Day 3862

One of my credit cards got updated recently with a new contactless version that you don't need to insert in a terminal. For some reason the bank decided to change the number on the card, so I thought I would have to update all my online accounts. Much to my surprise, most of the websites where I had an account on file already had the new credit card number before I even had a chance to tell them about the changes. Weird. I've long suspected that privacy is just an illusion and that all our secrets are out there in the cloud already. I was initially surprised when I started using online banking services to pay bills. The whole process was so easy. It's all starting to make sense now. The banks and financial institutions already know everything about you.

It was supposed to rain today, but it never did. All we got was a lot of humidity. We took a shorter walk this morning just to get back inside where it was air conditioned. Our clothes were so damp from the humidity that it might as well have rained. At least rain would have been cooler.

I don't think I did anything productive today. I continued to sort thorough old photo gear, looking for the perfect lens to take a picture of the comet. I was looking for a fast manual telephoto with clear distance markings on the lens so I could focus easily in the dark. All my new digital cameras have lenses that focus electronically. You can set them to manual mode, but the focusing is still done electronically. This makes it hard to focus when you turn autofocus off and can't see anything through the viewfinder. Some of my best comet pictures the other day were ruined because the lens wasn't exactly set on infinity. If I want to use these new lenses for astrophotography, I guess I need to focus on a distant object in the daytime and then tape the lens barrel in place. It probably doesn't matter anyway. There are lots of clouds on the horizon tonight. Time is running out. I might not see the comet ever again.

Dawn has another vet appointment in the morning to recheck for crystals in her urine. Hopefully, she will cooperate and give us a sample before we go to the vet. I think Janet has perfected a method of getting a urine sample from Dawn, but it still doesn't work every time. If you don't place the ladle just right when she starts to pee, you are out of luck. I think the vet is still under Covid protocol. You can't actually go in the exam room with the vet. A vet tech just takes your dog to the back and then you wait for the results. It's weird that everyone seems to have different rules for dealing with the virus. I haven't gone out much, but the dermatologist, dentist, and hair salon all clearly had very different rules. The restaurant where we went for my birthday dinner didn't seem to have any rules at all.

The longer this pandemic goes on, the more envious I am of my friends out at McDonald Observatory. They were socially distanced before the pandemic even began. When the observatory closed to the public, they didn't have to worry about people at all. This sounds perfect to me. What could be better than getting paid for doing something interesting without any of the craziness that the rest of us are dealing with. I worry that they might start to like the isolation and never open the observatory again.

I hope Dawn's exam goes well tomorrow. I'm not ready for any sort of doggie medical problems. Been there and done that way too many times.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day