Day 2346

I'm convinced that waiting for service technicians must be one of the circles of hell in Dante's Inferno. No matter when you schedule things, the repair people are never on time, and when they do finally arrive, the part you need the most isn't ever on the truck. I thought today's plumbing repair was going to be a simple job, but I should have known better. When the plumber finally arrived, he took a quick look at the leaking faucets and told me that simply replacing the washers wasn't going to work. The fixtures had corroded so badly that he recommended replacing the entire assembly. I thought the plumber would go and pick up the parts himself, but he suggested that it would be better if I do it. "I'll probably pick up something you hate," said the plumber, "and even if I do find the right parts, I'll have to mark them up 40%. OK. You convinced me. I drove down to the plumbing supply store and looked at the faucets he recommended. I didn't like either of them. I took one of the handles from the old faucets with me and the owner of the store recognized it and said he had all the parts to completely rebuild my current faucet. This seemed like a better solution to me, since the newer faucets didn't look like they would fit anyway. I bought $90 worth of faucet parts and returned home to reschedule another appointment with the plumber. The dispatcher told me that someone could come out again toward the end of the day, which sounded much better than waiting until Friday. I waited and waited, but the plumber never showed up.

When you are waiting for a repair person, you can't run to the bank, or walk the dogs, or even take a shower, because that's always when the repair guys will arrive. If you cancel everything and wait patiently, they will never show up. If you figure that they're going to be late anyway and decide to run a quick errand, they'll be in your driveway in ten minutes. At any rate I have all the parts now.  The next step is to get another plumber to come out and tell me that I bought the wrong parts.We'll have to go through all the barking again too. The first thing that Dot did when she saw the plumber this morning was poop all over the place.

The sink will eventually get fixed, but I'm betting that something else will go wrong before the job is finished. At least I had something to do while I waited today. Since I wasn't able to leave the house for a large part of the day, I was able to complete one of my increasingly rare writing assignments. Hopefully, I'll have another assignment when the plumber returns. It will help to pay the plumbing bill.

The weather forecast has been wrong almost every day this week. It was supposed to rain today, but the weather was actually pretty nice.  Dot did well on her short walk this morning. I think a week of reduced activity is helping her.  I could use a week of reduced activity myself. I'm perpetually tired these days. Maybe tomorrow will be my day of rest. There certainly isn't much else on the schedule at this point.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2345

I find dealing with money very frustrating these days. People want to pay me less than they did ten or fifteen years ago, while the cost of everything I use in my daily life is going through the roof. Everything is topsy turvy. Interest rates are near all time lows, but the the purchase price of a home has gone through the roof. Interest rates were over 14% when I bought my first home, but it wasn't a problem because the homes themselves were quite affordable. Cars were a bargain. I remember when you could buy a new Porsche 911 for under $8000 and a cool looking Jaguar E-Type was even less. The stock market was kind to me when the Dow was under 8,000. Not anymore. This is why I hate meeting with my financial adviser. I don't want to listen to complicated schemes to tame today's increasingly volatile market. All I want to do is go back to the early 1970's when I was a young copywriter making a paltry salary but still seemed to have more left over at the end of the month than I do today.

I didn't feel very comfortable taking any of my broker's suggestions this afternoon. I have a gut feeling that things are going to get a lot worse no matter who wins the election. We are in uncharted territory. People are voting for Hillary because they hate Trump and voting for Trump because they hate Hillary. Nobody actually likes either candidate. I think the political system has failed us if the best we can come up with for presidential candidates are two of the most disliked people in history. Can't we do  better than this? Maybe not. We complain that all the jobs have disappeared, but we still want cheap stuff made in China. People in Dallas complain about illegal immigration but still want to keep their gardeners and yard guys. You can't have it both ways. I didn't have an iPhone in the 1970's, but I had a Walkman and everything was fine. Maybe you like the way things are today, but I'd prefer to go back to the days when you could buy a new Porsche for $8000 and the most expensive house in town was less than $50,000.  I'm sure my attitude is infuriating to stockbrokers and financial advisers who are trying to get me excited about today's latest rabbet hole to jump down. I'm sorry guys. Today's investment opportunities suck.

I broke down and called a plumber today. The leak under the bathroom sink has gotten worse and I'm not ready to remodel the entire bathroom just to fix it. I'm prepared to hear that the fixtures in the sink are too old and that it's a waste of money to repair them, but what are my alternatives? Modern faucets won't fit in the old sink and a new sink won't fit in the old bathroom. The plumbers will complain, but I'm confident that they will be able to fix the leak. That's what plumbers do, isn't it?

I think I'm going to skip Dot's physical therapy for an additional week. She seems to be enjoying her lighter schedule and is slowly regaining some strength. Maybe we were just pushing her too hard. She's probably not walking enough right now, but the goal will be to slowly get her back to where she was before. I wish the underwater treadmill wasn't so far away. The water therapy is good for her, but a long ride in the car isn't. I have a feeling that transporting her to and from the vet canceled out some of the benefits of the therapy. We'll be back though. Dot's not a quitter and neither am I.

