Day 2029

Years ago, I made one of those micro loans that are supposed to help people in developing countries buy a cow or plant more rice or something. I completely forgot about the small loan, although from time-to-time the investment would deposit quarterly interest payments of $2.50 in my Paypal account. Much to my surprise, I received a notice the other day telling me that the loan had been paid in full and my principal was being returned to me. I kind of liked the symmetry of the whole transaction. I had helped someone I didn't even know and many years later, the money came back to help me pay for Dot's cancer medication. I think the principal will pay for one month of Palladia pills. This is the way money should work. You help someone buy a cow and then the favor is returned when you least expect it to help extend a dog's life. This simple investment was never designed to make anyone rich, but there was an honesty about it that just doesn't exist on Wall Street. Unfortunately, simple honesty seldom pays the bills. With two high maintenance dogs, a laundry list of prescription medications to take every month, and an insatiable desire for the latest gear, I'm afraid micro loans are just a symbolic gesture. I still need the stock market to go up.

I spent most of the day cropping and re-sizing photos for a media presentation. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I'd just shot the photos in a 16x9 format in the first place. Hey, how was I to know that this is how they'd end up being used? I could have batch processed the files to save time, but then nothing would have been cropped correctly. There must be an easier way to do this, but I still find myself opening up each individual image in Photoshop, cropping it manually, applying color correction, and then finally reducing the file size a bit so it will load quickly on the destination device. I think I did a good job cropping hundreds of photos, but I have a feeling that half the images won't end up being used anyway. That's just the way it goes in my world.

Dot seemed shaky again today. It remains a mystery to me why she wakes up strong some days and is weak and shaky on others. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to her energy levels. Some days she's full of energy, even on those hot days when she should be tired. Then there are times when she has no energy at all, even when the weather is perfect. It's just as confusing trying to figure out what causes her to poop in the house. She'll be right on schedule for three or four days at a time, and then the next day poop will just fall out of her. Her diet is consistent. I am consistent about feeding her and taking her outside. Maybe this is just an inevitable part of the aging process.

One of my favorite doctors is closing his practice at the end of the month. I made an appointment well in advance to see him one more time before he disappears forever. Today, I got a call from the clinic saying that the doctor would be in surgery on the day of my appointment and that I would have to reschedule with someone else. "But I scheduled this a long time ago," I said. "I specifically wanted to see this particular doctor." "I understand," the nurse said, "but he is completely booked until he leaves at the end of the month." "You'll have to choose someone else," she told me. It hardly seems fair, but then what is fair these days? Not much, I suspect.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2028

It's finally dry enough to apply the mosquito repellant we got for the yard. The stuff we purchased is supposed to be completely safe for children and dogs, so it probably won't even work. It's worth a try though. The mosquitoes are terrible this year. After I sprayed, the entire yard smelled like Citronella candles. The smell isn't unpleasant though. It's much better than the typical poisonous chemicals that are usually recommended to control mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are fairly tenacious. Nothing we have tried over the years has been very effective. I remember one Summer where we got an odd looking device that was supposed to attract and kill large numbers of mosquitoes by luring them to a trap with carbon dioxide that was generated by a little engine that ran on propane. I remember buying a lot of propane that Summer, but I got the same amount of mosquito bites as always. The machine was worthless. Maybe this new organic spray will do a better job. I certainly didn't see many mosquitoes this afternoon, but that was probably just because it was a windy day.

I got the laundry and vacuuming chores done fairly quickly today, so there was still time to go to the gym. I find that I'm having kind of a Pavlovian response to wearing the Apple Watch. When I punch in the number of calories I want to burn on the Fitness app, I actually keep exercising until the little bell on the watch rings, indicating that I've met my goal. Twice now, I have stayed longer at the gym than I initially intended, just to hear the little bell ring. I'm not a goal oriented person either. I'm just fascinated by machines.

I never use to get work assignments over the weekend, but now this is pretty commonplace. The lines that used to exist between work and home have been hopelessly blurred. I guess today's website updates could have waited until Monday, but I went ahead and took care of things today, Why wait? Tomorrow is going to be pretty much the same as today anyway. The only real reason I go to the gym on Sunday is that Janet is usually home to keep an eye on the dogs. Without this little diversion, most Sundays would just seem like another work day. At least I'm caught up on things for a while. I always like an empty to-do list.

Today was a good day for world events. The Russian Progress spacecraft made it safely to the international space station with several tons of much needed supplies. The US woman's team won the world cup. And Greece voted a resounding no to the European bailout plan. I actually think it would be a good thing if the Greeks dropped out of the European Union and went back to using the Drachma. Let's bring back the Deutsche Mark, the French Franc, the Italian Lira, and all the other currencies as well. I remain convinced that globalization is not a good thing. With lots of small independent countries, many problems remain localized and contained. In a global economy, a single persistent problem can easily escalate out of control and ruin things for everybody. Sure things would be less efficient and more expensive if everybody printed their own money and made their own stuff. Do we really want efficiency though? Forest fires are efficient. What the world needs now is redundancy. I don't think we're ready to be one world yet. Just look at us. Nobody at any level can agree on anything these days.

