Day 4940 - Independence Day

Today seemed like any other day. If I didn't turn on the television I might never have known it was Independence Day. It's a shame that the country is so divided. This should be a day that we all celebrate the many things we have in common. Instead we seem like a country divided right down the middle. It's not just politics either. One half of the country doesn't agree with the other half about anything. It kind of feels like we are in the middle of a lazy man's civil war.

I keep to myself and try to steer clear of all the arguments and division. A simple life is a good life as far as I'm concerned. We started the day as we always do with a sunrise walk. Dawn loves these walks, but she's not a very energetic dog. As soon as we return home she goes back to bed.

After my regular breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit, I gathered the tools I will need to fix the screen door. I didn't get around to actually fixing the door though. It already felt too hot outside. I wonder why this still feels like the hottest summer on record. Last Independence Day was much worse. I think it was 102 degrees at this time last year. This morning the temperature was only in the high 70's on our early walk. I think the older I get, the less I'm able to tolerate a normal Texas summer.

Since I didn't feel like doing anything useful this morning, I wrote a letter to my sister before getting ready to go to the gym. The post office was closed today, but I'll mail the letter tomorrow. I thought the gym would be empty today but it was surprisingly crowded. It didn't seem like I would be able to shoot baskets because people were playing pickleball on the basketball court. The pickleball game finished long before I completed my three miles on the indoor track, so I ended up doing the same thing that I did yesterday. A three mile walk and fifteen minutes on the basketball court seems to be my workout these days. I really ought to be doing more.

I've added lunch to my daily schedule but it doesn't change much. I still run out of things to do by mid-afternoon. Today I tested the Polaris star tracker again. I wanted to make sure it still worked with my new phone. The phone wasn't a problem but the tracker still isn't very reliable. It take forever to get the camera to connect with the app on my phone and I still haven't figured out how to do panorama shots. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but there still isn't a proper instruction manual for this thing. Will I ever use the little tracker for astrophotography? That remains to be seen. I certainly don't have any plans to go back to McDonald Observatory any time soon.

I haven't heard any fireworks this evening. That's strange. Usually it feels like a battle zone by this time of night. Maybe the big city sponsored shows got canceled. Maybe they are later this year. Who knows. At any rate we're lucky that Dawn isn't scared of fireworks. She doesn't seem to notice them at all.

Tomorrow will be another hot day. Maybe I'll finally get around to fixing the screen door, or maybe I'll do nothing at all. 

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4918

It was a busy day. We had quite a storm last night and we woke up to find some fallen branches in our yard. It turned out that these branches were from the neighbor's tree. No limbs fell from our own trees. I decided to climb up on the roof to see if there might be more branches up there. The roof was clear of debris, but there was standing water. I was so disappointed. One of the main reasons I got the new roof was so that it would drain properly. The puddles of standing water were in the same places I usually found them on the old roof. I'll call the roofers, but I doubt that there is anything they can do at this point. The roof is finished. I'm sure they'll just tell me that everything Is OK and that I've got a good warranty on the roof. "Call us is you have a leak," they'll say. The roof definitely doesn't leak now, but I'm still disappointed. Standing water is never good on a roof.

I promised Janet that I'd vacuum today and ended up spending more time cleaning the clogged Dyson than I did vacuuming. I wish I had our old Hoover back. The Hoover never needed cleaning or repairs and all I ever needed to do was change the vacuum bag when it got full. Why did I get sucked into believing the Dyson was better? It does clean reasonably well, but it's been a total nuisance the entire time we've owned it. 

I noticed that the utility room floor was wet this morning. This hasn't happened in quite a while. Did the washing machine drain overflow while doing a load of wash? Was this water condensation coming from the air conditioner? Who knows. It could have been either, or both. Both the washer and the AC use the same floor drain. I usually stuff a rag down the drain to keep water from backing up while the washer is running. This works well unless it is a very humid day and there is a lot of condensation from the AC. At any rate, I cleaned up the water and hoped that this was just a fluke. The main problem is that the old house has 2" drain lines where modern washing machines do a lot better with 3" drains.

The weather was all over the board today. It was clear when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. I checked the weather forecast before I took my long walk and it was supposed to be cloudy for the rest of the day. As soon as I got a few miles from the house I got rained on. The weather apps on my phone are basically worthless. They are pretty accurate about what is going to happen thirty minutes from now. If you want to find out what is going to happen four hours from now, the apps just take a wild guess.

There were a ton of downed trees in the park. The storm last night didn't last long, but there must have been some really strong winds. I feel lucky that none of our own trees were damaged. It's going to be a while before the rainy season is over, so I expect more heavy rain this month. The problem is than when the rainy season is over, it is immediately replaced by hot, dry Texas summers. By July I'm usually wishing the rain would come back.

Janet wanted me out of the way when she was cleaning this afternoon, so I thought it would be a good time to install the latest software and firmware for the star tracker. As usual, the installation went smoothly, but the star tracker didn't work any more reliably than it did before. Getting it to connect to the camera is kind of like starting a car with a bad battery. The camera never connects immediately and often randomly disconnects during use. I keep turning the thing on and off again and switching cables around until I get the tracker to connect. I've had the thing for over a year and some functions still don't work. I still have problems taking a panorama shot. After several hour of monkeying around with the Polaris, I put the thing away again. I probably won't look at it again until the next software update.

