Day 1281

I needed to pick up a paint pen today to repair some gear. Paint pens are handy little tools for touching up nicks and scratches on camera lenses and just about the only place you can find them is in a hobby shop. Have you been in a hobby shop lately? I'm always amazed when I go into one of these places on a normal work day and discover it is filled with grown men who appear to have never worked a day in their life. They are all busy contemplating the latest radio controlled cars, or busy buying a new paintball gun. I think the only time women venture inside a hobby shop is when they are buying a birthday present for small boys. The rest of the time, these places are filled with grown men. I found my little paint pen and left, but it was hard to resist the urge to buy some sort of model myself. Hey, all guys like model cars, don't they?

While I was working this morning, I heard a loud noise outside, followed by flickering electricity for a moment. I though maybe another electric transformer had failed in the neighborhood. It wasn't until a few hours later that I discovered that the source of the noise was one of the large Oak trees in our back yard. Wind and rain had weakened one of the limbs and it had come crashing to the ground. I didn't notice the limb immediately because it landed vertically and looked like another tree had suddenly appeared inside a patch of ground cover. It's a good thing the dogs were inside when the tree limb fell. It landed right where Dot usually pees.

It rained again this morning. It's been raining so much lately that mushrooms are starting to grow in the new backyard landscaping. I'd really prefer grass to mushrooms, but I guess you can't have everything. I'm going to have the landscaping guys come over tomorrow and haul away the broken tree limb. Maybe they can tell me why the grass still isn't growing very well after all the work they did. I suspect they will tell me that a few more tree limbs need to fall, so the yard can start getting some sun.

I had quite a bit of writing work to finish today. I kind of envied those guys at the hobby shop with nothing better to do than play with radio controlled cars and helicopters. I've never bought a radio controlled car, but I'd probably have fun with one. I could attach a GoPro camera and photograph squirrels in the backyard. I remember years ago I had a fashion shoot at the home of Ozzie Osborne's drummer. When this guy wasn't on tour, all he did was play with radio controlled cars in his driveway. I kind of envied him too. Of course at the time, I had the job most guys wanted. I photographed fashion models.

Today, it's just me and the dogs in a quiet room with a powerful computer. I finished all my writing work and went up on the roof to clear away the rain water. The roof doesn't leak anymore, but it still doesn't drain well. I'm disappointed that after all the money I spent that I still have to climb up on the roof at all. Tomorrow is my birthday. I suspect that it will be a lot like today.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1280

Janet is home again. The new roof has been paid for. I didn't even get stung by a bee today. For the most part, all is well with the world.

The day did start off with a humongous Summer rainstorm, but the dogs and I are learning to adjust to these storms. Instead of walking the dogs right after I get up, as I usually do, we all had our breakfast instead. Dot and Dash love to eat, so postponing their walk was no big deal to them. I am so slow fixing my own breakfast that by the time I was finished eating and had done the dishes, the rain was over. Problem solved. The sudden downpour cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so we actually had a very enjoyable walk. Our afternoon walk was another story entirely. Once the sun broke through the clouds, the moisture in the ground turned to steam and the air became a sauna.

Considering that it was a Monday, I was surprisingly busy today. I completed a couple of website revisions and wrote an article or two. I remembered to pay my quarterly estimated taxes too, so I can cross that off my list. I was actually so productive today that I feel I should be entitled to take Tuesday off. That will never happen though. There is always work to do on Tuesday.

Janet's flight was delayed by weather this evening, so I found myself out at the airport watching the bags go round and round at the baggage claim carousel. I like bags and it's always interesting to see what other people are carrying. At least half the bags are dull, utilitarian looking Samsonite models, but occasionally I see something interesting. My favorite bags are made by PortaBrace. These distinctive blue bags are made by hand in Bennington, Vermont and used almost exclusively by film and video production crews. I frequently use mine as suitcases. They are almost indestructible.

I wish tomorrow was Friday. It's not like the workload is all that terrible this week. I think I'm just getting tired of oatmeal for breakfast. Even mixed with strawberries and blueberries, it's still oatmeal.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1279 - Father's Day

My Mom used to tell me that I was her Father's Day gift to my Dad, since my birthday periodically coincided with Father's Day. I don't think Dad was all that happy about this situation, since I was frequently a thorn in his side. Although we were never really close, I always thought my father was a good Dad. He was a loyal, honest man who never forgot his family. Although I've never been a Dad myself, I suspect that this is exactly how a Dad ought to be.

