Day 4295

We met Oliver today. This young male was handsome, friendly, and very playful. He was larger than I expected and looked like he'd spent a lot of time outdoors. We haven't seen his vet report yet, but he seemed very healthy. Oliver is such a happy dog that I think he'll find his forever home very soon.

Before making the trip up to the Dalmatian Rescue kennel, I had plenty of time to fix breakfast and take my long walk. We started our day as usual with a sunrise walk with Dawn. These Fall mornings continue to be delightful. It was brisk and cool this morning with a beautiful sunrise. I thought that Dawn might want to walk a little further today because the weather was so nice. Nope. Her short one mile loop was all she wanted. When I returned to the park for my long walk an hour later, it was still nice and cool. It was a good day for walking.

We could definitely use some rain. The park is starting to look very dry. I haven't seen the water level at the lake so low for quite a while. I noticed today that the White Pelicans have returned for the Winter. Actually, they started returning a few days ago, but they were so far away that I couldn't tell what type of birds they were. Like the State Fair of Texas, the return of the Pelicans is a sure sign that Fall has arrived.

I watched the Landsat 9 launch today on the ULA website. Vandenberg Air Force Base is always so foggy. I've been out there once and it looked about the same as it did today. It's hard to believe that California is dry and prone to forest fires when you are out at Vandenberg. I think that NASA uses Vandenberg whenever it needs to launch a satellite in a polar orbit. The one launch I watched from the base several years ago was also launched in a polar orbit and used to monitor the earth's resources. I doubt that I will be returning to Vandenberg Air Force Base any time soon. It is more expensive to visit than Kennedy Space Center and much harder to obtain access. 

My Fall allergies have returned with a vengeance. I'm blowing my nose all the time now. This happens every year and it appears that allergy season is right on schedule. There isn't a lot of time between the end of Spring seasonal allergies and the beginning of Fall allergies. After all these years I'm still not exactly sure what I'm allergic to. It's definitely something in the air.

I got a reminder to take my car in for service tomorrow. The dealership had gotten very good about e-mail reminders. I wonder if they've gotten any better about doing the maintenance? Usually they say the car will be ready the next day and I end up waiting four or five days to get it back again. This is why I always insist on a loaner car. 

I added Oliver to the Dalmatian Rescue website this afternoon. I do so little website work these days that I'm starting to forget things. Even simple updates take me longer now. It's hard to believe that I was doing this type of work every single day for many years. I've been retired for long enough now that the world of work just seems like a distant memory. Getting articles published about rockets and astronomy doesn't really seem like work. It's more like a weird hobby. I don't always get paid for the articles I write and few people read them anyway.

I hope there's nothing seriously wrong with my car. Land Rover repairs are always so expensive. The sad thing is that I probably still won't trust the car even after the maintenance work is completed. I doubt that I'll ever have the nerve to drive it out to the observatory.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3985

Good grief. People have started hoarding toilet paper and water again. Last week there were mountains of toilet paper at the grocery store and this week the shelves were completely empty. The water was almost gone as well. Customers were leaving the store with buggies filled with bottled water. Has anything changed? Nope. Stores and restaurants are still full. Roads are still crowded with cars. Apparently mass panic has returned however. People in Dallas may ignore the virus, but they will not be left without toilet paper.

Before starting on my weekly grocery run, we had a nice walk with Dawn and a leisurely breakfast. Neither of us work anymore, but we still sleep in on Saturday like we did during our working years. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep. There was a light mist when we left the house and I thought it might rain for a while. My jacket felt a little damp when we returned home, but it was just the humidity. I don't think the rain will arrive until tomorrow.

I just noticed that when I get gas now, I get charged an extra dollar on my credit card. When did this start? The mysterious charge isn't added to the gas transaction, it is totally separate. Janet says she gets charged the extra dollar when she gets gas at a grocery store too. I wonder if this has anything to do with using an app to pay for gas? I'll probably never figure out what is going on, but I suspect the charge is here to stay. Somebody in government has decided that they need more money.

I watched the launch of the Sentinel-6 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on NASA TV this morning. I remember going to Vandenberg several years ago for the SMAP launch. It seems so long ago now, but that launch was what got me interested in following launches and becoming a space journalist. Like Sentinel-6, SMAP was also a meteorological satellite designed to learn more about the climate. Vandenberg Air Force is located right near the Pacific Ocean and I recognized a lot of the scenery near the base as I watched this morning's broadcast. Good times, even though I had an accident in my rent car on that trip.

I got Chinese take-out for dinner tonight and when I went to pick up my order I was surprised to see that it was completely dark. It is usually still light outside when I pick up take-out from this restaurant. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I realized that this was the first time we'd had Chinese since the time changed. I can't say that I like the shorter days that come with Winter. It should still be daylight at 6 PM.

Florida mosquitoes seem a lot nastier than Texas mosquitoes. It's been almost a week and my bites still itch like crazy. I've been to night launches in Florida before and never gotten bitten this bad. Maybe it was the weather. I was wearing a t-shirt on Sunday night and was always wearing a jacket on previous trips. That's one nice thing about staying out at night in the Davis Mountains. No bugs.

I wish my gym would reopen on weekends. Sunday is still the best day for me to go to the gym. I shouldn't be choosy though. If Covid cases continue to spike, gyms might close down completely again. It is almost inevitable that millions of Thanksgiving dinners are going to cause another surge. No problems here. It's just going to be the two of us, plus one dog eagerly looking for table scraps.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3054

When I got up last night to take Dash out to pee, I noticed the moon centered between Mars and Saturn in the Eastern sky. The celestial display reminded me that the InSight Mars mission was launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in less than an hour. I decided to stay up and watch the launch on NASA TV. Actually, I couldn't get back to sleep anyway. Just as I predicted, last night's pizza gave me a bad case of heartburn.

