Day 4114

The arboretum got hit pretty hard during the big freeze. I don't know why I thought this place would be exempt from all the carnage, but mother nature definitely had the upper hand here as well. As Janet and I walked through the gardens we kept saying "look, their's died too." Strangely, I felt a little better about our own pitiful yard after seeing that even dozens of skilled gardeners couldn't save these plants.

Even though almost all the Azaleas and Rhododendrons died, the Spring celebration was still pretty spectacular. Thousands of seasonal flowers made the well manicured gardens seem even more colorful than usual. Janet and I always get lots of ideas for our own yard when we visit the arboretum. Somehow we never follow up on these ideas though. When you have large dogs and thousands of squirrels in your yard, it's easy to lose interest in gardening. Usually we never get beyond cleaning up all the dog poop.

I didn't bother to take a long walk today. After stopping for a beer and a cup of tortilla soup at a patio restaurant inside the arboretum, a stroll through the gardens seemed like all the exercise I needed. Maybe it was good to take a break. My foot didn't hurt at all today. It's too bad you can't take dogs to the arboretum. Dawn would have enjoyed this afternoon's outing.

While I was eating breakfast this morning, one of the TV stations I was watching showed a supposedly live broadcast of the latest Starship launch at Boca Chica. Something seemed vaguely familiar about this launch, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Later in the day I realized that the broadcast I was watching wasn't live at all. It was footage from several weeks ago with a "live" caption pasted over the top. The real launch today was much different. It was very foggy outside and the rocket blew up in midair. This makes four Starships in a row that have blown up. I have a feeling that the first person to ride in one of these things is going to be pretty nervous.

Although I didn't take my long walk today, Dawn did get her shorter walk. She always seems eager to take these walks, but some days we don't get very far. Today was a good day. We completed our short one mile loop with no strange behavior at all. Some days Dawn walks like a normal dog. Other days, she freezes in place for no apparent reason. We still can't figure out her many moods. She certainly doesn't seem sick. Every time we take her to the vet, everything checks out fine.

I thought about taking a good camera to the arboretum, but I'm glad I didn't. I find that a lot of experiences are more enjoyable without a camera. I always have my phone in my pocket, but that's a lot different than lugging heavy professional equipment around. I find that I remember things better if I just take the experience in with my eyes instead of constantly trying to compose a scene for the camera. Oddly, I still haven't used my new camera. Maybe I should have just got a better phone.

Today seemed like Sunday for some reason. I hope that won't make tomorrow feel like Monday. One Monday in any week is plenty. I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. I"m still trying to avoid climbing up on the roof. Maybe if I wait long enough, the water will just evaporate.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4109

I think one of the worst habits I ever acquired was meticulously recording every transaction I make in Quickbooks. I have a category for everything and even divide grocery shopping into numerous sub-categories. It takes an enormous amount of time to enter everything correctly and I'm getting tired of it. I really should have just made two categories: stuff I really need and stuff I don't really need. Today I entered three months worth of receipts and am finally caught up for 2021. My accountant tells me that I've made Quickbooks Pro ridiculously overcomplicated and he doesn't even look at most of the entries. Old habits are hard to break though, and just like my daily blog entries, I continue to categorize everything.

Nesting season has arrived and I'm seeing pairs of duck in places where they never usually go. They leave the lake at this time of year and you see them in fields and meadows throughout the park. I even see pairs of ducks in people's yards. You'd think the ducks would be more careful about where they choose to nest. The coyotes get a lot of the eggs and sometimes the ducks as well. It won't be long before we start seeing baby ducks though, and some of them always survive.

They say that if you spend an hour a day studying something, you will become an expert within three years. I try to spend a little time each day learning more about astrophotography. Today, while I was doing my Google searches I stumbled across a very desirable star tracker that was actually in stock and ready to ship. Anything related to astronomy has been almost impossible to find since the pandemic started. I guess people have more time on their hands and interest in the hobby has exploded. A lot of things are on back-order for months now. When I saw the iOptron tracker, I felt it was a sign and that I needed to act quickly. The tracker is on order and I should be able to take it with me when I go out to McDonald Observatory in May. I'll never be able to use this thing in Dallas, but when people start doing things in person again, I may join a local astronomy club that owns a nice dark sky site in southern Oklahoma. On the other hand, the tracker may end up in the storage warehouse with a lot of other passing fancies.

Janet and I made reservations to see Dallas Blooms at the arboretum next week. We always mean to go to this event but for some reason something always comes up and we end up being too busy. They say this event is one of the 14 best places to see spring flowers in the world. I don't know where the other 13 places are, but we really enjoyed going to the arboretum around Christmas and we've heard that Dallas Blooms is spectacular. There are 500,000 tulips for starters, along with 100's of varieties of flowering plants and trees. Hopefully, it won't rain.

We must have gotten some rain last night, because the yard was wet in the morning. We totally avoided the severe weather though. There was bad weather to the North and to the South of us, but all we got was a little rain. I didn't even hear any thunder last night. The only thing that woke me up was the sound of Dawn snoring.

