Day 4226

I watched Jeff Bezos and his passengers take a short ride to space aboard his New Shepard rocket this morning while I was eating breakfast. I also watched the rocket's namesake Alan Shepard take a similar ride in his Freedom 7 capsule 60 years ago. The Internet didn't exist back then. We all gathered around a bulky black and white television that has been placed in the middle of the gym at my middle school. Fifty two years ago today my college friends and I gathered around a different television in the university student union to watch Apollo 11 head toward the moon. A lot has changed since those early days, but I find that after all these years I'm still interested in space travel. 

Back in the day I thought we'd have atomic rockets and be living on Mars by now. It never really occured to me that we'd have space tourism instead. I wouldn't mind flying on that New Shepard rocket. The price would have to come down a lot though. If someone could manage to get the cost down to the price of a Carribean cruise, I might consider it. Jeff would have to put an elevator in that tower though. Climbing all those stairs looked like the hardest part of the trip.

Time flies. Two years ago I was in Florida to attend a Space X Falcon Heavy launch from Pad 39A on the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from the same pad. One year ago I was looking for Comet Neowise in my backyard and starting to develop an interest in astrophotography. I wonder if I'll still be around when the first Space X Starship lands on Mars? There are going to be a lot of interesting developments in the years ahead. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to witness some of them. For now, I'm just going to try to stay healthy until Dallas gets a total solar eclipse in April 2024.

We took Dawn back to the vet today so they could get a urine sample to determine whether her infection has cleared up. We talked for a bit about Dawn's obsession with licking her paws.  We have to determine whether the problem is behavioral or medical in nature. The vet thinks we should try anti-anxiety medications first before doing extensive allergy testing. Janet agrees with the vet while I remain suspicious of all psychotropic medications. I'm sure that anti-anxiety medications work. I just don't like the idea of depending on a drug to regulate your mood.

Dawn took her longest walk in many months this morning. She seems to enjoy exploring the neighborhood now. Our one mile loop has slowly increased to a mile and a half. We let Dawn choose where she wants to go and don't try to push her too hard. She is increasing her territory a little bit at a time and seems to feel comfortable as long as she knows the way home. This cautious behavior still seems strange, since Dawn took long walks with us for many months when we first got her. She did have that one pretty bad seizure about six months ago. Maybe that caused some brain damage.

It was a little hot this afternoon, but the skies were overcast so I decided to take my long walk instead of going to the gym. I use the spray fountain I discovered recently and this helps keep me cooler. It's weird that I spend so much of my day doing things I don't really enjoy. Writing and walking provide a certain amount of discipline and I think everyone needs to lead a disciplined life. If you looked up 'free spirit' in the dictionary, the definition would definitely not include me.

They say that people who overthink things tend to develop anxiety. I wonder if it is the same for dogs? It would be a shame if Dawn spends her day overthinking things while I'm here thinking of nothing at all. 

Lady Jane is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day