Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Day 4591

Today is the 53rd anniversary of the first moon landing. We need more events like this. It might have been the last time the entire world felt good about something. Nevermind the fact that the Apollo program was all about the Cold War and the moon landing probably never would have happened if we weren't in a race to beat the Russians. It was still a stupendous achievement. I remember those days well. I was in college then and wasn't nearly as cynical. I actually believed all those who said we would have cities on Mars by now. What happened? There are no cities on Mars and the cities on Earth are crowded and very unsafe.

Dawn didn't have training class this evening. It was too hot. The temperature slowly builds throughout the day and it is usually hottest right around sunset. The sun has already set and it is still 104 degrees at our house. Hey, it is only 80 degrees indoors though. By bedtime, the temperature will be down to 78 and tomorrow morning it will be 75 again. It is actually probably a bit cooler in most rooms. The thermostat is right next to the air return for the AC and this is the warmest place in the house. 

I've really started to appreciate our sunrise walks with Dawn because they are the only times when the weather seems tolerable. This morning there was a nice breeze and we had a very enjoyable walk. As soon as the sun peeks above the horizon you can instantly feel the difference. The sun feels hot even at sunrise. Dawn seems perfectly content to just get one walk a day now. She's basically a very lazy dog and spends most of her time sleeping on the bed anyway.

I try to stay busier, although sleeping on the bed during the day sounds pretty good to me as well. I went back to the gym again after eating breakfast and checking my messages on the computer. Until our heat wave is over, this will probably be my routine for the rest of the summer. I might even try mall walking this Sunday when my gym is closed. I just don't think it is healthy to be out in this heat for very long. My summer routine at the gym is pretty much the same every day. I walk several miles on the indoor track to get my Fitbit steps and then I shoot some baskets on the basketball court for fun before I head home again. I always hope that I can find a space in the parking garage, because the car heats up very quickly if left out in the sun. I don't want anything to melt.

There isn't a lot to do in the afternoon. This is when I often take a nap if I feel so inclined. Janet likes to watch movies on her devices, but I have trouble doing this. I have trouble picking up a book either. Occasionally I will look at Amazon or New York Times best seller lists but I don't see any literary masterpieces. Every celebrity has a book these days. I should have been a ghost writer. I know these guys didn't write their books themselves. Actually, I should just start methodically re-reading all the books on my office bookshelves. I can't remember what is in most of them, but I know that I used to have good taste in books and enjoyed them all. It's hard to believe that I really read all these books. There are hundreds of them.

There is all this squabbling right now about fossil fuel versus renewal energy. Absolutely nobody is talking about the real problem. There are way too many people on the planet chasing too few resources. Humans are like Kudzoo Vines. We chop down all the trees to make houses and eat all the fish out of the sea. We should be planting more trees. Everyone is worried about greenhouse gasses, but trees actually love CO2. They convert the stuff into oxygen. We just don't get it. Instead of planting forests, we create vast deserts and then build solar panel farms on them. Nature tries to help by sending us new diseases every year designed to reduce our population. We're like busy beavers though and always find a cure for these diseases. We never learn. We keep building bigger cities and can't seem to produce enough food. I still think at the rate things are going humans will be extinct in 300 years.

On that happy note I will continue watching a small line of storms to the North of us on the weather radar. I was hoping that we might get some of that rain later this evening, but the storms seem to be dissipating. Who would have thought that after all my complaining about roof leaks, I would actually be hoping for rain.