Day 2822

I'm getting so tired of telemarketers, Caller ID spoofing, Phishing attempts, and data breaches that it seems like it would be easier to be off the grid entirely. I just don't understand why some people go to such extraordinary lengths to make life difficult for others. It's only going to get worse. After the whole Equifax debacle, I think it's just a matter of time before 100% of the population has their personal information compromised.

The older I get, the more scammers I seems to attract. It's irritating. My Dad was the victim of a telephone scam. That was back in the day when people were trusting and just picked up the phone whenever it rang. Now, even with Nomorobo and assorted call blocking apps provided by the phone companies, the telemarketers still manage to break through. I'm beginning to understand why people prefer to send text messages. Answering your phone has become a liability. I don't even trust my Caller ID anymore. You never know who is on the other end of the line.

Today I had to block my own phone number. Apparently it is pretty easy for spoofers to makes calls seem like they are originating from your own phone. They can also make them appear to be coming from someone in your own neighborhood. I don't understand why the phone companies can't get a handle on these scams. Probably for the same reason that Facebook can't seem to get a handle on fake news. Perhaps humans are just too inherently evil to be trusted with technology. When I was a kid, people even trusted door-to-door salesmen. The Fuller Brush Man was a well respected member of the community. What have we become? My mailbox is filled with junk mail. I'm inundated with telemarketing calls, and I never open my front door to a stranger.

Almost lost in today's batch of junk mail was a letter from my sister telling me that she has stage three cancer. She seemed upbeat and pretty matter of fact about her prognosis, but I was stunned by the news. Way too many people I know are dealing with cancer. It hits pets pretty hard too. Dot and Dash were both diagnosed with cancer and so was Spot, our very first Dalmatian. I'm kind of nervous about going in for my own annual physical. I feel healthy, but lord knows what the doctors might discover this time.

I really shouldn't postpone my physical, but I've been postponing everything lately. My excuse for postponing my physical is that I'm thinking of switching doctors soon. Maybe that's a good excuse. I have no real excuse for postponing jury duty. I just don't want to serve on a jury. A lot of small home repairs have been postponed because I don't have the money to pay for them now. I'd postpone tomorrow if I could, but time just keeps marching on.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2821

What happened to our nice Fall weather? It felt like Summer again today. I wonder if the abrupt change in temperature confused the White Pelicans I saw arrive yesterday? These birds spend the Winter at the lake every year. I thought that their arrival was a sure sign that cooler temperatures were here to stay, but I guess I was wrong. It's hard to predict the weather these days. The Farmers Almanac says that Texas is going to have a cold Winter with lots of ice and snow. I find this hard to believe, but stranger things have happened.

Nothing strange happened today. In fact, very little happened at all. Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to continue this narrative for another 2,179 days. It's not always easy to write about nothing. Dash seems better at dealing with uneventful days than I am. He's either sleeping, begging for food, or trying to lick his injured dewclaw. I've been trying to give him a reprieve from wearing the cone all day by putting a towel over his front legs while he is sleeping. Usually this works pretty well, but Dash is sneaky. A couple of times today, I caught him with his head under the towel, still licking the dewclaw.

I got a check in the mail today that was immediately offset by two bills that were considerably larger than the money I received. I took the check to the bank, paid the bills, and took them to the post office. It's hard to get ahead this way. At some point I'm either going to have to get a job or start spending my retirement savings. The future is so uncertain that it seems unwise to start using your nest egg too soon. I'm not sure it is wise to go looking for a job either. Who would hire me? I've survived on my own for so long that I'm probably not employable. When I'm honest, I have to acknowledge that it's a collaborative world and I'm not much of a team player. I used to think it would be fun to work part-time at an Apple Store in my retirement years. I'd be a natural, I thought. I know more about Apple products than just about anybody, but Apple customers aren't like they used to be. It's not a small group of tech savvy geeks anymore. Lately, when I go into an Apple Store, I am repelled by the way the company has changed. It's all about the phone now. The computers are an afterthought. I'm not sure how excited I could get about selling you a phone that lets you send messages using an animated animal emoji that mimics your facial motions. I don't even want to stay connected.

It's weird how quickly the news organizations have forgotten about the hurricanes. Just a few days ago every reporter in the country was standing out in the rain seeing who would be first to get blown over by a gust of wind. Now, they are all back to bashing Trump again. It's almost as if the storms never happened. If your home was flooded, the story definitely isn't over. It's probably just beginning. I keep wondering if there's a part of the country where you never have to worry about tornados, floods, hurricanes, or forest fires. A lot of my favorite places out West have been plagued with wildfires this season. Maybe there are no idyllic places left.

I always used to think of Crested Butte as an an idyllic place. My family used to spend summers near there when I was young. The other day I read an article about how Airbnb was destroying communities like Crested Butte, making it impossible for the locals to find affordable housing. Apparently, investors have bought up everything in town and are using the properties as short term vacation rentals. Nobody even knows who their neighbors are anymore. There are two sides to everything and the new sharing economy doesn't benefit everyone. LimeBike has arrived in Dallas and I'm already starting to see the green and yellow bicycles abandoned all over the park like somebody's trash. In theory, another customer will eventually hop on one of these bikes and ride it somewhere else, but it isn't happening yet. For the record, I'm not really fond of Uber either. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2820

I got a letter from eBay saying that they hadn't seen me in a long time and that my account would be deleted if I didn't return to buy or sell something within the next 30 days. I didn't click on any of the links because I thought this might be some sort of Phishing scam. It is true that I haven't visited eBay in a long time though. Maybe the letter was real. I used to be hooked on eBay. I would visit almost every day, fascinated by all the weird and wonderful stuff you could find there. I didn't need any of the stuff I bought. My purchases were somewhere between a habit and an addiction. I never bought anything very expensive, but I did buy a lot of stuff. It was fun to get little packages from all over the world.