Dash and I walked past a big patch of wild ornamental onions today. I don't think these are the type of onions you eat, but the bees seem to like them. Some people call these flowers Allium. Others call them chives. I've been walking past this patch of wild onions for many years and watching them bloom every May. I wish the stock market were this reliable.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2344

I was listening to the TED Radio Hour on the way to the gym this afternoon and the topic was Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs. The theory is that there is a hierarchy of human needs and that the most basic needs must be satisfied before you can move up the pyramid to the next level. I forget who was talking on the TED stage, but he caught my attention when he said that the foundation of all human needs was a need for sleep, illustrating his premise with all sorts of bad things that happen to people who don't get enough sleep. Next up the list was a basic need for safety and security. When these needs were satisfied, the next level included a need to belong and share a sense of community. This was as far as I got before I arrived at the gym, but the talk was a little unsettling. If the foundation of a satisfied life was getting enough sleep, feeling secure, and having a sense of belonging to something larger than myself, I was screwed. I never get enough sleep, so maybe the illusive self-actualization at the top of the pyramid isn't in the cards for me.

I don't know if there is a hierarchy of dog needs, but Dot and Dash must be doing pretty well. Both of them get an enormous amount of sleep and must feel pretty secure since we take care of all their needs. Maybe this is why Dot still seems happy despite her many disabilities. On any given day, the dogs do seem happier than I am. They also seem to have a unique ability to live in the moment. I don't think that living in the moment was listed on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. but it does seem pretty important.

We are nearing the peak of the wildflower season now. Almost every day when I take Dash on his longer "boy's walk," I see something new. Today I noticed that the Purple Leatherflowers have returned. This is a type of Clematis that looks like a small purple bell. I've always enjoyed seeing these flowers, but they don't last very long. It's too bad that Dot can't take these longer walks anymore. They are almost always the best part of my day.

Going to the gym will never be the best part of my day, but the experience is strangely satisfying for a guy that hates to exercise. When I'm on the treadmill, I gradually increase the angle of the machine, so that the end of my one mile walk, there is a neat little ascending ramp graphic displayed in LED lights on the treadmill's dashboard. I always turn the crank on the hand bicycle forward for one minute and then backwards for one minute until I've finished a mile on this machine too. It usually takes exactly twenty minutes. I try to shoot five baskets in a row from the free throw line on the basketball court. I've almost never done this, but sometimes I get pretty close. I never shoot until I hear a dull thud from dribbling the ball on a small dead spot on the floor. This invisible spot marks the perfect distance for me. All the machines have similar rituals. You get the idea. I like repetition and am a bit superstitious.

I did no vacuuming or yard work today. There's plenty of time for that during the week now. I did make some small website updates and added a third camera to the list that can now be controlled by a tablet or smart phone. There's actually a reason for adding WiFi capability to these cameras. At some point, I want to place a camera on a tripod in a corner of the yard near the bird bath were small animals congregate, so I can take pictures of them without scaring them away.

I have a meeting with my financial adviser tomorrow. I'm going to try to listen with an open mind, but I'm not a happy camper. Even in today's volatile and unpredictable market, I should be doing a lot better.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2343

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone you could call who always had the answers you were looking for? I'm continually faced with situations where something should work, but just doesn't for some unexplained reason. Instead of asking a nearby knowledgeable friend, I am forced to spend hours searching the Internet for the advice of strangers. Today, I was having trouble getting a camera to connect to the WiFi network so I could control it from my phone. This shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, since I've done this many times before. Today it just didn't work. According to Google, lots of people seemed to be having the same the same problem, but opinions varied widely. Some people thought the camera was at fault. Others though the app on the phone was worthless because it hadn't been updated in our years. Then there was those who said that nothing was wrong at all and that their camera was connecting to WiFi just fine.

You have to resolve these problems through a process of elimination. Is there something wrong with the U-verse connection again? Did my latest IOS upgrade ruin all the older apps on my phone? Did I just not read the instructions correctly? After a lot of fruitless experimentation, I discovered that I needed to reboot my phone. I should have tried this first, since it seems to be the universal solution for all electronic problems. I am constantly rebooting the WiFi router, the DVR, the computers, the phones, and even the thermostat. Why are these connections to the cloud so fragile? I never had to do this five years ago.

Janet and I both think Dot is getting stronger, but I wonder if we are imagining things. The differences we are seeing are subtle at best. I've always believed in the placebo effect. If you really want to believe something, you generally can. Dot does seem a bit steadier this week. On the other hand, she is still senile and poops all over the place. I had a big mess to clean up last night, but strategically placed disposable pads are making the process easier. I don't think there's a lot we can do medically at this point. Instead, we provide a kind of doggie hospice care. We're not going to make Dot well again, but we can keep her happy.

It didn't rain as much as I expected today. Actually, it hardly rained at all. This doesn't mean that we've got clear skies ahead unfortunately. The long range forecast says it's going to be a wet and stormy week. We'll see. The forecast was certainly wrong today. Whatever is going on definitely appeals to the butterflies. I hardly saw any butterflies last year. This Spring, they are everywhere.

I suppose I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on whether I can go to sleep tonight. I'm ready. All I need to do is empty the water out of the dehumidifier, brush my teeth, and try to slip a puppy training pad under Dot's butt without waking her up.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2342

I returned like a prodigal son to my original Friday restaurant and was pleasantly surprised to see that they'd added several new items to the menu, hired a new waiter, and seemed to be surviving, despite the intense competition from the restaurant across the street. While I was finishing my Migas and coffee, I checked the pet cam I'd made out of an old iPhone and it worked perfectly. I was off to a good start. It was hard to believe it was Friday the 13. This looked like it was going to be a pretty good day.

Cutting Dot's morning walk in half seems to have made a huge difference. She doesn't seem as exhausted now, and is starting to get up on her own in the morning without assistance again. She is still weak and has a lot of trouble walking, but I can definitely see a difference. I wish the added rest had helped with her incontinence, but you can't have everything. Instead of pooping first thing in the morning, she is going at 3 AM now.  I have no idea why her bathroom habits aren't more consistent, but I sure wish they were. I had trouble getting back to sleep after last night's cleanup session and felt tired for the rest of the day. Work is so slow right now that I could just sleep all day with the dogs, but that would be giving up. I'm not ready to give up yet.