I got stung by another bee today. In the process, I discovered where the bees were coming from. A group of them had made a home in an old stepladder that I'd been using to fix some things on the house. No wonder I was getting stung. You'd think I would have noticed the bees before I started using the stepladder. Nope. Sometimes, I don't notice much of anything.

The bee sting didn't stop me from doing some much needed Sunday yard work. I mowed the grass, front and back, and then did some weeding in the yard. Now, the house looks just as good as all the other houses in the neighborhood. I removed the remaining water from the new roof, because I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to evaporate. The cheap broom I bought at Sam's Club yesterday worked a lot better than the much more expensive professional broom I had purchased earlier at a builder's supply store. Go figure.

Without our usual Sunday trip to the dog park, the day seemed a bit empty. I guess it wasn't really a big loss. It was so hot that Dot and Dash had little interest in going outside anyway. We watched a movie on Hulu instead. I think we've finally reached an agreement on how to share the bed. There was no barking or commotion during the movie anyway.

Tomorrow, it's back to work again. I need to remember to pay my quarterly estimated taxes as well. I'm going to try to get up early, so I can walk the dogs before it gets too hot outside. Early in the mornings, it's still quite nice. Later in the day is another story. The dog days of Summer are definitely here again.

Harshey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1278

I wonder why my weekend chores took so long today? Maybe the heat and humidity sapped my strength. Maybe Janet usually does some of these chores when she's home. Maybe I just took an unusually long time fixing breakfast. I got a lot done, but it still seemed like a wasted day. At least there are clean sheets on the bed and my checkbook is balanced. The spackling paste and trowels I got for repairing the damaged Sheetrock in the living room are still sitting on a table in the hallway. I'm not up for that loathsome task yet.

It must have rained again last night. The sky was clearing when I took the dogs on their morning walk, but the ground was wet and everything was covered with dew. I didn't have the heart to look up on the roof, but I did buy another push broom with softer bristles when I was out shopping. The first broom I bought just isn't going to work.

I wonder if anyone still reads blogs anymore?  I've been getting hundreds of new followers every day on Google+ but it's been months since I was blessed with a new blog follower. Many of my favorite bloggers aren't posting as much anymore. Some of them seem content with the occasional Facebook update and don't update their blog at all. I think that's a shame, but who am I to judge. Since establishing a dialog was never a big concern to me, I'll continue doing what I've always done. My posts are kind of like throwing notes out to sea in a bottle. Maybe someone sees them, maybe they don't.

The dogs seemed determined to hog the bed last night. You'd think with one less person sleeping in the king size bed, there would be plenty of room for everyone. This is always when Dot and Dash stretch out to their full length, unfortunately. The two dogs seemed to take up the entire bed by themselves.

Since it was one of those cloudy bright mornings just after a rain, today would have been a great time to do some flower photography. I did take a few pictures with my phone while I was walking the dogs, but I didn't have the energy to return to the scene with professional equipment. It was just too humid outside. The air felt like a sauna and I felt like returning to the air conditioning. I'm getting soft. To think that there was a time when I actually wanted to be a National Geographic photographer.

Maybe tomorrow will be cooler. Most of the chores are done and the flowers are still in bloom. We'll see what the dogs want to do. They usually set the day's agenda anyway.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1277

Fridays are somewhat ritualized. After I walk the dogs, I go out for breakfast and order something more interesting than oatmeal. This is usually a high cholesterol meal with several eggs, but I figure that one day out of seven with too much cholesterol is a lot better than the seven days out of seven that used to be the norm for me. After breakfast, I go to the grocery store and buy groceries for the weekend. Then I come home and try to finish the week's work so I can start my weekend free and clear of obligations.

I woke up this morning with a throbbing pain in my right leg. I momentarily thought I might have deep vein thrombosis or something equally foreboding. Then I remembered that I was stung by bees yesterday. I seem to be a lot more sensitive to bee stings than I used to be. This was one heck of a sting. Maybe the dreaded killer bees have finally arrived in Dallas.