One day I woke up and my eBay purchases seemed silly. I quit visiting the site and over time I even forgot my login password. I've thought about selling the stuff I bought on eBay, but I don't want to deal with the buyers. There are too many scammers now. I don't want to deal with bad reviews or people who claim their item arrived broken and want their money back. It's just not worth the hassle anymore. If I ever have to resort to selling things on eBay to pay my bills, I'm probably in pretty bad shape. Let's hope that day never comes. Assuming the letter I received is real, I think I'll just let eBay delete my account. Been there, done that.

I have a long laundry list of things I used to be excited about that no longer interest me. I don't write and record songs anymore. I don't have any interest in becoming a fashion photographer. I don't read several books a week these days. Jeez. I'm lucky if I read several books a year. I stopped collecting art years ago when I ran out of walls to display the stuff. I'm not even interested in going to movies anymore.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm interested in anything at all until I look a Dash and realize that I still love dogs. When I'm walking in the evening, I'll look up at the sky and realized that I'm still interested in astronomy as well. If the carpal tunnel in my wrist wasn't so bad, I'd probably play guitar more. Guitars are cool. Maybe this is enough. It is kind of astonishing how my world has shrunk. I used to be interested in everything.

I wonder why I haven't heard from the appliance repairmen. I thought he would have returned to replace the two thermostats in the refrigerator by now. Maybe appliance repairmen are just like plumbers, electricians, and roofers. I have to call the roofer ten times before I can get him to come to the house. There's always a chance that I don't even need the new thermostats. The refrigerator is still working fine. Even the ice maker works now and the repairmen didn't even touch that.

I think Dash is feeling better. He didn't seem as obsessed with his paw today. I was able to let him wander around without the cone on his head for hours at a time today. He had a couple of relapses where I had to resort to the cone again, but things are getting better. It would be nice if he didn't have to wear the cone at all tomorrow.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2819

I spent the day mending fences with clients, solving odd website problems, and trying to keep Dash from continually getting stuck in corners with his cone. I wish Dash would quit trying to lick his wound whenever I take the cone off, but I guess that's what dogs do. Dash hates wearing the cone and I try to take it off whenever I can, but he's not being very cooperative. Whenever I turn my back, he's quietly licking his injured dewclaw again.

It was actually enjoyable to be working on websites today. I like to stay busy, but work is hit and miss these days. Usually when I'm busy, it's because someone has a crisis. Most of my bread and butter work has gone away. I should have stayed in architecture. My writing work has declined because younger people don't read, and my design work has declined because there are too many easy alternatives to hiring someone like me. Every time I turn on the TV I see ads from GoDaddy promising that you can build your own business website for next to nothing in less than an hour. It's hard to compete with that.

I suspect that my career would be nearing an end by now even if I'd stayed in architecture. Many of my classmates from architecture school have already retired. Some are traveling. Some have taken up painting. Some have died of cancer. At least I'm still alive. I don't have a house filled with floodwater either, so I guess I'd better quit complaining.

I was kind of astonished by the new iPhone X introduction today. Would you pay $1000 for a phone? I saw some pundit on one of the business shows try to rationalize the exorbident price by saying that unlike your car, which just sits in your driveway most of the time, your phone is an essential part of your life and you couldn't function without it. Have we really come to this? I could get along just fine without my phone. I got one phone call today and it was on my old land line. Staying connected is overrated.

I postponed jury duty again. Eventually, I will have to serve, but I'll keep delaying things as long as I can. Sitting in the jury pool room is one of my least favorite things. I don't know why I keep getting jury summons. I've been called many times and have never been asked to sit on a jury. I don't seem to be what the lawyers are looking for. I probably wouldn't make a good juror anyway. I think everyone is guilty.

The shower didn't leak this morning. I don't know why. My latest theory is that there is a very slow leak and it takes about three days for enough water two accumulate under the tile floor that it starts leaking out of a crack. I may be wrong. I don't have any theories about why Dash continues to lick his paws. He used to lick them even before his injury.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2818 - 9/11

With each passing year the world seems to pay a little less attention to 9/11. I was surprised to learn that almost 20% of the US population wasn't even born when the twin towers fell. Do these people even understand how much the world changed that day? It's been sixteen years now. I wonder who will remember when another sixteen years has passed.

I will remember, but I doubt that it matters much. My generation is no longer in charge. If you are my age, you may think you are still relevant, but the torch has already been passed. I hope that future generations will eventually develop an appreciation for history. From what I see, they don't care much about history any more. History is important and you can't just re-write the past because some of it might embarrass you. I will always remember when John Kennedy was shot, when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, and when the twin towers fell. These weren't dry events in a history book for me. I was there.

