Day 2282

There are so many things piling up on my to-do list. They will all get done, but it will take a while. It's time to reinstall the battery in the lawn mower and see if it still works. I store the 24 volt battery in the house during the Winter to make sure it won't freeze, but that doesn't guarantee that it will still hold a charge the next Spring. If the battery doesn't work, I will need to get it re-celled again. I've done this twice already, but it's still a lot cheaper than buying a new lawn mower. I need to get the tree trimmer to remove a few dead limbs from the backyard Oak trees. I've been waiting until Spring, so I could make sure which limbs were really dead. Now, it's pretty obvious. It's time to plant new St. Augustine grass in the backyard. The grass never seems to last more than a single season. It's long past time to start working on my taxes. I also need to get the roofers to patch a few worn spots in the elastomer roof coating. This has to be done every year as well. I can't get excited about any of these things, but they all need my attention. While I'm at it, I might as well call the plumber. The washers have worn out in several faucets, making them almost impossible to turn off completely. One of the toilets runs as well. I used to do these type of repairs myself, but I've lost all desire to be a handyman.

Dot seemed very shaky today. She was slow on her morning walk and had more difficulty than usual standing without assistance. When she's wearing her harness, I can tell if she is supporting her own weight or not. She can usually support her own weight fairly well if she is on flat ground and moving forward. Today, she stumbled a lot and I had to keep her from falling. I'll be glad when we have our consultation with the oncologist on Friday. I'd like to know whether it is the cancer causing the weakness, the Palladia pills, or something else.

I like the warmer weather, but I'm not wild about all the bugs that announce the arrival of Spring. I've started seeing ants around the house again and the crane flies are everywhere. Crane flies look like giant mosquitoes except that they don't bite and they fly very slow. You can catch them with your hands, but you just give up after a while because there are so many. Every time I open the back door at night to let the dogs out, ten of these irritating bugs manage to get inside. They are everywhere this year.

When I wasn't chasing bugs, I was repeating everything I did yesterday. I paid a few more bills and stopped at the pharmacy on the way home from the post office to pick up a prescription that was on back order yesterday. I even had the same thing for dinner as I had yesterday, since we still have a lot of leftovers from the weekend. We did avoid walking in the dark this morning, since we made a point of starting twenty minutes later.

I have some major website repairs to make tomorrow. The client wants to remove a page that has always been an integral part of the main navigation menu. I hate when that happens. To remove this one page, I have to end up changing all the other pages. Oh, well. The client is always right. I certainly have time to do this cosmetic surgery tomorrow. The only other thing on the schedule is Dot's physical therapy session.

I hope Dot feels better in the morning. Sometimes it helps when she gets a good night's sleep. I hope I get some sleep tonight as well. Four to five hours a night just isn't enough.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2281

After months and months of watching the seasons slowly change, it seemed weird to be plunged back into darkness again. There was an artificial feeling to our morning walk. It was as if all the gains we had made since the Winter Solstice had been erased in a single day. I still don't know what this arbitrary time change means. What does it prove to pretend that it is an hour earlier? At any rate, we're going to have to start walking a little later in the morning until the days get longer. The darkness felt a bit uncomfortable this morning.

The recent time change wasn't the only uncomfortable aspect to the day. It was also unseasonably hot. The temperature climbed above 90 degrees this afternoon, which seemed just as strange as walking the dogs in the dark again after watching the days grow longer since mid-December. The air conditioner is running now, although I bet the furnace will be running again tomorrow morning. At least Texas weather gives me something to talk about on days where very little happens.

The Prairie Verbena is starting to bloom alongside the trails in the park.  These perfect little circles of tiny purple flowers are usually a reliable sign that Spring has arrived. Maybe there will be one more cold front before we can finally say goodbye to Winter, but I doubt it. The trees are getting green. The ducks are starting to nest again. It won't be long before I have to get out the lawn mower and begin the weekly ritual of making the front yard look as nice at the neighbors yards.

I think the neighbors are already ahead of me. We have a new neighbor who seems to love lawn equipment. Almost every day my peace and quiet is interrupted by the sound of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and chain saws. They apparently haven't learned that the effort is futile. If you live near the park, the prevailing winds will ensure that your yard is soon filled with weeds. It's not like my minuscule writing schedule needs that much quiet time anymore, but the noise is still irritating. I'm probably the quietest person on the block. My lawn mower is electric and hardly makes any noise at all.

There were a ton of things I needed to do today, but the only things I actually accomplished were making an appointment to get a haircut later in the week and picking up two prescriptions at the pharmacy.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay motivated and engaged. I used to jokingly tell people that I worked for praise. Now that I live in a world with very little feedback and direct encouragement, I realize that this statement wasn't a joke. A lot of things seem utterly pointless when nobody notices.

I still take new pictures every day, although I've lost interest in exhibiting in galleries. I still write everyday, although I no longer try to get published. Maybe this is enough. I do know that Dot appreciates me, although it would be difficult to explain my new found poop cleaning expertise on a resume. You're reading this, which gives me all the reason I need to continue writing.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2280

We got off to a late start this morning. I woke up at 7 AM, which meant it was really 8 AM because of Daylight Savings Time. Dot couldn't wait that long. She needed to go outside immediately and before I could get her harness attached, she peed on the living room rug. It wasn't her fault. It was her old, slow companion. I hate it when she has an accident just because I wasn't alert enough to see the signs. She does try to tell me, but it doesn't always work in the morning when I am sleep deprived and haven't had my coffee yet. At any rate, it wasn't a big deal. I sprayed the rug with Nature's Miracle, took it outside and hosed it down and left it to dry in the sun. The rug will live to serve another day.

