Day 4984

It's hard to believe that the temperature can fluctuate 40 degrees in just a few hours. That's what happened today. We had a very pleasant early morning walk with Dawn this morning. It was only 72 degrees. By the time I returned from the gym a few hours later, we had set an all time record high of 109 degrees. To make matters worse the rain that was in the forecast yesterday has disappeared. It's clear skies and triple digit temperatures as far as the eye can see.

The weather may be terrible, but my teeth are fine. I have no cavities, my gums are healthy, and the dental hygienist says I'm doing a good job keeping things clean with the Waterpik. My teeth felt so clean when I came home that I kind of hated to eat anything. I'm good till next February. Everyone seems to want to see me every six months now.

My application to attend the OSIRIS-REx sample return event got rejected. I was a little surprised, but I shouldn't have been. The NASA invitation went out to social media influencers. It's been a long time since anything I've posted on the Internet has been popular. I think the blog only has about twelve readers these days. That's all fine by me but NASA is looking for people with thousands of followers. Years ago, actually decades ago, I created a website that was nominated for website of the year. Another website I created was included in a book called The World Wide Web Top 1000. I also had a ton of followers on the short lived Google+ platform after a well know photographer praised my images. Like I said, that was a long time ago.

I'm happy to live in relative obscurity now, but I still like rockets and space. I guess it's a good thing that a little magazine in London likes me. If I wasn't publishing in SpaceFlight Magazine regularly, I probably wouldn't get to attend launches and space related events at all. Like I said, this is all fine by me. I've always liked the printed page better than online publications anyway.

When I returned from the dentist I changed clothes and went to the gym. The gym was actually on my way home from the dentist, but I didn't want to wear shorts to the dentist or long pants to the gym. I let Dawn out to pee before I left but she didn't want to stay outside long. It was just too hot. I was slower on the indoor track and better on the basketball court today just like yesterday. I wonder why I'm slowing down on the track. I didn't really feel tired. I was just slow. My shoulder is starting to hurt from the weight training I'm doing now. Maybe I should back off a bit. I'd be happier if I could just go back to walking in the park but that's going to be a while. These continual high temperatures are starting to feel apocalyptic.

I watered what is left of the lawn this evening but it was probably just a waste of water. The sun is winning this battle. They say there is a heat dome over Texas now. I'd never heard of a heat dome before, but apparently a high pressure ridge has trapped hot dry air and is keeping clouds from forming which could cool things down and bring much needed rain. How do you get rid of a heat dome? That remains to be seen. 

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day