Day 3445

I voted today in a local run-off election. The candidates in the run-off weren't the ones I voted for in the general election, but I cast my vote anyway. After years of not voting at all, I've finally become a responsible citizen. My candidates seldom win. Voting these days is mostly about picking the lesser of two evils. Whoever wins, I hope our new mayor is better than the old mayor. I've been saying this for a long time. They all sound pretty good in the campaign brochures, but after several years on the job even people I've voted for usually seem worthless.

I tried somebody else's French Toast this morning. What was I thinking? It wasn't nearly as good as the French Toast I get at my favorite hotel. I don't know why I feel compelled to experiment. I should enjoy the things I like while I can. Sooner or later every restaurant will go either out of business or the chef will move on to greener pastures. I've seen menus go downhill almost overnight. The absolute limit for consistency appears to be around two years. I don't know how much time I've got left, but for now I already know where to find perfect French Toast. I've got Shrimp and Grits covered too. All I need now are some fabulous Eggs Benedict.  I'm never going to find the kind of Migas I like. That ship has already sailed.

I had to wait a while to walk today. It rained off and on all morning. It was too complicated to walk between covered gazebos this time. I just stayed home and balanced my checkbook until the rain was over. Our wet Spring has been good for wildflowers. I'm starting to see late blooming flowers like Purple Horsemint now. This unusual plant has several names as well. Some people call it Beebalm. I'm lucky to remember either of these names.

I do remember that some of the open meadows in the park used to be a sea of reds and yellows at this time of year. Now the fields are mostly white. Invasive species like Queen Anne's Lace have crowded all the other flowers out. The city doesn't mow these native prairie areas anymore. This was supposed to keep the meadows as pristine and beautiful as they were 100 years ago. Somehow I don't think these fields were filled with Johnson Grass and invasive weeds back then. Plenty of beauty remains. You just have to look a little harder. I guess you could say the same thing for life in general.

After I cast my vote for mayor today, I went across the street and bought a new leaf rake at Home Depot. I guess this means that Janet and I are going to clean up the yard ourselves this year. I keep hoping that the leaves will just blow away on their own but they stubbornly persist. We'll see how long it takes before the rake actually gets used.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3444

We picked up Little Penny from the Veterinary Surgical Center today and took her to the rescue group's regular vet so she could rest and recuperate. We call her Little Penny because there is a much larger Penny in the rescue program as well. Earlier this Spring Penny had a tumor removed that nobody thought was cancerous and then when the pathology report came back showing mast cells, she had to return to have a second surgery since the surgeon didn't get good margins when the initial growth was removed. Penny seemed in good spirits when we picked her up today and hopefully she will make a full recovery with no further need for chemo or radiation.

It's sad how familiar Janet and I have become with cancer in dogs. Everything the surgeon was telling us today seemed very familiar. Dash had thyroid cancer. Spot and Dot both had abdominal cancer. Greta had liver cancer and I've lost count of how many rescue dogs have been diagnosed with cancer over the years. Luckily, treatment has gotten very good in recent years. We discovered Greta's cancer too late, but Dot, Dash and Spot all recovered from their treatment and went on to live very normal lives.

It's hard to believe that I used to go backpacking for days at a time when I lived in Colorado right after college. A four day trip between Aspen and Crested Butte carrying a heavy pack was not a big deal. It seems pathetic now that a small three to five mile walk can cause every joint in my body to cry out in protest. What has happened to me? My shoulders are shot. One of my knees feels loose. And I've still got tennis elbow from years of using the Help 'Em Up Harness to hold up Dash's rear legs. Hopefully, things will improve if I keep moving. I'm not doing anything foolish like jogging. I'm just trying to stay active.

It's strange that a lot of common plants go by several different names. I discovered today that Angel’s Trumpet and Devil's Weed are actually the same thing. The botanical name for this plant is Datura and it is commonly called Jimson Weed. Confused? A lot of people call these Moonflowers as well. Maybe this is why I have trouble identifying a lot of flowers I see in the park. I'll find something that looks familiar on the Internet and then later a neighbor will tell me that the plant is something else entirely. A lot of Texas plants seems to go by four or five different names.

This week has gone quickly. I've taken this week's trash out to the curb and am trying to decide where to go for breakfast tomorrow. My daily routine is simple and perhaps a little boring, but it is certainly effective at eating up the time.  I get up, do some stuff, and all of the sudden it's time for bed again.

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3443

It rained a lot today. I thought I was pretty clever though. I know how long it takes me to walk specific distances and I know there are a lot of little gazebo like structures scattered throughout the park so picnickers can get out of the sun. I looked at the weather radar and plotted a path that would hopefully have me arriving at one of of these covered structures every time a storm cloud was overhead. Amazingly, the plan worked. When a rain cloud arrived I was sitting under a gazebo and staying dry. One of these covered structures was up on a hill where I could see the storm approaching from a distance. You could clearly see streaks of rain falling from a big dark cloud that was getting closer and closer. As the rain approached I could hear the raindrops falling on the water in the lake while the meadow in front of me was still dry. Then thirty seconds later, the rain was overhead. Each storm cell was small and there was lots of space in-between each downpour. I still managed to cover three miles and I didn't get wet. My walk took a little longer this morning, but I wasn't in a hurry. Actually watching the rain from a dry vantage point was quite enjoyable. While I was out today I encountered a beautiful Canada Goose. I wanted a picture, but unfortunately didn't have a telephoto lens with me. I thought about trying to get close to the goose with my phone, but geese can be nasty. I wasn't really in the mood to get attacked by a goose.

