up and began her frantic behavior again. I still don't know what causes this, but I suspect she might try to eat food crumbs that have fallen to the floor and end up swallowing a bunch of lint and dog hair instead. This might not be the cause of her problems at all, but it sure seems plausible. Dot is obsessed with food and a lot of it falls out of her mouth as she becomes older. Now that there are throw rugs everywhere to keep Dot from slipping on the bricks, it is much harder to keep the floors clean. At any rate, I sat outside with Dot until she become calm again and then she and Dash had their dinner, took another walk, and everything was back to normal.

Janet and I has an animal rescue fundraiser to attend tonight and I was a little nervous leaving Dot alone with a house full of rugs and carpets she could eat. I knew she was very tired and it seemed to be a safe bet that she would just sleep while we were gone. We weren't going to be gone long anyway. I think I enjoyed the annual wine tasting event more when I could still drink wine, but the food was good and so was the cause. We've been going to this event for over nine years now and it seems to get better every year.

Dot was still sleeping calmly in exactly the same spot where we left her when we returned, but I'd still like to get to the bottom of this strange grass eating frenzy. Something specific has to be causing this behavior. The episodes are so sporadic that it's hard for me to see a pattern. The vets mostly just tell me to give her a Pepcid AC and call them if the frantic behavior gets worse. They don't know what is causing this either.

I'm still working on my mobile friendly test site. I was making pretty good progress until Dot started trying to throw up. Despite the minor dog emergency, I did learn how to make translucent drop-down menus where you can still see a hint of what is underneath the menu. I don't know why writing structured HTML and giving everything a CSS class seems so difficult for me, but I'm slowly getting there. It takes a long time, because when I make a mistake, I need to figure out why things didn't work out as expected. I don't want to continue making the same mistakes over and over again.

All-in-all it was a good day. I had a delicious breakfast. The dogs returned to walking together again. Dot recovered quickly from her upset stomach. The Wine on the Roof fundraiser was enjoyable and both dogs are already tucked in for the night. Maybe I'll even get a good night's sleep. That would be nice.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1977

Change of plans. I knew it was going to be a long morning when we woke up to another round of thunderstorms, so I didn't even consider going out for breakfast this morning. It's a race against time when we wake up in the middle of a thunderstorm. The first thing the dogs do every morning is go outside and pee. When it's raining however, all bets are off. Dot and Dash absolutely refuse to leave the house during a heavy rain. Dash can hold it pretty well, but Dot will eventually poop on the floor. Luckily, using the new Minute-By-Minute app on my phone I was able to find two tiny windows where I could get the dogs out to do their business. Dot had a five minute window, which was plenty of time for her. She quickly pooped in the alley and came back inside. About thirty minutes later I was able to find an eight minute window where I could take Dash to the park. Dot must be teaching him about the weather, because he did his business amazingly quickly. One minute after we returned to the house, the deluge began. A few years ago we would have both been soaked, but Dash is learning how the world works. I think he's learned that a short walk is much better than a wet walk, especially when there is thunder involved.

I had another smoothie for breakfast and since the dogs were so good at dealing with this morning's awful weather, I gave them a banana as a reward. I think I agree with Dash. A Friday breakfast at home is much better than getting wet. When I turned the computer on, I discovered that I had new writing assignments and one of my clients wants to build a responsive website. I foolishly told him I could make what he needs, even though I'm not not quite up to speed yet. All he really wants is for customers to be able to call him directly from the website when they're viewing it on a phone. Although there's lots I still have to learn, I do know how to do this, so I think we'll be OK.

I went to the doctor this afternoon to get my Benicar prescription changed to something that wasn't involved in a class-action suit. The doctor still thought Benicar was safe and told me he took it himself. Nevertheless, he did change my prescription. He also did a complete blood panel and gave me a bone density test. I knew I wasn't going to get out of there without some sort of test. At least the doctor seemed happy with the result of all the lab work he's done. He said I was in great shape for someone my age and just told me that I should go to the gym more often. Janet tells me the same thing. Too bad I don't enjoy going to the gym. Since the dogs and I probably won't be doing any more five mile walks, I probably should heed their advise. Taking half an hour to slowly walk Dot around the block probably isn't burning many calories.

I picked up Janet at the airport  this evening and the dogs were quite excited to see the whole family back together again. They were both quite good while she was gone, but you could tell that they didn't like the situation. Dot wants to be able to take family walks with Dash again and Dash just wants everybody nearby. He always gets upset when Janet travels. Maybe he gets upset when I travel too, but I don't travel very much. Dot and Dash are so used to having me nearby all the time that I'm convinced they just think I'm another dog.

