Day 1617

Today wasn't bad at all. My photo shoot went well. I never really know what to expect when I'm photographing animals, but these guys had my back. The images were in focus, cute, and won't require a lot of work in Photoshop. I always consider my day a success when a re-shoot won't be required.

Dot had a fabulous physical therapy session. It's hard to believe that little more than a year ago, she was having terrible seizures and her rear legs were so weak that she was having trouble walking. She's still an old dog, but she's an old dog with a lot more energy and visibly less pain. I can't attribute Dot's remarkable transformation entirely to acupuncture and water therapy, but I know they have helped. The water therapy has dramatically slowed down the atrophy in her leg muscles and the acupuncture has reduced a lot of the tension in her back and leaves her feeling much more relaxed. Did the acupuncture have something to do with eliminating Dot's seizures?  I'll probably never know for sure. I do know that since we've added underwater treadmill workouts and acupuncture to Dot's regular routine, she has become a healthier and happier dog. That's enough to make me a believer.

When we were taking our evening walk, I noticed three helicopters hovering overhead, two fire department rescue boats on the water, several fire trucks, and an ambulance. I thought somebody's sailboat had capsized again, but when I got home and turned on the news to see what had happened, I discovered that a guy had jumped off a bridge and apparently drowned. It was weird that after two hours of searching, nobody could find the guy. The news anchor covering the story said that two people saw the guy jump and immediately tried to save him. One swimmer almost reached the guy before he disappeared from view. The lake isn't that big or that deep. You'd think the guy would be easy to find if the rescue folks already knew exactly where he hit the water. It's sad that events like this have become so commonplace. Years used to go by without any sort of mishap in the park. Now, these drowning incidents seems like an almost weekly occurrence.

I'm going to have to make going to the dentist a higher priority. One of my rear molars is starting to hurt and I'm starting to worry that I might need a root canal. As many of you probably already know, I have an irrational fear of going to the dentist. I don't even like to take the dogs to the dentist, although I know it is very important. I eventually do the right thing. Dash had his teeth cleaned earlier this year and Dot has her dental appointment scheduled for next week. Yes, I know. I should probably schedule my own dental appointment as well.

I'm scared of taking the dogs to the dentist because I had a friend once who had a dog who died after a routine dental exam. I trust my vet, but I still worry. My own worries are different. Every time I go to the dentist, they want to take out my wisdom teeth. I've seen how deep the roots are on x-rays. Removing these wisdom teeth seems like major surgery. I always tell the dentist that I've had these teeth my entire life and they don't bother me. My dentist always responds by telling me that the wisdom teeth are slowly pushing all my other teeth out of place and that if I do nothing, I'll regret it later. I'm sure the dentist is right, but this does absolutely nothing to alleviate my irrational fears.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. I've got a lot of projects in the development stages, but no looming deadlines at the moment. It's hard to get me motivated without a deadline.  I've never missed a deadline, but I don't finish many things early either. You'd think there would be a few things that I'd actually look forward to doing for the shear joy of it all. What would those magical activities be? I guess they'd be like sleeping, eating breakfast, or walking the dogs on a nice day. I do enjoy those three things.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1616

Today was a typical Monday. Everything was disorganized. Things got delayed, or in many cases, they never happened at all. Dash's routine exam at the cancer center ended up taking most of the day, mostly because there were a lot of unexpected emergencies with other dogs. Dash seemed happy about the situation though. He got to play with the other dogs at the cancer center while he was waiting to see the doctor, instead of spending another boring day at home with Dot and I. When I did go to pick him up later this afternoon, I received a glowing progress report from the oncologist. Dash is doing great! We don't have to go back for another exam until the middle of June. Dash can have a bath again now, which is very good news because he is getting filthy.

I was a bit worried that the chemo pills might be causing the diarrhea Dash was having this weekend. The nurse said that this was possible, but not very likely, since he's been taking the pills for over three months now with no adverse effects. She said it was much more likely that he ate a small lizard. Apparently a lot of dogs have been finding lizards in the yard this Spring. Sounds about right. Actually I did see Dash chasing a lizard in the yard last week. It wouldn't have been hard for him to catch one without us noticing.

Not only have real estate taxes gone up this year, our homeowners insurance rates just went up as well. When real estate values dropped significantly after the big market crash in 2008, real estate taxes and insurance rates didn't go down at all. They just held steady for a few years. Every time the real estate market rebounds however, taxes and insurance rates immediately go up. This is what is happening this year. We've had a little rebound and the city and county can't wait to get their hands on this new source of revenue. Somehow this doesn't seem very fair, but as we all know, taxes almost never go down.

I fell asleep briefly at the computer a few minutes ago. This is the second time this month this has happened. Jeez, if I can't even stay awake writing the blog, lord knows how you guys feel reading it every day. You never know though. Things still happen. Just not every day.  Maybe tomorrow will be exciting. It certainly should be busier. Dot has her weekly acupuncture and water therapy session, and I have a photo shoot. Dash has nothing planned, but he had a big day today.