I got a welcome letter from the NASA folks today and now I finally feel comfortable that my acceptance of their invitation was received. NASA is a very bureaucratic organization and there will be further correspondence and forms to fill out before I can actually set foot inside their secure facilities. The trip is officially confirmed though and I'm definitely going. Hopefully, this will be the start of a very interesting summer.

I went with Janet this afternoon to help transport one of our rescue dogs from the veterinary surgery center to another vet where she will recuperate. While we were on our way we got a call saying that there were complications and the dog needed to stay at the hospital under observation for an additional day. Actually, this was good news to me. I always worry about taking a dog home that has just had surgery. Dogs aren't always good patients and there are so many things that can go wrong. Hopefully when we do pick this girl up, her condition will be stable and she'll already be on the mend.

Not a lot happened today but it still felt like a good day. I'm getting a lot of sleep now and am slowly becoming comfortable with the idea of living without deadlines or responsibilities. Janet has always been more involved with rescue than me, but there is nothing wrong with helping her out when I can. Hey, I may become a space and astronomy blogger yet. It must mean something that NASA has invited me to three different events. Things can change quickly, but at least for today, life is good.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3442

We went and visited the rescue kennel again today. One of the many good things about being retired is that it's easy to do things like this. Neither of us has a schedule anymore. The dogs seem to enjoy the extra attention and the kennel staff is always glad to see us. We're gradually getting to know each dog's personality. All the dogs are very friendly and some could definitely use a little training. Young Dalmatians are full of energy. We let them race around and blow off steam for a while and sooner or later they calm down and want to sit in your lap. We met a new girl in the program today. She was a little timid at first but warmed up quickly when she saw we had a red rubber ball to throw. We'll probably go back to the kennel next week. It's a good way to spend the afternoon.

Not surprisingly, I spent my morning the same way I always do. I made the bed and slowly drank my huge fruit smoothie while I watched TV. Sadly, there are no old Westerns or episodes of Jay Leno's Garage to watch on weekdays. I'm stuck with watching the news.

When I started taking long walks, I initially noticed improvements almost every week. I had more stamina and began walking longer distances. Unfortunately, I've reached some sort of a plateau. When I hit three miles my feet start to hurt and I can feel each step in my hip joints and knees. Maybe it's my shoes, but I suspect that my joints aren't what they used to be. Glucosamine can't fix everything. I'll have to ask for an x-ray the next time I go to the doctor. I'd hate to ruin my knees. I'm not very eager to get a knee replacement.

I'll be glad when my Florida trip has a more definite schedule. It's hard to plan when you have no idea when you're going. I keep waiting for an e-mail with my itinerary, but I don't really expect a launch schedule to be finalized for a while. It is quite common for Space X launches to get delayed. Hurricane season begins on June 1. I certainly hope that doesn't throw a wrench in the works. At least the peak of the hurricane season isn't until August. With a little luck, everything should be fine.

I still haven't called the landscaper. Having a nice yard used to seem so important when the dogs were with us, but now it hardly seems to matter. The yard looks OK. A lot of things are this way. I need to fix the sliding glass door, but I rarely have a need to open it. This can probably wait as well. The plumbing got fixed quickly because we actually need the plumbing. I have a feeling that the next thing I actually need will be new tires. If I drive to Florida, I will definitely need new tires.

I didn't see many animals while I was walking today but I did learn the name of a new flower. For a long time I thought that Zexmenia was just another yellow daisy, but I guess it isn't. Maybe I'll learn something new tomorrow.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3441 - Memorial Day

It was a quiet day. I'm getting plenty of sleep now, but I still wake up feeling tired. I still have vivid dreams of being lost. Maybe these dreams are wearing me out. Sometimes I'm with friends and sometimes I'm alone, but I always seem to be in the wrong room or the wrong building. These aren't scary dreams, but a lot of walking is involved. I always wake up before I get where I'm going.

The weather is warmer than it should be for this time of year, but at least there's a breeze in the morning. I had my morning smoothie while watching a marathon presentation of Jay Leno's Garage. Anything is better than the news these days. Jan Leno's Garage isn't nearly as good as the old version of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, but what are you going to do.  Political correctness has basically ruined television.

I'm still trying to find the perfect shoe and sock combination for my daily walks. It's odd that this never seemed to be a problem when I was walking with dogs. The dogs probably stopped so frequently to smell things that my feet never got hot or became swollen. I'd probably be more comfortable wearing light weight running shoes, but I like firm ankle support. Boots are better if you accidentally step on a snake too.