If the rain ever quits, I'll mow the grass this weekend and clear the water off the roof. If it continues to rain, we'll just have a jungle in the front yard and a duck pond on the roof. Maybe our landscaping and grass will last longer this Summer. It is really, really wet.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1976

I got up at six this morning and wasn't finished with the breakfast routine until well after nine. I don't know if the the routine is growing more complex or if I'm just becoming slower. At any rate, it takes forever to do the simplest things. The first thing I do when I wake up is take the dogs out to pee. Since the ground is so wet, I have to clean each of the dogs paws before we come inside again. Occasionally, we go back to sleep after we do this, but usually the dogs want their breakfast immediately.

I fill all their water bowls with fresh water, put Dot in the little pen we now call the breakfast nook, and get their food out of a big container we keep in the kitchen. When the food is in their bowls, I let Dot join Dash for a quick eating frenzy. I have to put a big rubber Kong in Dot's bowl to slow her down so she won't eat so fast. Sometimes she tries to eat so fast that she chokes on the food. When the dogs have finished their breakfast, I give them their meds. Dash's pills go in a dog food meatball, because they aren't chewable. Dot's are chewable, but of course she wants a meatball too. At this point, I normally take them on a walk, but now that I've started eating bananas with my breakfast, the dogs have become obsessed with bananas. It's easier to go ahead and eat my own breakfast, feeding them each slices of banana as I drink my morning coffee and sip my banana, strawberry and egg milkshake. When breakfast is finished, I clean the Vitamix machine and we begin our walks.

Dot goes first because she is the most eager to get out of the house. She doesn't walk far, but her short walk around the block takes just as long as Dash's much longer walk, because she's so slow. She's getting better at holding herself up, but I still use the Help 'Em Up Harness and two leashes to keep her from slipping. The tail leash has kept her from falling countless times. I don't even bother taking a camera when I walk Dot. I have my hands full. Dot is usually tired when we return and is content to sleep on her dog bed while I walk Dash. Dash is slow too, because he likes to smell things and pee on every bush. I let both dogs take their time, because these morning walks are the best part of their day. Walking slow gives me the opportunity to observe things too, like the tiny mushrooms you see today.

When Dash and I return home, I clear Dot's blankets out of the hallway and put them away, make the bed, put the breakfast dishes away, clean my teeth and rinse with he special mouthwash the dentist gave me. When all this is finished, I turn the computer on and go to work. Luckily, there wasn't a huge amount of work today, because right after lunch, I needed to take Dot downtown for her weekly physical therapy appointment. Dot did really well in the underwater treadmill today, which surprised me a bit, since she seemed tired this morning.

There were a few light showers during the day, but rain wasn't really a problem today. I wrote a letter to my NASA contacts asking why all the NASA sites were down. I got a quick reply saying that the sites were working fine in California. Why would be they not be working in Texas, I wondered? I haven't been able to access any of the NASA websites for over a month, so I've probably already missed out on opportunities to apply to observe another satellite launch. I doubt that I could have gone anyway. Life with the dogs has just become too complicated.

It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to my breakfast outing tomorrow morning. I'm sure that some of my delicious meal will end up getting stuck in the empty wisdom tooth socket, but it will be worth it.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1975

I should be used to the rain by now, but it still amazes me how wet it's been this Spring. This has to be one for the record books. Today was another near all-day rain, punctuated with small, well-placed intervals where I was lucky to get the dogs out for shortened morning and evening walks. It's not raining now, but I think the weather is just taking a breather. There is even more rain in the forecast for tomorrow.

Previous rainy days this week have allowed me to get caught up on work, so there wasn't really a lot to do today. I finally got my May invoices in the mail, but that was about it.

I contemplated just watching movies on Netflix today, but couldn't find anything I really wanted to see. Instead, I decided to do some more work on my mobile friendly test site. I think I've learned all the easy stuff, because I had difficulty grasping some of the concepts I was trying to learn today. I ended up making a mess of the test site and had to upload an older archived version to get back to square one. I don't know why I'm spending so much time with this, since most of my clients don't seem very interested in mobile anyway.

