Day 2563

I'm exhausted. My cold should be over by now, but it still persists. By Texas standards, the cold weather should be over by now too, but temperatures were still in the teens when we woke up this morning. I feel like I'm in some weird kind of boot camp. I get up early and go to bed late. In between, I clean up pee and poop, do laundry, and tend to the needs of a crippled dog who seems to have more energy than I do. It's very tiring.

I thought I'd try to write my remaining article right after breakfast, when Dot and Dash typically sleep. This was a good idea, but I guess I didn't write fast enough. Dot woke up before I finished and the last paragraph took longer to write than all of the preceding paragraphs combined. I didn't have a lot of luck with Dot today. She pooped while I was getting her food ready and was so excited to get to her bowl that she stepped in the poop and tracked it all over the kitchen. After I got this mess cleaned up, I thought she'd be safe for a while, but when I returned from walking Dash, I discovered that she'd pooped again.

I got a letter from Social Security informing me of my 2017 cost of living adjustment. I'm going to get an additional ten dollars a month. $10? What kind of cost of living adjustment is that? I don't know why they even bother. I'm almost certain that it cost the government more than $10 just to inform me of the news. I wish that Social Security didn't even matter, but it does. It matters to most people my age. As I grow older, I'm sure it will matter even more in the future.

I eventually did manage to finish my article and send it off to the client. I paid a few bills that were stacking up on my desk and that was it. The day was gone. I think I'm caught up now, so maybe tomorrow will be a little easier. I always think that tomorrow is going to be a little easier, but usually I'm wrong. I try my best to relax, but I'm not very good at relaxing. Today I thought I'd try some controlled breathing exercises while I was helping Dot wander around in the back yard. One channel of my brain was calm and serene, but there was still a back channel that was silently screaming "For the love of god, can you hurry up and pee. I'm freezing out here."

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. I guess that's why I've been taking so many sunset pictures lately. It's dark when we start on our morning walk and it's dark by the time I finish taking Dash on his evening walk. There was a pretty sunset tonight, but I liked the early morning picture of Dash in his Winter duds better. I suspect that I'll be taking more sunset pictures tomorrow evening. There really isn't enough light to photograph anything else.

I can't believe that Christmas is this weekend. I'm dreading Christmas this year. Janet leaves to visit her family soon and I'm still trying to figure out how to manage the dogs morning and evening routines myself. Janet has made me a labeled packet of the dog's pills for each day she is gone. That will help. I've been practicing walking Dot by myself. She's even slower without Dash to follow, but she is willing to walk by herself. That's good too. I'm already an expert at cleaning up poop. I guess we'll be fine.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2562

I feel like we're embarking on a journey to the South Pole each time we get ready for our morning walk. There are so many layers now to ward off the cold. Dash wears a snug black sweater under his red service dog harness. Dot wears a modified puffy coat over her Help ‘Em Up harness. Both dogs have fleece lined hats that actually fit properly on their heads, so they don't immediately shake them off. It's always easier to dress the dogs first. I wear a lightweight technical climbing jacket under a heaver goose down coat. I'm not sure what Janet wears, but she looks warm. I have to remember to pee before I pull on the compression pants that go under my regular pants. I hate that compression pants don't have a fly. My hiking boots go on last, so I won't track mud through the rest of the house. This all might seem a bit excessive, since the temperatures aren't below zero or anything, but you have to remember that we're Southerners.

I"ll be glad when warmer weather and a sense of sanity returns. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this polar vortex. Everything seems to take longer when it's cold. There are so many leaves on the ground now that I have to drop brightly colored plastic markers when the dogs poop at night, so I can find the stuff the next morning. The outdoor faucets are frozen, so it's gotten a little harder to clean Dot up after she's made a mess. On a more positive note, there's hardly any condensation on the windows this year. The dehumidifier is really doing its job. The furnace is running constantly, so I think I made a good repair. Even though the thermostat says the temperature is normal inside the house, I still feel cold most of the day. I'm just not a Winter person.

I had a couple of articles to write today, but I only managed to finish one of them. Before Dot got sick, I could easily finish four articles in a single day when it was necessary. Those days are gone. When Dot wakes up from her morning nap, she tries to stay on her feet the rest of the day. Sometimes she barks when she needs help and other times I just find her stuck in a corner somewhere. I have to remember to gate her out of bathrooms with tile floors, because she'll immediately fall on the slick surface. For the most part, I try to walk behind her and hold her up while she meanders around the house. She likes her independence though, so when she's feeling strong, I still let her try to walk on her own. If I ignore her for even ten minutes, she's almost certain to poop or pee on something. It makes for a busy and somewhat stressful day.

After a multi-million dollar ad campaign featuring Hollywood celebrities, protests in major cities, and even death threats, only two electors failed to vote for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, seven electors tried to defect from Hillary Clinton. Jill Stein's expensive recount effort actually ended up netting Trump hundreds of additional votes in Wisconsin. I really don't understand why it is so hard for some people to be pragmatic and accept reality. You lost. Contrary to what some might think, the Electoral College wasn't created to prevent Donald trump from becoming president. It was created to prevent a few people in large population centers from imposing their will on the entire country. The Electoral College is a good thing. Without it, many states wouldn't have a voice at all. I'm happy that the people of Vermont, North Dakota, and Wyoming have a voice. We need this balance. Lord help us if the people of San Francisco ever started making the rules for everyone.

