Day 4102

I trimmed all the dead leaves off the hedge at the back of the yard. There isn't much hedge left. This year's big freeze really did a number on our backyard plants. I have a feeling that some of them just aren't going to recover. At least the hedge trimmer works well. I probably should have bought one of these a long time ago.

Today was slow and the highlight of my day was watching the Artemis-1 live fire test. The test went well and it looks like the rocket will be heading to Kennedy Space Center soon. The eight minute test was surprisingly interesting, considering that the rocket was bolted to a test stand and didn't go anywhere. The cloud of steam the rocket produced was so large that it showed up on weather radar. Stennis Space Center was created during the Apollo era and is pretty impressive. I'm glad I got a chance to tour the place before Covid hit. I'm sure it would be much harder to get access to the facilities now.

Dawn is eating normally again and didn't show any hesitation on her daily walk. Who knows what happened yesterday. We'll probably never know. She probably ate some disgusting dead animal in the yard. There are lots of feral cats in the area and we frequently find dead birds and mice in the yard. I've never seen Dawn eat anything bad, but dogs can be sneaky. Dot killed a squirrel once and Dash was obsessed with eating cicadas. The one good thing about all the feral cats is that we seldom find rats in the yard anymore.

I really need to find a new place to walk. I have a high tolerance for boredom and even I'm starting to get bored. I've memorized every inch of my journey now. I keep walking the same familiar paths because the distance is just about right. Even with my painful foot, I know I can complete the walk. On a good day, the foot doesn't even hurt very much. I watch the trees start to bud and keep track of where the resident ducks and geese are located. The ducks move around quite a bit. There are several old buildings in the park that were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps that the city is restoring now. Every day there is a little more progress and I've been impressed at how faithfully the crews have been recreating the 1930's era buildings. There's a lot of stone masonry involved that you seldom see anymore.

I'm still debating whether to get a star tracker for my trip back to the observatory. I keep looking at these things online, but I can't decide. The device would definitely improve my pictures of the night sky, but it is awkward and bulky to carry around. I like to travel light and I know I would never use this thing in Dallas. I really need to stop getting things I only use a few times a year. I have a bad habit of doing this. Even the hedge trimmer I used today probably won't get used again for a long, long time.

Janet and I were just about to put our winter coats away for another season, but today we needed them again. How did it get so cold overnight? I kept waiting for things to warm up, but I still ended up wearing a down ski jacket on my long walk. It probably would have felt warmer if it wasn't so windy. It's hard to decide what to wear at this time of year. When the sun goes behind a cloud, I'm cold and when the wind stops and the sun comes out, I'm hot.

When I took the trash out to the curb tonight, I looked up and saw the Moon, Mars and the Pleiades very close together in the sky. I went back in the house and got my binoculars. When I looked again I saw a satellite cross through my field of view. That was my five minutes of astronomy for the night. Now, I'm ready for bed.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4041

Today seemed busier than usual, even though very little actually happened. I got my grocery shopping done right after breakfast. I found everything on my list and was in and out of the store fairly quickly. This week there was plenty of fresh fruit.

Our shortened walks with Dawn continue to be a success. As long as she can choose a familiar path and doesn't have to walk over a mile, she's a happy camper. It doesn't seem to matter whether I walk her or Janet does, but she definitely listens to Janet better.

When Dawn returns to the house, I just continue walking. I guess this is my new schedule for a while. I ended up walking six miles today. The weather was great. The sky was clear and yesterday's wind was completely gone. My new shoes have really helped eliminate my foot pain. Most of the aches and pains now can just be attributed to old age. I wish the new shoes were a little more durable. They are already showing some wear. I have hiking boots that I've worn my entire adult life. Running shoes seldom last more than a year. I guess that's fair. A durable shoe that is painful isn't of much use at all.

Today was the big day for the Artemis-1 static fire at Stennis Space Center. Maybe it was just as well that I didn't attend this test. The planned eight minute hot fire was aborted after just one minute due to a still undisclosed problem with one of the engines. I watched the news conference later in the day where everyone was trying to put a positive spin on things, but you could hardly call this test a success. The rocket has been sitting on the test stand for over a year now. You'd think that would have been plenty of time to work out all the bugs in this rocket. During this amount of time, Space X has already flown three Starship prototypes and is getting ready to launch a fourth next week. I have a feeling that by the time Artemis finally makes it to the moon, Space X will already be there waiting for them.