Seeing the rocket shrouded in fog just before liftoff reminded me of my own visit to Vandenberg Air Force Base several years ago. I could have applied to view this launch as well, but it wasn't in the cards. Dash is too fragile to take to a boarding kennel these days and I couldn't afford the trip anyway. Maybe someday. Being a space launch groupie seems to make as much sense in retirement as anything else I could think of.

When I looked at Mars this morning, it seemed amazing that someone could aim something so precisely at this tiny speck in the sky. I've always wanted to be involved in the space industry, but I was never good at math. It doesn't matter if you're Neil Armstrong or Steven Hawking, it's all about the math. I wish I understood orbital mechanics. I don't even understand why the moon seems to wander all over the sky.

Nice weather always puts me in a good mood. Even though I didn't get much sleep last night, I felt fine. I  definitely needed to stay in good spirits, because today was the day to go to the storage warehouse and get my collection organized. I sorted through box after box and was amazed at how much I had. I'd totally forgotten buying some of this stuff. I wish I had the foresight to collect something that the younger generation liked. Nobody collects model trains anymore. My friend says most of his customers are old men. I'm glad he knows where they are. I certainly couldn't find them.

My Dad was an accomplished wood carver and kept buying carving tools long after his Parkinson's Disease destroyed his dexterity. I think I finally realized the futility of collecting when I was dealing with his estate. There were boxes and boxes full of brand new tools that never got used. Hopefully, disposing of this initial collection of model trains will make it easier to do further downsizing in the future.

Dash had a lot of energy today. Maybe the Movoflex supplements we're giving him are working. At one point on his morning walk, he actually started to run. Running isn't a good idea for Dash. He's not very coordinated anymore and his back legs don't work as good as his front legs. When he feels like running, I run along beside him, holding on to the handle of his Ruffwear harness. I want him to enjoy himself, but I definitely don't want him to fall. Dash never runs far, but I'm glad he hasn't given up.

I haven't given up either. To the casual observer, it might appear like I've lost interest in everything. Not really. I've still got my curiosity.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3008 - Vernal Equinox

I'm starting to get the urge to do things again. I guess this is a good sign. From time to time I still see opportunities to view NASA launches. There have been several opportunities to apply for credentials to view Space X launches in Florida. Recently, I just missed the deadline to apply to view the launch of the InSight Mars Lander at Vandenberg Air Force Base this May. It's still too complicated to leave Dash and way too expensive for me to become a space groupie, but where there's a will, there's a way. If NASA continues offering bloggers a chance to view and write about their interplanetary missions, I'd like to do this again sometime.

Some days I think I'd like to write songs again as well. My interest in recording has returned. Mostly this just consists of reading old instruction manuals and trying to figure out how to use my aging equipment. It would be a long journey to get back to where I was in the mid-1970's. Not only would I have to brush up on multi-track recording, I'd have to learn to play my keyboards and guitar again. My interest in space is genuine. My interest in music might just be a sneaky way to convince myself to buy more gear. We'll see if any of these latent desires come to fruition. Right now I'm still bogged down with toilets that run and a roof that won't drain properly.

I certainly didn't embark on any new adventures today. It was just a pleasant Tuesday. I'm starting to see wildflowers, but I can only photograph the ones along our path. Dash doesn't take detours anymore. I'm so happy if I can get hm to walk at all, that I don't try to push things. Today was a good day. Dash took a nice afternoon walk for the second day in a row. I never know if he's going to walk when I put his gear on. Some days he'll walk confidently to the back gate and other days he'll just stick his nose out the door and refuse to leave the house. Afternoon walks are much slower than morning walks. I don't understand that either. Dash doesn't seem uncomfortable or tired, but he just inches along.

My morning smoothie tasted like pudding this morning. Why? Little inconsistencies like this drive me nuts. I've been making this thing the same way for several years now, but it never tastes quite the same. I think this week's bananas are too firm, but maybe it's something else. I could try just using half a banana tomorrow, but then what would I do with the other half? Dash won't eat bananas anymore. This is probably why I need to go to Vandenberg Air Force Base again. If you spend too much time thinking about the consistency of your breakfast banana, your world has become too small.

I saw the season's first Evening Primrose this morning. I could have got a better photo is Dash would have let me climb down the small ravine where the flowers were. He was headed in the opposite direction and I though he might fall on the uneven ground anyway. Luckily, I have a telephoto lens.

The emerging wildflowers make our morning walks more fun. I've learned the names of most of these flowers by now. I can even tell you when each variety will start to bloom. Maybe we'll see something interesting tomorrow. If not, I can always check the temperature in the refrigerator and pay a few more bills.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2957

Time flies. Three years ago I was out at Vandenberg Air Force Base as a guest of NASA to watch the SMAP launch. I didn't realize that this would be my last trip for a long, long time. Six years ago, Entrecard disappeared. Again, I didn't realize that this was the end of something. Blogging was never the same again. Things keep changing, but as always, I never realize the implications until much later. If there are changes or surprises in store for me in 2018, I hope they are good ones.

The gym seems to have lost a few members. Maybe some people quit when the price went up. Since I don't know any of these people, there is no way to know for sure. I'm doing my workouts earlier now. It leaves more time later in the day to do other things I don't like to do. If Saturday is a day for errands, Sunday has become a day for exercise. When I returned home today, I vacuumed. Vacuuming is more work than it seems because I always have to move so much clutter, just so I can clean the carpets. It would be tempting to just vacuum around all the junk on the floor, but it would defeat the whole purpose of cleaning. Dust hides under clutter.