I wonder how long it will take the media to forget about Hurricane Irma? They've already forgotten about Harvey. It's astonishing what a short attention span we have these days. It's almost like the evening news has become a circus. Every Channel had a reporter in a raincoat standing out in the middle of the hurricane, but nobody is reporting about the wildfires on the West Coast at all. I didn't hear much about that huge earthquake in Mexico either. Maybe this is normal, but it seems strange to me.

I have time to think about such things because all I do these days is make pathetic attempts to repair things around the house. Today I got up on the roof with a pole saw and trimmed a lot of low hanging branches. The next time we get bad weather, some of these branches were sure to fall. I probably saved about $300 by doing the work myself, but I'd much rather be busy writing or designing websites, so I could pay someone else to do these dirty jobs.

I wonder how long it is going to take for Dash's dewclaw to start growing back. Every time I take his cone off, he starts licking his paw. It doesn't help that he always used to lick his paws anyway. It's just a habit, but it's a very bad habit right now. The wound needs to heal and scab over. This will take a while. I hope it doesn't take as long as it took my dog bite wounds to heal. Dash and I will both go crazy if that is the case. For the time being, I've resigned myself to taking his cone on and off a dozen times a day.

I guess I need to resign myself to losing work to millennials. Another website I created is being redesigned by a team of millennials. It hurts my feelings, but I would have done the same thing when I was younger. I wasn't shy about taking work from older creatives back in the day. Oh, well. What goes around comes around and time just keeps on marching on.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2817

We had trouble removing Dash's bandage this morning, so we took him to the vet to get some help. Dash must have known that the nurse knew what she was doing, because he was calm and composed and the bandage came off easily. This wasn't the case when I tried to remove the bandage thirty minutes earlier. He didn't want me anywhere near the thing.

Since Dash wasn't limping, we took him on a walk without his cone when we got home. Our beautiful Fall weather continues and we all enjoyed the outing. Unfortunately, the cone didn't stay off all day. I was hoping that Dash would ignore his injury, but I caught him licking it several times and the cone had to go back on. I removed and replaced the cone for most of the day. For the most part, Dash was good, but there were moments when he was paying way too much attention to his leg. In a way it's too bad we couldn't leave the bandage on, but the nurse said the wound would heal faster if it was exposed to air.

Somewhere in the house we have a really nice soft cone, but we couldn't find it. This happens a lot. The cone could be in my storage room, in Janet's storage room, in a box somewhere in the house, or we could have given it to a rescue group. All Janet and I can remember is that we bought a nice cone for Dot once after one of her surgeries and she wore it for a while. I remember the color was blue, but I definitely don't remember where I saw the cone last. It's not worth buying another one, because Dash will only need to wear this cone for a day or two.

I got a chance to go to the gym today while Janet stayed home with Dash for a while. We hate to leave a dog wearing a cone alone, because it is so easy for them to get stuck somewhere or get into some other kind of trouble. Some of our dogs have absolutely hated wearing a cone, but Dash is pretty good. He seems to be able to take a nap with the cone on his head just as easily as without it. That's probably the true sign of a lazy dog if he still lays around and sleeps with a cone on his head.

I had a good workout today. I really need to renew my efforts to go to the gym several times a week. I can tell I'm starting to make some progress. I don't know why it's so hard for me to go three times a week. I certainly don't have a lot of other pressing activities. Just taking care of the basic things seems to take all my time now.

I see my neighbors starting to pile trash in their front lawns in preparation for bulky trash day. This would be a good time for me to go up on the roof with a pole saw and cut some of the low handing limbs. I never remember to do this until the day after bulky trash day. It's a shame that the city only picks up this type of trash once a month, but I guess that's better than nothing.

Dash is sleeping now. I hope he stays asleep. He was eating grass in the yard earlier this evening and that's often a sign that he's going to throw up. One thing at a time please. Dash has gone almost three weeks without throwing up. Let's at least wait until he gets the cone off before we have any more digestive problems.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2816

Traveling with Dash in the car is usually a disaster. Today was no exception. We made it to our appointment with the photographer this morning without incident. I think she even got some good pictures. The trip home was the problem. We had almost made it back to the house when Janet noticed that there was blood everywhere. Dash had ripped out one of his dew claws. Don't ask me how it happened. I don't know. He was fine when we got him in the car. He was fairly calm on the way home and didn't appear to get his nail caught on anything. He didn't even yelp or appear in pain. One minute he was sitting on his bed and the next minute there was blood everywhere.

We took him to the vet to stop the bleeding and see if he needed stitches. They were really busy, so we had to drop him off and pick him up later in the afternoon. When he returned, he had a bandage on his paw and was wearing a cone. The vet thinks he will be fine, but we need to keep him from chewing the bandage or getting it wet. Hopefully, the dewclaw will grow back. Dot lost a nail once when she got it caught in a crack in the pavement while on a walk. Her nail eventually did grow back, but it grew in crooked for some reason.

Dash hates wearing the cone and bumps into everything. Hopefully, we can take it off tomorrow. The bandage needs to come off pretty soon as well. There will be less risk of infection if the wound is exposed to the air. To be safe, he is taking antibiotics, but a damp or wet bandage is not what we want right now.

