Day 2527

I finally reached my limit on political news and went back to watching Dr. Who re-runs while I eat breakfast. Today they showed one of my favorites: The Girl in the Fireplace. This improbable story about how a bunch of mechanical androids from the 51 century want to use Madame De Pompadour's brain to repair a stranded spaceship is surprisingly warm and poignant. The only episode I like better is Vincent and the Doctor about how The Doctor and Amy Pond travel to France to meet Vincent van Gogh. I wonder why I like these shows so much? Most people I know watch shows like Modern Family and The Walking Dead. I stick with Dr. Who and programs from my childhood like Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone.

 I decided that it was time to get a new battery for my phone, since I'm constantly re-charging it now. I was surprised when the battery store told me that they'd have to special order the battery for me since my phone was so old. An iPhone 5 is old? It still seems new to me. Apparently there isn't enough demand to stock these batteries anymore. I went ahead and ordered the replacement battery even though I'm not sure it will help me much. I really think it was the upgrade to IOS 10 that destroyed my battery life.

I mailed out my November invoices this afternoon and on the way home I stopped by the vegan take out place to pick up something for dinner. I try something new every week and am gradually increasing my vegetarian vocabulary. I continue to be surprised at how delicious some of the meals are. I still eat meat, but I'm making an effort to cut back. It's certainly not going to be a vegetarian Thanksgiving. We eat lots of meat on Thanksgiving. I think a meat-free Thanksgiving would be like Christmas without a Christmas tree.

I had several website updates to complete today. The work was fairly easy, although it took a while. Increasingly, nobody is interested in my ideas anymore. They just want me to replace pictures and text. I seldom turn down assignments, because I need the money, but I often wonder whether I'll ever work on an interesting assignment again. If the past month or so is any guide, it's not very likely.

It's amazing how little I get accomplished on days like this. I'm constantly busy but most of the activity is mindless. Every time I sit down to enjoy breakfast or dinner, one of the dogs needs attention. I've had to stop and clean up poop during dinner more times than I can remember. Tonight there was a huge mess and by the time I got everything cleaned up, dinner was cold. Something similar happens whenever I sit down at the computer to write. The dogs do sleep a lot, but it's hard to get our schedules coordinated.

The moon actually looked bigger tonight than it did yesterday. I wonder if I got the day right for viewing the supermoon? I've been wrong on these things before.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2526

Well, the moon didn't look that super tonight. I guess it was a little bigger and brighter than usual, but it was hard for me to tell the difference. I think tonight's rare supermoon was supposed to look about 14% larger than usual. If the moon was twice as big, I'm sure that I'd notice the difference, but 14% doesn't even compute for me. Would I notice if Cheetos were 14% larger, or if there was 14% more coffee in a Starbucks cup? Probably not. The moon was pretty though. I always enjoy seeing the moon.

I'm sure you know what I did today already. Sunday's are always the same. I went to the gym, vacuumed the house, and walked the dogs. On sunny days like this, the gym is practically empty. I think there were only seven people working out. I did my usual routine and finished in 63 minutes, just like last week. The house is cleaner now and there are fresh sheets on the bed. The days seem so short now. I never notice the extra hour of daylight in the morning, but I definitely notice how quickly it gets dark in the evening. I'm always walking Dash at sunset now.

I need to resist the urge to get drawn into political arguments on Facebook. I've inadvertently joined these discussions a couple of times and instantly regretted the decision. You're not going to change anyone's mind at this point. As a writer, it's tempting to want to have the last word, but you've got to resist the temptation. The world is not going to end and the country's many problems are not going to be resolved overnight. As usual, the answer will lie somewhere in between.

I actually learned something about the election today. I was curious why both sides were claiming to have won the popular vote. This seems like a no-brainer to me. Either you did or you didn't. As it turns out, absentee ballots aren't even counted in most states unless the election is close. For example, if there are 50,000 absentee ballots, but a candidate won a state by 60,000 votes, the prevailing wisdom is that it is not worth the trouble to even tabulate the extra ballots since they wouldn't make a difference in the outcome. This allows both sides to claim victory in a close popular vote by making their own projections about the uncounted ballots. I never knew that absentee ballots weren't typically counted. I learn something new every day.

I never knew the moon's orbit wandered all over the place either. Why did I always think it is was a nice circular path around the earth? I guess if I looked up at the sky more often, I would have figured out the answer years ago. Sometimes a full moon is directly overhead. Other times it is low in the southern sky. I wondered about this occasionally, but never gave it much thought.

So far, it looks like it's going to be a slow week. Dash needs a thyroid test before he can get his thyroid medication renewed. I need a visit with my own doctor before I can get all my prescriptions renewed for another year. No wonder the pharmaceutical industry is so huge. Our lives today revolve around the pills we take.

The chores are done. The dogs are resting peacefully. I've got a supply of fresh strawberries and bananas for tomorrow's breakfast smoothie. I'm ready for another week.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2525

I stopped by a popular animal rescue event today. There was a big crowd and the weather was perfect. I used to work with this group a lot. Someone else does the marketing and promotions now. He does a good job. I saw a lot of new faces and a few familiar ones. It was nice to see that the group has prospered over the years. As I said hello to old friends, I kind of missed being involved. It was my choice though. There are other priorities now.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to withdraw from almost everything. There's also the possibility that taking care of an old, sick dog has been the best thing that ever happened to me. Seeing Dot survive and even thrive long past her expected expiration date has certainly been its own reward. I'm working on becoming more patient and understanding. Everything seems to happen in slow motion now. The dogs control the flow of the day and how long I feel comfortable being away. The visit to the rescue event, grocery shopping, and filling the car with gas took a little over two hours. That was about right.

