Day 887

What a busy day. We tried to finish landscaping the back yard this morning and almost succeeded. The yard looks good now. All the grass is in place and appears to be growing. All we need now is a little more ground cover and we'll be done. After breakfast, we took Dot and Dash back to the new 22 acre dog park in far North Dallas. This is a great park since the grass hasn't been ruined yet and the dogs have plenty of room to roam. The drive is a little longer, but it's worth it.

On the way home, we stopped by Vhea's LaundroMutt and gave the dirty pair a bath. We've got clean dogs now, a clean house, and I even mowed the grass. Since I noticed some of the other neighbors hauling brush out to the curb for big trash day, I figured that now was the time to cut down the dead tree in the front courtyard as well.

The tree wasn't large, but it took me a while because I was using a reciprocating saw instead of a chain saw. Years ago, a friend of mine almost took off his face when he slipped while using a chain saw. That accident put the fear of God in me, since I'm fairly clumsy. I haven't used a chain saw since. It's surprising how much you can cut with a big electric reciprocating saw and the right blade though. In two hours, I had the tree cut into small enough pieces that I could drag it out to the curb with all the other neighbor's landscaping debris.

Dash's birthday is tomorrow. The little guy will be seven years old. I don't know if we'll have time to take the dogs out to dinner again, but we'll do something special. Years ago, I took a cake decorating class and Janet and I used to make special birthday cakes for the dogs on their birthday. Life has become way too hectic for hand decorated dogs cakes lately. Janet and I don't even have birthday cakes for each other anymore. Usually birthday celebrations just involve some wine and a few cupcakes from Sprinkles.

I hope I can get caught up with all my work projects this week. I'm way behind right now. I'm tempted to just turn the phones off until I get caught up on everything. That wouldn't be wise though. The minute I turn the phones off, someone is bound to call me with the job I've been waiting for all year.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 886

I've gotten way behind on photographing the new Dalmatians that entered the rescue program this month. To make amends, Janet and I went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to say hello to the newcomers. We photographed Hershey, a handsome young liver spotted male, and Dottie, a sweet twelve year old female. It still astounds me that people will dump a loyal friend at the pound just because they're getting old, but that's what happened to Dottie. We're hoping she'll find a new family who will let her live out her remaining years with the dignity she deserves.

When I finished photographing the dogs, I went back home and generally wasted the rest of the day. I spent way too much time trying to fix a delicate brass thingy that I accidentally dropped off a six foot high shelf a few years ago. The proper way to fix this object would be for someone with exceptionally good brazing skills to use a micro torch to weld all the little pieces back together. I used Superglue. My repair looks good from a distance, but it is so fragile that the whole thing will fall apart if a mouse steps on it. Sadly, since the brass collectible thingy is destined for the storage warehouse, a mouse probably will step on it pretty soon.

After doing my weekend grocery shopping, I returned home again to discover more real estate documents in my inbox that I needed to sign. I've gotten spoiled with those Docusign documents that you can electronically sign using a web browser. The documents I received today were a little more difficult. I had to print them out, sign them all, scan the signed copies and then turn the whole mess into a single PDF file, so I could e-mail everything back to the real estate agent. When did selling a house become so difficult? The last time I was involved with buying or selling real estate, the whole process seemed much easier.

The dogs are filthy. I don't know how they got so dirty, but it probably had something to do with me neglecting to clean them up while Janet was out of town. They didn't look that bad to me. They didn't smell that bad either. It didn't take Janet ten seconds to notice how dirty they were however. They're both scheduled for a bath at Vhea's LaundroMutt as soon as we get back from the dog park tomorrow.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 885

I went to a new breakfast restaurant this morning. I'd driven by the place many times but had never eaten there before. As soon as I went inside, I knew I had entered the Twilight Zone. I was the youngest person in the entire restaurant. Lots of people were reading the newspaper. No, they weren't looking USA Today on their iPads, they were looking at real paper newspapers. Nobody was using an iPhone or Android. The few people who were talking on cell phones had ancient brick-like models that I hadn't seen in years. The food was good though. Most importantly, the all important coffee refills just kept on coming.

