Day 2557

Sometimes it's embarrassing to explain how I spend my day. Even the big events can be kind of trivial. Spelling errors always bother me. Especially when I make them myself. This morning I noticed a glaring spelling error in yesterday's blog post and I wasted hours trying to correct it. You'd think it would be easy to just correct the error and update the blog. Well, nothing is easy with me. Every time I publish a post, it is time stamped and syndicated to my various social media accounts. Correcting the blog itself would not correct the way it looks on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else. I had to figure out a way to erase all those links and then publish a new version with yesterday evening's date. Heaven forbid that it looked like I skipped a day. Does any of this even matter? Of course not. Does it matter to me. Apparently so. I finally got everything looking exactly the way it should and now the unfortunate spelling error never even existed. Morning wasted.

I've definitely got a cold now.  Once you catch a cold there isn't a lot you can do. There are hundreds of cold remedies on the market, but I find that very few of them help at all. You've just got to let the cold run its course. A lot of people take antihistamines, but I hate the way they make me feel. My head feels like it is going to explode after I've taken antihistamine pills. Cough drops provide mild relief from a sore throat, but if the sore throat is bad, you can go through a bag of cough drops in a day. That's a lot of sugar and menthol. I don't have a fever, so I'm hoping this cold won't be too bad. The weather certainly isn't helping. It was nasty again today.

I got a package from B&H this morning. Last week I'd ordered two small items that could have easily fit in the same envelope. Only one of the items arrived. The other is being shipped separately and apparently I have to sign for it. Why? It would have been so easy to dump both items in the same envelope. Since I hate waiting around all day for the UPS guy, now I've got to drive down to the UPS service center and pick up the shipment myself. UPS drivers rarely leave packages at the front door anymore, since there are people who follow the brown trucks around and then steal the packages. I'll be glad when Amazon perfects drone delivery. Maybe they can use military grade drones and just shoot the package thieves. I don't think anyone would mind.

I thought I'd have Pad Thai for dinner tonight. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I had enough reward points at Pei Wei to get a free meal. When I went to pick up my dinner, I discovered that my points had expired. Damn. I must have looked really disappointed because the guy at the register looked up my account on the computer and told me he'd give me the Pad Thai for free anyway because my points had only expired a few days ago. What a nice surprise. For a few short moments I felt like humanity wasn't doomed after all.

Dot had lots of accidents today. I always thought that poop was the big problem, but now I'm discovering that pee is actually harder to clean up. When Dot pees inside, it soaks through everything it touches almost instantly. I did a lot of laundry today and spent some time scrubbing the floor as well. I'm hoping that Dot's oncologist can give me some advice on controlling incontinence when we go for our cancer recheck on Friday.

Maybe a good night's sleep will conquer this cold. It's not very likely, but I can always hope.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2556

We didn't make it to the back door this morning, so there were a lot of rugs to wash. This one was my fault. I knew Dot had to go as soon as I woke up, but I failed to make sure that the back door was already open before we made our race for the back yard. Slowing down just a little to give Janet a chance to open the door was all it took and Dot peed all over the place.

I'm learning to get everything done in the morning now. After their morning walk, Dot and Dash will still go back to sleep for a few hours. Today, I used that time to take my invoices to the post office and run a few errands. I left the house before I took a shower or even turned on the computer. I really didn't know how long I had.

Maybe it's the Tramadol pills that are giving Dot a little more energy. Maybe it's something else. I'm glad to see her moving around more, but it sure keeps me busy. I've tried to let her wander around the house on her own, but it doesn't work very well. Dot is still very unsteady on her feet and she usually falls within a minute or two if I am not supporting her rear end. Since her incontinence has gotten worse, she also tends to leak a lot. Whenever she falls, there is usually a puddle of pee on the ground when I lift her up.

I've thought about trying a doggie wheelchair for her, but they don't work very well for larger dogs. Our first Dalmatian used a wheelchair during his last year, but he was always tipping it over. A wheelchair is terrible for a dog that likes to alternate between walking around and lying down. You spend all your time hooking them up and detaching them from the contraption. A wheelchair might be good for longer outdoor walks though. I'm almost at my wits end and am willing to try almost anything.

I think I'm coming down with a cold. I rarely get sick, but if I do it's almost always during the holiday season. Everyone seems to have a cold in December. Even though I do my best to avoid people, there is inevitably someone coughing or sneezing nearby. So far, I've just got a mild sore throat. Hopefully, that's as far as it goes. I'll see if I can shake this one off.

The large format printer is clogged again. I wish I could bring myself to just throw this albatross away. I have a lot of compassion for old dogs, but it's hard to be sympathetic to an old printer. At some point I'm going to realize that I get nothing in return for all the expensive ink and maintenance I pour into this relic. I need to find a twelve step program for people who are attached to obsolete gear. Keeping all these things running is getting ridiculous.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2555

I can't keep up with the weather. It's cold again. Maybe I just imagined wearing shorts yesterday. This morning's walk saw the return of warm coats and gloves. The dogs seemed to enjoy the brisk weather, but I was just perplexed. What happened to yesterday?

Dot and Dash seemed determined to test my patience today. Dash barked constantly while I was trying to eat breakfast. He woke up Dot, who had been sleeping peacefully and then she started barking too. Meals used to be relaxing, but not anymore. In the morning they want me to feed them treats and in the evenings I have to be careful the Dot doesn't pee on everything. It's a three ring circus.

