Day 3714

I received the press proofs of my Solar Orbiter article today. Wow. That was fast. The article I wrote about the Artemis program several months ago is still at least a month away from publication. The Solar Orbiter article was edited for length, but I was happy with the results. It looks good. So far, my last three NASA trips have resulted in three published articles. Who knows where this will lead, but I think I'm making progress.

I wish I was making progress with the roof. Since the weather was much better today, I went up on the roof right after breakfast and swept all the remaining water away. I was surprised at how much water was up there. I didn't think it rained that much. At least the roof didn't leak this time. I think the trick is getting the water off the roof quickly. Sustained heavy rains are always the problem. If it rains all day, there is no way I can remove the water quickly enough.

I think I'm safe for a little while. The forecast is predicting clear skies for the rest of the week. I'm going to try to schedule some time at the observatory north of town while the weather is good. This might be the best chance I have before leaving for West Texas. I'd still like to become more familiar with Winter galaxies before helping with star parties on Mount Locke.

Dawn is so good around the house now. She doesn't even seem like a rescue dog anymore. She gets daily walks now and we try to work in a little training time while we're out. Dawn loves being outdoors. We walked two miles today and she wasn't even tired when we returned home. Janet and I felt comfortable leaving her alone while we visited the remaining kennel dogs this afternoon. She was still sleeping on the bed when we returned.

I really need to get organized. It seems like there's a lot of unfinished business I haven't dealt with yet.  It's time to gather up all my tax information and get it to my accountant. I still need to get the damaged Oak tree in the back yard removed. The greenhouse hasn't been repaired yet either. I guess there is no point to start repairs until the tree is removed though. It would be just my luck that the tree guys would drop a limb on the greenhouse roof and ruin it all over again. There is still one roofer on my list who hasn't completed his bid yet. I have a feeling that he doesn't want to do the job. I've given him plenty of time. I need to go buy more silicon material as well, since few roofers seem inclined to help me.

I hope the coronavirus scare doesn't get a lot worse. There's enough to worry about in the world already. The last thing we need is a global plague. A global pandemic reinforces all my reservations about globalism. This wouldn't be spreading so rapidly if people weren't traveling everywhere. The genie is already out of the bottle though. We'll have to see what happens.

I'm happy enough to stay at home in my own neighborhood. Unless there's a rocket launch of course. Then, I've got to travel.

Nora is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day