I got gas for the first time in a month today. I started driving less when Covid restrictions started last Spring. Now that I've fully adapted to this new normal, there just isn't anyplace to go. I don't go to the bank or post office anymore. All these transactions are handled online now. I don't go to the pharmacy as often because I've switched all my prescriptions to 90 day renewals. Almost all my shopping is done online as well. About the only people I need to see physically anymore are my doctors and appointments aren't that frequent. No wonder I'm eager for another launch opportunity or a trip back to the observatory.

Janet has already signed up for the vaccine at two different locations. I guess I'm going to have to do the same. I was just planning to wait until I could take the shot in my doctor's office, but that might be a while. It's not going to be good if Janet is vaccinated and I'm not. My doctor sent out a letter telling patients to get vaccinated at their first opportunity as well. Oh, well. One more unpleasant thing to add to my to-do list.

I picked up some ribs for dinner at my favorite barbecue place. The ribs and brisket are great. The location of this place, not so much. Got harassed by a homeless person while taking my order out to the car again. City life just isn't what It used to be. 

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3991

The new dehumidifier arrived today. Amazon Prime is still kind of amazing to me. Things really arrive fast. This new machine looks and feels basically just like the old one. It's the same size. There's an air intake vent, an exhaust vent, and a bucket that fills with water that the compressor extracts from the air. The controls on the top let you control the fan speed and set a target humidity level you'd like to reach. For some reason the instructions said to leave the machine in an upright position for two hours before turning it on. I'd never turn a dehumidifier on its side anyway, but I followed the instructions. The new dehumidifier was pretty noisy when I finally turned it on, but so was the old one. You get used to the noise. Hopefully this new dehumidifier will remove a lot more water from the house than the old machine. I'm hoping to get the old dehumidifier replaced under the warranty program as well. The house is big enough that two dehumidifiers would be useful.

Yesterday was cold. Today was much warmer. Texas weather makes no sense to me. It all seems so random. I always go out in the backyard after I wake up to see what type of jacket I need on our walk. There are days in November when I need two warm coats. There are other days when I can wear a t-shirt. Occasionally, our air conditioner still comes on in November. Some of the Spring flowers seem to re-bloom in the Fall when everything else is dying. That's a little confusing too. When we got the weather and the clothing sorted out, we had a nice walk. Dawn still has lots of energy and seems to feel a lot better than she did in the weeks before her seizure.

I didn't accomplish much today. I did get the new dehumidifier running, but that was about it. I tried to call my HVAC guy to see if he could do the diagnostic report that the manufacturer wanted before they would replace my old dehumidifier. No luck there. The place was closed for the holidays. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about how to set up the menus on my new camera. This camera offer a a lot of flexibility, but that means there are a lot of buttons and menu items to remember. I should probably watch some YouTube videos on my old cameras as well. I still haven't completely mastered any of them.

I'm wondering when I'll hear whether I've been accepted to attend that Artemis-1 static fire test at Stennis Space Center in late December. If I'm going to go I need to start planning. It seems kind of weird to want to go all the way to Mississippi to watch four rocket engines fire for eight minutes when the rocket isn't even going anywhere. This test is important though. The next stop for the rocket after the static fire is the moon. Hopefully Covid outbreaks won't continue to get worse. I think Southwest Airlines is going to start filling center seats again in December.

We had Thanksgiving dinner all over again tonight. Probably everybody else did too. There are always so many leftovers after a big meal like this. The meal was just as good the second time. I imagine there is enough left for a third time as well. I do love a really good smoked ham. I see lots of ham and cheese sandwiches in my future.

It looks like it is going to rain tomorrow. I'm hoping that we can get Dawn walked and I can take care of the grocery shopping before the rain begins. I'm never fond of rain. When it rains the roof may leak. A sudden storm may knock over one of the Oak trees in the back yard. Roads become slippery when it rains and Dallas drivers never slow down. Dawn refuses to go outside and pee when it rains as well. If it absolutely has to rain, I prefer that it happens at night when I can sleep through the whole thing. 

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3893

The article I wrote last December about my visit to Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center has finally been published in SpaceFlight Magazine. I received the press proofs this morning. The article looks nice and they even used several of my photos. I'm happy. I just have to learn to remain patient with these magazines. They all operate on their own timetable. The Sky and Telescope article about my week long stay at McDonald Observatory is currently inching it's way toward publication. If I'm lucky I'll see the article early next year.