It took me most of the afternoon to get my December invoices out and finish a very modest amount of online Christmas shopping. Once Dot wakes up after her morning nap, she is determined to stay moving for the rest of the day. Since she can't move very far without my help, I am constantly walking her up and down the hall with periodic excursions outside to smell things. I don't know why Dot is so restless now. She doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. Actually, she seems pretty happy as long as I attend to her, but she sure doesn't want to take an afternoon nap anymore.

Eventually the dogs get tired, but I almost always end up getting tired first. My work has always required long periods of solitude. Without this peace and quiet, my writing lacks focus and the code I write often doesn't work at all. Even though I'm not nearly as busy as I used to be, it's still hard to concentrate these days.

I never did find time to go to the post office today, but at least the small stack of invoices is ready to go. Years ago, I bought a humongous box of Number 10 envelopes. I jokingly told a friend that when this box was gone, it would be time to retire. Guess what. After doing my invoices today, there are only two envelopes left. Is the empty envelope box trying to tell me something? It probably really is time to retire, but then what would I do? Taking care of Dot is exhausting. I don't have the energy to start anything new. For the time being, work provides an essential link to a world that I have become detached from. Deadlines and clients remind me that there is still a world beyond cleaning up dog poop.

I wonder if Mark Cuban is feeling silly after predicting a huge stock market crash if Trump was elected. So far, the Trump rally has been pretty substantial. It's certainly helped my portfolio. If things could continue like this for another year, I might finally get back to even. The crash of 2008 was devastating for me and I still haven't recovered all I lost. I'm a realist though. I don't expect miracles. The market will continue to remain volatile. Dot will continue to grow older. And I will continue to slowly work my way toward Day 5000. The key to all of this is to just keep moving.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2554

It's hard to believe that yesterday I was wearing a down ski jacket, gloves, and a wool hat. Today, I'm wearing shorts. The temperature actually got up to seventy five degrees this afternoon. That's Texas weather for you. You never really know what to expect.

I never know what to expect anyway. With Dot, every day is full of surprises. Today, her urinary incontinence was worse and she was leaking everywhere. She hardly pooped at all though. Go figure. I've got to come up with a better way to clean her up after all the frequent accidents. When I help her up now, my hands usually end up smelling of pee. We've increased her Incurin dose, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm afraid there may be nothing more we can do.

I went to the gym earlier than usual this morning, in hopes of having time to do other things when I returned home. It didn't work out that way, but at least I tried. The gym is never very crowded on Sunday. There was a man putting his young son through what appeared to be a fairly punishing workout and several old people who seemed to be moving in slow motion. Everyone seemed very determined today. I wonder if I appeared determined to them? Probably not. I don't think I appear determined to anyone.

Maybe Dot thinks I'm determined. I hope so. I do everything I can to keep her comfortable. Mostly this means making sure that she always has dry, clean bedding when she poops or pees in her sleep and helping her up and guiding her slowly around the back yard whenever she gets restless. On a good day, I think she still feels like a normal dog. This experience has made me realize that I wouldn't be very good at providing hospice care for a human. Dog accept what you give and seldom complain. People always complain.

I complain a lot myself, but by now you probably realize that I don't mean any harm. I'm just baffled at the choices people make. Don't they realize how much easier life would be if they all just did things my way? I get frustrated at people, but since I'm not really around other people all that much, my frustration seldom goes beyond talking back to the TV. Sometimes hitting the heavy bag at the gym helps too.

I'd better hop on the Amazon.com site tomorrow and get my Christmas shopping done. If I wait much longer, I'll have to pay extra for Fedex delivery again. At least my Christmas list is very short. It probably won't take me ten minutes to get my shopping done. I don't know why anyone goes to the mall anymore. Online shopping is so much easier. It would take me longer to find a parking place at Northpark than it does to take care of everything with a few clicks on the Amazon site. You don't have to wrap the packages either.

I hope Dot feels better tomorrow. She seems exhausted today. I think today's unexpectedly warm weather caught her by surprise.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2553

Everything was crowded today. Traffic was slow. Parking lots were full. And stores were extremely busy. Apparently, a lot of people haven't discovered online shopping yet. I wasn't even Christmas shopping. All I had to do was get gas, stop by the storage warehouse, go to the post office, and do my grocery shopping. From now through Christmas, these simple errands are going to take a lot longer.

I picked up Janet's puffy coat while I was at the storage warehouse and brought it home. There were some winter coats of mine there as well, but they were too heavy and bulky. I wonder why I ever wore those coats. The lightweight down jackets I wear now are so much better. I've finally learned to dress in layers on cold days. Instead of one humongous, heavy winter coat, I wear several much lighter ones. I wonder why it took me thirty years to learn this?

We got to sleep in a little later today. It was only an extra hour, but it seemed to make a difference. It always helps when Dot doesn't poop during the night. Today, she waited until I was getting her up for breakfast to do her business, which was actually very convenient. Everything landed right on a nearby puppy training pad, which I quickly rolled up, bagged, and threw away. Small saves like this are all it takes to make me think I'm going to have a good day.

A lot of yesterday's unfinished business got taken care of this morning. I wrote a letter to my sister and finished all the website updates that I had started yesterday. I had no trouble uploading the new files to the server today, so apparently the  problem that practically took down the entire hosting company has been resolved. This must have been a really major service outage. I checked around midnight, just before I went to bed last night and all the sites were still down. Somebody stayed up late and fixed things though. Everything is fine now.

