Day 3127

I think the gods of keeping things too long are punishing me. When I went to the storage warehouse to pick up some more things to sell, I got a nasty surprise. The protective foam inside a mixing board's flight case had completely disintegrated, turning the inside of the case into a sticky mess. Even worse, when I finally found a guitar that had been hidden behind several large boxes the last time I looked, I discovered that the neck had cracked. It's not uncommon for a guitar neck to warp, but I'd never seen one with a large crack like this. I managed to get the vintage mixing board cleaned up, but the guitar was hopeless. I took it to the vintage guitar guys anyway, in hopes that it could be fixed. They just looked at it in dismay. They said the best I could hope for was that a British theme restaurant or sports bar would buy it as a decoration to hang on their wall. The guitar was not playable.

No wonder antiques are often so expensive. It's really hard to keep something old in new condition. If it's made of cloth, it will get eaten by moths. It is is made of metal, it will rust. If it's made of glass, you will probably end up breaking it. I'm not exactly batting 1000 in my attempt to downsize. Some things survived the ravages of time and others didn't. Now I know what the phrase 'use it or lose it" really means.

Retrieving things from the storage warehouse and cleaning them up took a lot of time, so I didn't get much done today. It could take months to clean out the warehouse. So far, it's been discouraging work. Nothing looks better than when I stored it away. Where did I ever get the idea that I could unpack this stuff decades later and it would still be as good as new? I'm still determined to unload some of this stuff, but I'm not going to get rich doing it. A lot of things need to go straight in the dumpster.

I feel sorry for the roofers if they still have to work in this weather. It's really hot. I think we set a new temperature record today. I wouldn't be surprised if the roofers canceled the repairs because of the heat, but if they do come out this week, the roof is definitely dry.

Dash and I walked around sunrise again today. I think everyone with dogs in the neighborhood had the same idea. The park was surprisingly crowded this morning, but luckily all the dogs we encountered were friendly. You almost have to walk early these days. Once the sun is high in the sky, the heat is brutal. Several people asked me about Dash's boots this morning. Their dogs weren't sick. They just wanted something to protect their dogs feet from the hot pavement. I should carry business cards for Ultra Paws with me. I'm sure I've brought them some business this Summer.

My water bill is going to be huge this month. I'm having to water the grass and shrubs almost every day. Even though it's hard to keep things green, I hope that things stay hot and dry until the roof gets fixed. As soon as the roofers get finished though,  I'm going to join the rest of Dallas and pray for rain.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3126

I'm slowly discovering that if you want results you have to use the right form of communication. If you send a voicemail to someone who prefers to text, nothing will happen. If you send an e-mail to someone who prefers to talk, nothing will happen. It's complicated. The electrician prefers to talk on the phone. The roofer and the landscaper would rather text. The art galleries and auction houses communicate almost exclusively via e-mail. So far, only the art conservator and the vintage guitar guy want to talk face-to-face. Maybe that's why I like those old Perry Mason shows. There was no voicemail or texting. The internet didn't even exist. People just called Perry on the phone and he picked it up and answered it.

I never used to think of myself as a nostalgic person, but I'm definitely nostalgic now. Forty nine years ago today, Apollo 11 left this earth on a journey to the moon. I remember that time well. A few days later we would hear that "the Eagle has landed" and the world would rejoice. I wish that same spirit prevailed today. It's not surprising that we've never been back. We don't have shared dreams anymore. Maybe you have a dream, and I have a dream, and the neighbor down the street has a dream, but they are definitely not shared dreams.

I'm going to have to start getting up earlier. It's so hot now that even our morning walks are uncomfortable. Dash still enjoys his walks, but I worry about him becoming overheated. Although I've tried to teach him to drink from a water bottle, he always waits till we come home to drink. Nothing is easy with this dog. Today one of his boots fell off and I had a hard time getting in on again. I've got to get better at this pretty quickly. When Janet visits her family, I'm going to have to get Dash dressed for walks by myself.

The roofers didn't show up today, but I'm still confident that I'll be seeing them later in the week. There is no reason to delay these repairs any longer. Everybody has finally agreed that the repairs are necessary and the weather is perfect. There is no point in spoiling the moment by continuing to complain. This thing is going to get done. Anyway, there's plenty of time to complain next week if the guys don't show up.

I wonder what I used to do in July? I probably just worked. Without a deadline to keep me busy, it's hard to get motivated. When the steering wheel is to hot to touch, you certainly don't want to drive anywhere. There's no point buying anything while I'm still actively trying to get rid of things. There's no point in watching TV, because at soon as I turn the set on, I immediately want to turn it off again.

Maybe I'll think of something to do tomorrow. I didn't do that well today. I picked up a prescription, paid a few bills and the day was over. I probably should have done some cleaning, but I didn't. Dash doesn't seem to worry about being productive. After a walk and a meal, he is content to sleep. I think that dog has the right idea.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3125

There are two types of people who go to the gym. There are the ones who spend half their time obsessively cleaning the equipment with disinfectant rags and there are the ones who don't. I find myself in the latter category. I've always found that the kids who ate dirt and food they'd dropped on the floor tended to be a little healthier. You need to build up your resistance to things. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm still alive. Some of my friends aren't.

I wonder when we started to worry about germs on treadmills? It wasn't always this way. Autism was almost unheard of when I was a kid. So were peanut allergies. If peanut allergies were a big deal in the 1950's, half my childhood friends would be dead. Every Mom in creation fed their kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches constantly. Times are changing though. Southwest Airlines recently discontinued serving peanuts on flights. This was their signature item for decades. Who knows. Maybe peanuts weren't a big deal when I was a kid because everyone was still worried about polio and nuclear war.

