Day 852

I managed to get about a third of my stuff moved over to the new storage warehouse today. The whole process of moving is a bit like an archeological dig. Today, I uncovered the entire PA system for my old band, a high performance windsurfer that would probably get me killed if I ever took it out on open water again, and a nice old leather motorcycle jacket that somehow lasted a lot longer than the motorcycle. Another couple of weeks and I'll probably have everything moved. Then the hard part starts. I've got to decide what to throw away. Probably a lot of old Macintosh computers won't make the final cut. What good are these things anymore? They don't even make good doorstops. They say you need to keep financial records at least three years. I've got some that go back at least thirteen years. Maybe they can be tossed as well. All the cameras stay.

I watched the tribute to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes tonight. What an amazing life that guy had. I think he met just about every person of significance that ever lived. I've met relatively few famous people in my own life. I remember having dinner with Rudee Vallee and his wife at their house near Mulholland Drive. I remember listening to Larry Storch tell me how to hypnotize a chicken. I got invited on stage once by Steppenwolf back when they were really popular. I remember eating fried chicken with Richard Petty while filming a television commercial and realizing the guy was stone deaf from all those years on the NASCAR tracks. For the most part, my life has been fairly solitary though. Sometimes I envy people like Mike Wallace. I think you learn something from every person you encounter in life. I've learned a few things, but not much lately. How much can you really learn from two Dalmatians?

The dogs didn't get to go to the dog park today because the weather was pretty marginal. Instead of racing around smelling other dogs butts, they sat under my desk at home while I built new webpages for Betsy and Bogart, our newest members of the Dalmatian Rescue Program. As the day progressed, the weather improved and by dinner time, we were able to take our regular evening walk. Dot and Dash got the exercise they needed and I got a few more pictures of birds and squirrels.

Tomorrow I need to remember to pay my First Quarter Estimated Taxes, as well as a few overdue bills. I also need to call the plumber again. I've figured out what the problem is at our house. It's just not something I can fix myself. There's always something that needs to be done. As much as I'd like to sleep in to 10 AM every morning, I don't think it will ever happen.

Krissy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 851

Today was more or less of a lost cause. I wasted an enormous amount of time this morning trying to renew my Skype accounts using Paypal. I've renewed my Skype phone number this way for several years now, but for some reason it didn't work this time. Paypal technical support, which is very good, said there was nothing wrong with my Paypal account. Skype technical support, which is terrible, ate up my morning with their silly live chat system. After explaining my problem over and over again and waiting up to five minutes for a reply in the chat window, the service representative typed that they had no idea what the problems was and they would have to "escalate" my service request. Jeez, Skype is a phone company, or at least kind of a phone company. Why can't you ever talk to someone on the phone at Skype? I guess I didn't need Skype anyway.

I was supposed to photograph two new Dalmatians today, but the weather was bad and the dogs didn't appear to be comfortable posing in a windstorm. In most of the pictures, the dogs ears were blowing backwards like they had stuck their head out the window of a car going sixty miles an hour. I think I'll have to go back and take these pictures again on a nicer day.

I think the really bad weather is North of us in Oklahoma and Kansas. All we have here is a lot of wind and some ominous looking clouds. There were a few light sprinkles while I was getting groceries, but I was still able to give the dogs their evening walk without any of us getting wet. Things don't look so good for our Sunday trip to the dog park however. Everyone says it is going to rain buckets in Dallas tomorrow.

I'm going to try to get some stuff moved to the larger storage warehouse tomorrow. I've got to get things moved before the end of the month when my contract for the smaller warehouse runs out. So far, I've moved virtually nothing. Why do I wait until the last minute for everything? If I hadn't waited until the last day before my Skype accounts expired, I probably wouldn't have had so many problems with them either.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 850

At least it's Friday! I don't even mind that it's Friday the 13th. Actually, luck was with me today. I finally got the garbage disposal fixed at the rent house. While I was there, I noticed that the final coat of paint had dried nicely, so the place is finally ready to show. On the way home, I stopped by my accountant's office to pick up my tax information. All I really needed were the 1040ES forms for next year's quarterly estimated taxes and of course, the bill from the accountant for preparing everything. When I deduct the quarterly payments I already made last year and the bill I just got for tax preparation, my tax refund amounts to exactly nothing. That's right, nothing! Oh well, at least taxes are over for another year.

