Day 3655

I don't know why I never thought of this before. I started looking for observatories near Dallas and found more than I expected. Most of these telescopes were fairly small and were maintained by local colleges and universities. Some had public access and others didn't. One even offered private viewing opportunities. All of these small observatories were located in rural areas with very dark skies but were still close enough to a town that I could stay in a motel if I didn't feel like driving back to Dallas in the middle of the night. This is worth exploring further. Before I become a star guide at McDonald Observatory, I probably need a refresher course in what I'm actually looking at.

I didn't have the proper ingredients for my smoothie this morning, so I just threw everything I had in the Vitamix and drank it anyway. Surprising, adding a carrot to the remaining fruit wasn't half bad. After breakfast I went to the grocery store and got enough food to last me through the weekend. It looks like it is going to rain tomorrow and I wanted to have the option of staying dry at home.

My household chore for the day was defrosting the small refrigerator. This was supposed to just be an  emergency refrigerator to use when our big refrigerator in the kitchen was broken. The refrigerator was fixed long ago and we still use the little one. Defrosting this thing reminds me of the days when the TV didn't have a remote, ovens weren't self-cleaning, and light bulbs burned out every few months. It's amazing how we just take our automated lives for granted these days.

The park has been full of people all week. This period between Christmas and New Year's is confusing, since every day seems like Sunday. Lots of folks were trying out new bicycles and scooters today. For the past several years I've been seeing people learning to fly their new drones right after Christmas. I've been led to believe that these things practically fly themselves, but there must be some skill involved. A lot of new drone pilots are terrible. I saw a guy this afternoon repeatedly crash his Christmas toy while his girlfriend laughed at him.

It looks like all the leaves are off the trees now. I can't decide whether to rake and bag the leaves myself or hire the landscape guy to do it. Janet and I used to rake leaves every Fall and then one year it just seemed like a lot of trouble. Some years we got someone to remove the leaves for us and other years we just left them on the ground. By Spring, most of them had blown away anyway. I don't know why I'm even thinking of raking leaves this year. I must not have enough to do.

I've been getting a lot of notices about big after Christmas sales in my e-mail lately, but I still don't feel like buying anything. This is unexpected. Back in the day, I always felt like I needed a new camera or microphone. Gadgets just don't interest me as much anymore. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Where do you go when gadgets fail to excite you?

Hard to believe we are approaching the end of another decade. New Year's Eve 1999 still seems like it was yesterday. That's a little unsettling. Even in the best of worlds, it's doubtful that I have another twenty years left.

Taylor os today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day