Day 1530

Where did today go? It seems like I got up and all of the sudden, it's time to go to bed again. I certainly didn't do that much. The big event of the day was giving the dogs a bath. The neighborhood dog washing place that lost its lease several months ago has reopened in a new location. We always like to support neighborhood businesses, but I sure wish this place was back at its old location. I don't think I'd visit this new place after dark. We encountered some pretty strange people wandering around in the parking lot.

The dogs are nice and clean again though. That's good. They are about the only thing in the house that's clean. I changed the sheets on the bed and did a load of towels, but that's as close to cleaning as I got. The house is still a mess.

My worries about Dash have distracted me. It's hard to believe that he could actually be sick, especially since he looks and acts completely normal. Cancer can be that way. One of my neighbors was playing golf and working in his garden one week, and the next week he was dead. Lots of Dalmatians in the rescue program have had cancer over the years. Few beat the disease entirely, but many were able to live many more happy and active years after treatment.

I've reluctantly learned to trust doctors as a result of my own liver problems. Hepatitis C has few if any symptoms until the very end. It is easy to lull yourself into a sense of false security, since you still feel good as the disease progresses. Hepatitis C is serious though, just like cancer. I've learned now, that if my doctor is worried, I need to be worried too. That's why Dash is going to get the best possible care, starting immediately. Most people and pets don't die from cancer. They die from waiting too long to diagnose and start treating it.

I thought I'd do my monthly assignment for my writer's group this afternoon, but the writing took a different direction than I expected and it surprised me. Oops. I'll finish the piece tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Well, that's when it's due. I procrastinate about everything except my pets.

I noticed that my next door neighbor hired somebody to rake up all their leaves this weekend. Now, they'll probably be mad when my own leaves start blowing back into their yard, as they inevitably will. I hate to rake up all my leaves just yet though. They've been a great way to cover up all the dirt in the back yard and keep the dogs from getting too muddy when they run outside on a rainy day. As soon as the leaves are raked up, I'll need to re-landscape again, since the grass is all dead.

I'm staring at a growing pile of tax documents sitting on the corner of my desk. Is it that time of year again already? I procrastinate with taxes too. I quit doing them myself years ago, but now I find it hard to even gather up all the information for my accountant. There is just no satisfaction in giving the government money it is sure to waste.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1529

It was an absolutely normal Friday. Normal is good. There was no dog crisis. There was no impossible deadline crisis. There was no crisis at all. The dogs are enjoying the Springlike weather. We had a great walk this morning and my shoulder has finally gotten strong enough to try walking both dogs together again. Maybe I just got lucky today when I walked Dot and Dash together for the first time in weeks, but my shoulder gave me no problems. Knock on wood.

I had time for an enjoyable breakfast at my favorite restaurant and picked up some tasty food for the weekend at Central Market afterwards. Since I got started early this morning, there was still plenty of time to finish all my assignments.

I was finally able to get my tree trimmer to commit to a date for cleaning up the broken tree limbs from  last December's ice storm. I don't know why this has taken so long, but everything seems to take a long time these days. There is quite a bit of damage and I'm sure the tree guy will try to convince me to saw down the entire tree. I don't want to do that. The large old Oak has been around for over 100 years and I think it's got a few years left.

My liver doctor called this morning and told me that the initial test results looked good and that I should continue taking the pills. Jeez, I wouldn't think stopping was even an option. When I first received the medication, I read right on the bottle of the expensive pills that if you didn't complete the entire twelve week treatment regime, the virus would just become more resistant. We definitely don't want that.

Dash acted so normal today that it's hard to imagine that he still might be very, very sick. I'm dreading the appointment with the oncologist on Monday morning. His assessment of the situation could snap me back to reality very quickly. For now, we'll concentrate on having a nice weekend. The weather still looks good, so he'll get a trip to his favorite dog park. Unfortunately, he'll also get a bath. If Dash has to have surgery, he might not be able to have a bath for a long time. Janet says we might as well make sure he's clean now.

I learned something new about LED light bulbs today. Unbeknownst to me, most of the electrical energy supplied to an LED bulb is converted to heat rather than light. I guess this explains why most of these bulbs have large metal heat sink fins around the circumference of the bulb. At any rate, even though these high-tech bulbs use far less energy than a normal incandescent bulb, they must dissipate lot more heat than an equivalent incandescent. So, where does all this heat go? Well, it often goes straight to the thermal protection switch inside the fixture and ruins it. This is basically why the can light in my bathroom has started blinking on and off and why a similar fixture in my office burned out a few months ago. So the "last forever" LED lights don't last forever after all. And they burn up your fixtures in the process. Is all this advanced technology even necessary? I was perfectly happy with my land line phone, cassette tapes, and an IBM Selectric typewriter.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1528

OK. We're making progress. I've scheduled a consultation with an oncologist first thing Monday morning. After this initial evaluation, Dash will get a CAT Scan later the same day. If necessary, we've arranged for a joint consultation between the oncologist and a soft tissue surgeon. My philosophy for just about everything is to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. That's what I'm trying to do here.