I had a tasty omelet for breakfast at The Broken Egg Cafe. It's nice not to have to do breakfast dishes on Friday. I'd eat out more often if restaurant food didn't have so much salt in it. Chef's love salt, because it's an easy and proven way to make food tastier. That's unfortunate, because I really try to avoid the stuff. I think cutting down on your salt intake is one of the easiest ways to stay a little healthier. Cutting down on sugar would be good too, but that's a little harder for me. I've got a sweet tooth.

After several months of taking a camera along with me on our dog walks, I find that I'm starting to run out of subjects. I think I've photographed every single squirrel and bird in the park by now, along with a few bunnies and snakes. Every once in a while I'll still stumble on something new, but these occasions are few and far between. I'll continue bringing the camera though. It's a pretty safe bet that the day I leave the thing at home will be the day when I see something that I've been waiting to photograph for months. The dogs don't seem to mind the camera and occasionally, I take pictures of them as well.

I'm hoping for a nice weekend. There's lots of yardwork that needs to be done. There are two new dogs that need to be photographed at The Velvet Snout, and of course there's still that pesky St. Augustine turf that needs to be installed in the back yard. It's too much for one weekend, but maybe I'll get enough done to make a dent in things.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 849

I'm making progress. I called a plumber today. I made an appointment to meet with a real estate agent next week. I even made a few new business calls. I think I've come up with a cunning plan to solve my plumbing problems. I'm going to fix the plumbing problems at the rent house first and while the plumber is working, I'm going to see if I can get some free advice about what is happening at my house. I don't really know whether I've got a plumbing problem or an appliance problem. If I call an appliance repairman, it will turn out to be a plumbing problem. If I call a plumber, it will turn out that the dishwasher needs to be repaired. That's always the way it works. Maybe if I describe my situation to the plumber while he's at the rent house, he'll help me make the right decision. One can only hope.

I'm really hoping I can sell the rent house soon. The real estate agent I talked to today specializes in mid-century modern architecture and was quite familiar with the architect who designed the house. He sounded very interested in getting the listing for the rent house. Janet says that none of this stuff matters when you're selling property, but I still like to think it does. Unless someone really likes the architecture, nobody is going to buy this house. I need to find another fool, just like me. I've heard that there are people who collect architecture, just like collecting cars or watches. Maybe I can find one of those guys.

I got a lot done today, but all I really remember is the French Toast I fixed for breakfast. Thursday is becoming French Toast day. I have a leisurely breakfast while watching old Top Gear episodes on TV. Today they ran the episode where Jeremy, Richard and James tried to turn a Reliant Robin into a space shuttle. I love this show and would probably watch it all day if I didn't have so much work to do.

I noticed that Google+ has changed its layout so that it looks more like Facebook now. Why did they have to go do that? The old layout was just fine. I don't know why Facebook changed to their new timeline either. I hate the timeline. I have to deal with change every day. My whole business is about change. Coping with change keeps your mind active and it's probably better than doing those Sudoku puzzles, but I still wish that everything would stay the same for a while.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 848

Janet wanted me to take one of the dogs to training class tonight, because she had a late meeting to attend. The only problem was that neither dog wanted to be the one left behind. I had such a difficult time getting one dog ready while trying to pen the other one in the bedroom, that I decided we would all just stay home instead. It's just as well. My allergies were terrible today and I'd probably go through an entire box of Kleenex if I was out in the pollen laden air for another hour or two.