Since today was the last day for REI's big annual sale, I made one last trip to the store to look for a solution. There were great prices on everything, but I came home with nothing again. I looked at boots, wool socks, solar powered gadgets and everything else with a 25% off sign, but I seem to have totally lost my interest in buying things. This is a new experience for me. Buying things used to always put me in a good mood.

Driving to Florida is starting to seem like a better option than flying. The launch date for the Falcon Heavy is almost certain to change several times and changing airline reservations at the last minute is proving to be more of a hassle than it should be. The price for a flexible, refundable ticket is more than double what a plan-ahead discount fare would be. There are no nonstop flights where I'm going either. The downside to a long drive is that I would need to get new tires. My current tires are a little worn for a long trip. We'll see. I probably shouldn't overthink this until a get a better idea when the launch is actually going to take place.

I discovered that I can stream the PBS Breakthrough series for free on my computer. I watched the show about The Rocket this afternoon. This type of stuff is interesting to me. I've watched countless launches on TV, but I still didn't know how rockets actually work. I'll have to watch the episodes about The Car, and The Robot later. It's amazing how many things we take for granted today were developed during wartime. Even the telescope was initially developed as a tool for sailors to observe opposing ships at a distance. We definitely wouldn't have gotten to the moon without World War II and the Cold War with the Soviet Union that followed.

I saw a Dalmatian on my evening walk today. It's a surprising how rare they are in this part of town. I had a brief conversation with the owner which gave me a chance to give the dog a pat on the head. This beautiful five year old female appeared to have a very good home. As the guy and his dog continued on their way I kept thinking how strange it was to not be holding a leash in my hand.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3440

While I was walking today I passed a tent where one of my favorite smokehouses was giving away free barbecue. I was initially dumbfounded. Was this place where I've spent a lot of money over the years buying smoked hams for Easter actually giving its pricy meat away for free? A lady serving must have noticed my expression because she looked at me and said "Come over here and grab a plate." She proceeded to pile the plate with potato salad and smoked brisket. I wasn't going to complain. I took my plate and sat under a nearby tree, watching a Great Egret hunt for food while I ate my impromptu meal. Egrets stick their long necks forward while hunting and then with a lightning fast move strike to snatch their prey. I don't know what the Egret was eating today, but I think my meal was much better.

The park seemed unusually festive for a holiday weekend honoring fallen soldiers. As I was eating my free barbecue I could hear a mariachi band playing in the distance. The lake was dotted with bright orange rental kayaks and it looked like a sailboat race was about to get underway. I passed several very large family gatherings complete with a bounce house for the kids. There were bicycles, skateboards, and inline skates everywhere. There were also lots of flags. I guess everybody has their own way of celebrating the Memorial Day weekend. I'm not sure everything I saw today was appropriate, but I do think good barbecue is appropriate for any situation.

I got my 20,000 steps today but it seemed like more of an effort than usual. It was probably the heat. Walking is a lot more enjoyable when it is 60 degrees than when it is 90 degrees. I'm going to have to start wearing a hat when I go outside. My hair is getting thinner and I'm already getting sunburned on the top of my head.

I guess I could stay inside and walk around and around on the indoor track at the gym. A lot of people seem to do this. I like watching the animals and identifying flowers though. Outdoors is better. Maybe I'll spend more time at the gym in July. All the animals are in hiding by then and the meadows are dry and brown. About the only thing you see in the park in the middle of summer are dragonflies.

While I was resting between walks I watched a mini-marathon of a show called Breakthrough: the ideas that changed the world on PBS. It was interesting to learn how everyday objects like cars, smartphones, and telescopes changed the world forever. The backstories behind the development of these iconic objects was fascinating. I took a special interest in the episode about telescopes. Even the early Egyptians knew that glass could magnify things. As early as the Middle Ages, monks wore crude eyeglasses to help them illuminate manuscripts. It took another century or so before someone held some concave and convex lenses in front of each other and discovered that they could make distant objects larger. When Galileo used one of these simple early telescopes to discover that Venus had phases like the moon and that Jupiter had moons of its own, he concluded that the planets all orbited around the sun, which got him in big trouble with the pope. He was found guilty of heresy and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Somehow this rocky start to modern astronomy still let to the Hubble Space Telescope and the Ultra-Deep Field photographs that showed the universe to be much larger and more complex than anyone had expected. I'll have to watch the rest of this series. It's pretty amazing how we got to where we are today.

Another stranger in the park today stopped me to ask about Dash. I'd never noticed this guy before. He and his wife were on bicycles and they told me that it was strange to see me walking alone. Apparently they'd been watching me walk Dot and Dash for many years. They said their own dog had died of cancer five years ago and they still hadn't gotten over it. I told them I understood completely.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3439

Today seemed like a prelude to Summer. The temperature was over 90 again. I've noticed that some of the sticking doors in the house are starting to shift back to their warm weather positions. The air conditioner runs quite a bit now. It still seems a little early to be sweating on my morning walks, but the weather is weird these days. Janet just got back from Las Vegas and she said the temperatures were just in the 60's out there.

