Day 4087

I'm still battling seasonal allergies. I went to the pharmacy this morning for a different kind of allergy medicine. I'd been taking Allegra, but a friend told me that I really needed Allegra-D. What's the difference, I thought. The first kind is available over the counter and the second kind you have to ask the pharmacist for after showing him your driver's license and registering with the DEA. What's the big deal with adding a decongestant to this allergy medicine, I asked the pharmacist? Well, you can use this stuff to make meth, he told me. I guess I've led a sheltered life. This was news to me. Allegra-D was also more expensive than the regular Allegra. We'll see if it works. If this stuff can stop my runny nose, it's worth it.

My feet hurt and my nose is running like a faucet, but I can't even feel my second Covid shot. I've had no reaction to the vaccine at all. This is pretty typical. I don't think I've had much of a reaction to any vaccine I've taken. One thing Janet and I both noticed was that that there didn't seem to be much vaccine in the syringe. The needle was very small and the injection just seemed to take a second or two. This was quite different from the Shingles vaccine we'd taken earlier in the year. The Shingles vaccine syringe was quite large and the injection seemed to take forever. At any rate, I hope this stuff works. I've already written my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine and told him I'm ready to travel again.

Our weather continues to be unseasonably warm. I was able to wear a t-shirt on my long walk again and was actually hot by the time I returned home. Dawn enjoyed her shorter walk but she's started eating grass again. Why do dogs like to eat grass? All our dogs have eaten grass at one point or another. Does this mean they are deficient in some nutrient or do they just like the taste? Dawn will only eat a particular type of grass, but there seems to be a lot of it in the park.

I watched the SN10 Starship test flight this afternoon on the Boca Chica live feed. This time the rocket seemed to work perfectly and was able to make a soft landing on the pad. After sitting on the pad for about five minutes, it inexplicably blew up. What was that all about? Was this something Space X did on purpose to test the flight termination device? Did the rocket make a hard landing and damage an engine? Was it cheaper to blow the rocket up than to disassemble it later? Nobody seems to know, but there is a lot of wild speculation. People who like Space X say the test was 99.9% successful. People who don't like Space X say the test was a failure and that the Starship design is flawed. Why am I not surprised that people can't seem to agree on anything.

I just read the fine print on the Allegra-D box. It says not to take the stuff if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, an enlarged prostate, or have difficulty swallowing. Wouldn't it have been easier to just say not to take the pill if you were old? There is also a warning not to take the pills with fruit juice. Hmm. I wonder if my morning smoothie counts as fruit juice?  Maybe I ought to talk to my doctor before taking this stuff. I've never run into a pill that my doctor didn't like, but there's a first time for everything.

I've really got to get started working on my taxes tomorrow. I've run out of excuses and I'm running out of time. I guess it's either the taxes or raking leaves. I'm running out of excuses to finish with the leaves as well. No wonder I'm so eager to leave town and go to a rocket launch.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day