It was really cold this morning when I walked Dash. I've stopped wearing shorts on these morning walks and I'm going to have to start wearing a warmer jacket soon. I'm looking forward to cooler weather. I've got waterproof boots, several warm jackets, and some leggings for really cold days. The dogs love cold weather, so it should be easier to get them to walk. It costs less to run the furnace than the air conditioner too, so maybe our electric bill will go down a bit. I'm not going to get too enthusiastic though. Cold weather is fine. Snow, not so much. I'm not looking forward to snow at all.

I wonder if Obamacare is really going to get repealed? It would be easy enough to roll things back to the way it was before, but then a lot of people would lose their coverage and there would be a big outcry. Health insurance has always been confusing and a lot of the current narrative is just untrue. There have always been ways to get insured if you have a pre-existing condition. High risk pools were set up in most states for exactly this purpose. When I started my company, I was able to find good, reasonably priced health insurance. Then, five years later, my insurer pulled out of the Texas market because they thought they weren't making enough money. I had to start all over again and look for new insurance. I was older and it was much harder the second time around. To make matters worse, my doctor had discovered that I had Hepatitis C, which was considered a very expensive pre-existing condition at the time. This made it much harder to find new insurance. I was advised to join the Texas high risk pool, but I really wanted something better. I finally ended up leasing myself from an employee leasing company and then was able to get on the employee leasing company's group plan. As a leased employee, I paid myself minimum wage and was able to get pretty good insurance in return. The whole thing was an accounting nightmare, but it worked. The weird thing is that I thought I was paying a small fortune for this opportunity to join a group plan, but it was actually much less than most people are paying for Obamacare today. Good insurance has always been available, even to self employed people like me with pre-existing conditions. You just had to pay for it. It was only when the government decided to insure everybody, whether they could pay or not, that things began to get weird. Somebody had to pay, and in many cases, it turned out to be you.

I hope this nice weather continues tomorrow. The roof is dry, I don't have to empty the dehumidifier bucket very often, and the air conditioner isn't running constantly. In my world, it doesn't get much better than this.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2524 - Veteran's Day

I convinced the guys at the hipster restaurant to make me something that wasn't on the menu this morning. This was a small but significant success. If you can't find your world, you've just got to create it. I doubt that I could ever convince the owners to start using real china and silverware, but they probably wouldn't mind if I started bringing my own plate. I like this place. The food is simple, but delicious. The customers aren't irritating. And the coffee is strong. I'm definitely not a hipster myself, but I feel comfortable here.

It's nice to get away now and then. The isolation of my daily life and the dogs changing needs are slowly driving me crazy. Dalmatians are active, energetic dogs. Dot and Dash used to be much calmer when I was able to walk them five or six miles a day. Dot can barely make it around the block now, and Dash is so timid that he doesn't like to walk at all without Dot at his side. Now, Dash stands next to the refrigerator and barks incessantly at the treats we keep hidden on the top. Dot drinks water when she's stressed, but her muscles don't work well anymore, so she takes tiny, tiny little sips. I can stand holding her up at her water bowl for ten of fifteen minutes at a time. I hate to pull her away because I don't want her to get dehydrated. I sure wish she could drink faster though. Everything I do these days is an exercise in patience.

When I went to refill Dash's thyroid medication, they told me that he needs another blood test before the prescription can be renewed. I thought we just did this, but when I looked at my records it turned out that the last test was to check on the effectiveness of his phenobarbital. Now we've got to do the same thing for his Levothyroxine. Fasting Dash for these tests is a major hassle, because this is a dog that lives to eat. Ironically, I'm having exactly the same problems with my own medications. I recently had to make an appointment for more tests before my own doctor would renew my prescriptions. Most of these pills I've been taking for decades and the dosage has never changed. I don't know why my doctor couldn't just write me a prescription that would last forever.

I have never seen so many opinionated people on my Facebook feed. People who normally just post pictures of cute cats are determined to convince their friends that Trump is either going to be great, or that he represents the end of the world as we know it. I see an almost equal number of opinions from either side of the fence. Nobody is really going to change anybody's mind. Most people are just preaching to the choir because of the way Facebook filters your feed. You just see what Facebook thinks you want to see. I don't think this is a good thing. The personalization made possible by technology just creates little echo chambers where friends can reinforce their preconceptions. I don't see much of a desire to actually understand the other side. 

My trash got picked up again today. This makes four weeks in a row. Maybe the government is listening to me after all. Hey, the sky was blue this morning. I had a good breakfast and Dot's condition seems stable for the moment. On this Veteran's Day, I don't think the world is going to end at all.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2523

I'm a writer. I find it fascinating how storytelling has become a ubiquitous part of our current political dialog. Was it always this way? I'm not sure. It does seem like the press and the politicians are spending a lot of time constructing a narrative these days. A narrative is just a story. It is not necessarily true. We have all these competing versions of the truth out there, each carefully packaged for our consumption. It's almost as if nobody trusts us to come to a conclusion ourselves. There are narratives designed to appeal to the young. There are narratives that reinforce preexisting beliefs. Some narratives provoke fear. Others create hope. Very few of these stories deal with the complexities that lie just beneath the surface. People just pick their favorite story and run with it. Personally, I'd rather sift through the evidence and decide for myself.

