Day 4726

I would have preferred to sleep in this morning, but Dawn and Janet were ready to walk. Did it rain last night? The ground was very wet even though I don't remember it raining. There was a light mist in the air and my coat was damp by the time we returned home. Dawn had a good walk though. We took our lights this morning because we got started early, but we didn't need heavy coats. It was surprisingly warm today.

After breakfast I installed the latest firmware on the star tracker and tested everything to make sure it still worked. This took about an hour. I must have upgraded the firmware on this tracker at least a dozen times by now. There have been quite a few changes to the software app that controls the tracker as well. After many hours of testing, I've still only used this thing out in the field once. I guess it was a good purchase though. It has kept me occupied for many hours and I suspect that I've learned a lot along the way. One thing I've learned is that I'm not quite as interested in astronomy as I thought I was. The night sky is fascinating, but I'd really rather stay inside at night.

I changed my eye doctor appointment because it turned out to be on the same day I need to take Janet to and from dental surgery. When they asked when I'd like to reschedule, I felt like saying how about several years from now. I know my eye doctor is going to want to do cataract surgery and I'm not ready yet. Somehow it really bothers me that I won't be able to quickly change focus between near and far objects anymore. The artificial lens is just a simple fixed focus lens usually optimized for distance viewing.

It was fairly warm by the time I took my long walk, but it was not a nice day. It's been grey and gloomy all day. There were lots of people with cameras and binoculars when I passed the eagle's nest. I thought it was funny that the three Muscovy ducks were wandering through all the gawkers and being totally ignored. I'm sure the ducks thought the people were there to feed them and they looked pissed. "Hey, what about us," they seemed to be saying.

Construction continues on the world's most elaborate stone gates. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where the city approved these five gates. I'm still not sure what their purpose is, but there had to be a less expensive way to accomplish the park department's goals.

I think I've got my equipment ready for the first Santa Paws photo shoot tomorrow morning. I always take an extra camera body and a spare strobe light and power supply in case something breaks. Likely the only thing that is going to break is me. I'm getting too old for this. Dogs are small and I'm down on my knees a lot trying to get the best angle. I'm sure I've already mentioned that my knees are terrible. Last year I brought a cane to one of the photo shoots, but it didn't help much. Oh, well. This event is a good fund raiser for the dogs. I don't really do enough to help the rescue Dalmatians.

I can postpone my weekly grocery shopping, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get my steps tomorrow. Santa Paws days are long. Did I manage to get 10,000 steps last year? I don't even remember. 

Gretta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day