Day 4683

I got up early to take my car in for service this morning. They told me that if I was the first customer, I could wait while they did the work and I wouldn't have to leave the car for the day. The service appointment didn't take long because one of their machines broke and they couldn't do everything they'd planned. I did get an oil and filter change though and they turned off the annoying "service required" light on the dash. I was back home again before 9 AM.

I got an unpleasant surprise this morning when my hotel in Titusville called and told me that they had to cancel my reservation. What? Apparently they had a severe plumbing problem and an entire floor of the hotel had flooded. This left me in a bad situation. I'd made my reservations early to make sure I had a room for the next Artemis launch attempt. Now it was several weeks later and I had to scramble to find anything that wasn't already completely booked. All the convenient Airbnb's in the area were gone. I eventually found a hotel in Cocoa Beach, but it was a lot further away than I would have liked. Even worse, I will have to leave Dallas on launch day just to get a room. This won't really be a problem since the launch is at midnight but it is cutting things a little close. I kept looking and finally found another hotel that was closer to the space center but it was kind of run down. I booked this one too. I'll think about it for a few days and cancel one of the reservations. Since I'm leaving a day later now, I had to change my airline and rental car reservations as well. All this kind of makes me wonder why I do this. Attending a popular launch is so much trouble to arrange and it's all over in just a few minutes. It's amazing how quickly these rockets disappear in the sky.

Janet took Dawn on her sunrise walk while I was getting my car serviced, but I did get to take a walk in the park later in the day. I didn't do well today at all. My feet hurt for the entire walk and I was pretty slow. At least the weather was nice. It was a lot warmer than yesterday, but it was still a very pleasant Fall day. The walk itself was fairly boring, but not as boring as going to the gym.

It took me so long to find another hotel and reschedule everything that I didn't have much time for anything else today. I liked my original plan a lot better, but I guess this will have to do. I've always hated surprises and this was a big one. I'll still get to see the launch though, assuming that it doesn't get canceled or postponed again. I still can't decide whether to try to attend the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch as well. I haven't heard anything about my credentials yet, but this launch is happening pretty soon. Why are they waiting until the last minute to approve credentials? Oh, well. It is what it is. Realistically, it's too expensive for me to go to two launches so close together anyway, but I'll wait to make a final decision until I hear whether I've been accepted. 

Since my service appointment wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, I can probably go ahead and get the dryer fixed this month. The machine still dries clothes just fine, but it's started making an ominous noise. I can't realistically ignore this much longer because the belt that turns the drum is starting to fail. The last time the appliance repairman was at the house I asked him how long the belt would last. "Maybe you've got a week. Maybe you've got a year," he told me. That wasn't much help at all.

It seems like it should be Saturday tomorrow, but we've still got another day to go. I've taken this weeks trash out to the curb and am still fretting about my change in travel plans. I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4680

Today was busy. We got started with a nice early morning walk. I hesitate to call these sunrise walks anymore because usually we have completed our walk and are home again well before sunrise. It was dark and a bit chilly this morning. We clipped lights to our jackets and Dawn wore her green LED collar. I wish everyone wore lights when they walked in the dark. It's still a little unsettling when a runner, or even worse a stealth bicycle, surprises you in the dark.

After my weekday breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit, I checked my messages and took my long walk in the park. This was the first time this season that I've worn a jacket on one of these walks. I still wore shorts though. It will have to get a little colder before I resort to long pants. That day is probably coming soon. The cold front that arrived with our recent rain promises even lower temperatures later in the week. 

I made good time today although I didn't set any records. My feet didn't bother me much, which always makes a difference. This weekend's rain washed away much of the sticky aphid honeydew on the roads. It was nice not to have to clean my shoes when I returned this morning. Hopefully these aphids will disappear soon, just like the ants and web worms that preceded them. We don't have a lot of Maple trees here in Dallas, but the ones I do see are showing some nice Fall color. Some of the Red Oaks actually do turn bright red in the Fall, but their leaves haven't started to turn yet. Some of the Pecan trees are turning yellow and I'm starting to see lots of Goldenrod near the shoreline at the lake. It's going to be a colorful Fall.

The park squirrels are all busy gathering nuts for the Winter. They love this season's abundant pecan crop. There seem to be more Double-Crested Cormorants every day and the female Muscovy Duck that has joined the two males is a permanent fixture now. Maybe there will be ducklings in a few months. No eagle sightings though. It will be easier to spot the eagles a few months from now when all the leaves are off the trees.