I'm certainly not going to worry about world events tomorrow. I've got my own problems. I've got a dog who poops in the house. I've got a yard that's a breeding ground for mosquitoes. And I'm not getting enough sleep. In the grand scheme of things, these are very small problems. If everybody just minded their own business and concentrated on their own small problems, I don't think we would have so many large problems.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2027 - Independence Day

We should have gotten up earlier this morning. By the time we got around to walking the dogs around 7 AM, it was already starting to get hot. Dot was a trooper though. We made it around our entire morning circuit, climbing the small hills where Dot strengthens her legs and stopping to smell things when she got tired. We all had a nice breakfast when we returned to the house and then it was time to decide whether today was a holiday or just another work day. I guess we all decided it was just a regular day, because Janet went to get groceries, I went to work on a website, and the dogs took a nap.

It's hard to believe that it's been 39 years since the big Bicentennial Independence Day celebrations. I was working at an ad agency in Seattle at the time and remember returning from a day trip to Victoria Island on a boat and seeing huge fireworks displays directly overhead as we slowly made our way to shore through a sea of other small boats watching the celebration. I had a late dinner at a restaurant called Thirteen Coins after the boat docked and I distinctly remember being happy. Times were different then. I often wish I could go back to 1976, but of course you can never go back. You just keep stumbling forward into an uncertain future.

The only thing I celebrated today was the completion of the new Dalmatian Rescue website. Hot days like this are well suited for website design. After a quick trip to fill the car with gas and pick up a few things at the store, I settled in to refine and debug yesterday's efforts. This particular website was one of the first I ever designed and parts of it are over fifteen years old. It was long overdue for a makeover. Slowly but surely, everything I've done over the years is becoming mobile friendly. The new site is much simpler, has a contemporary look, and works well on phones and tablets. Hopefully, everyone likes the new design, because this ship has sailed.

I can hear fireworks going off in the distance. Apparently, the dogs hear nothing, because they are both sleeping soundly on their dog beds. Years ago, all the neighbors would gather together on the shoreline to watch the fireworks displays on the other side of the lake. Spot, our first Dalmatian, didn't mind the noise, and would enjoy going with us on these twilight excursions. Every dog we've had since has been terrified of fireworks and thunder. I'm not wild about going into the park at night anymore myself. Times have definitely changed. 1976 was great. The 80's and 90's were OK. I'm not so sure about 2015.

Today was a good day. Maybe I should be more optimistic. You really can't really complain when you have cheeseburgers for dinner, you finish a new website, and your dogs are both happy. I'm still patriotic about many things on this day, but I do think we're headed in the wrong direction.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2026

Breakfast was the only thing that seemed like Friday today. I was busy all day long, but nothing was work related for a change. After we ate and took Dot and Dash on their morning walk, Janet and I drove up to Lewisville to take pictures of the new Dalmatians in the rescue program. We photographed six new dogs, which is more newcomers than we've had for a long, long time. It was fun getting to know a new bunch of Dalmatians again. Each of these new dogs was very friendly and got along well with their kennel mates. They were such a good looking, well adjusted bunch that I think all of them will find their forever homes very soon.

With so may new dogs, I began thinking that it might be time to completely redesign the Dalmatian Rescue website. I spent the rest of the day playing around with ideas. I wanted a mobile friendly design that looked more contemporary than the existing site, while still being easy to update as dogs found their homes. Designing these mobile friendly sites is tricky. I came up with something I really liked in the desktop version, but it didn't look that great when viewed on a phone. I actually made quite a bit of progress today, although the site is far from finished. Since this is a long, holiday weekend, I may have time to get all the kinks worked out before Monday. I'd better work fast though. If the new Dalmatians find homes before I get the website finished, I won't have much to show.

Several of our earlier Dalmatians loved to eat June Bugs in the Summer. It was fairly disgusting to watch the dogs eat these things while they were still alive, but our vet said they could cause no harm. Luckily Dot has no interest in eating bugs, but Dash has become obsessed with them lately. Every time we let him out to pee in the evening, he spends all his time looking for June Bugs. He doesn't find many, but that doesn't deter him from looking. I guess it could be a lot worse. One of our first Dalmatians would eat his own poop if you didn't watch him like a hawk.

I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow's fireworks displays. We've had so much rain this Spring that we don't really have to worry about an errant Roman candle starting a brush fire like people do out West. We do have to worry about the dogs though. Very few dogs, including our own, like the sound of fireworks. Fireworks and thunderstorms are all the same to them. Since Dot is partially deaf now, maybe she'll sleep through most of the commotion. I think we'll just stay inside tomorrow evening. Even without all the noise, the mosquitoes in the evening are terrible.

I spent most of the day today thinking it was Saturday. I'll probably spend most of the day tomorrow  thinking it's Sunday. Maybe if I accidentally do my Sunday chores on Saturday, I'll end up having the real Sunday free.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2025

Today is Dot's day. It takes quite a while to take her downtown for her weekly physical therapy and acupuncture sessions, but I enjoy having a break from my routine. The vets and nurses have become my friends and it's nice to occasionally talk to somebody face-to-face, instead of just answering texts and e-mails. It's easy to feel isolated when you live the way I do, so it's reassuring to discover that other people have a lot of the same problems and concerns that I do.

