Day 4590

It's going to be a very long summer. Every day seems the same. The relentless heat takes away my desire to do anything. Our sunrise walk with Dawn feels like what you'd expect at noon in a normal year. This is the only walk that Dawn gets now. It's far too hot for an afternoon walk. It's too hot for anything. I eat my breakfast, check my messages on the computer, and then wonder what to do next.

This morning I went to the gym fairly early. I have no burning desire to exercise, but it is something to do.  I'm getting better on the basketball court, but I'm not very athletic. All I do is shoot free throws. I'm not very fast on the indoor track either, but my Fitbit doesn't care. I make sure to walk at least 10,000 steps and close all the activity rings on my Apple Watch. I've actually learned a lot watching other people's personal trainers. Maybe someday I'll put these fitness tips to good use. I think I'm in reasonably good shape but older, heavier people often pass me on the track. Usually after about an hour and a half I've had enough and I head back home again.

My phone said that there was a new version of the Polaris app available, so I downloaded it. Strangely, it was exactly the same as the version I downloaded last week. Since I didn't have anything better to do, I set the star tracker up again and put it through it's paces. I had better luck today and the camera only disconnected from the tracker once. I have a feeling that some of the problems I've been having might be user error. It's hard to tell though, since there has never been an instruction manual for this thing. Most of what I've learned comes from the Facebook user group and the majority of these other users don't know any more than I do. 

I wish it were easier to keep our house cool. We have a ton of single pane windows that act just like radiators in the summer. When you stand near them you can feel the heat. The roof isn't insulated well either. Originally, the house had a thick tar and gravel roof that provided excellent insulation. When it came time to replace this roof, we discovered that nobody does tar and gravel roofs anymore. The thinner roofing materials that replaced the tar and gravel don't provide much insulation at all. I have a feeling that the weather was cooler fifty years ago as well. There were also more large Oak trees that provided a lot of shade. Several of these trees have died and the remaining ones are not in great shape. It all adds up to a house that isn't that comfortable in triple digit weather. Our air conditioning system is doing all it can. Most AC systems will only lower the temperature about twenty degrees. This means when the temperature is over 100 degrees outside, it can still approach 80 degrees inside.

I still wish I could hibernate like a bear. Napping is the next best thing though. Dawn has finally realized that nothing bad happens when we share the bed for an afternoon nap. We're actually getting along pretty well now. Maybe those nine days we spent together while Janet was on vacation helped. It's a good thing we can nap together. What else is there to do on a hot July day.

I'll probably go back to the gym tomorrow morning. I need to mow the grass but I'd rather wait for a cloudy day. It's time to get a haircut again too. Maybe I'll make an appointment tomorrow. I'm sure there are all sorts of things I could do if I was more industrious. We'll wait until it's cooler for that. This heat has killed my motivation.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day