Day 3898

Sometimes monotony and boredom are good. At time like these I'm glad my life is devoid of drama. I certainly wouldn't want to live in the path of a hurricane. Laura looks pretty bad. It is already a Category 4 storm and growing stronger. I know a couple of people who live in that part of the country and I hope they have evacuated. It's probably too late to leave now.

Living near a beach has a certain appeal, but I think the chance of a hurricane would rule out coastal living for me. I prefer a place with no chance of hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, or earthquakes. Hmm. Where would that be? If you managed to find the perfect place, that's probably where the asteroid would fall.

I woke up again wondering what day it was. When I started this blog, I never dreamed that I'd be writing about a world where nothing happened for months at a time. Sure, things are happening on television. There is social unrest and a huge hurricane is closing in on the Gulf Coast. I try to avoid all that. The essence of social distancing is to put yourself in a little bubble. You start by staying six feet away from other people and pretty soon you want to be six miles away from everything. I still watch the news every morning while I drink my smoothie. So far, I haven't seen any good reason to rejoin the fray.

We had a nice walk this morning. We got started a little later than usual, but the park was still relatively empty. We found two of the three missing Muscovy ducks, but the female is still gone. Where could she be? There are more Great Blue Herons near the shoreline now. These birds are spectacular. I'm waiting for the White Pelicans to return now. It won't be long. I'm never going to be a birder, but these daily walks have taught me a lot about the local wildlife. We share our lake with some pretty interesting critters.

I think we're going to get some heavy rain tonight. I hear thunder in the distance now. We're too far away from the hurricane for tonight's weather to have anything to do with Laura's early rain bands. It's probably just a coincidence that it's raining here too. It's been dry this summer and we need the rain. I just wish I'd been a little more diligent about taking care of the roof. I don't think we're going to have a leak, but I've been surprised before. One thing is certain. It's a lot better to be worrying about a leaky roof than worrying about your house getting blown away in a hurricane.

There's a launch tonight that I really wanted to attend. Oh, well. It wasn't meant to be. Perhaps it is just as well that I haven't been able to work out my media accreditation issues at Kennedy Space Center. The launch is at 2:30 AM this morning and there are tons of mosquitos and bugs this time of year in Florida. 2:30 AM is past my bedtime anyway.

Tomorrow is another day. Or is it? It's hard to tell anymore. Maybe that thunder I heard was a false alarm. We still haven't gotten any rain. Stay safe if you are in the path of the hurricane. Stay safe if you aren't too. It's 2020 and anything might happen.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3541

I got an e-mail from the electric company today encouraging us to use less electricity because we are under an extreme heat advisory for the next few days. I wonder what makes Thursday and Friday special? As far as I'm concerned, we've been under an extreme heat advisory all Summer. I don't think we're big offenders anyway. Our house is small and I usually keep the temperature around 78 degrees. Anything colder and I feel like I need a sweater.

I sometimes feel a little chilly while I'm having my morning smoothie, but the feeling seldom lasts long. As soon as I take my morning walk, I'm complaining about the heat for the rest of the day. My body must be adjusting to the high temperature. I no longer feel exhausted after my first three miles and have been continuing to keep moving for an additional two miles. So far, a five mile walk is plenty.

Most of the people I see walking are wearing earphones. I prefer visual stimulus. This is why I continue to walk outside despite the unpleasant weather. There are animals to watch and plants to identify. To me, this is much better than listening to music.

Considering that I used to play in a band, I rarely listen to music. Silence is my friend. Today I saw a Great Blue Heron and several Red Eared Slider turtles. Of course, the lone White Pelican remaining in the park was there as well. It will be months before his companions return to join him for the Winter.