I finally got my April invoices out today and got caught up on my monthly accounting. Everything seems to be moving very slowly this month. Each morning I turn on the computer and start working, just like I always do, but even the simplest task seems to take forever. I'm so tired.

I got an e-mail today about an upcoming tour of homes and noticed the name of a real estate agent who specializes in mid-century modern houses. I think I'll give the guy a call tomorrow. I really need to find someone who knows how to market my rent property. It's little and doesn't have the latest amenities, but it's still the kind of place that someone out there is going to think is cool. I need to find that someone.

There were still a lot of butterflies in the park this morning. I've discovered that there is something odd about photographing butterflies. It's almost impossible to use the auto-focus feature on the camera. For some reason, the auto-focus mechanism doesn't see the insects. Manual focus isn't a good alternative either on cameras without a viewfinder. I can never tell if something is in sharp focus on those little LCD screens. I'll have to do some experimenting. Luckily, there are plenty of butterflies to practice with.

I don't know if I'm ever going to get caught up. There are still a lot of things on last week's to-do list that I haven't finished yet. I need to mow the grass. I need to get started moving things from the little storage room to the big one. I still need to call the plumber too. Maybe tomorrow. There's always tomorrow.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 847

I got a new client today. As often happens, I also learned something about an industry I didn't even know existed. My new client makes the tools that allow high-tech computerized lathes and milling machines to rapidly carve things like apple keyboards out of blocks of solid metal. I watched as massive half million dollar machines shaped blocks of tungsten steel into the precision tools needed for automated manufacturing. It was kind of amazing that all this was going on in an inconspicuous warehouse district about five miles from my house. Evidently, there are only two shops with these sophisticated capabilities in the entire North Texas area and their customers come from all over the world. My job is to build the company a website that works as well as their machines. I like complex mechanical things, so the assignment sounds like a fun project.

A number of loose ends got tied up today. My taxes are finished and it looks like I'll be getting a refund. I reached an agreement with my former tenant and it looks like I'll be sending her a check for a portion of her security deposit. I paid some more bills and I had hopes of getting my April invoices out before I ran out of time. Sometimes life seems like nothing more than moving money from one pile to another. It comes in and it goes out again. I never seem to be able to hang on to the stuff for very long.

The park was full of butterflies today. It's that time of year. It's not easy to photograph butterflies when you're walking two rambunctious Dalmatians, but I did manage to get a few decent shots. My whole photography style has changed. I used to dedicate an afternoon every month or two to taking photos without the dogs. Now, I just take a camera along with me whenever we take our walks. Dot and Dash do ruin a few good shots, but there are so many more photo opportunities on long dog walks that I'm starting to capture things that I never though possible before.

I need to call a plumber soon. I can't decide whether to fix our own house or the rent house first. It would make sense to give my own leak top priority, but if the plumber goes to the rent house first, I won't need to deal with all the dog barking.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 846

It's hard to get an early start when your dogs don't want to get up either. Dot and Dash have been my alarm clock for many years and when they don't feel like getting up, I'm always off to a late start. Today, we got started on our morning walk so late that I had to resort to eating cereal for breakfast. I'm a slow cook, so sometimes just eating cold cereal for breakfast will give me an extra forty-five minutes.

I don't know why I was in a hurry anyway. Not a lot happened today. I was a bit embarrassed that I complained so much about my bill with the electrician the other day. When I was writing checks this afternoon, I noticed that I had paid a similar bill for almost the same amount in 2008. The electrician hadn't raised his prices after all. They were always high. I wonder why this bill seemed so high and the earlier bill didn't? The only thing that I can think of was that I was making a lot more money in 2008 and being overcharged for something wasn't as much of a big deal. Oh well. Fair is fair. I paid the entire bill, even though I'd told the electrician two days ago that I wasn't going to.