It turns out that they didn't check my viral loads when I went to the hepatologist today. The nurse said that I hadn't been taking the pills long enough to see whether they were helping me. All they wanted to do today was to make sure they weren't harming me. I guess that makes sense. I would be very surprised if the pills were actually harming me. I feel fine. Dash seems to feel fine too, so maybe things aren't always as simple as they seem.

Dash has reverted to getting us up in the middle of the night again. Just when I think his digestion is back to normal, he has another of these episodes. We certainly aren't getting much sleep this week. I asked the vet if Dash's loose stools could have anything to do with his thyroid issues and she didn't know. She said anything was possible. I think both dogs have been going to the vet so frequently this month that everyone is starting to get Dot and Dash's stories confused. We thought we had some recent x-rays to send over to the oncologist today, but it turned out they were Dot's x-rays.

After a short break, I have returned to my insane writing schedule. The constant writing, plus all the website updates and dog issues are starting to take their toll. I'm tired. There are a lot of things that just aren't getting done the way they should. Ordinarily, I would have fixed the faulty can light in the bathroom by now. Not even close on that one. I still haven't gotten the damaged Oak tree in the back yard cleaned up after December's ice storm. I ended up fixing the hole Dot that ate in the carpet with Duct Tape. It looks like crap and Janet says we're living in Honey Boo Boo's house now, but at least there are no more dangerous loose edges that the dogs might eat again. It's going to take a while to get a new carpet put in. Getting the dog health issues resolved has to come first. There's so much furniture that would need to be moved before a new carpet could be installed that I dread even dealing with the whole thing. I don't know who to call anyway. My favorite carpet company went out of business five years ago. Nothing is simple anymore.

I was really hoping to get Dash in to see the oncologist tomorrow, but maybe waiting until Monday is for the best. He still acts and feels pretty normal. At least now, we'll have a chance to take him to his favorite dog park over the weekend and spend some quality time with him. If he does end up needing surgery and radiation therapy, he's going to have a pretty rough Spring.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1527

I feel sick to my stomach. The pathology report came back today and Dash has some sort of thyroid tumor. We don't know yet whether the tumor is benign or malignant, but either way it is bad news. In all likelihood, the tumor will have to be surgically removed. If the tumor is cancerous, we will have to act fast, since some thyroid tumors grow quite aggressively. With the help of our vet, we are looking for the best available surgeon now. Dash will probably need a CT scan, nuclear scintigraphy, and possibly a biopsy prior to making a decision about surgery. If the tumor still moves freely in the neck and has not metastasized, removal should be relatively simply. If the tumor has already established its own blood supply and spread through adjoining tissue, the surgery will be much more risky. Even if the surgery is successful, there's a good chance that chemotherapy or radiation will be required afterwards as well.

Let's just hope it isn't cancer. Poor Dash hasn't gotten a lot of breaks in life. When we adopted him in the Spring of 2006, he was not a healthy dog. He had serious skin allergies, kidney stones, and recurring digestive problems. We nursed him back to good health and then he began to have epileptic seizures. His seizures are well controlled now and his coat looks great. These medical issues weren't the worst of his problems though. About five years ago, Dash was attacked by a viscous dog in the neighborhood and almost killed. It required three surgeries, months of physical therapy, and a lot of loving care to get him back on his feet again. After all this, the last thing our boy needs now is cancer.

I have to accept the reality that we have two very high maintenance dogs now. Dot is incredibly resilient, but she is very old now and has all the problems associated with old age. She hasn't given up though, and still seems to love her life. I think the water therapy and acupuncture are really helping. She is much more mobile and active than many other Dalmatians her age. She did great on the underwater treadmill today. Watching her go through her paces, it would be easy to imagine that she was 8 instead of 13 or 14. With both dogs, we're going to have to take things one day at a time from this point forward. Dot had a very good day today. Dash, not so good.

I didn't go to my networking breakfast this morning. I had other things on my mind. I'm beginning to realize that other than the breakfast itself, this group has very little to offer my company. I've been around long enough to realize that few, if any, of these people will ever have a need for my rather specialized services. Don't get me wrong. They are all nice folks and I enjoy chatting with them on mornings when I'm awake. I'm just not a morning person though and never will be. I've tried everything on the breakfast menu and had an opportunity to try on all my old suits again. That was fun. The Giorgio Armani and Valentino suits still look great after all these years. The Jhane Barnes looked ridiculous. I'm trying to think of valid reasons to continue to get up this early, but I can't think of many.

I go for my first evaluation tomorrow to see how well the new Hepatitis-C treatment is working. Mostly this will be more blood tests. I really hope this advanced treatment is successful. At a point in my life where so many things seem pointless, it would be nice to know that there was at least one instance where I was doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1526

Another stressful day. We've known for some time that Dash has a lipoma in his neck. These fatty tumors are very common in dogs and most of them are benign. When I took Dash for his antigen shot today, his vet thought that the lipoma had grown a bit and wanted to run some tests to make sure it wasn't malignant. She aspirated cells from several sections of the tumor and sent them off to a pathologist for analysis. We should know the results before the end of the week. If the growth is a normal fatty lipoma we don't need to do anything. If the cells are abnormal or malignant, more tests and even surgery may be required.