It keeps getting hotter. The temperature was over 100 degrees at some point this afternoon. Maybe I'll finally get a tan this Summer. I've lost to much weight recently that I finally don't feel bad about walking the dogs without a shirt in the Summer. I certainly don't look like a young lifeguard, but it's better than it used to be.

I never like driving in Dallas in the Summer. The old Defender has a tendency to overheat and when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic I can literally see the temperature gauge on the dash inch upwards as I sit stranded at a traffic light. I've had to pull over to let the engine cool before, and it will probably happen again. It certainly takes the fun out of driving when every drive is a race against the clock to get home again before the engine overheats. Today, I needed to get some more ink for my large format printer. I did the smart thing. I just had my ink vendor drop ship the ink to me via UPS. I never though I'd use UPS to send things across town, but sometimes it makes sense.

I took Janet to the airport again this afternoon in 99 degree weather. It definitely made sense to take her car. No matter which Land Rover I drive, the airport is about as far as I ever go these days.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1276

My feeble attempts at home improvement today were an epic fail. I bought some self-tapping screws and tried to batten down the loose 4x8 sheets of plywood under the carport. I drilled hole after hole, but never found a stud where I could attach the screws. Maybe there weren't any studs and the plywood sheets were just being held by the edges. Who knows? That would certainly explain why the wood was sagging so badly.

I didn't have much better luck up on top of the roof. I also bought a new push broom while I was getting the self-tapping screws, but it didn't seem to work as well as the old broom. The new roof has a gritty, gravel-like texture that made the broom hard to push. This was unfortunate, because after three full days of sunshine, there was still standing water on the roof. I'm beginning to think that the new roof puddles up even worse than the old roof. It doesn't leak anymore though. That's one good thing!

To add insult to injury, I got stung by bees while I was working. These were the same type of honeybees that built a hive in our house a few years ago. I looked around, but couldn't find any evidence of a hive near the house. I have a healthy respect for these bees. Wasps and hornets will often ignore you, but honeybees almost always sting. There's got to be a beehive nearby. Where there are bees, there is honey.

All this futile manual labor probably explains why I am a writer instead of a carpenter. I've never been fond of sweating or lifting heavy objects. I am pretty good at working with my hands, but only out of necessity. In a perfect world, I would live on the seventeenth floor of a luxury high-rose and never do yard work or home maintenance at all. I would spend my time sharing stories with friends over cappuccino at a friendly coffee bar. Maybe someone would make movies like "My Dinner with Andre" about me.

The dogs don't have such delusions of grandeur. I'm beginning to think they do have delusions about the temperature though. Every morning they bound out of the house as if they're eager to run for five miles. It usually doesn't take them five minutes to discover that it's hot outside and they both decide they want to turn around and go home again. I don't like the heat either, but it's getting harder and harder to get my requisite 10,000 daily steps on the Jawbone UP band with such lazy dogs.

This week has gone very quickly. I guess there's something to be said for staying busy. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday though. I'm really looking forward to my regular breakfast outing. I can't say that adding flax seed to my oatmeal has added much excitement to my life.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1275

I felt sorry for Dot's acupuncture vet when we went to our appointment today. She had just opened a brand new clinic a few days earlier and was still dealing with contractors. Her tales of contractor woes made my own recent problems with my roof seem like nothing. Sometimes I wonder if anyone since the dawn of time has had a good experience dealing with contractors. You always expect that things will go smoothly when you hire a contractor, and it almost never does. The problem is that the contractor, by definition, doesn't do the work themselves. They contract it out to other vendors who may or may not work well together. The more people on the job, the more chances there are for things to get fouled up. In my experience, a contractor's primary job is explaining to the client why things aren't going according to  plan.

I think there might finally be some sort of resolution to the problems I've been having with the aggressive dogs in the neighborhood. The dog's owner and his landlord agreed to keep the back gate to their property locked when the dogs are out in the yard and to eventually build a taller fence. The owner also said that he would no longer let dog walkers handle the dogs. It turns out that it was a dog walker who lost control of the dogs when they got loose and attacked another neighbor's dog. I was glad that the owner actually acknowledged that one of his dogs was a problem. So many times,  people with aggressive dogs just get defensive and make excuses. We'll see what happens. I'm hopeful though. The dogs are both rescues and I can tell that the owner cares about them.