So, where is the evidence that explains Tuesday's election? The elephant in the room is the fact that most people didn't even vote. Over 46% of eligible voters didn't even bother this year. I listened to a reporter this morning interview some of the young people who were protesting the election last night. They were unhappy with the results, but many of them didn't vote. Unbelievable! Few, if any, could could come up with a coherent reason why they were so angry. At best, they just repeated someone else's narrative. Maybe you're worried about Trump. I'm a lot more worried about what happens when these millennials take over. There is one ray of hope. One of the exit polls discovered that a significant minority of the college age population did not end up voting with their peers. These were generally science and engineering majors who were making the only protest they could against the mindless political correctness they were experiencing on campus. I'm convinced that these students who did not drink the Kool Aid are going to be the ones who get all the good jobs when they graduate. Somebody is going to be needed to program all the robots.

Maybe if all the angry people actually did move to Canada like they are promising, my business would improve. If Facebook is any guide, most people in advertising and marketing wanted Hillary to win. I'd be happy to take their clients if they leave. I'd be even happier if people would just quit complaining. I'm old enough to remember what people said when Ronald Reagan was first elected. It was remarkably similar to what many are saying about Trump now. Of course these days Reagan is revered as one of the best presidents of the modern era. Funny how time changes things.

As fascinating as this election has been, I have a feeling that it's just another "not my circus, not my monkeys" situation for me. I'm old. The stakes aren't nearly as high for me as they would be for someone in their thirties or early forties. I would just caution people on both sides of the political fence to be careful what you wish for. Unintended consequences are a bitch.

I deal with unintended consequences every day. After a lifetime of making decisions, you just can't avoid them. I discovered today that one of the unintended consequences of getting my new iPad is that I'm going to have to subscribe to Office 365. Another unwanted expense. One of the unintended consequences of giving Dot Tramadol is that she has become more demanding as she feels a little better. I'm walking her around the house on the hour now. I think she's pooping more too. Life is full of surprises. I guess that's what keeps it interesting.

Puppies are today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2522

I felt good this morning. The rain has lifted and Dash and I walked under a partly cloudy sky, watching the dawn turn into a beautiful sunrise. It was also heartening to see that democracy still works.

I was beginning to wonder. To my democratic friends who think the world has ended, how could you not see this coming? You simply can't go around saying let them eat cake forever. I'm convinced that the election turned out the way it did because millions of good people got tired of being ridiculed and shamed for simply wanting to continue living according to the values their parents and grandparents taught them. Our parents were good people. They weren't burdened with the tyranny of political correctness. They had more important things to do than worry about gender neutral pronouns and safe spaces. They won World War II, went to the moon, and built an an amazing, vibrant country with the belief that we were a great melting pot where everyone could prosper by working hard and adopting a shared set of values. When a political party starts to ridicule those values, this is what happens. When you look at a political map, you see a vast sea of red surrounded by a few slivers of blue on either coast. It is arrogant and wrong for the elites to characterize this vast sea of red as an irrelevant bunch of ignorant racists, sexists, and homophobes. These people are America and they have spoken.

I'd like to see us adopt a shared set of values again. Diversity without the desire to assimilate just creates tribalism. That's where we are now. We are just a bunch of tribes with no particular loyalties to any of the other tribes. Remember that poem by William Butler Yeats where he says "when the centre cannot hold; anarchy is loosed upon the world?" That's where we're headed. So many things are falling apart because we have lost the center that kept us together for so many years.

Perhaps I had time to ruminate about politics because today was so slow. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get any more writing assignments. I didn't even have any website updates today. I picked up some prescriptions at the pharmacy and spent the rest of the day walking Dot up and down the hallway. She is not sleeping as much as she did a few months ago. Now, I get summoned by her barking every hour or so. We walk around for a little while and then she gets tired and wants to lie down again. It's too bad we can no longer take the long, active walks we did when the dogs were younger. Dalmatians are very active dogs and I think they get frustrated when they spend too much time in the house. I get frustrated too.

I saw another meteor this evening. I guess that's one good thing about the time change. I don't like walking in the dark, but I do like looking at the stars. In less than a week I'm going to get a chance to see the largest supermoon since 1948. I've seen these close approaches of the moon before and it really doesn't look much bigger. Maybe this time will be different. I hope it doesn't rain on the 14th. I'd really like to see this.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2521 - Election Day

I'm glad I voted early. We took our morning walk early today to avoid the rain and when we passed a polling place in the neighborhood, there was already a line. The polls weren't even open yet, so I imagine that this was a very busy day. It did rain later in the day, so I wouldn't have wanted to be standing in that line.

I went up on the roof to fix the sump pump after breakfast and was appalled at the amount of water that has accumulated overnight. There was at least four inches of standing water directly over my desk. There was nothing wrong with the pump. The extension cord has just become unplugged somehow. Even though there was more rain on the way, I went ahead and cleared away the standing water anyway. The Fall rainy season is the worst as far as roof maintenance is concerned. Since the weather is cooler, the water never evaporates and since it is Fall, there are tons of wet dead leaves in the water. The leaves create little duck ponds that make it difficult for the water to drain over the edge of the roof. Basically, it's a big mess.