If it weren't for my Spring allergies, I'd have no complaints about the weather at all. There's been enough rain to keep things green, and enough sunlight and cool breezes to keep the dogs and I happy. Today was absolutely beautiful.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1615

The gym is always empty on nice sunny days. I guess most active people prefer to be outside on days like this. Inside is fine by me. The temperature is a constant 72 degrees, the air is filtered, and the lighting is subdued. I don't have any problems with Spring allergies when I go to the gym. Outdoors it's a completely different story.

I spent quite a while outdoors this morning, sneezing and wiping my watering eyes the entire time. I got a long pole saw and decided to remove the remaining dead limbs on the two Live Oak trees in the back yard myself. I thought the tree guys would have taken care of this when they came over a couple of months ago, but apparently these smaller dead limbs weren't in their bid. The landscape guys could have taken care of this too, but it wasn't in their bid either. Heaven forbid that anyone might decide to be proactive and do something extra. I guess that just isn't done these days.

It took quite a while to remove all the small dead limbs the power company guys left up in the trees when they were restoring power after last Winter's ice storm. They made sure that the trees weren't touching the power lines, but they couldn't be bothered to remove the branches they cut. At any rate, the work I did today was probably worth the effort. I bet if I called the tree guys to come back and do this job, they would have charged me $300.

I stopped by Central Market on the way home from the gym. I never used to go to the store this often. Everything changed when I stopped eating out of cans and started eating something fresh every evening. Things don't stay fresh all that long, so I go to the store frequently. I still think that improving my diet has done more to improve my health than anything else I've done. It's definitely been worth the effort.

Dash's health seems to be improving even more dramatically than mine. The skin on his neck is a healthy pink color now and you can barely see the incision scar from the initial surgery. He goes back to the cancer center tomorrow for a post-radiation follow up visit. I hope his doctors think he's doing as well as I think he's doing. After all he's been through this Spring, Dash is making an amazingly recovery.

Next week looks like it's going to be busy. Dash goes to the cancer center on Monday. Dot gets her acupuncture and water therapy on Tuesday. I've got a location photo shoot planned, and there are sure to be the usual writing assignments and website revisions as well. Pretty soon it will be June. Since I'm a Gemini, June is a birthday month. I'd like to say I'm getting wiser, but I'm afraid I'm just getting older.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1614

While I was mowing the grass this morning, I kept wondering why the weeds always seem to thrive in our yard, while the things I want to grow usually die. The rain we've had recently has given the weeds a giant head start. There are weeds trying to crowd out the Saint Augustine grass in the front yard. There are different kinds of weeds in the back yard competing with the Asian Jasmine and Liriope. Worst of all, there are aggressive climbing vines everywhere that curl around the branches of ornamental trees and kill them. I clear away mountains of these vines every year, but they always come back stronger then ever the next season. There is a nice Wax Myrtle in the front yard that the vines have just about destroyed. Usually, just about the time I've gotten the invading vines tamed, the bagworms appear and finish things off.

One reason that the weeds are so ubiquitous is that we live right near a large park that is basically miles and miles of weeds. The Texas Native Prairie that everybody loves is basically just a lot of weeds. Some of these weeds flower in the Spring and can be quite pretty, but they're still weeds. I've just about given up on weeds.

I had to go to Sam's Club today to stock up on things like bottled water, toilet paper, laundry detergent, and other stuff that is way cheaper in large sizes. I used to like stores like Costco and Sam's. I'm not so sure anymore. Customers apparently are a lot more concerned about low prices than they are about quality. To maintain the low prices that customers are hooked on, these stores have gradually been replacing top brands with lesser quality items, or in many cases, their own house brand. I would prefer that these warehouse stores just raise the prices a bit and keep the brands I like. I think I've been outvoted though. The buggies were piled high with crap today and I couldn't find anything I wanted.

I thought about going to the gym this afternoon, but mowing the lawn and fighting the weeds seemed more than enough exercise for me. Maybe tomorrow. There is still a lot that needs to be done around the house. I did manage to unclog the large printer again this afternoon, but it was a shallow victory. The printer will clog again just as quickly as the weeds I pulled this morning will grow back again. The weeds, the spider webs, the ants, and the water on the roof all seem to be more tenacious than I am.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1613

I picked up Janet at the airport today. DFW seems to be permanently under construction these days. Every time I go to the airport there seems to be a new temporary access road to get to the terminals. Since American Airlines just got out of bankruptcy recently, I wonder where they're getting the money to finance this huge expansion. Maybe it's not a problem though. They're probably making enough from what they charge for your bags these days that they could finance several new terminal buildings.

The dogs were certainly glad that the family is back together. They don't like surprises. I wonder how they'll feel when they discover they don't have as much space on the bed tonight. It's amazing how much room two Dalmatians can take up when they put their mind to it. They didn't want to let any empty space go to waste and quickly figured out how to occupy almost the entire bed while Janet was gone. On many days, I had trouble finding even a small space for myself.

