Day 4499

It was a very busy day. Since our monthly bulky trash pickup is tomorrow, I thought I'd try to remove the remaining leaves from our side yard. There were a ton of leaves and I eventually bagged up most of them and took the bags out to the curb. I should have done this weeks ago, but at least I got it done. Hopefully it will be easier now to get the mower out to the front yard now when it's time to mow.

I got a message from FedEx this morning saying that my camera part from China had been delivered. I went outside to get the package, but there was nothing. I looked everywhere. The FedEx curse had struck again. This package was supposed to arrive by FedEx Express, so I thought they might be a little better than FedEx Ground. Nope. Same terrible service. 

I called the lady at the local Fedex Ground terminal who had helped me find my lost star tracker and asked if she knew anyone locally at FedEx Express who could help me find out what had happened. She didn't know anyone, but was able to look up a local number for me. When I called the number, someone was able to determine what truck my package was on and called the driver. An hour later I got a call back saying that the driver had left the package at my neighbor's house by mistake. Sure enough, that's where the package was, right by the front door. I was nervous to go inside the gate and get the package because this was the same house where the dog bit me years ago. I made sure that the dog was not outside and then quickly retrieved the small package. All is well now, but I still think FedEx could do better.

It's too late to change my mind about going to the observatory now. I'm starting to get work assignments. I need to forget the long drive and remember how much I've enjoyed my trips to the observatory in the past. I've made this trip four time before. Surely I can do it one more time. I kind of feel the same way about the trip to West Texas as I do about my daily walks. The walks are not always fun, but the alternative is even worse. I'm not ready to give up and do nothing. I'll continue trying to keep my mind and body active for as long as I can. There's nothing fancy about this. You've just got to keep moving.

I did pretty well at keeping moving today. In addition to all the exercise I got raking and bagging leaves, I also took an even longer walk than usual. I joined Dawn and Janet on their afternoon walk and then just kept walking. 25,000 steps today. I don't think that this is an all time record, but it's pretty close. My feet hurt, but not nearly as bad as I expected. 

On the way home I passed a guy who has been taking care of one of my neighbor's yards for years. He's a nice guy that I've known for a long time and I asked him if he'd be interested in adding another yard to his lawn care business. I was a bit surprised when he said that he'd be happy to take care of my yard. He said he could go up on the roof and remove the standing water from time to time as well. Maybe it's time to make this transition. When I mowed last week I could tell that my mowing days were numbered.

My new Hoka boots have arrived and I can pick them up at the store tomorrow on my way to get a haircut. Today was good. The weather was nice and it felt like I was making progress. There needs to be more days like this.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day