The election is over and I'm ready to move on. I'm also ready for this nagging cold to be over. When I was running errands today, a checkout clerk asked me if I wanted a printed or e-mail receipt and when I started to answer it triggered a horrible coughing fit instead. It was embarrassing to say the least. Since I couldn't speak, I just grabbed my bag and ran coughing from the store. Here's hoping that the weather will be warmer tomorrow and my sore throat, cough, and chest congestion will miraculously disappear.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2561

This was easily the coldest day of the year. I think the temperature was only fifteen degrees when we woke up. Everyone wanted to stay under the covers except for Dot. She needed to pee. I threw on a coat, got her outside, and quickly realized that it was going to be a long day.

After feeding the dogs breakfast, we all bundled up in warm coats and hats and went on our regular morning walk. Dash wasn't very enthusiastic, but Dot seemed to love the cold. She had enough energy to make it all the way to a tennis court on the edge of the park, about a half mile away. The old girl is pretty amazing.

Several people suggested that I just take it easy today because of my cold, but I don't even understand the concept anymore. Chores, obligations, and a feeling that I've just got to keep moving have taken over me. I don't even feel like reading a book or going to a movie anymore. Dot always needs something. I'm always doing laundry, cleaning up poop, or walking Dot around with her special harness. It's a lot of work, but it's good to feel needed. There are not a lot of people who actually need me anymore, but I can tell that Dot appreciates having me around. Needless to say, I didn't relax and watch a movie this afternoon. I went to the gym like I always do.

There was a story on the news today about several people in a wedding party getting killed when a large tree fell on them at an outdoor reception. There are so many old trees the park, that I always worry that a tree will fall on me while I'm walking the dogs. Several years ago a tree actually did fall on a cyclist in the park and severely injured him. I have seen large limbs fall off old growth trees while we were walking, but luckily we were always out of harm's way. At least twice in the past ten years, large limbs have fallen off our own trees. One landed on our roof and the other narrowly missed falling on Petey, an earlier Dalmatian we had. I'm probably living on borrowed time.

Am I the only one who is really getting tired of hearing that everything is Russia's fault? If Russia is such a huge problem, why didn't you whiners bring it up before your candidate lost the election. I seem to remember that Hillary took a lot of pleasure in pressing that Russia reset button a few years ago. And didn't Obama whisper in Dmitry Medvedev's ear that "After my election I will have more flexibility." How quickly we forget. It's weird to hear anyone on Capitol Hill get bent out of shape because Russia allegedly meddled in our election. For years, the same CIA that broke this news has been one of the world's worst offenders at meddling in other people's elections. Ask Benjamin Netanyahu how how he feels about US interference in his own election campaign. The CIA has a long history of installing puppet governments all over the world. Karma is a bitch guys. The United States has been meddling in other people's elections for decades. Personally, I don't care whether the Wikileaks information originally came from the Russians or a DNC insider. These leaked e-mails were just about the only truth that was revealed during the entire election campaign. Almost everything else on both sides was fake news. To me it is a bit ironic to hear democrats whine that their candidate lost because some information that was completely true was leaked to the public.

I'm not a political person. I've had conservative friends, progressive friends, and friends who never bothered to vote. For the most part, I've always respected my progressive friends. It's getting harder now, because you guys are such irritating whiners. Get over it. Your candidate lost. If you want to win next time, you might try listening to what people actually want instead of always trying to force feed them what you in your infinite wisdom think they need. Moral superiority is not a winning proposition. Hey, what do I know though? I never voted until I was 40.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2560

The weather couldn't have been weirder today. The temperature was warm and humid this morning. I even turned on the air conditioner for a while, because it was almost 80 degrees. Everything changed around 1 PM. After that point the temperature started to drop swiftly. I think it's been dropping at last five degrees an hour all afternoon. Add the wind chill effect from a really stiff wind and you've got some nasty conditions. It is supposed to get colder for the rest of the night, with single digit temperatures around sunrise.

Not surprisingly, the dogs don't like this weather at all. They enjoy cooler temperatures, but dealing with a polar vortex is another matter entirely. Dot dutifully walked to the end of our street, seemingly perplexed by the sudden change that had taken place. Dash wouldn't go outside at all. I don't blame the dogs for their reluctance, but it sure would have been nice if they'd both pooped. Now we've got to deal with taking them out in the back yard over and over again as the temperature drops even further.

I washed the car this morning while it was still warm. I don't know why a clean car is such a big deal to me. Maybe it's because it's one of the few things that is still under my control. A clean house is hopeless these days, but a clean car is still possible. I did change the sheets today and washed three rugs that Dot peed on this morning, but the house is far from clean. We're in the process of changing our rug configuration. In the future, all rugs will be small enough to fit in the washing machine. The really large area rugs are simply too hard to clean. In the Summer you could take these large rugs outside and hose them off. They would be dry again the same day. It's a different story now. If I tried to clean a rug outside now, it would remain damp for the rest of the Winter.

I wish I knew who was selling my cell phone number to telemarketers. My land line has been inundated with telemarketers for years, but until recently my cell phone has remained relatively immune from this nuisance. The older I get, the more telemarketing calls I get. I'm sure people think that once you reach a certain age, you will become senile enough to fall for their ridiculous sales pitch. I'm still sharp enough to realize that these people aren't my friends. I rarely answer my phone at all.

My cold is getting worse.Today I had a sore throat, chest congestion, coughing, and a runny nose. As colds go, this is pretty much the whole nine yards. Janet thinks I should start taking antihistamines like she is, but I don't think they help much. At best, antihistamines mask some of the symptoms, but they don't make the cold go away any quicker. Time is the only thing that cures a cold. I'm trying to be patient, but time seems to be moving pretty slowly. I'm ready to start feeling normal again.

