Day 3694

This weather is nuts. Every day is different. Today it was very cold and forecasters are still predicting snow and sleet tomorrow. It must have rained quite a bit last night because the roof leak in the kitchen has returned. Even though I knew that it was going to continue raining tomorrow, I was forced to go up on the roof and remove as much water as I could to stop the leak. Was I really wearing shorts and a t-shirt just a few days ago? Today, two warm coats and compression pants under my jeans didn't seem enough.

I did manage to stop the leak but this morning's success is only temporary. I still don't know where the water is getting in and as soon as the rain returns, I'm sure the leak will reappear. It's going to be a while before I can even think about doing some more patching. It's all very frustrating.

I had to run some errands this morning and while I was out I stopped at a few drug stores to see if I could find a pack of disposable face masks. The pharmacists just laughed. They told me they had completely sold out of the masks quite a while ago. This seemed a bit weird to me. I haven't seen a single person wearing a mask here in Dallas. People must be hoarding these things. I guess this makes sense. We'll all been watching apocalyptic pandemic movies since The Andromeda Strain appeared in 1971. There are a ton of these movies: The Stand. 12 Monkeys. 28 Days Later. Outbreak. Contagion. I am Legend. The list could go on and on. When something real happens like this, it's easy to let your imagination run wild.

I can't say that I enjoyed my walk today. I was already tired from removing the water from the roof, but went ahead and walked anyway. The combination of rapidly falling temperatures, a light mist, and a stiff wind made walking fairly miserable. I was warm enough though. Two coats, heavy gloves, and compression pants under my jeans does the trick. I guess if I can survive this, I'll be fine up on Mount Lock later this Spring.

I still can't decide whether to view the rollout of the Atlas 5 rocket from a fishing boat near the pad. The view should be spectacular but I don't do well on boats. I've even gotten sick on large cruise ships. A photographer friend has watched a launch from this same boat and said he got seasick. Would dramamine do the trick? I'd really like to get a close up view of the pad before the launch, but it would be so much easier to catch a ride on the press bus. It's too bad they are only allowing thirty people on this bus. Will I get off the waitlist? I doubt it. There will always be thirty journalists more senior than me.

I don't think I'll be going anywhere tomorrow. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong. Snow and sleet in Dallas is never a good thing. Whatever happens, it looks like this is just a one day event. Thursday, Friday in Saturday are supposed to be clear. I don't know why I spend so much time fretting about weather forecasts. They're mostly wrong anyway.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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