Day 4828

Dawn is continuing to do well. We took her on two short walks today and there were no problems. Tomorrow she finishes her pain meds, and we're hoping that she continues to be comfortable. It's been several days since Dawn has stumbled or fallen. Her neck is still a little swollen, but that looks better too. With any luck, life can return to normal soon. It's going to be a while before I'm comfortable leaving her alone on the bed, but we can always gate her in the hallway with a dog bed if we both have to be out of the house at the same time.

I took my long walk early today because I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I had to cut a mile off the walk to meet my appointment on time, but I still got my steps. It was chilly and overcast today but there was no rain. I'm getting bored making this five mile trek day-after-day, but it's still a lot easier than driving to the gym. It's surprising how quickly everything has turned green. It's starting to look like Spring has arrived.

My trip to the dermatologist was uneventful. Every six months the doctor freezes the keratosis spots on my face and scalp with liquid nitrogen and they always grow back. The keratosis is so minor that I tend to forget it is there. The doctor says it is important to monitor these areas though because they can turn into basal cell carcinoma. I've been going to this doctor for five years now and nothing has happened, so I hope things stay this way.

Janet's heart doctor wanted her to get a Kardia Mobile Heart Monitor to track her heart rate while exercising. She's supposed to send the results to her doctor periodically, but so far neither of us can figure out how to export the EKG files from the Kardia Mobile and attach them to an e-mail message. Usually I'm very good with devices like this, but I'm stumped so far. It probably doesn't help that something is wrong with my own e-mail account, so it's been hard to test the thing. I can usually receive e-mail just fine but I'm having trouble sending anything. I spent over an hour this morning talking with someone in a call center but got nowhere. Tech support seems to be getting worse and worse. I keep getting a message saying that my mail server has an invalid certificate, but the hosting company says everything's fine. Things were so much easier when you could actually talk to a software engineers yourself. Dealing with offshore call centers is an exercise in frustration.

It's weird having a non-functional e-mail account. I'm not working anymore, but I still have this need to stay connected. What if I miss a message about my press credentials at Kennedy Space Center? What if I need to change something quickly on a rescue website? How can I check on things I've ordered online? This is frustrating. Things seem to be getting worse so it looks like I'm going to have to deal with the call center people again. Oddly, this blog still seems to work fine.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4373

FedEx is driving me crazy. I've been waiting for an important package since Saturday. After several delays the package was finally supposed to be delivered today. At 7:05 PM I received two simultaneous messages. One said "operational delay, no delivery attempted." The other said "package delivered, signature on file." Which message was true? The FedEx facility that was supposed to hold the package for me said it never received anything and when I attempted to look for the signature on file, it wasn't there either. It is impossible to get any help. You just get referred to a call center in the Philippines or Malaysia somewhere. I put a trace on the package. We'll see what happens. I really wish the shipper had used UPS or DHL instead.

I may never receive my star tracker, but I did receive a clean bill of health from my dermatologist. He froze a few little patches of keratosis on the top of my head with liquid nitrogen but that was about it. I have to see this guy at least once a year because actinic keratosis is considered pre-cancerous and needs to be monitored. So far, so good, but I'll have to see the dermatologist again in six months. The doctor is a nice guy but his office is relentless about sending out surveys. Enough with all the surveys. Even the people at FedEx who lost my package tonight wanted me to fill out a survey.

It must have rained last night. When we woke up this morning the ground was all wet. It must have been a gentle rain because I never heard anything even though I'm a light sleeper. Now theres's water on the roof again and I don't feel up to climbing up there and sweeping it away yet. No roof leaks so far, so knock on wood. Rain and water on the roof just adds to my frustration. Dawn doesn't like the rain either, but we finally got her to take her morning walk. Once we got in the park she seemed happy again. Rain seems to enhance all the smells she likes.

