Day 3057

I'm glad I only had one thing on my list today. Two things would have been too much. After walking Dash and eating breakfast I went to the bank to set up the new account I needed. If you ask me, I have too many accounts already, but apparently I need this new one to serve as a conduit from my IRA account to the operating account that I pay bills with. I was surprised at the number of people who wanted to "get to know" me. One guy told me that he'd watched me come and go for seventeen years and I'd never stopped and introduced myself. Sadly, this was probably true. I never talk to anyone at the bank. I just hope I don't get stuck in the slow line at the teller window and leave as soon as I've made my deposit. The bank is like the post office to me. I could easily make deposits using my phone these days, but I like to go in person. I'm a Luddite. It's hard for me to believe that anything is actually happening if I don't physically hand the postal clerk my letters or the bank teller my money.

It took a long time to get things set up the way I wanted, but I'm ready to go now. Even if I get dementia or go stark raving mad, my bills will still get paid. I saw how forgetful my Dad became as he got older. You need to get prepared while you've still got your wits about you. I definitely don't want my electricity cut off because I forgot to pay the electric bill. I'm going to gradually set up all my recurring bills to auto pay and quit writing checks. My plan seems pretty solid unless I become a nonagenarian and run out of money. I don't think that's going to happen though. My family is not noted for longevity.

I think we're going to have to consider pain management for Dash pretty soon. The signs are subtle, but he seems more uncomfortable than he did even a month or two ago. Gabapentin didn't work, so we may have to resort to Rimadyl. Rimadyl is very effective, but it has some nasty side effects including gastrointestinal bleeding and liver disease. Hopefully, Dash will continue responding well to the Movoflex supplements and we can postpone the harder drugs for a while. I think pain management is important. It doesn't matter whether it's your dog or your Dad. Nobody should live in pain. I hope we can continue Dash's daily walks as long as possible. When he is no longer mobile, he is going to go downhill rather quickly.

Peaches are back in season. I'm always glad when peaches are plentiful at the grocery store. My morning smoothies taste better when I add a peach to the usual strawberries and blueberries. A peach makes a pretty good dessert too. I wish I could get my diet as organized as I've got my finances. I'm convinced that if I were eating exactly the right things, I would enjoy every meal and still never have heartburn. I need to talk to a nutritionist who doesn't just want me to become a vegetarian. Eating pizza is a disaster, but I can often eat pasta and spaghetti without any problems. Vietnamese Pho doesn't give me problems, but similar Chinese dishes can keep me up all night. I eat earlier now and avoid acidic foods like tomatoes. The holy grail would be a meal that provides the satisfaction of barbecue with the health benefits of kale. I'm still looking.

The weather is perfect for putting in new grass and repairing the roof. Why am I having so much trouble contacting the roofer and the landscaper? They should both be out here now. Guess who I'll be calling tomorrow.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3056

I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to start taking money out of my retirement account when I turn 70. I called my bank and my broker today to find out exactly how to do this, and as you might expect, it was more complicated than I had imagined. What I wanted to do apparently isn't possible, so now I've got to come up with a Plan B. I also learned that I am required to start taking money out of my IRA before the end of the year whether I want to or not. When I asked why, I was told that the government doesn't want you to die before they are able to tax your retirement savings. Heaven forbid that you might pass it on to your heirs as an inheritance and they wouldn't be able to tax it at all. Needless to say, I hate dealing with banks. Every year there seem to be more rules and regulations that benefit the bank more than they benefit me.

I've been fighting the urge to buy things I don't need. I think the model trains taught me a lesson. When I get the urge to buy something these days, I make myself answer a few questions. Do I really need this? Am I planning to use this within the next six months? Do I already have something exactly like this? So far, this discipline is working. I've had my eye on a couple of cameras and a really cool portable multi-track recorder, but I haven't bought anything. Other than a few odds and ends, I haven't bought anything this year.

I wish it were easier to keep the business going. Life would be simpler for me if I didn't have to think about retirement and I could keep writing off cameras as a business expense indefinitely. The only way I can think of to keep the business going without going to meetings and dealing with people would be to dramatically increase my earnings from stock photography. I would need to upload thousands and thousands of pictures and get them all accepted to make this happen. A daunting task to say the least. Nobody buys pictures of flowers and birds either. The few photos that do sell well in my stock photo catalog all tend to be traditional studio shots involving models and photo assistants. The holy grail of a passive income that requires no real effort on my part remains as illusive as ever.

I think I'm going to have to find a new landscaper. I've called the guy four times and he still hasn't returned my calls. I hate to start over. This guy was very affordable and did a good job. He also knew exactly what I needed because he's been replacing the grass in my backyard every Spring for quite a while now. Why do things have to keep changing? Once you find a really good plumber, insurance agent, or landscaper, you ought to be able to keep them for the rest of your life.

