Day 4998

Not a bad day. We had a nice sunrise walk with Dawn this morning. These early walks are still very pleasant. It's just too bad that the temperature warms up so quickly once the sun appears. We see lots of people walking their dogs these days. I think everyone in the neighborhood has realized that this is the only sane time to walk your dog. Dawn seldom wants to greet the dogs we pass on our walk, but she always wants to smell where they've been. We take our time on these walks and let Dawn smell things to her heart's content. They say smelling things is a really important part of a dog's life. Smells certainly seems to be a high priority for Dawn.

I wasn't in a hurry to get to the gym this morning so I did a load of laundry after breakfast. Doing laundry is oddly satisfying. I like having everything in it's place and folding the laundry and putting it away is so much easier than cleaning up the office. I don't know why I bother to check my messages anymore. I seldom get any. Today I had one form letter from the new head of media operations for the Space Force. It basically said that he looked forward to seeing me at future launches. I'm glad the Space Force hasn't forgotten about me. It's been a while since I've attended a military launch.

Lately, I've been trying to get to the gym just before lunchtime. The gym is never crowded then and it's much easier to find a place in the parking garage. I did much better today. My time on the three mile walk around the indoor track was pretty decent. There are still people faster than me, but I kept up a respectable pace. I actually did great on the basketball court. I completed my ten free throws in less than six minutes which I think is a record. Today I completed five free throws in a row. I don't think I've ever done that before. If I ever manage to complete all ten shots in a row I'll move on to something more difficult. I have no idea if that will ever happen. I still miss quite a few shots.

I did all my weight lifting exercises today and even thought about adding a few more. Maybe later. I was actually pretty tired by the time I headed home again. One of the streets I normally take on the way home was blocked because of road construction so I had to take a detour. You'd think that the city would eventually finish with all the roads, but they've been under construction even since I moved here in the mid 70's. You can't drive five miles in this town without encountering road construction.

I've been making myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch lately. I never used to eat lunch so I feel vaguely guilty of eating something now. I think I just eat out of boredom. I'm seldom all that hungry which is probably one of the reasons I don't go out for breakfast on Friday's anymore. A small bowl of shredded wheat is just fine.

Janet wants to get a new chair for Santa to sit in to go with our new Santa Paws backdrop. We looked at chairs that would look nice in a Winter outdoor setting and I think we found something that will work. I'm glad Janet cares about these things, because all I'm thinking about is how tired I'm going to be and wondering whether my strobe lights will still work this year. I thought I was getting too old for this five years ago and yet here we are. We've got three dates scheduled for this year. I guess I can make it.

I've finished taking this week's trash out to the curb and it still seems way too hot around sunset. Hopefully September will be a little cooler. I have no plans for tomorrow at all which just means I will be going back to the gym around 11:30 again.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4996

We walked very early today since Janet had plans. Dawn wore her green LED collar and Janet and I had little clip on lights. We walk this way all Winter, but it still seems early in the season to be walking in the dark. The weather was pleasant though. The temperature was in the low 70's and there was a nice breeze. I'm definitely not an early bird, but these sunrise walks are still the nicest part of the day.

I usually wake up with no plans for the day. I make the bed, eat my breakfast, and reluctantly turn the computer on to check for messages. Needless to say, I don't get a lot of messages these days. I still haven't finished the website I'm helping my neighbor with. I'm basically done but they can't seem to find the guy with the passwords to the server. Occasionally I get messages from my contacts at Kennedy Space Center. I've applied to attend a launch in early October but haven't heard anything yet. Most of my mail is spam.

I thought about walking in the park again, but it was warmer than yesterday so I decided to go back to the gym. I'm seldom in any hurry because my daily workout is usually my only activity. If I go to the gym too early I'm left with a huge chunk of the day to fill. I could certainly stay at the gym longer, but after an hour on the track and fifteen minutes on the basketball court I'm usually ready to come home again. These trips to the gym are about as close to Ground Hog Day as you can get. They are all exactly the same. The same people seem to be at the gym every day. I'm never motivated to do anything new, but I still feel like I'm getting some benefit out of this. I'm certainly in better shape than my Dad was at my age.

We ordered a new backdrop for Santa Paws pictures today. I've already got a ton of these backdrops in the storage warehouse, but since a lot of people who come for Christmas pictures are repeat customers it's nice to offer them something new. I'm glad these newer backdrops are machine washable. Some of the early backdrops we used to use were hand painted on muslin and couldn't be washed at all. After a few dogs peed on them they were basically worthless.

I didn't do much this afternoon, but that shouldn't be surprising by now. I never do much in the afternoon. I'm still looking for something to do after I finish the blog. I really ought to clean out the office, but I probably won't. It is filled with years of clutter and remnants of old interests. When I look around it's amazing how many different things I've been interested in over the years. Some interests like astronomy seem to ebb and flow. Other interests just disappear completely. I'm sure something new will come along. One thing I never lost was my curiosity.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day