Day 2039

I had way too much on my plate today. The dogs were unusually restless and a lot of my time was consumed just taking them in and out of the house over and over again. Dash just wants to eat June Bugs when I let him out and Dot has to get suited up in her special harness before she can even make it out the back door. I must have taken her harness on and off ten times today. She can't rest comfortably when the harness is on, so I always take it off while she is sleeping. Every time she wants to go outside, I have to put it back on again. Since she is shaky to begin with, getting the harness on and off is not as easy as it might seem.

The article I had scheduled to write today took a lot longer than I expected. I worked on it off and on all day and didn't finish the thing until just before dinner time. One of the reasons the article took so long was that I kept getting interrupted by website emergencies. There were lots of little things that needed to be fixed today. There was also a website so unremarkable that both the client and I had completely forgotten about it for two years. The client finally remembered the website today and asked me why he couldn't find it on the Internet. Hmm. It turned out that he couldn't find the site because it wasn't on the Internet at all. We had forgotten to move it to the new server over two years ago. When you forget about a website for two years, chances are that you don't really need it.

Dot did great during her physical therapy session.  Physical therapy Thursdays are another reason why I was so busy today. I was a little worried about Dot's weak rear leg, but she had one of her best days in several months. She went seventeen minutes on the underwater treadmill, which she hasn't been able to do for a long time. The fact that she seems reasonably strong during therapy and on her morning walks, while still having increasing difficulties around the house is a mystery to me. I wish I knew what was causing the sporadic lameness and leg tremors. Maybe I'll find some answers tomorrow when I take her back to the cancer center for another periodic re-check.

The refrigerator is getting pretty bare, so I ended up making breakfast again for dinner. There are always more breakfast items around the house, since I am more or less fixated on breakfast. Biscuits and gravy with a little breakfast ham actually makes a pretty good dinner. We bought too many bananas this week, so Janet is making banana bread with the rotten ones. I love the smell of fresh baked banana bread. It almost makes me forget what a hectic day it's been.

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same. I've got another long article to complete and Dot has another vet appointment at the cancer center. Maybe the dogs will be calmer tomorrow. That would be nice. At least it's Friday. I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing breakfast with no barking dogs at my feet. Maybe when I get home from the restaurant, there will be new pictures from Pluto to see on the Internet. I complain a lot, but actually I'm pretty easy to please.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2038

I got a lot done today. I finished my new website project and loaded it to the server. Yes, I did finally manage to find out where I was supposed to upload things. I'm sure there will be changes, but the client seems to like it. I'm always pleased when things go relatively smoothly. After finishing the website, I still had enough time left to write a new article and send it off to be published. There are two more articles in the queue, so I should have work for the rest of the week.

Instead of fixing my regular banana smoothie, I decided to make biscuits and gravy this morning. It was actually surprisingly easy, so I will probably do this again. Everything would have come out perfectly if Dash hadn't started barking at a critical moment, causing Dot to get excited and fall over. Janet suggested gating the dogs in the back of the house while I ate my breakfast, but that didn't work very well. They still barked and when I rushed back to help Dot get up, my gravy burned. The commotion also caused me to get things out of sequence with the Keurig and it brewed too much, spilling coffee all over the counter-top. I think tomorrow, I'll just keep the dogs by my side. They're loud, but much easier to control that way.

Even though I had a lot of work to do today, I found time to watch the New Horizons press conference on NASA TV. I'm a bit envious of the New Horizons science team. They're all doing something that actually matters. Occasionally I do something that matters, but not very often. Designing websites is not quite like discovering giant ice mountains on Pluto. I wonder what these guys did during the nine years New Horizons was traveling to Pluto. I'm sure that most of the team had jobs while the spacecraft was silent, but there couldn't have been much to do but just wait until it arrived.

Dot pooped in her bed again last night. There doesn't seem to be any way to predict when this is going to happen. I was pretty sure that last night would be accident free, since she had pooped before we went to bed. It wasn't meant to be unfortunately. Dot is such a clean, fastidious dog that she would never do this if she had any control over the situation. It's just kind of sad to watch age take its toll on her. The good news is that we are all learning to cope. Dot still loves her meals and her early morning walks. I've gotten much better at quickly and efficiently cleaning up her occasional accidents. I'm also getting better at anticipating when she might fall, so I can be there to support her and keep her upright. I'll ask again tomorrow at her physical therapy session if there is anything else we can do to improve her chances for a full recovery. I think I already know the answer though. We are already doing everything we can.