Taking Dash to have his portrait made and then taking him to the vet to get treated used up a big chunk of the day. I feel bad. Maybe if we had trimmed his nails a little sooner, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. I'm really nervous about taking Dash in the car now. Bad things seem to happen whenever Dash rides in the car.

I ran my Saturday errands while Dash was at the vet and when he returned, I spent the rest of the afternoon with him to keep him calm. It wasn't that hard to keep Dash calm. He was really tired and pretty soon both of us were asleep on the bed.

Janet thought the refrigerator was broken again, but I thought she just left the door open too long while loading in new groceries. It still seems to be working to me. At any rate, the appliance repairmen will be returning next week anyway to install the new thermostats they ordered. I'm more worried about the shower. I had to use the wet/dry vacuum again today to clear away the water that had collected under the tiles. I think the shower pan will prevent the water from getting into the rest of the house, but it still shouldn't be getting under the tiles.

I hope Dash is back to normal soon. One problem after another is wearing me down. I feel vaguely guilty being bothered about trivial problems, because every time I turn on the TV, it seems like the rest of the world is dealing with huge, almost apocalyptic problems. A torn nail is nothing compared to a hurricane. I'm sure it's a big deal to Dash though. The little guy seemed pitiful today.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2815

Sometimes little things make all the difference. Nothing really happened today, but there were some little things that made it feel like a good day. The weather was beautiful. This is the one time of year when the weather is actually nice in Dallas. After a brisk morning walk with Dash, I had an enjoyable and surprisingly quiet breakfast at a place that is often crowded and noisy.

When I got home, I was amazed that I'd gotten a reply to the plea for help I'd sent the roofer a few days ago. Hopefully, he can figure out how to fix some of the mistakes his crew made earlier. My repairs actually look pretty good. When I went up on the roof today to clear away my equipment, it seemed like all my patches were solid. I'm sure there's still some water trapped under the elastomer, but the roof looks better than it did a few weeks ago.

Dash is still moody, but he's eating better now. We're back to eating two regular meals a day now, instead of dividing his food into a bunch of little meals. He hasn't thrown up in several weeks, so that's good too. Now if I could just get him to take normal walks again. For some reason he doesn't want to leave the house. Once we're down in the park, he's fine, but getting him to leave the house is often next to impossible.

You'd think Dash would be eager to leave the house. The place is pretty quiet these days. Dot is gone. Janet is back at work again. My office is no longer a beehive of activity. As a result, we both spend too much time thinking about food. I spend forever fiddling around with breakfast and since Dash never learned to eat slowly and savor his food, he's constantly begging for treats. I usually save some of the banana I put in my morning smoothie for him, but he eats the banana so quickly that I wonder if he even tastes it.

I did get a few things done today, but there was nothing that couldn't have waited until tomorrow. Actually tomorrow will be fairly busy. We need to take Dash downtown to get his picture taken. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the upcoming Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. I could have taken Dash's picture myself since I'm a photographer, but that wasn't apparently the plan. I just hope that Dash is good in the car. I definitely don't want to be cleaning up poop again.

I'm mesmerized by reports of the slowly approaching hurricane. I hope everybody stays safe. I have a sister who lives in Florida and I never could figure out why she moved there. In addition to alligators, snakes, and huge cockroaches, they have to deal with hurricanes over and over again. I still think Wyoming is a better place to live.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2814

It was chilly this morning. I wore a jacket on our morning walk for the first time since early Spring. It's hard to believe that in other parts of the country people are dealing with raging wildfires, flooded homes, and an approaching hurricane that is even larger than Harvey. In our little corner of the world the weather is perfect. This weather won't last long, so we'd better enjoy it while we can.

It's been nice having the weather cooperate while I work on the roof. I didn't finish today, but I'm done for a while. I've completely used up the five gallon drum of elastomer material the roofers sent me. I would guess that it's going to take at least ten more gallons to complete the repairs. I wasn't really expecting the repairs to be so extensive, but that's what I get for trusting the roofing crew to do their job properly. It really makes me mad that they simply poured the new coating right on top of the old damaged coating. They should have pulled all the damaged material off and let the water that had gotten underneath dry. It would have taken a little longer to do their repairs properly, but it would have avoided the mess I'm dealing with now. There is water underneath many of the patches that the roofers have made previously because they didn't make sure the surface was dry under the damaged areas they were fixing.  I always wondered how they could do their work so quickly. Now I know.

Janet has a niece living in Florida who decided to ride out the storm. This seemed like a mistake until I looked at the lines of cars trying to evacuate Miami and the Florida keys. These cars are just inching along as far as the eye can see and there's no gas available in many parts of Florida. What happens when all these cars run out of gas? I'd rather be inside a well constructed home when the hurricane struck than out on a freeway in a car that's out of gas. I mentioned yesterday that these were starting to seem like the end times. Nothing has happened today that would change my opinion.

Dash is not adjusting well to Janet returning to work. He liked having everyone home with him. I think he's trying to be the alpha dog now that Dot is gone, but he doesn't really know how. Dash has always been insecure and depended on Dot for leadership. Instead of being strong and confident, he just throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Maybe he'll eventually grow into the role of  being a proper alpha dog, but he has a long way to go.

After I finished working on the roof, I washed the car. For once this didn't seem like a chore. It was nice to be working with fresh, clean water instead of stick white goo. I'm tired of working on the roof, but I've still got to finish the job before our Fall rainy season starts. If history is any guide, it's going to be pretty wet around here by the time Halloween arrives.

