Day 4874

Life is back to normal. Dawn seems happy that I am walking her again. Only a dog could appreciate a regular routine more than me. After our early walk with Dawn, we had a big weekend breakfast and then I did my Saturday grocery shopping. I only went to one store today and managed to find everything I needed. I should do this more often. Shopping is a lot easier when you don't have to visit multiple stores. I probably won't be able to do this again next week because I didn't need shop towels, laundry detergent, orange juice or my favorite beer today. Sam's Club still has the best prices on bulk items and Central Market is the only place that sells fresh squeezed, cold press juices. Today I only went to Tom Thumb.

It didn't take long to unpack my bags and put everything away. It pays to travel light. I did all my laundry from the trip and put that away as well. Now I'm ready to go again. The only thing preventing me from taking another trip to Kennedy Space Center is the expense. I'm getting ahead of myself though. I haven't been approved yet for any future launches and I'm too tired to go anywhere anyway. I sleep better and eat a lot healthier when I'm at home. Even though I got to bed late last night, I slept better than I have all week.

The weather was nice today. It was chilly when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk, but it warmed up to the mid 60's later in the day. This is perfect walking weather. I don't need a heavy coat and I don't get hot and sweaty either. The park looks great this Spring. With all the rain we've had lately, there is an abundance of wildflowers and the native prairie grasses in the meadows are lush and green. I need to enjoy this while I can. By July or August all these areas will look parched and dry.

The baby owls must still be in their nest because all the bird photographers were back this morning. The park department has posted signs that say "do not disturb, sensitive nesting area," but nobody reads signs anymore. Photographers still surround the tree with the nest. I wish people would leave the animals alone. They are constantly feeding the ducks bread, which is very bad for them. Today I saw a little kid try to pick up a turtle. Luckily his mother told him to stop. It was a snapping turtle.

I made good time on my long walk today. It aways helps when the weather is nice. It's probably time to retire my current pair of Hoka shoes. They don't provide enough support anymore and are slowly starting to disintegrate. A good pair of hiking boots will last a lifetime. A pair of running shoes is lucky to last a year. I've already got a replacement pair of Hokas, but I'm trying to get as much use out of the old pair as possible.

It looks like the weather will be nice again tomorrow, so Dawn will get her Sunday outing. We've had a lot of rain, so hopefully the park we go to on Sunday won't be muddy. I'll go mall walking again tomorrow as well. The park is great, but it's still nice to have a change of pace every once in a while. The Falcon Heavy launch I went down to Florida to see has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening. I'll watch that on the Space X live feed. The weather down there is still iffy, so we'll see if the launch gets scrubbed again.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4854 - Easter

For the past week or so I've been seeing a group of photographers with cameras pointed up at a tree when we walked Dawn in the morning. Today curiosity got the best of me and I went down to the tree to investigate. There was a nest with baby owls. There are lots of owls living in the park. I hear them almost every day. This was the second time I've seen baby owls near our house. These looked fairly young. I think it will be a while before they fly.

There are always a ton of people in the park on Easter Sunday. It is a popular place to have an Easter picnic. Today the weather was perfect. The temperature was in the low seventies with light clouds overhead. No matter how long you were outside there was no chance of getting sunburned. Hispanic families had huge extended family gatherings, complete with tents, tables, folding chairs, and games for the kids. Black families came to barbecue. Many brought elaborate smokers and portable barbecue pits with them on trailers. Whatever they were cooking smelled really good. I saw one family boiling crawfish in a huge aluminum pot. I'm just guessing, but I suspect they were from Louisiana. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. I didn't see any egg hunts this year. Probably the cost of eggs has gotten too high.

I did a lot of walking today and got over 21,000 steps. Surprisingly, my feet held up better than expected. After I took my long walk through the throng of park picnickers, Janet and I took Dawn on her Sunday outing. She had lots of energy and enjoyed her Sunday walk. There were lots of people having picnics in this park as well. Probably every park in town was full of picnickers today. 

Luckily, the ice cream store was open today, so we all got ice cream cones on the way home. Dawn loves going to the ice cream store. She doesn't ride well in the car, but having ice cream always calms her down.  Having ice cream cones on Sunday has become a nice little tradition for us. When the weather is bad, you can tell that Dawn really misses her outing.