This week has gone quickly. I need to start looking for another new website project. It's always nice to have something new to work on. The articles I write are not new anymore. I appreciate the work, but I could write most of them in my sleep by now. The same goes for the bread and butter website updates I do every day. I'm not complaining though. I know it's not rocket science, but this quiet life of mine has paid the bills for a long, long time.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2037

I had a fairly useless doctor's appointment today. The doctor I meant to see canceled on me at the last minute because he was going to be in surgery. When I tried to reschedule, I was informed that my doctor was closing his practice to become a hospital administrator and that there were no more openings available until his last day at the clinic toward the end of this month. This was surprising news, mostly because why would a doctor want to become a hospital administrator anyway? I was encouraged to see one of the doctor's colleagues instead. When I arrived today, the new doctor was clearly overworked. He must have taken over the other doctor's entire case load. Instead of answering a lot of questions and running a lot of tests like the other doctor did, this guy rushed through his exam and quickly pronounced me good to go for another year. Usually a quick exam is exactly what I'm looking for, but this time I felt shortchanged. I may need to find a new doctor.

I'm havin an odd problem with my new website project. The client gave me an FTP address where I could upload the new site, but when I went there, there was nothing on the server. Where was the existing site? I contacted the client's IT guy and asked where the site actually was and he didn't know. The old site is active, but it isn't where it is supposed to be. I used the correct domain name to login to the server and everything. The whole thing is a mystery to me. This is getting to be a case of all dressed up and no place to go. The new site is just about finished, but I've got no place to put it.

I just saw on NASA TV that the New Horizons team has received a signal from the spacecraft that the Pluto flyby was successful and the memory banks are full of pictures. I'm sure we'll see something pretty impressive tomorrow, but it will take over a year to transmit all of today's images and observation data back to earth. Pluto is so far away and data transmission rates are so slow that it makes old dial up modems seem super fast by comparison. It is just amazing to me that the little spacecraft can do all this using technology that is a decade old and already obsolete. I'm sure you know by now that your phone has a more powerful computer than the ones aboard Apollo 11, but did your know that the Voyager spacecraft that took the first photos of Neptune actually saved the images to a tape recorder. That's all they had back then. If an old analog tape recorder can work billions of miles away in space, why doesn't the ice maker in my refrigerator work? These audacious space missions have confirmed what I have long suspected. We know how to do things the right way. We just don't bother most of the time.

Dot is still having problems with her left rear leg. I wish there was a way to make her youthful and strong again, but realistically what I am doing is managing an inevitable slow decline. Dot seems comfortable and happy, but she's having a harder time getting up than she was even a month ago. Hopefully, we can figure out the reason for this setback and get Dot back on course for a full recovery. I still think it might be the Palladia pills that are causing this recent weakness, but it's going to be a tough choice if chemotherapy is causing the problem. What do you do if you have to choose between cancer and walking?

I can't wait to see the Pluto close up pictures tomorrow. My own day won't be nearly as exciting. There will be barking dogs during my breakfast. I will see if I can find the real location of the mystery website so I can exchange the old for something new. I updated an animal rescue website today, but there may be more new dogs and cats to add tomorrow. I wish it was cooler outside, but hey, it's July in Texas. What else can you expect.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2036

I started on my new website project today. I thought that this one would be a piece of cake, but I almost immediately ran into a couple of snags. Absolutely nothing is a piece of cake anymore. In my experience, everything from getting a prescription filled to changing a light bulb can quickly turn into an unintended learning experience. Website design is always full of surprises. It didn't take me long this morning to learn that Plan-A just wasn't going to work. That's why I always make sure there's a Plan-B.

The New Horizons spacecraft will reach Pluto tomorrow. I continue to be amazed by the audacity of this incredible journey. It takes Pluto 248 years to orbit the Sun. The last time Pluto was in it's current position in space, the United States wasn't even a country yet and nobody on Earth was aware of its existence. Pluto wasn't even discovered until 1930. A lot can change in a single orbit. The technology that sent New Horizons on its three billion mile trip is over a decade old. The iPhone wasn't even invented when the spacecraft was launched. The fact that everything still works after this nine year journey is a testament to what we can do when we really put our mind to it. Sadly, this golden age of exploration that began with Sputnik is drawing to a close. Enjoy the moment tomorrow, because you won't see anything like this again in your lifetime. We have lost the will to explore. Maybe Elon Musk will eventually figure out a way to get to Mars, but we won't get another first look at a new planet for a long, long time.

