Day 478

I can always tell when my accountant actually starts working on my taxes, because I get a flurry of calls asking for various missing documents. One of the documents they were asking for today actually was missing. The rest, the accountant already had. I must have just put them in the wrong pocket of the accordion folder with all my receipts. It's getting pretty close to April 15, but I certainly can't fault my accountant for waiting this long to get started. This is the busiest month of the year for accounting firms. If I had this much business during the months of March and April, I would probably just take the rest of the year off.

I did get some legitimate new business today. The annual report job finally came through. Part of my input material was a competitors annual report. "Our business is exactly like theirs," I was told. "We just don't want it to sound like we went out and copied them." I've gotten this kind of direction before. "Make it just the same....but different." Yup, I can do that. I've done it many times before.

I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. I don't know why, since Saturdays aren't usually that exciting. It's been a long, busy week though, and I'd like to forget about keeping my head above water for a couple of days. Maybe we'll go look at new televisions this weekend. Given the choice between making an annual report sound "just the same...but different" or watching old episodes of Top Gear and Dr. Who, I think being a couch potato for a while doesn't sound half bad.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 477

I made a new business call this morning. I would do this sort of thing a lot more often if it didn't eat up half my day. I drove for an hour to go make my pitch, made a short presentation, and then drove for an hour to go home again. I still don't know if I got the job. Probably I didn't, because I ended up getting lost on the way to the meeting and was fifteen minutes late. Google Maps let me down. When it came time to take exit 38A off the freeway, I discovered that the exit didn't exist anymore. In it's place was a lot of construction equipment and traffic barriers. By the time I got to exit 39 five miles down the road, my Google directions didn't make sense anymore.

When I got back from this meeting, I has to call customer service to resolve a website problem and got one of those automated phone systems that attempt to solve your problem through a series of prerecorded questions. These things never work. After twenty minutes of listening to speak or type your case number and I don't understand your answer from the automated robot, I finally discovered that the secret word you had to say in order to have your call directed to a real person was "agent." I don't know why so many help desks are going to these automated systems because they never seem to resolve anything.

The rest of the day was spent trying to track down the status of various pending jobs, again with very little success. When we went to training class tonight, Dash wasn't having a lot of success either. It wasn't his fault though. Dash is very good at picking up on my moods. He probably sensed that I wasn't really on top of things tonight and decided he wasn't going to make much of an effort either. At least the sun is still up during most of training class these days. It's much nicer to be able to see what you're doing during the training exercises. All in all, it wasn't the best of days. Luckily, there's always tomorrow to look forward to.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 476

The stock market continues to puzzle me. I talked to my broker today and he thinks it's time to sell a few positions and lock in some of my recent gains. This certainly sounds reasonable if it weren't for the fact that every time I've done this in the past, the market has gone even higher. I certainly believe that old adage bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Nevertheless, anyone who has been too cautious during the past several years has seen their portfolio go nowhere. Historically, when I did well personally, the market also did well. This is no longer true. In fact, there now seems to be a complete disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street. All around me, I see homes in foreclosure, small businesses struggling and retail prices skyrocketing. At the same time the market continues to stay surprisingly strong. I just don't know anymore. The market may still be the best chance I've got at economic independence. On the other hand, stocks could just be the bubble that hasn't burst yet.

I took Dash to the vet today for his bi-weekly antigen shot. When the nurse took his blood pressure I noticed that the monitor was a high-tech marvel with all kinds of red and green flashing lights. When the nurse takes my own blood pressure, they still use an old fashioned inflatable cuff that probably hasn't changed in design for over fifty years. The vets are the first to get all the new toys these days. My veterinary clients had the new digital x-ray machines over five years ago and my own physicians are just starting to get these things. I have a feeling that going to vet school might be a lot better long-term investment than buying stocks.

My oil and gas annual report is back on the front burner again. On the other hand, the big oil and gas social media project I'm bidding on is still in limbo. The only sure thing these days are employee photos. I'm always taking employee photos. Got another photo shoot lined up for this Friday.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 475

The new heat pump was installed at my rental property today. It was a big, day-long production, involving a large crane and a crew of installers. The installation would have been a piece of cake if the heat pump wasn't located up on the roof in a very inaccessible place. True to form, I don't seem to do many things the easy way. At least if it's up on the roof, the unit is a bit harder for thieves to destroy in search of copper tubing.