Dash got a bath today while I went to the gym. I don't think either of us really enjoyed the experience. Janet always asks if I had a good workout and I don't even know what that means. She really enjoys going to the gym, but to me it's just a way to moderately reduce the chance of having a heart attack. It's kind of like taking statins and blood pressure medication, except that I sweat more. It would be nice if I enjoyed these workouts, but that would be out of character for me. It's rare that I enjoy anything these days.

I definitely didn't enjoy going up on the roof for the third time this week, but maybe the third time is the charm. According to the weather forecast, we are supposed to have clear skies and warm weather for the next four or five days. I probably should get the landscapers out to refurbish the back yard before the rainy season is completely finished. Last year, we planted the St. Augustine grass in March and the Spring rains really helped it get established before the Summer dry spell and underground grubs killed it again. It wouldn't hurt to call a tree trimmer as well. Now, that the Oak and Elm trees are starting to bud, I'm starting to see more than a few dead limbs.

The park was really crowded today. It's always this way on warm, early Spring days. Dash can smell food from quite a distance, so he's always trying to crash someone's picnic. It's a shame that there are so many loose dogs in the park on weekends. When Dash sees a loose dog, he immediately turns around and wants to go home again. Our afternoon walk got cut short this way today. It's been many years since Dash was attacked, but he has never forgotten. A single loose dog can ruin his day.

I bet we'll be walking the dogs in the dark again tomorrow. I looked outside around 6 AM this morning and it was still quite dark outside. I should of gotten up then and taken Dot out to pee, but I didn't. No worries about repeating this mistake on a weekday. The clocks have been re-set and we'll all be up at the crack of dawn whether I like it or not.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2279

Daylight Savings Time begins tonight. Why do we even need Daylight Savings Time? It's always been a nuisance to me. Proponents say this annual time shift saves energy and reduces crime. Opponents say that it increases heart attacks and is economically disruptive. There is little hard evidence that it does much of anything, but I will have to re-set quite a few clocks tomorrow morning. So much for sleeping in on Sunday morning too. Whenever we wake up tomorrow, we will already be late.

There was a light mist when we walked the dogs this morning, but as the day progressed, the sky gradually got brighter. By the end of the day, I actually started to see patches of blue sky. I was glad to see things start to dry out, since I had lots of errands to run today. It was just a normal Saturday, but days like these are so much easier when you aren't wet. I filled the car with gas, got supplies at Home Depot, and picked up groceries for the week. Janet and I both typically go grocery shopping on Saturday. I get the things you can buy in bulk, and she gets the fresh and perishable things. We never shop together. That would be a disaster.

I wish I could figure out when Dot was going to poop. I keep trying to make her incontinence a rational, predictable process and it just isn't. I try to be alert and get her outside in time, but often she surprises me and there is a mess to clean up. I don't even think she realizes she has to go anymore. Her bowels work perfectly, but the nerves that communicate the process back and forth to her brain have short circuited. Dot still has cancer, but all her visible problems are neurological. It's sad to see her decline, but heartening to see how well she has adapted to her limited mobility. She is handling the whole situation so much better than I would under similar circumstances.

I spent a huge amount of time learning how to code and build responsive, mobile friendly websites and I'm already starting to forget what I've learned. Once again, I'm facing the "use it or lose it" dilemma. There just aren't enough new projects coming in to keep my skills honed. I've designed cool new websites for clients whenever I've had the opportunity, and updated all of the existing websites I manage. I updated a lot of sites for free just to show off my new skills. I thought everybody would be delighted with all the new capabilities they were getting, but a lot of people didn't even notice anything was different. Many of my clients forget they even have a website until a customer complains about it. Such is life.

I noticed on the news the other day that Barack Obama was speaking at SXSW this year. How did SXSW ever become such a big deal? Jeez, I spoke at SXSW in the mid 1990's. There were probably only 40 people who attended my talk, but I actually was a presenter. How times have changed. I miss being on the cutting edge. You can't look backwards though. I keep looking forwards into a very uncertain future.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2278

Curiosity finally got the better of me. When I was driving to breakfast this morning, I turned right instead of left and pulled into the parking lot of the new restaurant across the street from my regular place. Yes, despite my loyalty, I abandoned ship. Hopefully, the consequences of turning right won't be as disastrous as they were for Dr. Who when Donna Noble made a wrong turn and then had to go back in time to convince herself to turn left and save the world. I liked the new place. Instead of breakfast tacos and migas, this place featured locally sourced meat and eggs. Apparently this is what hipsters like to eat, because the place was filled with men sporting long beards and man buns. I ordered cinnamon pancakes, bacon, and homemade biscuits and gravy. Everything was delicious. I won't abandon my breakfast restaurant, but I'll return to this new place whenever I'm in the mood for comfort food.