I don't know how you Northerner's do it. The temperature hasn't even dropped below freezing yet and I'm already in full Winter mode. I've got a little ceramic heater under my desk to keep my feet warm. I wear sweaters around the house. I'm always checking the furnace to make sure it is running smoothly. The dogs seem to enjoy the cold weather, so I have to make sure there's a warm coat near the back door when I take Dot out to pee. Winter has barely begun and I'm already looking forward to Spring.

I wonder if I can avoid vacuuming tomorrow? I'd rather go to the gym. Actually, I'd really rather download Arrival and watch it while the dogs are sleeping. The movie isn't available on iTunes yet, so I'll probably just stay on schedule and do my Sunday chores. Heaven forbid that I would ever drive to a theater and watch the movie on a big screen. I'll just wait.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2552

The day started out well. It was quite cold this morning, but Dash and I dressed warmly and had an enjoyable walk. Even though it was partly cloudy, it was nice to see patches of blue sky. I thought I'd try something new for breakfast. Sausage, bacon, scrapple, ham and egg with white cheddar cheese on a toasted ciabatta roll. Yum. The restaurant called it The Big Boy and I called it delicious. With a full belly and a decent night's sleep, I started the day in an unusually good mood.

It didn't last. All I'd really planned to do today was write my sister a letter and finish updating Pro Tools on my computer. Neither of those things happened because there were a couple of website emergencies that caught me by surprise. I did my best to get everything finished before the weekend, but when I got ready to upload the changes, I discovered that a server had crashed and I couldn't access one of the two sites I was working on. When I called technical support to see what was going on, they appeared to be in total panic mode. Apparently the entire hosting company had gone down. It wasn't just my client's server that crashed. Hundreds of servers were down. Six hours have passed and I still can't access the site, so this must be serious.

I couldn't worry about this too much though, because I had my own problems. The dogs slept peacefully for most of the morning, but when they woke up it was a three ring circus. Dot pooped on the floor while she was eating her lunch. While I was trying to clean up the mess, Dash knocked over a big bag of dog food and started eating out of the bag. I had my hands full trying to keep Dot from falling in her own poop, so Dash had a little feast.

The afternoon was a mess. Dot couldn't relax and wanted attention every ten minutes. A lot of times when she wanted me to pick her up and walk her around, I was on the phone with technical support, trying to get my client's website problems resolved. When Dot gets stressed, she pees even more than usual, so there was lots of laundry to do as well. I spent the entire afternoon jumping from one thing to another and didn't really accomplish much.

I eventually gave up on the website updates after it became apparent that the service outage wasn't going to be fixed anytime soon. I split the dogs dinner into two parts again, so that the lull between the two dinners would give me time to run out and pick up some take-out for dinner. I never did get time to go to the grocery store today.

After I took each dog on a separate evening walk and was starting to get my own dinner ready, Dot pooped on the floor again. This caught me by surprise, since she had already gone a few hours earlier. I rushed to place a puppy training pad under her and save the rug, but I missed and stepped in some of the poop instead. It was that kind of day.

Everything is peaceful now, but the washing machine is still running. I hope that Dot doesn't have any more accidents today, because there aren't many clean dog blankets left. Today would have been my Dad's 99th birthday. Apparently, somewhere in the Cloud they think he's still alive, because I'm still getting messages on my computer to wish him a Happy Birthday.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2551

Remind me to never move up north. We woke up to temperatures in the low 30's with a brisk wind. It might as well have been 40 below zero to me. Even though I went to high school in Alaska and have spent a Winter in Idaho, I have completely lost my tolerance for cold. We put Dash's quilted fleece coat on before we walked this morning, but couldn't figure out how to put a coat over Dot's bulky harness. Neither dog seemed to mind the cold. Actually, they seemed to enjoy it. I quickly learned to keep a warm coat next to the door in case Dot needed to go outside. She spent just as much time wandering around aimlessly as she does in warmer weather. I followed dutifully behind, holding up her rear legs, while whispering "for the love of god, please hurry up and pee," to myself.

Dash had a vet appointment this morning. He's starting to have trouble hopping in the car, so it's only a matter of time before his legs start to go out as well. All Dalmatians seem to have this problem as they get older. This wasn't what we went the the vet for, however. All Dash needed today was to get his anal glands expressed. We need to do this at least once a month. Nobody knows why his glands fill up so quickly, but he's had this problem all his life. I'm getting better at scheduling. I made an early appointment so we'd be away while Dot was sleeping. It worked well. She was still asleep when we returned.

Luckily, the furnace is working great this year. Even though it was near freezing outside, the house was toasty warm. I stayed inside as much as I could. There were several website updates that needed attention today, but there was nothing very demanding. I slowly and methodically worked my way through each update and found that I still had time to install the Pro Tools software I downloaded yesterday when I was done.

Avid software updates are always a nightmare. You have to make sure to delete all previous software versions before you start, including lots of pesky little invisible files. Avid has their own uninstaller program, but it doesn't work half the time and you have to do a Google search and discover how other people have learned to delete the files manually. There is also Avid's complex licensing procedure. My iLok dongle often says I don't have the proper software license, even though I really do. When you jump through all the hoops and finally get the software installed and running, you often get a warning message saying that you don't have enough computer memory to actually use it. My Pro Tools 12 installation was a success, but somehow I lost all the plugins from my previous version. Oh, well. I'll deal with that problem later.