Against my better judgement, I finished gluing my running shoes back together. I had only glued one shoe yesterday when I realized that I had more Superglue on me than on the shoe. This time I was much more careful. With this job successfully completed, I glued some new shoe taps on my hiking boots. I'm weird about shoes. I have a number of new shoes in my closet just waiting for someone to break them in, but I continue to wear my oldest most worn out footwear until it has been absolutely destroyed. Old, beat up shoes are just more comfortable.

I wonder what the TV news anchors and pundits are going to talk about after this election is over? For the past year I haven't been able to watch TV for more than fifteen seconds without hearing the words Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Cable news has been obsessed with this election for a long, long time. It doesn't matter whether you listen to a red station like Fox or a blue station like MSNBC, the coverage has been relentless. It's hard not to get sucked into the horse race. I'm not a very political person. My favorite candidates didn't even get nominated. Nevertheless, I'm listening to the election return coverage right now. It's early, but so far the race is remarkably close. This could end up like game seven of the World Series.

I think the Tramadol is helping Dot. Her legs aren't any stronger and the muscle atrophy she is experiencing is severe, but she is definitely more active now. In many ways, this new activity doesn't amount to much. She barks. I help her up and we wander around for a while and then she goes back to sleep. She does seem happier though. That's the important thing.

I'd sure like to see the sun tomorrow. These gray, rainy days always seem longer than usual. The dogs have never liked rainy days. It's almost impossible to get Dash to go outside to do his business. It doesn't matter with Dot, because she just poops in the house anyway. I'm always nervous about humidity buildup in the house and water on the roof. It helps if there's lots of work to keep me busy, but there is little to keep me from fretting about the rain today. You guys can continue fretting about the election if you like. All I'd like to see is some blue sky tomorrow.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2520

I can describe today in three words. All day rain. I got wet when I tried to walk Dash. I got wet every time I took Dot outside to pee. I got wet when I went to the bank. The pump isn't working on the roof, but it was too wet and slippery to go up and investigate. The dehumidifier was working overtime to remove the humidity from the air. Basically, today was a mess. According to the weather report, it's going to be this way all week. For some reason we always get a lot of rain between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'm going to need a lot of patience to deal with this.

Maybe the rain destroyed my concentration. I had a couple of little projects around the house that went horribly wrong. I was going to superglue some old running shoes back together and ended up spilling some of the superglue on my leg. I ran to the bathroom to look for some nail polish remover, but discovered that the bottle was empty. Damn. It is very difficult to remove superglue from skin. I should have just thrown these shoes away. They're old and I have a new pair anyway. I don't know why I always feel compelled to fix things. At any rate, the superglue is probably going to remain on my leg until it eventually wears away.

I had a couple of minor website updates to complete today, but the work wasn't substantial enough to leave me feeling that I still had a career. I've got to come to grips with the fact that my real job these days is providing hospice care for a really old dog. Dot is a very special friend and I'd do anything for her. I wish being a caretaker made me happy though. Mostly it is very sad to watch a friend decline this way.

There is little evidence that I cleaned the house yesterday. Muddy paws and wet boots have already taken their toll on things. The yard is rapidly filling with falling Oak and Elm leaves and these quickly end up in the house as well. There is little reason to clean things up until the rain stops. Every time I open the back door, the floors instantly seem to get dirty again. Today the real challenge was just staying dry. I had a stack of bath towels by the back door to dry the dogs off with and kept the dryer running for my pants and the dog's harnesses.

I wonder if everything will return to normal after election day tomorrow? Whatever happens, half the country will be terribly unhappy. I hear both candidates saying that they want to unite the country again. Lots of luck with that. I voted, but I don't feel optimistic that my vote will make a difference. My vote will just cancel your vote. We have become so divided that I don't see how we move forward.

Maybe it won't rain all day tomorrow. Even a dismal election will look a little brighter if I can see the sun.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2519

Dogs don't really understand Daylight Saving Time. The time changed last night, but Dot and Dash were still following their old schedule. It was so overcast this morning that we didn't notice that it was getting light any earlier. Since neither of the dogs like to get up until they see daylight, we were all able to get a little extra sleep. Last night was unusually peaceful. Dash was calm and slept soundly throughout the night, and Dot didn't poop in her sleep. It was nice to have some peace and quiet for a change.

I was actually able to get to the gym before noon today. I think the time change helped with that. I was surprised that there were only three basketballs left. What happened to the other five? My favorite basketball that I had used since I joined the gym was gone. I obsess over inconsequential things like this. If anything at all changes, it throws me off my stride. I spent the rest of my workout wondering where the basketballs were and why everything always has to change.

Maybe I was a dog in a former life. The dogs aren't fond of changes either. They certainly aren't fond of time changes. This afternoon, they were ready for their dinner before I even finished vacuuming. I made them wait as long as I could, but they eventually got their way. We ate a little early today.
I'm glad the roofers came when they did. It rained again today and according to the long range forecast, it is going to continue raining for most of next week.