It looks like I'm going to have to add banking problems to the leaking roof, the grass in the backyard, the aging kitchen appliances, and other unresolved issues. At least Dash is still eating well and the train collection is gone.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3055

The trains are gone. My friend and I loaded box after box full of memories in his SUV and then he drove away. Admittedly, some of the memories are fading, but I enjoyed acquiring these things. Back in the day, my friend owned one of three train stores in Dallas and I was one of his best customers. Twenty-five years later, he owns one of the few remaining train stores in the entire country and I'm just a guy trying to downsize.

As I loaded the models onto a wheeled cart, I was surprised at how many I had. I'd totally forgotten about a lot of them. Actually, we couldn't fit everything into the car, but I made a sizable dent in the collection. My business must have been doing really well back them. I couldn't afford to buy this much useless stuff today. Actually, the models probably got me some business. I used to hang out at train stores a lot and met some interesting people. The owner of Cessna collected model trains. So did a lot of other rich old men. Most of these people are dead now. I don't know what people collect these days, but it certainly isn't trains.

I passed a classic car show in the park on my way to the storage warehouse. Back when I was collecting trains, I would have stopped at this car show. Old European sports cars were almost as interesting as trains. I drove a Citroën SM in those days. I thought my next car would be a Ferrari, but of course that never happened. Over time, my interest in cars, model trains, and even watches waned. I don't collect anything now.

Probably as my interest in dogs increased, my interest in other stuff decreased. I still like tools, however. That's something I share with my Dad. My Dad was surrounded by his tools until the day he died. If you're going to acquire something, you might as well make it a tool. Tools can be used to make a career. My tools of choice have always been cameras and recording equipment. Unlike model trains, these tools have always paid for themselves.

It was a beautiful day today. It's time to start wearing shorts again. Pretty soon it's going to be time to stay indoors. The furnace doesn't come on any more in the morning. I think another Texas Summer is on the way. I hope Dash can handle the heat this summer. He does fine on his morning walks, but he's already starting to get tired when it warms up in the afternoon. It's only going to get worse. We may have to scale back to one walk a day.

The gym was virtually empty when I went this morning. You have to be careful what you wish for. I enjoy going to the gym when it isn't crowded, but it's been so empty lately that I'm starting to worry that it might close. I don't want to look for a new gym. I like being surrounded by old familiar things. That's probably why it was so hard to get rid of the trains.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3054

When I got up last night to take Dash out to pee, I noticed the moon centered between Mars and Saturn in the Eastern sky. The celestial display reminded me that the InSight Mars mission was launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in less than an hour. I decided to stay up and watch the launch on NASA TV. Actually, I couldn't get back to sleep anyway. Just as I predicted, last night's pizza gave me a bad case of heartburn.

Seeing the rocket shrouded in fog just before liftoff reminded me of my own visit to Vandenberg Air Force Base several years ago. I could have applied to view this launch as well, but it wasn't in the cards. Dash is too fragile to take to a boarding kennel these days and I couldn't afford the trip anyway. Maybe someday. Being a space launch groupie seems to make as much sense in retirement as anything else I could think of.

When I looked at Mars this morning, it seemed amazing that someone could aim something so precisely at this tiny speck in the sky. I've always wanted to be involved in the space industry, but I was never good at math. It doesn't matter if you're Neil Armstrong or Steven Hawking, it's all about the math. I wish I understood orbital mechanics. I don't even understand why the moon seems to wander all over the sky.

Nice weather always puts me in a good mood. Even though I didn't get much sleep last night, I felt fine. I  definitely needed to stay in good spirits, because today was the day to go to the storage warehouse and get my collection organized. I sorted through box after box and was amazed at how much I had. I'd totally forgotten buying some of this stuff. I wish I had the foresight to collect something that the younger generation liked. Nobody collects model trains anymore. My friend says most of his customers are old men. I'm glad he knows where they are. I certainly couldn't find them.

My Dad was an accomplished wood carver and kept buying carving tools long after his Parkinson's Disease destroyed his dexterity. I think I finally realized the futility of collecting when I was dealing with his estate. There were boxes and boxes full of brand new tools that never got used. Hopefully, disposing of this initial collection of model trains will make it easier to do further downsizing in the future.

Dash had a lot of energy today. Maybe the Movoflex supplements we're giving him are working. At one point on his morning walk, he actually started to run. Running isn't a good idea for Dash. He's not very coordinated anymore and his back legs don't work as good as his front legs. When he feels like running, I run along beside him, holding on to the handle of his Ruffwear harness. I want him to enjoy himself, but I definitely don't want him to fall. Dash never runs far, but I'm glad he hasn't given up.

I haven't given up either. To the casual observer, it might appear like I've lost interest in everything. Not really. I've still got my curiosity.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3053

I was hoping that the weather would improve today, but I didn't get my wish. We got more rain. It was far too wet this morning to take Dash on a morning walk. I guess I could have gone out for breakfast, but it seemed too wet for that as well. I made myself a large bowl of oatmeal and listened to the rain on the roof as I drank my morning coffee.

It's easy to get cabin fever on days like this. Work doesn't keep me busy anymore. Daytime TV is terrible. And you can only do so much laundry. I wish I could go to sleep as easily as Dash. Since I was wide awake, I absentmindedly flipped back and forth between the news and business channels, looked at Facebook, and perused photo and electronics catalogs in search of new gear that would change my life.