I got a call from the accountant's office today. It looks like even though the company billed out twice as much as it did the previous year, I'm still going to have a tax loss. Bad investments and healthcare expenses largely offset any gains I made with the company. I don't know if this is something to celebrate or not. So, there's no big tax bill this year, but apparently I didn't make any money either.

Life goes on though. I have a new business meeting tomorrow. With any luck, I'll get an opportunity to design another website that I can continue to maintain in the future. I write new articles almost every day and make a deposit at the bank every two or three days. I'm just going to have to resign myself to the fact that even though I'm busy and often tired, I'm not making as much as I was fifteen years ago.

I saw today on the news that Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars. My first thought was a sincere hope that Facebook doesn't end up ruining Instagram. They're ruined plenty of good ideas before. Hey, I love this little app and use it all the time. My second thought was that I sure wish I had invented Instagram. Probably everyone in that entire company is a millionaire now. Amazing! This simple little photo sharing app on my iPhone is worth more now than the entire New York Times Corporation.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 845 - Easter

No sunrise services or egg hunts for us anymore. We still have a traditional ham dinner on Easter, but for the most part, it's just another day to go to the dog park. For many in Dallas, Easter is a day to have huge family picnics in the park behind our house. We saw people setting up tents and stoking barbecue fires early this morning. Unfortunately, most of the families were gone by mid-afternoon. A big thunderstorm swept through town a little after noon and undoubtedly dampened quite a few holiday plans. We did manage to get the dogs to the dog park before the deluge started. They had a nice outing and were ready to come home again as soon as they heard thunder off in the distance. It rained much of the afternoon, and stopped just in time to give Dot and Dash their evening walk. The park was almost empty. The picnickers had all gone home.

The rainy afternoon was a good time to bring the Dalmatian Rescue website up to date. While our own Dalmatians hid from the rain under my desk, I made new webpages pages for our three newcomers: Crosby, Bunny, and Milo. I also marked another dog as "adopted." Molly got her forever home today.

Our dishwasher isn't broken after all. Janet and I had thought it was broken for months, because the dishes weren't dry anymore after a load finished washing. I just noticed today that an inconspicuous little button on the front panel had been switched from "heat dry" to "air dry." Personally, I think Dash pushed the button when he was trying to get at food on the counter. At any rate, when I switched the button back to "heat dry" again, everything worked perfectly. It's strange that this situation has been going on for months and I never noticed that little button before.

There are probably a ton of things around the house that I just don't notice anymore. I wish I could train myself to be more observant when I'm up on the roof. Maybe I could finally find that pesky leak. I certainly didn't discover any secrets today. I just pushed this afternoon's rains off the roof with a broom, so we're ready for the next Spring deluge.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 844

Every day that I go down to the rent property to fix things up, I find something else wrong. Today, I went down to paint, and when I was cleaning up my tools, I discovered that the garbage disposal in the kitchen was broken. Hmm. Funny that my renter never mentioned this. A lot of the problems I'm finding are little and could possibly be overlooked. Unfortunately, they cumulatively add up to a big mess. Almost a month after my tenant moved out, I still haven't gotten the place ready to lease or sell. To add insult to injury, I was tired and stumbled into a freshly painted wall toward the end of the day and got wet paint all over my jeans. Now, I'm going to have to add a plumber to my growing list of expenses. I don't think this renter is going to get all of her security deposit back. Today, I didn't feel like giving anything back.

Earlier in the day, Janet and I went up to The Velvet Snout and took Odie to the vet to get his stitches out. When we returned, we took pictures of the three newcomers: Milo, Bunnie and Crosby. I haven't had time to build webpages for the new guys yet, but they'll be up on the Dalmatian Rescue site soon. All three are gentle, wonderful dogs. You really have to wonder why dogs like these ever wind up at the pound in the first place. At least the ones we find will get a second chance. I actually think Molly will be going to her new home today.