Every time the weather gets bad, I start to worry that something is going to break. It would be a disaster if the washing machine broke and I needed to go to to the laundromat to clean Dot's bedding and a house full of rugs. I'm hoping that I did my furnace repair properly. I'd hate to wake up to a cold house tomorrow morning. I don't want the pipes to freeze either. I can't believe that I used to live up North. I don't think I could do it anymore.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2559

Why do car problems always take place at the worst possible time? When I got in the car to go to breakfast this morning, I got a big surprise. I pressed the starter button and nothing happened. The engine didn't turn over at all. I immediately knew that this was going to be a bad day. Dot had an appointment with her oncologist today and it can take months to get an appointment with this woman. I definitely didn't want to cancel. There were several other appointments today as well, but Dot's visit to the cancer center was the big one.

When I talked with my service guy, he seemed fairly convinced that it was just a bad battery. He sent a technician over to the house to see if he could get the car started. If we could get the car moving, I could drive up to the dealer and get a new battery installed. I called the cancer center and they were nice enough to reschedule my appointment for later in the day. I rescheduled or canceled my other appointments as well and started to think that this day might have a happy ending anyway.

While I was at the Land Rover dealer, I got a call from UPS and they said they had found my package. This was good news too, but I wasn't sure if I'd have time to drive down to the service center today. Dot's appointments at the cancer center often take a very long time. Walk in emergencies at the dealership often take a long time too. It was a busy, hectic Friday and they had to work me in. Eventually, they discovered that the battery was the only real problem, so I bought a new battery and was on my way.

When I got home, I resumed cleaning the rugs that Dot had peed on when I was trying to get her out of the house this morning. Everything has to be just right if I have any chance of getting her outside without an accident. Last night she peed too early. She really needs to pee at 11 PM, and last night she seemed to think that 9 PM was a better time. I wish I could explain to her that she just can't hold it that long.

I thought I'd have time to run down to the UPS service center and pick up my package before taking Dot to her appointment, but a major accident along the way foiled my plan. I saw four fire trucks and two ambulances, although I wasn't close enough to see what actually happened. The road was blocked in both directions. After waiting about ten minutes, I gave up and drove over the median so I could exit the mess and get out of the traffic jam. This was a very bad wreck, but I didn't see much compassion on the faces of the other drivers. You could tell that like me, they just wished the fire trucks had pulled over to the side of the road.

I used my GPS to find an alternate route to the UPS service center and when I got back home again, I was only ten minutes late. I quickly packed Dot in the car and we were on our way. Dot doesn't travel well these days. I dread driving with her, because she often panics and tries to escape. Since she can't move very well, her struggles usually result in her getting stuck somewhere. I try to drive in the far right lane, so I can always get off the road quickly if necessary. I'm worried that someday she'll accidentally manage to unlock one of the car doors while we are moving.

There was good news and bad news at the exam. Dot has a new tumor in her liver, but like the other existing tumors, it appears to be growing very slowly. Her liver still functions normally. Most of her blood chemistry looked good, but the doctor was worried that the muscle atrophy in her left rear leg was getting worse. She said we need to keep Dot moving and encouraged me to continue our slow walks each day.

The day was very hectic, but I guess it wasn't that bad after all. My car works, Dot's oncologist said that Dot is good to go for at least another two months, I finally have my package, and all the soiled rugs are clean and back on the floor again. I still have a bad cold, but maybe I can get some rest this weekend.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2558 - Blogiversary

Today didn't go well. It was cold when I woke up this morning and I quickly discovered that the furnace had gone out. Perfect timing, since the temperature is supposed to be in the low teens this weekend. It's really hard to get my HVAC guy to make a rush service call at this time of year, so I decided to try to fix the furnace myself. I always watch what the repair guys are doing when they come out to the house. I'm certainly no furnace expert, but I have learned a few things over the years. One of the most common reasons that a furnace goes out is a dirty flame sensor. I got out my tools and of course I couldn't find the right ones anymore. The utility room seemed a lot smaller than it did the last time I attempted a furnace repair. I felt too old to do this sort of thing anymore.

Eventually I got the cover off the furnace, but I didn't have the right tool to remove the sensor. The prospect of spending the day in a very cold house with two demanding dogs wasn't very appealing, so I tried to come up with a creative solution. After some experimentation I discovered that I was able to reach my left hand behind the panel where the flame sensor was attached and feel the sensor itself. I got a small piece of sandpaper and used it to polish the sensor probe. Although I couldn't see what I was doing, it felt right. After struggling in the small room for about forty minutes, I put the furnace back together and turned on the heat. The furnace lit like a charm and I saved $100. I wish I knew more about furnaces. There are hundreds of things that can go wrong, but I am only capable of fixing two of them.

UPS lost the package that I was supposed to pick up today. This is the third time this has happened this year. I redirect the packages to a convenient customer service center about four miles away so I won't have to wait for the UPS man all day. According to the UPS website, this process is foolproof, but the website lies. I'll get an e-mail saying my package is ready to pick up and then when I arrive at the will-call desk, the package isn't there. This drives me nuts, because the people at the service center are never in a hurry to find the package. I've never lost a shipment entirely, but sometimes it takes them days to track down the missing package. I've never received a good explanation for why this happens so often.

Janet had to leave for work really early this morning, so had to walk the dogs myself in the morning and then again in the afternoon. This takes a really long time, since Dot's walk is so slow. I could easily spend all day walking these dogs. Even though I took Dot outside again and again, she still managed to make a mess in the house. At least we still had running water so I could do laundry. There was a big water leak at the other end of our street and some of my neighbors have had their water turned off all day.