Janet subscribes to Netflix, Hulu, and Acorn.tv, but I can't bring myself to watch a movie. There are thousands of books lining the walls of my office, but I can't bring myself to read a book either. The last book I really enjoyed was A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I'm sure there have been great books since then, but few have reached out to me. I think a lot of reading is instigated by recommendations from friends. Dash doesn't recommend many books.

I didn't feel like getting groceries today, but when the rain finally subsided late in the afternoon, I went out and picked up a pizza for dinner. There's a neighborhood pizza place that makes pretty good thin crust pizza. I'll probably have heartburn tonight, but who cares. On a rainy day when you can't find any motivation, sometimes a pizza is the only thing that will do.

It would have been a good day to go to the storage warehouse and organize the collection of trains. Like I've said before, I can talk myself out of virtually anything on a rainy day. I don't have any choice tomorrow. I've run out of time. I'll be glad when I put this chore behind me. It's depressing. I felt the same way when I had to sell my beloved Citroën SM. There are so many things that I was planning on dealing with later. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before "later" becomes now.

Dash finally did get a walk when Janet came home from work. I even saw a patch of blue sky just before sunset. Lets hope we get a few more weeks of mild Spring weather before Summer arrives. The only good thing about Summer is that my roof might finally get fixed.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3052

The first thing I did this morning was look at the weather radar. A line of storms was on the way, but it looked like I'd have enough time to walk Dash. I'm getting better at gauging how long our slow walks will take. This time we made it back home with several minutes to spare.

The sky was dark and ominous by the time I finished breakfast. I made sure the pump on the roof was working and then settled in for a long day of doing nothing. It's a blessing in disguise that Dash's hearing isn't so good anymore. He didn't even flinch when the thunder started. After Dash fell asleep, I watched the show I had recorded yesterday. Season Three of The Expanse was worth the wait, but I hate waiting an entire week for each new episode. No wonder binge watching on Netflix has become so popular. A TV drama series is a lot more like a movie when you can watch the whole season at once. I think I'll set the DVR to record the entire series. When I watch this on TV, I can fast forward through the ads. When I stream the same thing on my computer, you can't mess with the ads at all. You are forced to watch each and every one in it's entirety.

I wish I had more to watch today. There wasn't much to do when my show was over. I checked the mail, paid the bills that arrived, and waited for the rain to stop so I could take them to the post office. Dash didn't provide much incentive to be more ambitious. He spends an enormous amount of time sleeping these days. It's hard to even remember that Dash was once a high energy whirling dervish who always wanted to walk or go to the dog park. It's equally hard to remember that I used to have a lot more energy too.

It rained a lot today and I was worried that the roof was going to start leaking again. So far, so good. The living room is still dry. I think it's supposed to dry out tomorrow and be mostly sunny next week. Maybe I've dodged a bullet again. I'll sure be glad when the roofers come back to repair things.

As soon as the weather improves, I need to start boxing up my model trains at the storage warehouse. My heart isn't in this, but there's no point in leaving the collection in storage forever. My friend will find a new home for the collection and maybe I'll recover some of the money I've spent. I used to have a lot of these things proudly on display in my office. I ran out of space a long time ago though. Now, the office doesn't look much different than the storage warehouse.

I can't decide whether to go out for breakfast tomorrow. I can talk myself out of almost anything when the weather is bad. I've used up all the fresh fruit, so I couldn't make a smoothie, but there are still eggs. Maybe I'll make myself an omelet. Actually, a bowl of oatmeal sounds fine. So does staying in bed and sleeping till noon.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3051

I'm trying to get organized. I spoke with the guy who is going to sell my model trains and made some final arrangements for him to pick up my collection. I finally contacted the right person and got a refund for the worthless broken activity tracker I ordered several weeks ago. I left another message for the landscaper. He's almost as hard to get hold of as the roofer. None of these things are all that important, but at least I felt like I was doing something.

Dash was really slow today. His energy level varies widely from day to day. It took well over an hour to complete our morning walk. When the dogs were healthy, we could complete this distance in less than thirty minutes. I let Dash take his time. He still enjoys smelling things and I don't have anything better to do with my time anyway. It's sad to see him slowly decline, but I think he's doing the best he can. Dash was a picky eater today as well. I don't think he was sick, but he was very lethargic.

I found a new app for my phone that lets me manually focus the camera. I've been looking for this feature since my very first iPhone. If a third party developer could figure out how to manually control the phone's camera, why hasn't Apple already done this? Probably a focus group told them that the selfie generation didn't care about manual focus and exposure control. Amazingly, the new app works like a charm. Maybe I'll finally be able to keep flowers without sharply defined edges in focus.

I've been waiting all day for the rain to start. It's still dry outside, but there are some ominous looking storms to the West of us. According to the forecast, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow.
None of this would matter if the roof was in better shape. I've had roof problems for so long that it seems like the roof was always this way. Except for a brief period after the last new roof was installed, the roof probably always was a problem. Even a brand new flat roof can be a nightmare. My one piece of advice to new homeowners would be to never, ever buy a house with a flat roof.

