Day 4642

There's a hint of Fall in the air. The temperature was in the high 60's when we took our sunrise walk this morning. It's almost jacket weather. It's amazing how quickly the world turned green again. All it took was a little rain. Dawn enjoys these cooler mornings. So do I. We had a long, hot summer this year and I'm glad it's over.

I got a message from NASA today asking if I planned to attend the next Artemis launch attempt. I answered yes, even though I think September 23 is way too early. I was afraid that if I answered no, I would get taken off the approved list and my place would be given to someone else. There are still way more people who want to cover this launch than there are places available. We'll see what happens. I fully expect that the launch will get postponed again. We won't even know until the 17th. if the repairs they are making now will work.

I took another walk in the park today. It was actually even cooler than yesterday. I keep wondering where the missing ducks and geese have gone. For years there were ten resident geese that always hung out around Sunset Bay. Now there are only five. This gaggle of geese were always together, so I doubt that five just wandered off. I hope nobody snatched them to eat for dinner. The geese were very tame and would have been easy to catch. One of the Muscovy Ducks is also missing. There have been a pair of Muscovy Ducks living in the park for many years. This week was the first time I have only seen one and it appears to be lonely.

According to my Fitbit, I get a lot more exercise walking in the park than I do at the gym. I guess this makes sense. I spend over two hours walking in the park vs a little more than one hour at the gym. There are a lot of hills to climb as well. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm usually tired when I return from these walks. It's an enjoyable way to get my steps though, so I'll continue as long as the weather stays nice.

I'm always surprised at how many flowers I see in the Fall. There is an explosion of white Clematis vines along the shoreline now. I'm also seeing a lot of Water Primrose flowers. Both of these plants are considered invasive, but they are very pretty. I'd much rather see these plants than Poison Ivy, which is also very common in the park.

The "service required" light is really starting to irritate me in my car. This light appears every September. There is nothing wrong with the car, but the only way to turn the light off is take the car to a Land Rover service center and do the required service. I thought the independent Land Rover garage I discovered might be able to help me out, but they insist on doing the service as well. Oh, well. I'll probably learn to live with the irritating light for a while. I may still need to go to Florida to cover the next Artemis launch attempt. A trip to Florida and a Land Rover service visit cost about the same thing. It's one or the other this month.

This week has gone quickly. It's hard to believe that it's already time to make a grocery list again. I'd like to see something actually go down in price at the grocery store, but this is probably wishful thinking. Nothing has gotten cheaper on my grocery list for a long time.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day