My cold is getting worse. I've added nasal congestion and laryngitis to the sore throat I had yesterday. Basically, when you add a bad cold to all the other problems I deal with on a daily basis, it makes for a pretty bad day. I had three articles to write today, but I only managed to finish one of them because the dogs were constantly interrupting me. There wasn't even the usual sleepy period this morning. They kept me busy all day long.

Tomorrow is probably going to be even busier than today. I still have two more articles to finish and I know I'm going to continue fretting about the lost package until I get an acceptable answer from UPS. Dot has a big exam at the cancer center too. We'll be doing an ultrasound scan, x-rays, and some additional blood work. I"m almost certain that Dot will poop in the car.

I hope I still have time to go out for breakfast tomorrow morning. I need a little time to myself and another Big Boy breakfast sandwich like I had last week sounds really good.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2557

Sometimes it's embarrassing to explain how I spend my day. Even the big events can be kind of trivial. Spelling errors always bother me. Especially when I make them myself. This morning I noticed a glaring spelling error in yesterday's blog post and I wasted hours trying to correct it. You'd think it would be easy to just correct the error and update the blog. Well, nothing is easy with me. Every time I publish a post, it is time stamped and syndicated to my various social media accounts. Correcting the blog itself would not correct the way it looks on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else. I had to figure out a way to erase all those links and then publish a new version with yesterday evening's date. Heaven forbid that it looked like I skipped a day. Does any of this even matter? Of course not. Does it matter to me. Apparently so. I finally got everything looking exactly the way it should and now the unfortunate spelling error never even existed. Morning wasted.

I've definitely got a cold now.  Once you catch a cold there isn't a lot you can do. There are hundreds of cold remedies on the market, but I find that very few of them help at all. You've just got to let the cold run its course. A lot of people take antihistamines, but I hate the way they make me feel. My head feels like it is going to explode after I've taken antihistamine pills. Cough drops provide mild relief from a sore throat, but if the sore throat is bad, you can go through a bag of cough drops in a day. That's a lot of sugar and menthol. I don't have a fever, so I'm hoping this cold won't be too bad. The weather certainly isn't helping. It was nasty again today.

I got a package from B&H this morning. Last week I'd ordered two small items that could have easily fit in the same envelope. Only one of the items arrived. The other is being shipped separately and apparently I have to sign for it. Why? It would have been so easy to dump both items in the same envelope. Since I hate waiting around all day for the UPS guy, now I've got to drive down to the UPS service center and pick up the shipment myself. UPS drivers rarely leave packages at the front door anymore, since there are people who follow the brown trucks around and then steal the packages. I'll be glad when Amazon perfects drone delivery. Maybe they can use military grade drones and just shoot the package thieves. I don't think anyone would mind.

I thought I'd have Pad Thai for dinner tonight. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I had enough reward points at Pei Wei to get a free meal. When I went to pick up my dinner, I discovered that my points had expired. Damn. I must have looked really disappointed because the guy at the register looked up my account on the computer and told me he'd give me the Pad Thai for free anyway because my points had only expired a few days ago. What a nice surprise. For a few short moments I felt like humanity wasn't doomed after all.

Dot had lots of accidents today. I always thought that poop was the big problem, but now I'm discovering that pee is actually harder to clean up. When Dot pees inside, it soaks through everything it touches almost instantly. I did a lot of laundry today and spent some time scrubbing the floor as well. I'm hoping that Dot's oncologist can give me some advice on controlling incontinence when we go for our cancer recheck on Friday.

Maybe a good night's sleep will conquer this cold. It's not very likely, but I can always hope.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2556

We didn't make it to the back door this morning, so there were a lot of rugs to wash. This one was my fault. I knew Dot had to go as soon as I woke up, but I failed to make sure that the back door was already open before we made our race for the back yard. Slowing down just a little to give Janet a chance to open the door was all it took and Dot peed all over the place.

I'm learning to get everything done in the morning now. After their morning walk, Dot and Dash will still go back to sleep for a few hours. Today, I used that time to take my invoices to the post office and run a few errands. I left the house before I took a shower or even turned on the computer. I really didn't know how long I had.

Maybe it's the Tramadol pills that are giving Dot a little more energy. Maybe it's something else. I'm glad to see her moving around more, but it sure keeps me busy. I've tried to let her wander around the house on her own, but it doesn't work very well. Dot is still very unsteady on her feet and she usually falls within a minute or two if I am not supporting her rear end. Since her incontinence has gotten worse, she also tends to leak a lot. Whenever she falls, there is usually a puddle of pee on the ground when I lift her up.

I've thought about trying a doggie wheelchair for her, but they don't work very well for larger dogs. Our first Dalmatian used a wheelchair during his last year, but he was always tipping it over. A wheelchair is terrible for a dog that likes to alternate between walking around and lying down. You spend all your time hooking them up and detaching them from the contraption. A wheelchair might be good for longer outdoor walks though. I'm almost at my wits end and am willing to try almost anything.

I think I'm coming down with a cold. I rarely get sick, but if I do it's almost always during the holiday season. Everyone seems to have a cold in December. Even though I do my best to avoid people, there is inevitably someone coughing or sneezing nearby. So far, I've just got a mild sore throat. Hopefully, that's as far as it goes. I'll see if I can shake this one off.

The large format printer is clogged again. I wish I could bring myself to just throw this albatross away. I have a lot of compassion for old dogs, but it's hard to be sympathetic to an old printer. At some point I'm going to realize that I get nothing in return for all the expensive ink and maintenance I pour into this relic. I need to find a twelve step program for people who are attached to obsolete gear. Keeping all these things running is getting ridiculous.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2555

I can't keep up with the weather. It's cold again. Maybe I just imagined wearing shorts yesterday. This morning's walk saw the return of warm coats and gloves. The dogs seemed to enjoy the brisk weather, but I was just perplexed. What happened to yesterday?