Hopefully, this will be my last big expenditure of the year. I can't keep depositing little checks in the bank while I'm writing big checks for repairs and health care forever. I'll have to admit that the old heat pump actually did provide pretty good service. It lasted 25 years. That's a lot more than you can say for most things these days.

After the heat pump was safely installed on the roof of my rental property, I returned home to my own roof to sweep off the water from last night's rains. There was a huge storm last night which woke up both dogs and sent them into frenzy of barking. Dot has a terrible phobia of storms, and although Dash could care less, he likes to bark whenever Dot does. Needless to say, we didn't really get a good night's sleep last night.

No pancakes this morning. I've begun my new "no sugar" campaign. Actually, I was so busy today that I didn't eat any breakfast at all. Nevertheless, I won't be having my beloved pancakes, waffles or french toast for a while. I'm trying to think of something I can eat that won't kill me, but is still appealing enough to get me out of bed in the morning. So far, the only thing that really sounds good is biscuits and gravy. My doctors probably won't like that. Something tells me that biscuits and gravy aren't really considered a health food.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 474

I went out and looked at televisions today. Our old Sony Trinitron is on its last legs and it's about time to consider something new. Wow, there's certainly a lot to consider. The last time I looked at televisions, they all had CRT tubes. For a long time I thought our current TV was "state-of-the-art" because it was cable ready and had stereo sound. Things have definitely changed. I saw televisions today that will let you check your Facebook status and have a video conference call on Skype. One thing I didn't see was a big box with a picture tube. I wonder if anyone even manufactures CRT tubes anymore? It's all HD-1080 flat panels now. I'm certainly glad I didn't run out and buy one of those $10,000 plasma displays when they first appeared. Plasma displays are apparently already ancient history. Even late model LCD displays appear to be headed for the dustbin. It's all about LED displays now. The one thing that hasn't changed in the TV world are the people who sell these things. If you are foolish enough to stand in front of a display TV at Fry's Electronics for more than five seconds, you will have five salespeople hovering around you trying to sell it to you.

I really don't watch much TV, but I did happen to catch Steven Tyler singing a duet with Carrie Underwood on the Academy of Country Music Awards show this evening. Good Lord. I remember going to an Aerosmith concert in Seattle in 1974 and Steven Tyler looked exactly the same then. Considering how Keith and Mick look these days, Steven Tyler is hanging in there pretty well. He's either got a very good plastic surgeon or has accidentally discovered the fountain on youth.

I certainly haven't discovered this illusive fountain. Janet took some pictures of me walking the dogs today and I looked like death warmed over. The dogs appeared to be having fun though. It was another nice Spring day at the dog park. I'm really going to miss these mild days when Summer arrives and the temperature never drops below 100.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 473

A loud noise woke us up about 3 AM this morning. Even though I was still half asleep, I immediately knew what the noise was. Another drunk had lost control of his car after the bars closed and had driven through someone's front yard. The noise sounded a bit distant, so I thought it was someone else's yard this time. This morning when I looked outside, it became apparent that the car actually did hit the curb in front of our house. The car apparently bounced over our yard, landed in the neighbor's yard, and then bounced back out to the street again, when it skidded another 100 yards and came to rest near the stop light at the end of the street. This is just a guess, of course, but it is definitely what the skid marks and gouges left in the grass say happened. Believe it of not, this is the six or seventh time something like this has occurred. We live at the top of a hill and the street turns to the left a bit when it reaches our house. I guess if you're drunk enough, you just keep going straight. If drunk driving accidents reoccur so predictably in one particular neighborhood, you have to wonder how many wrecks there are citywide on an average Friday night. I bet there are hundreds in a city this size. No wonder there are so many tow truck companies in town.

