Day 4878

Little by little I'm getting things done around the house. I think it helps to mention that I'm going to do something tomorrow on the blog because it forces me to actually do it. Today I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. I got some fire ant bait at Home Depot and treated all the mounds around the house. Fire ants are terrible this year. The park is infested with them and we have at least six mounds in our own yard. I think the fire ant bait works, but often you have to treat the mounds several times before the ants disappear. I also bought some river gravel and filled in the big pothole in the driveway. The gravel has to be the right size, but it turns out to be an effective way to stabilize an old driveway.

The weather continues to be near perfect. In retrospect this would have been a good week to install the new roof. The roofers have mentioned something about wanting to start next week, but the forecast looks like rain. With unpredictable Spring weather continuing, it's going to be hard to find a week with no chance of rain. I'm trying to enjoy the nice weather while I can. Dawn loves her early morning walks these days. Even though it is warmer later in the day, my long walks aren't so bad either. I hope this pleasant weather lasts for a while because Summer in Texas can be brutal.

My walk was pleasant today although there wasn't much to look at. The Muscovy Ducks have disappeared and only four of the resident geese remain. The White Pelicans and Double Crested Cormorants all headed North for the summer several weeks ago and there are far fewer Mallards as well. I think the Coots and the Great Egrets will stick around for the summer. 

I kept up a pretty good pace today, although I always slow down quite a bit after I finish the fourth mile. I actually have no idea whether I'm in good shape or not. I did get 20,000 steps today, but I really don't have a reference point. It's obvious that there are plenty of people my age in worse shape than me, but that isn't the point. Could I be doing better? I imagine that I could be doing a lot better if I tried. Especially if I went to the gym everyday like Janet does. For now, a relatively slow six mile walk will have to do. The long walk, doing a few chores around the house, and the blog pretty effectively fill up my day.

I was hoping to write my SpaceFlight article today, but I never got around to it. Since I've written two in-depth articles about the Falcon Heavy for the magazine already, I need to think of a new angle. The previous editor of the magazine liked my first person accounts of trips to Kennedy Space Center, but the current editor prefers more factual articles about the rocket and the mission. I kind of liked the idea of being a travel writer who mostly talked about rockets and astronomy, but I've been writing professionally for over 40 years and can write something in any style you like. Hopefully I will get the article written tomorrow before I start to forget things.

Janet said that Dawn did really well at training class tonight. She doesn't do the heeling exercises as well now that she wears a harness in class, but she does everything else perfectly. Dawn is a really smart dog. It's kind of amazing to see how well she has adapted to our daily routine. If I'm late about anything, Dawn will remind me. I hear her barking for her evening snack right now.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day