Day 3938

It was a busy Monday. We started the day with a walk, but Dawn didn't feel like walking today. We only made it about three blocks before she decided she didn't want to go any further. The weather was cool and Dawn seemed fine when we woke up this morning. She actually seemed fine when we got back home. In an abundance of caution, we're not going to push her though. She's still taking a lot of meds and we're not sure what's going on. If Dawn is trying to tell us something, we'd better listen.

Since it's Monday again, we made sure to go up and visit Charlie at the kennel. He's still the only Dalmatian currently in the rescue program and as always, he was very glad to see us. Charlie is a sweet dog, but he is not good with other dogs and is very unpredictable. We're still hoping that he will find his forever home soon, but the right person hasn't appeared yet. Sometimes you've just got to be patient.

I'm trying to be patient with the rest of my life. For almost a year there has been a special astrophotography workshop out at McDonald Observatory that I've been wanting to attend. When I was out at the observatory last March, the event was already sold out. Then the pandemic came along and the event was canceled. The observatory tried to reschedule the event several times and kept having to push back the date. I figured that some of the original participants would be forced to drop out as the date kept changing, so I asked a friend at the observatory to put me on a wait list. I got a notice today that two people had dropped out and I could go if I wanted to. 

The Astronomer's Lodge is still closed, but I thought it would be easy to find a hotel in the area. Not so fast. Indian Lodge is completely booked thru mid December. The Hotel Limpia was completely full as well. I called a few other places and just got a voicemail message. This is my project for tomorrow. There's bound to be someplace in the vicinity of the observatory where I could stay. Hopefully, I can make this work. The astrophotography workshop seems safe and well worth the effort to attend. There will only be ten people attending and the entire two day event is conducted outdoors. Since I would be driving to West Texas, there are no crowded planes to worry about. I wasn't expecting problems finding a place to stay, but I guess America has a bad case of cabin fever and people are taking car trips like never before. It would be a shame if I had to cancel just because I couldn't find a place to stay. 

Nothing is easy these days. I got a call from my doctor's office today saying that the senior citizen strength flu shots had arrived and I'd better make an appointment quickly before they ran out again. I asked whether I could just get the shot at a pharmacy instead and was informed that senior flu shots are in very shot supply and that many pharmacies were just adding something to regular flu shots to make them stronger. "Don't take one of those," my nurse told me. 

So I guess I've got two things to do tomorrow. I've got to find a place to stay in West Texas and I've got to go get a flu shot. Hopefully Dawn will be in good spirits and feel like walking again. I can't wait for her to get back to normal again. I wish everything would get back to normal again. I got a letter from my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today apologizing for not sending my author copies of the October issue last month. "As you no doubt realize, the situation is rather hectic for us in the UK at the moment!," he said. It's easy for me to forget that Dallas is actually pretty normal compared to many other places. The entire world has been turned upside down.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day