I can't figure this weather out. The day was punctuated by short fierce storms interspersed with longer periods of relative calm. During one of these calm periods, I thought the rain was finished and decided to clear the water off the roof again. As soon as I was finished, another squall swept through town and erased all my efforts. I'll never learn. I cleaned the car when I saw a patch of blue sky in mid-afternoon and then got it dirty again when I had to go out and pick up the take-out meals I had ordered for dinner. At least I was able to walk the dogs without getting wet. These relatively dry walks and my cinnamon pancake were probably the silver lining to a day filled with some some very dark clouds.

I had some website work to finish today, but it wasn't really enough to distract me from the terrible weather. I think I'll abandon any future plans to remove water from the roof or clean the car until I'm convinced that the skies have cleared. I've really wasted a lot of time dealing with water issues and accomplished absolutely nothing. I'm still trying to get Dash to go outside and pee and Dot hasn't pooped since breakfast. It's been that kind of day.

I'm worried about Dot. She has been stumbling a lot today and seems to have difficulty standing without assistance. Some of this weakness is caused by the weather, since the damp, cool air aggravates her arthritis. My fear is that the cumulative effects of her chemotherapy is starting to wear her down as well. We've got one more week to go before we do another scan to see whether the Palladia pills are working. Then we've got to decide whether all this is worth it. I wish we could ask Dot what she wants. I'm guessing that she wants to live as long as she can, because she still seems to enjoy her life and doesn't appear to be depressed at all. As long as Dot wants to keep going, I'll do my best to help her.

The weather forecast says the rain will continue thru tomorrow. Then we are supposed to have four days of sunshine before the Spring rains start again. That's about as good as you're going to get during the rainy season. We'll hope for the best.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2277

I think I've entered my own private version of the Twilight Zone. I don't know how long you can spend endlessly cleaning up dog poop in the house, removing water from a flat roof, watching the political circus on cable news, and checking your Facebook feed for obituary notices before you go stark raving mad. The high point of my day is deciding what to eat. The meal itself is usually an afterthought, but the anticipation of eating is still kind of nice.

There were multiple accidents to clean up today. I'm amazed at how well the washing machine is working, since its been getting quite a workout this year. Dot is starting to feel the Palladia pills she took on Wednesday. It takes 24 to 36 hours before I notice any difference. Typically, she starts to become more tired than usual about 24 hours after she takes the pills and then starts to recover again on the day she is due for another pill. The new schedule gives her two days to recover between each chemotherapy treatment and it appears to be working. I hope the Palladia pills are actually doing what they are supposed to do, because I hate to see Dot have a bad day.

I got my March invoices out today. It didn't take long, because there aren't many to send out anymore. Since there wasn't much food in the refrigerator, I thought I'd pick up some Chinese take out on the way home from the post office. I found a nearby Pei Wei where I could order online and ended up getting the Pad Thai I was hungry for yesterday. It wasn't the best Pad Thai I've ever eaten, but it was fresh and reasonably priced. It certainly beat having a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. I've become a fan of ordering take-out online and picking up the meal while I'm running errands in the neighborhood. If you pick the right restaurant, there is virtually no waiting. I'll probably go to this Pei Wei again. It seems a little healthier than the bacon cheeseburger I usually pick up when the refrigerator looks empty.

I was really hoping that the rain might end today, but the forecast shows that there will be more thunderstorms tomorrow and Saturday. I try to take a picture of something interesting every day, and I will admit that the rain creates interesting droplet patterns on plants. That's about all it's good for in my opinion. Rain also means wiping the dogs paws and cleaning my boots every time I come inside. It means an influx of cockroaches trying to get into the house. It means a dirty car. It means the dehumidifier has to work harder. And of course it means six inches of standing water on the roof. I hope my regular readers will bear with me. You've probably been listening to my rain rants every Spring for many years now.

The trash has been taken out to the curb. The wet clothes are all dry again. The dogs have had their evening meds and been outside to pee one last time before going to bed. All I have to do is brush my teeth and this day is over.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2276

We survived the rain. I didn't get much sleep last night, because every time there was a thunderclap, one of the dogs would wake up in a panic and start barking. Every time Dot barked, I kept thinking she was going to poop, but she didn't. There is no predicting these things anymore. Both dogs wisely chose to forgo their morning walk when it began raining even harder at daybreak. I thought Dash was going to explode, but after seven or eight trips to the back door, he finally decided that it wouldn't kill him to poop in the yard. With all this going on, breakfast took a little longer than usual. That was fine with me. There wasn't much else to do anyway.

When I turned on the pump this morning, it wasn't working. Against my better judgement, I climbed up on the roof to investigate and discovered that it had become clogged with debris falling from the trees. up. It's that time of year again. Oak trees flower in the Spring right before the leaves start to form. The small flowers, called catkins, are arranged in long drooping spirals that quickly fall off the tree and land on the roof. They are just the right size to totally clog the sump pump. I've burned up several pumps this way. At any rate, I cleaned the gunk out of the pump, got it working again, and since the rain had temporarily stopped, decided to stay on the roof and clear away the remaining water myself. It was a fairly futile gesture, since the rain started again almost as soon as I was finished, but it beat sitting inside and listening to the dehumidifier.

Dot had a good day at her physical therapy session. Maybe she had more energy today, since we didn't take a morning walk. After last week's disappointing performance, I was worried that the cumulative effect of the Paladia pills was making Dot too weak for her water therapy exercises, but she was fine this week. She did poop in the lobby as soon as we arrived at the vet, but that was a huge improvement over pooping in my car like she did last week. It was still raining when we returned home, but luckily the traffic wasn't bad today. Just about every aspect of today involved getting wet.