Today was quiet. I got up early and had a bagel and some fresh peaches while I watched old episodes of Have Gun Will Travel as I ate. I did my weekend grocery shopping as soon as the stores opened so I could take my morning walk before it got too hot. This didn't help much. I still got too hot. I can't tolerate the heat as well as I used to. This might be a long summer.

I saw the baby ducks again today. They were twice as big as when I saw them last time, but I only counted seven. I wonder what happened to the other three? Maybe coyotes or hawks got them. I've seen some very large hawks in the area. It probably isn't easy being a duckling when you're a tasty meal for predators. It's possible that I was looking at a completely different family of ducks, but I don't think so. They were swimming in the same place where I initially saw them and the mother looked the same.

I've started exploring options for traveling to Florida. It's a sixteen hour drive, so I'll probably fly. Do I fly nonstop to Orlando or one-stop to Melborne? What about rental cars? Are there hotels near the space center that don't tend to fill up in advance? Planning for rocket launches can be tricky since they frequently get postponed on short notice. NASA warns you to buy refundable tickets and make sure your travel plans can be changed if needed. There are seldom any bargains on these trips. Maybe it would be better to drive.

I wonder if I'll hit the 20,000 step threshold tomorrow. This seems to be my new Sunday goal. If it gets much warmer I'm going to need to think about spending more time in the gym and less time in the park. I enjoy observing plants and animals in the park. I don't really enjoy being drenched in sweat after a one hour walk. The allergies have been pretty bad this Spring as well. I always make sure to take plenty of Kleenex and a bottle of Visine with me before I leave.

There was a turtle in the yard as I was leaving the house this morning. I couldn't find it when I returned. I don't know how turtles get through the fence or how they get out. It doesn't seem to be a problem though. Most of the turtles we see are just passing through. Once we had a turtle that would drink water from a saucer in the yard and would return every morning to eat strawberries we left for it. The turtles stopped lingering when they discovered we had Dalmatians.

So far, so good with the plumbing repairs. The shower head doesn't leak and the toilet is quiet. Next on deck for repairs is the sliding glass door. It stopped sliding ages ago. We just think of it as a large window now.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3438

Good news. I got a letter from NASA today saying that my application had been accepted and that I was invited to be their guest for the next Space X Falcon Heavy launch at Kennedy Space Center. It didn't take long for me to accept the invitation. I love this program that NASA has started for bloggers and social media folks. People like me have the opportunity to apply for essentially the same press credentials that major news outlets like CNN and NBC get. NASA thinks that bloggers can reach a completely different audience than traditional media outlets and provides unique behind the scenes access for major launch, planetary, and research events. There is no way I could ever see some of the things I've experienced at these NASA events without a program like this.

I've never been to Kennedy Space Center before. Actually, I've never been to Florida before. This should be quite an experience. In addition to getting to view the launch itself, I'll be able to see the Falcon Heavy up close on the pad, talk to NASA and Space X personnel connected with the mission, and take a behind the scenes tour of Kennedy Space Center. This is kind of what I did in Houston earlier this year. When I was at the Johnson Space Center I actually got to sit inside the new Orion space capsule. I can't wait to write about this new experience.

I couldn't figure out why the toilet wasn't working right this morning. The water wasn't flowing very well. Jeez. The plumbers were just out here yesterday. I took the lid off the tank and discovered that the plumbers has left some parts inside the tank and they'd gotten stuck between the flapper and the flush valve. Were these new parts they failed to install or old parts from the fill valve they removed? I finally determined that these were old parts but these plumbers won't win any awards for neatness. It's a shame. Nobody seems to take pride in their work anymore. The toilet works fine now. Too bad I can't charge the plumbers like they charged me.

I had Corned Beef Hash for breakfast this morning. You don't see this on many menus anymore. This was a nice change of pace from the Shrimp and Grits or French Toast I usually order on these Friday morning outings. Braised corned beef brisket is good any time of day. I'm trying to expand my horizons one meal at a time. I'm just having trouble getting out of the neighborhood.

The temperature was over 90 today. I guess the low winter electric bills are over for a while. Air conditioning is expensive in Texas but at least our air conditioner is working well. Hope it survives another hot summer. When the air conditioning breaks on a hot day you don't care really what it costs to get cool air again. I don't know how people could stand to live down here before air conditioning.

I looked for the lizards again today on my walk but didn't see any. There were lots of bees though. They love the wildflowers.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3437

A guy stopped me on my walk this morning and wanted to show me some lizards. OK. I wasn't really looking for lizards but at least he wasn't trying to show me snakes. "Over there by that bush," the guy said. I must not have been looking in the right direction because the guy quickly added "No, not on the ground. they're walking on top of the leaves." Sure enough, there was a small, seemingly weightless lizard walking across some broad leaves. The guy told me the name of the lizard and I told him the name of the bush. It looked like the lizard was looking for small insects to eat while the bugs were just trying to eat the plants. That's how the food chain works. Everyone is trying to devour something.

