Day 3782

I finally heard from Sky and Telescope. Their message was similar to many business messages these days. Basically it said: "Sorry for the delay. We're all working from home and everything is screwed up." I still don't know if my McDonald Observatory article will be published, but I feel better knowing that I'm back in touch with these guys. You don't want to fall into a black hole when you are dealing with an astronomy magazine.

Today was my day to get supplies for the week. I was curious to see if anything had changed since Texas is officially now in the first stage of reopening. There was a lot more traffic on the roads, but I'm not sure where everyone was going. With the exception of Lowes, Home Depot and the grocery stores, most places are still closed.

Every week there is a new item in short supply. When I went to Sam's Club this morning, people were filling their buggies with meat. Now that there are stories of the meat processing supply chain being disrupted, fresh meat has become the new toilet paper. Ironically, the store had a ton of toilet paper. There was a huge display featuring all the popular brands along with a small sign that essentially said: "As you can see we've got plenty, but due to a silly city regulation we are only allowed to sell you one package of this stuff."

There are plenty of silly regulations. They seem to change daily. They city's park system seems to be back to normal. All the blockades have been removed, the police are no longer monitoring group sizes, and people have returned to enjoy the Spring weather. We tried to get an early start on our walk with Dawn this morning, but we should have started even earlier. There were a lot of people in the park today. I guess it shouldn't have been surprising. The weather has been really nice this week.

I have no worries about being outside in the fresh air, but apparently some people do. We see quite a few masks in the park, even though nobody is close to each other. The only folks who ignore the social distancing rules are teenagers. They've been hanging out with their friends since the very beginning of this mess. If we all die, I'm going to blame it on the teenagers.

I've completed an entire week of 20,000 step days. My best day this week was over 23,000 steps. I may have gone too far though. For the first time in a long time, my knee hurts. I had a knee injury back in college and ever since, my right knee has been a bit shaky. I had an operation called Slocum's Procedure that was popular at the time but has since fallen out of favor. ACL injuries are common in both people and dogs, but I think dogs often have better outcomes. My knee has been unstable ever since the surgery. I definitely don't want a second surgery though. I've learned to compensate.

We've been eating well during the pandemic. Janet is a really good cook. Dawn has been getting a lot of attention as well. She's going to be disappointed if life ever returns to normal. I think we're going to take our walk around sunrise tomorrow morning. The park is much more enjoyable when it's empty.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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