Day 3296

Cold rain. Leaking roof. Incontinent dog. Put these ingredients together and you've got the basis for a sad country song. Basically, today was a mess. I started putting buckets on the floor as soon as I got up. The pumps weren't working, so I had to climb up on the roof in the rain to prime them. When I returned, Dash was stumbling down the hall, knocking over the buckets I'd placed a little earlier. There was no morning walk today, but there was definitely poop to clean up. There's always poop to clean up.

The rain didn't freeze today, but it still might. It is very cold. As the day progressed, the leaks in the ceiling continued to spread and I ran out of buckets. I had to go to Home Depot and pick up a few of those big plastic containers that people use to store sweaters and children's toys. I thought a big container would be better at catching water than three or four smaller buckets. It's a shame that I had to buy more containers. I already have a ton of these things in the storage warehouse, but they are all full of stuff. The containers worked, but they made it even harder for Dash to navigate the hallway.

I'm stuck with this mess until the rainy period is over. Lord knows when that will be. There is bad weather in the forecast as far as the eye can see. You can't repair the roof when it's wet and I'm not sure the roofers can find the leak anyway. They certainly failed the first time they tried.

I went out and picked up some meds for Dash after lunch because driving in the rain was preferable to listening to water drip into plastic buckets. I'm sure I'll be driving in the rain tomorrow too. Dash has an appointment for one of the periodic echocardiograms we use to monitor his heart. Hopefully, the blood clot hasn't returned. I'm also hoping that he won't poop in the car on the way to the cancer center. That's always a possibility since it is very doubtful that he'll get a walk before his appointment.

I finally got the pumps on the roof working but they don't remove enough water to stop the leak. The pumps are basically useless. I'm just about out of ideas for stopping the leak while it is still raining. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to use my new car fund to replace the roof. Jeez. What's the fun in that? Even with a new roof, it's still going to be a very old house with a host of other problems. I'd rather have a new car.

The first pictures from New Horizons were received today and Ultima Thule looks like a big snowman. Weird to think that a big icy snowman has been lurking at the edge of the solar system for billions of years and we didn't even know it existed until last year. I bet there's lots of other stuff floating around in space that we don't know about either.

Clearly I'm no rocket scientist. The New Horizon's team at Johns Hopkins was able to fly their spacecraft directly to a tiny 19 mile long speck in the sky billions of miles away from Earth and I can't even find how water is getting into my house.

Maybe things will be better tomorrow. If Dash gets a clean bill of health at the vet, maybe he won't have to take Plavix anymore. Realistically, this isn't very likely. It's not very likely that the rain will stop or the stock market will rally either. The Apple earnings warning today even surprised me. Apple hasn't had a dire warning like this since 2002. For many investors this news will seem like a sign of the apocalypse. I have a feeling that 2019 is going to be a very bumpy ride.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3295 - New Year's Day

I got a surprising amount of sleep last night, especially considering that I'd stayed up past midnight to greet the new year. Two glasses of champagne didn't seem to bother me either. There was no reason to get up early today. It was cold outside and we had no plans. We all slept in until well past 8 AM. At some point during the night I got up to let Dash outside, but I barely remember it. These nightly disruptions are routine now. Pooping in the bed a few hours later wasn't a big deal either. Dash has gotten pretty good about staying on his puppy training pad. I just slide out the soiled pad, roll it up and replace it with a fresh puppy pad. Dash never even wakes up.

Before I went to bed last night I watched the New Horizons flyby of Ultma Thule on NASA TV. There wasn't much to see. The probe was more than four billion miles away and it would take another six hours for the signal that the mission had succeeded to reach Earth. The fact that we will soon get a look at something located way beyond Pluto is amazing to me. We are so good at science like this and yet for some reason we still can't get along with each other.

I imagine that quite a few people will make a New Year's Resolution to be more agreeable this year, but few will succeed. There are just so many reasons to be irritated at our fellow man. If Dash was a human he would be in an assisted living home by now. He's a dog though, so I'm willing to do anything I can to make his last day's comfortable.

Dash loves his walks so we all got bundled up and braved the cold this morning. It was a gloomy, grey day but at least it wasn't raining. Dash is so intent on smelling things these days that he forgets about his rear legs. I'm constantly having to steady him by holding the handle on his harness to keep him from falling over. While we were walking I kept thinking it was Sunday and was thinking about having pancakes for breakfast. I was actually kind of surprised when I remembered it was only Tuesday. The entire holiday season has been like this. It's hard to tell what day it is.

I didn't do much today. The days when we would watch the Rose Bowl parade followed by an entire day of football seem so long ago. Even the names of the bowl games have changed. They are all named after corporations now and some of them aren't even on New Year's Day. To avoid doing household chores, I caught up on some overdue correspondence. I wrote the roofer, begging him to hurry up with repairs. I wrote the friend who is selling my train collection. He wants to lower prices, since sales have been slow. I'm still hoping that someone like me will wander into his store and buy everything. I sent Christmas greetings to a few people even though Christmas is over. Why not?

I didn't finish breakfast until well after noon and by the time I took a shower Dash was already waiting for his evening walk. Where did the day go? Jeez. Where did the year go?  2018 seemed to slip by awfully fast. Dash ended the year a little bit healthier than he started it. Like Dot, he is very determined to make the most of the time he has. Auctioning my art this year was an interesting experience. It actually got me interest in art again. Unfortunately, I don't have any left.

Like many people, I hope that 2019 will be better than 2018. You've got your reasons and I've got mine. Whatever you're hoping for, I wish you luck. All I know is that anything could happen during our next trip around the sun.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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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

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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

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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

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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

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