Cleaning the house on a rainy day is a thankless task. Dash started tracking in a new batch of leaves and dirt before I even finished cleaning the rugs. I changed the sheets, washed all the towels, and vacuumed the house, but nothing stays clean for very long. Dot had the usual array of accidents, but at least she was well positioned under a disposable pad when she pooped today. Cleanup was easy this time, which somehow made the grey, rainy day a little more bearable.

I wonder why the FBI director even bothered to re-open the case against Hillary if he was just going  to close it again? It hardly seems worth the trouble. He must have had a good idea what was in the e-mails before he wrote that initial letter to congress. Why would he do something so controversial if he didn't have any evidence? I bet there will be plenty of new conspiracy theories tomorrow morning. Maybe this is all legit, but something sure seems fishy to me. I still think the fix was in a long time ago.

The furnace came on this morning. Lots of trees are starting to turn in the park. Now that the time has changed, it's going to seem a lot more like Winter. I hope we have a mild Winter. I've got plenty of warm Winter coats, but I don't want to deal with snow and ice. It's hard enough keeping Dot moving on a nice day.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2518

It's been a long day. Dash had an upset stomach last night and kept us up half the night taking him outside. Janet took him out once, and I took him out two more times later. Dash doesn't do his business quickly when he has an upset stomach. He races around the yard like a maniac for up to thirty minutes at a time. You can't just leave him out on his own, because he'll probably find another dead bird, or whatever made him sick in the first place. There are a lot of feral cats in the neighborhood and they're always dragging disgusting things in the yard. There was a light rain last night, but even that didn't speed up Dash's weird ritual. After several tries Dash finally pooped and we were able to get back to bed. While I was locking up the house, Dash stole my place in the bed. It was that kind of night.

By the time morning arrived, everyone was already tired. We tried to sleep in late, but that didn't help much. Dot, who slept through all the commotion, started barking for her breakfast and we all had to get up. Our morning walk was late. Breakfast was late. I didn't feel like doing weekend chores at all. By the time I finally got organized to go to the grocery store, I figured that I'd given Dot plenty of time to poop. I took her outside three times and walked her around patiently. She did nothing. Not surprisingly, when I returned from the store, she had made a mess in her bed and eaten most of it.

I think I've finally figured out this election. Nobody really likes either candidate. They are just avatars representing the globalists and the nationalists. The globalists would like to see a world where borders have become irrelevant and people just consider themselves citizens of the world. The nationalists feel like national identity is more important and that open borders will be the end of civilization as we know it. This isn't just a battle between Democrats and Republicans. It is going on all over the world. Europe is being torn apart by this clash of ideas. To me, it is ironic that the people who see the world as a big blue marble populated by citizens of the earth have not really brought people together with their desire for open borders. Instead, they have caused a resurgence of tribalism. We now live in a country where people show more loyalty to the tribe they identify with than to the country as a whole. The desire for a diverse society is actually creating the opposite. Real diversity occurs when lots of of very different countries are independently pursuing their own agendas. This is what makes politics confusing. Nobody really says what they mean. Personally, I think nationalism makes more sense than globalism. Lots of little countries without much power is a lot safer, and ultimately more creative and productive than a world government with infinite power to impose it's uniformity on all of us. Maybe the world that globalists like George Soros envision is what you really want. Not me. A world without borders is an Orwellian nightmare I'd like to avoid.

What I'd really like to avoid tonight is a repeat of last night. Dot has already had her final pooping disaster for the day. We've just finished cleaning her off with the hose and replaced all her bedding.  I think she's good for the night. I'm not so sure about Dash. He hasn't done anything since noon. It might be a long night.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2517

I got an early start to a slow day. For some reason, we had the dogs fed and walked before 6:30 AM. Pancakes won the coin toss this morning, so I went to a restaurant that had good pancakes. I'd show you a picture, except my Instagram settings are all screwed up and pictures aren't being saved to the phone's camera roll anymore. I'm sure it's something I did. My phone's battery is wearing out and I keep turning off features to extend the battery life. Sometimes I turn off so many features that the apps don't work anymore. At any rate, the pancakes were good, and the service was quick, since I was so early. I finished my breakfast, went to the grocery store, and was still back home well before 9 AM.

I called around to see if any lighting stores had the candelabra base LED bulbs I've been looking for. One store said they had exactly what I needed and I drove over to pick the bulbs up. When I got there, a salesperson said she'd never heard of these bulbs. It was a wasted trip. One more reason that I should have ordered the bulbs on Amazon.com in the first place. I really do try to support local businesses, but it's becoming hopeless. Local stores just can't compete with what's available online.

I no longer have satellite radio in my car. I let the SiriusXM free trial expire and they promptly cut me off. It's no great loss. I think the service is grossly overpriced. If they charged like Hulu or Netflix, I probably would have subscribed. The only thing I listened to on satellite radio was NPR anyway, and I think I can still find that on my FM dial.

The dogs were unusually active today. It's a good thing that I wasn't really busy with work, or I never would have gotten finished. Every time I sat down at the computer, tried to take a shower, or do anything where Dot couldn't see me, she started her plaintive "I need you" bark. Since she can't get up on her own, I really can't ignore her. We were busy today, walking up and down the halls and occasionally going outside. Most of these meandering journeys ultimately led to her food bowl in the kitchen. I think she just wanted to be fed.

Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend. I still can't remember why we have Daylight Saving Time in the first place. To me, it's just a nuisance. I like having daylight in the morning and at night. Maybe if we just set the clocks back half an hour this weekend, we could split the difference and just leave it that way all the time. If the idea behind the annual time change was to save energy, it clearly isn't working. I think we actually consume more energy as a result of Daylight Saving Time.

I wonder if I'll have any friends after this election is over? I think people will eventually realize that talking about politics on Facebook was a bad idea. I've learned sme things that I didn't really want to know. Hey, vote for whoever you want, but at least let me pretend that you agree with me.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2516

It rained a lot last night. Dash slept through the storm, but Dot became frightened and I had to sleep on the floor with her for a while. This usually calms her down, but now I'm a little nervous that she'll poop on me while I'm asleep. Everything worked out fine and by morning life was back to normal.

When I went up on the roof to reconnect the sump pump and clear away the standing water, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the material the roofers applied last Friday had not self destructed. Everything still looked good. This doesn't mean much for the long term, but at least the elastomer didn't dissolve in the rain and wash away. That has happened before. Maybe I'm good for another year. I'm going to be cursed with this roof for as long as I own this house. There doesn't seem to be any way to automate the process of removing the standing water either. The house is old and has settled in spots. This makes lots of little puddles. I'd probably need ten pumps if I tried to keep the roof dry using pumps alone.

I finished the rest of yesterday's website updates, but this didn't keep me busy very long. It was a slow day that was mostly spent cleaning up after Dot. She peed on a rug while she was eating her lunch. I wasn't expecting that. Later, she pooped in her bed while I was up on the roof and then ate the evidence. Some days you just can't win.

I thought I'd look for an astronomy app for my new iPad and was amazed at how sophisticated this type of software has become. The better apps not only showed you the constellations and planets, they also made it possible to track the International Space Station, various other satellites, and even comets and asteroids. A couple of the high end apps could even control a telescope. If you tapped your finger on an object you were interested in on the screen, the telescope would automatically point to the corresponding object in the sky. All these bells and whistles made me wish I had a telescope and some really dark nights.

Today, when my watch urged me to take a deep breath, I touched the begin button instead of just dismissing the message. I guess this is some sort of meditation app. The interesting thing was that when I did the controlled breathing the way the app was telling me to, it seemed exactly the same as the way I normally breathe anyway. Maybe I'm calmer than I think I am.

I've already taken the trash to the curb and I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. Unless something unforeseen happens, I should actually get to go. It's weird that this simple outing is often the high point in my week. I'll go to sleep wondering whether to have cinnamon pancakes, biscuits and gravy, or something I've never tried before.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2515

Today was so disorganized that it was almost time for lunch by the time I finally finished breakfast. I wasn't able to get Dot outside in time this morning, so we started the day with lots of rugs to wash. I can't decide whether cleaning up pee or poop is worse. When Dot looses bladder control on the way out the door, the mess certainly covers a wider swath of territory. Dash decided to take a fairly long walk this morning, but that only put me further behind. Dot was sleeping peacefully when I started breakfast, but Dash decided that he wasn't getting enough bananas and began barking loudly enough to wake her up. Since Dot is almost deaf, it takes a pretty loud bark to get her riled up. Basically, this morning was a three ring circus.

My watch keeps telling me to stop and take a deep breath. This is so irritating that I almost feel like learning how to use Siri, just so I can tell the watch to shut up. I'm tired of the continual barrage of software upgrades from Apple. Most are designed for newer hardware and tend to make older equipment like mine run worse. This fact doesn't keep Apple from annoying me with upgrade notices though. I'm still running Mountain Lion on my office computers. I think this was the last good system they made. I wish I'd stopped upgrading my phone. It hasn't been stable and reliable since IOS 7.

When I did finally get around to turning on my computer today, I was greeted with a complicated website update request. I dread updating this particular website, because I didn't design it and still can't really figure out how it works. The client should have kept the original designer, because every time I look at this site, it gives me a headache. I think I made most of the changes correctly, but one or two things still have be puzzled.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I always worry about the first rain after a roof repair. Will the repair survive?  Will it perform well?  You never know. I really hope that everything holds up as promised, because Lord knows when I'll be able to get these roofers to come out again.

I can't figure out whether Dot is feeling better or worse. She's more active than she was a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure what this means. She wants to move around more often, but she isn't any stronger. Sometimes when I take her outside, she just stares off into space and doesn't seem to know where she is. There are other times when her brain appears to be working just fine. It's pretty obvious that she's beginning to show some signs of senility. I try to be kind and patient with Dot and hope that someone will return the favor when I become senile. Losing your mind is a terrible thing.

I wonder why my appetite keeps decreasing?  I'm just not as hungry as I used to be. It's easy to eat less for dinner, but I'm having a hard time with my breakfast smoothie. After months of experimenting, I finally got the taste just right. Now I have to figure out how to adjust the ingredients without changing the taste. It's harder than it seems. If I stop using a whole banana, what do I do with the leftover part? The easy answer would be to just eat it, but that would defeat the whole purpose. I'm trying to eat less.

Leftover bananas and dog poop are what I worry about these days. You guys can worry about who's going to start World War III. 