There's a new episode of The Expanse on tonight. I'll probably just record it and watch it later. There is very little incentive to watch a show when it originally airs anymore. I wonder if anybody watches live TV these days? Even the news is easier to tolerate if you watch it later.

Another roof panel blew off the greenhouse this afternoon. Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job of reattaching these things. The slightest wind can knock something loose now. The greenhouse is so old that a lot of the nails holding things together have completely rusted away. I need to get a bid to repair things properly, but I already know that it will be more expensive that it's worth.

If it rains, Dash wont get a walk in the morning. I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. Rainy days are even worse when I spend them worrying about his heart.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3050

It took me forever to straighten out my bank account after all the changes that were made yesterday. I deducted all the fees and service charges and the account wouldn't balance. I added the minuscule amount of interest I earned each month and the account still wouldn't balance. I'm generally pretty good at keeping track of things, but something was missing. I finally discovered that the cost of my Part D prescription drug coverage had gone up a long time ago and nobody had told me.

This is why I hate automatic deposits and withdrawals. In my old fashioned world if I don't take a bill to the post office or a deposit to the bank, nothing has happened. I was frustrated enough today to finally throw in the towel and sign up for online banking, but I couldn't get Quickbooks to recognize my bank. The software was supposed to work, but it didn't. I suspect the problem was something I've encountered many times before. The bank was expecting me to be using Quickbooks Pro on a Windows PC and I was using a Mac. Jeez. When are Macintosh users going to get some respect?

I wish I could instill a sense of urgency in the roofers. They have told me several times that they will fix my problem, but they sure aren't in much of a hurry. I'm looking at the weather forecast and it's showing rain for the next four days. A four day rain is more than enough to start the roof leaking again above the living room. I've positioned the sump pump in the general vicinity of the leak, but I don't know if it will help. It all depends on the severity of the rain. All I can do at this point is hope that the weather forecast is wrong.

I'm beginning to realize that there is a flaw in the way my Luddite sister and I communicate. We've been writing letters for years, but never made a Plan B. Now that she's sick and doesn't write, I'm not really sure what is going on. It's kind of weird to deal with someone who isn't on the Internet, doesn't text, and rarely answers her phone. My grandparents would have known how to deal with this. I'm sure they would have just walked across the street. All their relatives lived in the same little town.

Dash won't chew his monthly heartworm pill anymore. It's hard to get him to take these large pills now, because you can't easily hide them in a pill pocket. You can't hide them in a piece of banana bread either. Luckily, peanut butter still seems to work. It takes quite a bit of peanut butter to hide a heartworm pill. Strangely, Dash will chew the new Movoflex pills he's started taking. I guess they taste better. Sentinel need to come up with a new flavor for their chewable tablets. Peanut butter would be a good place to start.

I've only got a few days to get my model train collection organized. I keep postponing the inevitable. I don't know why this is so hard to me. The trains have been sitting in the warehouse for years now. I'm never going to use them. It's kind of the end of an era to realize that my collecting days are over. It's time though. I definitely don't want my storage warehouse on that Storage Wars show someday.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3049

I went down to the bank today to see why they were deducting $30 a month from each of my accounts. Did I need to keep a larger balance? Was I making too many transactions? Nope. None of the above. Apparently, my plan was obsolete and I never responded to their offer to upgrade me to one of their modern, but decidedly inferior plans. The new fee was just punishment for trying to keep my old plan.

When I asked why I wasn't warned about this change, the bank told me that they'd sent me a letter last Fall. "Did this letter happen to come in an envelope that looks just like all the other junk mail you send me," I asked? "Probably," said the banker. Hmm. I probably shredded the letter without even reading it. At any rate, I was forced to sign up for one of their new plans. It's more or less the same as my old plan except that my account doesn't earn interest anymore and there are no paper statements. I'm sure the paper statements on my old accounts were what was really bugging the bank. Everyone hates paper. There's a note in almost every bill I pay these days begging me to go paperless.

The banker urged me to try online banking. "You'll like it," she said. I didn't want to seem like a grumpy old man, so I didn't try to explain why I'm turning into a Luddite and am growing increasingly suspicious of the online world. There's something reassuring about keeping all your information in ring binders, but I think that ship has sailed.

I received a short letter from my sister today that confirmed some of my suspicions. Her cancer is not responding well to treatment and she's become too tired to write. Cancer is such a cruel disease. The treatments we have today are still pretty crude. I think in the future we'll look at radiation and chemo the same way we now look at Medieval doctors applying leeches. Gene replacement therapy shows a lot of promise, but we're not there yet. I hope the researchers keep making progress. Current cancer therapy is basically just trying to poison you without actually killing you.

Dash and Janet are both cancer free. They are the lucky ones. Spot and Greta both died of cancer.  Dot's abdominal cancer reappeared in her liver toward the very end of her life. My Dad had prostate cancer, but that was the least of his problems. He also had Parkinson's Disease. I'm trying to exercise, watch my weight, and maintain a healthy diet, but you never know what is in the cards. Growing old is not pretty.

