Thursday, March 11, 2021

Day 4095

I made reservations to go out to McDonald Observatory in May. It's a long drive but it will be worth it when I get there. Ostensibly this trip is to learn more about astrophotography, but the real reason is I just like the place. The combination of dark skies, clean air, and wide open spaces is hard to beat. It looks like I will be staying at the Prude Ranch again. The Astronomer's Lodge is still closed because of Covid. I'd much rather stay on the mountain so I don't have to drive at night, but the Prude Ranch is pretty close.

I'm not sure what I'll do if I get approved to attend one of the April launches out at Kennedy Space Center. It's doubtful that I could afford two trips this close together. Oh, well. We'll see what happens. I probably won't get approved anyway. Florida may be open, but NASA isn't. They still have a lot of Covid restrictions in place. It might be better to wait until the Fall to return to Kennedy Space Center anyway. I think the more interesting launches will take place later in the year.

I"d been thinking about getting a star tracker before my next trip to the observatory, but everyone is out of stock. Telescopes, eyepieces, mounts, and almost anything related to astronomy are impossible to find these days. They say that Covid lockdowns caused a huge upsurge in interest in backyard astronomy. This is probably true of other solitary hobbies like backpacking and fishing as well. I have a feeling that we'll be learning about the unintended consequences of the pandemic for years to come.

Dawn expects her shorter daily walks now. She's usually waiting by the back door as soon as we finish lunch. It's amazing what a transformation there's been. As soon as we started doing things her way, all the freezing in place and weird behavior stopped. She's a smart little dog. We haven't done very well training her, but she's done an excellent job training us.

My foot felt better today. I wish I could figure out why the pain comes and goes. This couldn't be random, but it sure seems that way. If I knew what was causing the problem, I could change my behavior. Today's walk was exactly the same as yesterdays. Same route. Same shoes. Same everything. It sure didn't feel the same though. Yesterday I limped home. Today I was fine. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow.

I do know what I'd like to happen tomorrow. I'd like to get the washing machine running again. Hopefully, the part I need arrived today and the repairman will be out in the morning. I probably spend way too much time doing laundry, but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I won't feel comfortable until I can do a load of laundry every day again.

They say that you should never kill dandelions in the Spring because they are the only food that bees have until the other flowers start to grow. I'm not sure if this is true, but it sounds good. I guess I'm a sceptic. What to bees do for food during the winter when there are no flowers at all. At any rate, the bees shouldn't have long to wait. The Redbud and Dogwood trees in the park are starting to bloom. This means that wildflower season is only a few weeks away.

This week has gone quickly. This week's trash is already out by the curb and tomorrow we'll haul the bags of leaves out for next week's bulky trash pickup. By next Tuesday Janet and I should have acquired immunity to Covid. Does this mean that the world has returned to normal. I doubt it. Appliances will continue to break. We'll probably have masks in our cars forever. Dawn will continue to treat me like a kennel attendant and I'll continue inching along toward my 5000 day goal.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day


Watch of the Day