It was beautiful outside today, but the nice weather made it difficult to walk Dash. On pretty, warm days the park is filled with joggers, cyclists, and people walking their dogs. It is impossible for Dash to walk in a straight line. He is always zig-zagging around, following his nose. If we are on a road or trail, I have to keep an eye out for bicycles. The cyclists are silent and never slow down for dogs. I have to keep an eye out for loose dogs too. Way too many people think it is perfectly OK to let their dog off leash in the park. There are signs all over the place saying that all dogs must be on a leash, but apparently nobody reads signs. I have seen these loose dogs get into fights with other dogs, but the owners never think it is their fault. I prefer days like yesterday when it is cold and misty with nobody in sight.

I was thinking of starting to watch Black Mirror on Netflix today, but there wasn't enough time. My simple Sunday routine eats up the entire day. There's an early dog walk, followed by breakfast and a trip to the gym. Sometime I go to the grocery store on the way home from the gym, but I didn't today. Afternoons always include some chore that I can't put off any longer. Today it was vacuuming. Often it is getting the water off the roof. To get Dash to eat properly, I have to split his dinner into two parts, with a walk in the middle. This ritual take longer than you might think. With the time I had left, I repaired my walking shoes while Janet was fixing dinner and that was about it.

The Grammy Awards are on TV now in another part of the house. I don't know who any of these people are. Where are the new bands like Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, and King Crimson? For that matter, where are the singers like Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, and Janis Joplin? I don't know if I'm old school or just old, but I still prefer "Dark Side of the Moon," to "XXX,"

January is almost over. Dash has another appointment for an echocardiogram this coming Thursday. Then there's Groundhog Day. It always feels like Groundhog Day to me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2933

It's not a good sign when your vet keeps saying "I'm so sorry" as he explains your dog's test results. The blood clot inside Dash's heart has grown larger. This means the treatment he has been receiving is not working. We added a second medication today to help dissolve the clot, but I'm not optimistic. We've known from the beginning that blood thinners are only effective in helping the body reabsorb blood clots about 50% of the time. Dash's blood just seems to clot unusually easily.

It's kind of scary knowing that your best friend is a ticking time bomb. As long as the large clot stays together, Dash will be fine. If the clot breaks apart and travels to other parts of his body, he could die in a matter of minutes. Dash could have two weeks or two years. We just don't know. The sad thing is there is absolutely nothing we can do. Surgery isn't an option and we're already giving him the only medications that even has a chance of working. We have been told to avoid stressful situations and not to let Dash run off leash. The running isn't a problem, but everything is a stressful situation for Dash. He has never been a calm dog.

When we returned from the cancer center, Janet and I resumed our regular lives. What else can you do? I finished my breakfast and did some chores around the house. Later, I paid some more January bills and wrote a letter to my sister. On my way back from the post office, I though I'd take my old down booties to the neighborhood tailor and see if she could repair the worn waterproof cloth on the bottom. Although the booties were made of nylon and oilcloth and appeared to be easy to sew, the tailor said she didn't work on shoes and told me to see the shoe repairman next door. The shoe repairman told me that the booties weren't really a shoe and to take them back to the tailor. Nobody wanted to fix these things. Oh, well. I tried. I have a new pair anyway. I'm just a Gemini who likes to have a spare for everything.

Maybe I should have made a few New Year's resolutions. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do in the year ahead. My life has been centered around caring for sick dogs for so long now that it's hard for me to conceive of anything else. I really enjoyed going to Vandenberg Air Force Base several years ago and watching a satellite launch. Maybe someday I'll become a space groupie again. Following launches gets expensive though. I'd need a new source of money. Money is always the problem. Once you start to relax, the money starts to disappear fairly quickly.

For now I'm going to enjoy my remaining time with Dash. He can be stubborn and ornery at times, but he has an amazing personality and always makes me laugh. Dash has been my friend and companion for a long time now. He and Dot made it possible for me to work alone in a little office for all these years. They were really the heart and soul of my company and of this blog. It's very hard to be lonely when there is a Dalmatian nearby.

I'm glad that Dash didn't really understand what happened at the vet today. He's still a happy dog who takes things one day at a time. I'm going to try to do the same.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2779

I was worried about Dash this morning. He was lethargic and didn't want to walk. He wasn't even interested in eating my banana. I tried several times to get him to walk after I finished my breakfast, but he wouldn't leave the back yard. After a while, I gave up and turned on the computer. Around ten-thirty Dash wandered into the office and began slapping me on the leg. He wanted a walk. I took him outside and we had a normal, uneventful walk. It would have been nicer if we'd left the house earlier while the air was still cool, but Dash was fine. He's either very lazy or very spoiled.

We encountered another loose dog this morning. This has become one of my pet peeves. Why can't people keep their dogs on a leash in public places? There are signs everywhere in the park saying that all dogs must be on a leash, but there's a certain type of person that just doesn't care. Today's loose dog was well behaved and kept following the jogger who owned him, but you never know. After the dog bite I'm more nervous about loose dogs than ever. Maybe I'm just not meant to live in a city anymore. Irresponsible people make me uncomfortable in the park. Irresponsible drivers make me uncomfortable on the roads. I've begun planning my entire life to avoid encountering anyone.