After breakfast, I paid a visit to my safe deposit box to look for some documents that my real estate agent needed. I couldn't find the documents, but I did notice that there was nothing of real value or importance in my box. I found two old music publishing contracts with record labels that had gone out of business years ago. I found a detailed inventory of office equipment that I no longer owned. I found an expired passport. I found an old will that I should have thrown away because the beneficiaries are already dead. I don't know why I even keep this safe deposit box. Everything in it is worthless.

I had to fight rush hour traffic to go to the airport this afternoon. Ordinarily, I don't even leave the house at this time of day, but rush hour just happened to be when Janet's plane arrived from Las Vegas. I keep thinking we're in a depression, because that's all I hear on TV. When I'm out and about though, people look like they're doing pretty well. If you judged things by the volume of rush hour traffic, you'd have to call Dallas a boom town.

Neither Janet or I felt like cooking when we finally made it home again, so we took the dogs out for dinner at Cafe Lago instead. It's amazing how well behaved Dot and Dash are when we take them to a restaurant. They're been to this dog friendly restaurant enough now that they both understand how things work. If they're well behaved, they're going to get food. They just sit at our feet quietly like model canine citizens. People come over to pet them at our table on the patio and would never believe how badly behaved this pair can be at home.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 884

Today was a good day. My new client loved the website I designed for them. The presentation this morning went very well and there were virtually no changes. We are ready to launch. I now have three competing offers on my rent property and the best offer is above my initial listing price. To round things out, I also regained an old client that I lost several years ago when they decided to take their operation in-house. Not bad for a Thursday.

I never realized that there was so much paperwork involved in selling a house. My real estate agent has already given me a ton of documents to sign and the sale hasn't even taken place yet. I'm not even sure what stage of the process we're in right now. I don't think they've done the inspection yet. I do know the buyers want to close on the deal in early June, so I guess they're serious.

I've been so busy this month that I'm having trouble keeping up with everything. The transition I've made from doing a few high paying jobs each month to doing a whole lot of low paying jobs each month has been brutal. I have to be fast and fairly organized to make any money at all. The real trouble with the low paying jobs is that the low paying clients still think they're important. I find myself spending just as much time talking with clients and answering e-mails as I used to. Sometimes I spend more time answering the e-mails than I do actually doing the job. I guess it's good to have a backlog of work though. I always know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow.

The back yard is starting to look really nice. I think last week's rains helped. The dogs certainly approve. Dot and Dash go outside every day after lunch now to lounge in the sun. All I have left to do is plant some Asian Jasmine ground cover in the really shady areas and then we'll be done for another season. I definitely don't have a green thumb, but it is nice to see that I've done something right, even if the results are only temporary.

I don't know where to have breakfast tomorrow. Neither of the places I've been going recently sound appealing to me. I can't believe that my Friday breakfast outing idea has run aground so quickly. After all, I've only been doing this a few month's now. Maybe I can find someplace new. I'd hate to have to resort to my own cooking again.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 883

I've already gotten two offers on my rent property. What this seems to prove is that there is always a price where something will sell. The real estate market isn't dead. Current prices are just lower than most sellers, including myself, would like. The difference between actually selling your house and having it sit on the market forever is just a matter of setting a realistic price based on current values. That being said, my house hasn't actually been sold yet. I've just gotten offers. Selling real estate seems to be a complex game of offers and counter offers, inspections and financing. A deal can fall apart at any point along the way. I am encouraged though. Especially since several friends told me to expect to have the house on the market a long, long time. There are two houses in the same neighborhood that have been on the market over 300 days.

The corollary to this sad tale of falling real estate prices is that you can always find work if you are willing to work for less than you might like. A lot of the unemployed expect to eventually get their old jobs back. It just isn't going to happen. Globalization and new technologies have destroyed those old jobs just as effectively as the financial meltdown of 2008 destroyed the selling price of my rent house. There is work though. There is always work if you are willing to do it. The ironic thing is that I'm busier than I've been at almost any point in my career, but I'm effectively making less per hour than I was 25 years ago. To me, this all sucks big time, but since I'm not Dr. Who and I don't have a Tardis handy, there is no way I can recapture the glory days.