Dot and Dash seemed determined to test my patience today. Dash barked constantly while I was trying to eat breakfast. He woke up Dot, who had been sleeping peacefully and then she started barking too. Meals used to be relaxing, but not anymore. In the morning they want me to feed them treats and in the evenings I have to be careful the Dot doesn't pee on everything. It's a three ring circus.

It took me most of the afternoon to get my December invoices out and finish a very modest amount of online Christmas shopping. Once Dot wakes up after her morning nap, she is determined to stay moving for the rest of the day. Since she can't move very far without my help, I am constantly walking her up and down the hall with periodic excursions outside to smell things. I don't know why Dot is so restless now. She doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. Actually, she seems pretty happy as long as I attend to her, but she sure doesn't want to take an afternoon nap anymore.

Eventually the dogs get tired, but I almost always end up getting tired first. My work has always required long periods of solitude. Without this peace and quiet, my writing lacks focus and the code I write often doesn't work at all. Even though I'm not nearly as busy as I used to be, it's still hard to concentrate these days.

I never did find time to go to the post office today, but at least the small stack of invoices is ready to go. Years ago, I bought a humongous box of Number 10 envelopes. I jokingly told a friend that when this box was gone, it would be time to retire. Guess what. After doing my invoices today, there are only two envelopes left. Is the empty envelope box trying to tell me something? It probably really is time to retire, but then what would I do? Taking care of Dot is exhausting. I don't have the energy to start anything new. For the time being, work provides an essential link to a world that I have become detached from. Deadlines and clients remind me that there is still a world beyond cleaning up dog poop.

I wonder if Mark Cuban is feeling silly after predicting a huge stock market crash if Trump was elected. So far, the Trump rally has been pretty substantial. It's certainly helped my portfolio. If things could continue like this for another year, I might finally get back to even. The crash of 2008 was devastating for me and I still haven't recovered all I lost. I'm a realist though. I don't expect miracles. The market will continue to remain volatile. Dot will continue to grow older. And I will continue to slowly work my way toward Day 5000. The key to all of this is to just keep moving.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2554

It's hard to believe that yesterday I was wearing a down ski jacket, gloves, and a wool hat. Today, I'm wearing shorts. The temperature actually got up to seventy five degrees this afternoon. That's Texas weather for you. You never really know what to expect.

I never know what to expect anyway. With Dot, every day is full of surprises. Today, her urinary incontinence was worse and she was leaking everywhere. She hardly pooped at all though. Go figure. I've got to come up with a better way to clean her up after all the frequent accidents. When I help her up now, my hands usually end up smelling of pee. We've increased her Incurin dose, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm afraid there may be nothing more we can do.

I went to the gym earlier than usual this morning, in hopes of having time to do other things when I returned home. It didn't work out that way, but at least I tried. The gym is never very crowded on Sunday. There was a man putting his young son through what appeared to be a fairly punishing workout and several old people who seemed to be moving in slow motion. Everyone seemed very determined today. I wonder if I appeared determined to them? Probably not. I don't think I appear determined to anyone.

Maybe Dot thinks I'm determined. I hope so. I do everything I can to keep her comfortable. Mostly this means making sure that she always has dry, clean bedding when she poops or pees in her sleep and helping her up and guiding her slowly around the back yard whenever she gets restless. On a good day, I think she still feels like a normal dog. This experience has made me realize that I wouldn't be very good at providing hospice care for a human. Dog accept what you give and seldom complain. People always complain.

I complain a lot myself, but by now you probably realize that I don't mean any harm. I'm just baffled at the choices people make. Don't they realize how much easier life would be if they all just did things my way? I get frustrated at people, but since I'm not really around other people all that much, my frustration seldom goes beyond talking back to the TV. Sometimes hitting the heavy bag at the gym helps too.

I'd better hop on the Amazon.com site tomorrow and get my Christmas shopping done. If I wait much longer, I'll have to pay extra for Fedex delivery again. At least my Christmas list is very short. It probably won't take me ten minutes to get my shopping done. I don't know why anyone goes to the mall anymore. Online shopping is so much easier. It would take me longer to find a parking place at Northpark than it does to take care of everything with a few clicks on the Amazon site. You don't have to wrap the packages either.

I hope Dot feels better tomorrow. She seems exhausted today. I think today's unexpectedly warm weather caught her by surprise.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2553

Everything was crowded today. Traffic was slow. Parking lots were full. And stores were extremely busy. Apparently, a lot of people haven't discovered online shopping yet. I wasn't even Christmas shopping. All I had to do was get gas, stop by the storage warehouse, go to the post office, and do my grocery shopping. From now through Christmas, these simple errands are going to take a lot longer.

I picked up Janet's puffy coat while I was at the storage warehouse and brought it home. There were some winter coats of mine there as well, but they were too heavy and bulky. I wonder why I ever wore those coats. The lightweight down jackets I wear now are so much better. I've finally learned to dress in layers on cold days. Instead of one humongous, heavy winter coat, I wear several much lighter ones. I wonder why it took me thirty years to learn this?

We got to sleep in a little later today. It was only an extra hour, but it seemed to make a difference. It always helps when Dot doesn't poop during the night. Today, she waited until I was getting her up for breakfast to do her business, which was actually very convenient. Everything landed right on a nearby puppy training pad, which I quickly rolled up, bagged, and threw away. Small saves like this are all it takes to make me think I'm going to have a good day.