I could have easily finished watching season two of The Expanse today, but things have been so slow lately that I wanted to save the last show for tomorrow. Right now there is absolutely nothing on my to-do list. At least this final episode will keep me occupied for a little while. This extended inactivity is starting to wear me down. I really need to find a replacement for the steady diet of deadlines that has kept me busy since I started my company in 1990. Something tells me that there's not going to be a big demand for seventy year old web designers.

Janet thinks I ought to start doing some volunteer work. That may work for her, but I don't think it's a  solution for me. Volunteering usually works best if you enjoy working with other people. The last time I enjoyed meeting new people was when NASA invited me out to Vandenberg Air Force Base. I guess I could start applying to view launches again, but that could get pretty expensive. It's somewhat of an honor to get invited to watch a launch, but you've got to pay your own way to these events. That's always the problem. When I've got the time, I don't have the money and when I've got the money, I don't have the time.

I'll probably go out to breakfast in the morning. There's no reason not to resume this Friday ritual. When I started going out for breakfast on Friday mornings, it was just a way to get me away from the computer and work for a while. Now there's not much reason to even turn on the computer. The meals I cook for myself are actually better, but going out to eat could still serve a purpose. For a recluse like me, it's a fairly safe way to briefly reconnect with the world. Now, I've just got to decide what to eat.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2237

A year ago at this time I was a guest of NASA at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I had been invited to witness the launch of the SMAP satellite and still remember the experience fondly. I haven't been anywhere since. Shortly after I returned, Dot injured her spine and life changed radically. I had an opportunity to go to Kennedy Space Center and view another launch later in the year, but it wasn't very practical. Taking care of Dot requires all hands on deck. Now, I have an opportunity to take a much shorter trip to Houston to get a progress report on the Orion program and a tour of mission control. I think I could make the trip in a single day, but it's hard to decide whether this NASA event is feasible either. Even if Janet came home for lunch that day to check on the dogs, they would still be alone for a long time. Dot can get in trouble so easily now that I hesitate to leave her at all. I need to think about this. I can't stay home forever, but I can't leave Dot and feel comfortable either.

We slept in too long this morning. Dot is used to our weekday schedule where everybody is up at the crack of dawn. I think she tried her best not to make a mess, but we weren't there when she needed us. I heard her wake up around six AM, but before I could grab her harness and get her suited up, she had already headed toward the back door, leaving a trail of poop along the way. Ironically, I couldn't sleep well last night, and had gotten up briefly around 4:30 AM to go outside and look at the stars. Everyone was sleeping so peacefully that I was very quiet and did my best not to disturb Janet and the sleeping dogs. I should have taken Dot outside then. Luckily, the two soiled rugs were small enough to stuff in the washing machine and clean.

It's weird how bothered I get when a UPS or FedEx shipment is late. I was supposed to get a piece of camera equipment I ordered this morning, but found out later in the day that the shipment had been delayed. It won't arrive until sometime next week. This was just a small little adapter. Not a big deal at all. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to see whether this gizmo was going to solve my connection problem as I anticipated. I'm not very flexible anymore. I don't like surprises and expect everything to stay on schedule. Of course this never happens, so I am always frustrated.

I renewed my computer's anti-virus software today. I don't even know if this application actually works, but it's kind of like car insurance. You'd hate to be without it if you actually needed it. Increasingly, you don't buy software anymore. You just subscribe to it for a year at a time. I don't like software subscriptions any more than I like late FedEx shipments, but what can you do? Uber cabs, Air B&B, and software subscriptions are the future, whether I like it or not.

I should have gotten a head start on my weekend chores today, but it was hard to stay focused. I dawdled over breakfast, spend too long just staring aimlessly at things in the grocery store, and took a nap with the dogs instead of vacuuming the house. Luckily, there's always tomorrow for that sort of thing.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2224

Dot is feeling much better today. I think the she pulled or strained a muscle in her shoulder trying to get up, because lots of rest yesterday and a massage appears to have done her some good. Keeping the front legs strong when the rear legs start to go out in an older dog is always a problem. Dogs try to compensate for the weak legs by shifting weight to the front. Since they can't push themselves up from a sitting position using their rear legs, they try to pull themselves forward and up using their front legs. This puts a lot of strain on the shoulder muscles. Sometimes Dot's determination to move around on her own gets the better of her. She's not completely back to normal yet, but a day of rest really helped.

I installed the digital TV antenna I got the other day. It works, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. I thought the antenna would pull in ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and a few Spanish language stations. Nope. It received twenty-three of the weirdest stations I'd ever seen. None of these stations were on cable at all. How did these stations come to exist and who was watching them? There were three Vietnamese channels,  including one that seemed to originate from a nail salon. There was a station that played nothing but old episodes of Hill Street Blues. The over-the-air NBC affiliate was something called NBC Kids and played nothing but Saturday morning cartoons. QVC has a channel. There was a Catholic Spanish language televangelist and several channels that appeared to be nothing but ads. I was baffled. I guess this might be marginally useful when the cable was out, but not really. Another problem was that you had to set up your TV to receive either the antenna or cable. You couldn't watch both at the same time. Each time you switched back and forth, you had to run the set-up program to find available channels, which can often take up to fifteen minutes. I doubt that I'll return the antenna, but I doubt if I'll use it either.

I didn't make it to the gym today, but I did stay busy. I vacuumed all the dog rugs and carpets, which takes forever since it involves moving furniture, food bowls, dog beds, and the new dehumidifier. I guess I need to vacuum every week.  Two weeks was almost too much for the Dyson. The canister was packed with dirt and dog hair. I'll give the Dyson high marks for cleaning floors, but it's not very easy to clean when you're done. Old fashioned vacuum cleaner bags were so much easier than dealing with this weird transparent canister.