I certainly hope the growth isn't cancer. We have had two dogs that have had cancer. Spot, our first Dalmatian, remained cancer free after some serious surgery that removed six inches of his intestines. Gretta wasn't so lucky. She died two days after a surgeon tried to remove a cancerous lobe from her liver. She didn't even make it home from the surgery center. Hopefully, the growth in Dash's throat is benign. It is in a difficult place, right next to his carotid artery. It would take a very skilled surgeon to successfully remove it.

If any of you have had to switch to Obamacare, you have my sympathies. I'm on Medicare now, and even though the government has had decades to work out all the kinks, Medicare is still a huge mess. I'm almost certain that Obamacare will be worse, since it's brand new. I found out today that even though I enrolled in Medicare over six months ago, none of my claims have been processed. Apparently Medicare still thinks my "employer" is paying for my health insurance, not realizing of course that I have been my own employer for over twenty years. The group insurance plan I discontinued last June when I enrolled in Medicare is still listed as my primary health insurance and Medicare is listed as secondary insurance on Medicare's own website. After calling three different numbers and sitting on hold for almost an hour, I finally ended up talking to someone who understood my problem. They have an entire department dedicated to resolving these type of problems because they are so commonplace. I think it's called the Coordination of Benefits Department. The lady I talked to was very nice and told me that she had updated my records to indicate that Medicare was now my primary insurance. She never told me how the group plan I discontinued over six months ago had gotten into the system however. Evidently mistakes like these are quite common when you are self-employed. When I asked if there was anything else I needed to do, the lady casually mentioned that I needed to have all my doctors submit their claims again. "But you already have all their information," I said. "Can't you just reprocess it?" No can do, the lady told me. The doctors will have to start over and resubmit all their claims. They'll have to wait ten days before they do this too. That's how long it takes for the government databases to be updated with the new information they entered today.

A can light in the bathroom ceiling burned out this morning. I got a ladder and looked at the fixture, but couldn't find anything wrong. I hate to call an electrician because they will charge me $300 or more to do something simple that I could do myself.  I hate to do this job myself either. If I remember correctly, the last time I tried to fix something up on the ceiling was when I managed to get my neck out of joint and had to go to physical therapy for three months. Whatever happened to the fixture also managed to ruin one of my fancy new LED light bulbs. These LED bulbs are supposed to be indestructible and last forever. Apparently not.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. I can't think of many good things that happened today at all.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1525 - President's Day

Yup. It did turn out to be a cleaning day. I kind of figured it would. I spent the day doing a host of little things that I've been putting off for months. I cleaned soap scum off the shower tiles. I took the handles off the bathroom faucets so I could clean off the accumulated soap and mold that had gotten inside the fixtures. I cleaned the toilet. I went to Home Depot and bought a new garden hose and spray nozzle to replace the leaky one in the back yard. I cleaned the bird shit off my car again. None of this was very exciting, but since I have the same degree of affection for cleaning toilets as I do for most recent presidents, I guess it made sense to do these things on President's Day.

I finally figured out were to find the serial number on my UP band, so I could write Jawbone and ask them to send me a new one. Then I saw something on the Internet about how to revive a dead Jawbone battery. I followed the instructions and amazingly the band started to charge again. I'd already sent the letter saying that the band was broken, of course. It remains to be seen whether they'll send me a new one.

I don't know whether my shoulder is ever going to get better. I was so worried about walking the dogs and working out at the gym, but it is the simple, unavoidable things that are the problem. Making the bed is a problem. Putting on socks is a problem. I climbed up on the roof today to sweep off some water, and that was definitely a problem. I've had a shoulder that tended to go out of joint for at least ten years. If I was careful, it never really hindered me much. My recent injury was definitely the worst I've had, but there have been others. I can make the muscles around the shoulder stronger, but that's about all. The ball and socket joint has been loose for a long time and will probably always be loose.

The dogs are finally learning to sleep in late. Now that they are mastering this new routine, it's back to work. Janet will return to getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and the dogs will be confused again. Maybe we'll all go back to sleep for another hour after Janet leaves for work. It's hard for me to come up with a good reason to get up early. What is the point? I usually have lots to do, but I can set my own schedule. Hey, why get up early when you have the option of staying up late?

I saw my first Daffodils today. I bet they won't last long. This always happens in Texas. The flowers get confused and then Mother Nature lets them know who's boss with one final blast of arctic weather.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1524

Dash is a smart dog. When he was having his incontinence problems recently, he learned that if he scratched at the back door with his paw, we would come running to let him out. That little scratching noise would wake me from a sound sleep, because I knew that if I didn't get there in time, Dash would poop in the house. Now that Dash is completely better, he has remembered what a quick response he gets from scratching at the back door. Now he scratches at the back door whenever he wants anything. It's irritating. Since his bowels have been a bit unpredictable as long as he's been with us, I still come running, only to discover that Dash has cleverly gotten me out of bed for a dog treat or an early walk. He has become particularly bad with this behavior on weekends when the rest of the family likes to sleep in a little longer. Although Dash spends half his life sleeping, he apparently doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in. Sunday's are a great time to sleep in, but Dash was determined to get us out of bed and walking in the park by 6:30 AM. Eventually he won this battle.