A lot of yesterday's unfinished business got taken care of this morning. I wrote a letter to my sister and finished all the website updates that I had started yesterday. I had no trouble uploading the new files to the server today, so apparently the  problem that practically took down the entire hosting company has been resolved. This must have been a really major service outage. I checked around midnight, just before I went to bed last night and all the sites were still down. Somebody stayed up late and fixed things though. Everything is fine now.

I don't know how you Northerner's do it. The temperature hasn't even dropped below freezing yet and I'm already in full Winter mode. I've got a little ceramic heater under my desk to keep my feet warm. I wear sweaters around the house. I'm always checking the furnace to make sure it is running smoothly. The dogs seem to enjoy the cold weather, so I have to make sure there's a warm coat near the back door when I take Dot out to pee. Winter has barely begun and I'm already looking forward to Spring.

I wonder if I can avoid vacuuming tomorrow? I'd rather go to the gym. Actually, I'd really rather download Arrival and watch it while the dogs are sleeping. The movie isn't available on iTunes yet, so I'll probably just stay on schedule and do my Sunday chores. Heaven forbid that I would ever drive to a theater and watch the movie on a big screen. I'll just wait.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2552

The day started out well. It was quite cold this morning, but Dash and I dressed warmly and had an enjoyable walk. Even though it was partly cloudy, it was nice to see patches of blue sky. I thought I'd try something new for breakfast. Sausage, bacon, scrapple, ham and egg with white cheddar cheese on a toasted ciabatta roll. Yum. The restaurant called it The Big Boy and I called it delicious. With a full belly and a decent night's sleep, I started the day in an unusually good mood.

It didn't last. All I'd really planned to do today was write my sister a letter and finish updating Pro Tools on my computer. Neither of those things happened because there were a couple of website emergencies that caught me by surprise. I did my best to get everything finished before the weekend, but when I got ready to upload the changes, I discovered that a server had crashed and I couldn't access one of the two sites I was working on. When I called technical support to see what was going on, they appeared to be in total panic mode. Apparently the entire hosting company had gone down. It wasn't just my client's server that crashed. Hundreds of servers were down. Six hours have passed and I still can't access the site, so this must be serious.

I couldn't worry about this too much though, because I had my own problems. The dogs slept peacefully for most of the morning, but when they woke up it was a three ring circus. Dot pooped on the floor while she was eating her lunch. While I was trying to clean up the mess, Dash knocked over a big bag of dog food and started eating out of the bag. I had my hands full trying to keep Dot from falling in her own poop, so Dash had a little feast.

The afternoon was a mess. Dot couldn't relax and wanted attention every ten minutes. A lot of times when she wanted me to pick her up and walk her around, I was on the phone with technical support, trying to get my client's website problems resolved. When Dot gets stressed, she pees even more than usual, so there was lots of laundry to do as well. I spent the entire afternoon jumping from one thing to another and didn't really accomplish much.

I eventually gave up on the website updates after it became apparent that the service outage wasn't going to be fixed anytime soon. I split the dogs dinner into two parts again, so that the lull between the two dinners would give me time to run out and pick up some take-out for dinner. I never did get time to go to the grocery store today.

After I took each dog on a separate evening walk and was starting to get my own dinner ready, Dot pooped on the floor again. This caught me by surprise, since she had already gone a few hours earlier. I rushed to place a puppy training pad under her and save the rug, but I missed and stepped in some of the poop instead. It was that kind of day.

Everything is peaceful now, but the washing machine is still running. I hope that Dot doesn't have any more accidents today, because there aren't many clean dog blankets left. Today would have been my Dad's 99th birthday. Apparently, somewhere in the Cloud they think he's still alive, because I'm still getting messages on my computer to wish him a Happy Birthday.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2551

Remind me to never move up north. We woke up to temperatures in the low 30's with a brisk wind. It might as well have been 40 below zero to me. Even though I went to high school in Alaska and have spent a Winter in Idaho, I have completely lost my tolerance for cold. We put Dash's quilted fleece coat on before we walked this morning, but couldn't figure out how to put a coat over Dot's bulky harness. Neither dog seemed to mind the cold. Actually, they seemed to enjoy it. I quickly learned to keep a warm coat next to the door in case Dot needed to go outside. She spent just as much time wandering around aimlessly as she does in warmer weather. I followed dutifully behind, holding up her rear legs, while whispering "for the love of god, please hurry up and pee," to myself.

Dash had a vet appointment this morning. He's starting to have trouble hopping in the car, so it's only a matter of time before his legs start to go out as well. All Dalmatians seem to have this problem as they get older. This wasn't what we went the the vet for, however. All Dash needed today was to get his anal glands expressed. We need to do this at least once a month. Nobody knows why his glands fill up so quickly, but he's had this problem all his life. I'm getting better at scheduling. I made an early appointment so we'd be away while Dot was sleeping. It worked well. She was still asleep when we returned.

Luckily, the furnace is working great this year. Even though it was near freezing outside, the house was toasty warm. I stayed inside as much as I could. There were several website updates that needed attention today, but there was nothing very demanding. I slowly and methodically worked my way through each update and found that I still had time to install the Pro Tools software I downloaded yesterday when I was done.

Avid software updates are always a nightmare. You have to make sure to delete all previous software versions before you start, including lots of pesky little invisible files. Avid has their own uninstaller program, but it doesn't work half the time and you have to do a Google search and discover how other people have learned to delete the files manually. There is also Avid's complex licensing procedure. My iLok dongle often says I don't have the proper software license, even though I really do. When you jump through all the hoops and finally get the software installed and running, you often get a warning message saying that you don't have enough computer memory to actually use it. My Pro Tools 12 installation was a success, but somehow I lost all the plugins from my previous version. Oh, well. I'll deal with that problem later.