After I cleaned the house, I sawed up the big tree limb that fell earlier in the week into manageable sections and took the pieces out to the curb for big trash pickup. Tree limbs are quite heavy. If a loose limb were to ever fall on me or the dogs, we would be toast. When I look up, everything seems fine, but I still ought to get the tree trimmers to come out and remove anything that might be problematic.

With the tree and the rugs taken care of, I had a choice of a shower or a trip to the gym. I chose the shower. I can go to the gym later. I'd definitely had enough physical activity for one day. While I was waiting for Janet to come home so we could take the dogs on a short evening walk, I watched the Jason 3 launch on NASA TV.  This was another Space X launch were they were going to try to soft land the booster on a barge in the ocean. Once again, the barge landing failed. I initially wondered why they didn't just land the booster on dry land, since this worked so well the last time they tried. It turned out that they weren't able to get the complicated California environmental impact statement paperwork completed before the launch, so they used the barge again instead. Why would you even need an environmental impact statement to land a rocket back at Vandenberg Air Force Base? The whole base is full of old rockets and launch pads.

I'm really glad that Dot is feeling better. I know she's fragile and do my best to protect her from harm, but there is so much that is out of our control. All we can really do is give her the best care possible and continue to take things one day at a time.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2129

Tough day. Dot had another one of her episodes where she appeared extremely stressed and started panting rapidly. When this happens, she usually wants to eat grass and if the condition gets worse, she wants to eat anything, including her dog blankets. I couldn't find the dog thermometer to take her temperature, so I had to use mine. I'll think twice before putting that in my mouth again. I felt a little better when her temperature was within the normal range. Once when this happened, her temperature was over 105 and she had to go immediately to the emergency room. I can't leave the house when this happens because the entire house is filled with rugs and things she can eat now. I can't take the rugs up either, because she can't get up on the slick brick floors and could hurt herself if she started to struggle. My only alternative is to sit with her until she calms down and returns to normal. Everything seems fine now, but I'm going to have the vet evaluate her to make sure there are no new surprises when we go for our physical therapy sessions tomorrow.

When Dot's emergency was under control, I carefully boxed and wrapped my watch winder and took it over to the UPS store so I could return it to the manufacturer. UPS didn't like my nice wrapping job. They told me that my package will spend most of its journey to California on automated conveyor belts that like to eat up brown wrapping paper. I asked how I should pack things in the future and the clerk told me to just put it in a plastic bag. It's a strange new world we live in. I've wrapped packages for years and have never been told that my sturdy brown Kraft paper packages tied with twine couldn't survive the journey.

I had a lot of website updates today and most of them were straight out of left field. It takes me a little longer to respond when I don't really know what is going on, but I think eventually everything got straightened out. I thought it was going to be an easy day and I'd spend my time watching old Dr. Who episodes or reading a book. It didn't turn out that way. Between panicking about Dot's health and trying to meet several tight website deadlines, there was no time left over at all.

Dash didn't help matters when he added his own brand of weirdness to the mix. When I took him on his afternoon walk, he just wandered around aimlessly. He usually loves long walks, but for the past several days, he just wanders around behind the house, I usually think these meandering walks are aimless until I realize, usually too late, that he's headed straight toward a big pile of horse poop. Since he got into horse poop this afternoon, he'll have loose stools tomorrow morning. Ten minutes after we got home, Dot pooped in the house. I'm sick of dealing with poop.

I'm starting to forget what normal looks like. I think the last time I had any real fun was when I got invited by NASA to view the satellite launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base. That was last January. Oh, wait. I got involved in a car accident on that trip, so that wasn't entirely fun either. I probably expect too much. Hey, there are still some fresh bananas in the kitchen for my breakfast smoothie. Maybe I'll see Mercury again if I get up early tomorrow. Maybe Dot will have a good therapy session and be able to spend a full eighteen minutes in the underwater treadmill. Anything could happen.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1874 - Superbowl Sunday

So, we're eating dinner and watching the big game and the power goes out. What? It was a clear, pretty day with no weather issues at all, so this was a big surprise. I'm pretty sure I know what happened. The power service to our neighborhood is so pitiful that it just wasn't up to the challenge of everybody cooking dinner and watching TV at the same time. I went out to the back to make sure that we hadn't just thrown a breaker switch somehow. All my neighbors were doing the same thing. Who would have thought the power would go out on Superbowl Sunday right in the middle of the game? I'll have to give the power company credit though. They restored power in less than an hour, which is record breaking time for them. I bet they got a lot of angry calls.

They must have aired all the good commercials while our power was out because I certainly didn't see any. The commercials this year were even worse than last year's lackluster showing and last year was pretty bad. Nobody seems to have a sense of humor anymore. The half time show seemed more like a Fourth of July fireworks show than a concert. I'm sure that Katy Perry got rave reviews from her fan base, but this Superbowl performance didn't hold a candle to Michael Jackson and Prince in my somewhat long-in-the-tooth opinion. The only thing I did like about this year's Superbowl was the game itself. It was a great game, although I still can't believe that the Seahawks didn't win. They had so many chances to put this thing away and they still managed to lose.

Earlier in the day, I went to the legendary Superbowl sale at my favorite clothing store. The last thing I need are more clothes, but I came home with a shirt and a nice pair of shoes anyway. The store was really crowded today. There's something about 75% off that seems to attract people. I can't say that I understand my attraction to nice clothes, since I seldom wear them. I walk the dogs in my oldest, most comfortable jeans and some well worn hiking boots. The jacket I wear on cold days is probably fifteen years old and I could run my business in my underwear, since I seldom leave the house. If there's ever an occasion to dress up though, I'm prepared.

