Friday, May 21, 2021

Day 4166

There were scattered showers today, but not enough rain to change any plans. Not that I had any plans, mind you. It was such an uneventful day that it's hard to remember if I did anything at all. It's still too wet to do yard work, which is kind of a blessing. I'm not in the mood to do yard work at all. Mostly I just puttered around the house until it was time for my long walk.

You know the routine by now. I made the bed, fixed my morning smoothie, and watched the world fall apart on cable news. After breakfast I checked my messages and practiced processing some more astrophotography images. Today's efforts were a little more successful. I've been working with the same image for several days now and each day it comes out looking a little different. I still did one thing wrong today, so I might have to try this one more time before I move on to the next image.

Dawn was eager to walk today. She even branched off in a new direction, which kind of startled Janet and I. Instead of sticking to her normal path, she ventured down to the shoreline and had a great time smelling things. I thought she might be lost for a while, but at the appropriate time she turned away from the lake and headed back up the hill toward home. If this wasn't Dawn, you wouldn't give this kind of behavior a second thought. Seeing Dawn happy and curious was a big deal to us. She just seemed like a normal dog out for a walk on a Spring day.

As always, I continued walking after Dawn and Janet returned to the house. There was a nice breeze and it was mostly overcast, so I didn't get too hot. My feet didn't bother me too much today, so all was well. If I weren't so lazy, I'd take the car and go somewhere different to walk. It's a nice big park though and I don't mind seeing the same things day after day. At this time of year there are always new wildflowers to identify and lots and lots of ducks. Just about all the wildflowers have appeared by now and the fields and meadows are filled with color. This would be the perfect time of year in Dallas if it didn't rain so much.

The little sensor that monitors our electric lines sent a message to my watch saying that our Internet had gone out while I was out on my walk. Hmm. I didn't know that this thing monitored the Internet too. I called Janet to see if we'd had a power outage and she said everything was fine. It turned out that the only thing that was faulty was the sensor itself. Maybe I'll quit using this thing. It's supposed to help prevent electrical fires, but I'm still not sure if it does anything at all.

I got an invitation to apply for media credentials to attend the Boeing Starliner launch in late July. Do I try to go to this one, or the Falcon Heavy STP-3 launch at the end of June? There's also the Space X Inspiration 4 private mission later this Fall along with the first Starship orbital flight and hopefully Artemis-1 as well. That's a lot of activity and I can probably only afford to attend one of these launches. I'm not even sure I'll get approved to attend any. I've got to remain optimistic though. I've managed to get four articles about launch activities at Kennedy Space Center published, so at least in my own mind I'm a legitimate journalist.

I got a bag of ice from the grocery store, so I can postpone calling the appliance repairman for a while. I don't think I can postpone mowing the grass though. It's really been growing fast with all this wet weather. We'll see how the weekend goes. One way or another, I"m sure I'll be doing a lot of chores.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day


Watch of the Day