Day 2725

We thought we'd see if Dash would take a longer walk if we both walked him. That seemed to do the trick. Dash took a nice long walk without any hesitation. I'm not sure what this proves, but it isn't a very practical solution. It's rare that we have time to take a family walk. I know that Dash always preferred to walk with Dot. Hey buddy, I'd rather walk both dogs too, but that's not going to happen anymore. We're all going to have to adjust to Dot being gone. I wonder if Dash knows what happened? He saw us carry Dot out the door and she never returned. I wish I could tell him that everything is going to be OK.

Today I learned that the pressure washer is great for cleaning bricks and concrete, but it is terrible for removing spiderwebs. I tried to clean the windows on the back of the house this afternoon and ended up getting spiders all over me.  The webs were so sticky that I had trouble dislodging them with the water spray. Once again, nature wins. The water was powerful enough to penetrate the window frames and get inside the house, but the webs seemed impervious to damage. I also learned that it's not a good idea to use use the power washer nozzle to spray away a spider that landed on your leg. Ouch. It was just instinct, but I shouldn't have done that.

The windows eventually got cleaned, even though I had to resort to a bleach soaked wet rag to finish the job. The sad thing is that in two weeks, the spiders will all be back. They build web near the windows because it's a great place to catch bugs. Flying insects are attracted to the light from the windows at night and the industrious spiders ensnare them with their webs. Don't even get me started about the lizards. In a month from now, there will be lizards crawling on our windows at night as well.

I can live with most of these critters, but I draw the line at rats. I went to a pest control store and bought some attractant that is supposed to be much better than peanut butter or cheese as bait. I cleaned all the traps, moved them around to new locations, and baited them with the attractant gel. We'll see. I"d better have a rat in the morning.

I started doing a little research about viewing the eclipse this August. It became apparent very quickly that the big problem will be the weather. Once you've picked a location, you pretty much rule out all the other locations. I'm sure there will be people who decide to change locations at the last minute to increase their odds of clear skies, but all this is going to do is create monumental traffic jams. Based on prior history, there is about a 40% chance of cloudy weather at many of the best locations. Based on my own experience, you just can't predict the weather. We were supposed to have clear weather when my Dad and I traveled to see the Alaskan eclipse in 1963, but a cloud covered the sun at the last minute. When NASA invited me to Vandenberg Airforce Base to view a satellite launch a few years ago, everything was going perfectly until a few minutes before lift off. Once again, weather surprised us and the launch was scrubbed at the last minute. I guess if you want to see the eclipse, you've just got to pick a location and take your chances. Just like my experience with the spiders, mother nature is going to win this one too.

I got a lot done today. Hopefully, I will do the same tomorrow. I plan on going to the gym. Since the gym is indoors, there will be no rats or spiders to deal with. It's sad that it takes a rat to make the gym appealing to me, but if this gets me exercising, I guess it's a good thing.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day