Day 830

I awoke to the sound of lawnmowers. All my neighbors were mowing their lawn. I think this loud, raucous sound marks the official start of Spring in Texas. From now through September it won't be birds chirping that I hear. It will be lawn mowers, weed wackers, hedge trimmers and leaf blowers. I would have mowed my own lawn too, but the mower wouldn't start. Jeez, I specifically got an electric mower so it would start easily every time, but apparently the battery went dead sometime during the Winter. I wish I knew the battery was dead when I was getting supplies at Home Depot yesterday. I could have picked up a replacement battery. No, that's not right. What was I thinking? Home Depot doesn't have any replacement parts. I'll have to look up the model number of the mower and buy a battery online.

I managed to put off cleaning up the rent property until tomorrow. I don't know why I hate dealing with this place so much. Once, I left the rent house vacant for two years because I just didn't want to mess with it. I can't afford to do that anymore. I'm going to have to get the place looking spotless and show it to a real estate agent. It would be a lot easier to just show it the way it is, but people always remember the worst and seldom make the effort to imagine how pretty it could be. OK. I've convinced myself. Tomorrow, rain or shine, I'm going down there with my bottle of Goo-be-Gone, a vacuum cleaner, a tub of spackling compound and assorted hammers and screwdrivers. I'm determined to get this albatross off my back.

The dogs were both panting on their evening walk and it wasn't even eighty degrees. I don't know what they're going to do in July when it's a hundred and ten outside. Dot is getting older and can't take the heat anymore. I think Dash is just lazy like me and would prefer to stay inside with a cool beverage.

Hopefully, the lawn mower battery will recharge itself overnight. I'd hate to add a new lawnmower to the washing machine repair, new furnace, and catalytic converter I'm already on the hook for. Oh, and I'm getting that larger storage space too. Where are those big, lucrative jobs when I really need them?

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 829

I spent the day wrapping up loose ends. I took the set top boxes and remotes back to the cable company. Hopefully, we'll never need these things again. I went to the muffler store and got a price on a new catalytic converter for my car. I went to Home Depot and got a bunch of cleaning products so can get my rent house looking presentable this weekend. I also called a real estate agent who's been bugging me for years to give him the listing on the place. Probably, now that I actually want to sell the house, he won't be interested any more. The guy specializes in what he calls architecturally significant homes, but usually they're much larger and more expensive than mine. We'll see. Somewhere out there is a person who has always wanted a mid-century home like this. I've just got to find them.

The weather has been beautiful for the past two days. If I wasn't so tired, I'd put in the new St. Augustine turf in the back yard. I think it was just about this time last year when we planted grass in the back yard. It's almost an annual ritual to plant new grass each Spring. Most of the grass never makes it through our hot Texas summers, but the yard looks real nice through about mid July.

So far, I like U-verse a lot better than cable. Internet download speeds seem quite a bit faster. The TV picture seems sharper too. The hum I always heard in the old analog phones is gone. I just wish the U-verse set top box showed which channel you were watching. Although we have 300 channels, the channel that shows old episodes of Fraiser every night is gone. I've seen all these shows five times already, but it's comforting to watch something you've already seen as you're going to sleep. I guess I'll have to find something new.

I have a feeling that it's going to be a busy weekend. Nice weather during the weekend usually means lots of chores.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 828

I had a meeting with my watchmaker client today. He was telling me how it's getting harder and harder for small repair shops like his to stay in business, mostly because the large watch manufacturers won't sell him parts anymore. They want repairs to come back to the factory and are slowly shutting out independent watch repairmen. I find this sad. I also find that it's just part of a much larger picture. More and more manufacturers have discovered what Apple is doing and would like to try doing the same thing themselves. Hey, if people will pay a lot of money for an iPad with no serviceable parts, maybe they'll do the same thing for an expensive watch or pair of shoes. We have become a disposable society and it's getting harder and harder to get anything fixed. I like buying quality things that can be fixed forever, but I'm in the minority here.

