Day 4884

Another slow day. It's a good thing I handle boredom well because every day is virtually the same. We get up and take Dawn on an early walk. I make the bed when we return and then I eat my breakfast. Breakfast is the only time I watch TV and I often wonder why I even bother. We have a new dishwasher but I always wash the breakfast dishes by hand. It's just a habit. I turn on the computer and check my messages after breakfast. They are mostly all spam. If it looks like it's going to be a hot day, I take my long walk right away. If it's cold, I wait for things to warm up. The long walk is completely predictable. I take the same route every day. The park is huge and I could take many different routes, but like I mentioned earlier, I'm a creature of habit.

There seems to be an unusual number of wildflowers this year. This is probably because we had a very wet Spring. I photograph these flowers and have learned to identify most of them, but this isn't really necessary. I've photographed almost every variety of native plants many times over the years. It's actually been quite a while since I've seen anything new in the park. I always look for the Muscovy Ducks and count the small gaggle of geese to see if anyone is missing. I used to see coyotes frequently but I haven't seen any this year. There are also bobcats in the park but I've only seen two in the past ten years. I'm glad these birds and animals are still abundant. When we first moved here the park was wild and largely abandoned. Now it is full of people and has a huge staff of caretakers. The place has become a destination for all forms of outdoor recreation. I can't even remember why we ended up living here, but it ended up being a good choice.

I thought about practicing using the star tracker today, but it was easy to talk myself out of it. I'm never going to spend a lot of time pursuing astrophotography unless I go out to McDonald Observatory again. I think I've already proved that the star tracker works. I just haven't proved that I'm seriously interested in astronomy. I wish the observatory was closer. It is a very peaceful place to visit. It might be a while until I get out there again though. It is much easier to fly to Florida for a launch than to drive to West Texas.

I wonder how Facebook chooses things for me to see? It makes sense that I would see a lot of posts about Dalmatians. It probably makes sense that I see lots of things about guitars and astrophotography as well. Why do I constantly get posts about WWII Battle Tanks though? And why do I need to know about the giant trees of Ohio. I used to get posts about Elvis Presley every day and then they went away. Facebook seems to think I'm real interested in ships at sea and alcoholic beverages. I think they are just grasping at straws. I delete the cookies on my computer every evening and erase my browser history as well. I don't want to make it easy for these guys, but they keep trying. 

The weather forecast says it's going to be raining when we wake up in the morning. I hope the forecast is wrong. Dawn always needs a walk in the morning and I need my long walk as well. I know we need the rain, but the rainy season is always a big nuisance. If it didn't rain so much, we wouldn't need a new roof at all.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4612

We got rain again. This time it was a real soaker. We had a heavy downpour that lasted almost three hours. I think things will look a lot greener next week. Today's rain ended 67 days of drought. This might not be enough to end our dry spell, but it will certainly help. I'd almost forgotten about the pumps on the roof. Of course they didn't work. It wasn't surprising since I haven't checked them in months. So far, no roof leaks though. Fingers crossed.

The rain didn't start until later this afternoon, so the morning was just another hot summer day. We took our sunrise walk with Dawn and wondered if the weather was going to change. There were clouds on the horizon and a nice breeze, but we weren't expecting much. After breakfast I checked my messages and there was still nothing from NASA. I guess there is no point in worrying about this. The launch schedule will either work out or it won't.

I got to the gym a little later today because I am slow about everything these days. I thought I'd change things up and shot baskets on the south goal instead of the north goal. My accuracy was pretty good today.  I was a little slower on the indoor track, but not by much. Since I had absolutely nothing to do this afternoon, I stayed a little longer and worked on some machines designed to strengthen my shoulders. I seriously considered walking in the park today but wisely decided that it was still too hot. I definitely don't have to worry about the heat at the gym. They keep the place super cold.

I spent the afternoon looking at the weather radar and wondering when the rain was going to arrive. I still waste too much time looking at Facebook although I wonder why I bother. I rarely see posts from friends anymore. It's all sponsored posts now, curated by Facebook's demented algorithm. I don't know how they decide what I'd like to see. I think they're just blindly guessing. My feed is filled with posts about battle tanks, pictures of the SR-71 spy plane, obscure blues musicians, news articles that are hidden behind a paywall, old pictures of the Beatles, blatant clickbait, and information about state parks in places I'll never visit. Facebook doesn't know me at all. Luckily I still see lots of pictures of Dalmatians. Without the dog pictures there would be no reason to visit at all.

I think I should delete some of my other social media accounts. I'm convinced that a lot of the e-mail spam I get, as well as some of the telemarketing calls originate from my LinkedIn account. You can tell from a lot of the message headers that they grabbed my contact information from LinkedIn. Years ago I thought that LinkedIn would help me get business. I don't think it ever did. Almost all my clients came from word of mouth recommendations. While I'm thinking about it, I should probably delete my Instagram account as well. I used to love Instagram back in the early days when it was a place for photographers to showcase their work. I haven't visited Instagram in years. I grew to hate the place when it was taken over by videos and influencers.

There is no rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so I'll be returning to my regular hot and dry schedule. It was a shame that Dawn didn't get to go to her dog training class tonight because of the rain. Dawn really likes that class.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day