I wonder what ever happened to relaxing weekends. I vaguely remember weekends where the big activity was going to a gallery opening or trying out a new restaurant. Not anymore. These days, weekends are just an endless stream of chores. Even if I could put all the problems with the rent house behind me, there's still a world of hurt at our own house. I think one of the lines to the dishwasher has sprung a leak. I need to find a plumber for this too. Too bad I can't get a two for one deal on plumbers. Not very likely! It will be one service call for our house and another for the rent property. The grass is a problem too. The grass in the front won't stop growing and the grass in the back won't start growing. Maybe if it stays dry for another few days I can go up and survey my roof patches. I think I'm making progress because during the big tornado day last week, nothing leaked at all.

The dogs have none of these burdens on their shoulders. They're just wondering if they'll get to go to the dog park tomorrow. Don't worry. They'll get to go. Unless somebody at city services decides to close the park for Easter, a trip to the dog park is the first thing on tomorrow's list.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 843

I couldn't believe how crowded the mall was when I went to Northpark to get a haircut this afternoon. I wasn't aware that Good Friday was a shopping holiday, but apparently it is. I had trouble even finding a parking place. Maybe kids are out of school. At any rate, the place looked like the day before Christmas. When I went to get groceries on the way home, it was the same story. Central Market was packed. I had to drive around the parking lot several times before someone pulled out and gave me a space. I guess it makes sense for grocery stores to be full, since a lot of people cook a big Easter dinner, but I was really surprised by all the traffic and activity today. Who knows? Maybe it's like this all the time. I really don't get out all that much anymore. I did eat breakfast at my favorite neighborhood restaurant though. That's become a Friday tradition.

Today was a hodgepodge of activities. I paid some bills, wrote some articles, and tried to glue together a lovely little porcelain Dalmatian that didn't survive house cleaning last week. It's surprising how often watch repair tools come in handy. I carefully pieced together the little figurine using watchmakers tweezers and superglue. From a distance of more than six inches the thing looks as good as new.

I was planning on putting new grass in the backyard this weekend, but I think getting the rent property painted and ready to show has to come first. The place has been sitting empty for over three weeks now, mostly because I just haven't had time to deal with it. None of the real estate agents I initially contacted have bothered to follow up with me. I guess I was expecting better, but I shouldn't have been surprised. The place is small and doesn't have the latest amenities. Agents would fight to get a million dollar listing, but I don't think they really care about smaller places like mine.

We got three new Dalmatians in the rescue program this week. Maybe Janet and I will go up and photograph them tomorrow. That certainly beats painting the rent house or moving stuff from one storage warehouse to another.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 842

I took Dot to the vet today. They suspect that she has Spondylosis and want to see if Tramadol will help. I think we already knew she had Spondylosis, but it certainly could be getting worse. The alternatives in situations like these are typically anti-inflammatory drugs or surgery. Since spinal surgery is pretty serious, vets often recommend Rimadyl. I'm glad the vet didn't recommend Rimadyl again, because I think this drug was the cause of Petey's kidney failure. Tramadol seems safer than Rimadyl, because it doesn't tend to cause liver or kidney problems. It has been known to cause seizures however, and it seems a bit strange to prescribe something that can cause seizures for a dog that has just had a seizure. I probably shouldn't second guess the vet, but I tend to second guess everyone.

We got our first U-verse bill today and it was a lot higher than I thought it would be. Telephone company bills always seem higher than they should be, because when they are quoting you a price, they never include all the taxes and fees that the government tacks on to your bill. I think this bill was high because it included a partial month of service in addition to the normal full month. There were also some one time installation charges tacked on to the bill. We'll see if things average out over time. The electrician's bill for installing the mercury vapor lamp was also higher than I expected. They charged for two service calls, even though they did nothing on the first visit. They brought the wrong part and said they'd come out another day. I definitely don't think I should have to pay for that.