I'm getting bored with my diet again. I wish it wasn't so much trouble to cook Chinese or Thai food, because I'm getting hungry for Pad Thai. Unfortunately, it's way too much trouble to assemble all the ingredients for a quick dinner for one. I tried to make this dish a long time ago and quickly discovered that mixing together tamarind paste, fish sauce, rice noodles, bean sprouts, eggs, chiles, green onions, sliced pork, peanuts, and sundry other ingredients was way out of my league. It is much easier to just make a cheeseburger.

Maybe I'll have a cheeseburger tomorrow. I need to get my March invoices out and get started on my taxes. I need to do a lot of things, but if it keeps raining I'm just going to be cleaning up wet dogs.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2275

As expected, we got lots of rain today. It was a good day to spend on the phone with tech support. For the second time in as many months, I found myself locked out of some of the websites I manage. In cases like this, the problem is usually the password. I didn't change the password. The client couldn't remember the password. And tech support wouldn't talk to me unless I had the password. I finally had to ask the client to ask for a password reset, so I could access the server. This didn't work either. After lots of back and forth, we finally discovered that the hosting company had changed the user ID for the site. Everything is fine now, but it won't be long before there is another password issue on another server. It's frustrating. I wish people would just quit trying to hack into things. Hacking forces hosting companies to continually keep changing their security protocols and it forces people like me to have to remember way too many complicated passwords.

The rain was pretty steady for most of the day. I had the pump on the roof running, the dehumidifier running, and the dryer all running at the same time. My clothes always get wet on rainy days, so I just throw them in the dryer as soon as I get back inside. With all three of these noisy machines running at the same time it felt like I was in the engine room of a ship. The rain eventually stopped, but it looks like tomorrow is going to be more of the same. People who like gardening love these Spring rains, but people with dogs usually don't. Dash is a magnet for mud on rainy days and Dot is difficult to dry off once she gets wet. Needless to say, even though work has slowed down, I still have plenty to do.

I'm enjoying the chaotic political primary season. The leadership of the Democratic party can't seem to put Bernie away and the Republican leadership is doing even worse with Donald Trump. I was pleased to see how well Bernie is doing in Michigan and equally pleased to see that the Republican leadership's efforts to destroy Donald Trump have seemingly backfired. I wonder if many people have noticed that these two very different outsiders have several important things in common. Both think that disastrous trade deals have decimated American manufacturing and destroyed millions of good jobs. Both also think it was a huge mistake to get involved in pointless wars in the middle east. As somewhat of an isolationist who has never been a big fan of globalization, I find it refreshing that so many people seem to agree with me. I think this is an important election. We will see once and for all just how much influence that the lobbyists and giant corporations have over our lives.

I think my efforts to eliminate wheat and sugar from my diet have failed. I did so well for almost three years eating Kale salads and avoiding bread. Now the kitchen is filled with all kinds of crackers again and I'm having ice cream for dessert. Why does unhealthy food taste so good? I still avoid fast food restaurants and try to always include a green vegetable with my dinner, but I'm slipping. I love cheeseburgers, pork ribs, and French toast. Broccoli and Kale, not so much.

Hopefully Dot's Wednesday therapy session will go better than it did last week. Last week she pooped in the car and got very tired in the underwater treadmill. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2274

Instead of calling a plumber today, I tried to fix the problem myself. This isn't always a good idea, but I didn't think I had much to lose. My plumbing skills are so limited that I seldom even attempt anything that could cause real damage. I've been thinking that the garbage disposal in the kitchen has been making a funny noise, so I ran the disposal for a long time while flushing it with water from the sink. Eventually, the noise went away and the sink seems to drain normally now. There must have been something clogged inside the disposal. The slow shower drain took a bit more work. I unscrewed the cover to the drain and discovered that soap residue had narrowed the diameter of the drain pipe to about half of its normal width. I got a piece of metal and scraped away as much of this gunk as I could, while trying to make sure it didn't fall down the pipe and make the clog worse. After visibly widening the drain hole, I put the drain cover back on and took a shower. The shower worked just fine. I've either saved several hundred dollars in plumbing bills, or just postponed dealing with the real problem a few weeks. Time will tell.

The weather forecast said it was going to rain all day, but failed to mention that the rain would be intermittent. The intermittent showers proved to be a stroke of good luck, since it gave us time to walk the dogs and make sure they both pooped before settling in for a long damp day. I had time to take a few bills to the post office without getting the car wet too, so when the rain did arrive, it was no big deal. The dehumidifier has to work a lot harder on rainy days. I emptied the bucket twice today and even though the unit extracted a lot of water, it never was able to get the humidity below 40%.

I've been seeing ads on TV saying that if you have both AT&T U-verse and an AT&T wireless account, that you would get free unlimited data. Since I have both of these services, I though I'd do a little investigating to see why I wasn't already getting the free 4G data on my phone. I was not terribly surprised to discover that nothing AT&T offers is actually free. Sure, it was possible to have a phone with unlimited voice, text, and data, but you had to pay twice as much per month as I'm currently paying. Also, your data download speed was severely limited after you reached a certain threshold. At least I didn't have to go to the AT&T store to learn this disappointing information. Whenever I go to the store, they aggressively try to sell me one of their overpriced home security systems or convince me to add a second phone to my wireless account. I'm not a big fan of the phone company. Probably neither are you. We all depend on our phones these days, but I've yet to meet anyone who actually liked dealing with their wireless provider.

