Day 4140

Taking Dawn on a car ride to a new park has become a Sunday ritual. Dawn always appears excited and apprehensive at the same time. It kind of reminds me of how I feel when I take car trips. By all rights Dawn and I should be best buddies. We both spend way too much time waiting for the other shoe to drop. Today was certainly a good day for a little excursion. It was beautiful outside. We saw horses today. Dawn wasn't scared of them, but I don't think she realized that Dalmatians are supposed to have a natural affinity for horses. What Dawn was really interested in was the ice cream. We always end our Sunday outings with an ice cream cone.

I stayed busy today. It was an increasingly rare 20,000 step day. I must have looked pitiful when I was mowing the grass this morning because a homeless man wandering down the street stopped and asked if I needed help with the mower. I assured him that I was fine and always mowed this slow, but he persisted for a while before he continued wandering down the street. I think he just wanted money. The good news is that the yard looks a lot better now. The bad news is that I'm probably going to have to start mowing every week again. Most people on the street use a yard service now, but I continue to mow myself. Why not. We have a small yard and it's good exercise. I don't really like yard work, but I don't like going to the gym either. I wish the human body just stayed in shape automatically.

Now that my missing package has resurfaced, I'm getting frequent notices from the post office about its whereabouts. Oddly, the package is still in Indiana. I think it is making a grand tour of Indiana postal facilities. The post office needs to talk to Amazon. Janet has Amazon Prime and they seem to be able to deliver virtually anything the next day.

There were even more people in the park today than there were yesterday. It's not surprising. You've really got to take advantage of nice weather here in Dallas. It doesn't last long. I don't mind all the joggers and dog walkers on the trails, but there are way too many skateboarders and guys barreling along at thirty miles an hour on those electric Onewheel boards. You can buy a used car for the price of a Onewheel, but  these things are surprisingly popular. A brand new way to kill yourself I guess.

I'm continuing to watch YouTube tutorials about astrophotography. I'm amazed at how many people make these things. Some of them are very good. If you want to do anything, there's a YouTube video to tell you how. Before I attempt any major computer repairs, I'll look for a YouTube video to explain the process. Why do people make these videos? You might make a little money from the ads that Google inserts at the beginning, but I suspect that most of these tutorials are a labor of love. I could never do this myself but I'm glad these tutorials are out there. You can learn a lot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Dawn has decided to join us for dinner again now that Janet and I have switched chairs and she can't see me. It's weird to have a dog that doesn't like you. Dawn isn't scared of me at all and is perfectly comfortable with me feeding her and walking her on a leash. She just doesn't want to be friends. It's OK. Actually I understand completely. I don't want to be friends with everyone either. 

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4084

My allergies are driving me crazy this year. Every Spring my seasonal allergies seem to get worse and there doesn't seem to be much I can do. Antihistamines seem to be what most people recommend for allergies and they do nothing to stop my continual runny nose and itching eyes. Even so called modern antihistamines like Allegra don't deliver any relief. I'm sick of this. My nose is red and raw and I rub my eyes so often that Dr. Fauci would be appalled. This eventually goes away, but if experience is any guide, I  think I've got another month of misery.

I've been getting unexplained bug bites and I think I now know the cause. Ants. Little sweet ants invade the house every Spring and I think they're getting into my clothes. I was watching TV this afternoon and I watches an ant crawl out of my pants pocket and continue walking down my pants leg. The ants are just as hard to get rid of as the seasonal allergies. You can spray, but they always seem to find a new way to get inside. The ants disappear after a while too, but right now they're everywhere.

The temperature continues to fluctuate wildly. Yesterday it got up to 80 degrees, but today was much cooler. Yesterday I wore shorts and a t-shirt. Today, I had to wear a jacket again. I was actually glad to see the cooler weather. 80 degrees in February is a bit much. It's hard to believe that the temperature two weeks ago was near zero. To say the weather has been strange this year would be an understatement.

The rain was always nearby today, but we never got wet. Actually I hear thunder right now, but I think the rain is to the north of us. Janet and I must have been confident that it was going to stay dry for a while because we both washed our cars today.

I managed to get a lot of walking in today. I was lucky that my foot didn't hurt much. It's rare that I can have a 20,000 step day without a lot of foot pain. I wish I could pin down the cause for all these things that are bothering me. I've done everything my doctors have recommended for allergies and foot pain and nothing fundamentally seems to change. Things just seem to ebb and flow. I haven't even asked my doctor about the ants. He would just laugh.

When I wasn't walking today, I watched several videos about my new camera. There are some advanced features I'd like to use, but they aren't intuitive at all. It's much easier to watch someone explain them in a video than to read the instruction manual. YouTube videos have changed the whole world of do-it-yourself. I've learned how to repair appliances and upgrade computers watching YouTube videos. It looks like this will be how I master this complicated new camera as well.

We visit the rescue Dalmatians again tomorrow. It seems like a long drive to see two dogs, but Charlie and Cooper enjoy the visit and so do we. I really need to start working on my taxes tomorrow.  That's not something I enjoy, but I'm running out of time. I think there are all kinds of extensions available this year because of Covid, but I'm still going to file at the regular time. Why change now? I always file on April 15. What I'm really wondering is whether I'll be attending the Boeing Starliner launch on April 2.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day