Being overcharged seems to be a recurring theme this month. The hospital is trying to charge me more than they quoted for the MRI I had in January. The furnace folks sent me a bill for something the technician said would be free. The electrician's bill was definitely too high. I can't wait to get the bill from my accountant for doing my taxes.

When I'm up on the roof sweeping the standing water off, I get a nice bird's eye view of the entire yard. Today, I saw all sorts of problems that need to be dealt with. Creeping vines are attacking the small trees and shrubs again. I need to pull all these vines up before they strangle the shrubs and kill them like they did a few years ago. There are still a ton of dead limbs on the trees as well. I thought I got most of them last month, but apparently not. Then there's the house itself. The gutters are rusting and need to be replaced. There's some rotting wood on the carport. I need to plug all the little holes under the eves with spray foam too, before those pesky bees return. After all the problems I had last year, I definitely don't want bees again.

I finally made an appointment with Betty for a haircut tomorrow. I think I'm about two months overdue. I've been real busy lately, but there are limits to how bad I'm willing to look. Lately, when I shave in the morning, I see Don Imus staring back at me from the bathroom mirror. That's bad! I really need a haircut.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 841

The electricians were out at the house at 7:30 this morning to fix the mercury vapor lamp in the back yard. There are times when I wish that I had a regular job instead of working on my own, but then I remember that people who work for someone else have to go to work a lot earlier than I do. I don't know if I could ever go to work at 7:30 AM on a regular basis. It's probably a good thing that the electricians came early though. The first fixture they tried to install was defective and they had to go back to the shop for another. They were still out in the back yard working when I returned from giving the dogs their regular morning walk.

What a difference a day makes. The sky was clear and blue this morning. No wind. No rain. No tornadoes or thunderstorms anywhere. The only alarming thing I saw today was a snake. It's gotten warm enough that all the snakes in the park are coming out of hibernation. I have to keep an eye out for snakes in the Spring, because the dogs don't have the good sense to stay away from them. Some varieties of snakes in the park are poisonous, but I can never remember which is which, so I try to stay away from all of them.

I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon, which is always a frustrating thing to do on days when the stock market takes a big tumble like it did today. Every time I start to feel a little better about the market, something like this happens and I'm back to square one again. They say the market crashed today because of Spanish bonds. Who cares about Spanish bonds? I am convinced that embracing a global economy has opened a Pandora's box of woes that can never be closed. At this rate, I'll have to keep working forever as we slowly slide downhill toward some dismal global unity.

Maybe the dogs feel this way about training class. They're not making much forward progress either. The big improvements were all made in the first year. Dash won blue ribbons during his first year at school. With each succeeding year, he seems to be backsliding. I can certainly relate. I feel the same way sometimes. At least it's light outside now, so we can see how far we're backsliding.

Dottie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 840

What a day. There were tornadoes all around us for most of the afternoon, some of them large enough to make it on the national news. Luckily, most of the really bad weather was a little South of us. Although the roof will probably leak tonight, we didn't suffer any damage. I couldn't convince the dogs that everything was fine, however. They were both convinced that the sky was falling and cowered under my desk until the rain finally quit.

Poor Dot. Right in the middle of the storm, the washing machine repairman arrived and she had to face her two worst fears at the same time. She's asleep now. I think having a repairman in the house and the same time there was thunder and lighting outside wore her out. I was surprised that the repairman kept his appointment, because the weather was genuinely terrible. I asked him if he had trouble driving over to my place, and he said no. "There was a tornado about five miles South of me when I was on the freeway," he said and then added, "It was no big deal." I'm glad he came, because the washing machine is finally fixed.

Understandably, the electrician did not come out today. Nobody in their right mind would want to replace a mercury vapor lamp sitting on top of a tall pole in the middle of a thunderstorm. I think the storms are moving to the East, so maybe we can get the lamp fixed tomorrow.