Dawn continued to walk well today. She's been doing well on her daily walks all week. I did pretty well today too. I kept up a decent pace for five miles and didn't have a lot of foot pain. I still have no idea why the foot pain varies so much from day to day. I'm very consistent about the way I walk. You'd think the way my foot feels would be consistent as well. It's a mystery. I"m just glad there are good days as well as bad days.

The trash has been taken to the curb, the refrigerator is almost empty, and I feel like the week is just about over. I don't know why my week always starts on Friday, but it's been that way for a long, long time. Hey, when you don't work in an office, you make your own rules.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4017

Dawn is still acting weird on her morning walks. She always appears eager to leave the house. We'll walk a little ways and she'll do her business. We'll continue walking and then for no reason, she'll stop and refuse to go any further. She doesn't appear to be in any pain or having a seizure. As soon as we agree to turn around and retrace our steps to the house, she's back to her old self, walking briskly and full of purpose. Is she just being stubborn or is there something wrong? It's hard to tell.

At any rate, Dawn missed out on a nice walk this morning. It was really pretty outside and the weather was just about perfect. Dawn certainly doesn't have any separation anxiety. She could care less if Janet and I go off walking by ourselves. As long as Dawn has our big bed to sleep on, she's a happy camper.

Since it was such a nice day today, Janet and I decided to go to the Dallas Arboretum this afternoon. The arboretum is well endowed and beautifully maintained. We often go during the Christmas season because they have special Christmas displays. I wonder how many gardeners it takes to keep this place looking so nice. This is how probably everyone would want their yard to look if they had an unlimited budget. You can get all sorts of ideas wandering through the acres of perfectly trimmed trees, colorful vegetation, and sparkling water attractions. If we tried to duplicate anything we saw this afternoon it would all probably all die within six months. A garden like this requires constant attention.

At Christmas there are twelve glass gazeboes scattered throughout the park, representing the twelve days of Christmas. There is also a full size Christmas village with little German style buildings, each filled with different types of food or Christmas ornaments you can buy. In a normal year, Christmas at the Arboretum is a very popular attraction. I guess Dallas is back to normal, because the place was packed today. It is very odd to see so many people acting completely normally all over town and then turn on the television and hear that our hospitals are full. Everyone except the small children were wearing masks today, but that was probably just because there were large signs all over the place saying that masks were mandatory. 

When we got home from the arboretum we tried to take Dawn on a walk again. She did much better this time and seemed to be enjoying herself until she abruptly froze and refused to go any further. We had probably gone about a mile when this happened. I would think that she might be having a small seizure if it weren't for the fact that as soon as we turn around, she starts wagging her tail again and begins walking briskly toward the house. 

Janet picked up the Crown Roast we are going to have for Christmas dinner at the butcher today. It looks amazing. We are going to have a quiet little Christmas, but we will eat well. We got some gifts for Dawn, but we don't need anything for ourselves. There is not much point in decluttering if you keep buying more.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4004

It was a slow day. The big event today was gving Dawn a bath. I didn't really think Dawn was dirty, but Janet likes a clean dog. We took her to the self bathe place in my car this time to see if a different vehicle made any difference. Nope. She still doesn't like to ride in a car. Considering all the whining and shivering during the car ride, she was surprisingly good about the bath itself. At any rate we have a clean dog. She smells good. And she got her nails trimmed as well.

The warranty replacement dehumidifier arrived today. Now I have more dehumidifiers than I know what to do with. There are two brand new dehumidifiers and two broken ones. I need to get rid of the damaged machines. My HVAC guy said it would cost me more to repair each of them than it would to buy a new dehumidifier. I wish I didn't have this strong desire to fix everything. Some things just aren't worth fixing. I wish I knew about the warranty program when the first dehumidifier broke. It's out of warranty now, but I probably could have gotten that one replaced as well.

I watched the Delta IV Heavy launch I really wanted to go to a few months ago on a ULA live stream this evening. The launch has been delayed over and over again, but this time everything went perfectly. I wish I could have been there. It looked like a beautiful evening and I started seeing some spectacular pictures from my photographer friends a few hours later on Facebook. I'm never going to be able to attend as many launches as I'd like. It's just too expensive.

The resurgence of Covid cases has gotten me nervous about traveling again. I don't want to push my luck. I made it safely to West Texas in October just before there was a huge surge in cases out in that remote region. My trip to Florida to attend the Crew-1 launch went well too. I'm not so sure about going to Mississippi for the Artemis 1 static fire or to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory out in California for the Mars rover landing in February. Maybe I should just wait. I hate to turn down a magazine assignment though. We'll see what happens. I'm overly cautious about almost everything, so I'll probably do the right thing.

I made an appointment to see the foot doctor today, so all my medical visits should be complete before the end of the year. Hopefully there won't be any more doctor's appointments for a long time. My face looks terrible today after yesterday's liquid nitrogen treatment at the dermatologist. This will pass though. I've done this before. 