What the hell. Things change. You've got to keep moving. It's better to keep reinventing yourself and adapt to changing times that to pretend is is still 1985. I present a new website design tomorrow. I got another new client today. Neither of these opportunities represent a financial windfall for me, but they do allow me to continue. I know I'm going to be disappointed with the final selling price of my rent house. I'm continually disappointed by the performance of my stock portfolio. This is the world we live in though. On the bright side, if I ever buy another house, it probably won't be that expensive.

We didn't go to training class tonight. Maybe if I had two very obedient dogs, I could take both of them myself. That isn't the case however. Dash is still a handful for me. I hate to leave Dot behind, so we all just stay home on nights when Janet isn't around. The dogs seem happy enough. They are both asleep on the bed. I'm happy enough as well. There are no mosquitoes biting me and I'm inside, away from my allergy problems. We'll wait until next week to return to class.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 882

I decided that I would sleep better if I just slept on top of the bed like another dog. This way, Dot and Dash couldn't bunch up on either side of me and pin me under the covers like they usually do. Surprisingly, the plan worked quite well last night and I had a lot more room than normal. As an added benefit, I didn't need to make the bed the next morning. I'm sure normalcy will return as soon as Janet gets back, but for now, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If I get cold? Well, there are dog blankets all over the house. I'll just grab a dog blanket.

There isn't as much to photograph on our daily walks anymore. The Spring wildflowers have all bloomed. The prairie grass is tall and the trees are green, so the animals have better places to hide. Even the light isn't as pretty, since the days are getting longer. The sun is usually up long before I am. I guess I could still walk the dogs at sunset, but they don't have the patience to wait this long. They don't care about photography anyway. I still take my camera though. I can always take pictures of dogs.

I paid a bunch of bills today. Inside every bill was a notice encouraging me to switch to an online payment plan. Everyone seems to want you to pay your bills online these days. I guess the companies make more money if they don't have to send out bills in the mail, but I still prefer paper. It's a lot easier to remember to pay your bills if there is a big stack of them sitting in front of you on your desk. The companies don't want you to have to remember either. They'd rather have you sign up for an automatic payment plan that just sucks money out of your account at predetermined intervals. I don't like this either. I'd rather decide when to pay my bills myself. Preferably when I have money in the bank.

I finished my new website today and make an appointment to present it to my client later in the week. I hope they like it and want to retain me to be their webmaster. Maintaining websites I built years ago has become the bread and butter of my business. Sometimes people don't want me to maintain their site though. They think they can do a better job of things themselves. Often these people call me back a few years later and want me to take over things again. Keeping the website current has turned out to be more trouble than they thought. I got one of those calls today. I looked at the site I had built three years ago and it was a mess. No wonder they wanted me to take it back again.

Facebook is going public soon. I wonder if this would be a good stock to buy? Facebook isn't like Apple or BMW. There is nothing elegant about it. To me, the company is more like Wall Mart. It's a bit irritating, but it is hard to ignore since everyone is already there. Maybe I should pass on Facebook stock. Especially since I'd secretly like to see Zuckerberg fail. Do we really need 28 year old billionaires anyway?

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 881

What the hell? There was a clear blue sky this morning. The weather was beautiful. The roof was dry. Nevertheless, there was water dripping from the ceiling in the living roof when I woke up. This wasn't clear water either. It was stained a dark brown. The only thing I could figure was that this water had leaked through the roof sometime during last week's rains and then traveled along the wooden framing until it found a hole in the Sheetrock ceiling below and entered the house. Like Dr. Who said during the Waters of Mars episode, "Water is patient. Water always wins."