Today's FedEx mishaps just adds to my belief that the world is broken. Nothing works smoothly anymore. Traffic is terrible. Stores aren't stocked well anymore. Prices have gone up dramatically. It's not just food either. Everything is more expensive. People seem angrier too. None of this is good. I don't think young people realize how much better life was in the 1950's. You didn't have iPhones or the Internet, but you didn't need to lock your doors at night either. Cars looked interesting in the 1950's and houses were still built with high quality lumber. I'd go back if I could. I'm not all that impressed with artificial intelligence and social media influencers.

I wonder if I'll hear from FedEx tomorrow. They've already made it pretty clear that they are tired of hearing from me. I"m afraid the package might get sent back to Hong Kong is it is misplaced too long. Hopefully I will eventually get the computerized star tracker I've been waiting for all Summer. I read a news story recently about a FedEx driver in Alabama who dumped hundreds of packages in a ravine because he just didn't feel like delivering them. I hope my driver is a happy man who loves his job. Maybe this was just an honest mistake.

I still haven't washed the backdrop from our Santa Paws photo shoot. This is probably a good project for tomorrow. Tomorrow is my Blogiversary too. Can you believe I've been doing this since 2009?

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3828

The doctor wasn't pleased with my progress this morning. "I froze the hell out of those things last time and the roots are still there," he told me. It was a little unsettling to learn that keratosis blemishes had roots. I've watched enough science fiction movies to know that having something growing inside you with roots is not a good thing. "We're going to have to scrape these," the doctor told his nurse. I had visions of sandpaper and asked the doctor if it would hurt. "You won't feel a thing," he told me.

The doctor was correct. The anesthetic they injected in my face was pretty effective. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see what the doctor was actually doing. After a while I began to smell something burning. "Is that me," I asked? I couldn't feel anything, but there was a definite smell of burning flesh. "This is how we remove these growths now," the doctor told me. "It is very effective. "Will this bleed a lot," I asked the doctor? "I doubt if it will bleed at all," He told me. "There is already a scab." The nurse placed a small bandage under my eye and the doctor said he'd see me again in four months. I was good to go in less than fifteen minutes.

This wasn't what I expected at all. The entire procedure was much less traumatic than a trip to the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to go back for another four months. A trip to the doctor in today's post-pandemic world is still a little unsettling. There are rules about how many people can ride in the elevator and lots of social distancing circles on the floors. So many people are wearing masks that you just know that some of them have got to be sick. I definitely wouldn't want to work in a hospital environment right now. You can tell these guys know that they are at ground zero. I always have to fill out a questionnaire saying that I haven't traveled anywhere in the last fourteen days and haven't come into contact with anyone who has been exposed to the virus. How would they even know if I was telling the truth?

The rest of my day was uneventful. We're still walking extremely early, but you can tell that the temperature keeps rising. Summer is here. There was a breeze this morning, but Dawn seemed a little tired. We'll probably try a shorter route tomorrow morning. Dawn loves these walks in the woods and enjoys smelling things, but we don't want to push her too hard. She's getting older and isn't as obsessed with exercise as Janet and I seem to be.

If I were writing a dystopian novel, it would be hard to top what is happening right now in real life. People around the world are tired of being quarantined and are becoming restless. The virus is still here though and keeps reappearing like a forest fire that can't be extinguished. Social unrest is growing everywhere and there is already a shortage of Xanax. Everyone is upset about something. Truckers say they are going to stop delivering to cities with protests. People want to go back to the beach. Supply chains are crumbling as workers fall sick in critical industries. Police and emergency workers are under attack at the same time there are massive riots and arson in many cities. Kim Jong-un is blowing up buildings along the South Korean border and a weird little country just appeared right in the middle of Seattle. Basically, it's a total shit show everywhere you look.

