Day 4074

Somehow they can flawlessly land a rover on Mars, but they can't keep the lights on in Texas. I watched the Perseverance landing today and I'll have to admit that I was impressed. After traveling almost 300 million miles, the spacecraft landed within 115 feet of it's target. I can't say that I'm very impressed with Texas. Other states seem to be able to cope with winter. Why can't we? Not planning for a storm like this is like not putting antifreeze in your car because you don't think it's going to be cold. Jeez. I can't predict the future. Can you? I'd like to see a little contingency planning. If the utility company's were cutting corners to save money, then why is my electric bill always so high? Something seems fishy to me. At the rates most utilities charge, there should have been plenty of money to winterize everything.

It still hasn't gotten above freezing, but it was a little warmer today. Maybe tomorrow will be the magic day when everything starts to thaw. We still have power and no pipes have frozen. I'm glad that our water pipes are buried under the slab. Most of the burst pipes in town seem to be located in exterior walls or uninsulated attics. For once the design of our house is working to our advantage. Even the snow on the flat roof is providing extra insulation. This is no time to let down your guard though. I think we'll leave our faucets dripping until it's t-shirt weather again.

I hope we don't have problems getting Dawn to walk again when this cold spell is over. She seems awfully comfortable sitting on the bed and doing nothing. Most dogs would be upset if you left them behind on a walk. Dawn doesn't even leave the bed. She just gives us this look that says "Bye you crazy fools. I'll keep the bed warm for you." 

Our shorter walks seem much more tiring than the longer ones we used to take when the weather was warmer. It's hard to walk on crusty snow and icy roads. Neither of us wants to fall. Your bone density gets worse as you age and I don't think a bad fall would be very forgiving. My boots aren't very forgiving either. I don't think the orthopedic surgeon who looked at my feet would approve of these boots, but they are waterproof and keep my feet warm. I'll go back to wearing the special running shoes when all the snow melts.

They say that most grocery stores are running out of food because trucks can't get in to restock them. I hope that changes in the next day or two. We've got enough food left for a couple more days, but the refrigerator is starting to look a little bare. I'm glad we stocked up on grocery day last Saturday. People who didn't plan ahead are living on Cheetos now.

While I was watching the Perseverance landing on NASA TV today I kept thinking how ironic it was that I abandoned my attempts to go out to JPL in California because of Covid. It never even occurred to me that if I had managed to get press accreditation, I wouldn't be able to go anyway because a winter storm had closed all the airports. It just goes to show that it doesn't pay to predict the future.

I"m not going to predict what will happen tomorrow. I do hope it gets above freezing though. This winter storm has worn out it's welcome. It's time to go back to regular weird weather.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day