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2514

When I was writing one of my periodic old fashioned letters to my sister today, it occurred to me that I was becoming a Luddite too. Letters written on paper are starting to seem more satisfying than e-mail. Technology has been good to me over the years, but I'm not so sure that it has been good for me. I'm not sure that technology has been good for anybody.  When I was younger, I understood everything I used. Grooves on a vinyl record made a lot more sense than bits and bytes on an MP3 file. Adjusting the fuel mixture on a carburetor was something you could do intuitively. It would take an electrical engineering degree to understand the black box that controls my car's electronic ignition system. Editing film or tape by physically splicing pieces of it together always made sense to me. I still can't fully understand Avid Media Composer. I could go on and on. When you take things for granted that you don't fully understand, it all becomes like magic.

Maybe we're advancing too fast for our own good. We figured out how to use robots to make almost everything we use, but we never considered what would happen when nobody had jobs. We used medicine to dramatically increase our lifespan, but never considered what would happen when there were too many healthy people and we couldn't feed them all. There is a lot more stress in the world than there was when I was growing up. We are running as fast as we can just to keep up with the technology we created.

Every time I install a software upgrade, I feel like a kid who is being forced to swallow a spoonful of cod liver oil. Maybe it's good for you, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. I installed the latest upgrade to my Apple watch today. A few hours later the watch started beeping at me at random times. When I touched the screen, there was a message that simply said breathe. WTF? What kind of new age nonsense is this. I definitely don't need my watch to tell me to slow down and take a deep breath. Apple always tricks you this way. When you look for a description of the software upgrade, it usually just says something innocuous like performance and security enhancements. Seems harmless enough, but when you actually install the software, everything you liked has disappeared and been replaced by things that are irritating and unnecessary. Yup. I think I'm starting to sound like a Luddite.

It's hard to believe that it's November already. At least the election will be over soon. I think people will be a lot happier when they can return to thinking about what they are going to fix for Thanksgiving Dinner than about who is going to start World War III. OK. I'll admit that Thanksgiving Dinner can be stressful too, but not for me. Large family dinners are in the distant past for Janet and I. We just go out to eat at a nice restaurant and there are never any dishes to clean up when we get home.

Dot and Dash were in good spirits today. Dash took a nice long walk this morning and Dot seemed happy to walk around the house with me holding up her rear end. She did poop while I was eating breakfast, but I'm getting used to this. It's not a big deal.  I wish she was strong enough to resume her physical therapy tomorrow, but I don't think we're there yet.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, but I have a feeling that it will be a lot like what I did today.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2513 - Halloween

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Halloween is a non-event in our neighborhood. When we were walking the dogs this evening, we saw one young trick-or-treater walking down the street with his Mom. That was it. There weren't a lot of decorated houses this year. I didn't even buy a pumpkin to put on the front porch. The holiday seems to have morphed from an occasion where children go door to door in search of candy to an occasion where young adults can indulge their fascination with cosplay. I have a feeling that adult costumes outsell children's costumes now.

I got my website project finished today. When I'm doing these things, it occurs to me that I'm still pretty good at what I do. It's a shame that these skills are no longer in demand. People don't even get excited about websites anymore. Everybody has one, but they have largely become like Yellow Pages ads. Small businesses need a website so that when someone Googles their name, something shows up. I buy stuff from large online retailers like Sweetwater and B&H. I order pizzas and Pad Thai online from local restaurants. That's about it though. I'm not even curious about most websites.

I'm not a political person, but I am curious about this election. The whole thing has become like a real life version of House of Cards. Every day when I turn on the news in the morning, there is something new that is even more astonishing than the stuff I heard the day before. I thought that some of Trump's blunders would be hard to top and then along comes Anthony Weiner. It's amazing. Both sides are running elaborate and very sophisticated disinformation campaigns. About the only news you can trust is coming from hackers. Even Snopes, a site I used to trust to give me the unvarnished facts, has been discredited. I can't tell the real news from the Onion anymore on Facebook. Just yesterday, I read an article where a democratic fundraiser said he witnessed Bill Clinton having sex with a cow during a cocaine party. I wasn't expecting that.

I got my property tax bill today. I'd forgotten about that one. It never ends. Every time I start to think that I'm finished with all these unexpected expenses, another bill arrives. At least we don't have a state income tax in Texas. I'd be really frustrated if I had to deal with rising Obamacare premiums along with all the other taxes we have to pay. I think I became eligible for Medicare at just the right time.

Going to the vegan take out store on Monday afternoon has become a new part of my weekly routine. I pick up enough vegetarian meals to supplement the leftovers in the refrigerator. There's always something new on the menu, so I'm getting a chance to try a lot of things I've never had before. I felt like Cajun food today, so I picked up a container of red beans an rice and some jambalaya with broccoli. I've never had jambalaya without shrimp or sausage before, but the vegetarian version looked interesting.

The dogs kept me busy today. Dash refused to walk in the dark this morning, so I had to give him his long morning walk after I finished breakfast. Dot seemed to have more energy than usual, and she kept me busy walking her back and forth around the house and backyard. There was the usual poop to clean up and meals to prepare. It was actually a pretty normal day. It didn't seem like Halloween at all.

Roxie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2512

Sometimes on Sundays I stare at the screen for thirty minutes before I write a single word. I'm just too tired. I went to the gym right after breakfast this morning, because I knew that if I waited until I finished the household chores, I probably wouldn't go at all. Right after breakfast wasn't that early though. It was actually closer to lunch. By the time we cleaned up Dot's latest accident in the house and gave the dogs their morning walk, it was already pretty late.