Today was a pretty good day. My missing prescriptions finally got filled, I got caught up on my writing work, and the brown patch of grass in the front yard is starting to show signs of turning green again. Nothing all that astounding happened today. It was just the absence of bad news that made things look encouraging. On days like today, I have high hopes that my car will continue to run for the rest of the Summer and that my roof will never leak again.

Even the dog's training class went well this evening. It was hot and a bit muggy, but Dot and Dash enjoyed being back with their friends again. We had missed class for several weeks in a row due to bad weather and travel conflicts, so it was good to be back on schedule again. It's nice to have the sun back as well. We won't have to worry about having class after dark until sometime next Winter.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1274

Today could be summed up in four words: more of the same. I added some new animals to a rescue website. I paid a few bills. I wrote an article or two. I also forgot to turn off the sprinklers in the front yard and managed to soak the street in front of the house. It must have been a forgetful day. My doctor forgot to renew the prescription I asked him about yesterday. Maybe it wasn't the doctor's fault though. The phone system at the pharmacy was out of commission all day yesterday. Nothing really seems to go smoothly anymore. I think most of us just muddle our way through the day and are happy when it's finally over. That's why I really miss drinking. Even the most fruitless of days seemed better after a couple of glasses of wine. Somehow, a cup of freshly brewed green tea doesn't seem to work nearly as well.

I climbed up on the roof today to see how quickly the water was evaporating and discovered that the roofers had walked off with my trusty push broom. They probably had to use it so often to get the rain off the roof while they were working that when the job was finished, they ended up thinking it was theirs. It doesn't really matter. The broom was pretty worn out anyway. A new roof definitely calls for a new broom.

Dash went to the vet today, but his favorite nurse was gone. The new nurse didn't know how to express a dog's anal glands, so he had to ask for help from someone else. I really ought to learn how to do this myself, but truthfully, I have no interest in sticking my hand up a dog's butt.  I do enough unpleasant things already.

There was a mosquito in the house today. I tried to swat it with a fly swatter, but it kept escaping and I gave up after a while. I guess this means that I'll have to worry about mosquitoes for the rest of the Summer. Last year Dallas had a huge mosquito problem and there were numerous cases of West Nile Virus in town. We've got ticks that can cause Lyme Disease, mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus, and huge brown roaches that are just disgusting. I always wonder how the roaches manage to get inside until I go outside and notice that they are everywhere. I guess things could be worse if we lived in Florida, but probably not much worse. This place is a bug paradise.

Dot's acupuncture vet has moved. We've got a longer drive now to her weekly appointment. We'll see how things go tomorrow. Hopefully, the negative effects of riding in the car won't completely negate the positive effects of the acupuncture treatments.

Willa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1273

I got my articles written today. I got my June invoices out. I even found time to experiment with a new variation on my morning oatmeal. Despite all the activity, it was basically a boring day. If Dot could talk, she'd tell you that the dog days of Summer are here again. We're going to have to start getting up earlier. By the time we took our morning walk, it was already hot and humid. As the Summer progresses, it's only going to get worse.

The roofers came back today to retrieve their tools and clean up the debris pile on the side of the house. I'm pretty sure they're finished with things now. This means it's time for me to pay for the stupid thing. A flat roof is not a very satisfying purchase. It just sits there. Under normal circumstances, you can't even see it. I would have much rather have spent the money on a new Canon C300 Cinema Camera.

Apple finally announced the long awaited Mac Pro that's been on my wish list for several years now. I'm disappointed. The weird shiny black cylindrically shaped thing reminds me of the ill-fated Powermac G4 Cube. I bought one of those and it never did what I wanted. This new Mac Pro has some of the same failings as the Cube. It's odd shape is not compatible with standard PCIe cards. It's not compatible with standard 2.5 inch solid state drives either. I don't know if it's compatible with anything. Although, this new tech toy looks pretty cool in a retro sci-fi kind of way, I don't think it was what video editors like myself were wanting or expecting. Lord, I just hope that Land Rover does a better job of re-imagining my beloved Defender 90. I hate to wait so long and end up so disappointed.

Another prescription expired today that was supposed to have been renewed for another full year. This is the second one in two days. I'm beginning to think that all my meds were only renewed for three months instead of one year when I had my annual physical this Spring. It's little things like this that really eat up your time. It's easy enough to resolve these types of mistakes, but I shouldn't have too. There are way too many other things on my to-do list already.