Maybe germs and peanut allergies were always a problem, but we just didn't understand what was going on. I was listening to NPR on my way to the gym and there was a guy talking about how we have it all wrong about how the dinosaurs died. Conventional wisdom says a giant asteroid hit the earth, kicking up a huge cloud of dust that cooled the planet for centuries. The colder weather slowly killed the dinosaurs and lots of other things too. Not so fast, says this guy. New science says that when the asteroid hit, the impact sent a column of super heated gas, 100 times hotter than the sun, out past the moon. When the gas was pulled back to earth by gravity, it heated the atmosphere to almost 1000 degrees for several days, killing everything instantly that wasn't living in a cave. Which of these conflicting ideas is true? Probably neither. Humans don't really know all that much. We just like to think we do. If there are aliens out there, they might look at us the same way we view ants.

Personally I'm not very worried about germs or aliens this Summer. Spiders have got me bothered though. We've been invaded by spiders this year. I can't remember them ever being this bad. They're inside. They're outside. They're everywhere. I cleaned the webs from the house with the pressure washer less than a month ago, and the webs are all back. When I let Dash out to pee late at night, I always have to be wary of spiders building webs across the doorway. I've gotten them in my hair more than once. Most of the spiders are harmless, but we do have Brown Recluse Spiders in the area. Our first Dalmatian got bit by a spider and had a terrible allergic reaction. I don't want that to happen again.

Dash was much better today. He pooped on his walk like a normal dog and ate all his meals without throwing up. It was too hot to take much of an evening walk, but we're doing the best we can. If you get out early in the morning before the sun comes up, it is actually pretty nice.

I spent most of my time inside today. When I returned from the gym, I cleaned the house and watched a little TV. For some reason I've become fond of The Great British Baking Show. This is odd, because I don't really like to cook. I was pretty good at decorating cakes once. Back when Janet and I had more energy and time, we used to make the dogs some pretty amazing cakes on their birthdays.

I wonder whether the roofers will show up this week? They promised, but you know how that goes. Hopefully, they will realize that the weather is perfect for making repairs and that it will be easier to just get the job done than have me pestering them for the rest of the Summer

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3124

Friday the 13th. arrived a day late. Dash woke me up around 5 AM heading for the back door. He didn't make it and pooped all over the living room. After breakfast, he drank too much water, started coughing, and ended up throwing up everything he ate on the bedroom carpet. We were out of Nature's Miracle, so I went to the pet store to get some more to help clean up the mess. The bottle leaked in my car. That was enough bad luck for me, but later when I went to get groceries, the lids to both the blueberry and strawberry containers popped open, spilling the fruit all over the back of my car. All this happened before noon. The afternoon was actually pretty normal.

I don't think it was the vestibular disease that made Dash throw up today. He wasn't disoriented and didn't seem to have vertigo. He just burped and all his food came out. Accidents like these are becoming our new normal. Often, I will take him outside to pee and after wandering around aimlessly for a while, he will come back inside and immediately poop on the floor. Actually, he did this right after dinner this evening, making it two for two in the indoor pooping sweepstakes. It's hard to be mad at the little guy. He's trying his best to be a normal dog. Age is a bitch though. The body just doesn't cooperate anymore.

I definitely sympathize with Dash. Age hasn't been kind to me either. I went up on the roof this afternoon to prepare things for the roofers and my shoulder hurt for the rest of the day. An hour of pushing water off the roof with a push broom was all it took. I was going to mow the grass today as well, but I'll save that for another time. Enough is enough.

We must have got a lot or rain last week. The water level in the lake was about two feet lower than usual earlier this month, but this morning I noticed that everything was back to normal. Flowers have started blooming again as well. I spotted some Jimson Weed this morning. The blooms are pretty, but they are poisonous. I never want to let the dogs get too close to these plants.

I went to pick up a prescription yesterday and the pharmacist told me it wouldn't be ready until Monday. This morning, the same pharmacy called me and asked why I hadn't picked the pills up yet. Go figure. I suspect the pills were actually there yesterday but just didn't show up in the computer. It's getting harder to have faith in the pharmacy. Like anyone else these days, they make mistakes from time to time. I'm always looking up pills on Pill Finder to make sure I'm taking the right drug. Same thing for Dash. There are so many generic versions of most drugs that the pills often don't look the same. Dash had some odd looking Enalapril today. The pills were oval instead of round. They turned out to be the correct medication. These just happened to come from a different manufacturer.

I wish life hadn't become so complex. I didn't used to look up all my meds on Pill Finder to make sure I wasn't taking something that was going to kill me. I didn't used to look suspiciously at the Caller ID every time the phone rang. I remember when it was still OK to click on the links that appeared in e-mail messages and open your door when someone knocked. Not anymore.

I've decided that the best thing to do in a dystopian world is mind your own business. There is craziness everywhere, but you don't have to go looking for it. I try to walk Dash when the park is empty. I do most of my shopping when other people are at work. I never talk about politics with anyone.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3123

Not a bad day for Friday the 13th. I had a nice breakfast. Dash seemed in good spirits. Even the weather improved. You'd think with such an auspicious start, I might have done something amazing. Nope. It was Friday, after all. On Friday, I'm happy enough to just make it through the day.