Dot did great on the treadmill today. Since she seemed a bit tired last Thursday, we let her rest this morning and skip her early morning exercise walk. Dash has been good at walking slow with Dot in the morning, but you can tell he wants to go further and faster. Today, he got his wish. I took him on a long walk while Dot was resting at home. Dash reacquainted himself with pungent shoreline smells while I watched a full moon sink lower and lower toward the horizon. There was a nice breeze and we both knew that we wouldn't have to worry about the July heat until later in the day. After several miles, Dash was ready to go home again and I was ready for a hearty breakfast. I love my banana and strawberry smoothies, but today I was ready for some solid food. I heated up a leftover Polish sausage and fixed some waffles. All-in-all, It was a very pleasant way to start the day.

I'm still not getting enough sleep. It's taking me longer and longer to finish the blog each evening. Sometimes I feel like taking a nap between paragraphs. It shouldn't take this long to write about nothing, but I'm particular in my choice of words. At the same time I'm going to bed later, I'm also getting up earlier. Walking the dogs before sunrise has proven to be the best way to keep Dot moving. Even though I'm not a morning person, I've grown fond of these slow pre-dawn walks. The air is crisp and cool and the neighborhood is quiet. At this time of day, it's easy to forget it's already July.

Tomorrow is a holiday for many. Janet gets the day off, but I imagine that my day will be exactly the same as it always is on Friday. Well, it will be a little different. Janet may join me at my breakfast restaurant tomorrow. After breakfast, we're planning to go photograph several new Dalmatians that have arrived at the rescue group's kennel in Lewisville. I'd better remember to charge the camera batteries tonight. I've still got a slide show to complete for a client and several more websites to update, but I've done enough for one day. The garbage has been taken to the curb for tomorrow's pick up. The dogs are already settled in their beds for the night. All that's left to do is brush my teeth, take my evening meds, and watch another episode of Perry Mason as I drift off for my well deserved five hours of sleep.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2024

My unfocused Monday is rapidly turning into an unfocused week. I thought I'd get started on a new website project today, but ran into a major snag almost immediately. Instead of just using text for navigation buttons, I've always liked to use images instead. Having a photo that turns into a negative of the same photo when you roll your mouse over the link always looked kind of cool to me. This simple image swap behavior was always easy to do using Dreamweaver and Fireworks, but I still haven't figured out an effective way to accomplish the same thing using a responsive design framework like Webflow or Macaw. Basically, I wasted a lot of time experimenting with things that didn't work very well, and finally ended up erasing everything and starting over toward the end of the day. These trial and error exercises are usually how I learn things, but there are times when I think there's got to be an easier way.

I've created a monster by feeding the dogs a banana while I eat my breakfast. This worked well for a few days, but now both dogs start barking if I don't feed them a slice of banana every ten or fifteen seconds. Instead of training them to stay quiet and let me eat in peace, they've trained me to feed them the banana at regular intervals. Breakfast has become like a conditioned response experiment run amok. Dot and Dash have become Pavlov and I have become the dog. Now, they're starting to expect something at dinner too. I'm not sure how this is going to end.

I made a repeat trip to the park after sunset this evening to look for Venus and Jupiter and this time I was successful. The two planets weren't quite as close together as they would have been last night, but still it was a sight worth seeing. After walking about half a mile to find a good vantage point, I discovered on the way home that I could see the planetary conjunction just as well from my own backyard. This would actually be a good time to walk the dogs if it weren't so dark. The air cools down surprisingly quickly after the sun sets.

The Apple Health App has been sitting unused on my phone ever since I upgraded to IOS 8. I never really knew what it was for until I started wearing the Apple Watch. Now, I'm learning all sorts of interesting things. One thing I was completely unaware of is that my heart rate is higher than it should be when I'm sleeping. I supposed this has something to do with taking time release Niacin every night before I go to bed. Sometimes when I wake up at night the Niacin flushing drives me nuts. It probably also raises my heart rate. Since I'm taking another pill to slow down my heart rate, something is all wrong here. One more thing to ask my doctor about. I tried to do a little research on Google, but that is seldom a good idea. You can look up virtually any health condition on Google and find ten different plausible answers. If you keep reading long enough, you will inevitably conclude that you are going to die.

Sometimes ideas come to me in my sleep. I hope I discover a solution for my website dilemma while I'm sleeping. I certainly wasted enough time on this today. I guess I could just abandon using rollover images as navigation buttons, but I'm stubborn. I bet I'll find the answer I'm looking for tomorrow. I'll have to find the answer in the morning, because Thursdays are really Dot's day. I hope she does well at her physical therapy session. She seemed kind of shaky today. I'm hoping a good night's sleep will be good for all of us.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2023

I was hoping to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus this evening, but the Western sky was obscured by clouds. If you were looking for the Moon though, everything was fine. The Eastern skies were clear, so I did see a bright, almost full moon rising and a very nice sunset. I try not to miss comets, eclipses, meteor showers and other astronomical events. The constant haze and glare from all the city lights makes most of these night sky events almost invisible, but at least I make an effort to see them.

The weather continues to be unpredictable. If you remember, I was complaining about how hot it was getting yesterday. An unexpected thunderstorm blew through town around 3 AM this morning and cooled things down by at least thirty degrees. When we took our morning walk with the dogs just before sunrise, the air was crisp and cool again. What a nice surprise. According to the calendar it is the last day in June, but for a little while this morning it felt like early April.

I keep hearing about how today is a "leap second" day where an extra second is added to the year to keep our slightly imperfect calendar from getting out of whack. How will anyone ever know if this little slice of time has really been added? I have a couple of watches that are set by signals from the atomic clock in Colorado. I wonder if they'll reset themselves while I'm asleep tonight to add this extra second? If they don't, I'll probably be one second behind for the rest of my life.