The dogs have the right idea. After their morning walk, they slept until is was time for their rice cake for lunch. After a quick trip outside to pee, it was back to sleep until dinner time and their evening walk. I can't tell you how tempted I was to join my lazy dogs today.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1272

We woke to the sound of a torrential downpour pounding the roof, and nothing leaked. Maybe a new era of carefree living has begun. After striking out twice, we finally found a dog park that was still open in spite of the recent rain. Not surprisingly the park was very muddy. The dogs had a good time though. They would have had an even better time if we'd remembered that the annual dog training class Summer party was this afternoon as well. While we were at a muddy dog park, the obedience class dogs were right behind our house having a party in the park. It's a shame we missed the whole thing, because Dash really likes the bobbing for biscuits game and there's always some really tasty barbecue for the people as well.

Since the new roof appears to be finished, I went to Home Depot this morning and bought some spackling compound and a trowel to repair the damaged Sheetrock in the living room.  I thought I'd try to do this myself first, since I dread having workmen in the house with the dogs. Having some tape and bed guys in the living room would be an open invitation for non-stop barking from Dot and Dash. Anyway, what could be so hard about repairing a little damaged Sheetrock?

Several clients have warned me to expect a busy week. I hope this is not the case, but I ought to be grateful for the work. There are certainly a lot of bills to pay this month. Dot is back on schedule to resume her acupuncture treatments and it's time to get my June invoices out as well. From the looks of things, it probably will be a busy week.

It's hard to believe that the year is almost half over. It still seems like I was putting up Christmas decoration just a few weeks ago. I've been a busy bee this year, but it doesn't really feel like I've accomplished much. I'm still dealing with exactly the same issues I was last year and the year before. Maybe that's just the way life is.  I do try to live in the moment, but somehow it always seems to be the same moment.

Tomorrow ought to be exciting. I bought some flax seed to mix in with my morning oatmeal. Oh, there's a new type of tea in the cupboard too.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1271

It was a typical Saturday. I went to the doctor's office to straighten out a fouled up prescription. I watered the big patch of yellowed grass in the front yard that the roofers killed, in hopes that it would come back to life. I put clean sheets on the bed, vacuumed the house, and unclogged the large format printer. I tried to re-attach some of the plywood that had come loose under the carport when water poured though the unfinished and largely unprotected roof a few weeks ago. The roofers should have done this themselves, but they didn't. The dogs got a walk too, but they didn't want to go far. It was pretty warm today.

Before getting started on my weekend chores, I finished up an article that I knew would be due Monday. Next week is going to be busy enough anyway, so I might as well try to get ahead of the game.

There are so many bills this month, it's driving me crazy. Homeowner's insurance is due on the house. There a big car repair bill. And of course there's the roof. Month after month, small checks from clients arrive in the mail and much larger checks are written to pay the relentless onslaught of bills. My investments are supposed to make up the difference, but that hasn't been working out so well lately. It's frustrating to say the least. I don't understand all these economists on TV saying that we are in a non-inflationary environment when the price of gas, food, utility bills, and just about everything else seems to have doubled. When the phone bill is twice what is used to be, that's inflation to me.

I bought some new jeans when I was running errands this afternoon. As my waistline keeps shrinking, my old pants are starting to feel too large. If simply losing weight was my goal, I'd think I've just about reached it. I suspect getting healthy isn't quite so simple, however. I'm beginning to wonder if I might have lost too much weight. Since periodic blood tests are the only way to tell if I'm headed in the right direction, it's really hard to tell on a day-to-day basis. It probably can't hurt to lose twenty pounds though. I'm not sure my liver appreciates the slimmer, trimmer me, but maybe it will help keep diabetes at bay.

I couldn't figure out why the dogs were both barking so wildly until I looked out the living room window and saw the cat they were looking at in the back yard. I'd never seen this cat before, but it was obviously stalking something. I told the dogs to be nice to the cat, because it was helping us get rid of rats. I don't think Dot and Dash were listening, because they kept right on barking.