I finally got my car in for its overdue service appointment this afternoon. It costs a bit more to work on this car than the old Defender, but hopefully it won't break as often. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't break at all for a while. There was nothing wrong when I took the car in today. It was just one of those preventive maintenance service visits where they change the oil and all the fluids and charge you a lot of money for basically nothing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure though. I always change my oil every 3000 miles, whether it needs it or not.

There still wasn't much work today, even though I did have a few website updates to complete before the weekend. It's just as well it was a light day. A trip to the airport, two dog walks, a service visit at the car dealership, some light grocery shopping, and a trip to the post office for stamps seemed to take up the entire day.

Our Spring weather continues to be exceptionally nice and I don't think it is supposed to rain all weekend. How did we get so lucky? It's still snowing in some parts of the country and California's wildfire season seems to have started early this year. Sure, we have the occasional tornado and it's beastly hot in July, but right now Texas seems like a great place to live.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1612

Buzz Aldrin couldn't have said it better. "You promised me Mars colonies. Instead, I got Facebook." When I saw this quote today, it summed up the last several decades for me. There are no large dreams that capture the imagination of entire countries anymore. Instead, we have become a fractured, totally divided world that agrees on nothing and can't get behind anything of consequence. When I was growing up, the best and the brightest went to work in places like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. Today they work for Google. I was an Oak Ridge kid myself for a while, since my Dad was doing something secret at one of the labs. My young friends and I were science nerds before the term was even invented. We were convinced that we'd be traveling among the stars by now. None of us ever dreamed we'd be downloading funny cat pictures instead.

Not only has the world become trivial, I have become trivial as well. When I was a young kid in Oak Ridge, I thought I'd be an astronomer when I grew up. I actually ended up becoming an architect. Then in my mid 20's I had an epiphany. I realized that I was a fairly shallow person and became an ad man instead. I thrived in advertising, largely because my shallow nature fit me like a glove. I thought having a few people like me made the world a more interesting place. It probably did. The entire equation changed when everyone decided to get a degree in marketing. You don't really need that many people like me. There is a reason why big companies hire most of their advanced technical talent from India and China. American college grads no longer want to split the atom and go to the moon. They'd rather have their own reality show.

I don't know where we go from here, but I do know that people like John Kennedy and Buzz Aldrin don't resonate with today's young people like they did with me. Going to the moon in ten years from a standing start was a ridiculously ambitious goal and we did it. These days it would take ten years just to agree on what we wanted to do.

I certainly didn't do much today. I went to my breakfast restaurant a day early, because I'm going to be busy tomorrow. The first thing I noticed was that the restaurant, which is typically packed on Friday mornings, was virtually empty. Could this mean that we already have a de facto four day work week? All my clients seem to have flex-time employees these days and I know quite a few people who don't work on Friday already. What's going to happen when the robots get really good?

Maybe some of my clients have started taking Thursday off as well. It was certainly slow today. The dogs got two nice walks, including one in the morning where the temperature was brisk and cool. Dot and Dash love the cooler weather. Later in the day, I filled the car with gas, went to the bank, and paid a quick visit to a Fry's electronics store in the neighborhood. The store was almost as empty as the restaurant was this morning. Sign of the times, I guess.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1611

It was a quiet day. Since I haven't run out of food yet and had no appointments, I basically just stayed around the house all day. The dogs got their walks, but the car never left the driveway. It was good that there were no writing assignments today, because the website revisions I needed to complete just about overwhelmed me. I have a couple of clients who only seem to look at their website twice a year and then make a ton of changes all at once. I'd rather make small incremental changes every week than do a huge makeover twice a year, but I don't get to make the rules. Let's just say that I had a lot of changes to make today.

It was also time to get the water off the roof again. It was a good day to do this, since the weather was nice and there is no more rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. I need to get the roofers to come out and inspect the roof this Spring, while it is still under warranty. There are no leaks, but there are a few spots that are already starting to show significant wear. With my luck, the roof will start leaking again the day after the warranty runs out, so I'd better get this issue addressed while I still have a chance.

I need to remember to call my insurance agent and take the Citroën SM off my policy, since I no longer own the car. I tend to forget things like this. When I quit using the fax machine and removed it from my office, I forgot to remove the fax line from my phone bill and kept paying for it for another year. I paid the cable company for HD channels for quite a while too, before I finally realized that Janet and I never watched things in HD. Standard definition is just fine if your eyes are bad. I always forget to file a protest about real estate tax increases, even though some of my neighbors do this every year. There's just too much to remember. It's hard enough to remember the dog's pills everyday and taking out the garbage on Thursday night.