It's not going to be wet tomorrow. I think our nice weather is going to continue for another week. I'll get up early, take Dash on a walk, and then go out for breakfast. After that, who knows.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2813

I'm screwed. I think the roofers have been doing shoddy work, but I still need their help. It doesn't matter what kind of repair you are doing. Once you start questioning the quality of the work, most repair people get defensive and never want to see you again. I'm kind of between a rock and a hard place. It will take me forever to repair the entire roof myself, and even if I can convince the roofers to come out again, they'll probably just continue to take short cuts that ultimately make the problem worse.

I spent about three hours on the roof today. Luckily, there was no wind, so I didn't have to worry about leaves falling into the wet elastomer this time. I've only got about a gallon of the material left, so I need to get the roofers to bring me more. If they refuse, I'll have to figure out where to buy the stuff. This silicon elastomer is so messy. It can't be good to get it on your skin, but I can't seem to avoid it. I thought the half full five gallon drum might be light enough so I could lift the entire thing up on the roof. It was still much heavier than I thought. I narrowly avoided a catastrophe when the rope I was hoisting the drum with slipped out of my hands and the sticky elastomer almost fell on my car. I made a save and kept the drum from falling, but still have rope burns on my hands.

My plan to start going to the gym on Wednesdays didn't even last two weeks. I was so tired when I came down from the roof that all I felt like doing was taking a shower and a nap. Since something major seems to break around the house on a weekly basis, I don't know if I'll ever have the liberty to come and go as I please. Even when I took a shower today I had to deal with the stupid leak again. I just can't find the source of this thing. The best solution would be to replace the shower pan and re-tile the entire bathroom. That will have to wait. There are still too many bills to pay.

The one piece of good news is that Dash is showing no side effects from increasing his phenobarbital dose. I hope this continues. I hate giving Dash a strong barbiturate like phenobarbital, but it is very effective at controlling epileptic seizures. Once when he was seizure free for several years, we thought it would safe to discontinue the phenobarbital entirely. That was a mistake. Within a few months, Dash had a horrible seizure. He will be taking phenobarbital for the rest of his life.

With major wildfires up and down the West Coast and back-to-back catastrophic hurricanes pounding the East and Gulf Coasts, it would be easy to believe the end times are here. There are so many things going on at the moment that are almost apocalyptic in nature. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but every year the latest disaster du jour seems to be a little worse. I'm pretty sure the world will be around for another twenty years, but if I was younger, I might be a little worried. I guess you can only worry about one thing at a time, so for the moment, stay safe Florida.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2812

The refrigerator is working again. I was amazed that I was able to get an appliance repairman to come out the same day I called. The two guys who showed up were older and knew their stuff. It turned out that I had a faulty thermostat which prevented the automatic defrost circuit from working properly, causing the evaporator coils to become frozen in a block of ice. After the coil was thawed out, the fridge worked like a charm. The guys will have to come back next week to install the two new thermocouple thermostats they ordered, but they said the coil wouldn't have time to freeze again before they returned. I'm glad we didn't buy a new refrigerator. As it turned out, there wasn't that much wrong with this one.

I got lucky with the refrigerator, but I can't say the same about the roof. As I continue my repairs, I'm discovering that the roofing crew did a really lousy job of applying the previous patches. Instead of peeling away all the damaged elastomer and letting the surface underneath dry thoroughly, they just poured the new elastomer material on top on the old. As a result, when the elastomer cured, it trapped moisture underneath that could never escape. I always wondered how the roofing crews could make their repairs so quickly. Now I know. They just did a sloppy job. Now, I'm faced with making much more extensive repairs than I had planned. If you're thinking of buying a cool looking mid-century modern home with a flat roof, try to resist the urge. A flat roof is nothing but trouble.

Dash's vet wants to increase his phenobarbital dose. I was afraid of this. She says that his current dose doesn't provide enough protection anymore and that it could lead to seizures again. At least the increase isn't huge. He was taking a one grain tablet twice a day. Now, he'll be taking 1 and 1/4 grains twice a day. We'll do another blood test in six weeks to see if this puts him back in the safe zone. I hope the additional phenobarbital won't make him too sleepy or lethargic. He spends too much time sleeping as it is.

I went to a nearby service station to get a few bags of ice so the food in the freezer wouldn't go bad when the repairmen were working. I asked the guy at the register whether they still had a good supply of gasoline and he said they were almost out again. Jeez. The tanker truck had just filled them up two days ago. I topped my tank up again, just in case.

Now that people have realized how easy it is for an entire city to run out of gasoline, I think a lot more people are going to be driving around with full tanks instead of tempting fate with a gas gauge near empty. Every time there is a power outage or a weather emergency I try to become a little more prepared. I have lots of fresh batteries. I have a generator. It just occurred to me that the little dorm room refrigerator we just got will easily run on a generator. That's good. I can't afford large scale solar power, but that's definitely on my fantasy wish list.