Dash had a good day. I think the Movoflex is helping him. The changes are subtle, but he does seem to be walking better and has more energy since he started taking the supplement. Dash's appetite was great today. I think he ate more than I did.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3048

It was a nice, uneventful day. Everyone got enough sleep. Dash seemed in good spirits. And the weather was wonderful. I had no plans for the day and was determined to keep things that way. I went to the gym right after walking Dash and eating breakfast. It was the path of least resistance. You don't have to think at the gym. You just follow routines.

There were plenty of things that needed to be done around the house when I returned, but I watched another episode of The Expanse instead. Now I'm all caught up on Season 3 and will have to start watching the show on Wednesday evenings. I can see the appeal of binge watching on Netflix now. A lot of current season shows are available for streaming on the SyFi Channel, but all the commercials are there. To avoid the commercials, you have to wait until you can find what you're looking for on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or iTunes. It's probably worth the wait.

I probably should have a little more respect for commercials. They did provide me with a pretty good income for decades. In retrospect, I wish I'd worked for Space X. Going to Mars seems like a worthy goal. Getting someone to eat a taco, not so much.

The world of The Expanse is pretty bleak. Apparently, 200 years from now we are still involved in continual wars and are on the verge of annihilating ourselves as a species. Personally, I don't think humanity will have spread across the solar system in 200 years. It's been almost 50 years since we went to the moon and we haven't been able to get back there yet. Maybe I'm wrong. Medicine and technology are advancing faster than I ever imagined. I could never have predicted that I'd be walking around with a little phone in my pocket that was so powerful it has basically replaced my camera, my computer, the weatherman on TV, my rolodex, and most of my friends.

It's kind of irritating that I'm having problems with acid reflux again. I thought I'd put this all behind me. After taking Pantoprazole for ten years, my doctor convinced me to stop and I was actually doing very well without the proton pump inhibitor for at least three years. I'm almost certain the problem is just a lack of discipline on my part. When I was being treated for Hepatitis C, I completely changed my diet. For the first time ever, I was really eating healthy meals. It made a difference. After I was cured, I gradually began backsliding. I still don't drink and try to eat healthy meals, but I am eating red meat and pasta again. I've resumed eating bread and occasionally enjoy a pizza. Sadly, I can't handle Italian food anymore. Even a cheeseburger is risky these days. A mostly vegetarian diet completely eliminated the acid reflux, but it was so boring. There's always a price to pay for pleasure.

It's hard to believe that it's almost May. It's been such a chilly Spring that the furnace is still coming on at night. I should enjoy these cool mornings, because they won't be around much longer. The temperature will be over 100 soon and I'll be turning 70. I'm not looking forward to either event, although my advanced age will get me out of jury duty.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3047

I got a message from a bank manager today telling me that my bank had been charging me unnecessary fees for the past several months. Great. I was supposed to call them to see about getting the fees removed. Of course, when I did call, the bank was closed. I wonder how much they've been charging me? This is one more example of everything being way more complicated than it needs to be. If the fees are unnecessary, why do I even need to call? The bank should have just removed the fees as soon as they discovered the mistake. I think this happened once before. I've been a customer for so long that my type of account doesn't exist anymore. They just grandfathered me in so I could keep the terms I started out with. My old AT&T account has been grandfathered as well. I'll call the bank on Monday, but I probably don't even want to know what my account has been replaced with.

Today was filled with the usual Saturday errands, but there was one pleasant surprise. I discovered that my favorite show, The Expanse, is back on the air again. I missed the premier of Season 3 earlier this month, but I did find where I could stream the first three episodes on the new season online. Oddly, even though this is my favorite show, I couldn't remember what had happened in Season 2. I had to watch the last episode of Season 2 again, so I would know what was going on when I started watching the new shows. I eventually got around to watching the first episode of Season 3 and it was full of ads, just like live TV. I guess I need to see if I can buy these new shows on iTunes. I hate being interrupted by ads.

We planted some wildflower seeds that we were given to us when Dot passed away and the squirrels keep digging them up. I keep moving the flowerpots around, but the yard squirrels apparently love fresh dirt. We really hoped that these memorial flowers would grow, but it's going to be an uphill battle. The flowers need a lot of sunlight which isn't very abundant in our tree covered yard. To make matters worse, the squirrels are convinced that there are acorns buried in the flower pots. I wonder if we're ever going to see these wildflowers.

It's too early to tell whether the Movoflex is helping Dash, but he did seem to have a lot of energy this morning. He slept all night too. It's such a pleasant surprise not to have to get up in the middle of the night. I'm not looking forward to Summer. As the day warmed up, Dash slowed down. He can't take the heat anymore. We took a short afternoon walk, but he was panting before we got home. I really don't want to push the old guy too hard. We might be limited to one sunrise walk a day pretty soon. I'm glad Dash still likes the early morning walks. It's the only exercise he gets.