I got a message from a cousin today saying that one of my aunts had died. She was 96. There is one aunt left who is 99 and still going strong. Amazing. The men in the family didn't do so well. An uncle died at a relatively early age from Alzheimer's Disease and my Dad has been gone for over a decade now. I wonder how I'll fare? They say genetics has a lot to do with it, but I think it has more to do with living a stress free life. People I've known who were under a lot of stress for a sustained period of time never lived very long.

We had a surprising amount of rain last night, so I had to get the water off the roof again. I think keeping the roof dry and cleaning up dog poop are starting to define my life. Oddly, I don't find these things stressful, so maybe I'll live to be 96 too.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2022

Dot broke a three day streak and pooped in the house again today. I guess this is the new normal. She seems happy and doesn't appear to be in any pain or discomfort, but it's sad to see her slowly deteriorate. Aging is relentless. You can't stop it and slowing it down is mostly just an illusion. We are all slowing down. Dot is the most obvious senior citizen in the family, but she has a lot of company. Dash is no longer a young dog. I'm a big bundle of geriatric aches and pains. Even Janet is getting older. I guess the trick is to slide into decrepitude with as much dignity as you can.

Today was pretty unfocused. There were no looming deadlines, but I still felt busy. I had to go to the vet and pick up more phenobarbital for Dash. Someone is always running out of pills these days. I went to the store to pick up some things I forgot when I went grocery shopping on Saturday. I washed the car even though it wasn't very dirty. There are still several websites I need to convert to a mobile friendly format, but I couldn't bring myself to start any of them. Like I said, it was a pretty unfocused day.

The stock market really took a tumble today. I've never been a huge fan of globalization and still find it distressing that events in Greece can affect lives in Dallas. I shouldn't have to care if Greece defaults on their debt, but everything is interconnected now. I'm convinced that this mutual dependance is not always a good thing. When I was a kid I remember that we used to go on school field trips to factories a lot. Every town large and small had a factory. We made everything and thrived by selling things to each other. We didn't need to import things from China. Now all the factories are gone and we make nothing. And people wonder why there aren't any jobs. America has always been blessed with an abundance of resources. We had everything we needed to have a nice self-sustaining economy, but we got greedy. Companies wanted bigger profits and customers wanted to buy things cheaper. Factories and jobs moved offshore and here we are, nervously wondering what's going to happen if Greece leaves the Eurozone. It didn't have to be this way.

We got lucky in June, but July is going to be hot, just like it always is in Texas. Dot and Dash don't even want to go out in the afternoon anymore. Dash usually takes a nice evening walk, but I had a hard time even getting him to go around the block today. He's no dummy. It's just too hot. Dogs don't sweat like we do. As temperatures increase you've got to worry about heatstroke and at some point, even the pavement gets too hot for a dog to walk on. Early mornings are still OK, but I don't think we'll be walking very far in the afternoon until things cool down again. If history is any guide, that won't be until October.

I shouldn't be tired, but I am. The dogs still need their evening meds and a final trip outside to pee. I need to run a test print through the large printer to keep it from clogging and then I'm done. I'll brush my teeth and watch another old episode of Perry Mason on TV to help me fall asleep. Maybe I'll have something interesting to write about on Tuesday, but I wouldn't count on it.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2021

Sunday's are often the busiest days of the week. The dogs get longer walks because there are fewer work constraints. The lawn gets mowed, because what better is there to do after breakfast than mow the lawn. Sometimes the house gets cleaned, but not today. I was pleased the Dot had more energy today. She always walks better when Dash is with her. Since Dash was so good about walking slow for Dot's benefit, we took him to a nearby dog park as a special treat later in the morning. You can tell that Dash is getting older too. He used to race around the dog park with wild abandon. Now, he just walks slowly from tree to tree, smelling things and looking for new places to pee. He still enjoys being off leash though. I'd take him to the dog park more often if people were more responsible. There's always someone who brings an aggressive dog. Today we saw one dog get in a fight with several others. The dogs that got attacked didn't appear to be injured, but the whole episode was totally unnecessary.

Mowing the grass with a non-self propelled mower definitely burns up a lot of calories. I think I'm just about the only person in the neighborhood who still mows their own grass anymore. Most of the other neighbors have a lawn care service. I still do a lot of things that other people have given up on. I'm kind of a throwback to an earlier era, except when it comes to technology. I may still mow my own grass, vacuum my own floors, and fix my own refrigerator, but I'm not shy about adopting the latest technology if it will do the job better. This year I have become a huge fan of Keurig coffee makers, Dyson vacuum cleaners, and even though I collect vintage mechanical watches, I'm going to add the Apple Watch to my list of really useful technical innovations.

I watched the Space X Dragon 9 launch on NASA TV right after breakfast and was shocked to see the rocket explode two minutes into its flight. Space X has had a remarkable success record, so this was very unexpected. This is a major setback, since this same rocket is scheduled to start carrying people to the space station in a little over a year. The astronauts on the station must be getting nervous. This is the second supply rocket failure in a row and the third in less than a year. In a way, I'm glad I didn't go to this launch. I'd much rather cheer on a success than witness a failure.