Since it was a nice relatively cool day, I decided to mow the grass and get this weekend chore out of the way. While I was working in the yard, I saw some city employees painting additional lines on the street like the ones I mentioned yesterday. I asked one of the guys what they were doing and he said they were locating water lines. "Does this means you are getting ready to tear up the street you just finished paving," I asked? "I just paint the lines," the guy said. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the city was getting ready to dig a big trench right down the middle of the road they just finished paving. That's how they operate.

Among today's list of website changes was a request to remove an offer precisely at midnight tonight. No problem. I'm usually sitting right here anyway. Work is still slow and fairly mundane, but there was a hint that more writing jobs may be headed my way soon. It would be nice to be busy again, since I'm stuck in the house anyway. Even though Dot sleeps most of the time, she needs someone nearby to help her up when she needs to move. I can usually tell when she is going to be asleep long enough for me to eat breakfast or go to the post office, but dogs can be unpredictable. I hate to come home and see that she's had to struggle to get out of her bed.

Even though it was nice today, the long range forecast still shows lots of rain ahead. This is a typical Texas Spring. Cool breezes are followed by hot dry days, which in turn are followed by violent thunderstorms. I'm always surprised when I wake up, because it is always different than the day before. There's a 50% chance of rain by sunrise tomorrow. I hope we get lucky and get the dogs walked before the thunder and lightning arrive. Life is much easier if the dogs are asleep when there's a storm.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2340

I knew today was going to be a problem. The HVAC guy wanted to come out at 8 AM to service the air conditioner. 8 AM is when the dogs normally eat their breakfast, so they are both active and energetic. Dot and Dash weren't in the mood to sleep through anything this morning. Dot didn't poop when we walked her around the block right after sunrise, so she was primed and ready to go. As soon as she started barking at the repair technician, there was poop everywhere. It is best if Dot is asleep when repair people are in the house, but this wasn't going to be one of those days. She got upset, stepped in the poop and tracked it all over the bedroom. Dash didn't help matters when he started barking too. He could care less about the repair technician, but he was mad that he had to wait for his breakfast banana. I always give the dogs half a banana when I make my morning smoothie, and they are not very patient about waiting. The technician eventually finished the system check and left. It took me the rest of the morning to clean up Dot's mess.

By the time I finished cleaning various rugs, carpets, blankets, and Dot's soiled harness, it was time for lunch. I have no idea what the HVAC technician actually did, because I was preoccupied washing Dot and cleaning up the huge mess that she had created. I hope the air conditioner doesn't give me any problems this Summer. It would be really frustrating to have gone through all today's carnage for nothing. One good thing about dogs is that they totally live in the moment. As soon as the repair guy was gone, life returned to normal. Dash got his banana. Dot went back to sleep. And I finally finished my breakfast, accompanied by the competing sounds of the washing machine, dishwasher, and dehumidifier.

When we were walking this morning we noticed that the city had painted a series of green, blue, and yellow guidelines on the streets in the neighborhood. I'm not positive, but these appeared to be location lines for underground utilities. It would be ironic that after literally waiting decades to get the streets fixed in our neighborhood, the city was just going to dig them up again. One of the streets with the utility location lines was repaved less than a month ago.

It was time to get the water off the roof again. I know it's probably going to rain again soon, but it's not wise to leave the standing water up there for too long. Whenever I'm up on the roof, I keep noticing that the areas that need to be patched are growing larger. I'll call the roofer again, but I'm not optimistic. My roofer has his own priorities, and evidently I'm not very high on his list.

I finished updating the firmware in all my cameras and lenses. It was surprising that so many things were out of date. I have lots of exciting new capabilities now, but since none of them are listed or described in the manual, I wonder if I'll ever use them. A month from now, I'll forget I even updated all this stuff.

There was a  car parked on the street where I usually put my garbage can on Thursday night. I had to put my can in a strange new place and now I wonder if the truck will pick it up. This is the kind of stuff I worry about. I can't decide where to eat breakfast tomorrow either. It's been that kind of day.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2339

The electricians came today. So, how many electricians does it take to change a light bulb? In the past, it has taken as many as three. Today, there was only one guy, but perhaps there should have been more. Things didn't go all that smoothly. The sodium vapor bulb has burned out, so we decided to just replace the bulb instead of the entire unit. Amazingly, Home Depot had these strange bulbs in stock, but the model the electrician selected turned out to be bad and he had to take it back. To avoid trying out bulbs all day, he suggested that I replace the sodium vapor lamp with a modern LED fixture. This sounded fine by me. Unfortunately, the only fixture the electrician could find was bright enough to light a tennis court at night. Then the guy's boss called and told him he was spending too much time looking for light bulbs and he needed to move on to the next job. The electrician left, but told me that he'd be back before dark with a light that worked. I didn't expect to see him again, but he was true to his word and eventually returned with a smaller LED fixture that worked. Hopefully, we won't need to do this again for a while.

Dot and I skipped our physical therapy session for the first time in over a year. I think the added rest is helping. She hasn't gotten much stronger, but she does seem a lot more comfortable.  Hey, it's only been two days now. I'm encouraged, even though the progress has been small. We only walk Dot around the block now. If she gets stronger, we'll gradually start increasing the distance, but I don't think she'll ever walk up and down the hills of her old route again. Since incontinence is becoming a bigger problem, I went to a pet store and got a giant box of puppy training pads. We put one of these disposable pads under her at night, so if she pees, it won't soak through the blankets.