It looks like it's time to mow the grass again The car looks pretty dirty too. I have a feeling that I'm going to be busy tomorrow. Of course, instead of doing chores, I could always just watch another episode of The Expanse. It's nice to have a choice.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3046

My friend from Kentucky will be arriving in town fairly soon, so it's time to start sorting through my collection of model trains. Not many people collect trains anymore, but this guy knows them all. I spent some time at the storage warehouse today, trying to decide which models will sell. I can't even remember how long it took me to accumulate this stuff. I guess at some point I thought that I would live in a giant loft someday with plenty of room to build a huge working layout. There was going to be another huge area set aside as a music room with a drum kit and guitar amplifiers already in place so I could play or write whenever the urge hit me. What was I thinking? Any rational person could have told me that this was never going to happen unless I won the lottery. I've never let reason get in the way, so here I am sitting in a storage warehouse, looking at a dusty pile of stuff I've never even used.

I'm not the only guy who does this. I've known plenty of guys over the years who have become obsessed with collecting vintage guitars, guns, old cars, microphones, mechanical watches, and even farm tractors. Guys are attracted to stuff the same way that a moth is attracted to a flame. A few collections are valuable, but most aren't. Collections aren't about money. They are about always needing just one more example of whatever you've got already. No matter how many guitars or model trains you have, the one you're really looking for is still out there taunting you.

The joy of collecting has finally turned into a burden for me. It's time to start lightening the load. If I can find a new home for the trains, maybe I can start thinking about the books, vinyl records, porcelain Dalmatians, old watches, analog mixing boards, and other oddities that are gathering dust.

On my way to the storage warehouse, I took some pants to the tailor to get hemmed. The tailor is a pleasant older Chinese woman who can fix anything. I've taken a ton of clothes to her over the years that I probably should have thrown away. I guess I probably collect clothes too. I wish there were more little shops like the tailor shop. There used to be a guy who fixed all my cameras. There was a guy who fixed sewing machines. Someone else fixed typewriters. There was even someone who specialized in repairing strobe lights for photo studios. That's all he did and he was very busy. Most of these specialized repair shops are gone. It's even getting harder to find a decent shoe repair shop these days. Sadly, we live in a disposable society.

I had Eggs Benedict for breakfast this morning. I wasn't hungry for eggs last night, but this morning I was. The restaurant was crowded and noisy, but the food was good. You don't hear conversations in a crowded restaurant. You just hear words. The experience feels like one of those word clouds you see on people's blogs. The words I heard a lot today were leadership potential, grandparents, stress, contractor, doctor, boss, and unfair. I didn't add to the conversations. I never do.

We got a new supplement called Movoflex for Dash today. Our vet recommended it and it is supposed to help him with mobility and joint pain. Movoflex appears to be an alternative to glucosamine and chondroitin which never really worked for Dash, but anything is worth a try.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3045

Dealing with customer service is becoming increasingly difficult. It is a challenge to bypass the automated response systems and the offshore help desks to reach a knowledgable person who can actually help you. If you persist, occasionally you succeed. I was determined to get the illusive Fedex Ground package delivered today. The first person I talked to was out of the country. I asked this person to transfer me to someone who could actually make something happen and ended up talking to someone in Pennsylvania. This person transferred me to a supervisor in Texas and after about 45 minutes I finally ended up talking to the manager of the local shipping terminal about ten miles from my house.

When I finally reached someone locally who had the ability to call the delivery driver on his cell phone, I was able to provide detailed directions to my house and the package eventually got delivered. It shouldn't be this hard to get a company who's entire business is dedicated to delivering packages to actually deliver something. While I was going through customer service hell, I learned something I didn't really want to hear. Fedex Ground doesn't use their own uniformed drivers anymore. They farm out their deliveries to independent contractors. The whole setup sounded a lot like Uber for packages. Jeez. No wonder service has deteriorated. Why are so many companies determined to cut costs to the bone, no matter what happens to quality or service? The local terminal manager I talked with admitted that this new system didn't always work very well, but that there was nothing she could do about it. Corporate had decided that subcontracting their business to a third party was more profitable.

When I got one problem solved, I discovered that I had another. Several days ago, I bought a replacement for my broken activity tracker from a third-part reseller. Unfortunately, when I opened the box and plugged the thing into a charger, it wouldn't hold a charge. The battery was completely dead. In retrospect this makes sense. Jawbone has been on the verge of bankruptcy for several years now. They stopped manufacturing fitness trackers in 2016 and any remaining products have been sitting on the shelves for a long, long time. A quick Google search revealed that I had bought a brick. It was impossible to fix or replace the dead battery and equally impossible to get a replacement from a company that doesn't exist anymore. I'm going to try to return this piece of junk to the reseller, but I doubt that the want to see it again. No wonder I got such a good price. They've probably got a boatload of these things with completely dead batteries.