I hope tomorrow is less problematic than today. My holy grail is always a day where nothing bad happens at all. I don't mind if nothing good happens either. I can always take a long nap. 

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4886

I finally got out the star tracker and began testing it again. This thing is so frustrating. It works perfectly ocassionally, but mostly it randomly crashes in unpredicctable ways. I've spend hours and hours trying to identify and isolate the problem. I always come up with nothing. Is it a bad cable that causes the camera to disconnect? Why does the app often fail to stitch together panorama shots? I can't tell whether it's the camera, the iPhone app, the Polaris itself, or the connecting cables that are causing all the problems. It doesn't help that there never was an instruction manual for this thing. There is an online user group, but almost evereyone is using a different type of camera to connect to the tracker, so useful advice is limited. I gave up trying to communicate with the Chinese manufacturer a long time ago. The marketing people speak English but most of the engineers don't. When this thing works it produces spectacular results, but it only works for me about 20% of the time. I certainly didn't accomplish much today, so the Polaris will go back in the box for another month or so.

The rest of the day was about what you'd expect. Dawn got a nice early morning walk. I ate my breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit while watching the world disintegrate on cable news. I checked my messages and once again found nothing but spam. Then I got ready for my long walk.

My feet haven't been bothering me as much lately. I have no idea why. I can't be bothered to walk in a different direction, so I keep following the same path over and over again. I've walked this route so many times that I notice the smallest details. A piece of gum on the pavement becomes a mileage marker. A missing duck becomes a cause for concern. I'm surprised at how many people follow the same predictable routines as I do. I pass some of the same people walking in the opposite direction every single day. There are a lot of dog walkers I recognize now. There is even one guy who walks his cat on a leash. The park department spent a lot of money putting up fancy barriers to prevent vehicular traffic on the wider trails. Less than three months later most of the barriers are down. I suspect  the park maintenance people complained that they couldn't get their mowers, trash trucks, and other equipment through the barriers. One more example of a bureaucracy at work. Often the left hand isn't talking to the right hand.

My long walk took most of the morning and my experiments with the star tracker took most of the afternoon. There are lots of chores I could do around the house, but chores were the last thing I wanted to do today. I also wasn't interested in mowing the grass, even though it has been growing very quickly with all the rain we've been having. I guess I'd rather just go back to Florida and watch another launch. There is an opportunity to get press credentials at the end of the month for the AX-2 launch, but they'll probably wait until the last minute to notify me again. Who knows if I'll end up going. A lot depends on when the roofers decide to replace the roof.

It looks like tomorrow will be a nice day and then there is rain in the forecast for a solid week. This has been such a rainy Spring. It's has been hard to plan for anything. One way or another I'm sure we'll have a new roof by Summer. I'll probably see another launch or two as well. By July I'm sure I'll regret complaining about the rain. We get all our rain at once and it can be extremely dry later in the Summer. At least some things are predictable. I took this week's trash to the curb like I always do on Thursday evening. The trash truck always arrives while we are walking Dawn on Friday morning. The garbage man is very predictable.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4795

Another slow day. The roof is still leaking, but the amount of water I'm collecting in the buckets has slowed down considerably. I guess that's progress. If I'm lucky, the leaks will stop just in time for another round of rain. The roofers are coming out again tomorrow. Hopefully I can get a firm estimate soon and get started on putting an end to this mess.

It was a beautiful day today. There wasn't a cloud in the sky this morning and the temperature was much warmer than yesterday. Dawn enjoyed getting her morning walk. The fields behind our house were still a little soggy, but that didn't bother her. She finally had lots of things to smell again.

After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. I do this about once a month now.  I used to write lots of letters to friends, but this type of correspondence is becoming a lost art. Almost nobody writes letters anymore. I still don't leave outgoing mail in our box for the postman to pick up. Force of habit I guess. We never have the same postman for very long and I don't have a lot of faith in any of them. I need to take my mail to the post office and put it in the slot myself.

Today was a good day for a long walk. The weather was nice and the temperature was just about perfect. My feet are still giving me problems, but I'm getting used to the discomfort. I keep thinking that I need to go back to the gym where I can work on my upper body strength as well, but it's so much easier to go walking in the park. I just walk out the back door and I'm there. I'm sure I could be doing more, but six miles a day seems to be more than enough activity for me.

After I returned home I upgraded the star tracker software for what seemed like the 100th time and tested the unit again. That's all I do is continually test this thing. The Polaris tracker still works, but it has never seemed very reliable. Reliability probably isn't even an issue at this point. I don't spend a lot of time looking at the stars these days. It's not even worth attempting astrophotography in the city. The light pollution is terrible. I knew that comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was going to be near Mars tonight but I didn't even bother to look for it. The green comet is fairly dim and I just didn't have the patience to search for a pale fuzzy thing in the sky.