I found an old B&H gift card that was going to expire next week and used it to buy another UP3 fitness tracker. The price of these things has dropped dramatically, so that probably means Jawbone is going to discontinue them soon. It's a shame that Jawbone can't seem to make a durable product. The UP3 gets terrible reviews because the clasp is poorly designed and the band inevitably falls off and gets lost. I'm definitely not the only one this has happened to.

I was sad to hear that John Glenn died today. It was hard to believe he was 95. He looked so young when I watched Friendship Seven rocket into orbit in 1962. This was only five years after the Russians launched Sputnik 1 in 1957. I remember that too. Things happened quickly when going into space was a priority. Now we're moving at a snail's pace. I wonder if I'll still be alive when we finally make it to Mars?

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2550

These days are getting longer and longer. The dogs are typically pretty good in the morning. After breakfast and a long walk, they're usually content to sleep the rest of the morning. This brief quiet time is when I get most of my work done. Things begin to fall apart after lunch. Dot will usually sleep until 1 PM and occasionally as late as 2 PM. After that, she is determined to stay up for the rest of the day. This would be great if she could walk, but she can't. She has perfected a pitiful look and bark that summons me from my desk every time she needs something. All afternoon we walk from her bed to the water bowl in the kitchen and then out the back door. Sometimes she pees when we go outside, but usually she just pees in her bed. Every time she sits or lays down I have to make sure there's a puppy training pad strategically positioned under her.

Dash gets bored now because I don't have time anymore to take him on brisk five mile walks like I used to. When dogs get bored, all they want to do is eat. I've had to split their dinner into two smaller courses spaced an hour and a half apart so we can make it through the afternoon in one piece. It may seem silly, but it works. Usually, Dot and Dash will go back to sleep for a short while after the first half of their dinner. This is when I run errands and go to the post office. After they finish their two part dinner, they both get an evening walk. Dot only walks to the end of the street, but her short walk takes just as long as it takes to walk Dash several miles. Lord, that girl is slow.

Janet usually helps with the evening walks, but she's really busy during the holiday season and often gets home late. Now is as good a time as any to learn how to make this work by myself. When Janet leaves to visit her family for Christmas, there won't be any choice. Walking Dot alone has been slow going so far. She likes to follow Dash, but there is no way I can walk the two dogs together while holding up Dot's rear end with the harness. We're learning though. We did a little  better today than we did yesterday.

I finally figured out why my fitness tracker app was still tracking steps even after I lost it and the battery ran out. It turns out that the UP band app on my phone also receives information from my Apple watch. It wasn't ghost data after all. It was just information from my watch. Cloud computing has made everything so interconnected and complex that I have no idea what is going on anymore. My appointment calendar seems to be everywhere now. Text messages appear on my watch and I can answer my phone in the car by pressing a button on the steering wheel. Who knew that the watch was sending information all over the place too.

I tried to download some new Avid software before my upgrade subscription runs out in a few days. I forgot my password to the download site and had to request a new one. After I finally got the lengthy download started, our Internet went out. I had to start the download all over again after I rebooted the U-Verse router and re-established the connection. Was the latest version of Pro Tools worth all this trouble? Maybe. I didn't use Pro Tools at all this year, but next year I might start getting audio jobs again. You never know.

I'd love for tomorrow to be peaceful and productive, but I'm probably just going to be spending most of my time cleaning up poop. We have our tree up now, but I'm definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit yet.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2549

Sometimes I wonder why you guys continue reading. Very little happens these days. I'm OK with that because I'm afraid the next big news will be bad news. I still have the occasional writing and website assignments, but mostly life revolves around keeping Dot comfortable. She continues to slowly deteriorate and there is very little I can do at this point to change the outcome of this story. Although Dot is weak, she still seems happy. Often, I think she is happier than I am. I could learn a lot from her determination and resilience. I don't have many strong desires anymore, but I'm determined to help Dot continue her journey as long as she's willing. Who knows. Maybe she'll make it to her 17th birthday.

Today was mostly spent avoiding the rain and trying to stay warm. In the Summer I always think it would be nice to move to Wyoming, but when cold weather arrives I have second thoughts about northern Winters. Maybe I've already found the best place to live. Texas has a low cost of living compared to many states. It only snows a few times a year. There are bugs and snakes here, but it's not nearly as bad as Florida. I really think the perfect place to live only exists in my imagination.

One of my Dalmatian Rescue friends gave me her old UP band when I lost mine last weekend. She said it was broken, but thought I might be able to fix it. It didn't want to sync with my phone at all and there were some weird error lights flashing. I'd seen these error lights before on an earlier UP band I'd owned and thought I'd try a hard reset. The reset made the error lights go away but it still wouldn't sync with my phone. Since this looked like an early model band, I thought I'd try the very old Jawbone app on my first generation iPad. This worked like a charm. The fitness band synced with the old app and started counting steps again. It was actually kind of enjoyable to work my way through this process. I like fixing things.

Since it is nearing the end of the year, renewal notices are starting to arrive for the subscription software I've been forced to use. The main two I need to decide whether to renew are Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer. I renewed my license last year, but never used either application all year. Will I use Pro Tools next year? It's hard to decide these things. The software licenses are kind of pricey, but much less expensive than letting them lapse and having to buy the software all over again. I've been keeping current on business software because I refuse to acknowledge that my business is dying. It is basically finished though. Kaput. It's hard to imagine finding new clients at this point. Someday, I'll have to come to grips with this.