Janet and I went to a party tonight. This was another charity fundraiser. I think this event was raising money for school scholarships instead of for dogs, but unless someone told you, it would be hard to tell the difference. There is always a meal, a silent auction, and usually some type of entertainment. Dalmatian Rescue does these type of things too. In fact, the entertainment portion of the evening was exactly the same as many Dalmatian Rescue events: an after dinner casino night. I'm always curious to see how the roulette table is run at these events, because Janet and I are the roulette dealers for Dalmatian Rescue. I think we are more professional than a lot of charity dealers, but there are still some groups that make us look like country hicks. Roulette is an easy game. You just have to remember the payout odds and get the chips off the table fairly quickly after each round of play. I'd much rather be the roulette dealer than run the craps table. Whenever I look over at the craps table, it looks like total chaos. People do seem to have a lot of fun playing craps though. Roulette players are much more sedate. The roulette table was certainly sedate tonight. For much of the evening, Janet and I were the only players. Too bad we were playing with monopoly money. Janet had a good night. At one point she was up over $25,000. It wasn't real money though. At the end of the night, we dumped our winnings in a pot for some sort of raffle and went home.

I took the posters for our Easter pet photo weekend up to City Vet today so they can begin promoting the event. I ended up using the same picture of Dot wearing bunny ears that I used for last year's poster. Hey, it was a cute picture and I know Dot would much rather have me reuse the photo than spend an afternoon dressing her up like an Easter bunny. From her point of view, Dalmatians were meant to chase rabbits, not dress like them.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 472 - April Fool's Day

I hate going to the doctor. It's always depressing. Even though my lab work was actually better than it was on my last visit, it's still pretty obvious that I'm already on the glide path to oblivion. Eating healthy and getting lots of exercise don't really make you any younger. They just postpone the inevitable a bit.

Today, we talked about cutting back on the sugar in my diet. It has to be done, because for the last year or so all the lab work indicates that I am pre-diabetic. I definitely don't want to become a diabetic if I can prevent it, but I certainly am getting tired of giving up all my favorite things. I've already given up bacon and alcohol. Now, I'm going to have to give up my morning waffles, drenched in a sea of maple syrup. Ironically, I didn't have this craving for maple syrup when I was drinking. My doctor say this is all pretty normal. The body immediately converts alcohol to glucose anyway, and when the alcohol is eliminated, the body tries to get the sugar some other way. When I has a glass of wine with dinner and a Martini before bed, I never felt like eating anything sweet. Now I want dessert after every meal. At any rate, I'm pretty good at giving up things. We'll just add sugar to the growing list of things I can no longer enjoy. Technically, sugar isn't even the enemy here. It is my desire to combine sugar with carbohydrates. Pancakes and syrup. Waffles or french toast with lots of syrup and whipped cream. Donuts. Not a great combination for maintaining proper blood sugar levels.

No April Fool's jokes today. Who knows? Maybe this week's lack of work was all an extended joke. I don't think so though. Things are just slow. I sure hope the economy picks up by Summer. So far, this year hasn't exactly gotten off to a stellar start. At least the stock market is hanging in there. An up day in the market can still balance out a bad day at the office.

I retrieved one of my neighbors dogs this afternoon. The friendly Chocolate Lab was just wandering around loose and appeared lost. I have returned countless neighborhood dogs to their homes over the years. I seem to be the only one around during the day. Kids leave the gate open. Parents leave the gate open. Dogs even learn how to open the gate themselves. Luckily, most of these loose dogs are very nice and it isn't hard to lure them home again. It's strange how casual many people are about their dogs however. I would never go off and leave my own dogs in the backyard when I leave the house. I feel much safer when they're inside sleeping on their favorite blanket.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 471

Everything is turning green. The grass in the backyard is growing nicely. The Dogwoods, Azaleas, Redbuds and other flowering trees in the park are in full bloom. I'd say that everything is coming up roses, if it weren't for the fact that I'm also seeing huge fields of poison ivy starting to grow as well. It's only a matter of time before one of the dogs wanders though a patch of of fresh poison ivy and transfers the itchy oil to me while I sleep. For some reason, the dogs never catch poison ivy themselves, but once the urushiol oil gets on their coats, I'm almost guaranteed to catch it within a week. Poison ivy isn't the only nuisance that returns every Spring either. The bees have returned as well. When I go out in the yard with the dogs now, I see tons of bees. They seemed to have arrived with the new grass, although I'm not quite sure why. We don't really have any flowers in the yard, but the bees sure seem to like something.