I thought I'd get started on my taxes today, but that will have to wait until another day. It's amazing how little I get accomplished on grey, rainy days. The dogs don't like the rain and neither do I. We'd better get used to it though. It looks like the rest of the week is going to be even worse than it was today. For those of you who think I'm always too negative, there were no accidents in the house today. Dot pooped outside in the morning and after dinner. That's today's little ray of sunshine.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2273

I'm not sure that going to the gym made much of a difference. You can't get in shape with once a month workouts. Today's visit was more of a symbolic gesture. Maybe it was my way of saying "don't count me out yet." I did all my routines faithfully, elevated my heart rate, and worked up a sweat, but I'm still going to have to do this three times a week to make any real difference.

All I could think about today was the weather forecast. There are supposed to be thunderstorms every day next week. I really hope this isn't true. The combination of rain on the roof, mud in the yard, and dealing with a storm phobic crippled dog will test my sanity. It takes forever to get Dot to pee in the yard on a good day. In stormy weather, it's hopeless.

It's getting warm enough to call the landscapers to come back and replace the grass, ground cover, and bedding plants that died during the winter. We do this every year. Apparently neither Janet or I have anything remotely resembling a green thumb. This year, the yard looks even worse than usual because months of walking behind Dot and holding up her rear legs while she smells things and looks for a place to pee has killed a a significant percentage of the Asian Jasmine and Liriope. This happened once before when an earlier Dalmatian grew old and required assistance. It took at least three years for the ground cover to recover and start looking decent again. Apparently, dogs, cats, possums, and raccoons can walk through ground cover with impunity, but when people start tramping through the stuff, it dies.

I always listen to Ted Talks on the radio while I'm driving to and from the gym. The Ted Radio Hour on Sunday afternoon is probably the best thing on PBS. Today's subject was laughter and after listening for about five minutes, I turned the show off. I just couldn't relate to it. This is probably not a good sign. I can't recall that I've ever turned off a Ted Talk before. If the subject was sadness, the vastness of the universe, or preparing for the day the robots take over, I probably would have been fascinated.

The house smelled good today. Janet was preparing pulled pork in the slow cooker and the pork roast she was cooking gave the house the aroma of a nice barbecue joint. Pork has always been my favorite meat, but I am very conflicted about it now. I love bacon, ribs, and center cut pork chops, but every time I see a picture of a cute little pig on Facebook, I feel vaguely guilty. Damn you Facebook. All you do is destroy my faith in humanity with an endless stream of mindless memes, political rants, and cute pictures of piglets.

After I took that one watch to the watch repairman last week, I've been noticing that many other watches are running slow, are hard to wind, or have simply stopped running. What was I thinking when I thought it would be fun to collect watches? If I'd given the matter any thought at all, I would have realized that my compulsion to repair things and the inevitable nature of mechanical things to break would soon be at odds with each other. It has become impossible to keep all these old watches running, and even if I had the time and money to keep fixing them, it would just be another quixotic gesture.

I vacuumed and cleaned the house today, so this virtually guarantees that Dot will poop in the house tonight. I've tried again and again to get her to do her business outside this afternoon, but she isn't ready yet. Such is life.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2272

I think I'm going to have to call the plumber again. In one end of the house the kitchen sink drains slowly. In the other end of the house, the shower drains equally slowly. This probably means that the entire waste water line needs to be snaked out. I'm always nervous about doing this because the cast iron pipes are fifty years old and the rotating snake that is used to clear debris can also damage the pipes. After our last plumbing disaster, I don't want any more plumbing problems under the slab.

I guess I'm tired of problems in general. I'm forgetting things that I always used to remember. My business is slowing down. The house is falling apart. The dogs have become very high maintenance companions. My own body no longer cooperates with me. It's tiring. I go to bed tired and I wake up tired the next morning. The golden years are a myth. Maybe the notion of a comfortable, carefree retirement has always been a myth for most people. My parents certainly didn't have an easy time of things as they got older.

I certainly don't expect a politician to fix things. When I listen to all the promises from the current crop of candidates, they just sound pathetic. Don't these folks realize that the country has essentially become ungovernable? We have allowed ourselves to become so polarized and divided that we are just a bunch of tribes pretending to be a unified country. People's loyalties are to their tribe these days, not to the country as a whole. I'm not sure this can be fixed. Whoever wins the upcoming election will face a large and vocal group of people on the other side trying to block everything they do. My tribe will probably end up just being the other old people. I'll vote for anyone who promises to strengthen Medicare and Social Security and cut my taxes to zero. Lofty speeches about making the country better for our children will go in one ear and out the other because I don't have any children. I'm sure young people with children will think differently.

Dot had a few accidents in the house today. These accidents have become so frequent that cleaning up poop has become just like dusting or vacuuming. I can't even remember any more whether we're having an accident free day or not. It just seems like the washing machine is going constantly. I guess it's a good thing that I'm getting more efficient at cleaning Dot up and changing the rugs and bedding. Dot can't help her incontinence, so there's no point in getting upset about it. 