I thought I try to get through the day without any pain pills for my teeth. Things must be getting better, because it wasn't all that bad. It's probably time to stop taking Ibuprofen anyway, since it isn't very good for the liver. I still had my breakfast banana milkshake, mostly because the dogs love bananas. I always share with them. Even though it took a while to rinse out the food particles, I had solid food for dinner. There was a tasty casserole in the refrigerator that would have been awful if I liquified it and turned it into soup. Everything in moderation, I guess. Once my mouth has healed completely, I'll still use the Vitamix, but I doubt that I've have soup more than once a week.

I wanted to find out if there were any more NASA launches that I could apply to attend and discovered instead that all the NASA websites are offline. There used to be a ton of NASA sites and they're all gone. Budget cuts I guess. As a web developer it would seem like it might actually be more expensive to take a large site down than to simply leave it up and not update it as frequently. What do I know though. The government works in mysterious ways.

Did you know that the Rolling Stone song Can't Get No Satisfaction was recorded fifty years ago yesterday? Jeez. These guys are still touring and selling out huge stadiums too. When I was learning to play to this song in high school, I never dreamed that we'd still be listening to a seventy year old Mick Jagger singing it fifty years later. Yep. The Stones are coming to Texas Stadium this Summer and the show is already sold out. In just a few more years, it will be fifty years since we landed on the moon. Amazing! What have we really accomplished since then? Sure, we all have smartphones now, but I can tell you from experience that life was a lot more interesting in 1969.

I'm not sure how interesting it is going to be tomorrow. My clever phone tells me that there will be thunderstorms tomorrow. Back in 1969, I never knew when it was going to rain until I got wet.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1974

Today was a little stressful. I woke up to the sound of Dot trying to throw up. She was acting frantic like she did on the day she ate the carpet. This was alarming, because the house is now filled with assorted rugs and carpets. I immediately put on some pants and took Dot outside. When this happens, Dot tries to eat any available grass or leaves and that only makes the situation worse. I did the only thing that works. I sat quietly on the brick patio with her until she calmed down. Sometimes this can take up to thirty minutes. She doesn't wake up like this very often, but it still happens. Once Dot was calm and breathing normally again, I fed the dogs breakfast and Dot was normal for the rest of the day. I've asked various vets many times why this happens, but have never received a real answer. Maybe she has an upset stomach from time to time, but her diet is so consistent that this is hard to imagine. Dot doesn't get into the trash either. That is Dash's specialty.

I was tired of drinking a liquid breakfast this morning so I ate some sausage patties and a slice of quiche instead. The dogs seemed upset that I didn't share a banana with them so I peeled one and gave half to the dogs and ate the other half myself. It was a satisfying meal, but a large percentage of it got stuck in my teeth. After spending an inordinate amount of time rinsing my mouth out with hot salt water, which always spoils the taste of a good meal, I vowed to go back to my banana and egg milkshakes tomorrow.

I think my big success today was getting both dogs walked before the rain started. There were no severe storms and it didn't rain all day, but the weather was certainly enough to keep everyone inside most of the day. The dogs usually sleep on rainy days like this, but I feel compelled to be productive. To stay busy, I finished my entire backlog of writing assignments and made a good start on getting my May invoices out. I should have saved some of this work for tomorrow, but I keep hoping for a day when the dogs will let me sleep in late. Today was not that day.

Dot isn't walking as far in the morning, now that she can't walk with Dash for a while. The only way we can walk the dogs together is when Janet walks one and I walk the other. When they were both younger and healthier, it was easy for me to walk Dot and Dash together. Now, I have a hard time when Dot wants to turn around and go home while Dash wants to keep on going. With two people, Dash will eventually turn around and follow Dot. With one person holding the leash, they both just tug in opposite directions. While I was walking Dash this evening, a lady pushing a child in a stroller noticed Dash's protective sock and mentioned that she'd seen one just like it in the park last week. She thought it was a baby's sock, but didn't pick it up. I wish she had. I've been looking for that missing sock for weeks.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring my way, but I do hope the skies are dry, the dogs are calm, and my teeth don't hurt.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1973

I've got two very high maintenance dogs. I'm amazed at how long it's taking me to do all the dog related tasks that Janet and I typically share. Normally, she feeds them breakfast and I feed them dinner. She gives them their meds and I renew the prescriptions at the vet when necessary. She takes them out to poop at night while I get Dot's special bed prepared. There are many other little things like keeping a clean supply of Dash's protective socks and taking off Dot's Help 'Em Up Harness before she goes to bed at night, but you get the idea. Early mornings are pretty hectic, but once the dogs have finished their morning routine, which always seems to include barking at me while I eat my breakfast, they just go to sleep. As busy as I've become being the commensurate dog butler, there is still plenty of time to do everything I need to do while they are asleep.