I assembled my new industrial shelving over at the storage warehouse this afternoon. There are three generations of industrial shelving over at the storage space and each new shelf is shoddier than the previous one. The first shelves I bought were so tough that you could stack them full of lead pipes if you wanted. They were made in America. The second set were manufactured in China, used thinner steel and had particle board decking. The shelves I bought this weekend were absolute rubbish. The steel was so thin and flimsy that it kept bending out of shape while I was assembling it. I think that the decking was made of plastic this time. All the shelves were exactly the same dimensions. They was all roughly the same price too. Somebody had just decided that if fewer materials were used in manufacturing, there would be more profit. This is the problem with a lot of stuff you buy from Lowes, Home Depot and Wall Mart these days. The prices are great. The quality, unfortunately is not always so great.

I took my watch back to the repair shop today. They apologized for charging me for the repair, even though they had done absolutely nothing. Easy mistake to make I guess. I've probably charged people for doing absolutely nothing myself. At any rate, they promised to make things right and do all the repairs I had originally asked for at no additional charge. I don't even know why I'm fixing this watch. There is nothing special about it and it will probably just gather dust again when the repairs are complete.

I had thought that there would be more room in the bed at night now that it's just me and the dogs for a while. No such luck. Somehow, Dot and Dash have figured out how to stretch out even further than they did before and once again I find myself scrunched in a corner on the edge of the mattress. I don't know how two Dalmatians can take up so much space.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 880 - Mother's Day

It's been a while since Mother's Day had any real significance for me. When my Mom was still alive, she would constantly exhort me to become a better person, to be kind to the less fortunate, and to rise above misfortune. Much of what she told me went in one ear and came right out the other. I wasn't the best of sons. Mom never gave up though. To her dying day, she continued to send me weekly letters full of wise and often cockeyed advice on how to improve my life. Sometimes I wonder if she'd approve of the final result of her efforts. I never became a priest like she once wanted. I never joined the Peace Corps either. I guess the one bright spot would be that I am kind to animals.

I finally finished moving everything out of the old storage room today. The room is completely  empty. Yay! Even though this tiring and somewhat meaningless activity wouldn't have carried much weight with Mom, who loved to have yard sales and give my Dad's stuff away, I'm glad it is finally finished. Now I've just got to get everything organized again. I went and bought some more industrial shelving this afternoon, but didn't have time to assemble it. Just getting everything moved was enough for one day.

It's been so rainy this week that the dog parks were closed, so I took the dogs on an extra long walk this morning. In addition to our regular journey through the park, we also walked through the neighborhood, checking out who had bought a new car or sold their house. The new houses in the neighborhood are much bigger and fancier than the older ones. Oddly, the size of the families living in these palatial homes are smaller than the families who used to live in the small frame homes they replaced. I grew up in a simple frame house. We all shared one bathroom. I don't think my Mom would have approved of these new McMansions.

The power went out this evening, which was odd, since there was only a gentle rain today. We've always had problems with power outages in our neighborhood though. When the power finally came back on, I noticed that the U-Verse TV's went through this complicated re-boot process that seemed to take about ten minutes. I also noticed that the backup battery for my computer's UPS power supply is dead. That gizmo didn't last very long. I only bought the uninterruptible power supply a few years ago after another power outage completely fried my office computer. Mom probably did know best. She had no interest in computers.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 879

I took Janet to the airport today. I used to travel more than Janet. Now, she travels more than me. We always take Janet's car when I take her to the airport. My car has seen better days, and I don't want the old Defender to cause anyone to miss their flight. Janet's Land Rover is so much smoother and quieter than mine. Of course, hers is almost new and mine is almost an antique. I do have a backup car, but it's even in worse shape than the Defender. Actually I haven't even seen my backup car in more than five years, because it's being stored in an aircraft hanger somewhere West of Nevada, Texas. I see my mechanic almost every week at dog training class, but I'm in no hurry to get the car back. It's a money pit and completely unreliable. If I had somewhere I needed to go, I'd definitely trust a 1995 Land Rover more than a 1972 Maserati.