I'm still having computer problems. Nothing is broken, it's just that everything is too old. If I was still working this would be a huge problem. Not an issue anymore. Instead of thinking about a new computer, I spend more time thinking about getting offline altogether. It's becoming harder and harder to see the point of it all. Maybe a little notebook and a ball point pen is all I need.

I've taken the trash out to the curb and emptied all the water buckets. These weeks go quickly, but Spring still seems distant. I'm hoping that the roofing people have good news for me tomorrow, although I'm not terribly optimistic. I wish I'd never bought a house with a flat roof.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4782

Another nice day. I wish this weather would continue but there is rain in the forecast for next week. I took advantage of the clear skies and took three walks today. It was cold enough on our sunrise walk with Dawn that I needed two coats. My long walk in the park later in the morning only required one coat. By mid-afternoon it had warmed enough that I wore shorts for a final shorter walk. That's Texas weather for you. Almost 22,000 steps today. Not bad for an old man with creaky joints.

I finally got around to updating the star tracker this afternoon. This update made everything worse. It's always a gamble with these firmware updates. The company is trying to provide compatibility for so many different brands of cameras that when they make an improvement for one brand they often inadvertently cripple something for another brand. I think the tracker works best with Canon cameras. The Olympus I use is not a popular brand and sometimes gets overlooked. The tracker basically still works fine, but my camera wouldn't stay connected today. I have no idea what the problem is. I eventually got everything working, but I don't have a lot of faith in this unit. I think it would be a giant hassle to get everything working properly in the dark.

I really thought the leaks were over after I cleared all the water off the roof yesterday. Much to my surprise another small leak appeared today. Will this ever end? Only about one drop of water fell per minute, but it was still a leak. Probably a lot of water got underneath the surface of the roof before I removed all the standing water. That water's got to go somewhere. I suspect that when everything dries completely the next round of rain will start. I really can't catch a break with this roof.

I got a letter saying that it was time for my annual appointment with my gastrointestinal doctor. When did this start? I think that if you see a doctor once, you will end up seeing them forever. Just about every time I've been referred to a specialist by my primary care physician, I end up becoming a permanent patient. I hate to ignore these doctors, since you never know when you will need them again. I do think I have way too many doctors now though.

It's time to renew my credentials with the Space Force. Unlike NASA credentials, these last for a full year. Since there are launch pads at Patrick Air Force Base as well as Kennedy Space Center, you really need to be able to access both locations. Most people think the space center is one big location, but the NASA side and the Air Force side are two separate entities. It's totally different watching a launch on the Air Force side, but the view is still good. I'll try to send in the renewal forms tomorrow and then I'll wonder for months if they got lost. I always seem to get credentialed, but it really seems to take a while.

This week has gone quickly. It's already time to make a grocery list again. Sometimes it seems like I spend my life repeating the same things over and over again. No wonder Dawn always seems to know what is going to happen next. We are very predictable around here.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4780

The rain has stopped. Unfortunately, the roof is still leaking. I could probably put a stop to this if I went up on the roof and swept all the standing water away. I'm really trying to avoid climbing on the roof though. My balance isn't as good as it used to be and I'd hate to fall off. Heavy rain in the winter is the worst because it never evaporates. Hopefully, the leak will stop tomorrow. The buckets are filling slower now, so at least we're making progress.

It was cold enough on our morning walk with Dawn that I seriously considered going back to the gym. Dawn wore her sweater and it was definitely a two coat day for me. Dawn still enjoyed smelling things but I think she was glad when we returned to the house. I'm already tired of winter and it's barely even started.  We have at least three more months of cold weather before I can start to think about Spring.

I ate my breakfast slowly and did some small chores around the house in hopes that it would warm up outside if I waited long enough. It never did. In fact, I think it got colder as the day progressed. I still needed to get my steps though, so I dressed warmly and headed out on my daily long walk. The walk might have been a mistake, but I made it. There are a lot fewer people in the park on cold days. I saw very few bicycles and joggers today. I didn't even see many ducks. I still see people walking their dogs though. Dogs need to poop and pee in all types of weather.

My feet still hurt on these long walks. Sometimes the pain goes away after a while, but other times it gets worse. I think I've just reached the age where everything hurts. My shoulder hurts when I attempt to raise my arms above my head. My knees hurt when I bend them. Even my wrists and fingers hurt. None of this is really debilitating. It's more of an irritation than anything. I remember the days when nothing hurt.

I still can't decide whether to apply for the Crew-6 NASA Social. One of the cardinal rules for these things is never apply unless you really plan to go. They don't like it if you cancel after you have been accepted. Crewed launches are always interesting, but if I go to this one, it means one future launch I won't be able to attend. My budget is a bit limited this year. I just can't afford to be going down to Florida every month.

Janet and I decided not to visit the rescue dogs this week. It was too cold and damp to play with them outside and it's still unclear if there is an available indoor space we can use. We'll try to go up next week. It's too bad that the old kennel went out of business. It was just about perfect. Hopefully, the dogs will like this new place. It seems clean and well managed. It's just a long way away for Janet and I.

There's new software available for the star tracker and I had plans of testing it again today. The day got away from me though and when I finished everything else, it was too close to dinner to mess around with new software. I have no faith in the Benro people. Sometimes their software and firmware updates make thing better and other times they make things worse. I'm always apprehensive about starting the tracker up after I've installed new software.