I finished my "Gone with the Wind" poster today. I was going to present it to the rescue group at our regular Thursday meeting, but the meeting got canceled at the last minute. I guess I'll just present the poster here. Just about everyone who goes to that Thursday meeting has become a blog reader anyway.

I'm starting to think that my bid for the trade show project in Houston has hit a snag. I haven't heard anything yet and the event keeps getting closer and closer. If I'm bidding against a local supplier in Houston, I'm at a disadvantage anyway, since they won't have to factor hotel and travel expenses into their bid. Truthfully, I wish I never had to bid against other companies. I think my prices are fair. Life would be a lot easier if customers either gave me the job or they didn't. I'm just not a very competitive person.

I made another wasted trip to the pharmacy today to pick up a prescription, only to learn that it was no longer renewable. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and prescriptions that expire too soon is right at the top of my list to talk about. Some of these things I'm going to be taking for the rest of my life. Why can't they just make the prescription for three or four years instead of for six months? I'm sure it all has something to do with money. If I didn't continually need to get my prescriptions renewed, I probably wouldn't go to the doctor nearly as often.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 470

Odds and ends. That's all some days ever amount to. I made some phone calls to ask questions. I received some phone calls and answered questions. I fired up the old computer again to do some design work, because I still can't afford to replace all my software with the Snow Leopard upgrades I need now. I'm trying to gradually replace everything, but it's going to take a while. When I went to the bank to deposit a check, I noticed that I was the only person in the building speaking English. I don't know what that means at all.

What did I learn today? I learned that the new heat pump for my rent property will be installed next Monday. I learned the Quark and Adobe have special pricing available for non-profit organizations. Jeez, I wish someone had told me this several years ago. I learned that I mistakenly put a piece of equipment in my bid for the Houston trade show job that doesn't do what I thought it did. That means I'll have to revise the bid again. I didn't learn anything at all about the oil and gas annual report that I'm still waiting to get the go ahead on. Actually, it was a busy day, but for some reason it still feels like nothing happened.

The BRAINZ Group that I joined recently came out with their March issue today, which happened to include my initial essay. The topic for this month was Change, and it was interesting to read what the other writers had to say. I can't tell yet whether I will look forward to doing these monthly essays, or whether they will just become one more task on a lengthy "to do" list. At this point I'm looking forward to the challenge. I know a few of the other writers in the group and this seems like an interesting way to have a conversation.

The dogs were totally distracted at training class tonight. It wasn't just Dot and Dash either. All the dogs seemed to have other things on their mind. Maybe it was the weird weather. Visually, it looks like Spring. It probably smells like Spring to a dog as well. The temperature certainly didn't feel like Spring though. It was cold tonight. Very cold for the end of March. I'm sure that Dash would have rather stayed home under a blanket.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 469

I'm thinking of replacing my Watch of the Day photos with a Broken Thing of the Day feature. I can't believe how many things have broken recently at our house. Today it was the television. I guess technically, the TV isn't completely broken, since the picture tube still works. The important part; the tuner that picks up the stations, seems to have gone kaput though. I couldn't get the TV to stay on channel 3 this morning so it would sync with the cable box. I finally figured out that the big VCR that the TV was sitting on actually has a tuner built in. I'd just been using the VCR as a table to hold the TV, but surprisingly, it finally proved itself useful after all these years. After a little rerouting of cables, I was able to just use the old Sony television as a monitor and route the VCR tuner signal back to the TV and cable box. Now it takes three separate remotes to actually watch anything: one for the cable box, one for the tuner in the VCR, and a third for the TV itself.

I have a bunch of posters I need to print for upcoming animal rescue events, so it was time to get serious about reviving my ailing Epson 4000. For once, my problems didn't have anything to do with clogged ink lines. This time I just had the wrong ink. The package looked like the correct ink. The cartridge itself looked correct too. The printer knew better though, and refused to accept the cartridge. After a trip to the printer store, I discovered that I had dye ink instead of pigment ink. It's still a mystery to me why Epson even makes dye ink cartridges that fit perfectly in my printer when the printer isn't compatible with them.