I paid some bills today and made a few quick calculations to make sure I still have enough left over to pay my property tax later this month. Christmas is coming and Dot has another big exam at the cancer center next week. Those bills won't come until January though, so I guess I'm OK. It would be nice to have a month with no big bills at all, but that's not going to happen.

Hopefully, the weather will improve a bit tomorrow. It was hard getting either dog to walk today. Rain or shine, tomorrow will probably be very similar to today.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2548

Most of the photo equipment has been put away. I'm glad I went to the storage warehouse early in the morning, because the skies got darker and darker as the day progressed. I managed to unload the equipment, pick up some more Tramadol for Dot at the vet, and fill the car with gas before it began to rain in earnest. I had the usual rainy day problems with the dogs when I returned home, but we're all gradually getting used to the bad weather.

While I was packing up the photo equipment, I thought I'd clean out a closet, because I was convinced that I might have dropped the fitness tracker there on Saturday morning while I was getting dressed. I uncovered a lot of dust and some very nice clothes I'd completely forgotten about, but there was no UP band to be seen. I think the illusive tracker is gone for good.

When I was at the storage warehouse, I noticed that the place had a new manager again. Being the manager of a storage warehouse must not be a very good job, because there seems to be a huge turnover. This new manager didn't seem to give a shit, because the place was filthy. The last manager was friendly and kept the place spotless. I was hoping he'd stay a while. No such luck.

I was glad I didn't have to unload heavy equipment in the rain, but maybe I should have done my website revisions first this morning. When I finally got settled in at the computer and started to work, both dogs decided that they needed attention instead. The revisions I was making today were complicated and every time I got interrupted by Dot, I would forget what I was doing and had to start over. I eventually got the client's site working again, but I started to feel like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill before the job was finished. What should have taken me one hour, took me close to four instead.

Janet and I went to a Christmas party at the Presidential Library this evening. The food was amazingly good, but there were some odd touches to the evening. Even though there was a full dinner being served, there were no dinner knives anywhere. Everyone was cutting their meat with a fork. Maybe this no knife thing is some sort of secret service rule when there is a president in the vicinity. It did seem weird to watch a lot of old people trying to cut their prime rib with a fork. "We're not this old, are we," Janet whispered to me at one point. Yep, I'm afraid we are. I watched one poor gentleman at our table put whipped cream on a cinnamon stick and try to eat it for dessert before his wife told him that the cinnamon stick was meant to stir your hot chocolate with. I was too smart to eat a cinnamon stick for dessert. I had some brightly colored cookies instead, because I knew they would photograph well. It was too dark and rainy to photograph anything else today.

Rainy days increase the likelihood of an accident in the house. Since it was exceptionally rainy today, I had pee and poop to clean up. Dot's last accident happened just before we were getting ready to leave for dinner. I tried to clean up the poop without getting any on my suit. Somehow, everything worked out fine. Incontinence definitely forces you to keep things in perspective.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2547

Today was pretty hectic. One of the larger dogs we photographed tore the muslin backdrop. One of the smaller dogs pooped on Santa's red suit. In between, we had a lot of dogs that didn't really understand the whole concept of pet pictures. I'm sure that most of them would have rather gone to a dog park today. Eventually, we managed to get good pictures of almost everybody though. You just have to be patient.

There were no cats today, but there were a lot of Dalmatians. Quite a few were alumni from our rescue program. It was almost like a Dalmatian Rescue reunion. We saw young dogs that we had rescued a few weeks ago and old dogs that we had rescued over a decade ago. It was nice to see that all of these dogs had fabulous homes with people who really loved them. I guess I'll do this again next year. It sure is tiring though. I didn't even bother to put away my equipment when I got home tonight.

I still can't find my UP fitness band. The odd thing is that it appears to still be counting steps, even though no one is wearing it. My first thought was that one of the dogs might have eaten the band, but Janet said this was ridiculous. It is pretty unlikely, since neither dog has any interest in eating things like this. My second thought was that somebody stole the band, but that is unlikely too, since the band connects to my phone using short range Bluetooth. If somebody else was wearing the band, it wouldn't pair with my phone anymore. My third thought was that the UP band never actually measured real steps in the first place. My phone can measure steps too. What if the UP app used the measuring sensors in my phone and the tracker itself was just a little rubber bracelet with flashing LED lights? I'd never know the difference. The battery on the tracker is dead now, so it stopped sending  information sometime this afternoon. I may never find an answer to this mystery.

It's going to take quite a while to put all the photo equipment away tomorrow. I had some minor electrical problems over the weekend and I really ought to test everything carefully to make sure it will work the next time we have a Dalmatian Rescue photo event. I have a feeling that we won't be doing another photo shoot anytime soon. All the volunteers agreed that we're getting older and these events aren't getting any easier. It's hard to believe that we used to have photo events for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and sometimes even Halloween. We'll probably do Christmas pictures again next year, but it won't be a marathon like it used to be. Two events a year is plenty.

Janet and I are going to a Christmas party tomorrow. The event is kind of formal, so Janet told me to be sure to air out a suit before we go. Like that would make a difference. It wouldn't make any difference if I air out, press, or take a suit to the dry cleaners. I'm still going to look like an old guy wearing a suit I bought twenty years ago. I suspect that it doesn't really matter. Most of the people at this party will be even older than I am. One good thing about old people parties is that they don't last very long. I feel pretty safe leaving Dot for a while. We should be back home in less than two hours.