Dawn didn't go to training class tonight. It was too cold and damp for her to be outside that long. The days are getting longer though. Maybe next week will be better.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4762

Another week of being amazed at how grocery prices keep going up. The price increases aren't dramatic, but they are relentless. I don't think I've seen prices go down on the things I routinely buy for several years. Oh, well. It is what is is. Price inflation doesn't seem very fair for seniors. When you're living on a fixed income you get a little further behind with each passing year.

I still haven't heard anything about next week's falcon heavy launch. This doesn't look good. I have a feeling I won't be going to this thing. I suppose it's no great loss. I've already been to several falcon heavy launches. My bigger worry is that my magazine has abandoned me. Without this connection it would be a lot harder to get press credentials. We'll see what happens. There are still a few day for everything to come together.

We had a nice early walk with Dawn this morning. The weather was warmer and we waited until after sunrise to walk today. I prefer sleeping in, but Dawn and Janet are morning people. I get out of bed when I get my ten minute warning and I know not to be late. Sometimes I'm still sleepy, but there's plenty of time to take a nap later. 

I had plans to go to the gym today, but ended up taking my regular walk in the park instead. The traffic was heavy when I did my grocery shopping and I just didn't want to get out on the roads again. I think I could take this walk blindfolded now. The route is so familiar now that I practically have every step memorized. Frequently people will wave at me as I walk by. I don't know who these people are, but I guess I've become a familiar face. I can guess my pace fairly accurately now, but I still don't know why I'm faster or slower on any given day. I was slow today even though the temperature was pleasant and there was no wind.

I haven't received any updates to the star tracker in over a month. I've noticed that this unit is available in stores now, so maybe Benro is finished with the development phase. I guess I got a good deal for all my efforts with Beta testing. The retail price for the tracker is almost double what I paid. Am I ever going to use this equipment? I'd like to think so, but it probably won't be in Dallas. I don't feel safe in this town after dark anymore.

I'm getting frustrated with my computers. Neither my desktop or laptop will run the latest Apple system files. The machines are too old, even though they both still work fine. Since I'm running an older system I can't update Safari and Mail anymore. Safari crashes a lot now since my version doesn't incorporate the latest security updates. It's gotten so bad that I've had to switch to using Firefox, which I never particularly liked. I've been a huge Apple fan for decades but Tim Cook's Apple is not the same as Steve Jobs Apple. I miss the old days.

Tomorrow it's time for a walk through the mall and Dawn's Sunday outing. I wish my gym would start opening on Sunday again, but that's probably not going to happen. Sunday hours are just another Covid casualty. I guess mall walking is a good substitute. I actually enjoy looking in the store windows.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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

Day 4669

We had to get up really early this morning so we could walk Dawn before I had to take Janet down to Baylor. The park was empty and felt a little ominous  in the dark. The sky did lighten up a bit before we returned home and Dawn had a nice walk. I'll be glad when the time changes next month. I'm not really wild about walking in the dark.

There was a lot of road construction this morning, but we made it to the hospital on time. We've made this drive many times for a wide variety of check-ups and exams. Sometimes Janet drives me and other times I drive her. Our doctors really frown on driving yourself if you need anesthesia.

By the time I finished fixing breakfast and checking my messages it was time to go pick up Janet again. I was supposed to call the nurse when I arrived so they could bring Janet out to the car. It's been so long since I've used the phone in the car that I forgot how to make a call. I couldn't figure out why nobody heard me when I dialed the number. I completely forgot that the phone is paired with the car and that I needed to press the green call button on my steering wheel to connect the call. I eventually just turned the car off and made the call normally on my phone. I felt foolish later in the day when it finally occurred to me what was going on. 

It warmed up quickly today, so I decided to go to the gym instead of walking in the park. I was terrible on the basketball court for no apparent reason. The place was really empty when I arrived. There were only two other people in the entire gym, I walked two miles on the indoor track, eventually completed my 25 baskets from the free throw line and went home. I wish the gym was a little closer to home, but I can't imagine going somewhere else at this point. I've been coming here a long time. I'm pretty sure that I've outlasted all the staff. There was a completely different set of trainers and therapists here when I first joined.

A Space X launch got scrubbed today with only 30 seconds left on the countdown clock. I'm glad I didn't go down to Florida for that one. I'm still planning to return for the next Artemis launch attempt, but have no idea when that will be. It's a shame that they haven't set a date for the launch yet, because Southwest Airlines is having a great sale. There is no point in getting a ticket now and changing the reservation later. I would end up paying whatever current prices were after the sale was over and probably wouldn't save anything. The only way you can get a good deal on airline prices is if your plans never change.

The star tracker project that I backed on Kickstarter has finally arrived in retail stores. Some of the backers who still haven't received their Polaris units aren't very happy about this. I received my Polaris quite a while ago, but the little tracker still seems like a work in progress. Every time I turn it on I'm never sure if it is going to work. I'll have to admit that I did get a good deal though. The current retail price is almost double what I paid.