I found an old B&H gift card that was going to expire next week and used it to buy another UP3 fitness tracker. The price of these things has dropped dramatically, so that probably means Jawbone is going to discontinue them soon. It's a shame that Jawbone can't seem to make a durable product. The UP3 gets terrible reviews because the clasp is poorly designed and the band inevitably falls off and gets lost. I'm definitely not the only one this has happened to.

I was sad to hear that John Glenn died today. It was hard to believe he was 95. He looked so young when I watched Friendship Seven rocket into orbit in 1962. This was only five years after the Russians launched Sputnik 1 in 1957. I remember that too. Things happened quickly when going into space was a priority. Now we're moving at a snail's pace. I wonder if I'll still be alive when we finally make it to Mars?

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2550

These days are getting longer and longer. The dogs are typically pretty good in the morning. After breakfast and a long walk, they're usually content to sleep the rest of the morning. This brief quiet time is when I get most of my work done. Things begin to fall apart after lunch. Dot will usually sleep until 1 PM and occasionally as late as 2 PM. After that, she is determined to stay up for the rest of the day. This would be great if she could walk, but she can't. She has perfected a pitiful look and bark that summons me from my desk every time she needs something. All afternoon we walk from her bed to the water bowl in the kitchen and then out the back door. Sometimes she pees when we go outside, but usually she just pees in her bed. Every time she sits or lays down I have to make sure there's a puppy training pad strategically positioned under her.

Dash gets bored now because I don't have time anymore to take him on brisk five mile walks like I used to. When dogs get bored, all they want to do is eat. I've had to split their dinner into two smaller courses spaced an hour and a half apart so we can make it through the afternoon in one piece. It may seem silly, but it works. Usually, Dot and Dash will go back to sleep for a short while after the first half of their dinner. This is when I run errands and go to the post office. After they finish their two part dinner, they both get an evening walk. Dot only walks to the end of the street, but her short walk takes just as long as it takes to walk Dash several miles. Lord, that girl is slow.

Janet usually helps with the evening walks, but she's really busy during the holiday season and often gets home late. Now is as good a time as any to learn how to make this work by myself. When Janet leaves to visit her family for Christmas, there won't be any choice. Walking Dot alone has been slow going so far. She likes to follow Dash, but there is no way I can walk the two dogs together while holding up Dot's rear end with the harness. We're learning though. We did a little  better today than we did yesterday.

I finally figured out why my fitness tracker app was still tracking steps even after I lost it and the battery ran out. It turns out that the UP band app on my phone also receives information from my Apple watch. It wasn't ghost data after all. It was just information from my watch. Cloud computing has made everything so interconnected and complex that I have no idea what is going on anymore. My appointment calendar seems to be everywhere now. Text messages appear on my watch and I can answer my phone in the car by pressing a button on the steering wheel. Who knew that the watch was sending information all over the place too.

I tried to download some new Avid software before my upgrade subscription runs out in a few days. I forgot my password to the download site and had to request a new one. After I finally got the lengthy download started, our Internet went out. I had to start the download all over again after I rebooted the U-Verse router and re-established the connection. Was the latest version of Pro Tools worth all this trouble? Maybe. I didn't use Pro Tools at all this year, but next year I might start getting audio jobs again. You never know.

I'd love for tomorrow to be peaceful and productive, but I'm probably just going to be spending most of my time cleaning up poop. We have our tree up now, but I'm definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit yet.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2549

Sometimes I wonder why you guys continue reading. Very little happens these days. I'm OK with that because I'm afraid the next big news will be bad news. I still have the occasional writing and website assignments, but mostly life revolves around keeping Dot comfortable. She continues to slowly deteriorate and there is very little I can do at this point to change the outcome of this story. Although Dot is weak, she still seems happy. Often, I think she is happier than I am. I could learn a lot from her determination and resilience. I don't have many strong desires anymore, but I'm determined to help Dot continue her journey as long as she's willing. Who knows. Maybe she'll make it to her 17th birthday.

Today was mostly spent avoiding the rain and trying to stay warm. In the Summer I always think it would be nice to move to Wyoming, but when cold weather arrives I have second thoughts about northern Winters. Maybe I've already found the best place to live. Texas has a low cost of living compared to many states. It only snows a few times a year. There are bugs and snakes here, but it's not nearly as bad as Florida. I really think the perfect place to live only exists in my imagination.

One of my Dalmatian Rescue friends gave me her old UP band when I lost mine last weekend. She said it was broken, but thought I might be able to fix it. It didn't want to sync with my phone at all and there were some weird error lights flashing. I'd seen these error lights before on an earlier UP band I'd owned and thought I'd try a hard reset. The reset made the error lights go away but it still wouldn't sync with my phone. Since this looked like an early model band, I thought I'd try the very old Jawbone app on my first generation iPad. This worked like a charm. The fitness band synced with the old app and started counting steps again. It was actually kind of enjoyable to work my way through this process. I like fixing things.

Since it is nearing the end of the year, renewal notices are starting to arrive for the subscription software I've been forced to use. The main two I need to decide whether to renew are Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer. I renewed my license last year, but never used either application all year. Will I use Pro Tools next year? It's hard to decide these things. The software licenses are kind of pricey, but much less expensive than letting them lapse and having to buy the software all over again. I've been keeping current on business software because I refuse to acknowledge that my business is dying. It is basically finished though. Kaput. It's hard to imagine finding new clients at this point. Someday, I'll have to come to grips with this.