I finally got the printer working and printed the posters for the Easter Dalmatian Rescue pet picture event. I still need to print the Wine on the Roof poster with the Gone with the Wind dog and cat, but we haven't been able to pin down the day of the event yet.

I need to show Janet the complicated sequence of events that now needs to take place to turn on the television. Even though I was real pleased with myself for patching something together that actually works, I think her solution is going to be a trip to the store to buy a new television.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 468

Well, my oscillating sprinkler lasted exactly one day after I started watering the new grass. I can't even begin to count all the sprinklers I've bought over the years. It doesn't matter what brand they are. All of them seem to last one or two years and then begin to disintegrate. I don't have much better luck with cordless electric drills, leaf blowers, or lawn mowers. Truthfully, the only tools I can really depend on are some sturdy looking fifty year old hand tools given to me by my Dad. None of these hefty steel tools uses batteries and all of them are stamped Made in the USA. It's kind of sad. The once proud companies in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio that made the tools don't even exist anymore, but the tools themselves are still giving good service.

I needed to ask one of my clients a question today. The e-mail reply came from Abu Dhabi. He said he wasn't sure about my question, but he'd ask his boss as soon as he got back from China. Jeez. How did I ever get these jet setting clients? Other than the one trip I made to pick Janet up at the airport, I haven't ventured more than five miles away from my house in over two months.

I finally seem to have acquired a respectable number of Twitter followers. What do you do with Twitter followers anyway? They all seem to have gone to Barnes & Noble and bought a book of aphorisms so they can Tweet quotes day and night. I'm not much better though. All I do on Twitter these days is flog old stories that I've written on my website. Maybe it would be better if I just went back to telling people what I ate for lunch.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 467

Change of plans. It looks like it's going to rain later this week, so we decided to finish planting all the grass today. New grass needs tons of water, and if we can get the sod in place before the rains start, so much the better. Janet, Brad and Travis walked the rescue Dalmatians this morning, while I ran a grass convoy with the Defender 90. I can only carry 25 squares of sod at a time, so it has taken quite a few trips to Miller Grass to get all the grass we needed.

It's weird. Miller Grass is very near the battery store where I buy watch batteries. A single square of St. Augustine grass and a single watch battery cost almost exactly the same thing. Both last about two years. I wonder which purchase is more worthwhile. Both provide initial pleasure, followed by long-term frustration. The frustration with the grass is that it doesn't last longer. In theory, the grass should keep growing forever, but it never does. I don't expect the watch batteries to last forever, but you'd think the watch manufacturers would make it a little easier to replace them. Even though I have all the proper tools, I still end up scratching some of the watches just trying to pry the back cover off to get the battery out.

Just two days ago the temperature was in the 80's. Now, it's back down in the 40's again. I guess this is just a normal March, but it still seems kind of strange. I was so cold today that I had to dig out a couple of sweaters I had already put away for the Summer. We even turned the furnace on again today. Actually, the cooler weather is kind of nice. I might as well enjoy it while I can, because another Texas Summer is on its way.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 466

Yay! We have grass again. Well, at least we have some grass. When I was picking up sod at Miller Grass this morning, I overheard one of the grass guys tell someone ahead of me in line to buy twice as much as they thought they would need and everything would work out right. I only bought what I thought would be enough to cover the backyard, and as a result, I'll have to go back and buy some more tomorrow.

Planting the grass was a family affair. Dash dug big holes in the dirt while Janet and I arranged the squares of St. Augustine sod. Dot supervised, as she usually does, by barking at Dash when he got too rowdy. It seems like there ought to be some sort of tool that would allow you to easily cut the sod squares to fit irregular shapes, but I haven't found one yet. We have lots of curved pathways and borders in the yard and every time we would come to one of these areas, we would have to cut the sod to fit using shovels or tree trimming tools. I need to go to Home Depot and see if there is a better way of doing this. Probably, most people just have rectangular yards and it isn't a problem.