There was a bit of good news today. Dash slept peacefully last night and didn't have any coughing or breathing problems. I heard from Dash's doctor at the cancer center and he said that as long as the condition doesn't get worse, we don't need to do anything immediately. He wants to make sure that Dash is completely free of blood clots before we attempt to deal with the enlarged heart. I wonder if Dash knows how fragile he is? Despite his many problems, he still seems like a happy camper.

I saw a hawk catch and eat a mouse today. The mouse didn't have a chance. A little further down the road I noticed that the Purple Martins have driven the Sparrows out of the Martin Houses in the park. It was an ongoing battle for a while, but apparently the Purple Martins won. The animal world can be ruthless, but our own world is far worse. Two police officers were shot yesterday at a Home Depot where I frequently shop. They didn't have any more of a chance than that mouse.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3044

The roofers came over today. They didn't do anything of course. It had rained overnight and the roof was covered with water. Nevertheless, I was happy to see the guys. I went up on the roof with them and showed them were the damage was. They promised to come back and fix things as soon as we get some warm, dry weather. Lord know how long it will take to get warm, dry weather, but I am determined to get this roof fixed.

There's a new wrinkle in Dash's continuing health saga. He's started coughing in his sleep at night. At first I thought he might have kennel cough, but that is unlikely. Dash is seldom around other dogs and he doesn't cough at all during the day. Coughing during sleep is a known complication associated with an enlarged heart. We've known for a while that Dash does have an enlarged heart, so maybe this is the problem. There is also a slim possibility that Dash's thyroid cancer has returned and spread to his lungs. I called the cancer center and had a nice conversation with Dash's nurse. The doctor won't be in until tomorrow morning, but the nurse thought that Dash's enlarged heart was the problem too. It's unclear what the doctor will want to do at this point, but I hope Dash doesn't have to take more meds. He's taking way too much medication already.

We're waiting for a package. For the past four days the Fedex Ground has said that there was an attempt to deliver but nobody was home. Wrong! We've been home every single time. The guy never even came to the door. This has happened before with Fedex Ground. UPS, Amazon Prime, and the Post Office have no problem finding our house, but the Fedex Ground drivers don't even try. I don't know how we are going to get this package. I looked up the facility on Google and there was a seemingly endless list of one star reviews. It was clear that we weren't the only people having this problem. Fedex Express is still pretty good, but Fedex Ground is worthless. I don't know how they stay in business.

I didn't even try to walk Dash this afternoon. The weather was cold and nasty and I don't think Dash was in the mood anyway. He's seemed a bit lethargic all day. I really hope he isn't having problems with his heart again. When we got the news that his blood clot had apparently dissolved, I was elated. I thought we could finally scratch one of Dash's many problems off the list. Unfortunately, it looks like this isn't over yet. I'm not sure when we can schedule a new exam, but hopefully Dash's doctor will have a solution to the coughing problem.

I've discovered that practicing the piano is a great way to kill time. I've been working my way through some of the online lessons I've downloaded and am pleasantly surprised with the progress I'm making. It probably helps that I used to be able to play the piano, but it's been a long, long time. Interactive online lessons are pretty cool. So far, it seems like a great way to learn to read sheet music. It's probably easier than learning German too. That was the last thing I tried to learn online.

I hope the weather improves tomorrow. It seems way too late in the year to have the furnace running.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3043

Today was a bit discouraging. The stock market plummeted again. Why are people getting upset about rising interest rates? I've been wanting interest rates to go up for a long time. When interest rates are high, you can earn a decent rate of return on very safe investments and don't have to worry about insane fluctuations in the market. Back in the day, high interest rates were always my friend.

Flat roofs have never been my friend. This is the second home I've owned with a flat roof, and it's driving me crazy. I went up on the roof today to sweep away leaves and discovered standing water instead. When I cleared away the water, I discovered four more tears in the elastomer coating. Two of these tears were in areas I had fixed last Summer. I really need a brand new roof. The current roof never performed as promised and it's been hell trying to get the roofer to fix the problem. The special coating that seals everything was supposed to last for a minimum of ten years. We're not even close.

I couldn't figure out why my laptop was so slow after I upgraded the system to Sierra. Today I read that whenever you update an Apple operating system, performance become very sluggish until the Spotlight app has finished indexing the entire hard drive. This process can take hours. I wish Apple told you these things. I left the laptop running all day and sure enough by the end of the day it was running much faster. I never even use the Spotlight app. I certainly had no idea it could cause so much trouble.

I spoke too soon about my fitness band repair. It's already starting to fall apart again. I got out a loupe and looked closely at the repair and it looks like I didn't clean the surface well enough. I needed to remove all traces of my previous attempts to glue the band together before applying the Sil-Poxy adhesive. It looks like there was still a little bit of Shoe-Goo on the band. It's fun to fix things when the repairs work. Failures just become irritating after a while.

Dash wouldn't take an afternoon walk today. Even Janet couldn't convince him to walk when she got home from work. This was frustrating too, because I enjoy walking. I finally decided to just take an evening walk by myself. I don't know why Dash doesn't like walking in the afternoon anymore. It's getting harder and harder to get him out the door. I don't think he was tired today because he spent most of the afternoon napping. Maybe we're down to one walk a day now.