Janet and I were going to go to the Dallas Arboretum this afternoon because it was such a nice day. Not so fast. Apparently in a post-Covid environment you can't do anything spontaneous anymore. Now you have to make a reservation online at least 48 hours in advance. Good grief. This is Texas. You never know what the weather is going to look like 48 hours in advance. I don't even know what the weather is going to look like tomorrow. It is supposed to rain, but we won't know whether we'll be able to walk Dawn until we wake up in the morning.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2877

We're making progress. I'm pretty sure the refrigerator actually works now because I saw the defrost heater come on. You can tell that the defrost cycle has begun when the refrigerator is silent. The compressor and the fan shut off and the small heater at the bottom of the freezer section starts to emit an orange glow. The heater is actually hidden behind a metal plate, but you can see the glow through a small vent at the bottom of the freezer. After about two hours, the glow went away and the refrigerator turned itself on again. This has been happening behind the scenes for many years and I never even noticed. I've learned so much about refrigerators in the past two months.

My work on the roof was also encouraging. The patches I applied several days ago didn't wash away in yesterday's rain. The elastomer coating seems to have cured properly and appears to be waterproof. Since it's getting colder, I need to call the manufacturer and find out if this stuff can be applied in the Winter. I suspect that when it gets too cold outside, the stuff won't cure and might just remain liquid. I'm not even going to bother calling the roofer. I'm sure I'll get better results by just calling the manufacturer.

The rain has stopped, but it was still a nasty, damp day. By the time I'd walked Dash several times and removed all the standing water from the roof, I wished we had a fireplace so I could sit by the fire and warm up. It seemed like a cold night to go to the arboretum, but actually it turned out to be perfect.

We bundled up in warm coats and explored twelve elaborate victorian gazebos representing each of the twelve days of Christmas. The arboretum is wonderful at night. The trees are illuminated with tiny lights and the twelve glass gazebos filled with rotating animatronic clockwork glowed like beacons in the night. It was so cold outside that it actually felt like Christmas for a change. Janet says they have this exhibit every year, but I'd never heard of it before. The arboretum is actually part of the same huge park where I walk Dash every day. I guess there have been rare trees here forever, but the area changed dramatically when the city passed a big bond issue and turned the place into a Disneyland for nature lovers. They stage elaborate events throughout the year and charge a lot to see them. I liked the place better when it was wild and abandoned, but that's just me. I never thought people would pay money to see a bunch old old trees, but the city has done a good job turning the place into a weird outdoor museum.

Much to my surprise, I remembered to take the trash out to the curb when we returned this evening. It felt like I got a lot done today, even though I really didn't. I used to measure success by how much I accomplished. That seems kind of silly now. A successful day is just a day where nothing goes wrong.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2876

I can describe today in two words. Cabin fever. It started raining sometime last night and continued raining throughout the day. It was way too wet and cold to even consider taking a walk. Dash eventually went out in the rain and did his business, but you could tell he wasn't enjoying things. He would wait until he couldn't hold it any longer and then race out in the yard and quickly pee. I kept a towel by the back door to dry him off, but it really didn't help much. It was just a miserable, very wet day.

Without a deadline to keep me busy at the computer, or a walk to keep Dash occupied, we were left with two choices. We could eat or we could sleep. Dash and I tried both. I wasn't sleepy and even Dash got tired of snacking after a while. I thought this might be a good day to watch Blade Runner 2049 on iTunes, but I discovered that it probably wasn't going to be available for streaming until January 2018.

Cold weather, dark overcast skies, and rain aren't a good combination for me. It's good if I have a writing job on days like this, because without a forced deadline, I quickly lose interest in everything. Dash just gets frustrated. He hates to go outside in the rain, but he hates staying inside and doing nothing too. He would go to the back door again and again thinking that maybe something had changed. In an effort to keep things interesting for him, I split his meals into numerous small segments spaced several hours apart. These bite sized portions were kind of a doggie version of Dim Sum, but it seemed to do the trick. The day goes faster when you're eating.

I hope my roof repairs had time to cure properly, because everything is definitely under water now. When I see water spilling over the eaves on all four sides of the house, I know there is a lot of standing water on the roof. I'm sure the roofer knew it was going to rain today when he dropped off the container of elastomer coating yesterday. Technically, he got me the product before it rained, just like I had asked. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to use it. If I hadn't gone out and bought my own container of silicon last week I would have been in a world of hurt today.

I wonder what happened to the pleasure I used to get by curling up with a good book. I work in an office surrounded by floor to ceiling bookshelves, but I didn't feel like reading anything today. I didn't feel like watching TV either. Janet likes to binge watch to relax, but whenever I look at what Netflix or Hulu has to offer, I can't find anything. Luckily, I'm very good at sleeping.

I resisted the urge to upgrade the computers to High Sierra today. I may never upgrade to High Sierra. There are so many fundamental changes to this new operating system that everything I use would probably quit working. Even the way Apple stores files on the hard drive has changed with this new system. Apple's desire to get their phones and computers running the same operating system is ruining things for me. I have no interest in a computer that works like my phone. I had everything I wanted several decades ago and now it is all slowly slipping away.

Hopefully, the weather will improve tomorrow. We have tickets to see The Twelve Days of Christmas at the Arboretum. This spectacular outdoor exhibit will probably look a lot prettier in dry weather.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day