On the way back from my client meeting, I stopped by the Land Rover dealer to see if they could identify my new noise. Clay, my service guy identified it right away. "You need a new catalytic converter," he said. Damn! I thought I fixed the catalytic converter last year, but apparently the car has two of them. One thing I learned when I replaced the first catalytic converter was that it wasn't a good idea to have Land Rover do the job. The cost of a genuine Land Rover catalytic converter: $2500. The cost of a generic catalytic converter at the local muffler shop: $300. I'm going back to the muffler shop again.

It must have rained last night because the roof was full of water again. I didn't even hear the rain, but apparently a gentle rain can leave just as much standing water as a big storm. I'm really getting sick of getting all the water off the roof every time it rains, but the cost of a quality "engineered" roof that drains properly will make a Land Rover catalytic converter seem cheap. All I can tell you is to never buy a house with a flat roof. Those flat roofed mid-century modern homes with their sleek flowing lines sure look nice, but they will make your life miserable. Actually, if I had it all to do over again, I would just rent. Now that everybody is discovering that real estate is no better as an investment than anything else, houses don't look quite so glamorous. Owning a home is a lot of trouble. It would be a lot easier to just act like my tenants and "let the landlord take care of it."

I just finished doing a huge load of laundry with towels and clothes and everything all mixed together. The washer worked perfectly. Whenever Janet does a properly sized load of color sorted clothes, the washer doesn't work. Needless to say this isn't making her very happy. Oh well, the washing machine repairman comes on Monday.

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 827

Most of today was occupied by getting U-verse installed. It was such a long, involved process that I boarded the dogs for the day. Dot would never have tolerated strangers moving things around in every room of the house. Since we were replacing all the phones, the televisions and the entire office network, I was expecting the worst. So far, the results have been largely favorable. The television works and we have a lot more channels than we had before. The Internet is quite a bit faster than it was before. The phones have built-in voice mail, so I don't need the answering machine anymore. I like a lot of the little things the best. When someone calls, the caller ID number shows up on your television screen. You can record an entire season of your favorite show just by clicking on a single button. The DVR automatically records each episode and then you can watch them whenever you want. So far, so good. It will probably take me months to learn all the available features but the main thing is that we are getting more services than cable for less money each month. As long as this complicated fiber optic system doesn't crash on us, I'm a happy camper.

I can't say that the dogs were all that happy today. Apparently, they both hate day boarding. When I picked Dot and Dash up after the U-verse installation was complete, Dot was panting like she'd been left out in the sun all day and Dash was making strange warbling bird noises. They were both very happy to return home again. Oddly, after all the boarding agitation, they were both very good at training class tonight. Dash had one of his best nights in months. We was even able to do some of his exercises off-leash. OK, I forgot to bring the long leash, but he did much better than I expected without it. Maybe I don't even need the long leash anymore. That would be great. If I could actually get to the point where I could trust this dog to come when he's called, it would be a miracle.

Now that the big household electronics upgrade is behind me, all I have to worry about are the washing machine repair and a potentially expensive trip to the Land Rover dealer. The mystery noise under the hood is getting louder, so I'd better take the car in soon.

The weather was beautiful all day. I'm sure the U-verse installation went a lot smoother than it would have if the technicians were trying to hook up new phone lines in a thunderstorm. I hope the nice weather continues. It should! After all, it's officially Spring now. Summer will be here before you know it, and that means I'd better turn my attention towards getting the rental property leased or sold.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 826

There was an enormous amount of rain last night. It rained all night long and the storms continued until almost 10 AM this morning. Needless to say, the roof wasn't up to the challenge. Not only was there a leak in the living room where water usually gets in, but there was a second leak in the utility room as well. It's a good thing we've got a lot of buckets. Dot wasn't really up the the challenge either. She is terrified of storms and periodic thunderclaps kept her up all night. At some point during the night, the power went out, leaving me with dripping ceilings, scared dogs and no light.