Some of the videos on my YouTube channel have arbitrarily been set to private. I never changed any of my settings, so I wonder what this is all about. Since I mostly use my YouTube channel as a place to store videos for clients who don't have their own YouTube acount, this has already created problems. A number of embedded videos have already gone dead. When I went to my account to fix things, I discovered that the whole interface had changed. Why does Google love to continually change things? It drives me nuts. It much harder to embed videos in websites in custom sizes now because Google seems to have taken away the scaling tool. I eventually got all the client website videos working again, but I never did figure out why they had been marked private in the first place.

I haven't made the bed all week. I haven't unmade it either. I just sleep on top with the dogs. They seem to like things this way, and it's easier for me as well, since I don't have to make the bed every morning. If Janet ever took a really long trip, things would probably slide downhill in a hurry.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow. I know it's not Friday yet, but I'm really getting tired of oatmeal.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1610

I sold the Citroën SM today. It would have been nice to see the car one last time, but the aircraft hanger where I've been keeping it for all these years was too far away. The buyer, a nice young Dutch guy who seemed very excited about restoring the car, just came over to the house and gave me the money in exchange for the car's title. I think the old non-running Citroën Maserati will be packed in a shipping container and be loaded on a boat to be restored in Holland.

I was always hoping to restore the car myself, but it just wasn't meant to be. The car has been moving from one mechanic to another for almost fifteen years now. These increasingly rare mechanics, the ones who were familiar with working on Citroën automobiles, kept retiring, downsizing their life, or just losing interest before they ever got around to fixing my car. When my current mechanic admitted that he'd probably never find time to fix the car either before he retired himself, I finally realized it was finally time to give it up. Citroëns belong in a museum now. It's a shame. The SM is still one of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen. It was Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 1972. Those were the best of times. We were still going to the moon back then and I was one of the youngest creative directors in Seattle. I drove the car to work every day in the early 1970's. Those days are just are a distant memory now. I know I took photos, but I can't even find a picture of the car anymore.

Dot did really well during her physical therapy session today. I'm a little concerned that she's losing interest though. She used to be really excited to go for her acupuncture and water therapy, but now she seems reluctant to get in the car. We've slowed the pace down a bit, but I still worry a bit that the exercise might be hard on her. It's got to be helping though. No other Dalmatian I've ever had has been anywhere near this healthy and active at Dot's age. It doesn't matter if you're an old Dalmatian or an old ad guy; exercise and a good diet are essential cornerstones in maintaining a healthy life. So, even though Dot and I would both prefer to be eating and sleeping, we'll continue to stay as active as we can.

A cold front passed through town along with yesterday's rain. It must have been 40 degrees cooler at our house this morning. I even had to turn the furnace on again. The dogs loved the cooler weather though and took one of their longest walks this month. This won't last long unfortunately. It is supposed to be back in to 90's again before the end of the week.

I have a feeling that much of what currently resides in my storage warehouse will eventually suffer the same sad fate as my cherished Citroën Maserati. Like they all say, you can't take it with you.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1609

More rain today. The rain came as no surprise, but I was hoping that we might be able to at least get the morning walk under our belt before the downpour started. I was wrong. We got wet on the way home and the rain never really stopped after that. After I got the dogs dried off, I ate breakfast and tried to figure out how to make the best of a very soggy day.

The dogs aren't much help on days like this. They go back and forth between storm induced panic and cabin fever induced boredom all day long. Whenever there's thunder and lightning, they compete for the coveted "safe" spot under my desk. If they knew how to share better, they would both fit under the desk, but usually the first dog to arrive will stretch out and hog all the space for themselves. When it gets quieter again, the dogs will scratch at the back door to go out. I open the door, they sniff the air, discover it's still raining, and refuse to leave the house. This happens over and over again. Things have to be just right before they will even consider doing their business. This usually means that sometime in the middle of the night they won't be able to hold it any longer and will wake me up demanding to go outside. After about three tries, they finally decide to poop and all is well.

Luckily, the power didn't go out today and I got a fair amount done. The rain isn't over yet, unfortunately, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I charged up the laptop, the phones, and the WiFi hotspot just in case, but that only buys me a couple of hours. It's rare that the power company fixes things that quickly. There's a good chance that the power won't go out this time. There wasn't a lot of wind associated with this storm. Just a lot of heavy rain. Oh, and the dogs wanted me to remind you that there was lots of thunder and lightning too.

I wrote several articles, fixed a website animation, and most importantly, cleaned the spiderwebs off the back windows with a broom. I didn't get to all the windows, but the back of the house is well protected by a long porch, so I could clean these windows during the rain. Like the dogs, I get cabin fever as well, and need occasional diversions on rainy days that take me away from the computer for a while. I'm surprised that the spiders arrived so early this year. I'll be needing to clear away the webs on a weekly basis from now through the end of the Summer.