Pick your poison. Maybe it's climate change. Maybe it's Kim Jong-un. Maybe it's back-to-back monster hurricanes. Why do I get this nagging feeling that Armageddon is just around the corner? I hope I'm wrong. I'd much rather spend my remaining years wandering around the streets of Paris than living in a cave somewhere.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2811 - Labor Day

I learned a lot about refrigerators today. I suspect that one of the reasons they don't last as long as they used to is that they've become way too complicated. We saw refrigerators with built-in web browsers. There was one that had a WiFi camera inside the refrigerator that you could access using your phone. If you were at the supermarket and couldn't remember if you needed milk, you could just check the fridge with your phone. Several manufacturers offered convertible models where you could temporarily turn the freezer into a second small refrigerator with the flick of a switch. Jeez. A refrigerator is just a machine to keep things cold. Why did they all have to turn into computers that keep things cold?

We eventually found a few refrigerators that were small enough to fit inside our kitchen alcove. None of them were as nice as the fridge we already have. Like most things in life the basic models have become even more rudimentary and the high-end models have become bloated with an insane array of features. There is no middle ground anymore. All the major stores basically offered the same choices at roughly the same price. Nobody was willing to deliver and install anything in less than fourteen days. We had hoped to find something we liked and get it installed tomorrow. That wasn't going to happen. We needed a plan B.

I was surprised to discover that you could buy one of those little dorm room refrigerators for less than the cost of a good ice chest. In fact, a large Yeti ice chest ended up costing twice as much as a small dorm room refrigerator. Since the freezer still works in our existing refrigerator, we bought one of these little refrigerators so our food wouldn't go bad and I'll call an appliance repairman in the morning. There's a good chance I could get our existing refrigerator fixed in less time than it would take to get a new one delivered. The big problem with appliance repairmen is that they are so slow. They come out and diagnose your problem and then they have to order parts. Usually at least one important part is on back order, so you are lucky if you see them again in two weeks. What ever happened to keeping a stock of parts on the truck?

Hey, at least the gas crisis appears to be over. There were several stations in our own neighborhood that had gas today. I still can't find the leak in the shower, but I am making progress on the roof. I might have finished today if we hadn't spent so much time looking at refrigerators. I didn't do much patching today, but I did haul some materials up to the roof, including a leaf blower which I used to clear away a mountain of dead elm leaves that seemed to have fallen overnight. I actually got lucky. Apparently the leaves fell after the elastomer coating dried, so they were easy to clear away. I really need to get this job finished before the oak tress start shedding their leaves. That would really be a mess.

Janet is going back to work tomorrow. I thought she had another week at home, but apparently not. It doesn't seem like two weeks have already passed since her latest surgery. Of course it doesn't seem like summer is already over either.  Where has the time gone?

I hope nothing else breaks and everybody stays healthy. I'd really like to end this year on a positive note.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2810

Our refrigerator is not cooling properly. I hate the thought of looking for new appliances. The last time we replaced our refrigerator, it was almost impossible to find one that would fix in the small slot designed for it in the kitchen. We have the same problem with the washer and dryer in the utility room. Appliances seem to have grown over the years. What would have been normal for the mid-fifties house we live in just isn't made anymore. Maybe the refrigerator isn't really broken, since the freezer side still works well. I suggested unplugging it for a while and then plugging it in again like we do for everything else in the house, but Janet said the food might go bad. Actually turning the refrigerator off may actually work, since I suspect that the evaporator coils have become frozen. This happens from time to time with the air conditioner. You just let the ice melt and everything is fine. Refrigerators are problematic. If you spend too much time monkeying around with them, the food goes bad. It's always hard to fix something when you're using it.

I didn't fix much today, but I did keep busy. I mowed the grass in the front and the back and then treated the yard for mosquitoes. I hope the treatment works, since I'm getting eaten alive at night when I take Dash out to pee. We had a mild winter and chiggers, mosquitoes, and ticks are everywhere. I had planned on getting rid of some wasp nests too, but I couldn't find the wasp and hornet spray. Usually, after I do a lot of yard work I just feel like taking a nap, but today I decided to go to the gym.

I've come to the conclusion that if I don't work out more, my muscles are just going to continue to atrophy. The older you get, the harder it is to build muscle mass. For a long time I thought I was losing weight because I was eating healthier. I'm really just slowly losing muscle mass. One way or another, I've got to reverse this process. Going to the gym three times a week is probably a good place to start.

I probably should have continued my work on the roof this afternoon, but enough is enough. After my trip to the gym and an afternoon walk with Dash, I was finally getting tired. Janet found gas today, but I didn't bother to take my car to the same station. I may regret this decision later, but I have a feeling this self made gas crisis may soon be over.

It remains to be seen whether we will go looking at refrigerators tomorrow. I'm still hoping that the problem miraculously cures itself overnight. This is unlikely. Broken things rarely fix themselves. I'm not looking forward to going back on the roof, but I've got to make sure that everything is patched and has time to cure before the next rain. I'm pretty sure that I've got a few days left, but it's bound to rain eventually.

I guess tomorrow is a holiday. It probably won't seem any different to me. I still have a long list of chores to finish and a refrigerator full of food that keeps getting warmer.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2809

If I wind up in hell, I'll probably be fixing a leaking roof for eternity. This is the worst job. It's messy. You get stung by wasps and bitten by fire ants. It's almost impossible to tell if your repairs are any good until it rains again. Worst of all, if you get too tired, there is always the danger of falling off the roof. I'll really be glad when I'm finished with this little project. No matter how careful I am, I always wind up with the sticky silicon coating on my hands and clothing. I try to wear the oldest, most threadbare pants I can find, because if I spill the elastomer coating on them, I pretty much have to throw them away.