There are some pilings in the lake that Double-crested Cormorants and Gulls like to roost on in the Winter. I've probably photographed these pilings hundreds of times. They look completely different in the morning than they do in the afternoon. On foggy days they look spectacular. Sometimes each pole has a bird sitting on top, and other days, like today. they are all empty. I find these pilings strangely beautiful, but the city wants to demolish them. Some neighbors love these things and others think they're an eyesore. There's no accounting for taste I guess.

I listened to a Ted Talk on the way to the gym where the speaker was talking about how technology is fundamentally changing what it means to be human. The guy's point was that people are slowly becoming more comfortable interacting with their phones and robots than they are with other people. I guess this is true, but from my perspective it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll always use the automated checkout kiosk in a store instead of going to a cashier. It's quicker, easier, and you don't have to talk with anyone. I would probably never use a personal trainer at the gym, but I felt strangely motivated today when my watch told me that I only had a few minutes to go before I'd burned 300 calories.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2020

I kind of hate to admit it, but I love to track things. I track the weather. I use fitness bands to track my steps. I use apps on my phone to track where I go in the car. Probably this blog is just a way to track how I feel over a long period of time. At any rate, now that I've learned how to use an Apple Watch, I've discovered that there are whole new worlds of things I can track. The device keeps a continuous record of your heart rate and the calories you burn and sends them to the Health app on your phone. If you are so inclined, you can add WiFi scales, blood pressure cuffs, and lord knows what else so you can track even more. I'm not interested in the day-to-day, but the long term trends are fascinating. The number of miles I walk each day has been in a slow, steady decline for almost three years. My weight peaked about twelve years ago and has been very gradually declining ever since. I'm almost back to my college weight now and I don't really know why.

There was certainly plenty to track today. I kept moving all day long. Dot was tired and needed a rest, so I let Dash walk as long as he wanted. We walked about three miles and were gone over an hour. A little later I burned 150 calories getting the water off the roof. It felt like I should have burned a lot more, but there wasn't a setting on my fitness app for pushing a broom. I set the thing for a brisk walk instead. I have a feeling that I should have used the setting for the elliptical machine, or something more strenuous. All these fitness things on my phone seem to be very goal oriented. They set goals for you and then when you reach the goal, they set a new goal to push you a little harder. The first thing I do when I install one of these apps and turn all the goal reminders off. I'm a curious person and am interested in everything, but I'm not very goal oriented. I certainly don't need my phone telling me to work harder.

Dash doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in on weekends. For the past several weeks he has started getting out of bed about 6:30 AM and barking at the foot of the bed until he wakes everyone else up. Dot would be content to sleep a bit longer on her own, but when Dash starts barking, she always joins in. At this point it is useless to try to sleep any longer. The only good thing about these canine alarm clocks is it forces us to get up and walk the dogs while it is still cool outside. It warms up so fast once the sun is up, that even an hour delay in getting the dogs out can make a huge difference in how hot they get. Since we had a long walk this morning, it literally felt ten degrees warmer by the time we got home.

I'll probably need to mow the grass again tomorrow. The yard has never looked this green so late in the year. I'm surprised at how fast the grass is growing, since some years it doesn't grow at all in the Summer. I wonder how many calories that mowing the grass will burn? There's not a setting for mowing the grass on the fitness app either. When are these people going to learn that there are more ways to exercise than going to the gym and spending thirty minutes on the Stairmaster?

Space X is going to launch another Dragon 9 rocket tomorrow. I had an opportunity to go to Florida and view the launch with the NASA folks again, but the trip was too expensive and I didn't want to leave Dot anyway. Oh, well. For the time being, life has become too complicated for these kinds of trips. I guess I'll just watch the launch on my computer.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2019

Today was stressful. Dot's platelet count was normal and she got the green light to continue her Palladia treatment, but the nurse had trouble finding a vein and Dot ended up having a big hematoma on her neck. I had the doctor look at it and she said Dot would be fine. The big swelling had to be uncomfortable though. Dot was also surprisingly shaky today, considering how strong she's been for the past week. There's really no rhyme or reason to this at this point. Dot has good days and bad days. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow as well. It's sucks getting old. Although I've fixed the screen door half a dozen times before, it has never been as difficult as it was today. I couldn't even raise my right arm enough to reach the top hinge and remove it so I could get the door off. My shoulder has really deteriorated since the last time I did this. I finally got the hinge off by standing on a chair, but it was so much easier when I could reach above my head with both arms. Carpel tunnel has taken its toll as well. I usually attach the screen mesh to the door using a staple gun and than attach the wooden trim back to the door using a different type of staple gun that shoots little brads into the wood. These are heavy duty staple guns, but I've never had trouble using them before. This time I often had to use both hands to squeeze the handle hard enough to fire a staple. To make matters worse, there were mosquitoes everywhere. I had to go back inside and change into long pants and a long sleeve jacket to avoid being eaten alive. It was 100 degrees too, so I was soaked with sweat by the time the job was finished. The door looks nice though. Hopefully, I won't have to do this again for a while.