I've taken this week's trash out to the curb. Jupiter is rising in the evening sky now. It doesn't seem that long ago that it was setting in the morning sky. Light pollution is so bad in Dallas that the only objects worth looking at are bright planets and the moon. I've never seen the milky way from my back yard. This would seem like a good reason to plan another trip out to McDonald Observatory but I really hate that drive. I'll probably go back to Florida first.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4647

Another slow day that was punctuated with a bunch of small chores. As usual, the day started with Dawn's sunrise walk. It was definitely jacket weather this morning. The temperature was only in the low 60's. The park was quiet today. A waning moon was high in the sky and you could still see Jupiter in the pre-dawn twilight. This is a good time of day to walk. I'm always a little nervous about running into coyotes but we haven't seen any in quite a while.

I took my own long walk in the park right after breakfast while the temperature was still cool. There was a lot more activity than when we walked Dawn a few hours earlier. I watched stone masons working on the series of gates the park department is building. There was a crew with lots of machinery paving a road that had gotten torn up earlier in the summer. The mowers were out as well, but they seem to have forgotten the meadow behind our house. It would be nice if they mowed this area because our shoes get wet walking through the high grass every morning when we leave the house with Dawn.

When we returned home I washed the car and narrowly avoided getting stung by bees. I'm really showing my age. It's a lot harder to get down on my knees and clean the wheels now. It's time to mow the grass again, but I'll save that for another day. By the time I finished the car it was getting warm and I wanted to get back inside.

There is already new firmware available for the star tracker, so I installed the latest version this afternoon. I'm always a bit apprehensive about updating this thing, but it still works. The Benro team has added so many features over the past six months that I think the app is running slower now. Some operations seems to take a very long time to complete. I wonder when I'll actually start using the tracker. The one time I used it out at McDonald Observatory was very promising. I was able to get some good pictures. I can't imagine using the tracker in Dallas though. The combination of light pollution and crime isn't conducive to astronomy. There are too many streetlights visible from our back yard and the rest of the city is just too dangerous at night. There are a few dark, secluded areas in the park, but bodies show up in the park from time to time and I don't want to be one of them.

I can't decide whether to make reservations for the next Artemis launch attempt, or just wait a while. I have a strong feeling that this launch is going to get postponed further, but I could be wrong. I'd hate to make the trip to Florida just to see another launch get scrubbed, but I'd also hate to be here in Dallas when there was a successful launch. I probably should just plan on going to these events as long as I can afford the trip. It sure beats sitting here and doing another load of laundry.

Dawn got another blue ribbon at her training class tonight. She is really doing well. Dash won a few ribbons before he lost interest in the class, but Dawn has done better than any of our other dogs. Janet says Dawn really likes the class too. It's nice to see Dawn overcoming her many fears and gaining confidence. She's come a long way.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4616

Mall walking has become part of my Sunday routine. This is the third week in a row that I've done this and it still seems like a pleasant activity. The stores are starting to look pretty familiar now. The window displays must not change often because so far everything looks exactly the same. Surprisingly, the art on display does change ocassionally. I've noticed a few new pieces that weren't there several years ago, along with several favorites that are gone. I wonder where they store this art when it isn't on display. Some of the sculptures are huge.

We need to start our sunrise walk with Dawn earlier on weekends. We didn't leave the house until after 8 AM this morning and the park was already bustling with activity. Now that school has started there are high school sports teams that run in the mornings and there are always lots of bicycles to watch out for. The park is a lot quieter in the mornings when the weather cools down. In the winter it is practically empty. Dawn enjoys walking more in cooler weather and so do I. I'm ready for winter so I can start complaining about something else.

The weather was a littler cooler this morning, so we took a short walk in Dawn's Sunday park on her outing today. We didn't walk far though. It is still too hot for a dog to be out in the middle of the day. The price for cones at the ice cream store has gone up at the same time the cones have gotten a little smaller. This doesn't seem fair, but I'm not running a business. People are still buying ice cream, so I suspect that they  are just seeing how much they can get away with.

The real estate market in town seems to have really slowed down. We're seeing for sale and for lease signs stay up in the neighborhood a lot longer than they used to when interest rates were near zero. Houses for rent near the lake used to be snapped up almost immediately. Lately I've seen a couple of real estate signs standing in people's yards for well over a month. Sign of the times I guess. Who would want to commit to a major purchase with so much uncertainty in the world?

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and will mail it tomorrow. I also vacuumed the carpets. The Dyson vacuum still takes longer to clean than it does to vacuum, but I guess it does a good job. There is sure is a ton of dust and dirt in the clear plastic tube when I'm done. I still think old fashioned vacuum cleaner bags are a better solution, but what do I know. When the bags were full on our old Hoover, I just took them out and threw them away.

There is a new version of the star tracker software available now, but I haven't had the heart to install it. I keep thinking that updates to this thing should start slowing down soon, but the Benro team seems relentless in their efforts to add new features. Sometimes the new features work and other times they don't.  This experience has made me wary about buying anything new before all the bugs have been worked out. I have tended to buy computers just before they are discontinued because you can often get great deals. I've rarely had problems with these older computers because mature products are just more stable. I think the same thing can be said for cars. I've been interested in the new Bronco, but early buyers seems to be plagued with problems. Maybe a few years from now this car will be more reliable.

