Day 3984

My editor likes the story and photos I submitted. I think my article will appear in the January issue of the magazine. Now it's on to the next adventure. I'd like to attend the static fire test of the Artemis 1 rocket that's scheduled to take place at Stennis Space Center in December, but that will require NASA approval. We'll see what happens. I applied for credentials months ago but almost forgot about it because the Artemis 1 Green Run tests have had many delays. This static fire would have have already taken place if it weren't for the recent Gulf hurricanes that I believe caused some damage to the test stand. Hopefully I will be approved. This is an easy trip that is much less expensive than going to Kennedy Space Center. I could even drive there is I needed to.

The only place I drove today was to the post office. It was time to mail another letter to my sister who refuses to use the Internet. Now that I pay all my bills online, mailing this periodic letter is the only reason I have to go to the post office at all. On the way home I stopped at the smokehouse again and got a small ham for Thanksgiving. Now I know what to ask for. The little hams are called "chops" because they are cut from the end of a larger bone-in ham. The smokehouse uses them to make sandwiches for customers in the restaurant section of the store. At any rate, I now have a holiday ham that is perfect for two people without a lot of leftovers.

I'm having a hard time getting up lately. We walk at the same time every morning, but it seems like I should be sleeping at least an hour longer. You don't keep Janet and Dawn waiting, so I stumbled out the door and woke up along the way. Our Fall colors are already fading. There are lots of leaves on the ground now, and the ones still on the trees are turning brown. I found a few colorful leaves this morning, but even these will be gone soon.

I've stopped looking at Sprinter Van websites. I have no desire to get an RV anymore. Hotels are much nicer. You can take long showers and you don't have to deal with the dreaded black water tank. I'm no longer looking at Ford Bronco sites much either. The new 4x4 is already sold out through the end of 2021. I wonder why I'm still looking at telescope sites? A good telescope is expensive, quite heavy, and there is nothing to see in Dallas anyway. It probably makes more sense to save my money and make a trip out to the Davis Mountains whenever I need a dark sky fix. 

Old habits are hard to break. I really need to curb my desire to acquire new gear when I'm still trying to get rid of old gear. I had to go to the storage warehouse the other day and the thought of cleaning that place out seems almost impossible. The office is just as bad. I'm a borderline hoarder and get no pleasure out of throwing things away. On the other hand, I'm the first to admit that life would be better if all the clutter was gone and I was just surrounded by things I actually use.

It's time to make a grocery list again. I wonder if I'll ever be able to go to a grocery store without feeling like I'm making a journey into the heart of Chernobyl? The weird thing about living through a pandemic is that you gradually get used to things that would have seemed unthinkable a few years ago. I hope the "new normal" never becomes something we just take for granted. We need to remember that life used to be better than this. I'm still hoping that those days will return.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day