Today, I had an appointment to take my damaged lithograph to the art conservator. I wonder how someone becomes an art conservator? It's a strange occupation. You learn intricate details about how paper and fiber behave and are somehow able to turn back time and make something old look new again with damaging it in the process. These people are often hired by museums to restore old maps and documents. In my case, I needed someone to take some art that has become wrinkled by humidity and make it flat again.

The whole process seems like a black art to me, but the conservator came highly recommended. I learned something during my visit today. Evidently the reason that my lithograph had become damaged has a lot to do with the way it was originally framed. Paper and even the metal frame itself naturally expand and contract over time. Art it supposed to be framed to allow the paper to breathe. The frame didn't allow this to happen. Evidently, the paper and the aluminum frame expanded at different rates, causing the paper to curl and wrinkle when it pushed against the edge of the frame. The whole process took decades, so it was very hard to notice at first. It didn't help that I bought the art in Seattle and it is now in Dallas. These are two very different climates.

The good news is that the Ellsworth Kelly can be restored to it's original condition. the bad news is that the restoration process is very slow, expensive, and when everything is finished, I will need a new and different type of frame. Oh, well. My bad. I never should have stored art in a storage warehouse for twenty years. I shouldn't have stored my guitars in the warehouse either. Three of the four guitars are fine, but one is in even worse shape than the damaged lithograph. The finish has cracked and some of the hardware has rusted.

The ironic thing is that I placed a lot of things in the warehouse because I was worried about humidity and water damage in the house. We have had water problems in the house for as long as I can remember. It questionable whether everything would have fared better if I'd left it at home. I guess I'll never know. A lot can happen in forty years. I guess it could have been worse. My sister's house burned down once and she lost a library of books she had spent a lifetime collecting.

The auction house in New York is already featuring one of my photos on their website. I guess this means they like it. Hopefully, it will do well at auction. It's weird that as objects continue to disappear from my life, absolutely nothing has changed. I don't miss these things. My life has been focused around dogs for many, many years. Dogs still matter. The art, model trains, and guitars seem like they were from a parallel universe that doesn't even exist anymore. I kind of wish I'd discovered this a long time ago.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3122

I'm getting closer to getting the roof repaired. I talked to the job foreman today and discovered that the crews weren't always being paid when they came out to make repairs. That certainly explains why this job has been slow walked for several years. After more conversations with everyone involved I tried to make it clear that problems between the contractor and subcontractors weren't really my concern. I just want a roof that doesn't leak. Hopefully, this issue is finally resolved. All we need now is for the rain to stop. I got a verbal promise that the repairs will be made as soon as we get some dry weather.

Jeez. Why am I dealing with all this during the wettest July I can remember? It is usually bone dry in July. It seems like I'm always talking to the roofers during the middle of a thunderstorm. It certainly rained a lot today, even though is was sunny this morning. I even got soaking wet taking the trash out to the curb. Dash didn't get his evening walk either. I doubt that he minded. He was busy hiding under my desk.

I rescheduled my service appointment with Land Rover today. They kept trying to explain that no loaner cars were available because people weren't returning them. How was this even possible? You have to return the loaner car to get your own car back. Janet, who still works, explained what was going on. "People take the loaner car to the airport when they go on business trips," she said. "Their own car gets fixed before they return and the dealership thinks the loaner is missing." I guess this makes sense. I haven't taken a business trip in so long that this is a whole different universe to me. I always take the loaner car back as soon as the repair is finished.

I noticed today that I forgot to bill a client several months ago. This client used to keep me busy but there has been so little work in the past year that I almost forgot they were on the roster. I wrote them a letter asking if they wanted to terminate my services. It seemed like the right thing to do. Years ago I would have worked hard to restore the relationship, but the effort seems futile. These guys don't even use their website anymore. They might have forgotten they even have one.

I listened to some of the Peter Strzok testimony today. Sad. This country has become so divided that we are never coming together again. This is a Humpty Dumpty scenario. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put the country together again. I think we should face facts and just split the country in two. Give everyone a moving allowance so they could move to the country of their choice and then build a wall between the red country and the blue country. Everyone would probably get behind that wall.

I tried to tie up some loose ends this week, but I'm not sure what I accomplished. The roof still isn't fixed. My car repair has been pushed back to August. The security light in the back yard has been "fixed" but I'm not sure if it was ever broken. Probably the most important thing that happened this week was that Dash's dewclaws got trimmed.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3121

I didn't see the roofer today, but I did get a visit from the electrician. I'd almost forgotten that I'd called the electrician. When I originally called weeks ago, the photocell that controlled the security light in the back yard wasn't working correctly. The light would come on at dusk, but it would shut off about three hours later. To get the light to turn on again, I would have to go to the breaker box and turn the circuit breaker for the light off and on manually. It was irritating to go out at midnight and do this, but it certainly wasn't an emergency. Somehow during the ensuing weeks, the light seems to have fixed itself. It's been working perfectly for over a week now. The electrician replaced the photocell with a new one anyway. I thanked the guys, but was kind of embarrassed to have them replace something that seemed to be working fine. Hopefully, there won't be any problems with this new photocell. These guys could get tired of me real quickly.

Dash did very well at the vet. I was proud of him. He didn't struggle or snap at anyone while his nails were being trimmed. He didn't poop in the lobby either. Amazingly, he even rode quietly in the car. I think he was just tired. We had a rough night. He woke up in the middle of the night and seemed to forget where he was. He just stood frozen in place in the living room with a vacant look on his face for the longest time. He wouldn't go outside and he wouldn't come back to bed. This didn't seem like a vestibular seizure. It was something else. I'm starting to worry about dementia now. This isn't the first time Dash has seemed totally confused. The vet recommended some things that might help with dementia at his exam today and checked his heart. There is no quick fix for anything anymore.

