Day 4138

I had to scramble to get our walks completed before the rain began today. I took my long walk immediately after breakfast and actually made good time. When Janet returned from grocery shopping, we took Dawn on her short one mile loop. Less than half an hour later it began to rain pretty hard. It continued raining for the rest of the day, but it felt good to get most of our major chores out of the way before the deluge began.

It's still raining and I think we got some hail at one point. It could have been a lot worse however. Other parts of North Texas saw tornados. We didn't even have much wind. The two pumps on the roof are working well today, so all is well. I'm continually grateful that Dawn has no storm phobias. Thunder and lightning don't bother her at all. She just freaks out if I'm in the kitchen with her.

The park was pretty empty when I walked this morning. I guess a lot of people didn't want to risk getting wet. I don't want to get wet either, but I've grown to depend on a multitude of weather apps on my phone. I never take selfies, but I do check the weather a lot. Sometimes the weather radar lets me down, but everything worked perfectly today. Hopefully this storm will have moved well to the East by tomorrow when I need to do my own grocery shopping.

My missing package has mysteriously reappeared. It has taken 12 days for it to move from one post office in Indiana to another post office in Indiana. I suspect that it was thrown in the wrong bin and was only recently discovered. The post office assures me that all is well though. The package is on the move. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get it sometime next week.

I didn't wake up in time to watch the Crew-2 launch live on the Space X stream, but I watched the replay later. What a beautiful launch! This would have been a great one to see in person. When I see the pictures some of the other launch photographers take, I can't help being a bit envious. I've got to figure out how to get credentialed again. Sometimes I ask photographers I know what their secret is, but nobody has revealed it yet. I'm sure it all depends on who you know. That's how it works in every other aspect of life. Why would it be any different at NASA?

Dawn didn't eat her breakfast this morning. We left the food out and she ate everything normally around noon. When I fixed her dinner this evening, she didn't eat that either. About an hour later when I wasn't in the kitchen, she wandered out and ate everything. Now that Dawn is becoming more confident, she is starting to set her own schedules. There is nothing wrong with this. It is actually a good thing, but it is a bit unnerving for a person like me who had a fixed, inflexible schedule for almost everything.

There are some large, older houses near the halfway point of my daily walk. They were probably built in the 1940's and I've always liked them. Today I noticed that one of my favorite houses was being demolished. This is a trend in our part of town. Developers will buy a house on a large older lot, scrape it, and then put up two large homes on the same lot. There never was a lot of respect for history in Dallas, but   now the old buildings are disappearing faster than ever. I'm sure our house will be scraped someday. It's a shame. A decent person would restore it instead.

I hope I see blue sky in the morning. It's grocery day tomorrow and my list is pretty long. Janet and I have a system on groceries. She buys the things that require a discerning eye and I buy the commodities. It's hard to go wrong when you are just buying beer, laundry detergent, and toilet paper.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4136

I voted this morning. Like most local elections, the polling place was practically empty. There were only a few old people voting and most of them looked even older than I was. If you had a couple hundred good friends, you could probably win one of these low turnout elections. There were several initiatives on the ballot that were worded so ambiguously that it was hard to tell what you were voting for. When I see a lot of double neatives in the language of these initiatives, I am convinced that someone is trying to confuse me and make me vote the opposite of the way I intended. I seldom voted when I was younger, but my Mom finally convinced me that it was my civic duty. I still wonder though. I don't care who you support. There's just not a lot of honesty in politics.

As expected, it was really cold when we woke up this morning. It's pretty late in the year to experience near freezing weather. All is well though. The furnace is still working like a charm. I really should have brought the lawn mower battery inside last night. Forgetting to do this during a surprise cold spell is usually how I ruin these batteries. We'll see how it goes the next time I try to mow the grass. With my bad back and gimpy shoulder, I haven't had the nerve to try this yet.

My lost package still hasn't arrived. I've generally had pretty good luck with shipments so I thought that lost packages were just for other people. Several Christmas presents Janet mailed this year got lost and I keep hearing that unreliable mail is becoming a big problem. Maybe my luck has finally run out. The post office can't seem to find my package and neither can the shipper. Since I already paid for the memory chips, I'm sure that I'll eventually receive them. If the company has to send a duplicate shipment, I'm going to request UPS this time. I've lost faith in the post ofice.

Several of my photographer friends are already in Florida covering the upcoming Crew-2 launch. When I see their pictures on Facebook I can't help being a little envious. Most of the regulars live in the area and have gotten to know the folks that approve credentials. Even though I have gotten credentials to cover a number of launches, I still feel like an outsider. There's a big difference between going to Kennedy Space Center twenty times a year and going two times a year. This year, I'll be lucky if I can make it down there once. I wish getting press accreditation was easier, but then I wish everything was easier. Life just seems to be an uphill battle these days.

Janet took Dawn to the vet today to get her anal glands expressed and her nails trimmed. Dawn is healthy and I hope things like this are the only reasons she needs to go to the vet for a long time. I have so many bad memories of serious medical problems. Dealing with very sick dogs was one reason that Janet and I thought that we weren't going to get another dog after Dot and Dash died. Life is full of surprises though. I'm really glad we have Dawn in our life, even though she doesn't appear to like me.

I really do need to find another place to walk. My route has become so familiar that I think I could complete it with a blindfold on. I see a lot of the same people day after day, so I guess I'm not the only one leading a repetitive life. Even though it was chilly today, this is a great time of year to be outside. Everything is so green and new wildflowers appear every day. Perhaps I could make better use of my time, but I don't think so. Being outside is good. It certainly beats staring at this screen.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I don't really have high expectations at this point. Maybe my package will arrive. Maybe I'll hear good news from NASA about the next launch I applied for. Maybe Dawn will stay in the kitchen with me while I eat breakfast. Naw. That will never happen.

Joe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day