Day 4688

It's always something. We had a huge wind storm last night and a big branch from one of our Oak trees fell on the roof. The branch is way too big for me to deal with myself, so I called the last tree trimmer I used. He never called me back. I thought I might as well try to deal with a few other issues as well, so I called the last carpenter I used to come repair some rotted fascia on the house. Oops. No longer a working number. I contacted another carpenter who had good reviews on the Internet and he said he was completely booked for the next four months. He advised me to contact a different carpenter but didn't recommend any. Oh, well. I am getting our dryer fixed though. I guess in today's world, one out of three isn't bad.

It was really windy on our sunrise walk with Dawn. I thought she wouldn't want to walk on a day like this, but she was fine with the wind. Actually it seemed to invigorate her. Janet was fine too. I was the only one worried that a tree was going to fall on us. At least the air felt clear and clean. The wind must have blown away all the pollen that has been aggravating my allergies.

The wind died down as I was eating breakfast and it was calm outside by the time I was ready to take my long walk. I didn't feel like going to the gym today. It was a bit chilly when I started walking but it warmed up quickly. I maintained a pretty good pace today and my feet didn't hurt much. I thought I'd see a lot of downed trees in the park during my six mile walk, especially since one fell on our roof during the night. Surprisingly, most of the trees looked exactly the same as they did last week. I only saw a single downed tree and the park department guys were already removing it. I wish I could get these guys to help with my trees. They are very efficient. 

My experiences with finding service people today has made me realize that I'm not ready for what the world has become. Over the years I've built up a carefully curated list of repair people I knew I could depend on. I had the best plumbers, electricians, carpenters, glaizers, HVAC repairmen, and much more on this list. The entire list is useless now. Everyone has retired, died, or simply disappeared. So far, using the Internet to find suppliers has not been a satisfactory replacement for the recommendations I used to get from friends. I refuse to use Angie's list. 

I'm having second thoughts about even going to the next Artemis launch attempt. It's disappointing that this next attempt is at midnight, so there won't be good photo opportunities. I'm not wild about the hotel I was able to book and the entire trip seems expensive and somewhat pointless. Since SpaceFlight Magazine has already published my article about the launch that got scrubbed, I'm not even sure they'd be interested in another article about the same rocket. I'm not canceling anything yet though. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today.

Tomorrow I've got to clean out the utility room again and wait for the appliance repairman. They always give you a four hour window and then end up coming at the end of the day. The repair needs to be done though. A washer without a dryer isn't of much use. I wonder when I'm going to be able to get my steps tomorrow? I've always got to get my steps.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day