This morning when we got Dash suited up for his morning walk, he seemed frozen in place again. Usually, he heads straight for the back door as soon as Janet leaves for work, but this morning he refused to move. He had the same confused look that he had last night. Eventually, I took his harness and leg brace off and he immediately went to sleep. Later in the day, he woke up and seemed somewhat normal again. We took a short walk, but it was too hot to go very far.

Dash seems fine now. He had a good appetite at dinner. We took a normal evening walk and he's barking at Janet for treats now. There are so many surprises these days. Almost every day something happens that I don't expect. I try my best to keep Dash calm, keep him eating regularly, and make sure he moves around enough so his muscles don't atrophy. There is very little we can do about the vestibular disease or the blood clot in his heart.

I was planning to take my car in for service tomorrow, but the dealer called this evening and said they weren't going to have any loaner cars tomorrow. That seemed weird, since everything was fine when I called to confirm the appointment this morning. They asked if I wanted to go ahead with the service and use their shuttle instead. No thank you. These guys are so slow, that I'd probably be without a car for a week. Maybe I'll just wait until August to schedule the service again. Then I could get my state inspection at the same time.

I cleared the water off the roof again. I knew this was a waste of time, but I wanted to be ready just in case the roofers decided to come over anyway. They didn't. I'm aiming for next week now. The weather app on my phone shows a lot of sunny days next week. Every time it rains, the roof problems seem to get worse. We've really got to get this fixed.

I'm not sure what we're going to do tomorrow. I'm getting used to slow, uneventful days. As long as Dash is acting normally and eating his meals, I'm fine.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3120

The weather isn't cooperating. I spent two hours up on the roof clearing away all the standing water so the roofers could make their repairs tomorrow. Everything looked perfect and then later in the day we had an unexpected afternoon thunderstorm and the roof is all wet again. I'm beginning to think that all my efforts are hopeless.

I did manage to find someone to repair my Sequential Circuits synthesizers. I don't know if the guy is any good, but he does claim to have worked on them before. I kind of hope that the guitar store has managed to find someone better. I have a feeling that the guy I found will just take the synthesizers apart and then tell me that he can't find parts. Parts are always the problem for old electronic gear. Even though the chances of success are far from guaranteed, I'll probably still try to get these things repaired. If I do nothing, I might as well throw them in a dumpster.

The auction house called me today and said they want to lower the estimate on one of the pieces I sent them. I suspected this might happen. On further inspection, they said they discovered minor handling damage. These guys are pretty picky, so it was probably just a fingerprint in the wrong place. Hey, it wasn't me. I've never even taken any of these things out of the original frames. I'm still happy with the revised estimate, but the original price they mentioned would have made me even happier. Auctions are weird. We talk about these estimates as if they are real, but there is no guarantee that the art will sell at all.

Dash was kind of shaky this morning. He stumbled more than usual on his morning walk and seemed unusually tired when we returned home. I don't know why. The weather was actually quite nice. I always worry that Dash will collapse when we are alone in the park and I'll have difficulty getting him back to a vet in time. I can't let this fear deter me from walks altogether though. Walks are important. Without these slow daily walks, Dash's mobility would decrease dramatically. I do try to watch him carefully when we get up in the morning and make sure he's not having a vestibular event or problems moving around. A misplaced pebble in his path can cause Dash to fall these days, but we've got to keep moving. I've brought some more rugs home from the storage warehouse to keep him from slipping inside the house. Things are not getting better, but I think we're all doing the best we can.

I hope Dash does well at his exam tomorrow. He needs his anal glands expressed and a nail trim, but there's always a chance that he'll surprise us with more bad news. There are so many things wrong with this dog that it's hard to remember them all. The important things at this point are the blood clot in his heart and the internal bleeding. I've almost forgotten about the vestibular disease and thyroid cancer.

It's going to be a long Summer. Janet is visiting family soon, so I'll be taking care of Dash by myself for a while. I hope I can remember how to get his boots on without assistance. I've done it before, but it isn't easy. Getting him to take his pills in the morning isn't easy either. I have a feeling that we'll be taking a lot of naps. That's one thing we do well together.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3119

About thirty minutes after the roofer made a firm commitment to come out and repair the roof tomorrow, it started to rain. It rained quite a bit, so I doubt that the roof will be dry any time soon. I'm probably back to square one. I wonder if this promise to fix things on a rainy day was on purpose? I'll never know for sure. It is hard to predict the weather here in Texas. The forecast changes every day. I check the weather all the time and today's rain even caught me by surprise.

Whether the roofer comes out or not, it looks like it's going to be a busy week. Dash has a vet appointment on Wednesday, I need to take my car in for an annual required maintenance on Thursday, and I have an appointment with an art conservator on Friday to see if an Ellsworth Kelly that has been damaged by humidity can be saved.

I dread taking Dash to the vet. He's terrible riding in the car. He often poops in the lobby while we are waiting for our appointment. And he's going to need his nails trimmed again. Dash won't let anyone near his feet, but there is one vet who seems to have the magic touch. If she ever gives up on us, we're doomed. I wish Dash's nails didn't grow so fast. They seem to grow even faster now, since we are protecting his feet on walks. It's really important to keep the nails short, since he is taking Plavix. If Dash ever ripped out a nail again, it would be very hard to stop the bleeding.

