Day 3909

I didn't sleep well last night. When I woke up at 4 AM, I went outside to look at the Moon and Mars. They were still close together, but would have been even closer if I hadn't gone to bed before moonrise. You don't realize that the moon is always moving until you have a point of reference. When we left on our morning walk a few hours later, I could tell that the Moon and Mars were slightly further apart than they were at 4 AM.

We walked a litle later this morning. There is still a lot of moisture on the ground from our recent rain, so we saw a lot of ground fog as the sun started to rise. Ground fog is pretty and I always try to get some pictures. The pictures never seem to do justice to these foggy mornings. Like a pretty sunrise, it's all over in a matter on minutes.

We saw a Hispanic couple looking at the fruit on the Mexican Plum trees today. We asked if they knew what these trees were and they said they were called Ciruelo. It made sense that the tree had a Spanish name. I doubt that people from Mexico would call these Mexican Plums. The couple said the fruit was edible and that many people liked the tart taste. We took a few ripe plums home with us, but we haven't tried them yet.

The weather was relatively mild today so it was a good day to go up on the roof. I removed the remaining standing water, checked both pumps, and looked for damaged areas in the silicon coating. I found two spots, each about one foot in diameter that could use some attention. Nothing is leaking yet, but I've learned to recognize when the silicon starts to deteriorate. These two areas won't make it through the Winter.

It doesn't really feel like a holiday weekend. Labor Day is usually the time when there are huge back to school sales. The fate of schools is still up in the air and a lot of stores haven't figured out how to deal with customers yet. It's all very confusing. Do you go in the store, arrange for curbside pickup, order online, or just do nothing? I'm increasingly opting for doing nothing. There's certainly no urgency to buy clothes anymore. Working from home has no dress code. When everyone starts dressing like me, I think retail is dead.

I think I'm becoming addicted to the Boca Chica live feed on YouTube. I check in almost every day to see what's going on. It looks like they're getting ready to take the SN6 rocket back to the shipyard and replace it with another test vehicle. It's weird that they just use a state highway to move the rockets. You'd think they'd build their own special track to move the rockets from the factory to the launch pad. This is clearly a work in progress. I'm sure I'll check back tomorrow to see if anything has changed.

I'm not sure if we'll be visiting the Dalmatian kennel tomorrow. We'll have to check and see if it's open on Labor Day. If we do visit, it will be the last time we see Hank and Luckie. They are both going to their forever home soon.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3174

I went to a Labor Day sale at REI on my way to the gym. I don't need anything, but I've spent so many years as a consumer that I still find these sales hard to resist. I ended up buying another Goal Zero emergency back up power supply that that can be charged with solar cells if necessary. Hey, it was half price. I already have a larger model of this type of product and have only used it once. You never know though. These things might come in handy. I guess deep down I'm a prepper at heart. I always expect the worst and want to be prepared. I also just like gadgets.

Janet's been looking for a new gym and I've been telling her that I like mine, but there weren't any classes. How did I know this? Well, I stopped seeing a schedule of classes on the bulletin board. Today, the lady ahead of me while I was checking in asked about classes and the receptionist reached in a drawer and pulled out a brochure. I guess the place still has classes after all. I guess it wouldn't kill me to ask questions now and then. Janet has already found a gym with the classes she wants, but I think mine had them too. Oops. This should have been a teaching moment, but I didn't talk to anybody today either. I never talk to anyone at the gym. They should have put that brochure on the bulletin board.

A firetruck went by with sirens wailing while we were walking Dash this morning and we started hearing coyote pups howling nearby. It seems a little early for the local coyotes to be having pups, but maybe not. There seems to be a new litter every year. We don't see coyotes much in the Summer, but they're out there. As the days grow shorter I'll have to be on the lookout for them when we're walking around sunrise.

The only thing we were on the lookout for today were loose dogs. I usually recognize the dogs we see in the park, but on holiday weekends there are a lot more dog walkers. There's almost always someone who can't control a large aggressive dog. Sure enough, we saw one of these people today. They're easy to recognize. The dog is usually on one of those long flexi-leashes and often races toward other dogs as the owner tries in vain to reel the dog in. I hate those flexi-leashes. We kept our distance and there weren't any problems.

I saw a baby snake on the porch while I was taking Dash out to pee last night. Where was the mother snake? Since snakes lay eggs, maybe the mother had long gone. I hate to take chances though. I'm always nervous about snakes and dogs.  Dash wouldn't stand a chance with a snake. This little snake looked harmless, but I snagged it on a stick and flung it out of the yard anyway. I don't like snakes.

I watched a show about eating healthy on PBS this afternoon while Dash was taking a nap. I've heard this information before and I'm sure it's true. Bread and pasta are the enemy. Refined flour converts to glucose almost immediately in your body and causes blood sugar spikes. Fruit and vegetable are good. Lean meat in moderation is good. But bread is bad. So what did I have for breakfast this morning? Two big country biscuits with bacon and egg inside. To make matters worse, I had pasta for supper. Oh. well. There's always tomorrow.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day