Our neighbors are having a party. There's one of those gourmet food trucks parked in their driveway. You can tell the kids are getting older when a food truck replaces the ubiquitous birthday bounce house. I'm curious what the food truck is serving, but not curious enough to become a party crasher.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1270

I think the roof is finished. Today, the roofers spent their time doing small stuff like painting and caulking. They explained why water leaked through the kitchen door the other day and said they fixed the problem. They explained how they managed to kill a big patch of grass in the front yard, but promised it would grow back. I expect they'll return next week to haul away the huge pile of debris in the side yard, but I doubt that I'll see much more work up on the roof.

I hope this long, involved, and expensive process was worth it. I'm certain the roof will be waterproof for a while, but I don't think I'll know whether I got a really good roof until three or four years from now. Between now and then, it's just a lot of of hope and empty promises.

My beloved Jawbone UP band went kaput today and I had to take it to the Apple store to exchange it. I've only had the activity band for a few months, but I've been reading on the Internet that hundreds of people have been having the same problem that I am. It's the battery. It initially holds a charge for ten days. Then you start noticing that it will only hold a charge for five days. After about three months, things get worse rapidly. Yesterday, the UP band would only hold a charge for an hour or two, no matter how long I tried to recharge it. It's a shame that such an innovative product is so unreliable. The first version of the UP activity tracker was a disaster. The company had to recall just about every model it sold. Now the second version of the product seems as if it's going to suffer the same fate. If a non-replaceable battery is only going to last three months in a product that costs hundreds of dollars, I don't think many people are going to be all that excited to buy it.

I still haven't managed to get caught up with my work yet. I spent the day revising websites and writing articles, just like I usually do, but there is still a lot of uncompleted business. Maybe I'll work this weekend and see it I can get things finished. I don't like to work on weekends, but I dislike unfinished projects even more.

I noticed that the power company crew cut down part of a tree in my backyard when they were restoring the power last night. I guess they needed better access to the telephone pole where they replaced a transformer. Or maybe they just don't like tree limbs anywhere near their wires.All I know is that whenever a power company crew comes near the house, I lose a few more tree limbs.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. The weather looks nice and I definitely could use a little rest. I was so tired this week that I literally fell asleep sitting at the computer a few times. It would be so much better if I slept well at night, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1269

My models for today's photo shoot were a small puppy and kitten, sitting together inside a gold crown. I didn't think a dog and cat would play nice together for long enough for me to get the shot I needed, but we had an unusually calm kitten and some very good animal wranglers. I think the shot came out fine. I definitely don't think Dot or Dash would have been this calm in a similar situation.

Our power went out today during another surprise thunderstorm. After about six hours of being dead in the water, the power is still out. I can hear a repair crew from the power company back in the alley replacing a transformer on one of the telephone poles, so I have high hopes that our electricity will be restored this evening.

There was another roof problem today. The roof is mostly finished, but there is a small section of rotted wood that still needs to be replaced directly above the kitchen door. It rained so hard during today's thunderstorm that water got into the unfinished area and came spilling into the house through the top of the kitchen door. As I have mentioned already, I couldn't have picked a worse time to put on a new roof. It's usually not so bad at this time of year, but this has turned out to be the wettest Spring I can remember.

It was bad enough that it was raining cats and dogs while I had to pack up all my equipment to go photograph some cats and dogs. It would have been even worse if the rain and ensuing power outage had happened yesterday though. I would have hated to be forced to complete my Photoshop marathon using a laptop with a low battery as my primary resource.

Everyone seems in a hurry except for me. I feel out of sync with just about everything this week. My client in New York is in a hurry to get all the Las Vegas pictures. My veterinarian client is in a hurry to get the kitten and puppy pictures. The roofers are in a hurry to get paid for their still unfinished roof. I'm trying my best to keep up with all the requests, but the only thing I'm in a hurry for is the weekend.

Dot and Dash did pretty well today, especially considering all the chaos going on around them. I had to leave the dogs right in the middle of the rainstorm, and amazingly they both seemed pretty calm when I left the house. I think they sensed that this was a day where I had few options and they were doing their best to help.

Hopefully, the power will be restored this evening and tomorrow will be calm and uneventful. I'm looking forward to sunny skies and my favorite Black Bean Benedict for breakfast.

Gypsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1268

I finally got all my Las Vegas photo files processed and they're currently on a FedEx plane in-route to New York. I need to make a mental note that it takes at least a full day to individually process 500 image files in Photoshop. What was I thinking when I convinced myself that it would only take me a few hours to get these files ready for publication? The sad thing is that I can never charge for all this Photoshop time, because every client I've got believes that the pictures I take should come out of the camera looking like this. Since most photographers shoot in some sort of Camera RAW format these days, nothing could be further from the truth. Camera RAW images always need some sort of processing. Oh, well. The images look good now. Maybe they will help me got some more work in the future.

The roofers are just about finished.  They attached the galvanized metal flashing to the edge of the roof today and applied the final top sheet to the carport. In a day or two, they will be gone and I will have a large bill to pay.  All in all, I think the roofers did a good job. They repaired all the areas where mistakes were made and I'm reasonably confident that my roof isn't going to leak for a while. The only thing I'm disappointed about is that the roof still doesn't drain properly. The rafters have settled and warped over the years and the low point on the roof is right near the center. Although the roof is now waterproof, there are still areas that will become small duck ponds after a heavy rain. These puddles will evaporate quickly in the Summer, but next Winter I'll probably still have to pump or sweep the standing water off.

I've got a big photo shoot tomorrow. It's a good assignment, I'm not really looking forward to it, because I still need to go to the storage warehouse tomorrow morning and dig out all the heavy backdrops and studio gear. I can carry everything I need for editorial jobs like the Couture Show in a small carry-on bag. Jobs that require studio strobes, soft boxes, and large muslin backdrops fill up the entire car. I'm getting too old to keep lugging all this stuff around. Too bad my day rate isn't high enough to hire a couple of muscular assistants to do the heavy lifting for me. It would be nice to be one of those photographers who just walks on the set and is handed a camera.

Dot seemed tired today. I certainly can't fault her lack of energy. It was hot and muggy outside. Summer is on its way. Truthfully, I was tired too. I need some time to sleep in late and watch old Dr. Who episodes on television. I doubt that this is going to happen any time soon though. Everyone is in a hurry. This usually means I've got deadlines to meet, whether I like it or not.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1267

I think I bit off more than I can chew. I thought I could process 500 images in Photoshop today in plenty of time to send the color corrected files to my client this evening. Well, the FedEx man has come and gone and I've still got quite a few files left to color correct. I sure wish the auto white balance function on most DSLR cameras worked better. In run and gun situations where there are multiple light sources, I often have to go back and manually color correct each image. The large ballrooms I was shooting in at the Couture Show, were often lit by a combination of ambient, incandescent, fluorescent, and mercury vapor light. Since each of these light sources has a different color temperature and an on-camera flash is seldom enough to overpower the bright theatrical lighting, my best alternative is often Photoshop. That's what I did today. I looked for something in each image that I knew was true white, made it white again, and the rest of the image snapped into place. The pictures look great. They're just taking me longer than I thought to process.

Before I started my Photoshop marathon, I had a meeting with the roofers. We went up on the roof and they explained why filling in the little depressions where the roof has settled would just cause the puddles of standing water to shift to another part of the roof. Evidently, the high point on my roof on all four sides is the exterior edge. This is exactly the opposite of the way it should be and causes water to drain toward the center of the roof instead of spilling over the edge. The edge of a flat roof should always be the low point. Other than build an entirely new roof with a pitch to it, there just doesn't seem to be a way to get my roof to drain properly. My advise to all first-time homeowners: don't ever buy a house with a flat roof.

I don't think the dogs like Photoshop. I tend to move around more when I'm writing, and when I move around, the dogs get more attention. I often wander around the house and even go outside when I'm thinking about where to go next on a writing project. Sometimes I get my best headline ideas when I'm not sitting at the computer. Photoshop is much different. A big Photoshop project usually involves lots of repetitive actions. I crop and re-size images. I color correct and eliminate blemishes. I add meta tag information. It's not brain surgery, but it can be time consuming.

Tomorrow looks like another busy day. The roofers will be back. The road crew in front of the house will be back. I've got some website revisions to make and another article is due. First on the docket though is getting all the images processed and burned to a disk, so I can drop them in an envelope and take it to a Fedex drop-off. Poor Dot might have to end up waiting another couple of days for her acupuncture session.