I didn't accomplish much today, so I guess it was a pretty normal day. I repaired another pair of Dash's protective boots. Dash is pretty hard on these boots, so I always have to keep several pairs in rotation. I fixed a Waterpik that has been leaking for about a month. The leak wasn't bad, so it was easy to ignore. I got the pump started on the roof, but it won't be enough to get things dried out by tomorrow. It probably doesn't even matter. I think it's supposed to rain again tomorrow anyway.

I wonder if people realize that all the turmoil about the Supreme Court nomination isn't exactly new. If memory serves, there was a similar uproar when Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas were nominated. Thomas survived and Bork didn't. I suspect that Brett Kavanaugh will survive, but what do I know. This is basically a fight between people who think the Constitution is the law of the land and people who think the Constitution has become outdated and needs to change. I hate to see Americans fighting like this, but I don't think it's going to stop any time soon.

I wish we had the ability to blend our opinions together the same way I make my morning smoothie. American politics needs a Vitamix. I don't even taste the bananas, strawberries, peaches, eggs, oatmeal, blueberries, cinnamon, and ice cream anymore. My creation is much better than these ingredients. Blending is good. It would be hard to convince me that polarization is equally good.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3118

Often when I'm at the gym, I'm reminded of Andy Warhol's desire to be a machine. I feel like a machine sometime. So many aspects of my life are repetitive in nature. It's not just my time on the treadmill that is entirely predictable. Almost everything is entirely predictable. It wasn't always this way, but increasingly I find familiarity comforting. I like knowing what is going to happen before it happens. The good thing about this kind of life is that you really start to notice little things. If there is any change at all in Dash's behavior, I'm instantly aware of it. I can tell if this week's peaches and strawberries are different than last week's, and can feel if the temperature in the house is one degree warmer than is was yesterday.

The bad thing about predictability is that anything new seems ominous. I will stare at a menu forever before ordering something new for breakfast. I almost never take a new route to a destination. Forget about new friends. If I haven't known you for thirty years, I probably never will. I think about these things while I'm on the treadmill. Exercise is so predictable. That's the one thing I like about going to the gym. I can tell you what my heart rate is going to be at any given time and can predict within ten seconds how long it takes to walk a mile. I still don't know how long it will take to shoot ten free throws on the basketball court, but I'm working on it.

Maybe weather forecasts are frustrating to me because they aren't predictable at all. Yesterday, I thought it was going to rain all next week. Today the forecast has changed. I think it is only supposed to rain on Tuesday. I wish I really knew for certain when we were going to have seven days of clear, dry weather, so I could insist that the roofers come out and finish their repairs. The roofers know that the weather is their friend. The threat of rain is always a good excuse to postpone things.

It's amazing that they are actually getting those boys trapped in that cave in Thailand out alive. The threat of rain is really serious there. I can think of few things worse than being trapped in a flooded cave. Why do people even go in caves? My Dad was a zoologist who studied bats and he would take me in caves occasionally. Caves are wet and claustrophobic. I was always worried that a rock was going to fall and trap us inside. I frequently have dreams that involve being lost. When I was a child, I was usually crawling endlessly through a cave in these dreams. Now, I seem to be lost in a huge hotel. I guess that's progress. Hopefully, all the Thai boys will be extricated safely. I bet it will be a long time before any of them go inside a cave again.

Our house is becoming filled with cheap throw rugs again. Dash's rear legs keep getting weaker and I keep having to bring additional rugs home from the storage warehouse to keep him from slipping. The kitchen and dining areas are filled with rugs now, so Dash won't fall while he is eating. There are carpets in the bedrooms, so he is OK there. I hope we can keep the area where he typically poops on the floor free of rugs for as long as we can. It's a lot easier to clean up poop when it lands on the bricks.

I wish I could predict what was going to happen next with Dash. This is the one area of my life where I've got to stay flexible. He's getting old and frail, but so far, we've been able to adjust so that his life remains enjoyable. All that being said, I hope he lets me get some sleep tonight. I'm getting older too.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3117

I couldn't figure out why I was having trouble getting gas this morning. The pump would accept my credit card and tell me that it was ready to start pumping, but no gas would come out. I tried three different pumps and I couldn't get any gas out of any of them. The strange thing was that other people were filling their cars normally. I seemed to be the only one who was having a problem. I went over and talked to the manager, who didn't know anything but said he'd talk to another employee. The second employee said "Oh, we're out of Premium today." Jeez. Would it have been that hard to put a sign on the pump? It would seem like the pump itself would show some kind of indication that it was empty. Nope. The pump preferred to run up a zero dollar credit card transaction. Needless to say, I got gas somewhere else.

The lake is starting to look a little low. This is usually one of the first signs that we are having a drought. The city has also started to mow all the areas they have designated as "native prairie" in the park. I'm pretty sure this is to reduce the danger of brush fires. Actually, the area looks a lot nicer now. The native prairie grasses have been overrun by Johnson Grass in recent years. The fields and meadows that used to be pretty, now just look like acres and acres of weeds.

Even though things are becoming ominously dry, I still have mixed feelings about rain. The roof isn't fixed yet. The roofers keep saying they are coming over "soon," but soon might mean Christmas to them. I'm tempted to go buy some of the elastomer material and patch the damaged areas myself. The last time I tried this, it didn't work out so well. Some of my patches are already starting to delaminate. Something needs to be done, but I still think this mess is the roofers responsibility.