I'll probably just go to bed early tonight after giving the dogs their evening meds and making one more attempt to get them to go outside and pee. Here's hoping that things will return to normal tomorrow. At this time of year, maybe this is normal though.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1608 - Mother's Day

I opted to clean the roof today instead of going to the gym. I really had no choice. When I took a peek at what was up there, it was a soggy mess. Last Thursday's wind and rain had deposited a thick blanket of of catkins, small branches, and leaves that the water had shaped into beaver ponds. This Spring tree debris had trapped all the water and none of it was draining off the roof. By the time I got the roof cleaned up again, I might as well have gone to the gym. The exercise was just as strenuous. I'm always worried that I'll get in a car wreck and the dogs will be left alone in the house for an uncertain amount of time. Probably I should be a bit more worried about falling off the roof.

I went and got groceries for the week this morning. I'm really a terrible shopper. I never make a grocery list and typically just buy what I'm hungry for right now. I tried to be a bit more methodical today, but I still probably bought fruit that will go bad before I get around to eating it and vegetables that I won't eat at all. I carefully try to follow the 80/20 rule where 80% of my diet comes from plant material and 20% from meat protein. I'm eating a lot more vegetables now, but life was so much simpler in my younger years when a similar trip to the store would have resulted in five frozen pizzas, a tub of Blue Bell ice cream, and a case of beer.

Mother's Day is one of those holidays that I probably wouldn't remember if it weren't for Facebook and the thousands of people who use a picture of their mom as their profile picture for the day. I have thousands of pictures of my dogs, but very few of family. Both of my parents passed away quite a few years ago and the memories are rapidly fading. I do still remember that my mother was a remarkable woman. Because I have no long-term memory, I wrote a story about her right after she died. I'm glad I did. Whenever I read this story, I feel lucky to have had a Mom like this, and sad for the way her life ended.

Dash's neck continues to improve. The radiation burn has gone from red, to pink, to a light salmon color. A scab has formed over the worst area and the surrounding skin looks almost normal again. I stopped the Tramadol yesterday evening and he seems just fine without it. Both dogs had lots of energy on their walks today and are in good spirits. There is still a complicated schedule of pills to administer, but so far, so good, on that as well.

I keep hearing on the news that we'll be getting more severe weather tomorrow. No tornadoes are forecast, but there is supposed to be lots of wind and rain. With this kind of forecast, you might think it was ludicrous for me to spend hours clearing the water off the roof this afternoon. Actually, tomorrow's forecast is exactly why I cleared the roof. When there's a heavy rainstorm, you want as much water draining off the edge of the roof as possible. The last thing you want is a beaver pond that just lets the water get deeper and deeper. Hopefully the forecast will get revised as the cold front moves closer. I vote for no rain at all. We've already had enough rain for one month.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1607

I took Janet to the airport again today. Sometimes I think she travels a lot. Other times, I think she's the normal one, and I've become a hopeless recluse instead. At any rate, travel's loss has become the dogs gain. It's been years since we've had to board Dot and Dash. I'm just about always here; to walk them, feed them, and nap with them. Before she left, Janet typed up an elaborate list of medication instructions for the dogs. I give Dash his chemotherapy meds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She usually give the other regular morning meds while I'm still asleep and the evening meds while I'm writing the blog. I don't think I'll have much problem keeping things straight. I really don't have much else to remember this week.

It was a beautiful day. The mud from Thursday's storms has mostly dried up, but the grass and foliage are still lush and green. I wish things would stay this way all Summer. Everything dries up quickly when the temperatures are in the 90's for months at a time though. It actually got up over 90 this afternoon. I keep the Summer heat at bay by paying my utility bills. Water and electricity bills can get ridiculous in Dallas in the Summer. Later in the year, there are often water use restrictions, but this early in the season, people run their sprinklers like there's no tomorrow. Ditto for electricity. If I'm having my coffee outside on a Summer morning, I'll always hear a low pitched hum that's almost as loud as the ever-present Cicadas. It's the collective noise of all the air conditioner compressors, working hard to cool the neighborhood.

I can either clear the water off the roof tomorrow, or go to the gym instead. Both activities probably burn roughly the same amount of calories. Both are necessary, and neither is particularly fun. I'll just have to see what kind of mood I'm in. Many of you might think that pushing tons of water off the roof would never be the winning choice. Overpowering the forces of nature can be oddly satisfying though. We'll see what the weather is like. If it's really hot tomorrow, I'm going to the gym. The water on the roof will evaporate on a hot day and the gym is air conditioned.

Whatever I did with the ants yesterday seems to be working. I didn't see any ants today. I was hoping that since we had quite a few hard freeze days this winter, bugs wouldn't be as much of as much of a problem this Spring. Maybe this was just wishful thinking. So far, those cold days haven't made much of a difference at all. There's always some sort of bus related crisis in Texas in the Summer. Last Summer it was mosquitoes and West Nile Disease. This year, it's conenose bugs and Chagas disease. The conenose, or "kissing bugs," as they're known in many places, carry a protozoa that is already killing dogs in South Texas. The protozoa circulates in the blood until it takes up residence in the heart and begins damaging the tissue. Often, the first clinical signs of Chagas disease in dogs is sudden death from heart failure. Yikes! One more thing to worry about. As if heartworms, lyme disease, and leptospirosis weren't enough already.