It was a nice day, but Dash still should have cut us a little slack. Would it kill him to sleep a little longer on Sunday morning? Jeez, doesn't he know that he gets to go to the dog park on Sunday's anyway? At any rate, the day got off to an earlier start than I had hoped, but it wasn't a bad day. The dogs got their walk. Everybody had a nice breakfast. Janet and I did a few chores around the house. And then we all went to the dog park.

On days like these, you can be easily fooled into thinking that Spring has already arrived. Almost every year, there is a week in February when the weather is so nice that trees start to bud and a few hardy flowers begin to poke through the soil. Inevitably, just when things are starting to look green, there is a final Winter freeze that kills all the early growth. It happened last year, and it will probably happen again this year. That's just the way it is in Texas. Eventually, it all gets sorted out and by April the meadows behind our house are thick with wildflowers. April and May are usually wonderful, but by June I will be complaining again about how hot Texas gets in the Summer.

I made it back to the gym this afternoon and started doing some of my old routines again. It's amazing how quickly a few idle weeks can throw you off your stride. It hasn't been that long, but I can already tell that my strength and endurance aren't as good as they used to be. The shoulder still hurts a bit, but the inflamation is all gone, so I think it's time to start working on the muscles again. If I waited for my shoulder to feel completely normal again, I'd be waiting for a long, long time. It's never going to be completely normal again.

Janet has the day off tomorrow. I hope she decides it's a lazy day instead of a housecleaning day.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1523

I got a pleasant surprise this morning. I received a publisher's proof of my entry in the upcoming SXSW Cookbook. I was amazed. My recipe looked really good. Somebody had actually followed the directions and cooked the recipe, just so they could photograph it for the cookbook. I didn't know they were going to do that. I also didn't know that they were going to give me a really nice write up that made me look like much more than a reclusive guy who works at home with his dogs.

Maybe I was more back in the days when I routinely used to attend SXSW. I couldn't even afford to go to SXSW anymore. The festival wasn't a star studded event like Sundance back then, but it was still a big deal. The year they asked me to be a speaker at the event, fellow speakers included folks like Steven Soderbergh and Matthew McConaughey. I'm without a doubt the least famous person to have a recipe in this illustrious cookbook, which includes recipes by luminaries like Guy Kawasaki and Randi Zuckerberg. It's an honor to be included. I felt kind of the same way when Paypal selected me to be a spokesperson for their advertising a few years ago. I'm kind of a ghost now, but it's nice to be remembered.

It felt like Spring today. Temperatures were in the seventies and there was a nice breeze. Weather like this always brings a ton of people out to the park behind my house. For years, the place used to be a quiet wooded area and then one year the city passed a big bond issue to revitalize the park. Now the park is a popular destination for people from all over the area. With people come problems. Almost every time there's a really nice day I see fire and rescue folks on the lake rescuing swimmers and unlucky folks who managed to sink their kayaks. I don't know what happened today, but while I was giving Dot and Dash their evening walk I saw a large firetruck with seven firemen, a fire department rescue boat, a police car, and an ambulance. I hope everybody was OK, but it didn't look good.

My second Jawbone UP band has broken. I've gotten hooked on wearing these diminutive activity trackers, but they sure don't last very long. Janet and my stockbroker have had their bands go kaput on them too. I wonder why they can't make the batteries in these things last longer. That's usually what goes wrong. One day you wake up and realize the battery just won't charge anymore and you're just wearing a silly looking loop of rubber.

I'm so happy that Dot has made a complete recovery from what could have been a very serious accident. Dalmatians must have iron stomachs. Spot ate broken glass and lived. Petey ate several birds and some rather large barbecued rib bones. Greta just gnawed on the legs of my prized Palazzetti Tomasa dining room chairs, which didn't hurt her at all, but it sure made me sick.

It definitely looks like a dog park day tomorrow. The weather is absolutely fabulous this weekend. At least temporarily, the ground hog is forgiven.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1522 - Valentine's Day

To a dog, Valentine's Day is just like any other day, except that sometimes you get dressed up in silly costumes, and other times you get an extra treat after dinner. Ours usually get a Sprinkles dog cupcake. These look exactly like the Sprinkles cupcakes for people, except that they are for dogs. I hope they are made with dog safe ingredients and aren't packed with sugar. I've never really asked. Dot and Dash sure like them though.

This morning, when I was driving home from my breakfast restaurant, I noticed a lot of men washing their cars, so I decided to wash mine as well. Men seem to like to wash cars, especially on a nice day. There is something satisfying about a clean car. It is well within the realm of possibility. A clean house is nothing but a pipe dream. With two Dalmatians and clutter everywhere, I've given up on ever having a clean house.