The plumbers came out today and fixed my leaking shower and noisy toilet. I'm glad I didn't try to fix the shower by myself. The fixtures didn't use washers or o-rings. There were special ceramic cartridges installed in the shower faucets instead. I've seen these type of things in a kitchen faucet before, but never in a bathroom. The plumber knew what the cartridges were but didn't have any on his truck. He took the bad cartridges with him to a plumbing supply store and luckily was able to match them. The ceramic disks in the cartridges are supposed to be maintenance free, but the plumber said that grit in the supply lines can get between the disks and prevent them from closing completely. Apparently that's what happened. Our city water is notoriously full of grit and sediment. While the two plumbers were at the house I had them fix the noisy toilet too. I could have kept the plumbers at the house all day fixing small problems, but plumbers are expensive. I think I'm good for now.

I'm glad I got the plumbing problems taken care of, but I wasn't as successful with everything else. The roofer told me that he still hadn't had time to finish the estimate he started in February. My contact at the auction house must be on a trip around the world because I've been getting "out of office" auto-reply messages from him for a long time. I haven't heard from NASA yet either. I guess I've just got to be patient on that one.

It's already starting to get uncomfortably hot. I noticed that the air conditioner was running last night and the temperature has gotten over 90 degrees several times this week. It's hard to believe that it's still snowing in some parts of the country. I wish our Spring would last a little longer. It's the nicest part of the year in Texas. 90 degrees isn't so bad when you've got a little breeze. I'm not sure I'll still enjoy walking when it's 110 degrees in July. Even the dogs didn't like to go outside under those conditions.

It's been a busy day but I think I'm caught up on everything. The week's trash has been taken to the curb, I've done the laundry, and the dinner dishes have been washed. Now I need to decide where to go to breakfast tomorrow. I hope I manage to come up with something better than I did last week.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3436

I need to call the plumber. The leaking shower head is getting worse. I put a bucket under the drip after I took a shower today and it only took a couple of hours for the bucket to become full. I was surprised. It just seems like a little drip, but it is relentless. I don't think I can fix the faucets myself. I took the handles off today to look at the mechanism and it looked unfamiliar. I'd better leave this alone.

Since I couldn't fix the leak, I defrosted the little refrigerator instead. Melting ice is more my speed. I don't know why we even use the little refrigerator anymore. There's plenty of space in the big refrigerator. I guess I just like to be prepared. The little refrigerator can run off a generator. We may need it someday.

I keep wondering about the White Pelican I see on my walks. It is apparently never going to migrate. The bird seems content to live by itself on a quiet little bay at the lake. There are probably no other Pelicans within 1000 miles right now but the bird seems happy enough. It catches fish in the lake, sits on logs for hours at a time observing things and occasionally flaps its wings and flies. Maybe this is my spirit animal.

I tried out some different shoes today with thinner socks. Maybe this combination is better. I had very little foot pain on today's walks. The Vibram soles get caked with mud easily, but that's a small problem. Muddy boots clean up easily with a garden hose. I'll wear these for a while and see if they encourage me to walk longer.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and paid a credit card bill. Credit card bills are frustrating because they are always larger than I expect. It's amazing what you can forget during a month. My Webflow account auto renewed this month. I forgot about that one. I wonder if I even still need this? I subscribed to this advanced web development tool so I could build mobile ready websites for my clients. They all got really nice sites, but eventually left anyway. I haven't built a new website in almost a year.

I wish my plumbing problem would magically go away overnight. I hate dealing with plumbers. Somehow, little problems always end up turning into big problems. In theory, fixing some leaky faucets shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been wrong before. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like today.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3435

I was pleased to see the guys who arrived this morning to bury the new fiber optic cable that AT&T installed last week. I wasn't so pleased when one of the guys digging the trench broke the new cable and I was back to square one again. If there is a lesson to be learned from this, I guess it would be to never let anyone with a shovel get anywhere near a fiber optic cable. Murphy's Law always prevails. Needless to say, the crew with the shovels had no idea how to fix the cable. I had to make an appointment with a fiber optic technician to come out and install the cable all over again.

Amazingly, the technician actually did come out today. I was impressed. The guy told me that even though it was company policy to bury these cables so that they would remain undisturbed, quite a few got damaged anyway. If they would just dig the trench a little deeper I don't think they'd have this problem. Most of these cables that run from the distribution box to the house are only a few inches underground.

It took quite a while to get me back online again but hopefully there won't be any more problems for a while. My neighbor has finished messing around with her fence and I'm certainly not going to be doing any digging. I asked the technician when 5G was coming to Dallas and he told me that it was already here. The super high speed service hasn't arrived in our neighborhood yet, but I'm sure it will.  I'll be getting messages from Apple urging me to upgrade my phone and messages from AT&T urging me to upgrade my network. Personally, I don't think I need a faster connection. Who really needs to download a movie in two seconds anyway? What I need is a connection that doesn't go down every time we have a heavy rain.

I still haven't heard from NASA. I haven't heard from a roofer who still owes me a bid and one of the auction houses I've been dealing with either. Sometimes I worry that important messages are being quarantined or deleted by the industrial strength spam filter on my web server. You never know what winds up in the spam folder. I seldom look at these messages because they don't even come to my computer. I can log into the server and inspect the quarantine folder if I want, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are thousands of spam messages. It's easier to pretend that these messages don't exist.