Our own Easter dinner was delicious. We had spiral cut ham, green bean casserole, loaded baked potatoes, and baked apples, along with pecan pie for dessert. Thanksgiving and Easter are the only times we overeat. Hey, you've got to pig out every once in a while. There will be lots of leftovers too. I love a good ham sandwich.

It was a good day. Finding the baby owls on Easter seemed like a symbol of rebirth and new life. Even though I'm not as religious as Janet, Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. It always seems to be a happy and optimistic day. Tomorrow life returns to normal. I'll have my shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast, take my walk, and fret about why I haven't received any notification from NASA about launch credentials. I'm really glad Dawn seems healthy again. We were very worried about her.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3742

If we all die it will be because of a basic lack of common sense instead of the coronavirus. I really wonder about people. We are not running out of food. If we all just started shopping normally again, there wouldn't be shortages of anything. You don't have to stay indoors either. Just stay away from other people. I could be wrong, but I still think outdoor air and lots of exercise is good for you. And couldn't the people we elected just quit fighting for a while? Is it really that hard to pass a bill that would give hospitals and first responders what they need without trying to pack it with a long wish list of pet projects? Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty of this. I don't understand why quarantined senators and representatives aren't allowed to vote. Do you really have to physically be on the floor of the senate to vote? This is silly. It is just political gamesmanship with one side trying to gain an advantage over the other. There ought to be a way to test for antibodies, so people who have developed an immunity to the virus can get back to work. A complete shutdown just isn't sustainable for very long. The deaths ought to be put in context too. I suspect that a lot more people are still dying from auto accidents and gunshot wounds than from the virus here in the United States.

I went to the audio repair shop to pick up my Sequential Circuits synthesizers this morning. The employees were all wondering how long they could stay in business without musicians. Live music venues throughout Texas are all closed. There are no concerts either. Working musicians aren't thinking about repairing their equipment these days. They are more likely to be thinking about pawning something.

The head electrician who owns the company came over to look at my switch today. He said a lot of his younger employees didn't want to go into people's homes anymore because they had young children at home. I guess that's understandable. I have no desire to go into other people's homes these days either. The electrician did figure out what was wrong with my switch and said he could order a part to fix it. You can always depend on the old guys to actually fix things.

The baby owl has been gone from its nest for several days now. I'm thinking now that I may have seen the owl on the day it finally decided to fly. It was tentatively flexing its wings when I was photographing it. I suspect that both baby owls are still in the area. I hope they stick around. Since owls have taken up residence in our neighborhood, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of mice and rats we see in the yard.

I finished my article about McDonald Observatory and sent it to the editor at Sky and Telescope. Now I wait. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to wait a long time. This magazine is not terrible responsive. I often wait weeks, wondering whether my e-mail has wound up in someone's spam folder. Since this has happened before, it is a concern. I think my article turned out pretty well. I hope the editors agree.

Dawn got another long walk today. Luckily, walking your dog is still acceptable under the new citywide lockdown. I see more people in the park lately, but social distancing isn't a problem. Most of the people we saw today were several hundred yards away.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3740

The baby owls have really grown since I saw them last. I initially mistook one of the babies for the mother this afternoon. A closer look quickly revealed that I was looking at one of the babies, but it was still surprising to see how quickly they had developed. Evidently, young Great Horned Owls eat four times as much as adults, causing them to grow very quickly. The mom isn't around as much these days, but still returns almost every day to feed her children mice and encourage them to fly.

I think there are a lot more doomsday preppers than I ever would have imagined. I can't believe how much food people are buying. When I went to Sam's Club this morning to get some necessities, I saw people with enough food to last them for an entire year. Several people with large SUV's had the entire back of their cars stuffed to the ceiling with food and paper products.

It's easy to see how panic buying escalates. Literally everyone in the store had a big package of paper towels in their buggy, so I got one too. It wasn't a brand that I usually buy, but who cares when you are facing the apocalypse. I certainly hope people don't decide to start using paper towels as toilet papers. If that happens there are going to be some major plumbing problems.

I finally found some distilled water, oatmeal, and blueberries. I never realized that so many people need distilled water. I use it to prevent mineral scale from building up in my coffee maker. Other people use it for more important things, like preventing their Dalmatians from developing stones and keeping CPAP machines running properly.