My project for the day was turning an old iPhone without a SIM card into a pet cam. This phone was abandoned long ago when the battery went bad, but it still works when you plug it into a charger and it will connect to WiFi. Our regular pet cam won't reach the small area where Dot stays now, so I thought it was worth a try. I downloaded an app that turns your phone into a security camera and amazingly, it worked. Now, I have a camera that is small enough that I can put it right next to Dot's bed when I have to leave.

The other day when I was updating firmware on a camera body, I discovered that a lot of modern lenses have firmware too. I found several lenses that were out of date, along with detailed instructions on how to update them. After installing the new firmware in each lens, I'll have to admit that I can't see any differences at all. I suppose that the auto focus is smoother now or something. I didn't need to do any of this, since I tend to use the manual settings on my cameras, but this is what geeks do on a slow day.

I sent out my May invoices today. This was the smallest batch of invoices I've mailed in a long time. Sad. I miss the days when I was busy and headhunters were calling me every month to offer me a better job. I think there's a better chance of Dot jumping over a tall fence than of a headhunter calling with a cool job offer again. Dot is aging with so much grace and dignity. I can already tell that it's going to be more difficult for me. I need to ask Dot what her secret is.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2338

Today was Dash's day. Dot spends so much time at the vet that it's easy to forget that Dash has his own issues. We try to address each of those issues at his annual exam. For years, Dash was the problem dog and Dot was the healthy one. He has a history of epileptic seizures, but has been stable for almost five years since he started taking phenobarbital. When we adopted him, he had severe skin allergies. Now, his coat is thick and full. A thyroid deficiency and crystals in his urine are now under control. He still has a heart murmur, but his vet doesn't consider it a risk. Most importantly, his thyroid cancer has been in remission for over three years. Dash got a thorough checkup today and passed with flying colors. I am really thankful that he is doing so well. Several years ago, when both dogs were being treated for cancer at the same time, it was almost more than we could handle.

Dot and Dash are lucky to have some great vets looking after them. Sometimes I wish that vets could treat humans too. I'm convinced that I'd get bet better care if I went to the vet than I do from my own doctors. I trust our vets. I'm not so sure about my own physicians. Whenever I see a lobby filled with pharmaceutical company sales reps, I start to wonder if all the pills I take are actually necessary. To be fair, the dogs take a lot of pills too, but everything seems more honest and direct without all the insurance and pharmaceutical companies in the middle. I think one of the problems with human medicine is there isn't much emphasis on what we eat. When your vet tells you that your dog should eat a specific type of food, that's what you feed them. Humans go the the Cheesecake Factory, eat enormous, gut busting meals, and then wonder why they've got diabetes. Maybe we've got too much freedom. Dot and Dash just eat what we put in their bowls. If they had a choice, I'm sure they'd opt for an all bacon diet.

When Dash and I returned from the vet, the first thing I noticed was that Dot had pooped in her bed. I kind of expected this would happen. It was so hot when I took her outside after lunch that she had no interest in doing anything. It's impossible to get an incontinent dog's pooping schedule coordinated with anything. Basically, it's just like that old bumper sticker. Shit happens. Dot is feeling a little better today. We only gave her a short walk this morning and she spent most of the day sleeping. I canceled her physical therapy appointment tomorrow, so she can rest some more. Hopefully, the added rest will help. You can't be a drill Sargent with a sick dog. You have to let them set the pace. I know that Dot still wants to keep moving. We just need to stay aware of what her body can handle as she continues her long, slow decline.

Dash's big adventure at the vet ate up a big chunk of the day, but I still had time to resolve the equipment problems I was having yesterday. The audio and video gear are working together nicely now. Now that I understand what I'm doing, I wonder how long it will take to put this knowledge to use. You might wonder why I don't just embark on a long, complicated personal project, since I obviously have the time. I wonder too occasionally. I tell people that I can't make movies or write songs because I'm taking care of Dot. That's probably just an excuse. It's one of those been there, done that things. I just don't have the desire anymore.

I do like writing this blog. There's something epic about doing something for so many years, night after night, without any breaks in continuity at all. It's even more epic that I have absolutely nothing to say. My life is about as ordinary as you can get, and yet you're still reading.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2337

I hate feeling helpless. Dot continues to grow weaker and there is very little I can do at this point. I've tried everything I possibly can to keep her happy, motivated, and free from pain, but it's a losing battle. Cancer and a damaged spinal cord have taken their toll. The vets have no answers anymore when I ask what to do next to keep her strong. Maybe this is just a bad week, but I'm afraid that another disc might have ruptured. It's been noticeably harder for her to walk without assistance this week. She doesn't even try to get up very often. We were warned that this would happen eventually, but it's hard to accept that our indestructible girl might not bounce back anymore.

I'm always looking for answers, but we may never know exactly what has caused this latest setback. Dot is too weak for anesthesia, so we can't give her another MRI. An MRI is the only way to determine for certain whether another disc has ruptured or slipped. Something pressing on her spinal cord would certainly explain the current weakness in her legs, but it could be something else entirely. The cancer may have progressed to the point where is is causing her pain. There are several pain medications available, but they all have serious side effects. Dot's vet has encouraged us to try extended rest before resorting to something that will cause her liver to fail even faster.