Luckily, things got a lot better as the day progressed. I started the day by driving Janet to the dentist for dental surgery. Then the dogs got their walk where they splashed through puddles and made a general mess of themselves. As soon as the dogs were dried off and asleep on the bed again, I made the obligatory trip up on the roof to get the water off. I think my patches held up, but there was so much water this time that it just found another place to leak in.

With the roof dry again, I took Dash to the vet for his antigen shop and picked up a somewhat sedated Janet from the dentist. Before starting on my writing work for the day, I made one more attempt to find a washing machine repairman. My first pick never returned my call, so this time I picked a company that sounded more corporate. I made an appointment and am hoping for the best. These guys sound pretty expensive, but in this house the washing machine is just as essential as the coffee maker. I can't live with a broken washing machine for very long.

I don't know why everything seems to be breaking lately. I just noticed that the electric heating element in the dishwasher isn't working properly. The dishes get clean enough, but they just appear to air dry. Jeez, a furnace on the fritz, a washing machine that won't spin, a dishwasher that won't dry...where is all this all going to end? I think I heard a funny noise when I started the car this morning too.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 825

Everything seems to be falling apart lately. Today I discovered that the final spin cycle on the washing machine doesn't work anymore. A washing machine without a spin cycle is just a lot of wet soggy clothes, so I spent some time today looking for a repairman. The current front loader is the first washing machine we've had that didn't come from Sears. It used to be that just about everyone bought their major appliances from Sears. It was hard to go into anyone's kitchen without seeing the word Kenmore somewhere. Those days are long gone. We got the current washer and dryer from Lowes, who unlike Sears, doesn't service what they sell. I looked on the Internet for someone who repaired our brand of washing machine and found three names. I called the name with the best looking website and still haven't heard anything back. Maybe the guys with ugly websites are more responsive. I'll keep looking. I hope I can find someone soon. I certainly don't want to resort to going to laundromats again.

I've been waiting all day for the big storm all the TV weathermen have been telling me about. This is the storm that is supposed to bring eight inches of rain and maybe a tornado our way. Luckily, I was able to get both the morning and evening walks for Dot and Dash completed before the rains actually started. It's raining right now. I wouldn't call this a giant storm, but there is definitely enough water coming down to create a giant pond on the roof. We'll see tomorrow whether all the patching I did yesterday did any good.

My renter has finally moved out. I always hope the place will be spotless when a tenant leaves and am usually disappointed. The kitchen was pretty clean this time, which is always a good sign. Unfortunately, there were large metal wall anchors everywhere where pictures and shelves used to be. If you just paint over the wall anchors, it looks ugly and it you remove them completely from the sheetrock, there is usually some major patching to do. The stone floor is a mess too. Lots of candle wax spilled on the floor and a couple of big sticky spots where it looks like someone was using spray adhesive for craft projects. I could spend a couple of days down at the rent house and get everything looking shipshape again. Alternately, I could hire a handyman to fix things for me and probably not be happy with the results. I seldom have two days of free time and even less frequently have a good handyman at my beck and call. This is why it usually takes me forever to get the rent house ready to rent again.

Tomorrow, I'm a medical taxi. I take Janet in for dental surgery in the morning and Dash over to the vet for his antigen shot in the afternoon. I'm sure there will be some work to do as well.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 824

There is a big storm on the way with as much as eight inches of rain predicted for tomorrow. Like it or not, today was the day to bag up all the leaves in the yard and get them out to the curb for bulky trash day. If the leaves become waterlogged again, we'll be stuck with them for another month. Today was the day to try and get the roof patched as well. It's been dry for a while now, so it's easier to spot the small cracks where water gets inside.

Before tackling these tiring chores, we took Dot and Dash to the dog park. Dot is back to her old self again. The park is turning green again, which is a big improvement over the pile of dirt it is in the Winter. While the dogs were playing, we saw Dash try to protect Dot from an overly aggressive dog. We've never seen this before. I think dogs send signals to each other that we don't see or hear. Dash probably understood that Dot was still vulnerable and not quite herself. Dash was quite the hero, chasing the big black dog who was trying to hump every dog in the park away from Dot.