My editor at SpaceFlight Magazine is interested in an article about the Starship facility at Boca Chica. Maybe this will provide the incentive I need to pull something together. I only know one person who works at Space X, so it may take a while to make the contacts I need to get invited down there. The visit may never happen, but what have I got to lose. This will give me something to do in the weeks ahead. I'm certainly not having much luck getting invited back to Kennedy Space Center.

We had a nice walk this morning. It's still noticeably cooler than it was last week. Dawn definitely loves the Fall weather. She had lots of energy and was even playful this morning. When we passed the Mexican Plum trees, there were two hispanic ladies who seemed very interested in the fruit. I wanted to ask them whether the plums were edible and what you do with them, but they didn't speak English. The fruit looks pretty tasty, but I'm still not sure what these things actually are. I can identify a few ducks and geese at the lake, but I'm no arborist. This stuff still might be poisonous.

There's a free shredding event at a local church tomorrow morning, but as usual I am not prepared. I really need to throw away a lot of old documents, but I hate to discard them without looking through everything. Of course, I hate looking through everything too, because it takes so much time. This is why the paper keeps stacking up. I keep thinking that I'll deal with it later. Unfortunately, later is tomorrow. Will I be bold and throw the ancient documents awasy, or just wait until the next shredding event? I guess I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Since McDonald Observatory is starting to open up again, I wrote a letter to some of my contacts out there to let them know I was still interested in volunteering. I received a quick reply thanking me for my interest and saying that they'd let me know how their plans to reopen the facility are developing. Maybe I'll be returning to the Davis Mountains before the end of the year. I spend a lot of time maintaining contacts in the space and astronomy world. I don't want to be forgotten, but I don't want to be a pest either. It's a fine line.

Since we are taking so many walks in the dark, I thought about going to REI and buying one of those LED lights you wear on your head. Janet carries a small flashlight now, but one of those headlamps might be useful. You've got to carry a light so the bicycles won't run over you. Some of the cyclists get an even earlier start than we do. I never made it out of the driveway today, but at least the thought is in my head. I can always go to the store later.

It's grocery shopping day again tomorrow. One of these days I'm finally going to find Clorox Wipes.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3638

Today's destination was the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. This unique facility was created in the 1960's to test fire the Saturn V rockets that were being built 40 miles away at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Until you see both of these enormous facilities, you don't really understand the scale of the Apollo program at its peak. To say Stennis Space Center is big is an understatement. It's huge. The Army Corp of Engineers had to acquire five small towns and relocate over 700 people to built the 13,500 acre facility. They needed this much land in order to create a buffer zone that would isolate the entire area from the noise and potential danger of huge exploding rockets.

The rocket test stands were designated as a National Historic Site, but remained unused for many years following the end of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. It took the Artemis program to bring them back to life. The place is buzzing with activity now. The test stands have been completely refurbished in preparation for the Artemis 1 booster that will be arriving before the end of the year from Michoud. The rocket will spend almost a full year here before it is delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for launch.

We also toured the Aerojet Rocketdyne factory at Stennis where the engines for these moon rockets are being assembled. It was the cleanest factory I've ever been at in my life. Even the air is specially filtered to eliminate all dust. We were able to see two of the actual RS-25 engines designated for Artemis 3 which will take astronauts back to the moon. It takes over three years to fully assemble one of these engines. I hope I'm still around to see the results of all this effort.

This trip was an eye opener in many ways. New Orleans feels like you are in a different country. It's a very unique place. I drove across the 24 mile long Lake Pontchartrain Bridge this morning in heavy fog and the sensation was surreal. You couldn't see the water below or much of the bridge ahead of you. It felt like I was driving uphill but this didn't make sense because I was driving over water. It was like I was driving up and up into a thick cloud. If Stairway to Heaven was playing on the radio, the odd sensation would have been complete.

I seemed to have survived eating fried shrimp, beans and rice, and gumbo for three days. I didn't go downtown to eat. I didn't have to. Even the little hole-in-the-wall diner near my East New Orleans hotel had delicious food. There were no tables in this place, so I just ordered a big cup of gumbo and some cornbread like all the other locals and took it back to my room. I doubt that I could eat like this indefinitely. It wouldn't take long to gain twenty pounds.

I'm back in Dallas now. I discovered on my flight that you can text people while you're in the air now.  Who knew? We are living in a world where everyone is always connected. My airline, hotel, and rental car reservations were all made using my phone. The whole reason NASA invited me to Stennis in the first place was that the want people like me to use my phone to tell their story. It's a new world out there. Going to the moon is only a part of it.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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