Dash becomes depressed when Dot is sick. He has always been a nervous, frightened dog and has depended on Dot for stability. Without his constant companion at his side, Dash doesn't know what to do. Since Dot is sleeping, he just sleeps too. It's all kind of sad. I sit in a quiet house where the phone doesn't ring and my dogs and my career are slowly fading away. For the past two years, my life has been focused around keeping Dot healthy. For the most part, this journey has been a remarkable success, but it's getting harder now. Nobody lives forever.

I need to stay positive, because the next few months aren't going to be easy. Dot's urinary incontinence has returned, so now she pees and poops in her bed. Dot's body may be failing, but her spirits are still good. She barks when she sees a cat, eats her meals with gusto, and still looks forward to a morning walk, even though her legs won't take her very far. As long as she remains happy, I'll make any adjustments that are necessary. I don't know what I'm going to do when she loses the will to keep going.

Today was very slow. I made my morning smoothie, cleaned up poop, tinkered with the dehumidifier, and tried to make my self useful. I spend a good chunk of the afternoon trying to get a couple pieces of movie making gear to play nice together. I used to be able to solve these kind of problems by calling a few friends. Now, I spend hours making endless Google searches and sending e-mail to manufacturers. I think I solved the problem I was having, but I'll never know for sure until I actually use the equipment to make a movie.

I hope that giving Dot lots of rest today helps. If she wakes up a little stronger, we'll rest some more. I'm wondering whether we should skip physical therapy this week as well. I'll call Dot's vet and see what she thinks. All I know is that we're running on empty now and there isn't a gas station in sight.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2336 - Mother's Day

My Mom has been gone so long now that many memories are starting to fade. When she was alive, the medical community wasn't very familiar with bipolar disorder. She suffered from the highs and lows associated with manic depression for most of her adult life, but was never effectively treated. In her case, I think the cure was worse than the disease. Despite her violent mood swings, she led a rich and productive life, always encouraging me to be the best that I could be. She was very interested in the early civil rights movement and was proud of the letters she exchanged with Rosa Parks for many years. Mom tried to teach me tolerance, but she might not be pleased with what I have become. I'm not nearly as tolerant as she was. Memories fade, but every Mother's Day I'm left with a feeling that her life was cut short way too soon. The mood swings were frightening, but what the doctors did was even worse. From the time I was a teenager, I was determined not to suffer the same fate. In an odd way, that explains everything.

I've never had kids, so Mother's Day and Father's Day are not a big deal. Today, like almost every other Sunday, was a day for household chores and strenuous exercise. Amazingly, both dogs were content to sleep in this morning. I think they didn't realize it was morning, since it was so dark and overcast outside. Without the usually early morning barking, my fitness monitor informed me that I received 85% of a normal night's sleep. This is almost a personal best for me. We took a shorter morning walk than usual today, because Dot seemed tired and it looked like it was going to rain. I'm disappointed that discontinuing Dot's chemotherapy hasn't done anything to improve her strength. She does the best she can, but we may have to permanently shorten her walks a bit. She just doesn't have the strength anymore.

I'm not sure if I have the strength anymore either. I think the only reason I feel like I'm doing a good job at the gym is that all the other members are heart patients and can barely move. Janet doesn't like it that the men always leave the machines sweaty at her gym. I always tell her to come to mine instead. Most of my fellow members couldn't work up a sweat if they tried. For the most part, the machines look showroom new. I love this odd octogenarian gym. It's a great place to shoot baskets, because I'm almost always the only one using the basketball court.

I had a good workout this morning and then came home and vacuumed the house. I didn't bother to mow the grass or wash the car because it's just going to continue raining tomorrow. You might think it was a boring day, but I didn't. Today was fine. Dot was alert and in good spirits, even though I could tell she was feeling weak. Janet fixed bacon for breakfast and bacon is always good. It's a once a week treat that I'm hoping won't destroy my plans to keep my cholesterol low. I like to make an egg sandwich by putting an over easy egg inside a big breakfast biscuit and then adding a couple of slices of bacon. It's back to my banana and strawberry smoothies tomorrow, but these bacon and egg sandwiches sure are good.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. We are in the path of thunderstorms, so it will depend on how hard it rains. I'm starting to see lots of little Porcupine Mimosa's in the meadows now. After a rain, the number of wildflowers seems to double almost overnight.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2335

I dutifully took my pictures of the bathroom faucets up to the plumbing showroom this morning and showed them to the staff. They had hundreds of nice looking faucets on display, but they were all too big. A patient lady looked through catalogs with me as we tried to find something that would fit my 1950's sink. The problem is that everything has gotten bigger since the 1950's. Sofas are bigger. Refrigerators are bigger. Even bathroom fixtures are bigger.  After an extensive search we finally found a single modern looking European faucet set that looked like it might work. It cost $1000.  Jeez, I could buy an entirely new pedestal sink with faucets attached for much less than that. This is what is so discouraging about keeping old houses, old cars, and old cameras working properly. You just can't find the parts.

I temporarily gave up on the bathroom sink and returned to more pressing matters like getting groceries, changing the sheets, and making sure that Dot's bedding was clean. It's time to mow the grass again, but my allergies are so bad that I can't stand to be outside for that long. Actually, I think grass seed is one of the many things I'm allergic to.