Tomorrow I return to my weekday routine. I'm sure there will be a trip to the gym and maybe a nap with Dawn. I've got a few bills to pay and it's time to take bulky trash out to the curb. I don't think I will mow the lawn though, even though it really needs some attention. Will I finally get details about the Artemis launch press itinerary from NASA? Somehow I doubt it. 

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4603

Such a long, hot summer. Every day is more or less the same. We get up and take Dawn on a sunrise walk. I make the bed and then eat breakfast. It's always shredded wheat topped with peaches and strawberries. I do the breakfast dishes by hand even though we just got a new dishwasher. I check my messages on the computer, putter around the house for a little while, and then go to the gym. It's kind of a boring routine, but it's better than no routine at all.

My routine at the gym seldom varies either. If nobody is using the basketball court, I always try to shoot 25 free throws before taking my walk on the indoor track. I used to just try to get 15 baskets, but I'm getting a little better. The direction people walk or run on the track changes every day, so I usually have to check and see if it is an odd or even day. It takes fourteen trips around the track to walk a mile. I always walk two miles and occasionally I walk three. Often I go home after I finish walking, but sometimes I stay and work with free weights for a while. The same people seem to be at the gym every day. I guess I'm becoming one of them.

As soon as I get home I let Dawn out to pee. Usually she likes to lounge in the grass for a while, but lately she wants to go right back inside. It is just too hot to lounge in the sun. If I'm hungry I'll fix myself a sandwich, but I don't always eat lunch. Afternoons are when I miss being employed. I used to always have writing jobs to keep me busy. Now there is very little that captures my attention.

Today I upgraded the firmware on the star tracker again. I'm always a little apprehensive when doing this, but the tracker still works. I point the tracker at various planets and galaxies using the app on my phone, but all I get are pictures of my office ceiling. I seldom take the tracker outside. Again, it is just too hot. I am getting better at using the thing though. I'm pretty sure it is pointed where it is supposed to be pointing and occasionally check for accuracy using other astronomy apps on my phone.

Dawn is still not wild about sharing the bed with me, but she doesn't get up and leave the room when I take an afternoon nap these days. I guess that's progress. Dash used to follow me around the house all day long. Dawn follows Janet around and tries her best to ignore me when I'm home alone with her. I doubt that this will ever change. Dawn is just not comfortable around men. 

I still wish that NASA would hurry up with a schedule for the Artemis-1 launch. I'll feel more comfortable when I know I don't have to change my airline reservations. I got a notice today that I could apply to attend the next crewed launch to the ISS. I think I'll pass on the Crew-5 mission though. I have a feeling that the Artemis launch will be my last trip to Florida this year.

I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow. Hopefully I don't have any cavities. It doesn't seem like six months since I've been to the dentist, but time flies when you are doing nothing. 

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4600

Only 400 days to go. Kind of a strange goal to write something for 5000 consecutive days, but I'm thinking I'm going to be able to do this. We're getting close now. Maybe a few more interesting and unexpected things will happen along the way, but probably not today. I got excited when it looked like we might get some rain this evening, but it missed us again. Still bone dry.

Today really was a lot like yesterday. Our sunrise walk with Dawn was warm but tolerable. My breakfast was boring but easy to fix. I made the bed, checked my messages and headed for the gym. I'm glad I have this option. It's been way too hot lately to take my normal walk in the park. 

Fridays are Dawn's favorite day. Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday morning and Dawn loves to watch as the food is being put away. She's not nearly as interested when I return from the store because I tend to buy the bulk items like laundry detergent and trash bags. Janet buys the sliced turkey which Dawn dearly loves.

I probably should stay at the gym longer. I always walk two or three miles on the indoor track and shoot free throws on the basketball court, but I'm seldom very tired when I'm finished with my workout. I should probably try a little harder to elevate my heart rate. My goal is mostly just to keep moving. Hey, I burn just as many calories as I did walking outdoors and I don't get sunburned. It's hard to argue with that. If I remember, I'm going to try mall walking this Sunday when the gym is closed. I have no desire to walk outdoors again until this heat wave is over.

I practiced using the star tracker again this afternoon. I was going to wait until the new firmware update was released, but boredom intervened. For the first time in ages there were no error messages today. Everything worked perfectly. I try to be consistent but I still can't figure out why I have good days and bad days with this thing. Even if I don't spend a lot of time doing astrophotography with the tracker, it was probably a good investment. It has already provided hours of entertainment. Although frustrating at times, testing the tracker is much more enjoyable than mowing the lawn.

I'm still waiting to hear more about the Artemis-1 launch. I've already made my reservations, but it would be nice to know whether I picked the right days to travel. I've been invited to attend several other launches in the interim, but I can only afford one more trip to Titusville this season. I need to just be patient and wait. Eventually, I'll get a schedule from NASA and I'll be on my way.