There was plenty to keep me busy today. I finished another writing assignment, answered some perplexing website questions, and started a blog for one of my clients. No, I'm not writing the blog. I just got it started. It's time to send out my May invoices, but I'm going to wait until I finish my pile of articles. June is often a pretty lean month, so it seems like a good idea to augment my billings a bit this month in hopes of receiving a decent check next month. 

Dot was in a mood last night. She didn't want to get in her protected dog bed at all. She was like a little kid who'd decided that she was too old to sleep in a crib anymore. Dalmatians are incredibly stubborn. It's pointless to try to make them do things they don't want to do. I removed the special dog bed next to my own bed where she's been sleeping for the past several month and put a bunch of soft blankets in the hallway and bedroom instead. I gated the hallway where she stays when I leave the house, leaving the adjacent bedroom door open, and let her sleep wherever she wanted. When I went to bed, she was sleeping in the hallway, but when I woke the next morning, she was on a blanket right next to my side of the bed. None of this bothered Dash in the least. He just does what he always does, trying to hog as much of the bed as possible in hopes that I will sleep on the floor with Dot.

Surprisingly, we saw the sun today. It was actually a very nice day. Yesterday's rain cooled things down quite a bit and I didn't have to turn the air conditioner on all day. The crisp Spring air and blue skies definitely improved my mood and the dogs were clearly happier as well. It's all too good to last unfortunately. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow and Wednesday, with thunderstorms and more severe weather beginning on Thursday.

I had another banana/strawberry smoothie for breakfast and more soup made from refrigerator leftovers tonight. I'll probably go back to eating regular food tomorrow, because I've used up all the leftover vegetables. There are still more leftovers, but I can't really see making soup out of a leftover Italian pasta dish, or Jimmy Dean sausage patties.

I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight. My plan of sleeping in late every morning while Janet is away hasn't been working out very well. The dogs have other ideas.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1972

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of tornado warning sirens. The dogs and I were sleeping soundly when the sirens went off, but we got up quickly to see what was going on. The dogs know what these sirens mean by now, so they were both agitated and upset. They refused to go outside and pee and generally acted like the end of the world was near. Storm phobia didn't keep them from eating though. I don't think anything would keep them from eating.

When the warning sirens went off, the storm was still about ten or fifteen minutes away. This would have been a good time for them to do their business, but they just looked at me like I was crazy when I opened the back door. Since the weatherman on TV said the approaching storm might have 70 mile per hour winds, I thought I'd eat breakfast quickly in case the power went out. This was an excellent time to try a Vitamix smoothie. I dumped two raw eggs, a banana, four strawberries, a little heavy cream and one scoop of ice cream in the blender and turned it on. Delicious! I don't know why I haven't tried this before, because the Vitamix has been sitting on a kitchen shelf for months. There were no problems with my teeth either. I think I've found a new favorite breakfast.

There was a horrendous amount of heavy rain during the morning, but around 1 PM the skies cleared a bit and I was finally able to take the dogs on a walk. I was surprised that they didn't poop in the house, because they both refused to go outside while it was raining. Dot didn't walk very far, but Dash was ready to go the distance. He's still wearing his protective sock, but wet grass makes it fall off even more than usual. I have to keep a close eye on his rear leg while we are walking, or the sock will be gone for good. Since the little rubberized socks cost fifteen dollars for a pack or four, I can't afford to lose one every time we take a walk.

There's not much to do on stormy days like this. When the rain was really bad, I curled up with the dogs on a big blanket on the office floor and took a nap. The dogs are pack animals and this helps to keep them calm. I'm never opposed to a nap anyway. Later, when things calmed down, I wrote an article and made my to-do list for Monday a bit more manageable. Later in the day, I went up on the roof and tried to see if I could hook the pump up to automatically remove some of the water while it was still raining. This seldom works for very long, because the pump gets clogged with tree debris, but it was worth a try. Heavy rains like we had today can almost double the weight of the roof. This is not very good structurally, so I've got to continue trying to removing the water as quickly as I can.