When we got back home, it was time for work. Janet and I must have bagged thirty bags of leaves in the back yard. The leaf blower sent an almost equal number into the street in front of the house where passing eighteen wheelers scattered them to the four winds. The yard looks much better now and is ready for a new St. Augustine turf to be installed in early April. I still can't believe the turf we put in last year only lasted one year. I think I'm going to till the soil before installing the new grass this time. The grass people said not to do this last year, but I don't think they realized how hard the clay in the backyard is. The roots never got established, even though we watered constantly. Hopefully, tilling the soil and adding some additional topsoil will help this time.

With a big rain coming, I knew I had one last chance to find the roof leak and patch it. I did find one little hole that still looked damp when the rest of the roof was dry. I dragged the shop vac up on the roof and tried to suck water out of this hole before I patched it. Amazingly, over two gallons of water came out. There is something a bit hopeless about this entire situation. I need an entirely new roof. Unfortunately, I can't really afford one yet. I keep patching and hoping for the best.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. Janet and I are tired. The dogs are tired. We're ready as we can be for whatever comes our way.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 823 - St. Patrick's Day

Dot is doing a lot better today. Since she doesn't have a limp or any lingering effects from yesterday's trauma, I'm inclined to think she really did have a seizure. We'll never know for sure though, since I wasn't there when it happened. The important thing is that Dot is more or less back to normal.

Health is so important, for people and animals. I got two e-mails today from the families of friends who are losing their battle with cancer. One friend was a college classmate and the other an animal rescue volunteer. It's sobering to realize how tenuous our hold on health can be. One minute you're fine and the next minute, you're facing the battle of your life. I saw both my parents lose their grip on good health, and I'm sure my day will come as well. We all need to learn not to waste the good years we are given.

I seldom edit this blog, but I realized this morning that today was actually St. Patrick's Day and not yesterday. I don't know what made me think that the holiday was yesterday. Probably I just saw some news anchors on TV wearing green ties and didn't think any further about the subject. At any rate, I moved the St. Patrick's Day header from yesterday's post to today's. I'd hate for people to think that I'm so out of touch that I don't even know when I am experiencing a holiday.

I was going to bag up the leaves in the back yard this afternoon, mostly because I've been seeing my neighbors bag up their leaves. This means that the trash people will probably be picking up leaves this week. It wouldn't have been good to bag up the leaves today though. It rained last night and each bag would have been twice as heavy as it should be. Maybe if the weather is nice tomorrow, I can still get everything bagged up in time. I think there is only one leaf pick-up day all year, so I'd better not miss this one.

I got another letter from the Missouri Department of Revenue today. I was shocked. They actually admitted that I was right and that I didn't owe any Missouri State Tax after all. They thanked me for my input and said they would close out all my tax files. I guess this is good news, but it still doesn't answer the question of why I had a Missouri tax file in the first place. Like I said earlier, I've never lived in Missouri.

Tomorrow looks like a good day to go to the dog park. It also looks like a good day to do yard work. We'll go to the dog park first, and hopefully there won't be much time left to do yard work when we return.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 822

We had a dog emergency today. The day started normally enough. We fed the dogs and I took them on their morning walk. Both Dot and Dash were energetic and eager, just like they usually are. When we returned, I went out for breakfast. I was only gone an hour, but when I got home again, Dot couldn't walk anymore. I would lift her up and she would just fall over. She couldn't stand at all. I immediately rushed her to the vet. I wasn't sure if she had a seizure, if she had somehow torn her anterior cruciate ligaments, or if something life threatening was happening.

Dot was still real shaky when I got her to the vet, but over the next hour she appeared to stabilize and was able to stand again. The vet agreed that she probably had a seizure, but nobody knew why. Dot, unlike Dash, has never had a history of seizures. The vet did blood work to make sure she hadn't gotten a tick borne disease and then checked all her vital signs. Everything seemed normal. I left Dot at the vet for several hours, just in case she might have another seizure. Seizures often come in clusters of three. Nothing happened for the rest of the day however, and Dot is back home with us. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe that anything had happened at all.