Tomorrow I do my share of the grocery shopping. I've got my list ready and expect prices to be higher again. It's probably time to fill the car with gas too. No shredded wheat in the morning. Janet cooks a big breakfast on the weekends.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4590

It's going to be a very long summer. Every day seems the same. The relentless heat takes away my desire to do anything. Our sunrise walk with Dawn feels like what you'd expect at noon in a normal year. This is the only walk that Dawn gets now. It's far too hot for an afternoon walk. It's too hot for anything. I eat my breakfast, check my messages on the computer, and then wonder what to do next.

This morning I went to the gym fairly early. I have no burning desire to exercise, but it is something to do.  I'm getting better on the basketball court, but I'm not very athletic. All I do is shoot free throws. I'm not very fast on the indoor track either, but my Fitbit doesn't care. I make sure to walk at least 10,000 steps and close all the activity rings on my Apple Watch. I've actually learned a lot watching other people's personal trainers. Maybe someday I'll put these fitness tips to good use. I think I'm in reasonably good shape but older, heavier people often pass me on the track. Usually after about an hour and a half I've had enough and I head back home again.

My phone said that there was a new version of the Polaris app available, so I downloaded it. Strangely, it was exactly the same as the version I downloaded last week. Since I didn't have anything better to do, I set the star tracker up again and put it through it's paces. I had better luck today and the camera only disconnected from the tracker once. I have a feeling that some of the problems I've been having might be user error. It's hard to tell though, since there has never been an instruction manual for this thing. Most of what I've learned comes from the Facebook user group and the majority of these other users don't know any more than I do. 

I wish it were easier to keep our house cool. We have a ton of single pane windows that act just like radiators in the summer. When you stand near them you can feel the heat. The roof isn't insulated well either. Originally, the house had a thick tar and gravel roof that provided excellent insulation. When it came time to replace this roof, we discovered that nobody does tar and gravel roofs anymore. The thinner roofing materials that replaced the tar and gravel don't provide much insulation at all. I have a feeling that the weather was cooler fifty years ago as well. There were also more large Oak trees that provided a lot of shade. Several of these trees have died and the remaining ones are not in great shape. It all adds up to a house that isn't that comfortable in triple digit weather. Our air conditioning system is doing all it can. Most AC systems will only lower the temperature about twenty degrees. This means when the temperature is over 100 degrees outside, it can still approach 80 degrees inside.

I still wish I could hibernate like a bear. Napping is the next best thing though. Dawn has finally realized that nothing bad happens when we share the bed for an afternoon nap. We're actually getting along pretty well now. Maybe those nine days we spent together while Janet was on vacation helped. It's a good thing we can nap together. What else is there to do on a hot July day.

I'll probably go back to the gym tomorrow morning. I need to mow the grass but I'd rather wait for a cloudy day. It's time to get a haircut again too. Maybe I'll make an appointment tomorrow. I'm sure there are all sorts of things I could do if I was more industrious. We'll wait until it's cooler for that. This heat has killed my motivation.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4589

Still fighting the heat. It was already 85 degrees when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk and the sun wasn't even up yet. Later in the day the temperature climbed to 109 degrees. Yikes. Needless to say I didn't spend a lot of time outdoors. After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. That was about it for the morning.

We went and visited the rescue Dalmatians this afternoon. JoJo has been adopted, but is still at the kennel. He will be joining his new family soon. Rocket has made a remarkable transformation. He's gained weight, his coat looks much better, and he is no longer fearful. It's hard to believe that all this has happened in less than a month. Rocket even plays with toys now. They used to scare him. Willie still enjoys being petted more than playing and Charlie still does his best to wear us out with all his energy. Spot, our new guy, is very relaxed and extremely friendly. I bet he finds a home soon. We took Spot back to the vet on our way home today because he needed to have his teeth cleaned.

I still had time to go to the gym after we returned from visiting the kennel. They have reinstated their mask mandate but I don't understand the logic. You have to wear a mask when you enter the building, but you can take it off as soon as you are on the exercise floor. This means that most people keep their masks on for about ten seconds. I didn't really do a lot today, but I did get my steps. I walked two miles on the indoor track and shot fifteen free throws on the basketball court. I'm still surprised that the same people seem to be at the gym no matter what time of day I arrive. Some of these folks must live there.

I got a quick reply from the Benro Polaris people regarding my camera connection problems. They weren't much help this time and just suggested that I might have a bad cable. Nope. The cables are fine. The problem is with the new firmware update. I shouldn't have installed this latest upgrade. The previous update was working fine. This is what happens when you get bored and have too much time on your hands. Maybe if I can get this problem fixed I will finally learn my lesson and just leave the problematic star tracker alone.

I hate to think what our electric bill is going to be next month. Our air conditioner has been running nonstop for days now. It takes all night to cool the place down and then as soon as the sun comes up, it starts to warm up again. I wonder how long this can continue without something breaking? I'll probably be going back to the gym for the rest of the summer. I don't like the drive, but the gym is nice and cold. I wish I could keep our house as cold as this gym. No wonder the regulars spend a lot of time here.