All in all, it was just a normal Saturday. The dogs got taken care of. I went out and got some groceries. I did a little cleaning and wasted too much time looking at Facebook. I was mildly interested in tonight's election results, but only mildly. Tomorrow, I'll probably go to the gym. I've run out of excuses for avoiding the place.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2271

My breakfast restaurant seems different now. The food is still good, but something has changed. Maybe it's just that the coffee is served in paper cups now. The old baristas who jumped ship and moved across the street used real coffee cups. The music has changed too. The place used to play Austin indie rock. Now I hear 70's anthems by Journey and Foreigner. I'm a loyal person, but maybe I'll have to try out the new place across the street as well.

I might not be being fair to the restaurant though. For the past month or so, I just haven't been that interested in food. I initially thought this was because of the flu, but I'm better now and I'm still not very hungry. I typically go to the grocery store to pick up food for the weekend after breakfast and today I found myself just wandering aimlessly from aisle to aisle. Nothing seemed appealing.

Actually, the entire day was kind of aimless. I tried to glue a variety of broken things back together and then I took a watch to the watch repairman to get fixed. There was no real need to do this, since I still wear the Apple Watch all the time. Nevertheless, it seemed like a productive thing to do. I hadn't seen this watch repairman in almost two years and was a bit surprised to see that prices had doubled. Oh, well. I guess you've got to do what you've got to do to stay in business. The last time we talked, we both agreed that our respective businesses were going downhill. Today, when we were catching up on things, we both agreed that things had gotten even worse. Maybe fixing my watch will keep the guy in business a while longer.

Dot seemed stronger today. She slept well and was much more energetic and engaged on her walk this morning. I initially would have thought that she'd feel bad right after taking the Palladia pills. This doesn't seem to be the case. It almost seems like she's at her worst two days after she's taken the chemotherapy pills. I could just be imagining things though. I like to have an exact, very predictable reason for everything and sometimes there isn't one. I might just have to live with the reality that Dot has good days and bad days.

I saw my first wild iris of the season today. I've been taking pictures of plants and animals in the park for so long now, that seasonal changes have become very predictable. I could almost tell you to the day when certain flowers will bloom. I find this predictability comforting. I keep thinking that if I were just more observant, I could predict everything. That's not going to happen though. Real life is pretty random.

I can't decide whether the political events that are currently unfolding are random or completely predictable. It seems implausible that a 74 year old socialist is a serious candidate for president. It seems ironic that Bernie could actually win if he just realized that he was in a win or lose contest with a woman who wants to win at all costs. If Bernie was as passionate about pointing out Hillary's rather obvious flaws as he is about the evils of the big banks, Hillary wouldn't have a chance. It seems equally implausible that the Republicans are spending all their energy trying to destroy the own front runner. The ironic thing is that if the Republicans had super delegates like the Democrats do, they wouldn't even have to worry about Donald Trump. Oh, it's ironic too that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump share pretty much the same views on trade deals that destroy jobs and opportunistic foreign wars. No wonder that the establishment hates both of these guys. My only prediction is that whoever wins won't be able to fix anything.

I really need to go to the gym this weekend. No predictions on whether I actually will.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2270

Dot seemed tired today. I wish I knew how the Palladia worked. The pills seem to be gradually taking a toll on her, but her decline could be just as easily caused by something else. Maybe the pills aren't working as promised and her weakness is really caused by the cancer's growth. Maybe all this has nothing to do with the cancer at all and I'm just witnessing the inevitable decline associated with old age. Something is happening, but it's almost impossible to know where to place the blame. Dot's blood chemistry and vital signs are remarkably good for a very old dog. Her appetite is excellent and she appears happy. She does have cancer though and the tumor is growing. I gave Dot her Palladia pills today. It's going to be hard to continue the chemotherapy through the trial period, but I know this is the best thing to do. I hate to see Dot get weaker, but if the pills stop the cancer's growth I think Dot would agree that it's a fair trade off. The important thing is that she is still happy and genuinely seems more eager to start each day than I am.

Today was slow. We don't see the stars as much on our morning walks because the days are getting longer. I did very briefly notice Venus very low on the Eastern horizon and Jupiter equally low on the Western horizon. This shows me how long we've been on this journey. When we started these morning exercise walks, both planets were very close together. It has been over a year since Dot's spinal surgery. I remember thinking last February that if the surgery gave Dot one more year it would be worth it. A year later, we're still here. The seasons slowly change and Dot and I are both getting older. Maybe we've got another year. Who knows. I think the only way to deal with these things is to take things one day at a time.

I think I've dealt with Dot's decline pretty well, but I wonder sometimes how well I'll deal with my own decline. There's this old man I see occasionally on our morning walks. I see him in the distance, pushing his walker inch by inch, taking impossible slow steps to reach his morning paper. When we moved to the neighborhood, he was in great shape and I would often see him working on his house. Time passes so quickly. I hate to think of myself pushing a walker to reach the morning paper. Well, that's not going to happen. I don't even read the paper anymore.

I do watch the news and was surprised to learn that oil executive Aubrey McClendon was killed in a car crash that some say was a suicide. I remember interviewing this guy about ten years ago when I did a documentary on the shale oil boom in Texas. Aubrey seemed to have it all. I remember being very impressed. Later his company failed and the board of directors removed him as president. I think he was under indictment for fraud as well. It's weird how things can change so dramatically. When I made the documentary I never would have dreamed that the price of oil would drop to twenty dollars a barrel and that Aubrey's high flying company would end up in ruins.

