Day 3614

We took Jasmine with us to Petfair today. It's been a while since we've participated in this annual event, but the rescue program has a lot of dogs now and we wanted to give them a little extra exposure. Jasmine was a good candidate to be an ambassador for Dalmatian Rescue. She loves people, is good with other animals, and is less scared of new situations than some of the other newcomers.

Being at a public event was completely new to Jasmine. She'd never even worn a harness before. It took her a while to get used to wearing the harness before we left the kennel this morning. I don't think she ever got used to riding in the car. I wish we'd known ahead of time that Jasmine gets carsick. She threw up several times before we arrived at the adoption event. As soon as the car stopped, she was fine. I understood what she was going through. As a kid, I used to get carsick all the time. I've thrown up in cars, ships, and planes all over the world. We'll know in the future to give Jasmine Cerenia before she takes a car trip.

Jasmine was a little shy when we first arrived at the event. This was all new to her. It didn't take long for her to discover the smell of hamburgers on the grill however. Every time I would take her on a little walk, she would head straight for the big smoker in the back where they were grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. We bought her a hamburger without any seasonings and she loved it. After a few bites of her burger she decided that rescue events weren't so bad after all.

Despite her problems with motion sickness, Jasmine had a very good day. Someone has been interested in Jasmine for a while and her adoption was finalized today. She will be going to her forever home soon. A lot of people enjoyed saying hello to Jasmine this afternoon. Everybody loved her. Maybe her afternoon as a rescue ambassador will help some of our other dogs find their forever homes as well.

It was a long day for all of us, but it was a good one. I think Jasmine was glad to be back in her comfy bed when we returned to the kennel. She was tired and ready for a nap. I was ready to throw my clothes in the washing machine when we returned home. For some reason Jasmine felt most comfortable throwing up when she was sitting in my lap in the car

Tomorrow should be a busy day as well. I will need to finish all of my Saturday errands before I can start my Sunday errands. I should still be able to find time to go to the gym, but I doubt that it will be a 20,000 step day. I've got my priorities. If it's still nice outside tomorrow, I'm going up on the roof and try to find the last of the torn spots. As always, more rain is on the way.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3613

I didn't feel like going out for breakfast this morning. I stayed home and had a piece of pie. Pie is comfort food. Sometimes you need pie for breakfast. It was actually a good idea that I stayed home this morning. It turned out to be a busy day.

I finally discovered why I wasn't hearing anything from McDonald Observatory. They wrote and told me they never received my application. This was very strange because I actually called back in October after I sent all the application material to make sure they had what they needed. There was no point in arguing about this though. I just sent everything they requested again. This time two different people, one in Austin and another at the observatory, acknowledged receiving the material, so I guess I'm OK. This is essentially starting over, but there's no hurry. If I'm accepted to stay on-site at the mountain, I won't be leaving until late Spring or early Summer anyway.

After the big snafu at the observatory, I decided to go ahead and apply for the second NASA event at the Michoud Assembly Facility. Maybe one of these applications will get lost as well. I might as well just apply for everything that looks halfway interesting. Maybe something will stick. The only complicating factor with the two December NASA events is that they are both scheduled back-to-back with Dalmatian Rescue Santa Photo events. If I get accepted I will need to fly out of town right after completing a busy day of pet photography. I guess this won't kill me. Back in the day, I used to frequently leave on business trips after a busy day at work.

All this being said, I don't enjoy being busy anymore. Doing one thing a day is plenty. Some days just going to the post office is enough. I don't know how people with families and lots of obligations handle the holidays. It would drive me insane. Maybe it's just an age thing. I used to be much busier when I was younger. When I look back, I have no idea how I accomplished all the things that used to seem routine.

Just adding a few extra things to my normal routine today wore me out. It took quite a while to get my application straightened out with the observatory. Then there were November bills to pay. After I went to the post office, there were prescriptions to pick up and I needed to get some things at the grocery store. Finally, Janet and I went to my storage warehouse to look for stuff we needed for tomorrow's adoption event. It was dark before I finished my five mile walk.