I upgraded the firmware in my new camera this afternoon. I dread upgrading firmware, because the instructions are totally incomprehensible and there are always warnings that if you don't follow these instructions exactly, you will ruin your camera. I approached things slowly and methodically, but when the moment of truth arrived, the new firmware failed to load. I did a Google search for people who were having similar problems installing this version of firmware and of course I found dozens of horror stories of other failures. The firmware files are first downloaded to your computer and then transferred to an SD card which is inserted in the camera. After much fruitless searching, I eventually noticed a post from a man who said my camera would not recognize the firmware if it had been transferred to a fast high capacity SDHC card. He suggested formatting an older slow card instead. I followed his instructions and everything worked. This was kind of ironic, since the camera had been specifically designed to use the latest high speed memory cards.

Dot is off schedule again. Every time I left the house, I expected to come home to a huge mess. I'm still waiting. I have no idea what makes Dot poop, or in this case, not poop. It all seems totally random. Probably the long awaited moment will happen about an hour after I go to sleep this evening. It wasn't all bad news though. Dot had more energy today and did well on both her walks, even though it is starting to get warmer.

I could spend the entire day tomorrow vacuuming the house and mowing the grass. Hopefully, I'll find something more appealing to do with my time. Maybe I'll go to the gym. I need to quit stopping at the sporting goods store on the way to the gym.  I'm just about broke already this month and I definitely don't need any more discount Winter jackets. It's hard to resist a bargain though. The big going out of business sale will be over in a week or so anyway, so I won't have to worry about it anymore.

It's been a long day. The dogs are already resting peacefully, but we'll need to get them up one more time to give them their evening pills. Maybe we'll get to sleep in late tomorrow. It doesn't happen often, but it's always a worthy goal.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2334

It drives me crazy when stuff breaks all the time. I called the electrician today to fix a broken sodium vapor light in the back yard. These lights typically last up to ten years, but this one bit the dust in less than a year. The good news is that the fixture is probably still under warranty. The bad news is that my electrician has gone to a four day week and doesn't work on Friday anymore. He won't be able to come out and replace the faulty security lamp until next Wednesday. By then, Janet and I will both have tripped over rocks and stepped in dog poop while taking the dogs out late at night. The security light is essential.

Next on the list was a call to the plumber to fix the leaking fixtures in the bathroom sink. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I will have to measure and photograph the existing fixtures and then bring the photos to their offices so they can see if they can locate a suitable replacement. They're probably telling me the truth, since the modern fixtures I see at Home Depot and Lowes are too big to fit in the old sink. I had to do this once before when I owned rental property and it seemed like it took months to get the old leaking fixtures replaced. I keep thinking that all repair people are going to be like those friendly, knowledgeable guys on that PBS This Old House show, but sadly this is seldom the case.

I've started hearing a loud squeak or chirping noise on the left side of my car when I drive over a bump. I heard exactly the same noise a few weeks before the suspension went out on the right hand side of the car last year. To be proactive, I called the dealership to make an appointment to bring the car in for service. They don't have any openings until the end of the month. I guess I'd better not drive over any big bumps until then.

It was quite warm today and I could tell that Dot was already having trouble with the heat. We're going to have a real problem this Summer. The higher the temperature, the less energy she has. In Texas terms, this was just a mild Spring day. It's going to get worse. When Summer really hits us, we might not be able to walk at all. It's going to be a challenge to keep Dot moving in the Summer. I guess we could start using the underwater treadmill more, but it's a long ride in the car to get to our therapy sessions and cars can get very hot during Texas Summers.

Don't ask me why, but I had breakfast at a neighborhood cafe that appears to be a favorite with the over 70 crowd. Literally, everyone in the place was a senior citizen. I hadn't been to this place for several years, but it certainly hasn't changed much. The food is actually pretty good, but that's not why the place is popular. Old people love this place because the portions are huge. I could barely finish my meal this morning. It's weird how people tend to stay with their own tribe. There were no hipsters in this restaurant. There were no young moms, pushing their kids in fancy strollers. All I saw were a bunch of very old men who were clearly going to vote for Trump.

The new camera arrived today. I opened the box to make sure everything was there, but that's about as far as I got. I'll be taking plenty of pictures in the future, but my hands are full with other things now. Taking care of Dot and keeping the house from falling apart has become a full time job.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2333

It's kind of two steps forward, three steps back with Dot. She has an amazing ability to rebound, but at the end of the day, we're still losing ground. We skipped the walks today and let Dot sleep. It seemed to help. By lunchtime, she wanted to get up and have her rice cake and by dinner time, she was eager to go outside again. Sure, she pooped in the house a few times, but her abdomen doesn't appear painful anymore and she's putting weight on her left rear leg again. It's a delicate balance. It's is essential to keep Dot moving to prevent the muscle atrophy in her legs from getting even worse, but it's equally essential not to overdo it.

If Dot continues to improve, we'll try a short walk tomorrow morning. When Dot needs to rest, Dash gets to enjoy a much longer walk by himself. We call it our 'Boy's Walk." All I have to say now is "Do you want to take a Boy's Walk Dash?" and he gets all excited. Dash is very good about walking slowly in front of Dot in the mornings to give her something to follow, but I'm not sure he understands how essential he is. I can tell he misses the old days when the three of us would walk for miles at full speed. Before Dot became ill, we could cover three times the distance in the same amount of time that our slow journey takes now.

I'm still having serious connectivity problems with my office network. The hosting company says everything is fine on their end and that the problem originates with my ISP. The ISP says they are unaware of the problem I describe and tell me to call the hosting company. After doing a little research on my own, I've discovered that my ISP is selectively blocking several servers owned by the hosting company, saying that the machines are known sources of malware. The hosting company says than none of the accounts on their servers are spammers or hackers and nobody should be blocking them. Neither party will actually admit to doing anything at all when I press them on the issue. When I tell them that there are tons of other customers complaining about similar  connectivity issues on Internet forums, they basically just tell me that you can't believe what you read on the Internet. It's frustrating. It appears like my ISP is having a little war with my hosting company and I'm caught in the middle.