The dogs are always upset when Janet leaves. They don't like any sort of change in their schedule and when the person who feeds them their breakfast every day isn't there anymore, they get worried. After a day or two they realize that I'm just as reliable at preparing their meals as Janet and they settle down. After a few more days, they have completely adapted to my schedule and are sleeping in late every morning. By the time Janet returns, she is usually greeted by two lazy dogs who don't want to get out of bed at all.

It's been raining every night this week. When I was up on the roof this morning, I was wondering why I don't have tremendous upper body strength. Pushing hundreds of pounds of water off the roof with the big push broom is quite strenuous. You've think I'd have some muscles to show for all my efforts, but I just keep getting thinner. One of the medications I take has a side effect of causing muscle tissue to atrophy. It's not severe or anything, but it seems to take a lot more effort to maintain the same amount of muscle mass as I used to have. Actually, it's probably good that I'm expending a lot of energy up on the roof, but it doesn't make the job any more pleasant.

What would be pleasant would be to live on the seventeenth floor of a luxury high-rise that didn't have any water problems at all. Instead off sweeping water of the roof, I could be sipping lattes at a downstairs cafe or visiting nearby art galleries. Uh-oh, don't think the dogs approve of this plan. Dash just gave me a dirty look.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 878

Another rainy day. The Spring downpour stopped just long enough for me to walk the dogs, but it was pretty wet the rest of the day. I made two trips up to the roof. The first was completely futile. It started raining again while I was clearing the water away. The second trip, just before dinner, seems to have done the trick though. The rain has finally stopped and the roof is clear of water. All the rain we're having this week isn't totally bad news however. What's bad for the roof is good for the lawn. The new grass in the back yard loves the rain. Maybe I ought to plant grass on the roof. It might help insulate things a little better and it would certainly grow. The roof has all the water a thirsty plant needs.

I'm starting to get bored with my Friday breakfast outings. I've tried everything on the menu at my regular restaurant and there are actually only two things I like at the trendy restaurant down the street. I don't feel like driving out of the neighborhood, because I've still got work to do on Fridays. I don't really feel like cooking either. Such a dilemma. I went out and had a waffle this morning, mostly to avoid eating a cold bowl of shredded wheat for the third day in a row.

I picked up two watches from the watch repairman this afternoon. I need to remember to take my reading glasses when I pick up watches. Everything looked fine at the store, but when I got home, I noticed that only one watch had been fixed. The other one looked like nothing had been done to it at all. The scratched crystal I wanted them to replace was still in place and the little luminous dots I wanted them to add to the dial were nowhere to be seen. Now, I've got to go back to the store and ask them what, if anything, they did. I definitely paid for two repairs.

Just one day after the plumber was at the house I get a letter in the mail from the plumbing company. It was one of those "thank you for the opportunity to serve you - will you please fill out this survey" letters that I find so irritating. I think companies should put a lot more effort into training their technicians and a lot less effort into public relations. The plumber was a nice guy, but he asked to use my tools when he didn't have what he needed in the truck. He left the cap off the exterior drain when he left, and he forgot to tell me that he had turned off the garbage disposal at the breaker box. I don't think I'll fill out the survey. I don't really want to get the guy in trouble. To his credit, he did fix the dishwasher leak.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 877

The plumber came today. Need I say more? The dogs hate it when repairmen come to the house and the result of these visits is usually total chaos. Dot barks so loud and so frantically that I'm surprised I'm not already on some sort of repair blacklist. Today she worked herself into such an agitated state that whenever she barked, little bits of poop shot out her back end like a rocket. I think I had a bigger mess to clean up than the plumber. While he was snaking out the lines and getting rid of some awful look black sludge, I was cleaning up after Dot the canine poop cannon.

Everything works fine now though. The dishwasher doesn't leak anymore. The sluggish drains run freely. Even the toilet seems to work better. Who know how long this watery bliss will last though. Plumbing problems seem to recur with regularity at our house.