It's been a long day, but everybody survived and maybe a few people will have a better Christmas card this year as a result of our Santa Paws photo shoots. Tomorrow, it's back to drinking banana, strawberry smoothies for breakfast and cleaning up dog poop.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2546

I was surprised that our first photo shoot went as well as it did today. When I got up to load the car, it was cold and raining. I took a shower last night, because I knew there wouldn't be time this morning. By the time I got to our location, there was barely time to set up before our first customers arrived. Nevertheless, everything went well. For the most part the pets we photographed were well behaved and their owners were friendly. We photographed almost as many cats today as dogs today. When we started doing Christmas pictures for Dalmatian Rescue, it was almost unheard of to bring a cat to one of these events. Now, cats wearing costumes are everywhere. We even had a rat today. The owner said it was a gerbil, but it sure looked like a rat to me. Several families with small children used the occasion to take a family portrait and most agreed that crashing a pet picture event was a lot easier than waiting in line so their kids could see a shopping mall Santa.

I lost my fitness tracker today. Who know when the thing fell off my wrist, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I was pretty sure that I lost the UP band while I was loading the car this morning, but after carefully retracing my steps, I couldn't find anything. When I got home from the photo shoot, I noticed that the tracker still appeared to be paired to my phone. The app showed that it was still counting steps too and even measuring a heart beat. It was almost as if the thing was still on my wrist, but had become invisible. The whole thing is baffling. I wasted a huge amount of time this evening looking for the wayward fitness band, but I still can't find it. The app shows that the battery has just about run out. Where is this thing? When the battery goes dead, it will disappear on the app and become even harder to find. I did find my reading glasses while I was looking for the missing band, so I guess there is still hope.

Tomorrow's photo shoot location if much further away than today's, so I will need to get up even earlier. I wish I could just leave all the equipment in the car to save time, but I don't have that much faith in my fellow man. I don't ever leave anything unattended in the car anymore. Today was busy, but I think even more people have signed up for Santa photos tomorrow. I need to stay focused and quit worrying about the fitness band. It will either turn up or it won't. At this point there isn't much I can do about it.

All in all, things went pretty well today. One of the flash triggers broke, but the other one worked just fine. Everyone loved the new backdrop we got this year. No dogs have peed on it yet either. So far, so good. Dot and Dash did well today, although I don't think Janet enjoyed staying home all day to keep an eye on them. She enjoys these special pet picture events more than I do. It's too bad we couldn't have just switched roles today.

I think my obsession with the missing fitness band reveals a disturbing character flaw. A weird mystery will capture my attention far easier than the ongoing needs of daily life. Maybe that's why I spend more time trying to figure out when Dot is going to poop next than I do trying to solicit new business. I keep trying to predict things that just can't be predicted. And when is the FedEx guy going to deliver that package anyway? That at least should be completely predictable. In the end, I want everything in life to run like clockwork and it just doesn't work that way. Even my watches don't run like clockwork.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2545

Everything seemed so busy today. The restaurant was crowded when I went out for breakfast this morning. There was a long line at the pharmacy when I went to pick up a prescription. Even the AT&T store was crowded when I went to exchange a broken TV remote control. I asked the pharmacist why she thought there was such a long line today and she said today was the day when all the Christmas parties started and people were running their errands early so they could go to a party tonight. Could be. I wouldn't know. I haven't been to a Christmas party in years.

Here's how life has changed. I've exchanged TV remote controls before. These things seem to break frequently. It used to be that the store had a big box of remotes back in the stock room. They'd give you a new remote out of the box and throw the bad one away. Now, a guy fills out a lengthy requisition form on an iPad and they ship you the new remote from somewhere in California. When the new remote arrives, you are supposed to return the defective remote in the same box and ship it back to California. Wouldn't it be easier to just keep a box on remote controls in the back of the store?

While I was filling out my application for a new remote control, the sales guy casually mentioned that my U-verse service was going to be discontinued next year. Did I want to sign up for the new replacement service? Jeez. It's taken me years to get U-verse to run reliably. Now that everything is finally pretty dependable, they're discontinuing it. "I'm sure you'll like our new fiber optic service even better," the sales guy told me. That wouldn't be hard, since I never liked U-verse at all. I would have discontinued U-verse several years ago if it weren't for the fact that Time Warner is even worse.  Who knows. Maybe the new fiber optic service is great. I bet I'm going to have problems getting my office network working again though. It's almost inevitable that some of my old equipment won't want to play nice with AT&T's new equipment.

I've been trying to get ready for tomorrow's photo shoot. The first problem is always finding everything. Equipment I don't use very often has a tendency to disappear. It's important to have enough fully charged batteries to make it through the day as well. It's fairly easy to remember the camera batteries. It's the little things like the batteries for the flash triggers that I tend to forget. I always buy a new backdrop before these Christmas photo shoots, mostly so repeat customers won't have the same pictures year after year. When Janet and I unfolded the new muslin tonight, it didn't look like it was the right size.  We measured everything and it was the exactly same size as last year's backdrop. Maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me.

I was working on a new article today when I realized that the subject seems very familiar. I looked through my files and it appears that I wrote exactly the same article last Spring. Did the client forget that we'd already covered this subject, or am I the one who's missing something? I sent the client an e-mail saying that we'd probably done this already, but I haven't heard anything back yet. Hope I didn't talk myself out of a job. This article would have been very easy to write.