Dot is just about back to normal now. Her eyes are bright and her energy has returned. The only problem I'm having now is figuring out where to keep her, so she'll be safe when I have to leave the house. When I look around the house, there are lots and lots of cloth or leather things a dog could chew on if they got in one of those frantic chewing moods. For now, I put up some dog gates and confine her in a hallway area where there are brick floors. There is no need to confine Dash, but since he likes to sleep on the bed when we're gone, he ends up being confined too. Dot's temporary hallway pen blocks his exit. Neither dog seems to mind this arrangement since they sleep most of the day anyway.

The complex boarding arrangements add even even additional time to my daily dog care routines. Now that I'm walking each dog separately and creating separate spaces for them every time I leave the house, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. No sane person would spend this much time being a dog butler, but you guys probably figured out that I'm not entirely sane quite a while ago.

I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon and now I feel poor again. Money seems to flow in and out of my hands like the tide. I need more lucky breaks like I got at the grocery store this morning. I ended up getting a $30 Filet mignon for $9 because somebody mistakenly mislabeled it. I didn't even realized that I had selected such an exclusive little piece of beef until I heard two butchers conferring about the price. They were good to their word and let me have the price marked on the case. I think they took that $9 sign down as soon as I left.

It looks like we've got a three day weekend with decent weather coming up. I'm still not sure what President's Day is all about, but I'll take any excuse I can get not to work. Who knows, the dogs might even get two trips to the dog park.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1521

Dot is OK. After spending the day getting a series of Barium x-rays to determine if her digestive system was still functioning properly, the radiologist finally gave her a clean bill of health and she was able to come home again. Everybody told me that we were extremely lucky that she was able to throw up the last big mass of carpet last night. The spongy, fibrous mass effectively blocked any solids from going into her intestines, which was a good thing. It didn't look like she had any long strands of fiber in her intestines at all. If she wasn't able to throw this mass up, it would have had to be removed surgically from her stomach.

All's well that ends well, but now I can't really trust Dot in the house when I'm gone anymore. Who knows when this frantic compulsion to eat something like this will return? We've got to figure out what is causing these episodes. The best guess so far is that she has acid reflux. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the problem. I had a bad case of acid reflux myself once. It took a long time to find the cause and eliminate it, but it can be done.

It was good that work was slow today, because it gave me time for the trips back and forth to the vet and other errands that I wouldn't have had time for if it was a normal day. Traffic was terrible today, but I wasn't in a hurry so it didn't matter. I decided to get Sprinkles cupcakes today, instead of waiting in the insanely long Valentine's Day lines tomorrow. What the hell. These cupcakes will still be just as fresh tomorrow. I'm tired of standing in line for two hours or more just to buy some very overpriced cupcakes. Apparently other people had the same idea, because there was still a line. It was a reasonable line though. I was out of there in twenty minutes.

This week I'm glad I live in Texas. They may be having record snowfalls in New York, but it was 70 degrees in Dallas today. I think the nice weather is expected to last through the weekend too. I heard several people talk about playing golf this weekend. I'm sure the cold weather will return, but I'm a happy camper now. This is one of the weirdest Winters that I can remember. We continue to bounce back and forth between freezing and sweating and nobody knows why.

At least we don't have sinkholes in Texas. I was shocked to see all those historic Corvettes get swallowed up by a huge sinkhole in Kentucky. Florida has a lot of sinkholes too. All we have are tornadoes. If Dot's condition continues to improve, I'm going out for a good breakfast tomorrow. It's been a long week and I need a break. Dot's not getting anywhere near anything cloth when I leave though. No more carpet eating! I think I'll pen her up in the brick hallway. I'm getting ahead of myself though. First we have to see how she does tonight.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1520

It was a stressful day. Dot is not getting better. When I took her on her morning walk, she threw up some of the carpet she ate. About three hours later, she threw up even more carpet scraps. I took her back to the vet and she said that even though it was a good thing that she was able throw up most of the carpet she ate, she wasn't out of the woods yet. Carpet is apparently one of the worst things a dog can eat because long strings of the fabric tend to stay intact. It is these long strings that can cause serious problems if they get into the intestines.

The vet said I ought to try feeding her small amounts of a bland canned dog food like Hills ID four times a day, to encourage her to pass the rest of the debris through her system. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold the canned food down and threw up again. We'll be watching Dot carefully tonight and taking her back to the vet first thing in the morning for a series of Barium x-rays to determine if there is a blockage. Hopefully, she'll be able to pass everything, because if she can't, she'll have to have abdominal surgery. Our first Dalmatian had to have abdominal surgery and it was extremely difficult to get his digestive processes working again afterwards. He almost died.

Dash, of course, is still waking us up in a panic at three in the morning to go outside and poop. We're still not sure what is wrong with him either. My shoulder is taking its own sweet time to heal as well. Life goes on, but this is definitely not the best February I can remember.