The dogs are driving me nuts at mealtimes. The barking has become a permanent part of the mealtime ritual. As soon as I start preparing breakfast or dinner, they start to bark. I'm not exactly sure when this started, but it didn't used to be this way. They don't bark when Janet eats either. It's just me. To keep them quiet, I fill a coffee cup with dry dog food and feed them one kibble at a time. I feed them slightly less at their own dinner time, so they won't get fat from this additional food. Dot and Dash are far more tenacious than I am. Maybe they would eventually quit barking if I ignored them, but I don't have time to find out. Instead of training them, they always end up training me. It all works out OK, I guess. They are still eating exactly the same amount of food as they always were; just in an irritating, unconventional way.

One of my cousins recently sent me a copy of a family history her mother had written for her before she died. I started reading the history today and was totally amazed at how richly detailed my aunt's recollections were. The history was 75 pages long and described a way of life that no longer exists. There were generations of Sealanders that I'd never even heard of. Families were closer then. I'd be lucky if a were able to write a single Tweet about each of my family members. I've just never kept up with anybody. It was fascinating to read about my Swedish and Norwegian ancestors, but it left me wondering if the story ends with me. I won't be taking this family history and passing it down to my children. There are no children, and my own family memories are fuzzy. I can tell you plenty of stories about dogs though.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2035

I should sleep well tonight. For one reason or another, I managed to keep moving all day long. We got up early because Dot had another accident in bed. She managed to get herself stuck in an awkward position when she repositioned herself during the night and I think struggling to stand up caused her to poop. There is no real way to prevent this. Like most dogs, Dot gets up, circles around, and then lies down in a different position several times a night. Sometimes she doesn't land quite where she expected to. Since she only pooped a little bit, we got up early and took the dogs on a walk so she could finish the job outside.

When we returned, I threw the dog blankets in the washer and we sat down for breakfast. It was actually a fairly normal morning. After breakfast, I went to the gym. I usually don't go this early, but why not? If I had stayed home, all I would have done was vacuum or work on another website. I can do those things any day of the week. I think all the activity trackers I'm using now are shaming me into having a more effective workout.

I really like the Apple Health app. It aggregates information it receives from my watch and the Jawbone UP band and presents it all on an easy to read dashboard. Even though I'm basically a lazy person, I got my heart pumping this morning and burned a respectable number of calories. I'm thinking of adding a WiFi scale to the mix. It certainly isn't necessary, but I just like tracking things.

On the way home from the gym I stopped at a nearby nursery and bought some Liriope plants to replace the ones that had died in the back yard. When I was replanting the Monkey Grass, it became clear why the plants had died. The soil in this part of the yard was just too dry. Actually, we should have planted grass instead of ground cover in this section of the yard, because it is one of the few areas that receives direct sunlight during the day. The combination of sunlight and tons of small roots from a nearby Oak tree had caused the ground to dry out twice as fast as the rest of the yard. Large, mature trees can really suck the water out of the soil. I love the trees though, so it will always be difficult to keep the grass and landscaping looking nice. It looks nice again now though. We'll see how long this lasts.

Dash got a trip to the dog park as a reward for helping Dot with her walks all week. He has become timid again after we quit going to training class when Dot had her spinal injury. Now, just about anything scares him. Today, a basically friendly dog wanted to play a little too rough and it spooked Dash. He was ready to go home way earlier than he should have. It's a shame that dogs are scaring him again, because going to the dog park used to be one of his favorite things. Dot used to love the dog park too. She will probably never go again though. She is just too fragile.

Since it was such a hot day, we had a great  dinner of sushi and cold salads. Cold food on a hot day is really satisfying to me. The only thing that would have made the meal better would have been a couple of glasses of wine. I can probably drink wine again in moderation, but I an scared to tempt fate after making such tremendous progress recovering from Hepatitis C. I feel extremely lucky to have a fully functioning liver again and foregoing alcohol seems a very small price to pay for staying healthy. That being said, I still think a good wine makes a great meal even better.