The area I patched a few days ago has cured and seems to have bonded well to the roof. Today it was time for round two. When I started this project, I thought I'd just need to re-coat the fairly small areas that had worn bare. Now I'm realizing that the damage extends much further, because water has gotten under the coating and caused it to delaminate. I'm going to have to go buy some more paint rollers. You can't clean the rollers after you use them to spread the material. Maybe the roofers have a way to clean their tools, but it probably involves some dangerous solvent that I don't want around the house. It's much easier to just throw the paint rollers away. I want to finish this project before the oak leaves start falling. Already some leaves are starting to fall off the elm tree and when they land in the wet elastomer, they are there permanently. On a more positive note, when the coating cures properly, it seems to be impervious to water. If they'd put this stuff on in the roof in the first place, I wouldn't be having the problems I'm having today.

The place I got gas yesterday was empty today. So was the Chevron station where I saw the gasoline tanker yesterday. Evidently it didn't take long to empty the place out again. A few stations actually are being replenished with gas. There just doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the process. Most stations were still empty today, but I did see one station with a line of cars at the pumps. They say Quick Trip stations are more likely to have gas, since they get their supplies from Oklahoma instead of South Texas. I wonder how long this shortage will last? Contrary so what some in the media are saying, this isn't a one day event. I did learn something from all this. My car runs a lot better on regular gas than I thought. The owners manual says to never use regular gas, but so far I can't tell any difference.

It's time to mow the grass again. I usually only mow when my neighbors mow their grass. Yard shaming is actually fairly effective. If I mow the grass, I won't have the energy to go up on the roof again. That's just as well. It really takes two days for the patches to cure anyway. The only reason to hurry on the roof repairs is if there was rain on the horizon. I think we're looking good. The completely inaccurate weather app on my phone says there will be clear skies for at least a week.

I wonder why Dash is so moody in the evenings now. This is something new. He barks at me while I'm writing the blog and if I don't stop what I'm doing and pay attention to him, he starts knocking books off low shelves with his paws. I always get up and see if he needs to go outside and pee, but usually he heads straight for the kitchen. The little shit just wants more food.

I got another jury summons in the mail. I guess I'll postpone this one too. I just don't feel up to dealing with jury duty now.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2808

Maybe the zombie apocalypse has already started. First North Korea threatens to nuke us. Then, Mother Nature actually does nuke us with a Godzilla hurricane, Now, things are starting to get real at home.

I was getting ready to go to bed last night when I heard an ominous cracking sound, followed by what sounded like a rush of water. The supply line to the toilet had burst and high pressure water was spewing everywhere. I tried in vain to close a shut off valve, but it had rusted and was frozen. By the time I found the key to the water main and went outside to shut off the water to the house, the bathroom, hallway, and part of the bedroom were completely flooded.

To make matters worse Janet had to have a colonoscopy today and was right in the middle of colonoscopy prep when the pipe ruptured. If you've ever had a colonoscopy, you'll know that the night before is not the best time to be without running water or working toilets. I was able to use water being collected by the dehumidifier to flush the toilet a few times and then we resorted to using the bottled water we had around the house.

It's amazing we didn't get electrocuted. Several plug strips that were sitting on the floor got covered with water and shorted out. After I got the water shut off, I unplugged everything with gloves on. If I didn't have the wet/dry vacuum nearby, I'd probably still be mopping up water. About 2 AM, things were reasonably dry again and I went to bed.

I called my plumber as soon as their office opened this morning and was told that they were completely booked up until next Tuesday. This was not good. I took Janet to the hospital for her procedure and then went looking for a plumbing supply store, hoping to not use up too much gas in the process. I eventually found exactly what I needed and was convinced that I could make the repairs myself. I'm not very comfortable sweating copper pipe, so I found supplies that I could use without a torch. Surprisingly, my repairs worked perfectly. I saved at least $150 by not having a plumber come out, not that I could find one anyway.

By the time I got the pipe fixed and restored water to the house, it was time to pick up Janet. Since the morning had been relatively successful, I decided to spend the afternoon looking for gas. I know I told you yesterday that I was going to just wait, but it drives me nuts not to be prepared. When I looked at the Gas Finder website this morning, there were even fewer stations that still had gas than there were yesterday. When I drove to the hospital and back I didn't see a single station that still had gas.

There was only one station within a fifteen mile radius that still claimed to have gas today, so I drove there and got in line. There were sixteen pumps at this station and only two of them were still working. The only thing left was regular gas, so I reluctantly filled my tank with regular. I've never done that before, but I didn't want to run out of gas on a long holiday weekend. On my way home I saw my first gasoline tanker. There were a long line of cars following this tanker and when the tanker eventually pulled in at a Chevron station, all the cars followed. This is madness. There really wasn't a gas shortage in the first place, but we have created one. The tanker trucks usually just top up the tanks at the stations once a week. Now all the tanks in the city are completely empty. It might take a while to get back to normal.

It was an odd day, but I'm happy. We've got running water again and I've got a full tank of gas. What more could you ask for?

