Thursday, September 15, 2022

Day 4648

Not much happened today. You can tell the days are getting shorter. We left on our sunrise walk a little later than usual, but the sun still wasn't up when we returned. The weather was nice though. It was just chilly enough to wear a light jacket. Fall is definitely here. It won't be long before it's time for the State Fair.  

When I took my long walk after breakfast I noticed that the first of the White Pelicans have returned for the Winter. Usually about a dozen birds arrive early and the rest begin to appear about a month later. Seasonal changes are very predictable and so far this year everything is right on schedule. 

The stone masons have just about finished the four stone gates in the park. I still have no idea what these gates are for, but they are large and look expensive. There has been a lot of construction work in the park this Summer. The place looks good this year. It's too bad the city doesn't run as efficiently as the park department. The park is definitely cleaner and a lot safer than the city that surrounds it.

I got a notice this morning that it was time to set out this month's bulky trash. That meant that I needed to move a big pile of brush and tree limbs I had cut earlier in an attempt to clean things up on the roof. The neighbor's Pecan tree would droop down and touch our roof when it rained and often this would knock over my pumps. It took a lot longer to move the tree limbs than it took me to cut them in the first place. I got the job done though. I was tired when I finished, but at least I didn't get stung by bees.

A year ago today I was down in Florida for the Inspiration 4 launch. Now I'm waiting for news about the next Artemis-1 attempt. I'm pretty sure I'll return to see the next attempt, but I haven't made any firm plans yet. I wonder why I still enjoy doing this? I've covered quite a few of these things now and each launch is remarkably similar to the previous one. The space community is filled with interesting people though. It's nice to feel like I'm a part of this group even if my contribution is very, very small.

I've really got to get some work done on the house. It bothers me that the carefully curated list of suppliers that I've collected over the years is basically worthless now. Just about everyone has either retired or died. I hate to start over or rely on websites like Angi's List. There are few thing more irritating than hiring a sloppy painter or an inept carpenter. Something's got to be done though. I'm not going to get this work done myself.

This weeks' trash has been taken to the curb and I'm wondering whether to go out for breakfast in the morning. I'll probably just have my regular bowl of shredded wheat, but I did used to enjoy my restaurant breakfasts on Friday.