I found a less expensive source for Dot's Palladia drug online and asked her oncologist if she'd write a prescription so I could purchase the chemotherapy pills this way. I was surprised when she was very reluctant to let me use the online source. She said that she couldn't guarantee that the pills would be effective. "They might have sat in the heat too long, or even be past their expiration date," she told me. "But these are sealed bottles in the pharmaceutical company's original packaging," I said. I knew that this was a reputable pharmacy, because I'd done my research. "Well, could you sell me full, sealed bottles like the ones I see here on the website," I asked? If I received sealed bottles from the manufacturer, I wouldn't have to pay the cancer center's $40 hazardous material handling fee every time I renewed my prescription. "We can't do that," the oncologist said. "We have to count the pills and repackage them to make sure you get the right amount." This made even less sense. I'm pretty sure the count would be right in a factory sealed manufacturer's bottle. Actually, I remember now that the cancer center miscounted Dash's chemotherapy pills once and gave me five fewer pills than I should have gotten. Five pills doesn't sound like much, but at $25 per pill, it can add up. The whole conversation was frustrating to me.

I watered the lawn this morning because it was really starting to get hot and dry. I shouldn't have bothered. As I write this, the dogs are both huddled under my desk and we are right in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. I wasn't expecting this storm and it caught me completely by surprise. Actually, quite a few things caught me completely by surprise today. My breakfast was good this morning though. No surprises there.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2018

Today went well. We managed to get up early enough to give the dogs a nice walk just before sunrise when the air was still cool. Dot was surprisingly strong, so we let her go the full distance, even though it was her physical therapy day. There was time for a leisurely breakfast and I was still able to get all my work done before Dot and I headed downtown for her regular Thursday vet appointment.

Dot surprised me again in the underwater treadmill.  She went the full fifteen minutes today, and didn't falter or stumble at all. Everyone was amazed at her continued strength and resilience. She did poop in the vet's lobby, but we'll overlook that. Whenever Dot barks these days, something comes out the other end. I need to get one of those "Shit Happens" bumper stickers you used to see all the time in the 60's and 70's. It pretty well sums up my life these days.

I'm going to have to start watering the lawn again. The ground is drying out surprisingly fast, considering all the rain we've had recently. In less than a week the park has gone from a boggy marsh to a dry prairie. It could always rain again tomorrow, but I have a feeling that Summer is here for good. There's something about the weather in Texas that make me always wish it was a different season. In the Winter I wish it was Summer and in the Summer I wish it was Winter. Maybe it's just me. When it comes to weather, I'm very hard to please.

I'm going to try to get the screen door fixed tomorrow. It's just about dry enough to spray the yard with the pet friendly mosquito retardant we got recently too. This stuff probably won't work, but it's worth a try. With any luck, I'll have time to do both. I'm pretty well caught up with work again. The only important event on tomorrow's schedule is taking Dot to the cancer center for blood work. She's only been taking the Palladia pills for a week now, but it's important to determine whether the drug is adversely affecting her liver or red blood cell count. So far, I haven't noticed any obvious side effects, so I'm really hoping that tomorrow's tests will show she is able to tolerate the drug. Since surgery isn't an option, Palladia is probably the only thing we've got left that has a reasonable chance of shrinking the tumor or slowing down the cancer's advance.

This week went quickly. I've already taken the trash out to the curb for the noisy early morning garbage trucks to pick up and I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast again. Even though my favorite restaurant raised their prices recently, my special Friday breakfasts are still one of the few things left that I consider a bargain.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2017

Today was slow. It was a good kind of slow though. We got up later than usual. The dogs got a long, leisurely walk before the temperature got too hot. I dawdled over breakfast, because there was no particular reason to be in a hurry. I did have a few website maintenance chores when I finally got around to turning on the computer, but I finished everything in less than an hour. By the time the dogs reminded me that I needed to fix their lunch, I had accomplished virtually nothing.

The afternoon was busier.  I went out and got a haircut, which took longer than usual because it was long overdue. I really should get my hair cut once a month, but often I go two or even three months between cuts because it's not really a high priority anymore. I feel better with a good haircut though, so I probably ought to make an effort to look presentable a little more often. I've worn my hair every which way over the years, but I think today's trim look is much better than those questionable years when I wore a mullet or tried to look like a member of The Grateful Dead.

On the way back from the hair salon, I stopped at the Apple Store to pick up my birthday watch. I wear lots of different watches, but I've got to say that I was impressed with the thought that went into the Apple Watch. It's extremely well made and a lot of the features are actually useful. I like that you can respond to a text message by just talking into the watch. Many apps are voice activated, so you don't have to do much typing on the tiny screen. A lot of things I typically use my phone for, like checking the weather or my appointment calendar are easily accessible on the watch. We'll see how long the battery lasts. Batteries usually end up being a disappointment on anything that Apple makes. I love the watch though. It's very useful and I have a feeling that it will be on my wrist a lot more often than the other watches I usually wear.

I've gotten into the habit of feeding the dogs little pieces of banana and kibble as I eat breakfast to keep them from barking at me. I think I've created a monster though. Now, they want me to do the same thing at dinner. Meals have turned into a ritual of one bite for me and one bite for you. I feed them tiny little pieces, so they won't get fat, but the ritual itself is getting complicated. Meals were much more relaxing when both dogs were just sleeping in the bedroom.

Dot resumes her physical therapy tomorrow. I assume that the underwater treadmill is fixed by now. Maybe I ought to check. I need to think about resuming my own physical therapy as well. I definitely have a greater range of motion in my shoulder now, but my therapist told me at the end of my first series of sessions that I ought to come in again in the summer. I'm not sure that insurance will pay for more therapy though. Another thing I need to check.