I still haven't called the plumber. I think the leak originates under one of the fixtures, but I'm reluctant to deal with the issue, because I've already tried to get these faucets replaced before without much success. When I was having plumbers out to the house almost every day during our big underground pipe leak last year, I asked if they could replace the aging faucets. It didn't seem like a big deal to me, but the plumbers made all sorts of excuses. They told me that they didn't carry faucets or fixtures on the truck and that I would have to purchase the fixtures myself if I wanted them to install them. Since the sink is very old, I knew I could never find a match for the old faucets at Home Depot. I thought the plumbers would be happy to take care of this for me, but apparently not. I didn't press the issue because they were trying to fix a major leak under my foundation and I didn't want to make them mad. I'm beginning to think that absolutely nothing is easy to fix anymore.

I don't know where to eat tomorrow morning. I'm just floundering around, in search of a new Friday breakfast place. There are only about five restaurants that serve breakfast and are close enough to the house to meet my somewhat strange criteria. I guess I'll try them all again and see if something clicks. There was a reason that I abandoned each of these places in the past, but things change quickly in the restaurant business. Maybe one of these places is fabulous now.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2332

Dot had another setback today. When we were returning from our physical therapy session, she started yelping like she was in pain. I pulled over to the side of the road and checked to see if she had twisted her leg somehow. Everything looked fine, but her abdomen seemed very tender and she didn't want me to touch it. I waited until she calmed down and then continued home. When we got home she seemed weak and just wanted to rest on her dog bed. She still didn't want me to touch her abdomen. I called Dot's vet and described the symptoms to her. She ruled out bloat or gastric torsion, which I was kind of worried about and suggested that Dot might be feeling referred or reflected pain from her liver tumor. Referred pain is where the pain is perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus, which in this case would have been her liver. Who knows if this is what is actually going on. If her discomfort continues, I'll take her back to the cancer center and have them do another ultrasound scan. Since Dot has cancer, along with several serious neurological problems, there are any number of things that could be making her uncomfortable.

It's hard to deal with the unpredictable nature of a serious illness. I try my best to do what's right for Dot, but sometimes doing all the right things still doesn't produce the desired outcome. I saw this with my Dad toward the end of his life. He had the best care available, but after a certain point he just didn't get any better. One thing is pretty certain.  It doesn't matter if you are a human or a dog. Getting old sucks.

There's a leak in one of the bathroom sinks. The leak isn't bad now, but it appears to be getting worse. I tried to fix things myself this morning, but I couldn't even tell where the water was coming from. It looks like I'll have to add a plumber to the growing list of repair people I need to call. I've already called the roofer and the HVAC guy. Now I need to call the plumber and a tree trimmer as well. I try to schedule these service calls for a month were there aren't any really large vet bills, but that isn't easy to do. I think there will always be large vet bills. There might be a big one tomorrow if Dot doesn't get better.

I'm still perplexed by Dot's mysterious pain. She did really well in the underwater treadmill today and appeared completely normal when we left the vet clinic. She was resting calmly in the car when it happened. There were no sudden stops or sharp turns. The whole thing was kind of sudden. I hope she feels better tomorrow. Dot is resting calmly now. I can't say that I'm all that calm though. Two solid years of medical problems are wearing me out. I just hope that Dash stays healthy as he grows older. We've got to take these things one at a time.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2331

We woke up to sunshine this morning. The weather has become just as unpredictable as Dot's pooping schedule. I was delighted that thunder and lightning weren't going to be a problem today, but still it would be nice to know these things in advance. I've given up trying to figure out how Dot is going to feel in advance. Every day is a new day. I'm not a flexible person by nature, but Dot has forced me to embrace flexibility this year. Some days she is so weak and tired that she doesn't even want to move. Other days she seems to have found a second wind and actually seems to be getting better. She is so old now that each additional day is a gift. I try my best to adapt to her current condition and I'm even getting used to constantly cleaning up poop.

I wish I could get used to the idea of retirement. 2014 was a good year. Last year, things started to slow down, but billings were still OK. This year has been a disaster. I feel like I've totally dropped off the radar. I've known for forty years that advertising was a young business, but it still hurts to realize that you've gone past your expiration date. Things probably aren't going to change. For most of my career I was the first to try new things and was always on the leading edge of innovation. Now, I don't welcome the latest trends. For the most part, I'm appalled by where we seem to be headed. I have to live with the fact that I'm a clever, but increasingly grumpy old man.

I ordered the camera today. You knew I would. I don't buy things because I need them anymore. I buy things to influence my mood. The new camera probably won't get me any new jobs, but it will make the few jobs I still have a little more interesting. I look forward to experimenting and learning something new. It is ironic in a way that my knowledge of photography continues to improve, while my desire to actually sell the photographs I take continues to decline. I just don't care anymore. I take pictures almost every single day, but rarely show them to anybody. When I do get an assignment, all I think about is what a bother it is going to be to load all the equipment in the car and drive to the location.

I was fascinated by tonight's primary results. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have pretty well proved that the Democratic and Republican parties are irrelevant. Bernie is not really a Democrat and Trump is not really a Republican. The reason that they are both popular is that most voters aren't either. Almost everyone I know of voting age describes themselves as an independent. If the Democrats were smart, they would nominate Bernie because he has a better chance of winning than Hillary. If the Republicans were smart, they would swallow their pride and get behind Trump. These two candidates are as different as night and day, but they are both protectionists who believe that globalism and bad trade deals have destroyed the middle class. They also both believe that we ought to stay out of disastrous foreign wars. Sounds good to me. Maybe the Democrats and the Republicans ought to start listening to what the voters are thinking for a change.