We haven't done an off-site adoption event for Dalmatian Rescue in ages. Hopefully, this will go well.  We've got everything we need for our booth now and will go up to the kennel to pick up a dog first thing in the morning. Like so many other things, it's hard to believe that we used to do this all the time.

Honey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3610

It was so cold today. I felt like staying under a warm blanket all day, but knew that I had to face facts and admit that it was winter. I took my time eating breakfast in hopes that it would get warmer. Maybe the temperature rose a few degrees, but it wasn't enough to notice.

I wasn't surprised that the park was empty today. It was just me and an insane jogger who wasn't even wearing a jacket or a hat. I was warm enough. I looked like the Michelin Man, wearing a puffy outer down coat over a lighter inner down jacket. Add a pair of compression pants under my jeans. a wool hat, and some heavy insulated boots and it was a miracle I could even move.

I finished the entire five miles. There were a few spots where the wind was pretty nasty, but for the most part it was a beautiful winter day. I'm glad I dressed warmly. Anything lighter and I would have froze. When I passed the area where the Pelicans spend the winter, they were all huddled together in a big clump. Maybe this was their way of staying warm. What do I know though. If I was a cold Pelican, the first thing I would do was get out of the water.

There seem to be an abundance of opportunities to attend NASA events in December. After I got rejected to attend the Space X ISS resupply launch, I applied to attend the first Boeing Starliner launch a few weeks later. Now there's an opportunity to tour the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. I'm not a huge fan of New Orleans but it would be cool to see the Artemis moon rocket being assembled. Should I apply for this event too? I'm not even sure if I could afford to do both.

I did try to contact the volunteer director at McDonald Observatory today. I haven't heard anything about my application yet. The director wasn't in, so I sent him an e-mail. It would be nice to know if these thoughts I've been having about spending time on Mount Locke this Spring are real or just a fantasy. Sometimes I think all my travel plans are just a fantasy. It's not like I actually need to do any of this.

We'll see what happens. I might be very busy toward the end of the year, or I could just be sitting here wondering if the roof was going to leak. I wish that getting selected to attend rocket launches wasn't so competitive, but that's just the way it is. When something is desirable, there are usually lot of people who want to take advantage of the opportunity. I suspect that being an on-site volunteer at the observatory is the same way. I know for a fact that there are a ton of amateur astronomers who are way more dedicated than me. A lot of them would probably love to spend time at McDonald Observatory. Hey, I rarely even look through a telescope. The only thing that works in my favor is that I'm a pretty decent writer. Sometimes a story needs to be told.

We have a rare adoption event to attend this weekend. Janet and I still can't decide which dog to take. Some aren't quite ready to be around a crowd yet and others might end up being adopted before the event. With the weather we've been having, it might even be too cold for the dogs to be outside. No sense in fretting yet. If I've learned anything it's that a lot can change in a week.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3250

I spent my day taking pictures of kids holding snakes. This was a big animal rescue event with all types of puppies, kittens, ferrets, and birds, but the kids seemed fascinated with the snakes. The smaller the children, the less fear they had of snakes. Often, their parents wouldn't go near the reptiles, but the kids loved them. I heard a lot of "Mommy, can I have a snake?" during the afternoon. I didn't hear one parent say yes.

A lot has changed in the last five years. There wasn't a lot of interest in my little photo booth, but everyone wanted to take selfies with the animals. People don't need a photographer anymore. They make their own movies and share their own pictures. Most of the children had their own phones. Even small children were walking around with iPhones. I predict that there will be a lot of pictures of people holding snakes on Instagram today.

I'm not a big fan of snakes myself. I hate seeing them in the park because I can never remember which ones are poisonous. I pretty much quit using my kayak when I saw a big water moccasin swimming along side me one day. I always worry that one of the dogs will be bitten by a snake. Often dogs don't have the sense to keep away from them.

I'm glad I don't do many photo events anymore. They are too tiring. I still do a few Santa Paws events during the Christmas season, but not nearly as many as I used to do. I think we only have two Christmas events scheduled this year. Today's event was meant to educate kids about animals. I'm not sure what the kids learned, but I learned a few things. The big snakes eat rabbits. The snake handler buys frozen rabbit meat which he cooks as needed. He feeds his large snakes a rabbit every two weeks. Some of these snakes weigh as much as 75 pounds.