I'll be real glad when these holiday photo shoots are over with. Each year, the equipment seems heavier and my aches and pains get worse. I thought last year might be my last, but here I am again. Janet is staying home this year, so I wont have to worry about Dot. All I have to worry about is whether I make it through the day.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2544

I never know what to expect when I open my e-mail in the morning. Today there were more new assignments than I'd had all week. It was going to be a busy day. After taking Dash on a long walk and finishing breakfast, I got started on a lengthy website revision. It seemed like I'd just changed this site recently, but I guess it was time to change it again. It's not my role to question these things.

The dogs were good this morning, so I was able to work quickly and efficiently. Before noon, I was ready to get started on a new writing assignment. Neither of today's assignments were very exciting, but I was glad to have them. It's still important to have something to do besides cleaning up dog poop.

The replacement parts I ordered for the Waterpik and the LunaTik iPhone case I ordered on Black Friday both came in the mail today. I love getting things in the mail. If I had more money, I'd order even more stuff I don't really need. I think the main reason I started collecting watches many years ago was that I liked getting little packages in the mail. I was never a very orthodox collector. I seldom bought expensive or traditionally "collectible" watches. I preferred obscure brands with odd looking dials. People always worry about being scammed when buying watches online. I never worried at all, because who is ever going to go to the trouble to counterfeit a cheap watch. Whenever a package comes in the mail these days, it reminds me of my collecting days. Eventually, I realized that most of the fun was over as soon as I opened the package. I don't collect anymore, but I make no apologies for the money I've wasted on useless stuff. When you work alone for years at a time, you've got to use your imagination to keep your day interesting.

If you saw my closet, you'd probably think I collected coats. In my mind, I'm just being practical. Each coat represents a ten degree difference in temperature. Today I picked one of my warmer coats for our morning walk. This was the first time this year that the temperature was in the 30's when I woke up. Nothing froze, but it got pretty close. I dread the day when the temperature actually does drop below freezing. The garden hose on the back porch has become an essential component in my continuing efforts to keep Dot clean. It is much easier to take Dot outside and clean the poop off her butt with a hose and then dry her off with a bath towel than it is to try and accomplish the same thing inside using wet rags.

I've been wondering what to do with the extra garbage can the city sent me last month. One of my neighbors solved the problem for me. They stole it. Why they would want a broken garbage can is beyond me, but at least it isn't sitting behind my house in the alley anymore. I've actually been having pretty good luck getting my trash emptied recently. Maybe there's a new driver on our route. I haven't had any problems in well over a month, but I'm still superstitious. When I took the trash out this evening, I made sure to place it in my lucky spot. If a car is ever parks in this spot on Thursday night, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Dot is sleeping now, but she still hasn't pooped since early this morning. It makes me nervous. This is an accident just waiting to happen.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2543

I was a little better organized today. I tried to get as much done as I could while the dogs were asleep. Once they woke up, I knew it was going to be a lost cause. It was a nice day, so I got up on the roof and removed all the standing water. This is the worst time of year for keeping the roof dry. The large Oak, Elm, and Pecan trees in the yard are all shedding leaves. Wet leaves are heavy and a lot more trouble to move than dry leaves. The roof was covered with water and wet, soggy leaves, but unfortunately there are still a lot of leaves left on the trees. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to do this again.

Since the dogs were still sleeping when I returned to the house, so I moved on to my next task. I needed to replace a lot of pictures on a website, but since the client had already resized them for me, the job went quickly. I was done before noon. I checked on the dogs again and Dot was still sleeping soundly, so I took a shower. Dot often poops in her bed while I take a shower, and today was no exception. Luckily, she was still asleep and laying on a disposable pad, so I was able to clean things up easily. This is when my luck ran out.

Dash woke up while I was cleaning Dot up and immediately ran to the kitchen and started barking for his lunch. I lifted Dot up so she could join him, but I forgot to immediately take her outside to pee. Both dogs have a rice cake for lunch. It's not really a meal like breakfast or dinner, but it keeps them from getting bored. While Dot was eating her rice cake, she started to pee on a rug. Damn. I should have remembered the correct sequence of things. Everything is so complicated now. I have to cut the rice cake into tiny pieces because Dot has trouble chewing now and almost choked on a larger bite of rice cake recently.

After the dogs finish their lunch, I take them outside and then they typically used to go back to sleep again. Not anymore. Dot is restless in the afternoons now. She paces around and wants me to take her outside every ten minutes. If I ignore her, she barks. I can't ignore her for very long. Even if she manages to get out of her bed on her own, she quickly falls or manages to get stuck in a corner.

When I could tell Dot was getting tired, I penned her in an area where she couldn't hurt herself and went to the vegan take out place to pick up something for dinner. I was looking forward to the meal they had featured on their website, but it was all gone when I got there, so I had to choose something else. I've discovered that I don't like all vegetarian meals. Some are definitely better than others. I picked out something new that looked interesting and returned home, hoping that Dot hadn't pooped again.

Dot's bed was clean when I returned home, but the day wasn't over yet. She ended up pooping and falling in the mess while I was getting Dash ready for his evening walk. I was hoping for a relaxing walk after I got Dot cleaned up and started washing another load of dog blankets, but Dash wasn't being cooperative. We were almost home when he froze and refused to move forward. Nothing I could do would convince him to walk up the final hill that completed out journey. Finally, I gave up and we backtracked and returned home the way we came. This behavior seemed insane, but I'll give Dash the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he could smell coyotes. There are coyotes in the neighborhood again. One more thing to worry about.