I went to the networking breakfast this morning, mostly because Dot seemed perfectly fine when I woke up. She actually seemed perfectly fine when I returned. It wasn't until about 10:30 AM that she started throwing up carpet scraps. This morning's meeting was actually pretty interesting. There was no formal agenda and we just sat around and talked about how much our respective industries had changed in the last decade. It was oddly reassuring to realize that everybody else was facing the same jarring, tumultuous changes that I am.

Dot is resting calmly now. She threw up some more carpet right after I finished my dinner this evening, but she is breathing normally and her stomach is not distended. If she starts throwing up violently, we'll have to take her to the emergency vet tonight, but hopefully that won't happen. She actually appears more comfortable now after she threw up the most recent batch of carpet.  The odd thing is that she now appears to have thrown up more carpet than she actually ate. Poor girl. She's got to be really uncomfortable.

Hopefully, things will start looking up tomorrow. I saw the sun again this evening while I was walking Dash. That's always a good sign.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1519

I've certainly seen better days. We started things out with a dog emergency. As most of you know, I have to walk Dot and Dash separately now, because of my shoulder injury. I walked Dot first and she seemed just fine. Then I returned and walked Dash. When Dash and I got home again, I discovered that Dot had eaten a big hole in the bedroom carpet and seemed very distressed. When I pulled a long string out of her mouth, I got worried and immediately took her to the vet. It can be quite dangerous for dogs to swallow things like string, pantyhose, or anything else that might get stuck or cut through their intestines. The vet said that Dot was in no immediate danger, but that I should watch her very carefully for the next 72 hours and bring her back immediately if she appeared to have an obstruction. Dot has never done anything like this before. I'm baffled. She eats grass occasionally when her stomach is upset, but has never attempted to eat anything in the house. Especially the carpet.

Hopefully everything she ate will pass through her without any problems. She certainly isn't the first Dalmatian to eat something bad. We have had Dalmatians in the past who have eaten socks, paper towels, and even glass. They all lived. You always worry though. Our emergency vet has a glass case in their lobby filled with unlikely things they have taken out of a dogs stomach. It is unbelievable what some dogs will try to eat.

I had a disagreement with a client about an invoice today. I hate arguing about money. I don't like to wheel and deal and I don't like to negotiate. I've always thought that my services were quite reasonable and have always wondered why people who think I'm expensive don't just go somewhere else. They don't seem to realize that I don't really care whether I keep their business or not. At my age, there's not a single client left who will make an appreciable difference in how I live my life. The die has already been cast. I mostly just work to stay busy. If someone will humor me and treat me with respect, they can get me for a song. If they insist on proving that they are the boss, I'm gone. Life is too short.

I can't decide whether to go to the networking breakfast tomorrow. I probably should, because I've never told these people that I'm growing bored and the omelets are no good anymore. I promised that I'd build the group a good website though, and I'm still not done. I always keep my commitments, so I guess I'll continue getting up early for a while longer. My heart isn't in it anymore though. Eventually the website will be done and I'll probably go back to sleeping in late on Wednesdays. That's just the way it is. What's the point of networking with a bunch of folks when you don't even really want their business?

Janet and I are thinking that maybe Dot has acid reflux.  I had acid reflux for many years and it often made me miserable. I never tried to eat the carpet though.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1518

Well, I guess social media is still useful for a few things. When I was checking to see whether yesterday's blog post uploaded correctly, I noticed something about a special 50th. Anniversary tribute to the Beatles on CBS. I quickly turned on the TV and enjoyed one of the best concerts I've heard in years. I still remember the first time I heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand" piped in over the cafeteria loudspeakers when I was in high school in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Beatles changed everything. Before the Beatles I wanted to be an astronomer. After the Beatles, I decided I wanted to be an artist instead. I bought a guitar and two year later I was playing in a band. When a high school guidance counselor told me I was good at solving spatial recognition problems, I decided to go to architecture school instead of majoring in physics and the rest is history.

The tribute show was fantastic. Well, it was mostly fantastic anyway. I didn't really care for Katy Perry and Alicia Keys, but everybody else rocked. Gary Clark Jr. and Joe Walsh did an absolutely amazing rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I've always wondered why Gary Clark Jr. isn't more widely known. That guy can really sing. The two remaining Beatles themselves were the best. It's hard to believe that Ringo is 74 years old. He looked great and still has his chops. It was great to see Paul and Ringo on stage together again singing a rousing version of "With a Little Help From My Friends." Jeez, even the CBS house band was great. Although he was never mentioned, I noticed Peter Frampton playing on quite a few songs. The only thing missing was Eric Clapton.  He definitely should have been there.

Too bad today wasn't as energizing as last night's concert. My day followed the script I outlined yesterday to a tee. We got up early and took both dogs to the vet for their lab work. After that little excursion, Janet went to work, I ate breakfast and settled down to methodically checking things off today's to-do list. I feel like an animatronic robot sometimes, but I guess it's good to stay busy.