I was lucky today. I didn't have to bring my lights and backdrops. All I had to do was show up with a camera. I think I got some cute pictures. I'm not sure what the organizers plan to do with these pictures but they seemed pleased with the results.

Dash pooped in the bed again last night. I guess this is the new normal. I with I could use puppy training pads with him like I did with Dot, but I'm not sure they'd do any good. Dash is still fairly mobile. Whenever I wake up, he's in a different place than he was when I went to sleep. Doggie diapers won't work at all. Dash's rear legs are so weak that diapers would essentially cripple him. This is still a work in progress. I'm sure we'll figure out something.

I didn't have time to get groceries today, so I guess I'll do that tomorrow. I'm not sure that I'll go to the gym. If it's as warm as it was today, it would be a good time to mow the grass one last time. It would also be a good time to take a long nap. We'll see how I feel in the morning

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 950

Dot and Dash got to go to a Dalmatian Rescue event today. To ensure that they would be good little ambassadors when we arrived at the Petco store, they both got a long walk and a trip to the dog park first. When we take the dogs to rescue events, people inevitably tell us that they've never seen Dalmatians that are so calm. It's not rocket science. Any dog that has walked for several miles and then raced around a dog park a few hours later is going to be pretty calm.

The trip to the dog park and the rescue event took up quite a bit of time, so it was a good thing we got a lot of our weekend errands done yesterday. It was way too hot to do outdoor chores anyway. With triple digit temperatures outside, even the thought of going back to work in the office didn't seem so bad. I finished the afternoon updating a website and then writing another watch article.

I think next week is when the city comes by to haul away brush and old furniture. This means I'd better get busy tomorrow and haul all the tree branches I trimmed a few weeks ago out to the street. If I miss the pick-up day, I'll have to wait an entire month before the truck returns again. Maybe I should look on Angie's List and find someone to do this sort of thing for me. I just signed up for Angie's List a few days ago when I saw a 60% Off sign-up special on the Paypal website. I haven't used the list yet and have my suspicions about all the reviews being genuine, but I bet I'll use it soon enough. I just can't find anyone reliable to recommend things like doctors and contractors anymore. When I worked in an office, there seemed to be an endless stream of recommendations from co-workers whenever I went to the break room to get a cup of coffee. Now, I work alone and the Dalmatians aren't talking. I just don't know who to trust anymore.

Things usually slow down in the Summer, but somehow I still find myself with a ton of website work to complete. I did manage to re-launch the big site I've been working on lately last Friday, but there's another that I haven't even started on yet. I think Monday would be a good time to start.

Pongo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 516

We spent most of the day at the La Buena Vida Vineyards, enjoying the nice weather, visiting with other Dalmatians, and trying to get the word out about Dalmatian Rescue. The winery hosts its annual Canines, Felines & Texas Wine event every May and this is the third year that Dalmatian Rescue has attended. This was actually the first year I've been to the event myself, but Janet goes every year. I enjoyed myself. So did Dot and Dash. We took both dogs with us today and they enjoyed getting to meet all the other dogs at the winery. I think they enjoyed the abundance of dog treats even more. This was an upscale crowd. I saw people buying expensive cheese trays and then feeding the cheese to the dogs. Lots of champagne and Prada purses too. Dot and Dash got to see their friend Willow again. I didn't get to drink any wine though. I just had bottled water. Sadly, my blood work seems to confirm that my liver just doesn't appreciate wine anymore. Hamburgers aren't prohibited yet, so I did have a tasty burger.

The afternoon might have been a bit too relaxing. I found myself falling asleep in my chair from time-to-time. I'm continually tired these days. I need to start getting seven or eight hours of sleep again. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen though. Blogging, demanding clients and a habit of watching television after I've gone to bed aren't very conducive to sleep.

The dogs certainly didn't have any trouble sleeping today. They both had a big day. Despite all the phobias Dash has about riding in the car, the dogs slept peacefully all the way home.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day