My new website is almost finished. This phase of the design is always fun. I put pictures wherever I want. I choose colors with reckless abandon. Everything is placed precisely where I want it to go. When everything is perfect, I show the site to the client and then we start over again. I think most websites look their very best the day before you show them to your client for the first time.

My real estate agent called and told me he had already shown my rent property to two prospective buyers. He said both of them really liked the place. Of course, that doesn't mean that anyone will make me an offer. Even if they do make me an offer, it doesn't mean the banks will give them a loan. Buying and selling property isn't nearly as easy as it used to be.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I can't decide where I want to have breakfast this week, but I'll be sure to let you know.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 876

I try to document each day with a nice picture. Lately the pictures have been of wildflowers the dogs and I see on our daily walks. I could just as easily show you pictures of the leak under the kitchen sink, or the dust balls gathering in the corners of my office, but I'd like to preserve the illusion that my days are pleasant and idyllic.

Actually, even the wildflowers aren't that idyllic. Usually, Dot is lunging at a squirrel or Dash is trying to catch a Duck while I'm trying to take the picture. Keeping the flowers in focus for more than a few seconds is a challenge.

Even with two rambunctious Dalmatians in tow, the morning walks are usually the most pleasant part of my day. After we returned home from today's outing, I spent the better part of the day refining the design of the new website I'll be presenting next week. Now that I've got a logo designed for the company and some real photographs in place, the site is starting to look pretty good. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I'm pretty confident now that I'll be able to meet my deadline.

I'm not so sure that I'll be able to meet the deadline of getting all my stuff out of the old storage warehouse. I did some more moving this afternoon and continue to be amazed at how much I was able to cram into the little room. I've finally managed to disassemble all the large shelves and reassemble them in the larger space. I'm going to have to buy some more industrial shelving though to clean up the mess I've made in the new larger space. I had the old space packed like a Rubik's cube. I'd really like the new space to be a little more functional.

Training class was great tonight. The weather was beautiful. The dogs were all in a good mood. Even Dash did most of the exercises perfectly. The only sour note to the entire evening was the sound of me continually blowing my nose because of my Spring allergies.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 875

My photo shoot went well today. Admittedly, I wasn't conjuring up the ghost of Richard Avedon or Helmut Newton. I was just shooting architectural interiors inside an industrial building. The pictures were necessary though to complete a job that I'm currently working on. Photography isn't always exciting. I still shoot a lot of things professionally, but the most interesting photos I take are the ones I capture with my iPhone while I'm walking the dogs.

It must have rained a lot last night. I heard rain pattering on the roof when Dot woke me up about 2 AM with one of the panic attacks she gets when she thinks a storm is on the way. The rain didn't sound bad though, so I went back to sleep. When I went up on the roof to check on things this morning, I was greeted by a sea of water. I'm surprised there weren't ducks swimming around on the roof. Since clearing the water off the flat roof always takes priority over other things, I didn't get started writing until almost noon.

I'm not sleeping well lately. The dogs wake me up several times a night. When the dogs are asleep, allergy related sinus problems wake me up. When I awake, I inevitably have a dry throat from breathing through my mouth and go out to the kitchen to get a drink of water. By then, I'm wide awake. When I finally get back to sleep again, I have bad dreams. I long for the days when I could sleep solidly for seven hours while having pleasant flying dreams. I never dream that I can fly anymore.

If I could get a good night's sleep, maybe I'd have more energy to finish moving everything to my new storage warehouse. I really need to get my butt in gear and finish this job, because my contract on the old storage space runs out soon. The warehouse folks have probably already rented my space to someone else who will want to move in the day my contract expires. I watch that show Storage Wars Texas occasionally, but I definitely don't want my own unit to be featured on the show. Maybe tomorrow, I'll go move some more stuff.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 874

I forget how many household chores I usually complete on weekends until we have an event filled weekend like we did Saturday and Sunday and nothing gets done. I played catch-up today, doing several loads of laundry, mowing the lawn, and vacuuming the house. The house doesn't really look that much better, but at least I've made an effort.