I don't know what got into Dot today. She refused to walk in the park this morning and refused again this evening. I don't know whether her leg hurt or if she was just being stubborn. It was definitely odd behavior though, since walking in the park is usually one of her favorite things. When she refused to walk in the park this evening, I was just about ready to take her back inside when I noticed that she wanted to walk down the alley behind our house. Once we were walking down the long alley, she acted completely normal and did her business as usual. Go figure! I have no idea what this was all about.

I try not to miss the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Every year I hope that the Dalmatian will win the non-sporting group and every year I am disappointed. The Standard Poodle, with its ridiculous haircut, always seems to win this event. Not surprisingly, this is exactly what happened this year, with the beautiful Dalmatian coming in fourth. I don't think the Dalmatian gets a fair shot in this huge and varied group. I doubt that they could put Dalmatians in with the working dogs, since they seldom do any work, but maybe they could put them in with the hounds.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1517

I'm surprised that the city didn't close the dog park today. It was sure pretty muddy when we arrived after breakfast. I'm glad they left it open though, because Dot and Dash both had a great time. Dash even found a playmate, a little black dog who seemed determined to show Dash how fast he was. It was fun seeing Dash lose his fearfulness for a moment and race around the park with his new found companion. After about 45 minutes, both dogs were ready to come home again and they spent the rest of the day curled up on their dog beds.

I returned to the gym this afternoon for the first time since my shoulder injury. I didn't attempt to do any lifting or upper body exercises. All I wanted to do today was burn calories and the treadmill worked fine for that. I hadn't spent much time on the treadmill before, and discovered that all the dog walking I do has actually been keeping me in pretty good shape. Thirty minutes on the treadmill is a lot easier than twenty minutes on the hand bicycle. It was interesting to see that if you control your breathing, your heart rate actually goes down, even if you are moving along at a pretty good clip. I need to figure out how to return to doing upper body exercises without destroying my shoulder all over again. Endurance I've got. It's strength that I need. Muscle atrophy is real as you get older. Dot is experiencing it, and so am I.

I tried to get a head start on my February invoices today. I'm so busy during the workweek now that's it's hard to find time for things like this. Invoices are important though. If I don't send them out, I don't get paid. It would be nice to go after some new, and possibly more interesting, business. This doesn't seem to be in the cards though. It's all I can do to keep up with the business I already have. Every day is more or less the same. I get up. I walk the dogs. I eat breakfast. I write an article. I feed the dogs lunch. I take a shower. I update my clients websites. I write another article. I feed the dogs dinner and walk them again. I eat my own dinner. I write my daily blog post. And I go to bed.

This is exactly what will happen tomorrow, with one small addition. We take the dogs to the vet early in the morning before they have their breakfast so they can both have blood tests. We need to to find out whether Dash has a vitamin-B deficiency and Dot just needs recent blood-work before we get her teeth cleaned. If the dogs aren't having a blood test, chances are that I am. My next test is on the 20th to see if the new Hepatitis-C medicine is working.

I was hoping for another sunny day today, but all I got was an absence of rain. The day started out pretty warm, but the temperature continued to drop as the day progressed. By morning, the chances are high that we will have returned to Winter again. Back and forth between the temperature extremes we go. I don't even think the ground hog could have predicted this.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1516

Did any of you watch the opening ceremonies at the Olympics last night? I was blown away. After all the negative press that Sochi has been receiving lately, I didn't really know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect ethereal giant islands floating through the sky like dreamy zeppelins, or majestically moving music. Russia should be proud. They put on one hell of a show. I guess it's not surprising that I was impressed by these opening ceremonies. I love a grand spectacle. I'm fond of Cirque du Soleil, Phantom of the Opera, and Wagner's Ring Cycle. It's too bad all five Olympic rings didn't open properly, but this was one small glitch in a monumental success. I'm still wondering if the horse I saw grazing on one of those huge floating islands was real.

It's too bad that Russia and the United States aren't on the same side. I've always thought that Russia and the United States were natural allies, rather than natural enemies. We ought to learn from the success we've had working together in space and pool our efforts to be the biggest and the best. If you threw Germany into the mix, there would be no stopping us. I know some of my warm-and-fuzzy, pot smoking friends wouldn't agree, but a world where Dostoevsky, Porsche, Proton Rockets, Hunter S. Thompson, Leica, Steve Jobs, and Neil Armstrong set the tone would be fine by me. If we'd spent the past twenty years working together, we'd be on Mars by now.

Our roller coaster weather continues. It not only warmed up today, it warmed up dramatically. By mid-afternoon, the temperature was almost 60 degrees. On Monday, another cold front arrives and the temperatures are expected to dip into the twenties again. I've learned to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. Not surprisingly, the dogs were just as eager to see the sun as I was. When it was time for their evening walk, neither dog wanted to be left behind. Against my better judgement, I decided to try to walk them together again. Everything worked out fine. Dot and Dash were so interested in smelling things, that neither dog tugged or pulled and I was able to walk them both using one hand. We walked for almost an hour and there was no stress on my shoulder at all. I know this won't always work, but I know my dogs. I could tell that they were in one of those lazy, smell the roses moods before we even left the house.