After I returned home I had a quick lunch before dealing with today's to-do list. I never used to eat lunch. Maybe that's why I've been gaining weight. You'd think I'd be losing weight with all the time I spend walking. I guess I need to walk faster.  I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon and did this month's Quickbooks accounting. This takes longer than you'd think because I am obsessively meticulous and have a Quickbooks category for just about everything. 

I finally made an appointment to see the eye doctor, even though I'm dreading the visit. I was glad that the first he could see me was sometime in December. I'm in no hurry. I actually am in a hurry to get my car serviced though, so I made an appointment to get this done as well. I'm tired of seeing that annoying "service required" light every time I start the car. Unfortunately, nobody offers loaner cars anymore. That convenience disappeared with Covid. I was able to schedule a time where I can just wait at the shop while they do the required service. I'd rather sit around at the shop for a few hours than deal with Uber again. I've never been a fan of Uber and Lyft.

Curiosity got the better of me and I upgraded the star tracker to the latest firmware this afternoon. I don't expect a lot more of these software updates. The product has finally reached production status and is available in stores now. My days as a beta tester are coming to a close. I did get a good deal on the tracker by becoming a Kickstarter backer. The retail version of the star tracker sells for a lot more than what I paid.

The last thing I did today was a load of laundry. You can't have a proper busy day without doing a little laundry. Maybe I should have saved some of this stuff for tomorrow. I have no plans for tomorrow at all.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4661

I'm glad I'm not in Florida now. Ian is really a terrible storm. I was listening to the weather channel this morning and one of the reporters said "I don't know how we're going to get out of here when this is over. We all have rental cars and our cars got swept away." The storm looks like it is headed straight toward Orlando now. Whenever I do return, I have a feeling that rental cars are going to be in short supply. I hope there is no serious damage at the space center. All upcoming launches, including Crew-5 have been postponed.

The weather was beautiful here in Dallas. We had another enjoyable sunrise walk with Dawn. I've really got to watch out for those little green worms. They're everywhere. Even when I tried my best to avoid them, I found a few on my jacket when I returned home. I'm glad we don't have any Hackberry trees. These things seems to be killing Hackberry trees in the park.

I was mesmerized by the hurricane coverage on TV while I was eating breakfast. Whenever there is a hurricane, I wonder why people continue to live on the beach. You are basically a sitting duck when you live on the beach and a hurricane is headed your way. I guess you are a sitting duck when a tornado is headed your way as well, but tornados are much smaller. If there's a tornado in the area, chances are reasonably good that it will miss you. Since  it was still cool outside after breakfast, I took another long walk in the park. It's really starting to feel like Fall. The trees are starting to turn and the days are noticeably cooler. I like Fall. The only trouble with this season is that it doesn't last very long. I hope I can stop mowing the grass soon. I've never liked mowing the grass.

Several people have reported seeing eagles in the park again. I keep looking for them on my walks but haven't seen anything. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It took me a long time to spot the two eagles the first time they arrived at the park. I'm not even sure these are the same eagles, or if there are any eagles at all. Somebody could have easily just posted an old picture on Facebook just to stir things up. I'll keep watching though. I'd still like to get some really good pictures.

I guess I need to take my car in for service. The "service required" light is still showing on my dashboard and it's starting to irritate me. I've grown to hate these annual Land Rover service visits. There never seems to be anything wrong with the car, but they always seem to find something very expensive that needs immediate attention. I'd like a car that never needed attention. I'd like a house that never needed attention as well. I've really grown tired of fixing things.

Dawn did well at training class tonight. She didn't win any ribbons this week, but Janet said her trainer thinks she is doing really well and wants her to move on the the advanced class.  I'm glad Dawn enjoys these classes. They are helping her become a normal dog.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4642

There's a hint of Fall in the air. The temperature was in the high 60's when we took our sunrise walk this morning. It's almost jacket weather. It's amazing how quickly the world turned green again. All it took was a little rain. Dawn enjoys these cooler mornings. So do I. We had a long, hot summer this year and I'm glad it's over.

I got a message from NASA today asking if I planned to attend the next Artemis launch attempt. I answered yes, even though I think September 23 is way too early. I was afraid that if I answered no, I would get taken off the approved list and my place would be given to someone else. There are still way more people who want to cover this launch than there are places available. We'll see what happens. I fully expect that the launch will get postponed again. We won't even know until the 17th. if the repairs they are making now will work.