I was so pleased with my banana and strawberry smoothie this morning that I decided to use the Vitamix again and make soup for dinner. I seldom read instructions or recipes, so sometimes my cooking experiments are delicious and other times they are terrible. Today, I just dumped all the leftover vegetables in the refrigerator into the blender and turned it on. Oops. I forgot that soup is supposed to be liquid and ended up making something very much like hummus instead. Rather than admit defeat, I just poured a cup of water into the mixture and ran the soup program on the Vitamix again. This time the results were delicious. I had created a thick, very savory soup that seemed like it might belong on the menu at a nice Thai or Indian restaurant. I doubt that I could ever recreate this dish, because I just dumped in a bunch of leftovers, but it sure was delicious. I think the main ingredients were spinach, carrots, an orange peel, fresh salsa, ground pepper, cream, green chilies, a little diced chicken, and of course a cup of water. The VItamix is super easy to clean too. You just put some hot soapy water in the container and run the cleaning cycle. One minute later you rinse the container out and you're done. This is my kind of cooking.

It looks like we're going to have stormy weather for the rest of the week. Not a problem. I've got lots of new articles to write, a dozen bananas, a tub of fresh strawberries, and a blender. We'll be fine.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1971

After we walked the dogs and ate breakfast this morning, I took Janet to the airport. It doesn't seem like a year since her last family reunion, but time just races by these days. Last year, when Janet left for her Las Vegas reunion, Dash was still undergoing cancer treatment. Now Dot is recovering from spinal surgery. The entire year has been one dog emergency after another. Luckily, both dogs are much better now.

Dot and Dash never like it when one of us is gone, but after a day or so they get used to the new routine. We get up a little later. The walks take longer, because I have to walk each of them one at a time. Janet bags up their meds for me before she leaves. I just pick up a little packet labeled Saturday Night, Tuesday Morning, or whatever the date happens to be and the correct meds are inside. I hope the weather improves, because it's going to be a long week if it continues raining every day.

I picked up some easy-to-chew groceries on the way home from the airport and then spent the afternoon working on my mobile friendly test site. Slowly but surely I'm learning how to build responsive websites. I have several new writing assignments that I could have worked on, but I didn't feel like writing today. I actually didn't feel like doing much of anything today. I'm surprised that I got as much done as I did.

I've got all the ingredients to make smoothies for breakfast now. We'll see how that goes. Since one of the ingredients for my banana smoothie is ice cream, I may just eat the ice cream. I had a scoop for dessert tonight to avoid cleaning pie out of my teeth and was surprised that it didn't bother me at all. I thought for sure that a lot of the discomfort I'm feeling was that my teeth had become more cold sensitive, but maybe it's something else. If the smoothies work for breakfast, I may just start eating soup for dinner. Chewing crunchy food is definitely a problem as this point.

I wish the dogs didn't mope so much around when Janet travels. It makes me feel guilty. I try to keep them entertained, but both of them hate change. When anything changes in their routine, they act bewildered. I think I provide the stability in their life and Janet provides the excitement. They need both. I've learned from experience that stability isn't always appreciated when you're looking for excitement. Hey, at least Dot and Dash like to sleep in late. We'll probably be doing a lot of that this week.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1970

I had to go down to Janet's former employer and get some pictures I'd loaned them many years ago. It would have been nice if they'd just bought the pictures when Janet left the company, but they couldn't be bothered. I was surprised at how well the pictures had held up over the years. They were all from a gallery show back when I thought gallery shows were important. I had printed the photos perfectly using the best archival paper. They were professionally framed and the images still seemed relevant. I looked at these large, beautiful prints as if someone else had done them. It was a little sad. I doubt that I will ever go to the trouble to show in a gallery setting again. Been there, done that. These pictures will go to the storage warehouse where they will join a lot of other stuff I don't do anymore.

I found a great new website today that provides a minute-by-minute weather forecast, telling you exactly when it is going to start and stop raining for up to two hours at a time. The forecast is remarkably acurate and very useful for a person like me. You just provide your address and zip code and you immediately start getting messages like "rain will begin in seventeen minutes." You know exactly when the rain will begin, how much rain to expect, and when the rain will end. This is perfect when you need to find a little dry window of time to walk the dogs. I've been using the website to schedule our dog walks for several days now, and so far it's been right every time.

I'm so disgusted with food particles in my mouth that I'm going to start drinking smoothies instead. If I remember correctly, a banana, one egg, a few strawberries, some milk, and a little ice cream makes a pretty good milkshake. I used to make this concoction in a blender all the time because I was too lazy to cook. Now that we have a Vitamix, it ought to taste even better. It seems like the dentist could have given me a little rubber plug to put in the empty wisdom tooth socket before I ate, but I guess that's not the way it is done. I must have had an unusually large tooth, because it left behind a very large hole in my jaw. Maybe a tasty smoothie will help.