I paid some bills today and made a few quick calculations to make sure I still have enough left over to pay my property tax later this month. Christmas is coming and Dot has another big exam at the cancer center next week. Those bills won't come until January though, so I guess I'm OK. It would be nice to have a month with no big bills at all, but that's not going to happen.

Hopefully, the weather will improve a bit tomorrow. It was hard getting either dog to walk today. Rain or shine, tomorrow will probably be very similar to today.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2548

Most of the photo equipment has been put away. I'm glad I went to the storage warehouse early in the morning, because the skies got darker and darker as the day progressed. I managed to unload the equipment, pick up some more Tramadol for Dot at the vet, and fill the car with gas before it began to rain in earnest. I had the usual rainy day problems with the dogs when I returned home, but we're all gradually getting used to the bad weather.

While I was packing up the photo equipment, I thought I'd clean out a closet, because I was convinced that I might have dropped the fitness tracker there on Saturday morning while I was getting dressed. I uncovered a lot of dust and some very nice clothes I'd completely forgotten about, but there was no UP band to be seen. I think the illusive tracker is gone for good.

When I was at the storage warehouse, I noticed that the place had a new manager again. Being the manager of a storage warehouse must not be a very good job, because there seems to be a huge turnover. This new manager didn't seem to give a shit, because the place was filthy. The last manager was friendly and kept the place spotless. I was hoping he'd stay a while. No such luck.

I was glad I didn't have to unload heavy equipment in the rain, but maybe I should have done my website revisions first this morning. When I finally got settled in at the computer and started to work, both dogs decided that they needed attention instead. The revisions I was making today were complicated and every time I got interrupted by Dot, I would forget what I was doing and had to start over. I eventually got the client's site working again, but I started to feel like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill before the job was finished. What should have taken me one hour, took me close to four instead.

Janet and I went to a Christmas party at the Presidential Library this evening. The food was amazingly good, but there were some odd touches to the evening. Even though there was a full dinner being served, there were no dinner knives anywhere. Everyone was cutting their meat with a fork. Maybe this no knife thing is some sort of secret service rule when there is a president in the vicinity. It did seem weird to watch a lot of old people trying to cut their prime rib with a fork. "We're not this old, are we," Janet whispered to me at one point. Yep, I'm afraid we are. I watched one poor gentleman at our table put whipped cream on a cinnamon stick and try to eat it for dessert before his wife told him that the cinnamon stick was meant to stir your hot chocolate with. I was too smart to eat a cinnamon stick for dessert. I had some brightly colored cookies instead, because I knew they would photograph well. It was too dark and rainy to photograph anything else today.

Rainy days increase the likelihood of an accident in the house. Since it was exceptionally rainy today, I had pee and poop to clean up. Dot's last accident happened just before we were getting ready to leave for dinner. I tried to clean up the poop without getting any on my suit. Somehow, everything worked out fine. Incontinence definitely forces you to keep things in perspective.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2547

Today was pretty hectic. One of the larger dogs we photographed tore the muslin backdrop. One of the smaller dogs pooped on Santa's red suit. In between, we had a lot of dogs that didn't really understand the whole concept of pet pictures. I'm sure that most of them would have rather gone to a dog park today. Eventually, we managed to get good pictures of almost everybody though. You just have to be patient.

There were no cats today, but there were a lot of Dalmatians. Quite a few were alumni from our rescue program. It was almost like a Dalmatian Rescue reunion. We saw young dogs that we had rescued a few weeks ago and old dogs that we had rescued over a decade ago. It was nice to see that all of these dogs had fabulous homes with people who really loved them. I guess I'll do this again next year. It sure is tiring though. I didn't even bother to put away my equipment when I got home tonight.

I still can't find my UP fitness band. The odd thing is that it appears to still be counting steps, even though no one is wearing it. My first thought was that one of the dogs might have eaten the band, but Janet said this was ridiculous. It is pretty unlikely, since neither dog has any interest in eating things like this. My second thought was that somebody stole the band, but that is unlikely too, since the band connects to my phone using short range Bluetooth. If somebody else was wearing the band, it wouldn't pair with my phone anymore. My third thought was that the UP band never actually measured real steps in the first place. My phone can measure steps too. What if the UP app used the measuring sensors in my phone and the tracker itself was just a little rubber bracelet with flashing LED lights? I'd never know the difference. The battery on the tracker is dead now, so it stopped sending  information sometime this afternoon. I may never find an answer to this mystery.

It's going to take quite a while to put all the photo equipment away tomorrow. I had some minor electrical problems over the weekend and I really ought to test everything carefully to make sure it will work the next time we have a Dalmatian Rescue photo event. I have a feeling that we won't be doing another photo shoot anytime soon. All the volunteers agreed that we're getting older and these events aren't getting any easier. It's hard to believe that we used to have photo events for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and sometimes even Halloween. We'll probably do Christmas pictures again next year, but it won't be a marathon like it used to be. Two events a year is plenty.

Janet and I are going to a Christmas party tomorrow. The event is kind of formal, so Janet told me to be sure to air out a suit before we go. Like that would make a difference. It wouldn't make any difference if I air out, press, or take a suit to the dry cleaners. I'm still going to look like an old guy wearing a suit I bought twenty years ago. I suspect that it doesn't really matter. Most of the people at this party will be even older than I am. One good thing about old people parties is that they don't last very long. I feel pretty safe leaving Dot for a while. We should be back home in less than two hours.

It's been a long day, but everybody survived and maybe a few people will have a better Christmas card this year as a result of our Santa Paws photo shoots. Tomorrow, it's back to drinking banana, strawberry smoothies for breakfast and cleaning up dog poop.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day