Now that I've fixed the crack in the wall, I'm tempted to fix the ceiling. There's been damaged sheetrock in the living room for years, but I hate to go to the trouble of fixing it if the roof is still going to leak. I've got all the materials now and I could probably fix the area in an afternoon, but this would almost guarantee that there would be a giant rainstorm and the roof would start leaking again. It's easier to just ignore things for a while longer and hope the roofers eventually do what they've promised.

Dash pooped on the bed last night. I don't think he even woke up. I was thinking that we were getting a handle on his digestive problems, but maybe not. There doesn't appear to be blood in his stools anymore, but I sure wish that the poop would stay outdoors. Incontinence is just a fact of life with old dogs. I don't think I'm going to stop cleaning up poop any time soon.

It's hard to get motivated when the temperature is so hot. All I really wanted to do today was take a nap. Dash makes this easy, since he sleeps most of the time anyway. I used to think that I wasn't getting nearly enough sleep. If I start counting naps though, I'm probably doing just fine.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Will this be enough to prevent me from going to the gym? It won't take much. I'm not feeling very energetic this week.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3116

Little things have become way too complicated. When I got in the car this morning, there was a warning light on the dash that said my left rear tire was low. In the past I would have gotten the compressor out of the garage and added a little air. Can't do that anymore. These tires are filled with nitrogen which forces me to go to the dealer every time a tire is low. The service tech added some nitrogen to the low tire and said everything was fine. On the way back home, the warning light came on again, so I returned to the dealership a second time. I told them to check the tire again and this time they found a nail. Jeez. Why didn't they notice the nail the first time?

While I was waiting for the tire to be fixed, I looked at new cars. I don't think I'll be getting a Land Rover again. Not only have these cars become way too expensive, I don't like the current styling. None of the rear seats fold flat anymore. The seats in my current car fold completely flat, making it much easier to carry dogs. The nice boxy shape of my car is gone too. Everything on the showroom floor was curvy and sleek. I loved my old Defender, but the new Discovery and Range Rover models aren't even remotely like this amazing go anywhere, carry anything truck. Nobody makes anything like the Defender anymore. It had no airbags and hand cranked windows, but it did have a big V-8 engine and enough room in the back for an extra large dog crate. My current car is much fancier, but I always liked the Defender best.

I probably got the nail in my tire while I was eating breakfast. There was some construction going on nearby, and I should have just driven to another restaurant. I seem to get nails and screws in my tires every time I go near a construction site. My Eggs Benedict were fine, but this meal certainly wasn't worth spending half the day at a car dealership. I wasn't even that hungry. The day would have been much more productive if I'd just stayed home.

The wall I've been repairing is painted now, but the house smells terrible. I'd forgotten that oil base enamel has a much stronger smell to it than latex paint. I would have left the doors and windows open for a while, but the house would have instantly been filled with bugs and it was way too hot and humid anyway. Hopefully, as the paint dries the smell will go away.

It rained while I was at the Land Rover dealer. The rain didn't last long, but there was quite a downpour for about thirty minutes. When I returned home, there was some evidence that there had been a short power outage. The computer was off and several of the uninterrupted power supplies were beeping. Dash was waiting at the door too. He's usually asleep while I'm gone. I have no idea how bad things were, but I hope that Dash didn't freak out. The only saving grace was that this wasn't a thunderstorm. It was just a heavy rain.

It's too bad the roofers didn't come over while we were having two weeks of bone dry weather. It would have been an ideal time to finish their repairs. We're back to square one again. I've got to remove all the standing water from the roof, start checking for leaks again, and resume pestering the roofers to finish what they started.

Wendy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3115

I'm going to have heartburn tonight. The refrigerator was kind of empty, so I picked up a frozen pizza on the way home from the post office. I was only going to eat two slices, but ended up eating the whole thing. Why do I do this? I wasn't even that hungry.

I still haven't painted the wall. Every time I get ready to start, I realize that I've got the wrong kind of paint brush. I made my third trip to Home Depot and this time I got a small four inch roller. The first time I got a regular bristle brush. The second time I got a handful of those cheap foam brushes. Maybe the third time is the charm. It probably won't make any difference, because I'm the one doing the painting. I want a smooth enamel finish with no streaks. I always seem to leave brush marks.

A few days ago, It looked like we were going to have clear weather for most of July. Now, the forecast shows thunderstorms all next week. I know what's going to happen. The next time I contact the roofers, they will tell me that were scheduled to fix my roof, but the rain made them change their plans. They've got this down to a science. It's never going to be clear long enough so they have no excuses.

Dash has me confused. He's not hungry in the morning anymore. His appetite doesn't seem to kick in until early evening, when he becomes ravenous. He still eats the same amount he always has, but this new schedule complicates things. It's hard to give him his morning pills, because most of them have to be taken with food. His late night meals also just about guarantee that he's going to wake me up at 3 AM to go outside and poop. Oh, well. At least he's still eating and seems pretty healthy.

I'm still wondering what happened to the Sequential Circuits synthesizers. How can something go bad just sitting in a box? It's probably just as well that this problem is out of my hands now. Maybe the guys at the guitar store can find a good repair technician. If the synthesizers were sitting here in the office, I'd spend the rest of the Summer fiddling with them and trying to diagnose the problem myself. I'd probably just make the situation worse. I have a modest amount of electronic knowledge, but it's usually just enough to get me in trouble.