It's time for the dogs evening round of meds and a snack before bed. After that, we'll all pile on the bed, watch a little TV, and sleep in late. Sounds like a plan to me.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1606

This is the time of year when thousands of tiny sweet ants join forces for an all-out assault on the house. All it takes is a tiny crack for them to get in and once they're in, they're everywhere. I started noticing these ants yesterday, and today there seemed to be twice as many. Sweet ants are hard to get rid of unless you can find where they're coming from. My guess is that they're getting through small cracks in the window sills, because that was where they were swarming today. I went outside with a bottle of ant and roach spray and tried to seal off any potential entrance. We'll see how that works. Usually, nothing works. Luckily, these little critters are just passing through. They come every year about this time, and by the time I've come up with a workable plan to get rid of them, they're gone.

I got an e-mail today saying that the yearly rent for my storage warehouse is due again. I can't even remember how long I've had this storage space. Suffice to say, it's been a very long time. It has occurred to me occasionally that what I've paid in rent over the years is probably quite a bit more than the actual value of the contents. The longer I keep this stuff, the more I tend to forget why I stored it away in the first place. At some point, I'll come to my senses and either start selling things, or just toss it all in the nearest dumpster. It's doubtful that I'll reach a tipping point this year. I'm sure I'll just renew the warehouse for another year, take a quick look inside, and continue to wonder what is in some of the unmarked boxes.

My mechanic called today and told me that he had a buyer for the non-running car he never found time to repair. Since he and I are about the same age, I don't think he'll ever find time to repair the car. If I had unlimited resources and a younger mechanic, it would be fun to fully restore the old car and drive it around occasionally. That's not going to happen though. I reluctantly agreed that, even though the offer I received was not great, it was probably time to sell. It took me a long time to remember where the title to the car was. I transferred the title when I moved to Texas in 1977. Eventually, I found the document, but it wasn't where I thought it was.

I though I was going to have an easy day, but somehow it didn't turn out that way. The ants took a long time to kill. The title took a long time to find. And unfortunately, I tried to balance my checkbook. Since I do all my accounting using Quickbooks Pro, I start to think that these are the real numbers, forgetting that I occasionally type things in wrong. Every six months or so, I try to reconcile the Quickbooks entries with my bank statement and usually fail. After three tries today, I was still off by $2.88.  I finally just made a journal entry for $2.88, under the heading of Miscellaneous Stuff.

I still haven't gotten the water from Thursday's torrential rains off the roof. Since it was hot today and will be even hotter tomorrow, I'm hoping that it will just evaporate.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1605

I could describe today in three words: all day rain. It didn't just rain. There were 60 MPH straight line winds, tornado warnings, severe weather sirens wailing in the neighborhood, power outages, and non-stop weather coverage on all the local TV stations. Needless to say, the dogs weren't happy about all this, but we ended up being pretty lucky. The worst of the storm went to the North of us and all we got was a lot of heavy rain.

Amazingly, during all this commotion, we managed to squeeze in two fairly normal walks. We took our morning walk early, before the downpour began, and then when the skies began to clear around sunset, we walked again. I saw lots of downed trees in the park on our evening walk, but our own trees suffered no damage. I think the weak trees have already been knocked down in previous storms. The ones that are left are pretty hardy. I'm still surprised that our power didn't go out. Usually our neighborhood is the first to go. Even though there were outages all over the city, our lights didn't even flicker. Like I said, we got lucky today.

Since I was more or less housebound all day, I managed to get completely caught up on work. It wasn't that I wanted to work; there just wasn't anything else to do. When I got my writing and website chores finished, I did my May invoices and got them ready to mail. I didn't go to the post office though. I didn't want a tree to fall on my car like some of the pictures I'd been seeing on Facebook today. The car never left the driveway. I learned a long time ago that the best thing you can do during stormy weather is stay home and take a nap with the dogs.

It's so nice not to have a leaking roof anymore. Even though I know there is four inches of standing water up there now, it's no big deal. I'll still have to remove the water eventually, but it's not a major crisis like it used to be. One of the main reasons I still have to get the water off the roof is that once ponds form, things start to grow in them. Once I left the water up there too long and saw hundreds of tiny tadpoles swimming around in a large puddle. Standing water attracts mosquitoes too. It's not really what you want on the top of your house.

Dash continues to get stronger. The radiation burn on his neck is no longer red and raw. It is becoming a pinkish color that actually does remind me of a bad sunburn. Maybe I'm imagining things, but every day, the radiation damaged skin seems a bit more normal. Everything seems a bit more normal this week. Even though it had been a very stormy day, both dogs were eager to take their evening walk. I think cabin fever finally overcame their fear of storms. They definitely had things to do and places to go this evening. I had trouble keeping up with them.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1604

It seemed important to catch up on things today. I attacked a big stack of unpaid bills, wrote checks for all of them, and took them to the post office. Utility and telecommunications bills are especially irritating, because they seem to go up almost every month, with no improvement in service whatsoever. I changed my data plan on my phone last month to lower my bill, and just one month later I discover that they've raised my rate on my new "lowered" bill. Very frustrating.