We saw our first pictures of the new Dalmatians that recently entered the rescue program. I believe the dogs were obtained by the Texas humane society from an elderly breeder who could no longer care for them. Most of the dogs were underweight and several had bad skin infections. I'm sure a few have heartworms as well. Dalmatian Rescue will return these dogs to good health and find them great homes. Janet and I are looking forward to meeting the newcomers when they finish their initial treatment at our vet. It's sad that these dogs arrived in such bad shape, but it's good that they now have a second chance. By the time I photograph them for the website, they will be looking great.

One of the benefits of taking a single long walk instead of several shorter ones is that I have more time to write. I'm almost halfway finished with my Sky and Telescope article now. I learned a lot from the observatory staff while I was at Mount Locke, but I'm also doing some necessary research to make sure I have my facts straight. Astronomers read this magazine. I doubt that the editors will accept the finished article if I am vague or confusing about how the telescopes work. I'm determined that if I ever return to McDonald Observatory, I will be an expert on the place.

There will be more writing tomorrow and I'm sure there will be more walking as well. It's amazing how quickly the day goes by with these two simple activities. I'm not making money writing ads anymore, but writing is still a useful skill. Each new experience I have can generate a new story. Looking ahead, it's not really a bad way to spend my remaining years.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3508

The September issue of Spaceflight Magazine has finally arrived. Since I doubt if many of you subscribe to this British publication, I thought I'd just upload a PDF copy of my article to Facebook. Oops. You can't upload PDF files to Facebook. Weird. Why didn't I know this already? I guess I never tried to post a PDF file. There's always a solution though. I just put the file on my website and made a link. If anyone's interested in reading the article, just click here or on the picture to your left.

The good news about all this is that the magazine is interested in having me cover future launches for them and can even get me a press pass. I might have found my calling. I doubt if I can do this sort of thing all that often because it can get expensive. Nevertheless, the road ahead is something to look forward to.

When I went to the new neighborhood restaurant for breakfast this morning, I was surprised to see that it was completely full. There was even a small line out front. How did this happen? I've been going to this place fairly frequently on Friday mornings and it's never been full before. Oh, well. I'm not big on standing in line, so I got back in my car and drove to the hotel instead. The restaurant at the hotel never seems to be full. I ordered the French Toast like I always do at the hotel and daydreamed about traveling to rocket launches. The hotel reminds me of the old days when I used to do a lot of business travel. How did I transition from a road warrior to a person who rarely leaves the house? Life is strange. I don't even question a lot of things like this. We all go through stages.

I'm starting to see more birds at the lake. I wonder what this means? August doesn't seem like a time for migrations. I've seen a lot of Great Egrets lately as well as a few Great Blue Herons. I've seen smaller Cattle Egrets as well. I need to get some pictures of these birds because I don't know how long they will stay. This might be a project for the weekend. It will probably be easier to find the birds than to carry the camera on hot days like this. I sure wish Apple would invent an iPhone with a telephoto lens. Putting a phone in your pocket is a lot easier than carrying a big camera on long walks.

Janet has convinced me to try wearing ankle socks on my walks. The combination of long shorts and equally long wool socks has given me a very weird tan. Basically, it's just a dark stripe on my legs. I tried the shorter socks that everybody else seems to be wearing but I didn't like them. I came home with a blister on my heel. The Nike Air shoes I'm wearing now are fairly comfortable, but I guess I need the extra cushion of the thick wool socks as well. Who cares if I look ridiculous. Most old men look ridiculous anyway.

The security light in the back yard has started acting up again. It will come on around sunset but will go off again a few hours later. The lamp hasn't burned out or anything, but I have to go behind the greenhouse and flip a switch on the breaker box to get the light to tun on again. This involves walking through spider webs in the dark and getting bitten by chiggers. It's irritating. When this used to happen I had the electrician come out several times and they could never find anything wrong. They replaced the photocell twice and it didn't make any difference. Even though the dogs are gone and we don't really need the light anymore, this flaky fixture still bothers me. Why do things break so often? I want a world where everything is dependable.

One thing I can depend on is more hot weather tomorrow. I'm ready for winter.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day