Faith is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1266

I had another one of my periodic meetings with my financial adviser today. The guy is a technical analyst and it's taken me a while to come around to his disciplined point of view. After four years, I'm finally starting to become a believer. I used to pick strong, well run companies without paying much attention to the technicians. I pretty much ignored support and resistance levels and didn't know a moving average from a Bollinger band. The world has become too volatile to just pick a good company and forget about it, unfortunately. Companies rapidly go in and out of fashion, just like everything else these days. Just about only consistent thing left is that history still tends to repeat itself. The cyclic and somewhat repetitive nature of history is the basis for most technical analysis. People like my financial adviser look at past performance and try to make an educated guess about the future.

The flaw in this type of thinking is that nobody can really predict the future. Even though history does tend to repeat itself, it can also throw you a curve and totally surprise everyone. I have discovered that technical analysts like my financial adviser aren't right all the time, but they do seem to be right more than half the time. Since I was wrong about Apple and I was wrong about the natural gas industry, I'm going to give technical analysis a little more respect in the future.

When my meeting was over, I returned to the office and began to edit and color correct the image files I shot in Las Vegas. This can be a long and tedious process when you have over 500 images to process. Although I seldom get paid to do this, I almost always color correct my image files before sending them to the client. At the Couture Show, I was shooting in an environment where your subject might be lit by a combination of ambient, incandescent, fluorescent, and mercury vapor light all at the same time. It is often hard to color correct these types of shots, because when you balance one of the lighting sources, you often throw one of the others off even further. I do my best to color correct the faces or whatever is the center of interest and let the rest of the image fall where it may. It's a slow process and not surprisingly, I didn't get finished today.

I heard the roofers up on the roof today, but didn't have time to go see what they were doing. After they left for the day, it was unclear whether they did anything at all. The roof is still a long way from being finished and I'm beginning to wonder how long this is going to take. I'm fairly certain that the roof will be finished before the road crew finishes re-paving the road in front of my house. Nothing moves slower than road construction.

I need to get Dot back on schedule with her acupuncture therapy. We had to skip one session while I was out of town and she lost another session due to bad weather. Since the acupuncture treatments seem to be showing some positive results, it's time to get things back on schedule. When I went up to visit with my financial adviser this afternoon, I noticed that there was an acupuncturist right next door to his office. Maybe I ought to start seeing this guy whenever I have a financial review. Acupuncture is supposed to be great for relieving stress and talking about money is always stressful for me.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1265

It was a beautiful day with clear skies and a light breeze. The dogs got to frolic in the sun at the dog park and I had plenty of time to catch up on some much needed yard work. I mowed the grass, watered the shrubs, and enjoyed one of those brief moments when everything looks nice for a change. I certainly wasn't the only one taking advantage of the nice weather. The park was filled with picnickers and the lake was dotted with small sailboats. I'm always in a better mood when I can see my own shadow, and sunny days where it's still cool enough to open the windows are the best. From the looks of things in the park this afternoon, there appear to be a lot of people who would agree with me.

I thought I'd re-arrange all the partitions in my camera case, based on how I used my equipment in Las Vegas. It would be nice if the things you used the most were right at the top for easy access. After spending an hour or so peeling away the Velcro partitions and re-attaching them somewhere else, I ended up with a configuration much worse than when I started. I guess this just proves that sometimes it's better to leave things well enough alone.

I sure wish I could have left my diet alone. It's much harder than I thought to avoid salt, sugar, and wheat entirely. While we were eating dinner tonight there was this baking competition show on TV and it made me really hungry. The show was basically like Top Chef, except that the contestants just baked pies and other pastries. I love pie. Unfortunately pie is the poster child for things I shouldn't eat. A good pie is chock full of salt, sugar, butter, and flour. I'll just have to learn to enjoy my Kale.

I discovered why there were so many tasty things that actually were on my diet when I was staying at the Wynn. It turns out that Steve Wynn is a vegan and he insists that all his restaurants have choices on the menu that he could eat. I guess that explains why there was such a variety of astoundingly good vegetable dishes. If you're a vegetarian with plenty of money, the Wynn is definitely where you want to go.

I don't want to go back to the regular work routine tomorrow, but there's basically no choice. It's going to be a very busy week with meetings on Monday and Tuesday, along with a big photo shoot on Thursday. Some of my friends tell me that they couldn't imagine not working. I can easily imagine this kind of life. All I have to do is look at the dogs sleeping peacefully on the bed in the next room and visions of the good life start to appear in my head.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day