While Dot was under observation at the vet, I took my tax files over to my accountant. This year, instead of fat ring binders and bulging accordion files, I just took them a disk with all my Quickbooks information. The disk is all they really want anyway. Last year, I took over a stack of papers almost a foot thick and I don't even think they looked at them. After finally getting Quickbooks configured exactly the way my accountant wanted, you'd think my taxes would be less expensive to prepare. Nope! Somehow, they're actually more expensive to prepare now.

After dropping off my files at the accountant's office, I headed back to the vet to check on Dot. On the way, I stopped by my rental property to see if my tenant had actually moved out. Nope! There's still furniture in the place. I was under the impression she was going to move out last week. I don't know if I have the patience for another renter. Maybe it's finally time to sell the place. I think I'm going to interview some real estate agents and see what they have to say.

Friday traffic was a lot worse than usual. The grocery stores were packed and everyone seemed to be buying beer and wine. There is a huge St. Patrick's Day parade down Greenville Avenue tomorrow. I need to remember to avoid the entire area, since traffic becomes gridlocked. The days when I enjoyed drinking green beer and getting knee walking drunk are long gone. I just hope Dot is feeling better tomorrow.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 821

I started working on my taxes today. Every year these things seem to become more complicated, even though my life has actually become simpler. Once you start depreciating things and carrying losses forward, you are forced to do these things every year thereafter. Right now, my financial life is such a complicated mix of things I've done in previous years that I don't think I'll ever have a simple return again. Maybe someday, our politicians will pass a flat tax and put an end to this needless complexity. You should really be able to do your taxes on a single sheet of paper. Just write down what you earned, subtract fifteen percent for the government, and write a check. Right now there are literally hundreds of ways for people to try to game the system, and yet nobody is happy. A flat tax would be better.

I'm still having a hard time adjusting to daylight savings time. I feel like I'm getting up earlier because it's still dark outside. In reality, I'm getting up a bit later though and the whole day gets off to a slow start. I don't really care about having more daylight in the evening. All I do in the evenings is write the blog anyway. Somehow, I'm walking the dogs at 8:30 in the morning now, instead of 7:30 like I used to. The sun is way too high in the sky for me to capture any neat sunset shots on our evening walks either. I haven't even finished resetting all the watches. I'm just not cut out for daylight savings time.

I've got to decide what to do about the rental property. One day I'll wake up wanting to sell the place, and the next day I'll decide it would be better to lease it again. It's hard to decide. The real estate market certainly hasn't rebounded yet. On the other hand, I don't really like being a landlord. I've got to decide something soon though, because I can't afford to have the place sitting empty forever.

I noticed that Jupiter and Venus were real close together in the Western sky when I took the trash out tonight. I wonder if they'll get closer, or if I already missed the closest approach? I used to be real interested in astronomy, but like so many things, the fascination slowly faded away.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 820

I'm planning ahead. I went to the Storage Warehouse and reserved a new and much larger storage space that will become available on April 1. The plan is to move everything from my existing space and organize it neatly like it was inventory in a store. Maybe when I get things organized and have a better idea of what I actually have, some of the stuff eventually will become inventory to sell on eBay. Right now, I have no idea what I have over at the storage warehouse. I've spent years stacking boxes on top of other boxes until the room is completely full from floor to ceiling. I often think that I've stored away things that I really need, but it's so much trouble to dig though all the boxes and find what I'm looking for that I've stopped even trying.

I also bit the bullet and made the decision to switch all the household electronics from cable to U-verse. In theory, this will give us a lot more TV channels, the internet connection will be faster, and the land line phones won't sound scratchy anymore. In practice, probably none of these things will be true. Whenever anyone attempts to install anything at our house, there is always some sort of Catch-22 situation that results in higher costs and lower performance. U-verse is definitely worth a try though. It certainly couldn't be much worse than cable and I do seem to be saving money with the deal.