Since our unseasonably warm weather is supposed to last another day, we may be able to make it to the dog park tomorrow. I guess it all depends on whether last week's mud is drying up fast enough for the city to open the gates. I might even try to go back to the gym tomorrow. It's about time. I haven't attempted a workout since I injured my shoulder and I need to start burning some calories again. I'm not going to attempt any upper body exercises, but the place has a ton of treadmills. I'll just stick with the treadmills for a while.

I can't believe it's almost time to start raking leaves again. After decades of raking leaves, I think I might just let the landscape guys do it this year. They'll probably charge me double when they discover how much dog poop is hiding under the Winter blanket of leaves.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1515

Breakfast was definitely the high point of the day. It's still cold. There's still snow on the ground. And I'm still bundled up in sweaters while I work. The furnace is working fine. The hot air just doesn't seem to make it all the way to the office in the back of the house. The dogs are smarter than me. On cold days they hang out near the heating vents in the living room, where the air is still toasty warm. I guess I could take a laptop and work in a warm room too, but I can't even write a simple letter without staring at a huge high definition screen anymore. Yes, I'm running Microsoft Word on a high end video editing workstation. Hey, I've got to use this stuff for something.

Much to my chagrin, Dot and Dash seem to love being walked separately. Dot takes sedate ladylike steps along the path, stopping periodically to smell things along the way. Dash charges through the brush, feeling a new sense of power now that he's in charge of his walk. I like seeing the dogs happy, but they are making a shambles of my schedule. I still got everything finished today, but it was only because the weather was so nasty that I wasn't tempted to do anything else.

The stock market continues to confound me. Just a few days ago I was happy to see some stop loss orders kick in, seemingly protecting me from the day's 300 point loss. Now, just two days later, the market has already regained most of the losses from the big sell-off and I'm wondering why I sold some perfectly good stocks. That's the trouble with protection strategies. They may protect you from the next zombie apocalypse, but they don't protect you from human nature. It all comes down too fear and greed. My fear triggered someone else's greed and the market went back up again.

Dash is sleeping through the night again, so maybe the Probiotics we're giving him are working. Dot is visibly stronger on her walks, so maybe the water therapy is working as well. My new Hepatitis-C meds aren't making me sick either, so hopefully they are working as well. Medicine is great when it works. It just doesn't work all the time.

It's supposed to warm up this weekend. I've even heard that we may see a little sunshine. With all the mud that appears after a thaw, it's probably too much to ask for the dog park to be open. It would sure be nice though. Dash is getting cabin fever.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1514

When I looked out the window this morning, there was snow on the ground. Although there are some people in Dallas who get excited about our rare snowfalls, I'm not one of them. Snow just means more dirty laundry to wash, more dirty dogs to clean up, and a very chilly office to work in. I didn't even bother to go anywhere in the car today. Every time I'd turn on the news, I'd hear reports of traffic delays and icy wrecks. It just wasn't worth going out.

I certainly had plenty to keep me busy. One of my clients asked me if I could build a complex interactive form for them today. Damn! About the only thing worse than a snow day to me is a day where I have to deal with forms. I don't like to fill out forms and I don't like to create them. I'm sure a lot of my antipathy toward forms comes from filling out the same lengthy forms over and over again in doctor's offices. You'd think doctors would learn to share information that they keep in the cloud somewhere, but they all seem to prefer antiquated metal file folders full of hand written forms.

The interactive application form I created today was five pages long. If I had to fill out a form this long, I'd seriously think twice about whatever I was applying for. I did finish building the form and getting it online however. There wasn't much else to do on a cold, snowbound day. Once I finished taking each of the dogs down to the park to do their business, I plugged in the little ceramic heater under my desk and got to work. It was a long day. Dot and Dash seemed happy enough sleeping on their warm dog beds strategically positioned near a heating vent. I think I would have been happier if I was asleep too.

So far, I have experienced none of the dire side effects that my pharmacist warned me about with my new Hepatitis-C medicine. I actually didn't expect any side effects. These are just pills. I take so many pills already and I can't imagine a few more would make any difference.  It's good news that I don't feel dizzy or lethargic though. I'll be taking these new pills for quite a while. I don't know if I could tell if a pill made me feel lethargic anyway. I always feel lethargic.

Tonight is the last Jay Leno show. I still remember the last Johnny Carson show. It's a shame that the network had to bump off Leno is its quest for a younger demographic. Jimmy Fallon is funny too, but you'd think there'd be a place for both of them. I guess it doesn't really matter, since I mostly just watch ancient black & white Perry Mason episodes while I'm going to sleep.

Will the roads be clear enough for me to go out for breakfast in the morning? That is the burning question of the moment. I imagine the roads will be fine. It will just be irritating to get my car dirty in my crazy quest for poached eggs and pulled pork. It would definitely be nice if the park wasn't so icy. Dot tends to fall over on the slick ground and Dash tends to knock me over. With a bad shoulder and a geriatric Dalmatian, I can't really afford either of these possibilities.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day