This cautionary tale reminds me that we live in a very strange world. I find myself repelled and strangely fascinated by the current political landscape. On one side, you've got a candidate who is on the verge of being indited for compromising national secrets. And on the other side, you've got a candidate that has been endorsed by both David Duke and Louis Farrakhan. You can't make this stuff up. If you're looking for a sign of the apocalypse, just keep watching your TV. I don't know what will happen, but I think I have been vindicated for preferring dogs over people.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2269

Well, lifting Dot in and out of the car definitely isn't good for a bad back. Yikes! Maybe this is how I messed up my back in the first place. I was literally begging Dot to work with me today, but she was just dead weight. I don't think she wanted to go to her physical therapy session in the first place. I'm not so sure about our new schedule. It is certainly easier to get Dot ready in the afternoon, but the traffic is much worse. As a result, my overall level of irritation is exactly the same. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. No matter what I do these days, my overall level of irritation is exactly the same.

Dot pooped in the car on the way to the vet, but at least she was feeling better today. I described Dot's symptoms to the vet the best I could, but didn't get must closer to figuring out what was going on. Something that only happens once a month is hard to pin down. Although Dot is still holding down her food and seems more or less back to normal, she still seemed a little tired today. There was no sense in pushing her too hard, so we shortened her time in the underwater treadmill and spent a little extra time with her acupuncture.

I wrote my new article this morning before we went to the vet. This gave me one more reason why Dot's old therapy schedule might have been better. It's always best to start writing when there is nothing on the back end of your day. I never know how long writing these articles will take and it's easier if I'm not interrupted. I guess I wasn't fast enough today, because I had to pick up where I left off when we returned. The article did get finished and the change of schedule wasn't really a big deal. It just illustrates how reluctant I have become to changing anything in my life.

It's time to start working on my tax returns again. I don't do my taxes myself anymore, but I still have to gather all the information together and take it over to my accountant. It's depressing that it costs just as much to do my taxes in a bad year as it does in a good year. I have a feeling that 2015 was a very bad year. The only saving grace was that I sold most of my oil and gas stocks at the end of the year. I thought I was just taking a tax loss at the time, but as it turned out, I was actually saving money. All these stocks continued to drop further in January and February. It was a good thing I got rid of them when I did. The market is just a crap shoot these days, but every once in a while you still get lucky.

I've got to figure out a better way to sleep. I usually sleep on my side, but my spine doesn't seem to like this. Ditto for sleeping on my stomach. The only position that seems comfortable is on my back and that keeps me awake longer. I was tempted to sleep on the floor with Dot last night, but that would just be an invitation to get pooped on. I've also noticed that the stretching exercises I do for my shoulder seem to aggravate my back pain as well. At least I'm over the flu. One of these mornings, I'll wake up, my spine will be back in place, and everything will be fine. I hope that morning is tomorrow.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2268

Dot got sick during the night and threw up. By morning, she'd thrown up three times, although it was mostly just bile and water. This happened about a month ago as well. The first time she threw up like this, I was convinced that she drank too much water while she was walking in the underwater treadmill. She hasn't been to water therapy this week though, so something else is going on. We didn't feed Dot any breakfast this morning, but by noon she seemed back to normal again. So far, she has held down her dinner and doesn't appear to be uncomfortable. We didn't give Dot her monthly heartworm pill today because I was afraid she'd throw it up. I'm sure waiting a few days until she's back to normal again won't hurt.

Somehow while I was lifting Dot up last night and changing her bedding I managed to throw my back out. I'm not sure what I did, but I've been in pain ever since. I've done this before and it's usually because I don't lift things properly using my knees. Jeez, my knees are in worse shape than my back. By the time I'd washed all the rugs and blankets that Dot had soiled and finished my morning smoothie, I was ready to go back to bed. My back still hurts, but hopefully if I can avoid lifting things and manage to get a good night's sleep, I'll feel better tomorrow.

When it looked like Dot was stable and wasn't going to throw up any more, I went to the bank and stopped on the way home to pick up another bottle of laundry detergent. The big bottles of Tide aren't lasting nearly as long as they used to with the washing machine in constant use. Today I washed four large blankets and two medium sized rugs. It never ends.

It was a long day. I shuffled around from room to room, trying not to aggravate whatever I'd done to my back. Strangely, the only time my back didn't hurt was when I took Dash on his evening walk. Sitting in a chair at the computer was the worst. My Aeron Chair is usually quite comfortable, but not today. Luckily, there wasn't that much to do. I had some minor website updates to make, but that was about it. There's a new article to write, but I don't need to start on that until tomorrow.

The road construction in the neighborhood is finished and everything is quiet again. All the construction equipment has disappeared and the road looks pretty much like it did before, except that there are no potholes anymore. I'm still surprised that it took over a month to fix this short stretch of road, but have to admit that the end result looks pretty nice.

