Day 3896

Dalmatian day is back. We returned to the kennel this afternoon for a visit with Hank, Luckie, and Charlie. All three dogs were happy to see us and seem to be doing well. We learned that someone is interested in Luckie and Hank. With any luck, these two may find their forever homes soon. Luckie seems more relaxed each time we visit. She has grown fond of the kennel staff and is learning to trust us as well. The kennel is kind of like a halfway house for some of these dogs. It's a safe place where they can learn to trust people while the rescue group tries to find them a forever home.

The park seemed empty this morning. You can tell that more and more people are going back to work. When the pandemic started the roads were empty. Now the early morning rush hour is as bad as it ever was. Luckily, we are both retired and don't have to deal with returning to work in an uncertain world. Often our days are uneventful, but taking long walks in a beautiful park still seems preferable to anything else I can think of.

We've been seeing a wide variety of warning lights worn by dogs and runners, so we got Dawn a little red LED light that clips to her collar. Those bicycles that whizz by in the dark aren't going to surprise us now. As the days get shorter, I'm still thinking of getting a small headlamp. I was going to go to REI this weekend, but there was a line in front of the store because they are still restricting access. It's weird. If you went directly from Home Depot to REI on a shopping excursion, you'd think you were in two different worlds. Everyone just makes up their own rules on how they will handle the pandemic. There is no consistency whatsoever.

I still look at the Boca Chica live feed cameras every day. It is fascinating to see how quickly things change from day to day at this facility. This is the Wild West compared to NASA. It is also the future. Things look kind of primitive now, but I bet in ten years this remote strip of land near the Mexican border is going to look more sophisticated than Kennedy Space Center. I wouldn't bet against Elon Musk. The guy really wants to go to Mars. I'm going to have to work on arranging a visit to this place. There's definitely a story worth telling down there.

It's a shame that now that I've renewed my childhood interest in astronomy, I don't feel safe going out after dark. You really can't do this stuff in the daytime. Every time I turn on the local news, there a story about someone getting shot overnight. This is why I like McDonald Observatory so much. It's not just the dark skies. The place is so remote that urban unrest is the last thing on your mind. I have to admit that I didn't feel completely safe wandering around on the mountain after dark, but it wasn't people I was worried about. There were always those pesky mountain lions and snakes.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. It's still too hot to resume repairs in the roof. I don't feel like cleaning out the office either. Janet and I still talk about taking a short trip, but there are no clear destinations yet and Dawn doesn't like riding in the car. I'll continue to think about these things as I walk. I'm certainly racking up a lot of steps.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day