Getting the dogs walked was a problem. I wish they'd both learn to poop in the yard. I waited until the weather app on my iPhone said the storm had passed and out we went. Before we had even walked 100 yards, there was a bright flash of lightning and about five seconds later a huge thunderclap. That's all it took. Dot and Dash couldn't get home fast enough. About an hour later, when the radar showed absolutely nothing in the vicinity, we tried again. It was almost dark, but this time the walk was a success.

I got quite a bit of work finished today. There certainly wasn't much else to do. I'm glad the power didn't go out. That's what usually happens on days like these. I postponed Dash's antigen shot until tomorrow. His appointment was right during the worst of the storm and the last thing I wanted was to be sucked up in a tornado with a dog in the car.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 839

There are times when I think getting something fixed is simply impossible. The electrician came out today to fix the mercury vapor lamp in the back yard. The first thing he said was that the bulb in my lamp was obsolete and that nobody made them anymore. Not a big deal, I thought. "Just replace the entire unit," I said. I figured that since these types of lamps were quite common, they'd just have one on the truck. Nope! They didn't have any mercury vapor lamps on the truck at all, even though they'd known for a week that this is what I wanted fixed. The two electricians said they'd go to Home Depot and see what they could find. An hour later they returned, saying that Home Depot had nothing and that they'd have to come back later. As you might expect, there was a lot of frantic dog barking during this episode, and of course the light still doesn't work.

I'm really tired of dealing with broken things, but that certainly doesn't keep things from breaking. Maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow. The washing machine repairman is coming back in the morning with the part that is supposed to get the complicated machine working again. One can only hope. In the mean time, I went to the paint store and bought some paint. Painting is definitely not one of my favorite things, but I've discovered that it's much easier to do little painting jobs myself than it is to find a painter willing to do a small job for an equally small price. Nobody wants to do little jobs anymore. It just isn't worth their time. Even though it is frustrating, I guess I understand. I don't like to do little jobs either. I always prefer big, complex jobs. It's the only way you can make any money.

Although it wasn't a terribly productive day, I did manage to get a few things done. I made an appointment to take Dot to the vet. I made another appointment with my potential new web design client. Oh, I did a load of laundry too. The machine always works for me. It just doesn't work for Janet. Somehow, I can't convince her to throw lights, darks, and towels together in one huge load that completely fills the tub.

Miracle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 838

The dogs got a nice outing at the dog park this morning. When we returned home, I settled down for a long afternoon of chores. I'm so far behind in getting the rental property ready to show again that I decided to spend the entire afternoon cleaning the place up.

I re-hung the closet doors so the handles were facing outward again. I removed mountains of cable that had been stapled to the walls by the Direct TV and U-verse guys. I vacuumed all the floors. All these tasks were just a sideshow though. The main event was painting. I painted over all the dings, dents and wall anchor holes that I had Spackled during my previous visit. I thought I was doing a pretty good job until the first coat of paint dried and I realized that my touch up paint wasn't quite the same color as the rest of the wall. Damn!

The paint was actually the very same paint that I had used to paint the walls three or four years ago before my renter moved in. Unfortunately, the paint on the walls had aged and darkened a bit over the years. Now, instead of just touching up around the nail holes and miscellaneous scrapes, I'm going to have to entirely repaint the walls. This is why renters are so frustrating. They think they deserve a medal for cleaning the oven before they leave, while at the same time they're creating a host of new problems that they aren't even aware of.

When I was walking the dogs this evening, we passed a local rock band playing in the park. These guys had a full kit with a good PA system and everything. They were playing to an audience of five people. I think there were six people in the band. The odd thing was they actually sounded pretty good. These guys were mostly just playing old Eagles songs, but any cover band who can do a credible job playing Hotel California in a public park is OK with me. I still don't know what they were doing out there. The dogs weren't very interested in hanging around to find out.