I read an article today that said retirement can be especially difficult for people who are used to being valued for their ideas. According to the article, when you become older and are no longer part of the work force, nobody really cares what you think. You're just another geezer collecting social security. Although I didn't agree with everything, a lot of the article rang true. The transition from being a problem solver to being irrelevant can be a tough one. I think the people who just want to travel and play golf have an easier time of things.

Jeez. I wish I hadn't spent so much time on the roof today. I just learned that it is supposed to rain tomorrow. So it goes.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3042

The appliance repairman said that there was nothing wrong with the stove. He agreed that the stainless steel countertop got pretty darn hot when the burners were on high for a while, but could find nothing wrong with the wiring. He suggested that we stop boiling large pots of water on the stovetop, but I don't think Janet is going to like this idea. Sadly, the stove repair was a failure, but I was able to get the washing machine fixed.

All front loader washing machines have a thick rubber gasket that seals the door when you are doing a load of wash. Unfortunately this gasket retains water after you've finished doing a load and since it never gets dry, eventually the rubber starts to mold. Almost all front loader washing machines do this, which is why they are not as popular anymore. A YouTube video showed me how I could replace this gasket myself, but I'm glad I didn't try. The repairman had to to use a special tool to unlock the clamp that held the gasket in place. The YouTube video never mentioned this tool. He also had to remove a large and very heavy concrete counterweight that keeps the metal drum in balance while it is rotating. You basically had to take the machine apart to remove the thick rubber sleeve. I guess the effort was worth it though. I now have a brand new door gasket that probably won't begin to mold for another three years.

Dash slept through the entire two hours the repairman was here. Actually, he continued sleeping for an additional hour after the guy left. Dot would have spent the entire time barking. I don't know if Dash is really tired or he just doesn't care. Either way, repairmen just don't seem to bother him.

I was surprised to get a call about a very old invoice that I'd almost given up on. Apparently, the bookkeeper quit and nobody was aware of the invoice. The owner's wife was doing the books now and asked if I took credit cards. None of this sounded normal, but at least this February invoice might finally get paid. I wonder if I'll ever get any more work from this company? They used to keep me pretty busy, but these days they seem in worse shape than I am.

I got a post card from my sister thanking me for a voicemail message I'd left on her birthday. She never returned the call, but the cryptic message on the postcard was reassuring. I'm not terribly close with family, but when someone has cancer you start to worry if they disappear for a while. I guess we can go back to sending letters back and forth every few months.

I wore the silicon fitness tracker band I repaired today and it didn't immediately fall apart. In my book, that's a success. So far, there's no skin irritation either. I'm already looking for more broken silicon stuff to repair. I'm sure the Jawbone tracker will break again eventually. It might break tomorrow. For now, I am satisfied that both the tracker and the front loader washing machine will live to see another day.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3041

There weren't many people at the gym today. I don't talk to people at the gym, but there are many familiar faces. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has a routine they repeat over and over again. I notice when people disappear. When a younger person leaves the gym I tend to think they've gone on to bigger and better things. Maybe they got married or got a new job. When an older person leaves the gym, I wonder if they died. There was an old man who used to workout next to me. He always wore a t-shirt that said "I wish I were 80 again." When he quit coming, I didn't even have to ask. I knew he had passed away.

Life is fleeting. Almost everybody who lived on our street when we first moved here is gone now. Janet and I are the old folks in the neighborhood now. Most of the dogs I feature as my "Dalmatian of the Day" have passed away. The pictures remind me that dogs don't live nearly long enough. Sadly, I've gotten to know many of these dogs a lot better than the people who pass through my life. I don't keep up with people very well. I have a feeling I may regret this someday.

I doubt that I'll become more gregarious in my remaining years, but I certainly hope that I put the next ten years to better use than I did with the last ten years. Whenever someone who has led a rich and full life like Barbara Bush passes away, I wonder what I've done with my own life. I've had some amazing experiences, but it certainly hasn't been a purpose driven life. I'd tend to call it an accidental life.

There's nothing wrong with an accidental life. Sometimes it's better not to have a plan. I never planned to live in Dallas or have a career in advertising, but here I am. It didn't turn out so bad. I'm certainly glad that my life intersected with dogs at some point. Dogs have been a blessing.

Taking Dash on long walks every morning has made me more aware of the world around me. I know that names of native plants and animals now. I'm more aware of the weather and I'm probably in better shape than I would have been otherwise. I hate seeing Dash slow down on these walks because it reminds me that life is fleeting.

My Luddite sister has quit writing. I wonder what that means? Dash quits eating occasionally. I wonder what that means? There was a segment on Sixty Minutes tonight about Alzheimer's that was somewhat frightening. I had an uncle with Alzheimer's. My Mom used to think that my Dad had Alzheimer's, but he was really just turning off his hearing aid. He remembered; he just quit listening. Memories, even accidental memories, are important. That's why I keep writing. Each day leaves a new memory that gradually forms a trail of breadcrumbs for me to find later.

Mindy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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