I'm tempted to stop people I see walking dogs so I can pet them. I haven't done this because I remember when people would stop me when I was walking Dot and Dash. I always tried to give the dogs long enjoyable walks even when I was busy working. Not surprisingly, they always had a way of making me late. It's hard to let your dog smell every tree when you're on a schedule and you definitely don't want to stop and chat when you've got a conference call in thirty minutes. I can tell that a lot of the younger people walking dogs are on a schedule. You can see it in their eyes. I'll sometimes talk to older retired people I know in the neighborhood. I leave the younger working people alone. They've got enough on their plate already.

Janet and I were talking about working the other day. We miss working in a lot of ways. We both enjoyed our jobs but don't want to deal with rush hour traffic anymore or trying to please a much younger boss who knows far less than we do. I'd love to find someone who will give me challenging things to do, pay me well, and then just leave me alone. No meetings and no big collaborative group efforts. Lots of luck with that. Hard to believe now that I actually had this type of arrangement for many, many years. I guess I was lucky.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3434

It looks like the bad weather everybody was predicting is well to the North of us. We might not get any rain at all until the whole severe weather scenario repeats itself tomorrow. It's easy to forget that this always happens in the Spring. We get all our rain for the year in one or two months. At least we don't live in the Tornado Alley corridor where the bad storms are headed tonight. When the weather is bad in Dallas, it always seems to be worse in Oklahoma.

It's amazing how different the park is on a weekday. Yesterday the place seemed like a carnival. Today it was just me and a few ducks. I like quiet, overcast days like today. I keep my eye out for interesting animals and new flowers although very little changes from day to day. I did see something new today. The Texas Thistle is starting to bloom. When you start seeing thistles you know that Spring is ending. These drought tolerant plants seems to thrive during the Summer.

I don't know if I'm going to thrive during the Summer. It's already starting to seem too hot and humid for me. Long walks aren't nearly as enjoyable when you're sweaty and sunburned. When Dot and Dash were young there was an indoor dog park where we used to take the dogs on hot days. The place was huge and it was air conditioned. People with active dogs loved the place. We were regulars. Dot and Dash even had special electronic tags on their collars that let them inside. Unfortunately the fancy indoor park didn't stay in business all that long. The city uses the building to park school busses now.

Dallas is a thriving, successful city but nothing I really like seems to do well here. My favorite restaurants, furniture stores, camera shops, and art galleries have all gone out of business. I was convinced that the indoor dog park would be a huge success. The facility was well thought out and dogs loved it. Apparently their owners liked free dog parks better.

I've been thinking about emergency power lately since I put most of my devices to good use during our recent power outage. I've been thinking about buying more Goal Zero generators since you can easily chain the smaller 400 watt units together to achieve higher output. Do I actually need a higher output solar generator? Probably not. If I ever get the urge, there are plenty of YouTube videos showing me how to hook everything up. I'm amazed that there are YouTube videos explaining how to fix or install just about anything. Who makes these things? Some of the subjects are so strange and esoteric that you wonder if anybody actually watches them. Hmmm. I guess I answered my own question. I watched a bunch of these videos this morning.

The drip in the shower is getting worse. Do I call a plumber or try to fix things myself? I'm almost certain that the faucets for the shower just need new washers, but I'm equally certain the I tend to screw things up when attempting plumbing repairs. I hate to pay a plumber $100 to replace a fifty cent washer, but on the other hand I hate to break a pipe trying to remove a rusty frozen bolt. Decisions, decisions.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3433

Another 20,000 step day. It's not really that much of an accomplishment, but it will have to do for now. All I know is that keeping moving seems better than standing still. My routine at the gym hasn't changed, but I go earlier now. There is still plenty of time for several long walks and a few unavoidable household chores.

I had to go back to the grocery store today because I forgot to put several things on my list yesterday. You'd think I would have remembered these things while I was at the store, but I just blindly follow my list. I also spent a little time looking for boots at REI, but didn't see anything I liked. I'm beginning to think my problem isn't my shoes, it's my feet. It's probably time for a trip to the podiatrist and some expensive custom orthotics. I did this once a long time ago and it made a huge difference.

I couldn't figure out why one of the one of the backup batteries I used during the power outage yesterday wasn't recharging. I had just about convinced myself that the Lithium Ion battery had gone bad when I realized that I'd plugged the thing into a power strip that wasn't connected to anything. Sadly, this is what growing old is like. Nothing dramatic happens. You just go to the grocery store over and over again and start plugging things into dead outlets.

It was hard to believe that yesterday was filled with thunderstorms because today was beautiful. The sky was blue and the temperature was in the eighties. It was warm enough to remind me that hundred degree days and high water bills weren't that far away. I wonder how I'll feel about walking in July? Knowing my tenacity, I'll probably continue but it won't be fun.