The Spring wildflower season is starting to come to a close. A lot of the flowers would be gone by now if we hadn't received so much rain in May. I'm starting to see seed pods though, and that's usually a pretty good sign that the flower show is over.

Rio is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2016

Dot almost made it through the night. I recognize the signs now. Whenever she gets up and leaves her dog bed in the middle of the night, she's had an accident. I took her on a short walk down the alley to see if she'd finish what she started and sure enough she did. When we got back inside, I cleaned up her mess, threw the blanket protecting her bed in the washer and we all went back to sleep. It's amazing how almost anything can become uneventful and routine if it happens frequently enough.

When the sun came up a few hours later, we ate breakfast and took our morning walk. Even before sunrise, I could tell it was going to be a hot day. There is nothing consistent about our weather at all.  A few days ago it was pouring rain and a bit chilly. Today was just a normal sunny Texas Summer day.

Since it looked like it was going to be dry for a few days, I decided to get the water off the roof. A lot of it had already evaporated, so the job didn't take long. I'm hoping the roof will stay dry for a while, so the roofers can come over and finish patching the areas where the Elastomeric coating has bubbled up during the May rains. The roofers have been pretty good about fixing these trouble spots, but after what I paid for this roof a few years ago, there shouldn't even be trouble spots.

After I took the outgoing mail to the post office, I stopped by Home Depot and got some wire mesh screening material to fix the screen door. To be on the safe side, I picked up some fiberglass screening material too. One of these items should do the job whenever I actually get around to fixing the door. It's not a fun job, so the screens I bought today could end up sitting around the house for weeks.

I noticed a small mistake in a website I'd finished about a month ago. Nobody has complained yet, but I thought it would be a good idea to fix everything before anyone else noticed. It was a simple mistake, but the bad code was found on every single page in the site. It took me quite a while to get everything back to normal. I could probably have just left things alone, but the mistake was mine and I couldn't let it go. I doubt highly that anyone else even noticed.

I went to an animal rescue board meeting tonight. I've skipped so many of these meetings that I was beginning to feel like they'd kick me out of the group if I didn't start making an appearance now and then. The meeting wasn't bad, and as an added bonus for fighting rush hour traffic to attend, they served pizza. I'd be fat and probably have diabetes if I ate pizza all the time, but it sure is good. I love pizza, but I still don't like meetings.

I'm perpetually tired these days. I'd go to bed earlier, but it's already pretty late by the time I finish writing the blog. I'd get up later, but the dogs wouldn't hear of it. They both like to walk at the crack of dawn, when it's still cool outside. To make matters worse, I've always been a very light sleeper. The dogs wake me up two or three times every night. Today is pretty typical. I can't wait to turn out the lights and go to bed. A little sleep is better than no sleep at all.

Boo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2015

Hmm. Today's blog day is the same as the actual year. I wish there was some significance to this, but there probably isn't. If I'd started the blog three days earlier, this all would have happened on my birthday. Now, that would have been weird.

The only thing weird about today was my doctor's appointment. I had been hoping to convince my doctor to discontinue two of my meds, simply because they were becoming too expensive. I got my wish, but not in the way I expected. When the doctor was explaining how various medications worked to control cholesterol, A1C, blood pressure, and various other things, I noticed something odd. As he  explained what the expensive drug was supposed to do, I stopped him and pointed to a row of numbers. "This drug doesn't appear to be working," I said. "If it was, these numbers would be going in the opposite direction." "That bothers me too," the doctor said. "Lets just quit taking this for two months and see what happens." OK. That's what I've been wanting to do for the last two years anyway. Since I was on a roll, I decided to bring up another drug I've grown to dislike. "Do I really need to take this Niacin," I asked? I hate the timed release Niacin, because in addition to being expensive, it causes an uncomfortable flushing reaction that turns my skin bright red for an hour or so. The doctor said that the special version of Niacin was supposed to cause the flushing to occur while I was asleep, so I would never notice it. Nope, usually I'm wide awake. "Well, if the delay isn't working right," the doctor told me, "why don't you just take inexpensive over-the-counter Niacin instead?" Sounds good to me. Over-the-counter Niacin is about $5. The special prescription version of this drug is costing me $80 a month.

My numbers weren't really bad today, but it would have been nice if they were improving instead of getting worse. I'm pretty sure that everything can be explained by a slight relaxation of the strict diet I was following when I was being treated for Hepatitis-C. I still eat very healthy meals, but there are more comfort foods now. Instead of a strict plant-based diet with very little red meat, I'll have a steak now and then and typically enjoy some sausage or bacon with my morning eggs. I didn't used to do this during the year I was eating oatmeal in the morning and kale salads at night. I guess it makes a difference. Probably throwing a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream into my morning smoothie isn't helping matters either. It's a shame that almost everything delicious or fun is bad for you.

The doctor asked me if I was experiencing anything stressful in my life, since one of the tests apparently shows different results under stress. Naw, everything's normal I thought. Just dogs with cancer and spinal injuries, lots of expensive dental work, and a declining income. Today actually was pretty normal. I had one article to write, but I had that finished well before noon. The dogs seemed strong and in good spirits, even though the temperature was a lot warmer. Dot slept well and didn't poop in her bed. What's not to like?