It has been a pleasant weekend, but it's back to work tomorrow. I will begin development on my latest website project and I expect the flow of writing assignments to begin again soon. Hopefully, I can find the right balance of exercise and rest with Dot. The Summer heat is tough on her, but she still needs to keep active to prevent her leg muscles from atrophying further. One way or another we'll all make it though the remainder of the Summer and then you can listen to me complain about Winter again.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2034

I'm glad I mowed the grass yesterday, because it was even hotter outside today. The temperature is still tolerable when we walk the dogs just before sunrise, but the comfortable predawn breezes don't last long. I'm going to have to start watering the lawn again, because things are drying up fast. I guess this had to happen. It is almost the middle of July. I feel lucky that our unusually mild Spring and Summer lasted as long as it did.

Today was a day to stock up on things.  I got furnace filters again. The filters are supposed to last 90 days, but they never do. Our house is amazingly dusty and always full of dog hair. I'm lucky if the filters last a month. I got halogen bulbs for the floor lamps in the living room. I've switched all the other light fixtures in the house to LED bulbs that will outlast me, but the bulbs in the floor lamps burn out continually. I got a dozen blue shop towels, some astringent for my oily skin, and a box of large trash bags, It's amazing how two people can generate so much trash. I think most of it is just the junk mail we throw away each day. The post office does a good business delivering junk mail. That's all we get these days.

At this time of year, I often run out of things to photograph. The wildflowers are just about gone by now. Some of the Firewheels remain, along with a few Horsemint and Purple Verbena plants. The meadows are no longer a blaze of color though. Everything has gone to seed. The spectacular sunsets don't begin to appear until October. Even the animals have disappeared. They have all taken shelter in brushy areas to beat the heat. You'll have to live with a picture of crows on telephone wires today. That's the only thing that caught my eye.

I got my first door ding in the new car today. I guess the car isn't really new any more, since I've had it almost two years, but it still seems new compared to the Defender that I drove for over fifteen years. I hate door dings because they are so inevitable. It's only a matter of time before an errant shopping cart comes to a stop against the side of your car, or somebody parking next to you swings their door wide open quickly without realizing the the parking places aren't wide enough for this sort of thing. The Defender was covered with small door dings by the time I sold it. Look at the cars surrounding you the next time you're in a large parking lot. Almost every one of them will have a dent in it somewhere.

I need to make a point of going to the gym tomorrow. The slow walks we take with Dot each day aren't burning up many calories and I'm eating more than I was during my Kale salad days. That's the trouble with staying in shape. You just can't ignore it.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2033

I got the go ahead to begin another new website project. It is a small project, but aren't they all these days. I'm just happy to have the work. I'm not motivated enough to look for challenges outside of work, so I depend on new projects to keep my brain in gear. This project will keep me thinking for a little while, and then I'll have to find another one.

Without projects and deadlines, I tend to obsess about little things around the house. I wonder why the ice-maker is filling up with ice too fast. Is it broken, or are we just not putting ice in our drinks anymore? Where do all the little ants in the bathroom come from?  I spray and plug up all the cracks that might let them in from the outside, but they are always there. Lately, I've been spending way too much time wondering when Dot is going to poop next. She doesn't give you much warning anymore and if you don't read the tea leaves exactly right, there's a mess to clean up in the house. I think I'm getting better at reading the subtle signs. I've gotten her outside just in time for three days in a row.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and noticed that I could only see out of one eye. The sensation only lasted a moment or two, but it was very odd and a bit alarming. It was almost as if one eye had see a very bright light, causing the pupil to contract. By morning, I was wondering if I had dreamed the whole thing, because my vision was completely normal. Assuming the momentary blindness was real and not a dream, I'm wondering if it was caused by the Apple Watch. The display turns on and off when you look at it and it is fairly bright. This feature works great when you are awake and standing up, but I've noticed that the display seems to flash on and off randomly when you are tossing and turning in bed at night. Often my hands wind up near my face when I'm asleep and maybe the watch was directly in front of my eye while the display was on in my sleep. Just a thought. I'm beginning to think this was just a dream though. If it happens again, I'll need to see an eye doctor.

I mowed the grass this afternoon. I usually do this on Saturday, but I thought I'd get the chore out of the way early and save Saturday for other things. I have no idea what I'm actually saving the time for, because I certainly don't have any plans for the weekend. The time will get used up though. It always does. Maybe I ought to go out and buy a flat of Monkey Grass at a garden store. The Liriope in one section of the back yard is starting to die. You'd think that with all the rain we've had this year that all the plants would be doing wonderfully, but that's not the case. Janet and I apparently do not have a green thumb. It is a constant struggle to keep the yard looking nice.

