Day 4711

Life is back to normal again. We took Dawn on a cold early morning walk and then returned home where I had my usual shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast. I enjoy traveling, but I eat healthier at home. I sleep better too. It's probably a good thing that I'm home a lot.

After breakfast I unpacked my bags, put my equipment away, and did a load of wash. I'm ready for the next launch trip as soon as my bank account recovers. Most of the morning was spent writing my article about the launch. My editor wanted a shorter article than I usually write. Writing something short and succinct is actually harder. I usually ramble on at great length. When the article was finished I edited a few pictures and sent everything off to SpaceFlight Magazine. A few hours later I got a thumbs up from the editor, so I guess I'm done with Artemis-1. I've been to the Michoud Assembly Facility and watched this rocket being assembled. I've been to the Stennis Test Center in Mississippi where it underwent an eight minute live fire test. I was there when the first launch attempt was scrubbed and yesterday I finally got to see it launch. Say what you will about this overpriced and long delayed rocket, but it is pretty impressive.

After our cold morning walk I thought I'd go to the gym today. Cold weather is not my friend. The temperature warmed up quickly though and I eventually decided to go on my long walk instead. It turned out to be a beautiful day. It's too bad my feet still hurt. I probably should think of a better way to exercise, but walking is easy. If I'm not having a good day I can always walk slower.

I'm glad the furnace is working well again. It still seems like this repair was way too expensive, but it was still much cheaper than a new furnace. It's a shame that the cost of virtually everything is spiraling out of control. I used to never think about the cost of things, but living on a fixed income in inflationary times will do that to you. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but life seemed a lot easier twenty years ago.

Looking at the night sky while waiting for Artemis to launch briefly rekindled my interest in astronomy. It's strange that so many of the things I like seem to happen at night. I'm not a night person at all. When I was in a band we always played at night. It's a lot easier to see the stars at night and I always write my blog posts at night as well. I guess I could blog during the day, but I'm usually waiting for something to happen. Some days nothing happens at all. It still seems odd that so many rocket launches take place at night. I've seen more night launches than day launches.

I wonder if anything interesting will happen tomorrow. Today was largely uneventful, but I did get 20,000 steps. I've taken this week's trash out to the curb, so the week is officially over for me.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day