May must be the month for major website overhauls. My updates have gotten more complicated this month. I'm not complaining, because it's nice to have the work, but today's update was a bit confusing. I'm still not sure if I did the right thing. We'll see if anyone complains. That's often the only way I know if I've achieved my goal. It doesn't help that a lot of my clients are still using Internet Explorer. A lot of people never upgrade their browser or empty their browser cache. They're still seeing things that officially don't even exist anymore.

It looks like there are still tornado warnings in tomorrow's weather forecast. Whatever happened to April showers bring May flowers? We do have plenty of flowers, but there's been way too much rain. If this was an ordinary May, I wouldn't even need that minute-by-minute weather forecast website.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1969

Benicar, the medication I use to control my blood pressure, has joined the growing list of drugs targeted in class action suits. Every time I turn on TV I seem to see one of those 1-800-BAD-DRUG ads about Benicar. It seemed like it would be prudent to switch back to Zestril, my original blood pressure medication, so I stopped by my doctor's office in hopes that he'd just write me a script. No so fast buddy. I have to have a full exam and probably some more blood tests first. Nothing is simple anymore. Knowing my doctor, he'll probably want to keep me on Benicar, despite the ominous sounding TV commercials.

At least Dash has finished with all his meds. He seems to have made a full recovery from the torn paw pad and no longer needs antibiotics or pain pills. Maybe I should take his leftover pain pills. My teeth are still bothering me. I'm starting to think that it's not even the wisdom tooth extraction that is causing the problem now. When I initially went back to the dentist at the first of the year, he mentioned that I may have to have a crown replaced. He thought the existing crown had a crack in it and that this was causing the temperature sensitivity I was experiencing at the time. Unfortunately, he also said it was impossible to fix the crown until I had the crooked wisdom tooth removed. Somehow, having the wisdom tooth removed has upset a delicate balance that left me thinking I had great teeth for years. Now, the fortress appears to be crumbling.

Dot did great during her water therapy session today. The vet is very pleased with her progress, but thinks we need to be doing more strength building exercises. Instead of taking Dot on longer walks, she wants me to spend more time walking her up and down hills and inclines. This shouldn't be hard to do. The park is full of hills and inclines.

On the way home from the vet, I hit a deep pothole in the road and damaged one of my wheels. Potholes are everywhere this Spring, since we've had so much rain. Road crews are repaired some of them, but they have only scratched the surface. I've never seen the roads this bad. I'm really glad I got the tire and wheel damage coverage when I bought the car. It seemed expensive at the time, but when you figure in the damaged tire that was already replaced under the policy and the repair to this wheel, I've already paid for the coverage.

We've been on the verge of a bad storm all day. It rained a lot last night, and then off and on during the day, but I managed to get the dogs walked without getting wet. I may not be so lucky tomorrow. I think the weather is supposed to keep getting worse through the weekend, with the possibility of tornadoes on Saturday.  I hope this forecast is wrong. I don't even want to think about tornadoes on Saturday.

Spot 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 1967

The two Live Oak trees in our back yard are destroyed. The power company tree trimmers arrived early this morning and began butchering the trees. By noon, they both looked like stumps. If the tree crews came every year, they could trim the trees just enough so that the power lines running down the alley would be completely safe without destroying the trees. These guys only want to come every five or six years though and they always cut the trees back way more than necessary, so they won't have to return the following year. I assume that this saves money, but it makes a mess of the trees. I think they require a clear area of at least twelve feet around the each power line. Three or four feet would easily keep branches from touching the wires even on the windiest day, but of course, I have no say in the matter.

I am so sick of trying to clean food particles out of my mouth after meals without touching the hole where my wisdom tooth used to be that I almost feel like quitting eating. Eating has always been one of my few real pleasures and now it is a total nuisance. Hard crunchy things are difficult to chew and soft things get stuck in my teeth. Nothing seems to work. My teeth have become so sensitive to cold beverages that I almost welcome the warm salt water rinse I have to swish around in my mouth three or four times a day. Apparently, going to the dentist is like opening a Pandora's Box. One of my other dentists called today and wanted to set up an appointment to fix tooth number 31. The oral surgeon has already told all the referring dentists that he'd done his part. Now I need to repair the tooth next to the wisdom tooth that was removed. After that, I probably need a new crown on tooth number 30 as well.