No big plans for tomorrow. I hope it's a little cooler, but I'm not counting on it.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4572

Another uneventful day. I think it's impossible for me to get eight hours of sleep. When I go to bed earlier, I wake up earlier. Somewhere between six and seven hours is all my body seems to want. It's too bad that Dawn wasn't in the mood to walk when I took her outside this morning. It was really nice out just before sunrise. She's not going to walk until Janet returns though. I'm lucky that I can get her to go down to the meadow behind our house to do her business.

I took my long walk right after breakfast to avoid the heat. Apparently, I'm not the only one trying to avoid the heat. The park is surprisingly crowded early in the day this summer. I often see neighbors walking their dogs while I'm in the park. Today one of them was one dog short. It turned out that the dog had died of cancer recently. It's sad that our dogs are with us for such a short time.

I went to the bank this morning and then stopped at a nearby grocery store to get some more salad greens. Actually I just got a couple of pre-made salads so I wouldn't have to make anything. I'm spoiled that Janet makes me a nice salad every day. On my own, I would revert to eating tuna fish out of the can pretty quickly.

The Benro folks wanted me to run a test on my star tracker and sent me some pre-release software to install. I was a little apprehensive because there was a good chance that everything would stop working again. Boredom makes you take chances though. I figured that if the beta firmware didn't work, they would fix the problem later. I carefully followed the instructions I was sent and was pleasantly surprised that the tracker still worked. There weren't any camera disconnect problems either. Maybe my problems are over for a while. Actually, I'm pretty lucky to be communicating well with the manufacturer in China. They always answer my questions within a day or two and have been pretty responsive. A lot of people on the user group haven't even received their trackers yet. One of these days I'll have some really nice astro photos to show you. It might be a while though. Lord knows when I'm going to be able to get back to the observatory.

I finally contacted the right person at NASA and got an update on my Artemis-1 status. Yes, they received my application for press credentials a long time ago. No, they haven't made any final decisions yet. I hope I get selected but it would certainly save me a lot of money if my application is rejected. I don't think airfares and hotel rates are going down any time soon.

I found Dawn sitting in the corner again this afternoon. Some noise that I hadn't even heard had spooked her. She came when I called and we went outside to sit in the sun for a while. Dawn is fine, but she is still very nervous without Janet at her side. We get all the essential things done during the day, but I can tell that she is sad and a little depressed. At least she doesn't run away when I take a nap on the bed anymore. I took a long nap this afternoon and Dawn stayed right there with me. We are definitely building trust, but there is a big gap between trust and joy. I tell Dawn that her friend will be returning soon, but I'm not sure she understands.

It's grocery day again tomorrow. This week really went quickly. I don't need much since I got some of my shopping done today, but I do need strawberries. Janet returns on Sunday. I think Dawn will be very happy.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4551

I always erase the cookies on my computer before I turn it off at night, so I think that Facebook is just grasping at straws when it is trying to get me to click on things. One day my feed will be filled with posts about boxing. The next day it will be filled with pictures of battle tanks and military equipment. Lately, I've been getting a lot of posts about obscure musical groups I've never heard of, along with random information about the early life of Elvis and Jimi Hendrix. A lot of these things are sponsored posts and clickbait, but some are just "suggested for you" nonsense generated by Facebook. I don't really understand any of this. Wasn't the whole idea of Facebook so you could keep up with your friends? Very little I see these on my feed actually comes from anyone I know.

I could tell it was going to be a hot day when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. These early morning walks are always nice, but as soon as the sun hits your face, you can tell that the pleasant weather isn't going to last long. I really should have gone to the gym today, but it was easier to convince myself that a long walk right after breakfast wouldn't be so bad. The first few miles weren't terrible because the sky was overcast. As soon as the skies cleared it almost instantly became too hot. I'm afraid it's going to be like this for the rest of the summer.

I got a message from the Benro folks that it should be OK for me to install the latest firmware in the star tracker. Then they added that if the upgrade didn't work that they would fix it later. Not terribly encouraging, but I have to remember that I'm a Beta tester. Maybe I'll give the upgrade a try tomorrow. A year ago at this time I was learning how to use a different type of star tracker. I've taken both of these devices out to McDonald Observatory, but have only taken a small handful of pictures. I haven't used them at all in Dallas. There are too many streetlights that light up our backyard and I'm certainly not venturing very far from home at night these days. Sadly, it's just not safe anymore. Basically I just turn on the local news during breakfast to see who got shot overnight. We're not as bad as some major cities, but that's not saying much.

The new dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any problems. I've found the shutoff valves for the water and I'll move the furniture out of the way after breakfast. I wish the installers would tell me exactly when they'd be here so I don't waste half the day waiting for them. I guess that's impossible. The best you can get from service people these days is a four hour window. The old dishwasher matched the color of the blue metal mid-50's kitchen cabinets. At least the stainless steel door on the new one will match the stainless steel counter tops. I looked for something with a slide in color panel on the door, but apparently that is out of fashion these days. All the new appliances are stainless steel. When I was younger it was important to me that everything matched. Now it's more important that everything works.

Hopefully I can get my grocery shopping done tomorrow before the appliance installers arrive. I don't know when I'll find time to take my long walk though. Oh, well. One way or another I'll get my steps. Even retired people with nothing to do have their priorities.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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