As I kind of expected, I'm starting to get calls from neighbors in the area, asking why I priced my rent property so low. These people aren't really planning to sell their nearby houses. They're just worried that if my property sells, it will drag the price of their house down with it. These folks don't understand how markets work. The true price of anything isn't what you think it is worth, it is what someone will pay you for it. Houses are no different than stocks and bonds. The value isn't intrinsic. It's variable.

One of my clients was in a panic this morning because their hosting account had been suspended and all their websites were down. They had set their account up to auto-pay and then forgotten that they had changed the credit card it was attached to. There is a lesson to be learned from this and since the same thing has happened to me, I need to learn the lesson myself. There are all kinds of reasons why your credit card number might change. The credit card company might just hand you a new card when they think their security has been compromised. You might be getting erroneous charges on your statement and change the number yourself. Maybe you just cancel your card and get a similar card from a different bank because they have a better deal. These things happen all the time, but it's hard to remember remember all the online accounts that you've set up to auto-renew or make automatic monthly payments. This is why I no longer use auto-pay for anything. I prefer to get a paper statement in the mail. It's much easier to remember a letter you get in the mail than a website you seldom visit.

I've got a photo shoot tomorrow. It seems like a while since I've had a full-fledged photo shoot, so I'm trying to remember where all the gear is stashed away and which batteries need to be recharged. I used to really want more photo jobs and fewer writing jobs. Photography seemed a lot more exciting to me. Now, I think I've come full circle. Increasingly, photography just seems like filling the car with heavy equipment and then unloading it again when the job is finished. These days, writing jobs seem much more relaxing. I get a cup of coffee, think of an idea, and words appear on the screen. You don't even have to type anymore if you don't want to. Modern dictation programs are remarkably accurate.  I'm just waiting for the day when you can put on a little WiFi hat that reads your brain waves and allows you to just "think" your assignment into Microsoft Word.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 873

Yay! We finished landscaping the backyard today. Well, we almost finished anyway. All the grass is in now, but we still need to get several flats of Asian Jasmine and plant the hardy ground cover in areas that are so shady that grass will never grow. The yard look much, much better after all our efforts. The view out the living room window almost makes all the manual labor worthwhile.

Since we got up early today to buy enough sod to complete the yard before the grass company ran out for the day, there was still plenty of time to take Dot and Dash to the dog park after we got finished. The dogs got a real treat, because we took them the the brand new NorthBark dog park in Far North Dallas. This place was palatial. There were 22 acres of nicely landscaped and fenced grounds, complete with a pond for dogs who liked the water.

I was impressed, and apparently so were Dot and Dash. This place was so clean and well landscaped it was unbelievable. If the city put something this nice in our part of town, street people would be living in it. A lady lost her car keys in the park today and the other people who were there with their dogs helped her find them. If someone lost a set of BMW keys in our local dog park, someone would have probably just stolen the car.

The annual British Car Show was being held in the park today. I usually love to go to this show. As I was driving over to the grass store to pick up the St. Augustine sod, I saw lots of old Austin Healeys, MG's, Morgans and Rolls Royce's driving toward the show. This is a fun show, because it is not fancy at all. People drive their own cars to the show and then drive them home again when it's over. No eighteen wheelers bringing high dollar collectibles to this show. No roped off exhibits or guards either. You're far more likely to run into a neighbor who just happened to still have an old MG. 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the British Car Show this afternoon. After this morning's landscaping marathon, a trip to a far away dog park, and the obligatory trip to buy groceries that I didn't have time to do yesterday, the day was over. It's nice to be somewhat caught up again though. And the dogs are going to love their green new yard.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 872

Today was a dog rescue marathon. We started out with a crawfish boil benefit for Dalmatian Rescue. Crawfish is an acquired taste and I can't honestly say that I've acquired it. Luckily, the Dalmatians have lots of friends from Louisiana and the event was a huge success. You can only have a real crawfish boil at this time of year, because this is when the crawfish are in season. We boiled over 150 pounds of crawfish which were served with the traditional new potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. I saw some diners go back for at least five heaping platters of the critters. You eat crawfish by twisting off the tail and sucking out the meat. It doesn't really taste like shrimp. It doesn't taste like lobster either. I know people in Texas who treat fresh crawfish like caviar, but personally I'd prefer a cheeseburger. It was a great fundraiser though. We made a lot of money for the dogs and everyone was happy.

