Day 3710

Things are looking up. When I woke up this morning the rain had stopped and I was seeing patches of blue sky. The first thing I did after breakfast was go up on the roof and clear the water away. This stopped the leak. Hopefully the weather will stay dry enough for me to figure out where the leak originates before the next storm arrives. The source of the leak certainly isn't obvious. I looked again today and couldn't find anything suspicious.

It looks like the magazine is going to publish my article about the Solar Orbiter. This was a pleasant surprise. When I was in Florida I thought the only thing they wanted were photos. I have no idea when the article will be published. My previous article about Artemis Day in New Orleans hasn't even been published yet. I'm three for three though. My last three NASA trips have all resulted in published articles.

Early voting has started in Texas so I stopped by a local library and voted on my way home from the post office. Dallas has changed all its voting machines. Now you are handed a blank paper ballot which you insert into a machine. You make your choices using a touch screen and then when you are finished the machine prints a paper ballot with your selections. You place this ballot into another machine on your way out of the building. It all seems pretty complicated to me, but I guess there's a paper trail now if the machines go haywire.

Janet and I took Dawn on another walk today. We walk her a little longer each day and she is doing very well. She doesn't know how to heal yet, but does pretty well on a leash. I have to keep my eye on her because she can't decide whether she wants to be on my right or my left and often has a tendency to walk directly in front of me. I have to stay alert because I don't want to trip over her. There's no daydreaming with this dog.

I've paid my credit card bills and now I don't have the Florida trip hanging over my head. I wish I could figure a way to lower the cost of these NASA trips. The fixed costs are always the airline, hotel and rental car. You really can't save any money on these things if you have to change your reservations frequently. I think I had to change my reservations four times on the Solar Orbiter trip.

Now that my trip to Kennedy Space Center has concluded, It's time to get ready for my next big adventure. I wrote the observatory today and asked if I could change my arrival time. I was going to arrive on a weekday, but it occurred to me that there would be much less traffic if I drove to West Texas on a Sunday. Since the Astronomer's Lodge isn't a regular hotel, I need to find out whether I need to bring things like towels and bedding. I wonder if they have laundry facilities? I'm going to be there a while.

Tomorrow morning we take Dawn to the vet to get her stitches out. She'll probably have a few scars for the rest of her life, but her wounds are healing nicely. She's almost finished will all her meds too. Hopefully, her memories of the attack will fade. I want her to have a happy, normal life.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day