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2807

Dallas is out of gas. No, there isn't a fuel shortage. Everyone just panicked and decided to fill their tank at the same time. The gas lines were unreal today. I haven't seen anything like this since the 1970's. I still had plenty of gas in my tank, but eventually succumbed to the panic myself. I figured that if so many people were waiting in long lines for gas, they all must know something I don't. The first line I joined ran out of gas right as I approached the pump. I had waited thirty minutes for nothing. I tried one more time and this time all the station had left when I approached the pump was diesel. I gave up at this point and came home. I don't drive very much and could probably make my remaining gas last three weeks if I had to. If gas still isn't readily available in three weeks, I'll just have to assume that the zombie apocalypse has started. They say that if everyone had continued filling their tanks the way they normally do, there would have been no lines at all today. This was all just a Facebook induced panic. One of our local TV stations kind of stirred the pot last night as well.

Since it wasn't a very auspicious day to be driving around town running errands, I decided to get started on my roof repairs. I didn't get off to a good start. The can of sealer the roofers gave me was way too heavy for me to lift up on the roof. I couldn't even pull the container up with a rope. I made a big mess in the driveway transferring the sticky liquid from the five gallon drum to smaller one gallon paint cans. When I cleaned and prepared the damaged areas, I discovered that the problem was worse than I thought. Water had entered through the bad spots and seeped under the good spots. Large sections of the coating that I thought were OK, just peeled away when I pulled on it. I sealed about a 25 square foot area, but this is just the beginning. I don't think I have enough of the elastomer on hand to complete the repairs. I'm not even sure that the sealer I applied today will work. I called the roofer and asked him to come out again. I think this repair is way beyond my pay grade.

I need to take Janet to Baylor for some more tests tomorrow and was planning on running a few errands on the way home. I don't think I'll be getting in any more gas lines though. If tomorrow is anything like today, you could run out of gas just looking for gas. I'll wait until the tanker trucks return. When gas is available again I bet there won't be any lines at all. Everyone in town already has a full tank.

I dread going up on the roof tomorrow. There is so much more that needs to be done and until my first set of patches have fully dried, I won't know whether they are firmly adhered to the substrate. I've got enough of the elastomer material to make quite a few patches, but I'm afraid that this is just a temporary solution. What I really need is a new roof.

Dash has been very moody this week. He doesn't want to eat at the regular time. He turns up his nose at his regular food. Lately, he's been stealing my place on the bed at night. I wish he understood that life is so much easier when he's a good dog. The problems are minor and usually they get resolved. I'd just like a day without any problems though. That would be nice.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2806

It was a little unusual to go to the gym on Wednesday, but why not. There is nothing to differentiate weekdays from weekends anymore. I've decided that stopping or reversing the muscle atrophy I've been experiencing is as important as anything else that's on my plate. I might as well go to the gym whenever I've got some free time.

Truthfully, I could go to the gym every single day if I enjoyed it as much as some of the other people I see working out. Some of them seem to live at the gym. It doesn't matter what day I pick. They're always there. I actually did pretty well today, considering that I'd already been up on the roof. If I could bring myself to consistently exercise like this three times a week, I might actually see some results.

Preparing the roof for my repairs was actually a lot more work than my workout. I cleared away the remaining standing water today. Tomorrow I will clean the damaged surfaces and hopefully on Friday I can apply the new elastomer patches. Since there is no more rain in the forecast, there is a reasonable chance of success. It is so discouraging to go up on the roof. I think the materials that were originally used to coat the roof were defective, but the roofer won't put on a completely new roof. The whole thing is eventually going to be patched one square foot at a time.

I could spend the rest of my life repairing broken stuff around the house. I think I understand now why people sometimes just get in their cars and drive away from it all forever. There is so much that needs to be fixed now that it seems a bit overwhelming. If it was hard to find a good contractor before, it's going to be impossible now. Everybody is going to be down in Houston rebuilding the city for the next ten years.

I stopped by the REI store on the way to the gym and there was absolutely nothing that I wanted or needed. I left the store empty handed. I felt the same way the last time I visited the Apple Store. Maybe I am finally moving beyond my need to constantly accumulate stuff. It would be a good thing if this was true. Every amazing gadget turns into a pile of broken stuff after three to five years. I have enough broken stuff already. Maybe possessions are actually a liability. This would be a totally new concept for me, but it's something I see looming on the horizon.

It's time for my annual physical, but since I'm thinking of switching doctors I don't know whether to go ahead and schedule an appointment or wait until I find another doctor and start over with a clean slate. Why did my doctor have to fire me as his web designer? I was reasonably happy until this happened. Now I hate to even visit the clinic. Janet's doctors are great, but they are in a whole different league than mine. It's pretty obvious that the quality of care she gets is worth the extra money, but it's still hard to put aside money for health that could be used for a new camera. Nevertheless, I'm fairly certain I'll eventually go ahead and make the switch. The older you get, the more you realize that staying healthy is the only thing that matters.

I'm glad the rain finally stopped in Houston. Hopefully, the flood waters will start to recede soon. As hard as things are now, I think it will be even harder when the news crews disappear and people are left with the enormous task of rebuilding their lives from scratch. A tornado roared through a suburb of Dallas a few years ago and the residents are still wrangling with insurance companies and trying to rebuild their homes. We'll see what happens, but I think Texas has been changed forever.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day