Dot's physical therapy moves to a new day tomorrow. From now on out, we'll be doing our acupuncture and water therapy sessions on Wednesday afternoon instead of Thursday morning. I didn't suggest this change, but I welcome it. It should be easier to get Dot ready right after lunch rather than in the morning when she naturally likes to sleep. Hopefully, she'll sleep well tonight. We definitely don't need another night like last night.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2267

The last thing we need is an extra Monday. I know how leap year works mathematically, but still it seems weird to add an extra day to the year every four years. Personally, I wish all twelve months had 28 days. If each month was divided into four equal weeks, it might be easier for me to remember when to give Dot her pills. It might be easier to remember my own meds as well. It's all about remembering things these days.

I think a set a record for doing laundry today. Dot pooped while she was eating her dinner. Food was simultaneously going in one end and coming out the other. It didn't seem to bother Dot as all. Luckily, I was holding up her rear end with the Help 'Em Up Harness, so the mess wasn't that bad. About an hour after she ate, Dot went back to sleep on her blanket and threw up. I actually think she just burped after drinking too much water, but it was a mess just the same. Once again, it could have been much worse. She hadn't taken her expensive Palladia pills yet, so her chemotherapy wasn't wasted. I waited another hour before giving her the pills, and so far everything seems fine.

The road repairs in the neighborhood seem to reach some sort of crescendo today. There were lots of new people on the job and several pieces of heavy equipment I hadn't seen before. Maybe all the preparations are done and they are finally ready to pave the road. Whatever they were doing, it sure was noisy.  Dash and I avoided the road on our evening walk. If tar was involved in today's activities, Dash would inevitably get some on his paws. I've already had enough messes to clean up today. I certainly didn't want to have to remove road tar from a dog's paws.

There were more website updates to make today. Most companies have finally realized the futility of putting their employees on the company website, but animal rescue websites still change on a weekly basis. There are always new animals to add and others to remove as they become adopted. It is simply astounding how many homeless animals there are. I only work with a few rescue groups in a single city, but I must have created thousands of pages to bring attention to abandoned dogs and cats who were waiting for their forever homes.

I got an e-mail today telling me that a mutual acquaintance had died. We were about the same age. People my age seem to be dying with disturbing regularity now. I'm always glad when someone takes the time to let me know. I'm not a member of any tight knit group of friends, so a lot of people I've known over the years simply disappear. I hope someone will take the time to let people know when my time comes. Nobody wants to be forgotten.

I sure wish I could get more sleep. Everything from taking care of the dogs to writing this blog takes longer now. By the time I've finally caught up with everything, it's usually near midnight. This would be fine if I could sleep until 8 or 9 the next morning, but we always get up early. Last night I couldn't get the blog to syndicate properly and had forgotten to put the spare dog blankets in the dryer. There always needs to be a spare set ready to go in case there is an accident during the night. For some reason, I couldn't find the retainer I need to wear while I sleep either. There's always something. Did I turn the dishwasher on? Did I empty the dehumidifier? Did I remember to run a test print to keep the big printer from clogging? I'm sure I'll forget something tonight. I always do.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2266

It was a normal Sunday. The dogs got a more leisurely walk than they do on weekdays. We had bacon and eggs with biscuits for breakfast, which is a weekend only treat. Janet went to the gym and I vacuumed the house. I updated another website while trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. With the remnants of a stubbornly persistent cold, I really didn't feel like doing much.

I used to watch the Oscars religiously, but I haven't bothered for the past several years. Tonight I had no interest in the award show whatsoever. The only event I made an effort to watch was the Space X SES-9 launch, but the mission was aborted for the third time in less than a week due to a boat that had wandered into a restricted area downrange. It must be really expensive to scrub a launch just because a boat wandered off course.

When I was out in the yard this afternoon, I saw a squirrel that looked like it was wearing a collar. On closer examination, it appeared that the squirrel had stuck his head through some rope netting and gotten stuck. It had managed to chew itself free from the net, but still had a piece of the mesh stuck around his neck. I tried to think of how I could free the squirrel but came up with nothing. It certainly wasn't letting me get close enough to catch it. The only plan that made any sense was to set out a live trap and trap the squirrel so I could take it to a vet to remove the rope. Since there are dozens of squirrels in the yard along with assorted rats, possums, and racoons, it would be pure random chance if I managed to catch the right critter. I would probably end up trapping lots and lots of rats before a single squirrel entered the trap. I'll ask Dot's vet what to do if I ever see the squirrel again. It's probably miles away by now.

I hope the weather stays warm, because everything is already starting to bloom. The Redbud and Dogwood trees are in full bloom and I'm starting to see lots of Daffodils and even a few Wild Iris blooms. What typically happens in Texas is that all the flowers start to bloom and then there is one final hard freeze that kills everything. It is amazing how frequently we have a hard freeze sometime in March.

If I ever make it back to the gym, I'm going to have to start over. I've been feeling under the weather for so long now, that I just shuffle through the day, making as little effort as possible. Even the mild stretching exercises I do to keep my shoulder from freezing up, require more effort than I want to give. Sure, I actually did do some chores this weekend, but I pushed the Dyson very slowly and going up on the roof was a mistake. I'm still coughing a lot and still feel tired.

I inadvertently took my evening meds this morning. So, do I take my morning meds before I go to bed, or do I just skip a day?  These are the problems you have as you get older. I fell asleep after dinner, thinking that the Oscars were just about over. When I woke up again, the show was still going on. Some things never change, I guess. You could watch the entire Superbowl and still have time to catch up on several episodes of Dr. Who before Hollywood could finish handing out those gold statues. I don't have the patience to watch a show this long.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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