Day 3944

The people who visit the park in the morning are completely different than the ones who visit in the afternoon. When I walk in the morning I see people full of purpose. I still have hope for humanity when I see these people. They are athletes in training. They are trying to lose weight. They are walking their dogs. They are lugging cameras with long telephoto lenses to photograph shorebirds. I want to give these people a thumbs up when we pass them on the trails.

I completely lose my faith in humanity on my afternoon walks. Today I saw a photographer taking family portraits in a patch of poison ivy. I saw a group almost start a grass fire with their barbecue grill. I saw a guy fall out of his hammock on his ass. And I saw a mother and daughter going way too fast down a steep hill on skateboards. They both crashed and although neither seemed seriously injured, there was a lot of blood.

I guess I identify with the purposeful people, even though I have a strong lazy streak. I finally hauled a bucket of liquid silicon up to the roof today and continued my repair work. I was able to patch most of the questionable areas before I became too tired. Even though the weather was nice on our early walk this morning, it had warmed up considerably by mid-afternoon. After an hour or two on the roof I was exhausted and drenched in sweat. I still have enough of the silicon material for two more repair efforts. I think I'll wait until after the next rain and see how these repairs hold up.

I didn't even think about going to the gym today. After taking a short nap to cool down, I vacuumed the house. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find some camera gear that I want to take with me to the observatory. I know I've used this little adapter that allows you to connect one brand of lenses to a different brand of camera. I couldn't find it anywhere. Sadly, this is a frequent occurrence. I can't remember where anything is anymore.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not as sharp as I was in my 30's and 40's. This is why I wonder why we let so many really old people run for public office. Term limits might be a good idea, but age limits would be even better. When I see some of these geezers on TV, it's embarrassing. Both parties are to blame. Apparently, power is very addictive. I wouldn't know. I've never had any.

This weekend has gone quickly. Tomorrow is some sort of holiday. Is it Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day? Maybe it's both. At any rate, we won't be getting any mail. I'd better not plan any trips to the bank either. I'm sure stores will be open. I still need to go to REI and look for a headlamp with a red beam that I can use to check camera settings in the dark. On second thought, I might not do any of these things. I just remembered that tomorrow is Dalmatian day. We still need to visit Charlie at the kennel.

Dawn continues to get better. Janet fixed a delicious dinner tonight. Sky & Telescope really seems to like my article. Im old and forgetful, but life is good.

Katy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day