It's almost Friday and I still don't know what to do for breakfast tomorrow. I've got to do better than the pitiful, stale breakfast taco I brought home from the grocery store last week. Maybe I should just go buy a box of Lucky Charms or Cap'n Crunch and a pint of milk. Lord knows, I've tried everything else. If Eggs Benedict and Belgian Waffles don't appeal to me anymore, I don't know what's wrong.

At any rate, I've grown to understand Dash's picky eating habits. I've become a picky eater myself.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3114 - Independence Day

The park was surprisingly quiet today. If park attendance is any indication, Cinco de Mayo has become a bigger holiday in Dallas than the Fourth of July. There are still neighborhood parades in several parts of town, but we haven't gone to one in a while. Janet used to be a judge at a local Fourth of July parade. I think we even walked with the dogs in one of these small parades when they were young. It's been a long time since we watched fireworks. Most of our dogs have been terrified of the noise. All I remember about watching fireworks in the park is getting bitten by ants.

These days we just watch the holiday concerts on TV. The Beach Boys always seem to play at these type of concerts. I was wondering how The Beach Boys were even still alive and then I noticed that the band is really just Mike Love and a bunch of much younger musicians. Listening to The Beach Boys brought back memories of Independence Days many decades ago. I'm really lucky to still have both hands after all the cherry bombs and M-80's we used to play with as kids. Fireworks weren't regulated at all back in the day. Now, these things are considered explosive devices and are illegal. I wonder how I survived cherry bombs and learning to drive without seat belts?

We were thinking about going out for dinner tonight, but it was too hot. Sometimes we have ribs on the Fourth of July, but neither of us was very hungry tonight. We still have a grill, but haven't used it in ages. Barbecue for us means driving to a good barbecue place and getting take out. No barbecue today. No burgers and beer either. We just ate left overs.

The wall I've been fixing finally looked smooth enough to paint, so I applied a coat of primer today. I was real careful, but still managed to spill paint within ten seconds after opening the paint can. I just don't seem to have any dexterity anymore. I'm always tripping over things and making a mess. I used to have perfect vision and a very steady hand. Not anymore. Using my watchmaking tools has become a joke. I don't even attempt to change batteries anymore.

It didn't seem like Wednesday today. I almost went to the gym, because it felt like Sunday. Then I remembered the place was closed. I'm really going the be confused tomorrow. I'll probably think it's Monday. Dash knew it was a holiday because both of us were home. We seems happier when we're both around.

Hopefully, he'll sleep through the fireworks tonight. I'm starting to hear explosions now. It's not as bad as it used to be because there aren't as many kids in the neighborhood anymore. I guess I ought to cut these kids some slack. Their fireworks antics aren't nearly as noisy as mine were when I was their age.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3113

The guitars are gone. They will be joining some pretty amazing instruments in a little store I only discovered a few weeks ago. The owner appraises guitars for Antiques Roadshow and is on the advisory board of the Modern Guitar Museum in Los Angeles. The customers of this odd little place include rock and roll royalty. I was admiring a particularly nice bass and one of the guys casually mentioned that Nate Mendel from Foo Fighters had been in the store recently to look at it. I'm glad that little stores like this still exist in a world dominated by Amazon and Walmart. The three guys who run the place were incredibly nice and extremely knowledgable. This store seemed like the guitar equivalent of the place in Kentucky that is selling my model trains. I'm kind of envious of the owners of these places. They are both successful because they gained a reputation for knowing more than anyone else about a particular subject. Hey, what could be better than being a world class expert on model trains or electric guitars.

My vintage guitars found a home, but my vintage synthesizers didn't do so well. I had several old Sequential Circuits synthesizers that I thought would be very desirable. They looked brand new and still had their original shipping boxes. Everyone was real excited to see these things until one of the guys called a collector in Chicago who advised them to plug them in and see if they still worked. It never occurred to me that they wouldn't. Hey, they both worked perfectly when I boxed them up fifteen years ago. Evidently, Sequential Circuits electronics have a reputation for going kaput if they have been sitting around for extremely long periods of time. I was dismayed when we fired the beasts up and all that came out of them were some strange screeching sounds. We're going to see about repairing the synthesizers if someone is still alive who is familiar with them. They're either worth a lot of money, or absolutely nothing.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. Going through my old stuff made me think of this biblical phrase. If you keep something too long, it rusts, decomposes, and turns to dust. I've kept a lot of things well past their expiration date just because I liked the memories they evoked. I should have sold my Citroën SM sooner. When I finally did sell, all the rubber parts had gone bad and then engine wouldn't turn over. I should have sold the synthesizers the moment I removed them from the studio. They worked perfectly then and lots of people would have wanted them. I should have sold my BetaSP video equipment before analog video become obsolete. The stuff is worthless now. Live and learn.

At least the art I sent to New York is still desirable. I got a message from the auction house today saying that the shipment had arrived in good condition. What what I can tell, everyone seems real excited about these pieces. I think they want to reframe some of them, but that's OK. I'm still a bit nervous about the auction, but the appraisers are convinced that everything will sell.

I sanded the sheetrock today and it still isn't perfect. I applied a little bit more mud and will sand everything again tomorrow. Hopefully, I've got the energy to get this place looking nice again. The house is the best example of Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust I can think of. It looked beautiful when we bought the place years ago, but now it is starting to look like Grey Gardens. Jeez. I used to be an architect. I never thought I'd live in a place as cluttered and crumbling as my parents final home. Age catches up with you though. Eventually you reach a point where you just don't care what the furniture looks like.