This isn't going to end well. We need to get a grip on things in a hurry. It's easy to break something. It's a lot harder to put it back together.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3802

Maybe I've become too dependent on weather forecasting apps. Janet and I were both convinced that it was going to rain this morning, so we walked Dawn even earlier than we usually do to avoid getting wet. Getting started before sunrise meant we had the park to ourselves. We saw dozens of Great Egrets and very few people. The temperature was nice as well. I was a little sleepy when we started our early walk, but I hope we can manage to do this again. It was a very pleasant two hours.

It never did rain today. Actually the skies cleared up and it got quite warm later in the day. I didn't feel like mowing the grass, so I thought I'd try to remove the water stains in the living room ceiling with bleach. I don't know why I'm always convinced that this will work, because it never does. I certainly didn't get off to a good start today. When I went outside to get the stepladder, I got stung by a bee.

It's not easy to soak the ceiling with bleach, because gravity causes it to drip down my arm and all over the floor. I've ruined a few items of clothing when I've tried to do this in the past, so I only wear things that I don't mind getting soaked by bleach. I made a good effort today, but I can't honestly say that the ceiling looks any better. I guess I'll be forced to sand everything down and patch the areas with drywall mud. There's still no reason to actually remove and replace the sheetrock until we get a new roof. It would be nice if the house looked a little better though.

I paid some more bills and did a little accounting in Quickbooks this afternoon. Online banking is starting to seem more familiar now. I don't know if I'll ever be confident enough to set everything up to auto-pay, but I'm making progress. I'll have to admit that this is a lot easier than writing checks and driving to the post office.

After all the dire warnings from my dermatologist about possible side effects from cryosurgery, I haven't noticed anything at all. If my face is going to turn bruised and blotchy, it certainly hasn't happened yet. The keratosis doesn't look very different either. Did I even go to the dermatologist? We'll see if the liquid nitrogen treatment works, but this wasn't what I expected.

It's a shame I'm not down in Titusville now. I'm starting to see a lot of media coverage of the Demo-2 mission now that the launch is only a few days away. Obviously some people still have media credentials. Too bad I'm not one of them. I can see these guys asking the astronauts questions on TV. I wonder how many members of the press are actually there. NASA isn't saying, but the Press Site at KSC does look pretty empty.

It was amusing to hear Dr Fauci say that there would be irreparable damage to the country if we didn't open up soon. Wasn't this the same guy who said kids shouldn't go to school next year and that we should stay in lockdown mode over the Summer? I wonder why nobody seems to hold the good doctor accountable for his many flip-flops? He has changed his mind radically on almost everything. The virus isn't something to worry about in the United States. No, forget that. The virus will kill millions. Don't wear a mask. Nevermind. You've all got to wear a mask. I could go on and on. It's all on tape. Hey, the guy's got an honest face. And he's a scientist.

In other news, the State of Washington announced today that they mistakenly gave away millions of the state's unemployment money to a Nigerian Prince. Yep. We're really on top of this pandemic stuff.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3676

Another dismal day. I think it rained more today than it did yesterday. I wasn't that hungry, but I went out for breakfast anyway because I thought it would make the day go faster. Rainy days have a tendency to be long days. I wanted something cold but I didn't feel like cereal, so lox and bagels sounded good. This used to be my go to breakfast when I traveled a lot, but it's been a while. Lox and bagels turned out to be a good choice. It brought back memories and made me forget about the rain for a while.

After picking up something for dinner at the grocery store, I came back home and got the pumps working. I'm not sure the pumps on the roof even help that much, but seeing water exit through the garden hoses attached to the pumps makes me feel better. If the rain ever stops, I'll need to go up on the roof and finish the job.

A few days ago Janet got some solar powered pathway lights at the dollar store and to my surprise they actually worked. A dollar for a solar powered light is a pretty good price. Nothing lasts long at the dollar store, so I went back today and got some more of these lights. Like the rubber snakes I once found here to keep birds from pooping on my car, I knew I would never see these things again. During a break in the rain, I placed the lights along the gravel path leading to the alley. I don't expect them to last very long, but for now they are working and actually look pretty good. So much for landscaping on a rainy day.

