Day 4975

I keep looking for a break in the weather, but there is nothing on the horizon. Next Monday the temperature is supposed to reach 109 degrees. This is not good. It will probably be September before the temperature is in the 90's again and we won't have nice weather until mid October. I still wish I could hibernate like a bear until it got cool again, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards. To make matters worse, I heard that we are expected to have an unusually cold Winter this year. Jeez. We'll just go from one extreme to the other with maybe two weeks of Fall in between.

I've started seeing reports from the Orion Media Day that I didn't get invited to. Most of the launch photographers I know were there. So why didn't my application get accepted? Who knows. I'm just not down at Kennedy Space Center enough to be remembered or recognized. I write for a little British magazine that's nobody's heard of as well. I guess I should be glad I get invited at all. Truthfully, it's for the best that I haven't been traveling lately. I've had too many expenses this summer and I'm still trying to get all my bills paid. I'm just hoping that the air conditioner keeps working. That's all I need now is another big appliance repair bill.

We're still getting up very early so we can walk Dawn before it gets too hot. It should have been cool today. The sky was overcast and there was a nice breeze. I think some people to the north of us might have gotten a little rain, but unfortunately none of it reached Dallas. It wasn't even very humid this morning. It was just hot and very dry. The park department has mowed all the native prairie meadows because they present a fire hazard. Mowing the native prairie grasses is very rare. I've only seen it happen a few times before.

Every day is a repeat of the previous day. The temperature is the same. The sunrise walk is the same. My breakfast is the same and so is my daily trip to the gym. I don't know what I'd do differently though. My limited routine seems like a good way to fill up a day and very few things have captured my interest lately.  I lost interest in music years ago after the band broke up. I lost interest in making fine art prints after I'd had a few gallery shows. I wonder if my interest in astronomy was even real. I have absolutely no interest in looking at the stars here in Dallas. Going out at night is just a good way to get eaten alive by mosquitos and with all the light pollution you can't see anything anyway. Maybe it's a good thing I still like chasing rockets. Too bad it's so expensive.

The gym was crowded today. I think this heat wave is driving people indoors. I've never seen so many people at the gym around lunchtime. Usually this is when the place is empty. I still kept up a pretty good pace on the indoor track even though there were quite a few people walking and running. I did well on the basketball court as well. Unfortunately I didn't do so well finding a parking place. The parking garage was full today. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

I didn't accomplish much today. I got the inspection sticker placed on my windshield. This simple task took way too long because I'm hopelessly OCD and I wanted the sticker to be perfectly level. Hard to do on a curved windshield. I tried to find a better sprinkler to water a dry patch of grass in the back yard. We have lots of sprinklers but none of them work properly. I didn't do any laundry today because I did that to kill time yesterday. Tomorrow will be more of the same. It definitely won't be any cooler.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4948

Not the best of days. It was 104 degrees this afternoon, our water heater started leaking and will need to be replaced, and my application to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center was denied. Other than that, it was just a normal Wednesday.

Dawn regressed a bit this morning. I had to put the bowl with her breakfast next to her on the bed again. She didn't want to move and is still fearful about everything. Dawn definitely isn't getting her exercise this week. She goes out in the backyard to pee several times a day and I managed to get her down to the park this morning to poop, but all she wants to do is sit on the bed.

It was too hot for another walk in the park today, so I went back to the gym after breakfast. There were people on the basketball court, so all I did was walk three miles around the indoor track and return home. I tried to find a replacement for the broken knife rack at Bed Bath and Beyond on the way home, but the store is going out of business soon and there wasn't much left. I'll have to look for the knife rack online.

I did find orange juice at Central Market, so at least I could check something off my list. When I returned home I got a rude awakening. There was water on the floor in the utility room and it was spilling out into the kitchen. I was initially puzzled since I hadn't done any laundry recently. A quick look revealed that the water was coming from the water heater. It looked like the place where the supply lines enter the heater had rusted out. 

I shut off the heater to stop the leak and we have no hot water now. A plumber is coming out tomorrow to look at things, but he pretty much confirmed that I'll need a new water heater after looking at the pictures I sent him. He also told me that the shelf that is currently above the water heater will have to be removed because it won't pass current building codes. This was a new wrinkle. The last time I replaced this water heater you didn't need a city inspection. Water heaters have gotten a lot more expensive too. Why is nothing easy anymore? I'm going to have a hard time even finding a water heater that will fit in our tiny utility room. The size and shape of these things has changed over the years.

I'm disappointed that I didn't receive credentials to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center, but the rejection might be a blessing in disguise. Instead of paying for a trip to Florida this month, I'll be paying for a new water heater instead. Hopefully the plumbers can take care of everything tomorrow. I hate being without hot water.

Hopefully nothing else breaks and there is no more bad news tomorrow. At least Dawn ate her dinner normally tonight. I'll feed her a bedtime snack soon and then we'll call it a day. 

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4922

The weather was a little better today. When we took Dawn on her early morning walk the oppressive humidity was gone. There was a nice breeze and the temperature was in the mid 70's. Of course this didn't last long. By 10 AM it was just another hot summer day. At least Dawn got a nice walk. She's only been getting one walk a day lately since it is too hot in the afternoon.

After breakfast this morning I hauled some brush out to the curb for bulky trash pickup. I wasn't outside long, but it was enough to convince me not to bother with my long walk. Oh, well. I need to make a habit of going to the gym anyway. I'm not good at making resolutions, but I really need to work on improving my upper body strength.

I feel like I'm getting a decent workout at the gym, but both my Fitbit and Apple Watch say that I'm actually getting more exercise on my long walks. It's probably just the amount of time I spend walking. Twenty minutes on a treadmill really doesn't equate to several hours on the trails. I like walking, but I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time at the gym for the next several weeks. According to the weather forecast, the temperature is going to be in the high nineties for the next ten days.

Walking is probably better for me. The rowing machine is hard on my shoulders. When I'm using the treadmill I worry that one of my knees might go out. I'm not terribly strong at this point. Whenever I use a machine, I usually have to subtract some weights from what the previous person used. At the time of day I usually go to the gym it feels a lot like a geriatric physical therapy center. Most of the people on the floor seem even older than I am. Some of them do pretty well though. I've got a long way to go before I could keep up with some of these old codgers.

My editor at SpaceFlight Magazine wants me to attend a media day for the Orion Spacecraft program at Kennedy Space Center. I told him I'd think about it. There is no launch involved, but media would have access to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building where the Orion capsules for Artemis II through IV are in the process of being assembled. I applied for credentials to this event, but NASA hasn't set a date for the Media Day yet. We'll see what happens. I guess I'm always looking for an excuse to go back to the space center.

I also keep looking for an excuse to avoid mowing the grass. It's definitely time to mow again. I'm going to have to do this very early in the day, because it's just too hot once the sun is high in the sky. Maybe sometime next week. Tomorrow I do my grocery shopping and Sunday I always go mall walking. Monday isn't good either. I don't like the idea of mowing grass on my birthday. 

Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday and Dawn spends the entire morning waiting for her to return with the groceries. The ritual of putting away sacks of groceries seems very special to Dawn. She only gets excited about Janet's groceries though. When I return from my own grocery shopping Dawn doesn't even get off the bed.

My trips to the gym must be working because I feel sore in brand new places. My goals in life are simple now. I've just got to keep moving.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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