Today was a good day to get the water off the roof, since it was clear and sunny. There was an enormous amount of standing water, but it's all gone now. I didn't make it to the gym this week at all, but my water removal gymnastics should count as a pretty good workout. I ought to make a workout video. Pushing hundreds of pounds of water off the roof with a push broom is really hard work.

After breakfast this morning, I reviewed the pictures I shot yesterday, made my picks, and burned everything to a DVD. I hope everyone likes the pictures, because it would be hard to recreate them now. I'm glad to have this job behind me, even though it was interesting and kind of fun. Now it's time to start editing the video I shot just before leaving for Vandenberg Air Force Base.

I miss the small, very talented, group of space geeks I met in California. I'm sure there are a few folks like this in Dallas, but I certainly haven't met them.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1872

It's Friday and I'm back in Dallas. I'm not much of a traveler, but when you do get me out of town, I always hate to come back. My Friday breakfast outing didn't seem so special today. Since my memory is like a sieve, I quickly forget all my responsibilities when I'm away and learn to enjoy living on the road. It's kind of nice having a maid make your bed everyday and clean up after you. Eating out in strange new cities is usually an interesting change of pace from my usual fare as well. I never listen to the news when I travel and seldom use my phone. It's kind of peaceful staying in a nice hotel. The only thing that would make the experience better would be if the credit card bills went to someone else.

Even though I enjoyed my trip, I'm glad that I didn't end up staying in California another day. The launch didn't happen this morning after all. It ended up getting postponed until Saturday morning and some of the people who ended up going to a lot of trouble getting their airline reservations changed, just so they could come back to the viewing site on Friday, still won't be able to see the launch. When the launch was scrubbed yesterday, one of the NASA folks standing next to me said, "This is what NASA is like. It teaches you patience."

I do have the patience, but I also had other things to do. I have a big photo shoot tomorrow and there isn't that much time to get ready. I spent the morning unpacking from the trip to California and the afternoon gathering my gear together for tomorrow. Our house is so small that I can never keep everything in one place. Backdrops and props I don't use very much often get lost in the storage warehouse when I throw other stuff on top of them. As most of you know, I'm pretty forgetful too. When I was in California, two people retrieved my reading glasses for me after I'd inadvertently left them someplace. The rental car agent had to remind me that I'd left my laptop on the counter. When I went to return the rent car on my way out of town, I couldn't find the car keys. I was just about ready to go back to the hotel and ask them if they let me back in the room again to search for the keys when I eventually found them in a jacket pocket. The reason I thought I'd lost the keys was that I always keep car keys in my left front pants pocket. Lord know how they got in the jacket pocket, but I never thought to look there.

I spent quite a while today answering the messages that had accumulated during my trip. There was nothing as urgent as the voicemail messages made it seem. In fact, there was nothing urgent at all. I could have easily gone another week without checking my voicemail and the world wouldn't have come to an end. I'm convinced that some people like a crisis. If there isn't a handy crisis available, they will invent one. It isn't just clients that like a crisis either. My bank seemed worried that I hadn't picked up my new checks yet. Jeez, I still have some of the old checks left. Why would I need the new ones now?

Whenever I fly, I'm struck by the fact that much of the country is still completely empty. Everybody is crammed into a few crowded cities surrounded by thousands of miles of nothing. Why do we even need these cities anymore. As soon as Elon Musk gets his network of cheap internet satellites launched and Amazon perfects it's drone delivery service, we could all live in the middle of nowhere without giving up much at all. More and more corporate people are working out of their homes already and GoToMeeting software has almost completely replaced sitting around a conference table. I'd love to live in an isolated area like the countryside around Vandenberg, as long as I had good broadband service and FedEx delivery. A helicopter to take the dogs to the vet would be nice too.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1871

Today was another big adventure. I left the hotel around 4 AM this morning to look for the illusive viewing site where we were all going to watch the launch. I had the longitude and latitude of the site, which I was able to enter into the map app on my phone, but that was all. The GPS in the car was useless, because the back roads that led to a weather station on top of a small mountain near the air base weren't even listed. Most of these roads were just used for fire safety. Did I mention it was pitch black. As I was driving up the mountain, I eventually saw a few people wandering around in the dark with flashlights, so I stopped the car and joined them. We came to a clearing in the trees and off in the distance to the West was the rocket, bathed in the light from some incredibly bright spotlights. We were about three miles away from the tower, which was as close as anyone was allowed to go. There was a guy with a Mohawk haircut just ahead of our small group who seemed to know where he was going. One of us asked him where the viewing location was and he didn't know either. I knew who he was though. This guy was Bobak Ferdowsi, NASA's famous Mohawk guy from the Mars Curiosity landing. You never know who you're going to run into in the dark. We could all see the rocket quite well from where we were standing, but everyone wanted to find the "official" viewing site, because NASA had promised an audio feed of the countdown that everyone could listen to on speakers.

Looking at the longitude and latitude mark on my iPhone map and comparing it with my own position, it seemed that the site was further up the mountain. We walked uphill for about half a mile and there it was. There were some small concrete bleachers and a growing crowd of people. Even the mayor of one of the nearby towns was there. For some reason the entire Grand Jury for the city of Santa Barbara was there as well. By the time the launch was about thirty minutes away, there were close to two hundred people on the mountain with us.