I hope that Dot sleeps well tonight. Of course, I always hope that Dot sleeps well and there are no accidents. Sometimes we get lucky.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2330

What was I thinking? Yesterday, I was convinced that the weather would be nice this week, so imagine my surprise when I woke up and discovered that it was just another wet, stormy day. Like most rainy days, the house felt more humid, the dogs refused to go outside, and the mail arrived damp and soggy. My efforts to clean up the roof yesterday were completely wasted.

I didn't sleep well, mostly because the dogs sensed the storm and kept waking me up. Dash was nervous and Dot pooped in her bed. I can't really blame Dot's accident on the rain. Chances are that would have happened anyway. Everything takes longer on a rainy day. By the time I'd convinced both dogs to go outside and do their business, cleaned the mud off my shoes several times, and finished my breakfast, it was almost time for lunch.

I only had a single website revision to make today, but it seemed like a busy day anyway. There were bills to pay, a check to take to the bank, and some prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy. I didn't bother to vacuum the house because the dogs would just track more dirt inside anyway. I'm going to wait for the rain to stop before I do anymore cleaning. I did make an appointment for Dash's annual exam at the vet after checking my calendar to make sure that it had already really been a year since his last exam. It doesn't seem like a year since Dash's birthday. Dash doesn't go to the vet nearly as often as Dot, but he definitely goes more than once a year. The annual exam is just where he gets his yearly vaccinations and a new city tag.

I noticed that the camera I've had my eye on has gone back on sale again. I probably ought to just go ahead and get the thing, mostly so I'll quit thinking about it. I doubt that I'll need to be making any 4K videos in the near future, although that is one of the camera's big selling points. I do like the fact that you can fix focus errors after you've taken the shot. The camera has the ability to take a quick burst of pictures at a variety of focus points, all centered around the object you want to feature. You just select the shot with the best focus afterwards. I wish someone had invented something like this twenty years ago. It would have saved me on a number of occasions.

The weather app on my phone says it is supposed to be clear tomorrow. I don't know whether to believe it, because on Sunday evening the app said it was supposed to be clear today. I shouldn't let the weather rule my life, but it does have a tendency to set the agenda. I understand that we need the rain to avoid another drought and keep the area lakes stay full, but the wet weather sure does make taking care of Dot more difficult.

I got bit by a mosquito today. Does this mean I'm going to have to start worrying about the Zika Virus? One of the side effects of lots of rain is lots of mosquitoes. Last Spring there were a ton of mosquitoes. Actually, every year there are a ton of mosquitoes. Some years the city sprays, and other years it does nothing. You really can't win with spraying. If you don't spray, people complain. If you do spray, other people complain.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I guess it depends on whether it rains or not. I'll probably fret about whether to buy the camera or not. I'll wonder whether to add some leftover pineapple to my morning smoothie. I'll keep trying to predict when Dot is going to poop next, even though my odds of success are small. If I had some new writing jobs, I could keep these thoughts at bay, but writing assignments have been scarce lately.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2329

We slept in late this morning. By the time we took the dogs on their morning walk, the sun was already high in a bright blue sky. It was a beautiful day. I'm sure I suffer from seasonal affective disorder to some degree, because a bright sunny day improves my mood immeasurably. Bacon helps too, so after a hearty breakfast, I was ready to get something done.

I looked at the long range weather and saw enough clear days ahead to make it worthwhile to clear the roof of water again. I push the large flat broom with my left hand now because my right shoulder continues to get worse. It's weird that a lot of exercises at the gym don't bother my shoulder at all, but getting the water off the roof is a killer. After the roof was dry,  washed the car.  I often wash the car on nice days because it just makes me feel good.

I still had some energy left after finishing my Sunday chores, so I went to the gym. Lately, I've been stopping at the defunct Sports Authority store I pass along the way to add to my stash of bargains. Winter things are marked down the most, so I picked up a pair of gloves and a wool hat today. Getting all these Winter things is actually optimistic. On some subconscious level, my brain is telling me that I'm going to be around for another year.

I wish I could say the same for Dot. She continues to get weaker. The weather was nice this morning and there was a cool breeze, but Dot seemed tired and occasionally I would see her rear legs start to crisscross as we walked. This is never a good sign. When we returned home, she spent the rest of the day sleeping, but she didn't rebound much even after a long rest. I walked Dash alone this evening while Janet took Dot on a very short walk down the back alley. That was all she felt like doing today.

The house didn't get vacuumed this week, but that's OK. Work has gotten so slow that this will give me something to do tomorrow. I could always clean the office, but a clean office just means that nothing is happening. I'd much rather have lots of projects underway in a messy, cluttered office that sitting around wondering what to do in a tidy clean one. Maybe things will pick up next week. One of my clients is on vacation and I'm hoping he'll have some work for me when he returns.

It's hard to believe it's May already. Dash has a birthday in a few weeks and then in June it's my birthday again. This year has positively flown by. I'm sure lots has happened, but all I really remember is endlessly cleaning up dog poop and removing standing water from the roof. There's a fresh supply of strawberries, blueberries and bananas to make my morning smoothies. All the April bills have been paid. Dot and Dash are sleeping peacefully now. I think we're ready for whatever a new month brings our way.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day