I took another walk in the park today. It was actually even cooler than yesterday. I keep wondering where the missing ducks and geese have gone. For years there were ten resident geese that always hung out around Sunset Bay. Now there are only five. This gaggle of geese were always together, so I doubt that five just wandered off. I hope nobody snatched them to eat for dinner. The geese were very tame and would have been easy to catch. One of the Muscovy Ducks is also missing. There have been a pair of Muscovy Ducks living in the park for many years. This week was the first time I have only seen one and it appears to be lonely.

According to my Fitbit, I get a lot more exercise walking in the park than I do at the gym. I guess this makes sense. I spend over two hours walking in the park vs a little more than one hour at the gym. There are a lot of hills to climb as well. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm usually tired when I return from these walks. It's an enjoyable way to get my steps though, so I'll continue as long as the weather stays nice.

I'm always surprised at how many flowers I see in the Fall. There is an explosion of white Clematis vines along the shoreline now. I'm also seeing a lot of Water Primrose flowers. Both of these plants are considered invasive, but they are very pretty. I'd much rather see these plants than Poison Ivy, which is also very common in the park.

The "service required" light is really starting to irritate me in my car. This light appears every September. There is nothing wrong with the car, but the only way to turn the light off is take the car to a Land Rover service center and do the required service. I thought the independent Land Rover garage I discovered might be able to help me out, but they insist on doing the service as well. Oh, well. I'll probably learn to live with the irritating light for a while. I may still need to go to Florida to cover the next Artemis launch attempt. A trip to Florida and a Land Rover service visit cost about the same thing. It's one or the other this month.

This week has gone quickly. It's hard to believe that it's already time to make a grocery list again. I'd like to see something actually go down in price at the grocery store, but this is probably wishful thinking. Nothing has gotten cheaper on my grocery list for a long time.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4635

Another rainy day. We were able to walk Dawn this morning before the rain started, but we returned home just in time. If we'd started our walk five minutes later we would have gotten soaked. This is typical Texas weather. It was bone dry all summer and then we get a year's worth of rain all at once. At least it's much cooler now. If it wasn't so wet, this would have been a perfect day.

I did some grocery shopping after breakfast and continued to be amazed at how much prices have gone up.  Many things I regularly get have literally doubled in price in just a few years. These price increases are much more apparent when you are living on a fixed income.  A lot more money is going out the door, but no more money is coming in.

The troublesome "service required" light has come on in my car again. It does this every September. I called the folks who replaced my catalytic converter recently and asked if they could just turn the light off for me  since the car didn't appear to have any other problems when they ran their diagnostic check. Nope. They said I still need the annual service. I thought I'd have a lot fewer problems when I stopped going to the dealership. Nope again. It's the car that's the problem, not where I take it to be serviced.

It would have been a good day for a walk in the park if it wasn't raining. It was nice and cool outside, but unfortunately it was very wet. I went back to the gym instead. I'm not wild about driving in the rain, but it sure beats getting wet myself on a poorly planned walk in the park. I didn't do all that well today. It took a lot longer than usual to shoot twenty-five baskets and I was definitely slower on the indoor track. I got everything done though and drove home in the rain again.

There was a break in the rain around 3 PM so Janet and I took Dawn on another short walk. She didn't poop on her sunrise walk because she doesn't like walking on wet ground. Dawn enjoyed getting a second walk, but she still didn't do her business. The ground was still just as wet as it was this morning. I guess she'll go when she needs to go.

I'm trying to stay current with developments down at the space center. So far, everyone seems very confident. The weather seems to be improving and most of the problems that occurred on Monday have been fixed. The launch is still scheduled to take place at 2:17 PM tomorrow afternoon. Although I'm glad to be home, I'm still second guessing my decision to return. I really did want to see this, but the rational side of my brain keeps telling me that I didn't have much of a choice. Since the launch now is going to take place on a big holiday weekend, they expect twice as many people to converge on Titusville this time. Up to 400,000 visitors are predicted now. I did make an effort to find a hotel when I lost my Airbnb. It wasn't meant to be. I think all the hotels between Orlando and the coast are completely booked.

I forgot to get berries and beer when I was out this morning, so I'll make another grocery store run in the morning and then come home and watch the launch on NASA TV. I hope the launch is a success and that the launch photographers who stuck it out get some good pictures. I got a notice today that it's time to apply for credentials for the Crew-5 launch to the International Space Station in October. Too soon for me. I'm not going anywhere for a while.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day