The shower head has developed a weird drip that's driving me crazy. Some days I can turn the shower off and other days it continues to drip for hours. I don't think the faucets are bad because at least half the time they shut off perfectly. I took the shower head apart today and cleaned it, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Minor plumbing problems are maddening. One of the toilets is making a irritating whistling noise again. The whistling stopped on it's own for about three months and now it has started again. The toilet works perfectly but I don't like hearing the noise. I hate calling a plumber for things like these because frequently they don't know what's going on either. Plumbers are used to dealing with big problems. Little problems don't seem to interest them.

I wish this weather would make up its mind. The forecast says that another band of thunderstorms will be arriving around sunrise tomorrow. Will the power go out again? Will the roof leak? Will the roof blow off the greenhouse? I don't like all the uncertainty. Sometimes I wonder if a perfect place even exists. If it rains too much it floods. If it rains too little there are wildfires. I guess I should be happy that Dallas is usually somewhere in between these extremes.

I still haven't heard anything from NASA. Maybe I'll find out something this week. I have no idea whether I'll be accepted to attend the Falcon Heavy launch, but it would be nice to have a plan for June. Until then, I've got a fresh supply of berries for my morning smoothies and some reasonably comfortable boots. Sooner of later the rainy season will be over. You've just got to have patience.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3432

It doesn't seem to take much to knock out our power. Lately, every time a big storm passes through, the electricity goes out. We definitely got a lot of rain today. At least the tornadoes we were warned about never materialized. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get both the fiber optic network and the pumps on the roof running again using various backup power supplies. A small gasoline generator powered the pumps and a solar powered generator took care of the WiFi and computers. When the power eventually returned, nothing important was disrupted at all.

Even though we had quite a storm today, I was still able to take both my walks and do the Saturday grocery shopping without getting wet. Accuweather's Minute-by-Minute  weather forecasting service is pretty amazing. Type in your street and zip code and you know exactly when the rain is going to start and stop within a two hour window. I knew how long it takes to walk three miles and the forecast said I was OK, so off I went. The sky looked a little menacing and I heard thunder off in the distance but the rain didn't start until five minutes after I returned. I love when technology works.

The storm had already passed when it was time for my evening walk. There must have been some high winds. Several large trees were down in the park and smaller limbs were scattered everywhere. One of the creeks feeding the lake was a rushing torrent. Even though the rain had subsided, the water level was still rising. Several piers along the shoreline were under water and the dock for a local rowing club seemed to have floated away. None of this deterred the fishermen. After a big rain fishermen are always attracted to the lake. I saw ten this evening. Are fish more likely to bite after a rain? There must be a reason for this.

There seems to be a reason for everything. I've been noticing that the wildflowers always bloom in a very specific order. The grape hyacinths seem to bloom first followed by lots of showy and evening primrose flowers. Next I'll start to see the bluebonnets. Next a variety of different daisies arrive. I see lots of cowpen daisies, shasta daisies, engelmann daisies, and blackfoot daisies on my walks. The firewheels are blooming now and I'm starting to see milkweed, coneflowers and mexican hat. There are always lots of tiny flowers like crow poison and blue eyed grass. I like to learn to identify the plants and animals I see. Jimson weed is blooming now. I learned to identify this poisonous plant a long time ago because I didn't want the dogs eating it. I learned to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac a long time ago too.

It's still raining, but it's just a gentle shower and both pumps are working. All is well. Janet fixed chili tonight which is the perfect antidote to a dismal day. I'm recharging all my backup batteries and looking at dog pictures on my Facebook feed. I think I am ready for tomorrow.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3431

Every one in a while I will revisit a restaurant I've abandoned just to see if the menu has changed or if there is a new chef. Today I went back to a neighborhood place that used to be a favorite of mine and much to my surprise the restaurant was gone. The building was completely empty and there was a big For Lease sign on the window. I wonder what happened? I guess I don't understand the restaurant business. The last time I was here the food was decent and there were lots of customers.

Since I couldn't eat in an empty building, I went to another restaurant I hadn't visited for a while. This one was still open, but it seemed pretty empty. This was another place that used to have a good breakfast crowd. My Eggs Benedict came on a pretty square plate, but the chef clearly didn't know how to poach an egg. I felt like going back to the kitchen and showing him how to make this dish.

I don't know where I'm going to go next Friday. Clearly I didn't have a lot of luck today. Breakfast is a simple meal. It's easy to tell if the restaurant is using fresh, real ingredients or just something they got off the Sysco food service truck. You can always tell if the hash browns are fresh or frozen. I suspect that my entire meal was frozen food service fare this morning.

I took my regular long walk when I returned home, but I must have been a glutton for punishment today because I decided that it was a good day to clean all the windows and remove the spiderwebs from the house. This is a messy but necessary job. I try to do it just once a year.

I thought the pressure washer would make the job easier, but it actually made the situation worse. The spray was strong enough to remove paint but apparently wasn't strong enough to remove spiderwebs. I should have just used a garden hose. It took forever just to get the pressure washer started. The ground lift safety feature that was supposed to keep me from being shocked wasn't working properly and the power kept cutting out. To make matters worse, Mud Dauber wasps had tried to make a nest in the nozzles and sealed the tubes with mud. I guess I don't use the pressure washer very frequently.