I made an appointment to get a haircut later in the week and finally had a talk with my insurance agent about my homeowners policy. Maybe if it's still sunny tomorrow, I'll get the water off the roof. It's amazing how everything does get done eventually.  All in good time, I say.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2014

Today was all about the weather. Things got off to a very early start when I smelled poop as I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Dot had pooped in the house again. I kind of suspected this might happen when she refused to stay outside long enough to do her business before we went to bed last night. Who could blame her. The yard was wet and she was tired. I cleaned the mess up, put the soiled dog blankets in the washer and we went back to bed again. The rain continued sporadically throughout the night, but when daylight arrived, it had stopped. Since the radar showed that more storms were on the way, we dressed quickly and used the opportunity to give the dogs their morning walk. Dot and Dash were in no hurry, so we barely made it home again before the next round of rain started.

Whenever Dot poops in the house, it sets off a clean frenzy. We start by cleaning the soiled blankets and rugs. Then we notice how dirty everything is surrounding these areas and the vacuum comes out. It doesn't take long for the house to get dirty with two dogs and the seemingly endless rain we've been having. I'm glad the new Dyson has a five year warranty, because we're going to wear the thing out. By the time I was finished cleaning today, I had emptied the Dyson several times. I'm glad I got the yard taken care of yesterday, because today would not have been a good day for yard work. It wasn't a good day to fix the screen door either. That will have to wait.

The skies had cleared quite a bit by mid-afternoon, so we decided to take Dash to a new dog park in the neighborhood. Since everyone in the house has been having cabin fever lately, it seemed like a good idea to let Dash do something fun for a change. We hadn't been at the park for five minutes before I noticed some ominous looking black clouds to the South of us. We made several circles around the park perimeter to let Dash smell things and then headed home again. On the way home, the rain started again. It was like this all day long. There would be a short torrential downpour, followed by a dry spell of an hour or so, and then the rain would start again.

It was just as well that I was mostly housebound today. I had a huge website update to complete and rainy days are generally good for this type of thing. I added over 60 new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage. It's hard to keep these type of sites current. By the time the photographer has time to take pictures of the new animals, half of them have already been adopted. I imagine that I will get a call in the near future asking me to remove many of the animals I just finished adding today. It's not an entirely futile effort though. The dogs and cats do get homes and sometimes it is the website that brings people and pets together.

When I finished working on the rescue website, I started writing another article. By the time I managed to come up with a decent headline, I realized I was very tired and took a short nap. That was it for writing today. When I woke up, it was time for dinner and a brief evening walk with the dogs. Dot pooped right on schedule this time, so maybe we'll all be able to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Next week is already looking pretty busy.  There are two vet appointment, a doctor's appointment for me, an appointment to get a haircut, and then there is a meeting I really ought to attend even though I detest meetings. Of course there are still all the usual articles to write and websites to update. I often feel like a hamster with one of those exercise wheels in their cage. I'd like to get caught up on everything and have absolutely nothing to do, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2013

No symbolic milestones today. The day after your birthday is just another day. Since it was Saturday, it was a day for chores. We got started early, because Janet had a class she needed to attend. The dogs appreciated our early start and got a nice morning walk before the weather got too warm. After fixing a Smoothie for breakfast, I mowed the grass in both the front and back yards. I removed all the standing water from the roof, which turned out to be a futile exercise, since it is raining again right now. I filled the car with gas, went to the bank, and picked up some things at Sam's Club. That should have been enough for one day, but there was still a lot of time to fill, so I finished writing an article that wasn't really due until Monday.

So far, Dot isn't having any adverse reaction to taking the Palladia pills. I know she's only taken a single dose on Friday, but this is still a good sign. I've got to find some new stickers to put on the dog's pill calender. The calendar is getting pretty crowded. There is a sticker for their monthly heartworm pills. There are little colored dots to indicate when we've given the dog's their regular daily morning and evening meds. There is a different color sticker for Dash's doxycycline, because these pills must always be given with food. I need to find something important looking for the Palladia pills. A gold star maybe. It may seem silly, but it is the only way I can remember all these things.

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer. It's also Father's Day, but since I'm not a father, this holiday has always been somewhat of a non-event for me. Maybe we will have a mild Summer this year. The continual rain is certainly keeping the temperatures down. For the dog's sake, I hope the cool weather continues. Dot has always had a tough time dealing with the heat. With all her problems now, I was really dreading a month of triple digit days. Maybe we'll get lucky. After all she's been through, Dot deserves a cool Summer.

After all the mosquitoes I've killed inside the house, you'd think they'd all be gone by now. Nope. I just got bitten again. The city doesn't seem as worried about West Nile Disease this year, so maybe these are just ordinary mosquitoes. They are certainly a nuisance. I'm debating whether to spend tomorrow afternoon putting a new screen on the back door instead of going to the gym. Screen doors and Dalmatians don't co-exist very well and I've fixed the screen door in the back more times than I can count. The torn screen is probably one reason that so many mosquitoes are getting into the house. Doors have gotten wider over the years and I can no longer find screen wire sized to fit our narrow door frame. I have to go to Home Depot and buy a wider screen and then cut it down to size. The screen has been repaired so many times that it's getting hard to find good wood on the frame to staple the screen wire to. Actually, it's hard to even find staples for my ancient staple gun. At times like these, I realize that the house is only five years younger than I am. I guess we're both Mid-Century Modern relics. All I know is that keeping the two of us patched together is getting to be a full time job.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day