Dot's limp is a little better today. I still haven't heard anything from the oncologist at the cancer center, but since Dot has an appointment next week for a re-check, maybe I'll just ask all my questions again in person. I wonder if the receptionist didn't relay my message to the doctor. They are usually very good about returning my calls. Hopefully, Dot's condition will continue to improve. We need to keep her strong, but it's getting harder and harder.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2032

Dot did well during her physical therapy session today. We talked about what was causing her to limp and came to no firm conclusions. The vet agreed that the limp could be caused by a wide variety of things, including an underlying neurological problem, too much exercise, or the Palladia pills she's taking. I'm going to ask Dot's oncologist if it would be OK to discontinue the pills for a month after her next ultrasound scan. If there are no adverse effects from postponing the chemotherapy for a while, at least we could determine if this was the cause of her lameness. For the time being, we will decrease the distance she walks slightly, while still having her climb small hills each morning to strengthen her leg muscles.

I finally finished editing all the images for my client's multi-media project. We've got enough pictures now for a nice slide show or a short Ken Burns style movie. If they want a slide show, I'm going to try to convince them to get one of those little Chromecast streaming sticks and just link it to pictures in a Google album. I've tried this and it's a super easy way to make a quick, professional looking slide show. When you select the Chromecast stick as the input source on your TV, the Google photo album you select will end up being the default screen saver. I used to spend days creating lobby presentations for clients and the first time I tried using Chromecast, I had a great looking presentation up and running in less than five minutes. I never thought it would happen, but I'm I'm finally willing to admit that I don't really need a DVD drive anymore. Netflix, Chromecast, Apple Music, and a host of other cloud based solutions are just so much better.

I traded my Apple Watch for the larger model. Why? Who knows. Truthfully, probably the only reason I exchanged the watch was because I could. I was perfectly happy with the smaller watch, but I like this slightly larger version too. Really, they're both pretty much the same. Hey, it gave me something to do after I brought Dot home this afternoon, it didn't cost very much to upgrade, and now I've got a bigger watch. I'll have to figure out something else to occupy my time tomorrow.

The reason it's been a slow week is that my writing assignments have dwindled to almost nothing. I finally discovered why today. The person who sends me most of the writing assignments is on jury duty. She must have gotten selected for a trial because she's been out of the office for quite a while. At any rate, when I resume cranking out articles, I'm be just as busy as I ever was. I actually ought to be grateful for the opportunity to take a breather. It's been nice not having much to do for a while.

This week has gone really quickly. I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. It will be nice to eat in peace without two barking dogs on either side of me. I created a monster when I started feeding Dot and Dash a banana while I ate my breakfast. Now, if the don't get their banana, they bark and howl until I peel and slice one up for them. Are these dogs spoiled? Of course they are. I've got to figure out another way to deal with this breakfast commotion though. Dot is gaining weight again. With her weak rear lags, we've got to be especially careful about her weight. She really doesn't need to be eating bananas and extra kibble after she's finished her regular breakfast. I've thought about solving the problem by just going out for breakfast every morning, but then I'd be the one gaining weight.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2031

Have you ever noticed that when you see something sad on Facebook, it usually involves someone you know. When you see something happy, it is usually just a Meme that has already been re-posted thousands of times. Where do these Memes come from? They could come from outer space for all I know. I don't know anyone who ever started a Meme, yet they are everywhere. Lately, my feed has been filled with a combination of Memes and personal sadness. There seems to be an overwhelming number of dogs that have passed away or need a medical miracle to save them. People post poignant accounts of losing a job or dealing with illness, but only post cat videos and pictures of dogs misbehaving when things are going well. I don't get it. Maybe it's just me. I even find Throwback Thursday sad these days. My old co-workers post pictures of cool things they did thirty years ago. This probably just means that nothing very exciting is happening right now. So far, I have resisted the urge to share animal Memes or add my own ancient war stories to the Throwback Thursday clutter. I keep thinking that there is still something new and original to discover, but maybe I'm wrong.