Have any of you had any experience with Angie's List? I'm real tempted to use Angie's List to find a good real estate agent to market my rental property. Maybe this would be more objective than just asking a friend. I've asked friends to recommend roofers, painters, doctors and even real estate agents in the past and the results have been uniformly terrible. I've kind of learned over the years that just because someone is a friend of a friend, doesn't necessarily mean they're any good. There has got to be a better way to find great service. I haven't discovered it yet though.

The sun was still up when we went to dog class tonight. Finally, a real use for daylight savings time. Last week we went to class in darkness, and this week there was light. I'm still not sure what monkeying around with the time actually proves, but it was nice to have a little light while we told our dogs to sit and heel.

Humphrey is our Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 819

I went to the AT&T store today to find out a little more about U-verse. I've been getting these flyers in the mail for the past several months with what look like incredibly good deals and I wanted to find out if they were really true. The $79 a month bundle price they quoted was indeed correct, but the more I learned about it, the more I wondered if anyone would really sign up for this rather limited service. You got a phone, but you were limited to a certain number of minutes a month. You got internet, but it was slower than what I have now. You got TV as well, but not very many channels. When I asked how much it would cost to get what I really needed, the price suddenly got a lot higher. Despite the bait and switch tactics, I'm still thinking of switching from Time Warner to U-verse anyway.

Why do competing companies make it so difficult to compare services these days? You always end up comparing apples to oranges and at the end of the day, you're just guessing which company is actually better. I'm convinced this is why telephone, internet, and electricity providers try so hard to get you to sign a two year contract. Without a contract, there would be nothing preventing you from just leaving when the disappointment sets in. Somehow phone companies always seem to deliver less than they promise. They never mention all the city and state taxes that are going to be added to your bill either.

I got a bid on putting in a new furnace as well today. Although the price was more reasonable than I expected, it was still pretty high and confirmed my decision to just wait until next Fall to do anything major. There are far to many expenses on the horizon these days anyway. Taxes are due in less than a month. The rent house is empty and not contributing anything to the monthly cash flow. The Defender 90 is almost due for another major service. The list never ends.

Enough complaining though. The weather seems to get a little nicer every day. I'm not wild about daylight savings time starting so early this year, but it's nice to be able to put the heavy Winter coats away for another season. Walking the dogs is a lot more enjoyable in warmer weather too. Although Dot and Dash haven't officially become photo assistants, they are both becoming better about letting me take pictures during our walks. I never really thought of myself as a nature photographer, but I'm actually starting to get some good shots.

The iCloud has turned out to be a good thing as well. I was a bit apprehensive about upgrading everything to take advantage of the Cloud, but it's certainly making my life easier. I don't have to synchronize calendars and contact lists anymore and I just noticed that my iPhone upgraded itself to the latest IOS all by itself. Now, if I could just train these devices to do my web and writing work for me.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 818

Decisions, decisions. When I went to the storage warehouse today, I noticed that there was a much larger storage unit available right across from mine. I've been wanting a larger unit for quite a while, so I went to the manager and asked how much more it would be to upgrade to this larger space. The manager told me that I could move to the larger storage space if I wanted, but that I would lose the entire discount I had received earlier by paying for my storage space in advance. What? This seemed ridiculous. I thought they would just pro-rate the new space based on the additional square footage I would be occupying. I should have known. If you want something that someone else has, you almost always have to pay for the privilege.

If somebody wants you on the other hand, there are all kinds of deals available. I've been getting these flyers in the mail from U-verse lately, offering what appears to be fantastic deals if I will switch from my cable provider to their service. Since U-verse is offering a telephone, television, and internet bundle for less than what I currently pay for phone service alone, I keep thinking there's got to be a catch. Cable was pretty reasonable too when we first got it installed, but the cost has kept going up dramatically every year since. Maybe U-verse really is a good deal, but I keep thinking that the minute we abandon our cable service, the U-verse will start acting flaky and we'll want the cable back.