Dot must be almost deaf by now. She slept completely through all the noisy chain saws and loud voices of the crew in the back yard this morning. It's a bit sad to see her growing deaf, but it's a blessing in a way. She's a lot calmer when she doesn't hear all the odd noises that used to upset her. When she finally woke up for a late lunch, the tree crews had gone. When she went out in the yard to investigate, she knew something had happened, but she wasn't sure what. I hate seeing the Live Oak trees chopped up like this, but maybe the St. Augustine grass will finally start growing. There's certainly a lot more light in the yard now.

I paid a few bills today and tried to resolve a doctor bill that slipped through the cracks two years ago and never got paid by insurance. I think I got things cleared up, but you never know with this type of thing. The sign company called and said the banner I ordered yesterday was ready, so I picked that up on my way home from the post office. By the time I got home, it was time to feed the dogs again. Dash lost one of his protective socks yesterday, so we tried to find it on our walk this evening. It was a futile effort, since Dash never likes to go the same way twice. We almost lost another sock this afternoon, but luckily I noticed it was gone just a few feet after he kicked it off. That's it. It wasn't a very exciting day, but hey, that's how I roll.

Bunny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1966

I called the dentist today to see whether I might have a dry socket. "Do you have a fever," the nurse asked? Nope. "Is there a foul smell or bad taste in your mouth?" Nope. "Are you in excruciating, unbearable pain?" Not really. "Well, you don't have a dry socket," she told me. When I mentioned that there was still a lot of discomfort, I'm surprised that she didn't tell me to "just deal with it."

My photo assignment today was documenting a veterinary dental procedure.  The dog that was having her teeth cleaned experienced a very rare allergic reaction to the anesthesia and had a sudden and rather serious loss of blood pressure. The mood in the operating room immediately went from routine to emergency status. I was very impressed at how quickly and calmly the veterinarian and her two assistants dealt with this life threatening situation. In less than a minute, countermeasures had been taken to restore blood pressure and stabilize the dog. As soon as a strong pulse was re-established, the anesthesia was quickly withdrawn in what is known as a "hard wake up" procedure. The dog is fine now, but still has terrible looking teeth. I don't know how she's going to get her teeth cleaned now. If I had seen all this before my own dental surgery, I would have freaked out. My biggest worry before having my wisdom teeth extracted had always been that something would go wrong with the anesthesia. Ironically, the veterinary clinic used exactly the same monitoring equipment as the dental surgeon did.

Today was very busy for a Monday. In addition to the photo shoot, I had some extensive website revisions to make and a large banner to prepare for printing. A new writing assignment came in toward the end of the day, but I'll have to deal with that tomorrow. Increasingly, I'm finding that I have difficulty getting everything done during the day. There just isn't enough time. Dot doesn't walk far in the morning's, but she walks very, very slow. I'm eating slower, because it's hard to chew. Nobody likes to talk on the phone anymore, so I'm spending a lot more time answering client's questions via e-mail. I wish simple questions didn't require complicated answers, but frequently they do.

Tomorrow will be a mess because the power company tree trimming crews have finally arrived in our alley. Dot always goes into a barking frenzy when she sees all these trucks and hears the chain saws. Hopefully, I can pen her in the office with me so she won't be distracted by all the activity behind the back yard fence, but I don't think it's going to work. Once the barking starts, it's very difficult to stop. In addition to all the noise they make, these tree trimmers have a history of butchering the large Live Oak trees in the back yard. They always trim way more than they need to and the trees look horrible when they're finished. There's nothing I can do to stop these guys. The power company has eminent domain over anything that gets close to the power lines and, like it or not, they have the legal authority to ruin my trees. They've done it before and they'll do it again.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be less hectic than it was today. I'll need to run up to Fastsigns and pick up the banner order I called in today. There's the new article to write, and one more website to update. Lord know long it will take to get all the food particles out of my teeth.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1965

The dogs don't frequently decide to sleep in late, but when they do, it is always appreciated. The whole family finally got a good night's sleep for a change. When she finally did wake up, Dot was ready for a walk. She's kind of reached a plateau where her strength isn't increasing as quickly as it initially did, but these morning exercise walks are still doing her a lot of good. We're walking the dogs together now, but since Dash needs a much longer walk, he continues on with Janet after I return to the house with Dot. This works out pretty well. Both dogs get to smell things together along the trail for a while which makes them happy, and then when Dot gets tired, Dash can continue for as long as he wants.