There are no pretty faces at my gym. I can't believe that everyone is so old. They are a steely eyed, very determined bunch though. A lot of the men look like they were CEO's before they retired. One old guy always exercises in a button down dress shirt and street shoes. It's like he's still at the office. I probably look just as old to these geezers. Especially if I arrive after I've vacuumed the house.

It's really hard to keep the house clean when Dot keeps peeing and pooping all over the place. I try though. Every Sunday the Dyson picks up an unbelievable amount of dirt and dog hair. Maybe the house smells a little better, but it certainly doesn't look much better. I sure wish this vacuum cleaner was easier to clean. I mean how many people need to use a leaf blower to clean their vacuum cleaner? The leaf blower actually does a pretty good job, but it would have made a lot more sense for Dyson to use a bag to catch the dust like everybody else does.

I received input for several new website updates this afternoon, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to look at it. Enough is enough. Working on weekends must be becoming more commonplace. Everyone is doing it now. Even Janet is bringing home work on weekends. I can probably get everything done tomorrow, but I definitely don't want to deal with it tonight.

I wonder if Anthony Weiner used a Macintosh? Huma Abedin claims that she has no idea how 650,000 of her e-mails wound up on Weiner's computer. She probably does know, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, if she ever opened an account on her husband's computer, all the e-mails she was sending on other computers could have quietly been updating on this one as well. Cloud-based computing can be sneaky that way. I know that when I send or receive an e-mail on my computer, it winds up on my phone, iPad, and laptop as well. 650,000 e-mails sounds like the mother lode of everything the FBI has been looking for. This is probably even more information than Wikileaks has. With this much information, there is probably something pretty damning. I know she won't do it, but Hillary should withdraw from the race immediately for the good of the country. If she wins and gets indited after the election, all hell is going to break loose. She could always pardon herself, but I don't think that is going to go over very well. I don't think there is much of a precedent for running the country from prison either. Just let Tim Kane run. He'll do most of the things the democrats want anyway. Hillary is toxic at this point.

I'm a great believer in Karma. Bill Clinton only got a slap on the wrist for his own misdeeds. He not only was a friend of Anthony Weiner, he introduced him to Huma Abedin and actually married the couple. A few dick pics later and everything comes crumbling down. Hey buddy, what goes around comes around. I have no sympathy for these fools.

I can't wait for the time to change next week. I'm getting real tired of walking the dogs in the dark before breakfast. Of course, when the time actually does change,  I'll be complaining about walking in the dark in the evenings. That's just the way I roll.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2511

I'm not catching many breaks with this roof. When I went up on the roof to inspect what the repair crews did yesterday, I was simultaneously pleased and disappointed. It looked like the crew had applied the elastomer coating properly, but there was one big problem. It was a windy day yesterday and tons of small leaves had fallen from our Elm Tree and become embedded in the coating before it had time to dry properly. Now the leaves are probably going to be there forever. If I try too hard to rip them out, I could damage the coating. If I ignore the leaves and leave them where they are, they could react chemically with the coating and cause it to deteriorate prematurely. For over 30 years nature has been trying to tell me that nobody should have built a house on this property. The large trees are pretty but the root systems have penetrated our sewer lines, large tree branches have broken off in storms and landed on the roof, and squirrels have claimed the entire area as their own. I think I lost this battle years ago, but it is still discouraging to be reminded about how relentless the natural world can be about reclaiming what it rightfully owns. The forest will be here long after the house is gone.

Security concerns have forced me to have so many passwords that I can't even begin to remember them all. I felt foolish when I couldn't even remember how to add my existing e-mail account to my new iPad. The hosting company had forced me to start using a new more complex password recently and all I could remember was the original one. I ended up having to call tech support and asked them to guide me through the process. This was embarrassing, since I routinely help other people set up their e-mail accounts for a living. Almost every day something like this happens to remind me that I'm not getting any younger. At any rate, when I finally got the e-mail account working, I set it to remember my log-in information, so I won't have to go through this again.

I saw some Kestrels on my walk with Dash this afternoon. These little hawks appear to be thriving in our area. I see more of them every year. They usually sit on the top of trees looking intently for something to eat. I don't have the patience to be a serious birder, but I do enjoy learning a little more about the animals I see everyday. It's an eat or be eaten world out there. Perhaps if we humans weren't at the top of the food chain, we'd be a little more realistic about our place in the world. Hawks know what to do. All animals know instinctively how to keep things in balance, except for us. We seem to think we're exempt from the cycle of life and I'm convinced that this will lead to our extinction.

I wonder if there is anything that would actually change people's minds in this election. Trump supporters aren't swayed by his frequent displays of incompetence. Hillary supporters are even worse. They could care less about the implications of compromising national security or selling favors to the highest bidder. Politics have become like sports. Everyone is just rooting for their favorite team. I don't think this is going to end well, no matter who wins.

I'm old, so I don't think my life is going to change all that much. If I were young, I'd be worried. How did we let ourselves get to the point where the Kardashians have become role models and two self-centered idiots are running for president. What's scary is that one of these two is going to win.  Idiocracy is just a movie now, but in ten years it's going to seem like a documentary.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day