I got a call from the HVAC folks today saying that the cost of the new gas valve required to keep my furnace limping along for another year or so is over $400. Since it was warm today, I'm thinking about just waiting until Fall and then getting an entirely new furnace. The only trouble with waiting until Fall is that I might have already wasted the money for the new furnace on something else. I think the yearly rent on the new large storage space I've got my eye on is almost exactly the same as the cost of a new furnace.

Life is complicated. If I could just bring myself to throw stuff away, I wouldn't need a new storage space in the first place. Of course, if I could bring myself to start wearing sweaters indoors, I probably wouldn't need a furnace either.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 817

It's amazing what a difference a little sunlight can make. While none of yesterday's problems have been resolved, today still seemed much more pleasant anyway. Spring made a surprise return this morning. I think this entire month is a meteorological struggle between Winter and Spring. One day Winter wins, and the next day Spring makes a comeback. There may be a few cold days left, but warmer weather is definitely on the horizon. The wild irises are already in bloom and most of the trees are starting to turn green.

I'm wondering if it's even worth fixing the furnace right now with Winter on the way out. It's only a matter of weeks before it will be time to start using the air conditioner again. In many ways it would be better to just wait until Fall to get a new furnace. I may need the money for taxes anyway.

The dog park was closed today because of yesterday's heavy rains, but the dogs had fun anyway. Spring brings lots of new smells and Dot and Dash ambled along on their walks through the park today, stopping every ten feet to smell something new. Dot loves to smell flowers and almost got stung by a bee when she got too close to one fragrant bud. Dash seems to have no interest in flowers, but he sure loves horse poop. Both dogs had plenty to smell this afternoon.

When I took the useless utility pump back for a refund today, I bought one of those new space-age light bulbs that supposedly took millions of our taxpayer dollars to develop. I don't know why people on TV are ranting and railing against these LED bulbs. I think they're great. Sure they're a bit pricy, but they'll last longer than I will, they don't get hot when they're on, they don't contain mercury like those compact fluorescent bulbs, and the latest models are just as bright as a regular incandescent bulb. I'd rather buy one expensive bulb that lasts forever than hundreds of ordinary incandescent bulbs that continually burn out at the most inopportune moments.

I replaced my client's Google map with a Bing map today. For some reason, Bing maps seem more accurate than Google maps. You'd think that with hundreds of Google photo trucks cataloging every last inch of the planet, these maps would be a little more accurate. This is the second time in less than a year that I've had to replace an embedded Google map because the location was off by more than a mile.

I hope I get a better night's sleep than I did last night. Dash woke me up five times. I finally figured out what he was barking about. He wanted a blanket. As soon as I covered him up in a blanket, he went right to sleep. Dash doesn't like the cold. I think he'd vote for getting the furnace fixed whether it's getting warmer or not.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 816

It rained all day. The furnace apparently can no longer be repaired. The new sump pump I bought for the roof today doesn't even work. Need I say more? Some of my friends keep telling me that I need to keep the blog upbeat and positive. Truthfully, I do get more followers when I'm upbeat and positive. Nevertheless, there are still days when everything sucks. This was one of those days.

The dogs were amazingly quiet this morning when Marty came over to look at the furnace. I was amazed at how quiet they were and so was Marty. What was so different about today? The only thing I can think of is that Janet was home. Either the dogs are more confident when she's home, or they don't feel the need to protect anything when two of us are here. The difference was amazing. I was actually able to hear when Marty told me that the furnace was on its last legs and probably wasn't worth repairing again.

I don't know where I'm going to be able to find a decent pump. The pump I bought today was advertised as the perfect utility pump, capable of pumping of 3000 gallons an hour. What nobody told me is that the pump needs to be sitting in at least six inches of water before it will start pumping at all. There's a lot of water on the roof, but it isn't six inches deep. The new pump didn't work at all and I'll have to take it back tomorrow. My old metal Simer Geyser pump was almost indestructible and would suck up standing water even if it was only 1/4 inch deep. All these new pumps are constructed out of plastic and appear to be made for the sole purpose of creating decorative fountains in backyard ponds. None of them work very well for getting water off a flat roof. Sign of the times I guess.