After breakfast, I organized a big stack old old bank statements and brokerage reports. I don't know why I save these things so long, but it's a habit. After I got everything in the proper manila envelope, I turned my attention to a smaller stack of unopened mail. Whenever I sort through the junk mail pile, I inevitably find a few unpaid bills. Usually these are medical bills and most of the time they are a mistake. My secondary insurance is supposed to pick up the charges that my primary insurance doesn't pay, but frequently things aren't submitted correctly. Usually a few phone calls takes care of the problem. The reason that these bills wind up in the junk mail pile in the first place is that the healthcare industry is a huge source of junk mail. The older you get, the more of this type of mail you get.

I didn't make it to the gym today because I managed to think of three or four good excuses why I didn't need to go. My jaw continues to hurt, so I didn't want to do any cardio exercises that would raise my heart rate and cause me to start bleeding again. I had to burn some CD's for a client which took a lot longer than it should have, mostly because I had a bad batch of blank discs. I even considered going to a local car show that was being held down in the park today, but decided to just wash my own car instead. I used to love going to this annual British car show, but like the home tour a few weeks ago, seeing immaculately restored and preserved things just depresses me now. How do these people find the time to keep all their stuff so nice and pretty when my own stuff is falling apart?

I've got another photo shoot tomorrow. It's not actually a new job, just a continuation of the assignment I started last week. I think I'll take a different camera this time. The camera I took last week got confused by the mixture of incandescent, fluorescent, and LED lights. I never could get the white balance quite right. I could have took strobes for more consistent lighting, but it would have taken away from the spontaneity. Maybe all I need is a different camera.

I should probably call the dentist tomorrow. I've just about finished all my meds and my jaw still hurts. I don't know whether I've got a dry socket, or whether I'm just being a big baby. I kind of thought the pain would have completely gone away by now, but it hasn't. This is what happen when you only go to the dentist once a decade. I just don't know what to expect.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1964

I picked up one of those Chromecast sticks that plugs into your TV while I was out this afternoon. Now, all three HDMI ports on the back of the TV are filled with little devices that bypass cable. I never use the Roku and Hulu steaming sticks, so it is doubtful that I'll use Chromecast much either. I guess I just got the thing because it was on sale and I was curious whether it worked or not. Yup. Works like a charm. I'm fascinated by technology. I just don't watch TV very much. I was happy enough with my old analog TV that only got 13 Channels. Unfortunately, all the TV stations switched to digital broadcasting a few years ago and turned the thing into a door stop. Jeez, who needs 250 Channels? I mostly just watch old black and white Perry Mason shows to help me go to sleep at night anyway. Ironically, Janet would probably like Chromecast, but wouldn't have the patience to install the companion software on her computer and learn how to use the thing. I have lots of patience. I just don't understand the whole concept of entertainment. I could go for months without even turning a TV on.

I didn't really realize that eating would be such a problem when I had my oral surgery. Dislodging all the little food particles in my mouth after a meal takes longer than it took to eat the meal in the first place. I'm supposed to swish warm salt water around in my mouth to remove food debris, but it takes forever. According to my post-surgery instructions I still can't brush with a toothbrush or use a water pic. Somehow, my remaining teeth have become more sensitive to hot and cold too. It just makes me want to eat nothing but custard or Jello.

I really didn't do much today. I got groceries, filled the car with gas, refilled prescriptions, did some laundry and changed the sheets on the bed. I do most of these things every Saturday. It took a while for me to figure out how to install the Chromecast stick, but once I got it working properly, I just turned off the TV. No need to actually watch anything. Taking a nap with the dogs seemed like a much better alternative.

I'm glad I got the water off the roof yesterday, because it was too hot to go up there today. In the Summer, I have to wear gloves, because some of the surfaces become too hot to touch. The only good thing about the Summer heat is that after a light rain in July or August, the standing water just evaporates and I don't have to bother with sweeping it away.

I'm hungry for French Toast. It's tasty and easy to chew. French Toast for breakfast tomorrow sounds delicious. Unfortunately, I'm not eating bread anymore. I don't completely remember why, but I quit eating bread quite a while ago. It probably has something to do with avoiding diabetes. Bread is high in carbs and can spike blood sugar levels. Bread just isn't that good for you. It is very tasty, but blocks that absorption of other nutrients, contributes to vitamin-d deficiency, and quickly turns to sugar in your body. What a shame. Bread tastes to good.

Maybe I'll go to the gym tomorrow. I think I'm caught up on Sunday chores. I need to go to the gm more often, but I'd rather work on adding some new features to my mobile friendly test site. Learning something new is much more entertaining to me than watching a movie using the Chromecast stick. Going to the gym isn't entertaining at all, although I do like shooting the basketball. I'll probably just take another nap with the dogs.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day