Today was weird. The entire United Airlines fleet was grounded due to a computer glitch and a little while later, the New York Stock Exchange ground to a complete halt due to another computer problem. Nobody seemed to care. I think people would be more upset if Facebook was down for ten minutes than if the stock market quit working and planes weren't able to fly. We definitely live in very strange times.

Dot woke up feeling much better this morning, so we decided to let her take her regular morning walk. She did very well and I could tell she was enjoying herself, but unfortunately she started limping again shortly after we returned to the house. Maybe we did the wrong thing. I felt guilty as I watched her grow progressively weaker throughout the day, but she seem so strong this morning. It's hard to know what to do. With no exercise at all, Dot will become paralyzed again. With too much exercise she can easily injure herself. What I'm really worried about is that this setback might be caused by the Palladia pills. One of the side effects of taking Palladia can be lameness. I need to call Dot's oncologist tomorrow and see what she thinks. Lameness or having difficulty moving is a rare side effect and usually temporary, but it does happen. Everything we have done for Dot is to give her a better quality of life. If chemotherapy impairs her already limited ability to walk, it may not be worth it.

It looks like this entire week is going to be slow. I made some minor website updates this morning and got my July invoices out and in the mail this afternoon, but that was about it.  Tomorrow is Dot's physical therapy day, so she's going to stay home and rest while I walk Dash in the morning. There's no point in doing the therapy if she's already too tired. I hope that Dot's vet and her oncologist can reassure me tomorrow. She was doing so well. I really hate to see her starting to go downhill again.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2030

Dot is limping today. Her left rear leg has been a little weaker than the right leg for quite a while, but today she could barely put any weight on it. The limp seems worse when she first wakes up, so maybe she's sleeping on it wrong. When she circles around to change position during the night, she has trouble extending her legs after she lies down again. One leg often gets stuck under her body and I have to gently move it for her so she can relax and stretch out. I don't always wake up to do this when she wakes up though. Maybe the problem is neurological and has nothing to do with the way she sleeps. The doctors have always told us that some of her nerves may never grow back completely after the spinal injury. Maybe I'm exercising her too much. It's hard to tell. She walks better after she's been moving around for a while, but she's pretty frail. There's a fine line between getting enough exercise and overdoing things. Unfortunately, Dot doesn't know where that line is. Neither do I on many days. I'm doing the best I can, but this is not an easy rehabilitation.

When you get an Apple Watch, they give you two weeks to decide whether you really want it. At any time during the initial two weeks, you can return the watch and get your money back, or exchange it for a different model. Since my two weeks are just about up, I stopped by the Apple Store to see if I'd made the right decision. I have a small wrist, so I had selected the smaller 38 mm model. The watch fits perfectly and is about the same size as some of my favorite mechanical watches. Maybe I should have gotten the bigger watch though. Bigger frequently seems better to me. I'll always pick the biggest cheeseburger at a restaurant and I've never liked to drive a small car. You can tell that I probably didn't have much on my mind today. At any rate, Apple was out of stock of the larger 42 mm watch, so the decision was made for me. I should learn to stick with my initial instincts. They are usually right. Back when I was playing in a band, I would frequently trade guitars on a whim. Several of the initial guitars I bought turned out to be very collectible. The guitars I exchanged them for after I got bored turned out to be worthless. You should learn to trust your instincts and not be distracted by new shiny objects. I'm a Gemini though, so this is difficult.

I'm really curious to see what Pluto looks like. The NASA New Horizons mission is less than a week away from it's encounter with the ninth planet. This will be the last time that anyone alive today will get to see images from a brand new planet we've never seen before. We've already landed on or flown around all the other planets. We've even landed on a comet. It's amazing to me that Pluto is so far away that it take over four hours to send a signal to the spacecraft or receive a picture back from it. Even more amazing, in an odd way, is that the New Horizons spacecraft, along with all its sensors and cameras, is carrying a small container with the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930. I should have been an astronomer instead of an adman. I was never good at math though. I was always much better at convincing people to buy things they didn't need.

I don't know what I'm going to convince myself to do tomorrow. It's going to be a slow day. I'm just about caught up on converting the websites I manage to new, mobile friendly versions. My writing assignments have slowed to a snail's pace, although that could change at any time. My doctor's appointment got canceled tomorrow. Dash probably won't even want to take a long walk, because it's getting too hot. Maybe I'll fix myself an elaborate breakfast. Maybe I'll play the guitar. Maybe I'll just spend the day feeling ambivalent.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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