Everything looked perfect. The sky was clear and full of stars. I've never seen this many stars in Dallas. The city glare is just too bright. As the countdown progressed, we heard one person after another give mission control a go on their area of responsibility. Mission Control said that there was over a 90% chance that the launch would take place at 6:20 AM. The only problem were reports of high winds in the upper atmosphere. The winds would come and go, so they sent up a final weather balloon to get a reading with about five minutes left on the count.  The telemetry came back indicating that there were 70 mph winds in the upper atmosphere. This was considered dangerous and the launch was scrubbed at T-minus 4 minutes and counting.

There was only a three minute window to achieve the proper polar orbit, so the launch was rescheduled for Friday. Everyone was so disappointed. Some were able to change their schedules and stay another day. Others, like myself, had their chances of seeing the launch scrubbed as well. There are only two flights a day in very small prop planes to the town I flew to on Tuesday. I didn't want to fly standby and there were connecting flights in Los Angeles to deal with as well. It proved too difficult and way too expensive to change plans on such short notice, so I am back in Dallas now. There are no guarantees that the launch will take place tomorrow either. It might get scrubbed over and over again until the conditions are perfect. It took an entire year to get the spacecraft ready, so I don't think they're in any hurry to launch it when something isn't right.

I'm sorry I missed the launch, but I'm definitely not sorry I went to Vandenberg. This is the most fun I've had in quite a while. You guys keep on watching the NFL and the MBA. I want to watch the Space-X Dragon launch when it is certified for manned flight a few years from now.  I think I'm officially a space geek now.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1870

Today was amazing! I got to go inside the ultra high security mission control building at Vandenberg. We visited the tower where the SMAP satellite will be launched early tomorrow morning. We saw the world's last remaining ICBM from the early days of the cold war. There were rockets everywhere. We were even on a live broadcast on the NASA TV channel. Oh, and I capped the day off by wrecking my rent car.

It was only a fender bender, but since it happened near a big Air Force base, three Air Force fire trucks and two MP's came to the scene. The Air Force guys quickly left when they discovered that nobody was hurt,  but I still had to wait on the side of the road for over half and hour for the California Highway patrol to show up. I knew I was going to miss the roll out of the rocket from the tower, but I didn't want to be charged for leaving the scene of an accident. In Texas, people just trade insurance information on minor accidents and go about their business. The other driver wanted to wait for the police though. When the highway patrol finally did show up, the first thing they asked was why we didn't just trade insurance information and leave. You could tell that they thought the whole thing was a waste of their time. Later I learned that the roll out had been delayed and that the other people attending the launch didn't get to see anything either.

The press conference for the launch was broadcast live on NASA TV. Janet said she saw me ask my one question on TV and that I didn't look like a dork. That's always good to know. I usually look like a dork. I learned a lot today. I never knew that there was a launch facility for the space shuttle at Vandenberg. At one point they were planing to launch the shuttle into polar orbit. The huge facility was finished about the same time the space shuttle program was canceled. It was never used. I never knew that at the beginning of the cold war, the USA only had three nuclear missiles and that they was all based at Vandenberg.

The rocket is scheduled to launch very early tomorrow morning. There is only a three minute launch window on Thursday, since it will be launched into a polar orbit. This means that if the launch is delayed at all, it can't be rescheduled until the next day. Hopefully, everything will go like clockwork. If the launch gets postponed, I'll have to return home without seeing it.

I met a lot of people today that worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Goddard Space Flight Center, or directly with NASA. I even met someone who had been accepted into the Mars One program. Every one of them seemed to really love their job. If you gathered a similar group of advertising people together, I doubt that you'd find anyone who genuinely loved their job.  I think I'll never look at "rocket science" the same way again. These people were amazing! We need a lot more of them.

At one point during the day, we had to leave all our phones, cameras, and computers on the bus while we visited a secret location. "Don't worry, your stuff is safe here," said an Air Force Sargent. I imagine it was. The is the most secure facility I've ever been to in my life. It was quite an experience to be allowed to see behind the curtain.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1869

I made it. It was a long travel day, especially considering I was just going to California. I flew from Dallas to Los Angeles, changed planes and then took a little prop plane up to Santa Maria. Santa Maria looked pretty close to Vandenberg Air Force Base on a map, but I discovered that it wasn't that close when I actually got there. As it turned out, Santa Maria was only about fifteen miles from the North entrance to the huge base, but I needed to go to the South entrance. I could have taken a short cut directly through the base to the South entrance, but I didn't have my credentials yet, so I had to take a long circuitous route around the perimeter instead. I'd probably still be driving around aimlessly, if I didn't have GPS in the rental car. I'm certainly glad I didn't decide to drive up Highway 1 from Los Angeles. I was considering doing this at some point, but wisely reconsidered when I remembered what rush hour traffic was like in California.

I was surprised at how pretty the countryside is in this part of California. There are lots of rolling, green hills dotted with what looked like small Live Oak trees. I was expecting urban sprawl, but this is a lot closer to wilderness. As I approached the base, the terrain flattened and the hills turned to farmland. The soil must be good here, because all the crops looked lush and green. It was weird to see crops growing in January. There was almost no signage on the farm roads that led to the base. Without the GPS in the car and some very explicit directions, I doubt that I would have ever found the elusive South entrance to Vandenberg.

Today's visit to the base was just a dry run. I have to get up very early to check in at the South gate tomorrow morning. This is where I pick up my credentials and join the other media mavens who will be attending the launch. If I'm late, they'll just leave without me. That's why if you have to get lost, it is a lot better to do it today than tomorrow.