I was trying to figure out how to get the little red location circle in the right place on my client's embedded Google map this afternoon. I experimented by inputting slightly different addresses to see if I could get the circle to move and then I realized that this was a stupid plan. Even if I did manage to get the circle in the right place, it would still show the wrong address. I think I'll just take down the Google map and replace it with a Bing map.

It doesn't look like the dogs will get to go to the dog park tomorrow. With all this rain, the park probably isn't just muddy. There's a good chance it's underwater.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 815

It wasn't the best of days. The furnace quit this morning and I wasted a lot of time monkeying around with the thermostat, trying to get it to start again. I was hoping the last repair visit would take me through the rest of the winter, and it almost did. I think I would have been just fine if Winter hadn't unexpectedly returned a couple of days ago. The furnace wasn't the only temperamental machine today either. When I started the car later in the day, I was greeted with a squealing sound that told me instantly the power steering system was leaking again. Oh, well.

The dogs didn't seem too happy with the day either. Both of them barked incessantly all day. It was very windy today and every time a tree limb brushed against the roof, Dot went crazy. She a good little watchdog, but sometimes I don't think she knows what she's barking at. Dash is usually pretty quiet, but if Dot barks long enough, he'll join in too. Inevitably, whenever the dogs choose to have a barking spree turns out to be exactly the time when clients call with difficult problems to solve.

I had two clients call with website problems today and I could barely hear either of them. The first call involved third part code that wouldn't work. I still haven't been able to contact the developers, but eventually this problem will be solved. The second call was from a client who was unhappy where Google placed them on their maps. I keep trying to tell people that I have no control whatsoever over where Google places you on a map, but that doesn't stop people from asking. This time I think the location dot on the map was on the wrong side of the street. How quickly we take things for granted. Hey, the map did get people pretty close. I think if you went to where the dot on the map was, you could look around and actually see the sign on the building.

I was supposed to get my March invoices out today, but my website problems put me so far behind that the invoices are still sitting in a pile on my desk. At least I found time to run to Central Market and pick up dinner for tonight. I'll finish the invoices tomorrow after the HVAC folks come to look at the furnace. That is sure to be another barking frenzy. The dogs should know by now that the furnace repairman is one of the good guys. Jeez, Dot and Dash don't like the cold any more than I do. They ought to be welcoming the furnace guy.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 814

I took Janet's tax information over to the accountant's office today and the first thing they asked me was why I didn't have my own tax information as well. "Well, I haven't started working on mine yet," I said. They gave me this look that told me I'd better get started. Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend?

On the way home, I stopped by my rental property to see if the place was even close to presentable. I wasn't even sure I could get in the door, since I'd lost my set of back-up keys. I make lots of key duplicates though, so I took everything I could find that looked like a front door key with me. I almost gave up and went home, but literally the last key I tried worked. It's a good thing I never throw anything away.

I was disappointed when I saw the place. My renter had told me that she'd hired a maid service clean the place out before she moved, but it still looked pretty messy to me. There were Velcro strips glued to the wall where apparently pictures had been hung. There was a sticky residue on the dining room floor that looked like someone had been using spray glue for art projects. My renter apparently had a TV in every room, because the cable company had stapled wires everywhere. I've seen a lot worse, but I've seen better too. At least the refrigerator was clean.

It rained again today. I was able to use the weather radar app on my iPad to map out a few dry periods where I could walk the dogs, but basically it rained all day. As the day progressed, it kept getting colder and colder. Jeez! Why keep tempting us with Spring, if the weather keeps reverting back to this miserable stuff? I had to get up on the roof again too. The standing water was getting pretty deep.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I think I'll have waffles for breakfast.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day