By the time Janet returned from work, both dogs were exhausted and were sleeping peacefully. This is what usually happens. Janet never believes the trials and tribulations I deal with during the day.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2542

I need to rearrange how I spend my day. I can't change getting up too early. We have to get the dogs fed and walked before Janet goes to work. I can't change going to bed too late either. I'm usually the only one still awake to take Dot out to pee at the end of the day. In between, there's still a little flexibility. I need to try and get anything important done between 9 AM and 2 PM. So far, it's a pretty safe bet that this is when both dogs will be asleep. After they eat their rice cake for lunch, all bets are off. I don't know where Dot got her new burst of energy, but she's active almost all afternoon now.

I wish she was steady enough on her feet so that I could just let her wander around on her own. Unfortunately, she's not steady at all. She falls down a lot, gets stuck behind furniture, and poops when you least expect it. Afternoons are a three ring circus, but it's good to see Dot active again.

My project for today was seeing which applications still worked on the laptop after the big system upgrade a couple of days ago. I haven't tested everything, but so far I've only had to delete four applications. That's actually pretty good. There isn't room on my desk to set up a second computer, so I had to work on the kitchen table. The dogs didn't like this. If I'm in the kitchen, they think it's time to be fed. If I ignore them for too long, they both start barking. Needless to say, I didn't get as much accomplished as I'd hoped. Maybe I've done enough. Microsoft Word works. Final Cut Pro works. And I think Pro Tools works. The web browser and e-mail work too. That's all I ever used to use when I was on the road anyway,

I meant to get the water off the roof today, but I didn't get around to it this morning when the dogs were sleeping. This afternoon, Dot would never settle down long enough for me to get anything done. I didn't want to be up on the roof if she fell or pooped somewhere. It probably wouldn't have even mattered if I was up on the roof. Dot wandered into the office just before dinner time and promptly pooped all over the carpet. I'd taken her outside at least ten times today, including once five minutes before she messed up the carpet. Why she couldn't poop while she was outside remains a mystery to me. Basically, I'm so tired of cleaning up poop I could scream.

The humidity was actually lower outside than in the house today. This is a rarity. The weather was nice, so I opened the windows and let the house air out. 25% relative humidity is a lot nicer than 85% relative humidity. I hope the dry weather continues. It would be nice to spend the Winter without worrying about mold.

I started charging batteries for this weekend's photo shoot. Tomorrow I'll unpack the strobes and make sure that they still work. I've got all this equipment, but mostly I just take pictures with my phone these days. I thought oday's sunrise was worth putting on my camera roll. Dash didn't even notice the beautiful sunrise. As always, he had his nose to the ground, trying to sniff out nasty things to eat.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2541

The dogs wore me out today. Usually they sleep enough during the day so I can get my work done. Not today. Dash had an upset stomach and needed to go outside frequently. Dot was just restless. Every hour or so she would start barking for me to lift her out of her bed. We'd walk around aimlessly for a while and then she'd go back to bed again. We did this over and over again for most of the day. Dot is forgetful now. She'll go to her water bowl and then she'll go outside, and as soon as we come in, she'll go to her water bowl again. When she's restless, she'll repeat these simple activities over and over again. I can't just leave her to her own devices, because she'll quickly fall over or get herself stuck in a corner somewhere. She can also poop at any time without warning, so I'm always following behind her, holding up her rear end with the harness. I guess it's a good thing when Dot feels active, but sometimes I wonder if her restlessness is caused by pain or discomfort.

I'm used to a routine. When the routine changes I get worried. What does it mean when Dot gets restless and agitated? There have been times in the past when restlessness was the first sign of a serious illness. Usually, it just means that she's bored and wants more activity. She didn't have a fever today and seemed calm when she was sleeping, so I'm assuming that she just had more energy than usual. I could be wrong, but I can't take her to the vet every single day.

I've got to figure a better way to manage my own stress. It's hard caring for a dog that could die at any moment. There are so many things that could go wrong. Although Dot's dementia is getting worse, she still seems happy. She loves her slow walks and she eats her meals with gusto. I don't think she's even aware that she's pooping all over the place. I do my best to make her feel normal and that's really all I can do.

Now that Black Friday is over, I was inundated with a second wave of Cyber Monday e-mail this morning. I think every store I've ever shopped at in my life offered me some sort of discount or special coupon this week. Some of the deals are amazing. I bought a few little things because why not? My days of reckless consumerism are over though. I just don't have the money anymore.

I lost my reading glasses again. I think I could have a pair in every room and I'd still manage to lose them all within a month. The house is small, but when I lose these glasses, they're gone for good. I searched for almost an hour this morning and turned up nothing. Where did they go? Usually, I can never find these glasses until I buy a new pair and then they'll miraculously turn up again, often in plain sight. Some days I'm not sure whether Dot has dementia or I do.

I got a couple of website assignments toward the end of the day, so I should be busy tomorrow. Hopefully, the dogs will be calmer so I can get some work done. At the very least, it would be nice if they could just chill out while I eat my own breakfast. I don't bother them while they're eating, so why do they continually bother me when I'm eating? I never should have introduced them to bananas.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day