Friends and even some other bloggers seem to think I shouldn't be having the problem's I'm currently having getting a new heat pump installed at my rent property. Believe it guys. This is an old Bud Oglesby building. I've known other people who have lived in Oglesby homes who had to jack hammer all the way through the concrete slab under their living room floor just to fix a minor plumbing leak. Old things are usually hard to fix. Old Oglesby buildings are always hard to fix. There must be some sort of logarithmic curve that defines the cost of repairs based on the age of the object being repaired. At any rate, waiting fourteen days for a replacement heat pump is nothing. I once had to wait over six months to find a water pump for my 1972 Citroën Maserati. Come to think of it, I've been waiting over a year for a small mechanical part on an old Omega watch I'm having repaired.

I downloaded the Time Warner app that is supposed to let you watch TV on your iPad. They've been advertising this thing on TV and after seeing the commercials over and over again, I finally got curious enough to give it a try. I don't know why Time Warner even bothered to release this app. It's totally worthless. Remember when you used to try to watch YouTube videos on a real slow computer? That's what the app is like. You watch TV for about fifteen seconds and then everything freezes while the next little segment is buffered in memory. After doing this several times the iPad runs out of free memory and the whole thing crashes. I think I'll just continue watching TV on the television.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 465

Welcome to the strange new world of manufacturing on demand. I found out today that since the new heat pump I need for my rental property isn't one of the common models you usually see at Home Depot or Lowes, nobody carries it in their inventory anymore. If I want one of these units, I have to order one and then the factory will build it for me. This obviously doesn't make my renter very happy, since it means another two or three weeks without an air conditioner. This seems to be the way things are done in the manufacturing world these days, however. I had the same thing happen several years ago when I needed an odd and hard to find faucet for the same rental property. It took almost a month to get this faucet manufactured and installed. I hope the air conditioner factory works a little faster.

Isn't is odd that the more "advanced" our society gets, the more we have to give up. Nobody wants to maintain a warehouse or stock inventory anymore. It isn't just building supplies either. Even clothing and shoe stores don't carry much merchandise anymore. If the store is out of stock, it's very likely that they will tell you to just buy the item you're looking for on the Internet. Personally, I liked things a lot better when every store had a big stock room in the back. Of course back when every store had a big stock room in the back, people would pump your gas for you too. I'm not old enough to remember when the milk man came to your house every day, but that must have been nice as well.

It seems to be taking me longer and longer to get the employee updates up on the websites I manage. As people have gotten to know me, they've started asking me to retouch their pictures before I put them online. I try to oblige when I can, even though it takes a bit longer. I don't know why companies do these employee pictures anyway. Nobody ends up liking their picture. I can't really blame them. If I come to take your picture on a day when you're wearing hospital scrubs, don't have any makeup on and just finished cleaning up dog vomit, you probably aren't going to look your very best either.

There is a message on my answering machine from my ex-wife saying she's going to be in town this weekend for the NCAA basketball tournament and would like to have breakfast with Janet and I. What was she thinking? Maybe it would be best to just ignore this call.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 464

I submitted my first article to the BRAINZ group today. BRAINZ is a group of writers who all contribute an original essay about the same topic each month and then post the results on a website. I got invited to become a member of this group because one of the contributing writers liked my blog. I probably joined the group because it was flattering to be asked to join something called BRAINZ. If the writers group had been called The Doofus Club, I doubt that I would have joined. It will be interesting to see what the other writers have to say about this month's topic. I still might end up looking like a doofus.

At least I didn't end up looking like a doofus at tonight's animal rescue meeting. I presented the Gone with the Wind poster I've been working on and everybody loved it. I've still got to add the final verbiage and do some technical tweaking so everything will print properly, but the poster is basically done. I'm glad everybody liked what I've come up with because we're running out of time and I really didn't have a Plan B anyway. I'm still kind of amazed that this idea actually worked. The dog's smile almost exactly mimics the little mustache he's wearing and strangely, the cat actually does look madly in love with the dog.