I also got a long overdue haircut this afternoon. With a busy work schedule and lots of dog problems, I haven't had time for anything but the absolute necessities this Spring. A haircut certainly isn't a necessity, but mine was getting so unruly that it was getting pretty close. It's much better now. I'll be able to go out in public for at least another month without embarrassing myself.

Dash continues to improve every day. He is stronger now and is starting to take normal walks again. He still isn't up to speed however, since Dot, who is usually the one who tires out first, is in the lead on our walks these days. This is good in a way, since it's easier now to get both dog's turned around for the trip home when Dot gets tired. It's hard to tell how much the radiation burn on Dash's neck is bothering him, since he is still taking the Tramadol for pain. The wound looks better though. It's not nearly as red and raw looking as it was last week. I don't think it will be too long before we can resume our trips to the dog park and re-join our training class.

It was hard to get excited about my writing assignments today. Call me old fashioned, but I still think the primary purpose of writing should be to educate and entertain. When the primary purpose is just to improve someone's SEO rank, it can get pretty boring. I shouldn't complain about the writing jobs though. The website design work isn't particularly exciting either.

I've started to notice that one-by-one, most of the friends I grew up with are starting to retire. The ones who spent their careers at large corporations or working for the government all retired first. Now, even the people who didn't wind up with a great pension are considering retirement. This includes most people in advertising. You might make a good salary while you're working, but you don't generally take a lot away from the table when you leave. The self-styled artists and the folks who got divorced too often are the only ones who never talk about retirement. Most of them can't afford to retire. I generally put myself in the "artist" category. Maybe that's why I occasionally find myself envying former coworkers who seem to spend all their time traveling the world after they've sold their house and moved to their beautiful mountain or seaside vacation home.

They're still predicting severe storms in the area tomorrow. That's why I got most of my errands taken care of today. If it rains tomorrow, we'll do what we usually do. I'll write articles and revise websites right up until the power goes out.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1603

My website prototype was a success. There will be some tweaking in the weeks ahead, but I won't have to start over. In the realm of website design, a little tweaking is always OK. A website is such a fluid medium, that most websites are never finished anyway. It took me a while, but I eventually discovered that you could make more by maintaining websites than by designing them. I always try to get maintenance agreements now, because I've finally learned that whatever I do now will never be considered finished.

Dot had her day of beauty today. In addition to her regular acupuncture and water therapy sessions, she got a much better bath than I've ever given her. She looks and smells wonderful now. The fact that Dot is finally sparkling clean again just makes Dash look even dirtier.

I had trouble getting a prescription renewed today. The doctor said I needed new blood work and would only renew the prescription for three months. I tried to explain that I'd been having blood work done every two weeks by another doctor for the past six months, but apparently that wasn't good enough for them. They wanted to do their own blood work. Whatever. It's not like having my blood drawn is a big deal anymore. Doctors have drawn so much blood from me during the past five years that I'm amazed that I have any left.

Work was quite busy today. It was the usual mix of writing assignments and website revisions, but there just seemed to be a little more on my plate today. I did manage to get everything completed, but with Dot's extended spa day at the vet, there wasn't much time left over. It also took forever to get my somewhat essential prescription renewed. You'd think that doctors, pharmacies, and hospitals could come up with a better way to share information. Everyone else has elaborate cloud-based databases and digital record-keeping systems, but the medical community still prefers to write things down on paper, and share information using very antiquated fax machines. I haven't used a fax machine in years, but all of my doctors continue to use them everyday.

It's going to be harder to remember Dash's chemotherapy pills now. It was easy to remember when a big chunk of my day was devoted to getting him back and forth from the cancer center. Now that we're back to a normal schedule at home, I'll need to come up with a foolproof way to never forget these very important Monday, Wednesday, and Friday pills. As some of you already know, I am a very forgetful person. Janet normally gives the dogs their meds, and when she travels, she carefully places each dog's daily dose in a plastic Zip-lock bag with the day, date and dog's name written in laundry marker on the side. The chemotherapy pills can't be mixed with other pills for safety reasons, and aren't even given at the same times, to avoid mix-ups. The oncologist has even told me to pen Dot in another part of the house while I am giving Dash the Palladia pills, just to ensure that she doesn't accidentally get one by mistake. Probably the fear of doing something wrong will be enough to keep me on schedule. Those purple rubber gloves that I always have to wear when administering the drugs will be a good reminder too.