During the next break in the rain, I decided to take my walk. This worked for a while, but it was a long walk on a rainy day. Before I returned home I was pretty wet. I was really on my own today. Even the joggers and dog walkers opted to stay dry this time. I don't know why it has become such a big deal to keep moving. Probably just because there is little else to do and it is easier than going to the gym.

When I woke up last night I noticed that I was seeing ghost images of the little LED lights on the network router through my left eye. I only saw a single point of light from each bulb with my right eye. My eye doctor warmed me this would happen when cataracts started to develop. I sometimes saw ghost images when I looked up at the moon, but this was more pronounced. When daylight returned, my vision seemed more or less normal, but double images are still not good. For several years my eye doctor has told me that I was developing cataracts. At some point I will need to deal with it. The doctor says I've got five years at best. Cataract surgery is pretty safe and is usually successful, but I'm not looking forward to the day when I need to make this decision. I depend on my eyes and hate to mess with them. I'm also seeing signs of keratosis on the skin under this eye. I guess I need to deal with this too. Jeez. I hate growing old.

I think the weather is going to clear up tomorrow. I certainly hope so. The sooner I get the water off the roof, the less I have to worry about leaks.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3606

My schedule was a little different today. I skipped breakfast because I had an early morning doctor's appointment. They always want you to fast when blood work is required so I just took a quick shower and headed for my appointment. My health appears to be good, but there are always a few surprises when you take a physical. My doctor wants me to see a dermatologist about a rough patch of skin on my face that I've ignored for years. I've always thought that the small scaly patch was harmless Keratosis, but he wants to make sure it isn't a Basal Cell Carcinoma instead. He also wants me to see an orthopedic specialist about my shoulder. I've done this before, but the doctor said it's time to revisit things. "You might not think your shoulder is getting worse," he told me, "but it is."

He did say I was more than healthy enough to spend time in a remote area like McDonald Observatory. I was more than a little envious when he told me that he'd been to the observatory several times and had even taken his grandchildren on a Special Observing Night. They had perfectly clear skies on the day he went.

I wish I hadn't let the doctor convince me to get a flu shot and my second of two required pneumonia shots. I got one shot in each arm and now I am very sore. Maybe the flu shot wasn't a bad idea. I seldom get them, but always worry about getting sick when we are taking Christmas pictures and I am around a lot of people. The reason I seldom get sick is that I'm seldom around people at all.

When I returned home, I noticed that there was still fresh fruit in the refrigerator, so I made myself a lunch smoothie. This was exactly the same as a breakfast smoothie except that I drank it at noon. I had a choice of taking a long walk today or clearing the water off the roof. I'm a pragmatic person, so I opted for clearing away all the standing water before it rains again. It's amazing how much water remains on the roof after the pumps have done their thing. The good news is that the patches I've made directly over the office appear to be holding. There have been no leaks so far. The bad news is that I'm still finding other areas that need to be repaired.

I took the money I made selling my guitar to the bank and picked up the banner at the printer. This time the printer said they would save the file in case I needed it again. This is what happens when you sit on things too long. The printer lost the file and I lost the banner. All is well now. I can't remember clearly, but I think it cost me less to print this banner now than it did ten years ago.

There was no time for a long walk today, but I did take a short walk through the neighborhood before Janet and I went out for dinner. A lot of houses have been updated. I have a feeling that mine might be one of the only ones that hasn't been touched. I still can't decide whether to drive to Palestine tomorrow to seeing Boy 4014 arrive. It's an amazing looking old steam train, but it's just a train and I don't like to drive. Janet's up for the trip. I'll sleep on the idea and see how I feel in the morning.

I applied for launch credentials at Kennedy Space Center again. I'm not quite ready to give up on this idea of becoming a space journalist yet. Since some of you enjoyed seeing Spot, I've featured him again. What an amazing dog he was.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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