The weather continues to be exceptionally nice. I hope the clear skies and 70 degree temperatures continue for a few days because there have already been a few setbacks in getting the new heat pump installed at my rent property. Most of the problems involve renting the proper crane to lift the heat pump to the roof. I hope you guys never have to rent a construction crane. They are very large and very expensive. I would have much rather purchased a new HD video camera for myself than a new air conditioner for my renter. Sometimes we don't get to choose these things, however. It's right in the lease that providing a habitable building is one of the things the landlord is responsible for.

I heard on the news this morning that some government agency was paying a staffer $110,000 a year to update Facebook pages. What were the rest of us thinking? We've all been doing this sort of thing for free.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 463

The dogs had the right idea today. All they wanted to do was lie out in the back yard and soak up the sun. It was certainly a good day for sunbathing. The sky was blue and the temperature was just right. Too bad I had a lot of work to do inside. It certainly wasn't interesting work, but it had to be done. I added half a dozen new pages to one client's website and corrected a bunch of errors in another. I paid some bills, went to the bank and watched an episode of Dr. Who. Basically, it was a totally uneventful day.

Maybe the dogs like uneventful days. They both did exceptionally well in class tonight. Their performance might have had something to do with the nice weather, but I think it was the sun that put them in a good mood. We had our training class while the sun was still up for the first time this year. This is probably the only good thing I have to say about Daylight Saving Time. Finally, we don't have to have our classes in the dark anymore.

The team I put together for the trade show in Houston is starting to call and ask me whether we got the job or not. My tenant at the rent property is asking when the new air conditioner is going to be installed. Animal rescue volunteers are wondering when my "Gone with the Wind" poster is going to be done. I don't have any answers today. I probably won't have any answers tomorrow either, but I do have a photo shoot scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. No animals in costumes this time. Just some more new employees who need to go up on the company website.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 462

The news wasn't good about my air conditioner at the rent property. I need a new one. The compressor has gone bad in the existing unit, and they're having trouble finding a replacement compressor. It's looks like game over for the big green box up on the roof. Since the unit is technically a heat pump, it means I will be replacing the furnace too. Since it is up on the roof, it means I will need a big crane to lift the new unit in place. All this is beginning to make last month's plumbing problems look like nothing at all. It's a pretty safe bet that I won't be making any money on this particular property for the rest of the year.

I had to take a bunch of K-1 forms over to my accountant today so he could finish my taxes. It's weird to me that I even get these forms. I certainly don't feel like I'm a partner with anyone. Legally, I guess I am though. I have a small interest in commercial real estate in one part of the country and an even smaller interest in a few oil wells in another part of the country. Neither of these things are making me any money either.

I wonder if it is even possible to make money anymore if you aren't a lawyer or have something to do with the healthcare industry? I know lots of talented writers, designers, architects and photographers and none of us are exactly getting rich. Competition, globalization, outsourcing, you name it: it just isn't easy to be a small business these days.

Enough negativity for one day though. There were some good things that happened as well. I'm almost caught up on my website work. I delivered several photography jobs today that I've been promising for weeks. I'm still in the running for the big trade show project in Houston too. If I get that one, I'll be all smiles for a while.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 461

For once, the first day of Spring actually felt like a Spring day. It was beautiful outside. There was a nice breeze and the temperature was in the low seventies. You really couldn't ask for more. This is definitely the time of year for making improvements to your yard. If you wait till June, it's already gotten so hot that it hardly seems worth the trouble. Right now, a new St. Augustine turf in the back yard seems well worth the effort though, so we'll probably plant grass this weekend.

The nice weather got me wondering whether the electric lawn mower might have repaired itself overnight. Amazingly, when I switched it on, it came right back to life again. There was only one small problem. I couldn't turn the mower off. The on/off switch wouldn't turn it off. Even the emergency disconnect lever didn't turn the mower off. I did the only thing I could think of. I pushed the running mower into the greenhouse where the dogs couldn't get near it, closed the door and waited for the battery to run down. An hour or so later, all was quiet in the greenhouse. I still don't know what went wrong.

I don't know what went wrong at the gas station either. When I went to get gas this afternoon, there were firetrucks everywhere and firemen were using large amounts of what looked like kitty litter to soak up a ton of spilled gasoline. The pumps didn't look damaged, so I don't think a car actually hit them or anything. The only thing that I can think of is that someone stuck the nozzle in their tank, set it on automatic and forgot about it. Maybe the pump failed to cut off when the tank was full. I guess this is why they tell you to shut your car off when pumping gas. There was enough spilled gas to cause a pretty large fire, but luckily no damage was done.