The windows look pretty good now although it still feels like I've got a few spiderwebs in my hair. Sadly, I just finished the back half of the house. I've got to do this all over again to remove the spiderwebs from the front. These spiders are relentless. They build webs that are stronger than Superglue and then they poop all over the window trim. Nature is nice, but there are times when when I'd rather live on the seventeenth floor of a nice new high rise.

Mr. Fitbit should be happy today. I certainly took quite a few steps. Staying active doesn't seem to be a problem. I take two long walks every day now and usually try to do something useful around the house. Finding something I actually enjoy doing is going to be more problematic.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3430

I'm starting to see Dragonflies again. This is always a good sign that Spring is ending and Summer is beginning. There will be many more Dragonflies as the weather grows warmer but they will never become easier to photograph. These little critters refuse to stay still. I also saw my first baby ducks of the season today. A Mallard Hen was swimming along the shoreline with ten small ducklings in tow. I'm always amazed that baby birds of any species survive. There are many predators in the park.

We got a nice card from the doctors and nurses at the cancer center in today's mail. As Dash's condition began to deteriorate these specialty vets got to know him very well. I think every nurse in the facility wrote a message on the card. I'm glad that Dash is remembered by so many. I'll certainly never forget what he meant to me.

This is the time of year when we usually call the landscaper to clean up the yard and plant new grass. For some reason we haven't made the call this year. On cool mornings I think that I can clean up the yard myself. Of course on hot days I just say never mind. I need to do something. There are still lots of leaves on the ground that will never get raked and the grass in the back yard is looking pretty shabby. Amazingly, some of the sod we planted last Spring is still alive, which hasn't happened in recent memory. It's harder to justify spending the money on landscaping without Dot and Dash. The dogs loved a nice yard to play in. It's not as much of a priority to us.

I'm having trouble making anything a priority. There is nothing to prove anymore. I pick up a guitar now and then, but I never write songs like I used to. I have no interest in making movies even though I still have all the tools. The documentaries I shot back in the early 1970's seem so distant that it's easy to imagine that someone else made them. I definitely don't want to go back to having clients again. The only thing I miss about working is having a steady income stream. Working did impose a structure on my life that was beneficial to a person like me, but I can't say that I really enjoyed the deadlines. You can become very good at jumping through hoops, but it's still just jumping through hoops.

I realized tonight that when I cook I always make the same thing. I make a meat sauce using sausage, green peppers, onions, and maybe a little corn and black beans. If it's breakfast, I throw in a couple of eggs and it's an omelet. If it's dinner I pour the sauce over noodles and it's pasta. Either way, it's pretty tasty. I don't need a recipe either.

When I took the trash out to the curb tonight I noticed that a raccoon had gotten into our can. What a mess. Pretty clever raccoon, since there is always a lid on the can. I don't know why this bothered me since it's just garbage. I always neatly bag and seal all the trash in black plastic bags. Of course there is method to this madness. There always is. If the trash truck fails to show up, it's easy for me to put the bags in the car and take them to a dumpster. When I think that a raccoon can easily destroy my orderly world, it all seems kind of hopeless. It's going to take a good breakfast tomorrow morning to make things right again.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3429

I always think I am slow when I walk because from time to time other people pass me on the trails going much faster than I am. This morning I realized that this is probably just an illusion. I'm sure there are people walking slower than I am as well but I never see these people because they gradually fall further and further behind. Maybe I'm really faster than I think. Life is like this. When we only look straight ahead we only see a small slice of what is going on.

I'm surprised at how many people take long walks during the day. I've started to recognize some of the people and many of them appear to walk longer distances than I do. I wonder what motivates these walkers? Maybe they're walking for their health. Maybe it's more complicated. I couldn't give you a simple reason why I do this. It's similar to walking dogs, but it's definitely not the same. The dogs really needed their walks. I'm just killing time.

I read that there's a security flaw in Intel processors and that all Apple users should apply the patch that fixes this problem immediately. I dutifully upgraded my computers without really understanding what the problem was. This happens so frequently now. Apple seldom warns you about these things but there's almost always a security update waiting for you when you go to the App Store. I used to go for years without even thinking about malware or computer viruses. It just wasn't a problem. When I first opened my business it was rare for a computer to even have a password.

We didn't have problems with telemarketers back in the day either. At least the FCC is finally starting to look at the problem. I've heard that they are now going to allow telephone carriers to block telemarketing calls by default so they won't even reach your phone. It would be nice if this were true. Telemarketers have become a major irritation. I suspect that phone companies secretly like telemarketers. If all the telemarketers suddenly disappeared the phone companies wouldn't have nearly as many customers.

I spend a lot of time walking these days, but apparently not enough. There are still huge swaths of time with nothing to do. I vacuumed the house today because I couldn't think of anything else to occupy my time. There's no point in taking naps now because I'm finally getting plenty of sleep. I still turn on the computer every morning out of habit, but there are no deadlines anymore. I don't really need a computer. I do need a purpose though. One of these days I'll find one.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day