Day 4451

It continues to be unseasonably warm. I wonder if the weird weather is affecting my allergies. My nose was running like a faucet today. My nose runs so much that I can't use regular Kleenex. I have to remember to always carry a couple of those heavy duty blue shop towels with me. Other than my perpetual seasonal allergies it was a great day. I hope we don't have a late freeze. With all this warm weather the trees are already starting to bud.

It was a pretty quiet day. I went to the bank and filled my car with gas. That was about it. I need to remember to always run errands like this when other people are at work. There were no lines at the gas pumps or the bank drive up window. 10:30 in the morning is great. Rush hour is over and people haven't started going to lunch yet. Now, I just need to break my habit of always doing my grocery shopping on Saturday. The first rule of retirement should always be to never do things when everyone else is doing things.

I was able to complete my full six mile walk today. My pace is considerably slower than it used to be unfortunately. I have to walk slowly and carefully now to minimize the foot pain. I stay on pavement or smooth trails more than I used to as well. I really don't want to twist an ankle. It's still good to be active though. I spend over two hours a day walking and that burns quite a few calories.

I avoid current events and politics like the plague, but Ukraine has captured my attention. I think this country has shown the world what real patriotism looks like. The Ukrainians make all the squabbles between the left and right in our own country look ridiculous. I wish there was a way we could help these guys a little more without starting World War III. I keep thinking if the Ukrainians had a few of our A-10 Warthogs they could take care of that forty mile convoy headed towards Kyiv fairly quickly.

There is a new update to the star tracker software. I hesitate to even use it because each new update seems to fix something while breaking something else. The Polaris tracker is still a work in progress and I am still basically a Beta tester. You'd think testing something like this would be interesting for me, but for the most part it is just irritating. I expect machines to work. Car problems, furnace problems, computer problems, and now star tracker problems are just an added nuisance in a world that is already too complicated.

My press credentials at Patrick Air Force Base have expired and nobody has contacted me yet about renewing them for another year. I hope this isn't a problem. I really want to go see the Artemis-1 launch later this year and I could usually count on the Air Force to get me on base even when NASA turned me down. I'm beginning to feel like I'm not in the loop anymore. There are a lot of launches at Kennedy Space Center now and I can only afford to go to a very few. It's too bad the magazine I write for doesn't pay for travel.

Janet said Dawn did really well at training class tonight. Dawn is starting to enjoy these weekly classes and has even made some dog friends. It's nice to see her overcome her fear and become a normal dog. She's still a little uncertain about me, but we're working on it.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day