Day 4927 - Summer Solstice

Not a lot happened today. We're still dealing with a heat wave that destroys your will to do anything. At least our air conditioner is still working though. Our sunrise walks with Dawn are the only tolerable part of the day. The temperature was already in the mid-80's on our early walk this morning, but there was a nice breeze. The sky looked like it was going to rain and sure enough it did later in the day. Unfortunately, the  rain didn't cool things down much. It still feels like a sauna outside.

I didn't even think about walking in the park today. I went to the gym after breakfast this morning and walked three miles around the indoor track. I didn't really feel like doing anything else. When I got home there was a message from the gym saying my membership had expired. What? This seemed odd since the app on my phone still let me check in today. I've been thinking that my gym has changed ownership lately. A lot of things seems different. I hope they haven't dropped the annual membership provided by my supplemental health insurance. I don't know if this gym means enough to me to pay a monthly fee. I guess I'll find out what is going on the next time I go.

My editor at SpaceFlight wrote today with questions about some of the facts in my latest article. I know I didn't just make things up, but I couldn't find the source of the information I was writing about. The information probably came from one of the interviews I had with Axiom executives down at Kennedy Space Center. Unfortunately I erased the interviews as soon as I finished the article because they used up all the space on my phone. I actually think I was wrong because I couldn't find the dates I mentioned in the article anywhere. Oh, well. So it goes.

I've been thinking about getting a new phone but I'm having second thoughts now after seeing the problems Janet is having getting some of her favorite apps to work on her new phone. Electronics are getting to be such a hassle. Everything keeps changing and not always for the better. I was happier with my phone and computers ten years ago than I am now. Twenty years ago everything was perfect. I made my living designing websites for many years, but I don't even enjoy visiting them now. All the news sites have paywalls and most of the others use widgets and special coding that is not supported by my aging browsers. It's irritating. Every day things crash or freeze and I have no idea why. I was a good designer too. I just don't deal with change very well.

I was originally planning on attending an upcoming Delta IV Heavy launch down at Kennedy Space Center. I'm glad I didn't go though because the launch keeps getting delayed by bad weather and mechanical problems. The launch is now supposed to take place early tomorrow morning at 3:25 AM. Why do I still want to see these things? I'd really rather be asleep in my own bed at 3:25 AM.

We got a lot of rain this evening and the roof still isn't leaking. That's good. It's not draining well though. That's not so good. I looked early this morning and there was still standing water from an earlier rain three days ago. I hope this company stands behind their warranty because I'm afraid this roof is going to spend a lot of time under water.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4141

I almost forgot it was Monday today. I was getting ready to take my long walk when Janet reminded me that it was time to go see the rescue Dalmatians. I took my camera in case the new female in the program was at the kennel, but when we arrived we learned that she had already been adopted. Charlie and Cooper were glad to see us as always. We've been pretty good at teaching these active guys to "go out for a pass" and catch a toy football in midair. We need to try to teach them some manners. Maybe they would find a home quicker.

We had already taken Dawn on her short walk before we left for the kennel, but there was still time for me to take my long walk after we returned home. I knew I was going to be slow this afternoon because my foot was bothering me before I even left the house. It's kind of irritating that the only thing my foot doctor was able to recommend were new shoes and some topical pain cream. There is just no magic bullet when your cartilage begins to wear out. I'm going to keep walking though. I have a feeling that things would get worse rather quickly if I quit moving. I know other people with arthritis and the fact that I can still walk six miles a day is proof that I'm really not doing all that bad. It could definitely be a lot worse.

My package isn't in Indiana anymore. With any luck it might arrive later this week. I wonder why USPS surface mail is so much slower than FedEx Ground or UPS Ground? Most UPS Ground orders arrive in three or four days. I know why Amazon Prime is so quick. They have giant warehouses all over the country and most things we order on Amazon are already in the Dallas warehouse anyway. Maybe I should be glad that the post office is slow. It gives me something else to track every day.

I watched the Delta IV Heavy NROL-82 launch on the ULA live stream this afternoon. I've always wanted to see one of these launches in person because the Delta IV Heavy is huge. I was approved to see the last Delta IV Heavy launch in Florida but the trip didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Since these rockets are almost always used to launch giant school bus sized spy satellites you don't get a lot of access at a launch. It would still be great to see one lift off though. There are only three of these aging giants left, so I'd better get planning if I want to see one of the remaining ones fly.

Janet is having a wisdom tooth removed tomorrow, so I'll need to take her to and from the dentist. Whenever you have a wisdom tooth removed you kind of wish you'd taken care of this earlier in life. Wisdom tooth roots go on forever and it is not always easy to remove them. My dental surgeon told me that the hole where the tooth used to be would fill in over time. It never did. There is still an indentation in my jaw that is easy to feel at the gum line. Hopefully Janet's extraction will go smoothly. We've stocked up on tasty soups so she'll have something to eat while she recovers.

We're starting to think that Dawn used to just be fed once a day. She still eats the same amount of food, but her schedule has changed. She isn't as interested in breakfast anymore and wants to eat more at dinner. I guess this is OK, but it seems weird to have a dog that isn't interested in breakfast. We couldn't fix breakfast fast enough for all our other Dalmatians. To each his or her own I guess. As long as Dawn continues to eat a normal amount of healthy food, we're not going to worry about when she eats. 

I'll continue eating my own breakfast at the same time every morning. Hey, I'm not a dog, even though I act like one at times.

Brady 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