Janet just asked me what I wanted to do for the Fourth of July. I have no idea. Certainly nothing that has anything to do with fireworks. I'm not looking forward to even going outside tomorrow. It's way too hot.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3112

I heard the neighbor calling his dog this morning. This was the dog that bit me. The voice wasn't coming from the neighbor's yard. It was coming from down the street. Damn. The dog had gotten loose again. Luckily, I had already finished walking Dash, but I didn't feel comfortable going outside for the rest of the day.

I called the electrician again to see when he was coming to fix the security light. He said he tried to call me last Thursday. I never got the call. Who knows what happened? Maybe the call got intercepted by Nomorobo and was never put through. Maybe the phone actually rang and I didn't answer because I thought it was a telemarketer. This happens a lot with service people. They use their personal cell phones now to call customers. If I don't see a company name on caller ID or I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. The guy could have left a message, but he probably don't want to come over anyway. He promised that they would still fix the light, but didn't say when.

My second call was to the guitar store to let them know I was on my way. Oops. I should have read the website more carefully. The place isn't open on Mondays. It isn't open in the mornings either. Actually the place isn't open much at all. The guys did say that a lot of their business was out-of-state. I guess having a retail storefront isn't all that important. I really shouldn't complain about any of this. My appointment was for tomorrow anyway. I just wanted to go today because I was bored.

Since I couldn't get my guitars appraised, I decided to fix the crack in the sheetrock instead. I would never make a good tape and bed guy. I can't seem to apply the drywall mud smoothly. I'll let the stuff dry and try to sand it smooth tomorrow. This will make a lot of dust, but I can't see any alternative. I've seem people apply mud so smoothly that you don't even need to sand. This type of finesse is out of my league. Oh, well. At least the joint compound is easier to clean up than glue.

I heard on the news that the raw sewage crisis has been averted. The city managed to divert the sewage spill to storm drains so the mess will never reach the lake. Who knows where the storm drains go. I think the lake is being reopened for recreational use tomorrow. I'm really glad that the lake won't be filled with dead fish and disease. This little oasis is one of the nicest things about this part of town.

The truck with my art should have arrived in New York by now, but I still haven't heard anything. I'm trying to avoid making a worried call to the auction house. The stuff is insured, so I should just forget about it. It's hard to do though. It doesn't matter if it is the post office, UPS, or some fancy fine art shipper. I always think something disastrous is going to happen during shipping. I'm sure the auction people will give me a call later this week. I just hate to wait.

Tomorrow, I'll probably paint the wall I patched today if the surface looks smooth enough. If Dash is doing well, I'll go to the guitar store too. He was a little shaky today. This heat is tough on him. I think it's tough on everybody.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3111

My Sunday trip to the gym is starting to seem a little too familiar. I instantly know which channel is playing on the televisions in front of the treadmills. I recognize all of the other members, even though I don't know any of them by name. I can accurately guess what my heart rate will be when I finish my twenty minutes on the hand bicycle. I know exactly how long it will take to walk a mile on the treadmill. The only thing that seems to change is basketball. When I started, I could sink five free throws in a reasonable amount of time. As my aim gradually improved, I realized I could complete ten free throws in the same amount of time. Today I completed fifteen. Progress is often illusive, but it's nice to know I'm not getting worse.

My mind wanders while I'm exercising. It's always active though. I try to guess the name of the band when I hear a song playing on the sound system. I calculate the number of calories I'm burning in my head. Sometimes, I solve the world's problems, but I've always forgotten the solution by the time I've returned home. I think it is important to keep your brain active. I daydream a lot. One of the reasons I've kept writing this blog for so long is that I think that writing keeps you from becoming senile. I'm sure I could play Tetris or do Sudoku puzzles instead, but moving words around until they make sense is more satisfying.

Walking has become less satisfying as the temperature increases. We walked really early this morning to keep thing comfortable for Dash. It's a good thing we took this sunrise stroll, since it became far too hot to go out again later in the day. Since we got such an early start, I returned from the gym well before noon. I should have just taken a long nap this afternoon, but there was too much to do. I bought a new garden hose to replace one that had developed a leak. I had the hardware store match some enamel to a paint chip so I could finish repairing a large crack in the wall that had been hidden for years by one of the paintings I shipped off to New York. Repairing sheetrock and painting is a messy job, so I'm going to save this odious task for a day when I'm in a really good mood.

We encountered another aggressive dog this morning and narrowly avoided getting bitten. Once again, the owner was walking a very large dog on one of those long flexi-leashes and couldn't control it when they saw us on the path. We tried to stay out of the way, but the dog was totally out of control. These type of incidents happen way too often. It's getting harder and harder to relax in today's chaotic world. Often, I think I would be happier if I didn't encounter other people at all.

If I've got time tomorrow, I may take a few guitars to the vintage guitar store and get them appraised. I'm curious whether these things are treasures or junk. I usually take care of thing well, but the guitar I've had since high school is pretty well trashed. That's a shame, since a guitar from the 1960's would definitely qualify as vintage. The question is whether it still qualifies as desirable. I hope the experts are interested in this stuff. I need to clear out the storage warehouse.

I'm not looking forward to the Fourth of July. Dash, like many dogs, gets freaked out by loud noises. Fireworks used to be a nightmare when the dogs were younger. Maybe this year won't be so bad. Dash can't hear well anymore. Hopefully what used to be a frightening boom will just be a low rumble this year.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day