There might me some damage down at the rent property however. Right on cue with the warmer weather, my tenant called and said that she couldn't get the air conditioner to turn on. I scheduled a repair visit for tomorrow and will hope for the best. If worse comes to worse and I have to install a new heat pump on the roof, I'll be losing money on the property for the rest of the year. There's really got to be a better way of making money than being a landlord.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 460

I mowed the grass for the first time this year. This means I'll be mowing the grass every week from now through the end of September. I have two lawn mowers: an electric Black & Decker and a gas Yazoo. Both mowers have their shortcomings. I usually use the electric mower because it's very easy to start and doesn't require gas. It's not very strong however, and almost always bogs down and throws a circuit breaker in tall grass. The Yazoo mower is strong as a tank and will mow through anything, but it's almost impossible to start. I used the electric mower today and sure enough, it gave up the ghost at the first sign of tall grass. Now I've got two mowers that won't start and another item added to a growing "to-do" list.

There was a very visible police presence at the Wagging Tail Dog Park when we took Dot and Dash up to play this afternoon. They must still be having problems with people breaking into cars in the parking lot. I'm glad that the police are patrolling the park now. I'm not so glad that this type of crime is becoming an increasing problem throughout the city. I really don't think that Dallas is any worse than any other big city. Unfortunately, it's pretty bad everywhere.

Emmitt was the only rescue dog that could take a regular walk today. The rest were still completing their heartworm treatment. Poor Emmitt. He's eleven years old and nobody seems to want a senior dog. We keep hoping that someone will offer him a home. Our senior dogs do find good homes, but sometimes it takes a little longer.

It's definitely going to take a little longer than usual for me to put together the "Gone with the Wind" poster I've been working on. So far, I'm piecing together sections of four different photographs to create the final image. Getting two animals who weren't that fond of each other in the first place to look like they're falling in love is proving to be a bit of a challenge. I think I've come up with a solution, but it's going to take a couple more days of Photoshop work to get the image to a point where I can show it to anyone.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 459

I went up and took pictures of Pringles, one of the new Dalmatians in the rescue program this morning. It's hard to imagine how anyone could have abandoned this happy, playful boy. Like many dogs we've rescued, Pringles has had a rough life. Early in his life he was run over by a car. He still has a big scar on his back where he received surgery for his injuries. Somebody must have cared about this dog at some point, because he received good care. The surgeons did an excellent job of putting him back together, because he can run and play completely normally again. I don't know when Pringles luck ran out, but he was sitting in the pound, waiting for his time to run out when Dalmatian Rescue found him.

It wasn't just warm today, it was actually hot. It looks like it is just about time to put in the new St. Augustine turf in the back yard. We went to the grass store to ask them if it was time to plant yet, and they said it was. I was going to till all the existing soil to prepare for the new grass, but the grass guys said it would be better to just lay the sod directly over the hard packed ground. They said if I tilled the soil the water would seep down into the earth and the new grass wouldn't stay wet enough to put down good roots. I'm not sure if I believe this, but I'll definitely go along with the no tilling plan. It's a lot easier this way. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get the aging roto-tiller started again this season anyway.

The grocery bill was a lot bigger than normal today. I bought a bunch of these new LED lightbulbs to replace the incandescent bulbs that are growing increasingly difficult to find. I don't like those curly florescent bulbs because they have Mercury in them. I drop things all the time and I don't want to turn the house into a hazardous waste zone just because I dropped a light bulb. These LED bulbs cost $17 each, but they use very little energy and last for years. I never dreamed I'd be paying $17 for a light bulb some day, but I never dreamed that gas would be hovering around $4 a gallon either. You wonder where all this is going to end.

It looks like a visit to the dog park is on the agenda for tomorrow. The weather is fabulous this weekend and the dogs haven't had an outing for several weeks. If everybody else with a dog is thinking the same thing, we're never going to find a parking place. Oh, and for those of you who don't click on the link, Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day