Lots of people brought their dogs to the crawfish boil. There were fifteen to twenty Dalmatians at the event and every one of them was extremely well behaved. A few people fed crawfish to their dogs, but since many of them had driven a long way to the event, I think they had visions of the dogs throwing up in the car on the way home. The dogs did get lots of dog biscuits though and had plenty of ice water in their bowls. Since the afternoon was warm and the event was outside, most of the dogs just looked for the coolest spot they could find and took a nap. Dash didn't really want a nap though. He wanted to eat everyone's nachos. He had no interest in the crawfish, but he seemed to love the smell of nachos.

This evening, we went to animal rescue event number two. This one was the annual Wine on the Roof fundraiser held by East Lake Pet Orphanage. Wine on the Roof was a lot fancier than a crawfish boil, so Janet and I had to dress up for the event. There was a silent auction, a live auction, a pet fashion show and all sorts of awards and presentations. Oh, there was also lots and lots of wine. Too bad I can't drink anymore. I had a couple of glasses anyway, just to get in the spirit of things. Alcohol gives me terrible heartburn these days though, so I'm careful not to overindulge. I think this is my body's way of telling me to stick with the program and lay off the booze.

It was a very busy day, but tomorrow will be even busier. Janet and I are determined to finish landscaping the back yard tomorrow. It is supposed to rain a lot next week, and it would be nice to have all the grass in place before the rain starts. Based on what we have done already, we should be able to finish in one more day. It's going to be a long day though, and I'm tired already.

Bunny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 871

I went back to my old breakfast restaurant today. What made me defect? It was the coffee. Coffee is a big part of my breakfast routine. I need lots of it and I like a place with a friendly waitress who stops by every few minutes and says "Can I top that up for you?" The cool restaurant down the street didn't have endless coffee service like a normal breakfast place. When you finished your cup, you had to walk over to the barista and pay him a dollar every time you wanted a refill. This was a fatal flaw to me. It was irritating and unnecessary. So, I'm back at the old place again, eating omelets that are a bit too fattening and listening to elevator music versions of old Eagles tunes. The place may not be on the cutting edge, but it's pleasant. The important thing is that if I happen to want to drink eight cups of coffee with my breakfast, it's fine with them. They'll keep pouring until I drop.

This has been a very busy week. The cumulative effect of all this work is that I am very tired. I may fall asleep before I finish tonight's post. I wish I could figure out a way to work at a more relaxed pace, but it's all about service these days. When most of my clients call with a request, it's really a thinly veiled demand. I have a feeling that if I worked at my own pace, I wouldn't have any clients at all.

At least the dogs have sensible ideas about working. While my butt went numb sitting through conference calls and my hands cramped up pushing the mouse around at lightening speeds, Dot and Dash just slept. That's what they usually do. It's probably a good idea that they don't have a strong work ethic, because their idea of working is digging holes in the back yard.

Janet wanted to give the dogs a bath tonight, since we were taking them to a big Dalmatian Rescue fundraiser tomorrow. We took them over to the neighborhood dog washing establishment around 6 PM, only to discover that the place was already closed. The sign on the door said they were open to 8 PM on Friday's, but when we knocked on the door the manager came out and told us that they had started their new Summer hours.  Hmm. It would have been nice if they had told someone. We drove to another dog washing place several miles away that was open to 7 PM. When we got there, this place was closed too, even though it wasn't 7 PM yet. I knocked on the door again and this time the manager told me that even though the sign on the door said "open till 7 PM" they really closed at 6:30 every day. I can only conclude that the dog washing industry is pretty casual about their business practices. The dogs lucked out though. They both get to go to tomorrow's event dirty.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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