I was hoping to have dinner with some of the others attending the SMAP launch this evening, but after driving around endlessly trying to find the correct entrance to the base, I didn't have the energy. I drove back to the hotel in Santa Maria, ate some dinner, and tried to get the WiFi to work instead. I brought a little WiFi hotspot with me, but the hotel seems to block it. It works when I'm driving around, but as soon as I get to my room, it quits.

I think I'm going to be on NASA TV sometime tomorrow, but I doubt if you'll see it. Very few cable companies carry this odd little channel. Tomorrow will be a bucket list kind of day. I'll get to see the rocket up close, talk to the scientists who designed the SMAP mission, and visit all sorts of interesting restricted areas on the base. I think the whole idea is that we're supposed to live Tweet about our experiences. You can't really say much in 140 characters though, so if you really want to know what happened, you'll have to read tomorrow's blog.

I thought I'd forget a lot of things on this trip, but so far all I seem to have forgotten are spare batteries for my wireless mouse and the password for my mobile hotspot. I thought the password was already loaded on my laptop keychain, but apparently it isn't. Oh well, I can always use my phone until the battery runs out. Oops. I forgot the little charger that fits into the car's cigarette lighter too.

I'm tired, but I feel like the day was a success. If you're reading this, it means I've figured out a way to get online. I just put in an early wake-up call at the hotel and I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow space bloggers just before sunrise at the Vandenberg South Gate.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1863

I'm going to miss going to physical therapy. It's nice having someone telling you what you are doing right and doing wrong. I don't need help with writing or taking photographs, but apparently I do need people to remind me not to destroy my body. It should be easy to continue on my own. I've got enough exercises now to last me for a year. Success is pretty easy to measure too. If I can move my shoulder more, I have succeeded. We'll see how it goes. They want to re-evaluate me this Summer. You can't cheat with physical therapy. Your progress is surprisingly easy to measure. The therapist actually takes a protractor and ruler and measures how much further I'm are able to move my arm. At any rate, I've got my marching orders. Hopefully, when I reconnect with these folks later this Summer, I won't shame myself by revealing my many lazy tendencies.

Our extended string of beautiful, warm days is sadly coming to an end. Our early morning walk was nice, but the temperature began to drop right after breakfast and conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day. The dogs and I were both disappointed to get rained on this evening. It's been almost two weeks since we've been caught in the rain. It looks like I'd better get out some bath towels to dry the dogs off tomorrow morning and be prepared to clean the mud off my boots again. It's going to be wet.

The small group of bloggers and social media mavens I will be joining at Vandenberg Air Force Base seems like an interesting bunch. Some are coming to the launch from as far away as London and one guy is even flying his own small plane to the event. I think the only thing that ties us all together is an unabashed inner geekiness. Everyone I've heard from so far seems absolutely delighted to have an opportunity to get close to a rocket. As much as I hate to travel, I really think I'm going to enjoy this.

I've got a big video shoot coming up this weekend, so it's time to get out the instruction manuals again. I've gotten so used to shooting with GoPro's and automated consumer cameras that I've kind of forgotten what some of the dozens of cryptic buttons on my big production camera do. There is no auto-focus on most cinema lenses either, so I'd better practice the fine art of keeping things in perfect focus as well. If I shot as much video and film as I used to, none of this would be a problem. Unfortunately, the old adage use it or lose it still applies. I've got some work to do.

It's raining pretty hard now, but I hope the weather improves a bit before I take Dot to her physical therapy session tomorrow. Cold rainy weather makes Dot's arthritis act up and she doesn't do as well in the underwater treadmill on rainy days. The vet can warm up the water in the tank though, so maybe that will help. Nothing will help me until I see the sun again.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1853

My travel arrangements for the SMAP launch are finally complete. Who would have thought it could be so difficult just to go to California. I've been to California many times before and it was always easy. This odd journey involves jets, propeller planes, automobiles and a lot of waiting around for connecting flights. Vandenberg Air Force Base really is kind of in the middle of nowhere. It would have been so much easier if they launched this thing from Cape Canaveral. A quick trip to Orlando with a short drive to the Cape would have been a piece of cake. At any rate, I'm done. Let's hope everything goes as scheduled. If the launch is delayed or canceled, I'm probably screwed. I'm scheduled for dental surgery right after I return.

I wonder when this cold, rainy weather is finally going to move out of the area. It's been nasty all week. It rained most of the night, with intermittent showers throughout the day. It's still just a few degrees above freezing. I feel like I'm changing clothes all day. I add layers whenever I go outside and remove layers when I come inside again. The dogs get cold. Shoes get muddy. Moisture condenses on the inside of all the windows, where it rolls down the glass to rot the wooden sills below. Each morning, there are lots of blankets to fold and put away before I make the bed. Basically, Winter is a mess.

I didn't make it to the gym today, because I needed to fill out another set of new patient forms for the next dentist I see tomorrow. Dentists seem to share X-rays, but they don't seem to share their new patient information. The dental surgeon I see tomorrow will be the third specialty dentist I've seen in the past month. Each one has their own set of forms to fill out. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they all demand full payment after each visit.

There's actually lots of interesting things to photograph on rainy days, but I'm usually reluctant to take my phone out of my pocket. I have to take my gloves off first, so the tactile touch screen will work. Then I have to find the phone under the layers of coats and sweaters. By the time I'm ready to take the picture, the moment has usually passed. Raindrops on leaves are usually patient though. The raindrops remain long after the ducks have flown away.

I don't know what's in the cards for tomorrow. I've got the initial evaluation by the dental surgeon in the afternoon, but everything else seems to be a moving target. There have been a lot of schedule changes on work projects this month. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I really don't want the SMAP launch to change after all the work I put into making travel arrangements today.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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