Rain is headed our way. I have mixed emotions about the upcoming storms. It's been a very dry month and the yard could really use the water, but I still hate rain. Maybe we'll just get a quick downpour to keep the grass green and then it will all be over. Better yet, maybe the storm will move somewhere else, and we'll get nothing at all.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1602

When I went to pick up Dash at the cancer center this afternoon, the nurses had made him a special graduation scarf, which they all signed. It was a sweet gesture and at one point I found myself wiping away a tear from my eye. It's been a long journey and successfully completing radiation therapy was definitely a milestone. Before we left, I has a nice talk with the head oncologist, who explained what to expect next. Like all cancer patients, Dash will probably never be declared officially cured. If cancer treatment is successful, you just remain cancer-free for longer and longer. The radiation burn on Dash's neck should begin to show significant improvement within a week, although it might take up to six months before all the hair on his neck grows back. He will continue taking his chemotherapy pills for another three months, and go back to the cancer center every two or three weeks for follow-up blood tests. I think our boy has done very, very well.

Dash wasn't the only one who received a thumbs up from the doctor today. I got a call from the liver center saying that for the second time, a comprehensive blood panel showed no trace of the Hepatitis-C virus. There will be one more follow-up blood test three months from now, and then my doctors are officially done with me.

All in all, it was a very good day. I got my new website prototype finished and uploaded to the server so I can present it to the client tomorrow as promised. I wrote another article and submitted it, as well as completing all of today's normal website updates. I didn't really expect to get this much accomplished today, but I'll take it when I can get it. You never know. Tomorow, I may feel like doing nothing again.

Now that there aren't as many transportation issues, I need to start catching up on some other things. I need to take my car to the dealership for a scheduled service visit. I need to get a haircut. And I need to get an electrician to come over and fix the blinking light in the bathroom. I'm sure there are other overlooked things as well, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

Dot has her acupuncture and water therapy tomorrow. Janet wants me to ask if they'll give her a bath too while she's there. Why not? It's already kind of a spa day. Dash can't have a bath yet, which I'm sure is fine with him. His day will come though. The oncologist told me today that after a scab forms over his neck burn and starts to flake away, I should just take him outside every few days and gently spray away the dead skin and debris with a garden hose. Easy for him to say. The cancer center folks have seen a lot of Dash lately, but I don't think they've seen how he reacts to water. We'll wait a while before I try this ill-advised idea.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1601

I got tired of being tired today. I finally got my ass in gear and went down to Fair Park to catch the last day of the Dallas Guitar Show. It was a good day to go, since Janet was home most of the afternoon to keep an eye on the dogs. If you've never been to a guitar show, it's a lot like a classic car show. You'll see a hundred middle aged men before you'll ever see a woman at a guitar show. Lots of guys go to these events, but they're all of a certain age. You'd think that every man between 35 and 60 secretly wanted to be a rock star, because this is who you see at guitar shows. Younger guys go to Comic-Con. Guys like me go to car and guitar shows.

I enjoyed listening to over-the-hill rockers like Andy Timmons and Gary Hoey today. These players aren't exactly household names, but they are revered by other guitar players. I listened to impromptu outdoor concerts by both Andy and Gary this afternoon and discovered why they are both considered to be among the top 100 guitarists of all time. Guitar show concerts are very casual. It's easy to sit right up in front at the frequent concerts and workshops and nobody minds if you come and go as you please. Johnny Winter was the big name on today's bill, but he didn't go onstage until after my dinner time. We all have our priorities.

If I had hung on to the guitars I owned in high school, I could probably retire now. I saw several guitars at the show that were identical to ones I used to play in high school bands. Most were worth at least $4000 now. I can't recall ever paying over $100 for a guitar in high school. I paid for them with money I made mowing lawns. My friends and I never even conceived of the concept of vintage guitars back then. How could we have known that these things would become collectable some day? In high school, guitars were just inexpensive things you bought and sold and occasionally lost or destroyed. My mom gave one of my best guitars to the Goodwill store when I moved out of the house to go to college. Several others suffered equally ignoble fates. Maybe this is why I save everything now.

Dash had a good day. The burn on his neck wasn't quite as red and inflamed today, giving us hope that the ugly wound on his neck will eventually heal and become normal again once he has finished with his radiation treatments. Both dogs had lots of energy and took nice long walks this morning. They didn't want to go anywhere this evening though. It was way too hot. The temperature was over 102 degrees at one point this afternoon. Even in Texas, this is pretty darn hot for early May. Like I have said many times, you can never predict the weather down here. Every day is a new day.

Tomorrow is a milestone day. Dash will receive his very last radiation treatment. They call it graduation day at the cancer center. It's hard to believe that we started this journey back in February. Hopefully, when all is said and done, we will have been able to give Dash back the normal life he deserves. The chemotherapy will continue through the Summer, but the radiation was the roughest part. So far, Dash has shown no side effects whatsoever from the chemotherapy pills. I hope this continues. I need more days like today. I got out of a rut and did something different. Dash got stronger and gave me hope. I didn't even attempt to do any work today. That's the way it ought to be.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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