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I've got to re-schedule the appointment with the electrician, I've got to make a new appointment with Dot's vet to see if they can determine why she's so tired and shaky on her legs. I've got to see if I can get the washing machine repairman to commit to finishing the job he started over a week ago. We've been without a washing machine for quite a while now. If I've got time, I need to go to the one paint store in town that can still mix the proper color of paint for my rental property. A couple of gallons should do. Oh, and I need to set up a meeting with that guy who wants a new website for his company. I guess that's enough for one day.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 837

Janet and I went to another charity fundraiser tonight. I think this one benefited children instead of animals, but they're all pretty much the same. We used to spend more time at these things, but now we pretty much just eat our dinner and come home. With Dot's rear legs getting increasingly shaky, we both hate to leave her by herself for long periods of time. I ended up bidding on a pallet of St. Augustine grass at the silent auction, since I'm going to have to be putting in new grass anyway in a few weeks. We played a little roulette out of habit, but we were home before nine.

I started moving some stuff into the new storage space this afternoon, mostly because I needed to bring home some special steps I had in storage that will make it easier for Dot to get up in the bed at night. I had these steps made for Petey when his legs started to go and they actually work pretty good. Now, we've just got to teach her how to use them. She still seems to want to take a flying leap up into the bed instead of gently walking up the steps.

The steps were buried away pretty well, so I ended up moving quite a few things from the old storage space to the new one just so I could get the dog steps and bring them home. While trying to find the elusive steps, I uncovered a dental drill, a vacuum tube powered, 1950's era lie detector machine and an original Elsworth Kelly painting. I don't do much now, but this odd little room reminds me that I have led an interesting life.

I was going to go down to the rent house and do some painting today, but I spent so much time at the storage warehouse that all I had time to do was go to the grocery store and walk the dogs before we had to leave for the charity dinner. If we were smart we would have just eaten at home and left a little later for the event. The food was terrible. These guys need to find a new caterer next year.

It looks like it's going to be a great day to go to the dog park tomorrow. The weather was beautiful today and it looks like it's going to stay this way for the rest of the week. I think Dot's days of racing around are over, but she still likes to wander through the park and smell the flowers.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 836

I went down to the rent property to do some painting and cleanup today. I gathered all my tools together, went up to the front door and then realized that I had forgotten to bring the key with me. I couldn't get in. The whole trip was a wasted effort. It was a waste of gas as well. I hadn't really noticed how expensive gasoline was getting until the rent property became vacant and I had to start making periodic visits to fix the place up. My weekly mileage has doubled and so has my gas bill. I feel sorry for those who have to commute long distances to work. At these prices, you could easily spend a small fortune on gas. Expensive gas notwithstanding, I'm going to have to make another trip to the rent house this weekend to finish what I should have done today. This whole cleanup process is taking a lot longer than I expected.

I'm starting to worry about Dot. Ever since her seizure, she has not been herself. Even though her blood work seems normal, she has been so lethargic and tired lately. Something is wrong, but it's hard to tell what the problem is. She still seems normal on her walks, but once we get home she mostly sleeps the rest of the day. This isn't like her at all. I'll take her in for some more tests next week. It could be that she's just getting old.

Hard to believe that March is over already. Last year at this time, we already had the St. Augustine grass in place in the back yard. This year we haven't even started yet. There's just so much to do. In addition to painting at the rent property, I have to start moving things over to the new larger storage warehouse this weekend. Nobody believes me yet, but the plan for the larger storage space is to organize things so I can finally start getting rid of some of this stuff. Right now, things are packed so tightly that I don't even know what I have. I'll give this project a year. If it works, I'll have sold a lot of stuff on eBay. If it doesn't work? Well, then I guess the new warehouse will be just as full of crap as the old one.

A guy called me today and said he was finally ready to start on the new website. I didn't recognize the voice, but said "Great" and asked when he'd like to get together. After the guy hung up, I searched through my files, trying to discover who I was talking to. I finally found what I was looking for. The call was a response to a bid I had sent out over two and a half years ago. It just goes to prove that all those dormant jobs aren't necessarily dead.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day