I wonder when these Spring rains are going to end? I spent so much time clearing the roof of water yesterday and now it's raining again. Water on the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. The gods who condemned Sisyphus thought that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. They were probably right. At least the roof isn't leaking.

I think dogs are loving this pandemic. I've never seen so many people walking their dogs in the park. It's good that people are becoming more active. They seem to becoming kinder too. I wonder how long this will last when the pandemic is finally over? I think the panic buying will finally subside when people realize they have more food than they could possible use. Maybe people will continue to drive less as well. One can only hope. I hope some of these new behaviors become permanent.

It's a shame that I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow. Our options for doing things away from home continue to grow smaller. Janet and I did do our part to support local restaurants by ordering a pizza from a little neighborhood restaurant that makes a good pie.

My dealer told me that I sold a few more brass trains today. It's kind of astonishing that anyone is still buying railroad collectibles during the apocalypse, but it's fine by me. Today's sales almost paid for my trip to McDonald Observatory. I still don't have the nerve to look at my brokerage account. Janet and I have both lost a lot of money, but it's better at this time not to know how much.

The lesson of this week is that life goes on no matter what happens. We adjust to things and establish new priorities. I hope you guys are all doing well. Nobody I know has died yet. I hope I can say the same thing next week.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3721

We were pleased to discover that Lord found a home this weekend. Since Janet and I are still fostering Dawn, that leaves only three Dalmatians remaining at the kennel. Charlie, Hank and Larry are all doing well and we enjoyed spending time with them this afternoon. Hopefully, they will find their forever homes soon. This has been a good year for adoptions.

Dawn got another long walk this morning. She's getting a lot better on a leash. She learns quickly and is eager to please. I think it has been good for her to be out of the kennel. Her wounds have almost healed and she is much more confident now. Dawn has had a hard life, but she's ready for something better. This girl deserves an amazing forever home.

It looks like it is going to rain on Wednesday, so it was now or never for roof repairs today. I applied more silicon material to the roof in a few suspicious areas, but had a hard time finding places where water might actually get in. The new patches should have plenty of time to dry tomorrow and then we'll see if I have been successful. After all I've done recently, I can't imagine how water could still get in the house. Water is persistent though. Water has definitely won this ongoing battle before.

Where has the time gone? I thought I had plenty of time to get my taxes ready to take to the accountant, but all the sudden I'm up against the deadline. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow. I thought taxes would become simpler after I retired but that has not turned out to be the case. Hopefully, I'll do better this year than I did last year.

I saw the owl family on my walk this afternoon, but took no pictures today. The way the nest is situated, it looks like photos might look nice around sunset. It looked a little dismal today. The skies were heavily overcast and the birds blended into the trees. I need to try to get better pictures though. There just aren't that many opportunities to photograph an owl family.

Facebook is still giving me problems with uploading links. It took me forever to post yesterday's blog entry. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the trouble. I don't really have that much to say anymore. I'm still determined to reach Day 5000 but it might be an uphill battle. I'm going to be real mad if Google decides to abandon the Blogger platform before I reach my goal. It certainly could happen. They pulled the rug out from under me with Google+. I liked Google+ and used it a lot more than Facebook, but Google didn't care. They abandon lots of things.

Why is there a run on toilet paper? They say that along with surgical masks and Tamiflu, stores are running out of the stuff. Is toilet paper what we're going to need most in a pandemic? Who knows. Truthfully, I don't think anyone knows. That's the problem. Fear of the unknown can be a powerful force. People tell us to wash our hands, but we've all seen to many zombie apocalypse movies. We need something more powerful than soap.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3720

Today was busy. I kept moving and ended up with 22,000 steps. I didn't feel as tired at the gym this morning and did surprisingly well on the basketball court. Maybe this is a good omen for March.

I checked the roof again this morning and discovered one small damaged spot that I forgot to seal. Damn. This means that I will have to deal with the messy silicon coating before it rains again. I wasn't in the mood for roof repairs today, so maybe tomorrow. I wish I'd noticed this spot when I was up on the roof on Friday. It woulds have saved me a lot of trouble.

We took Dawn on another long walk today. She is strong and has no problem walking several miles. She still seems a little nervous when we begin a walk, but quickly overcomes her fear and just enjoys being outdoors. I have a feeling that she was never taken on walks before. This is all new to her. Whoever ends up adopting Dawn will get a very well socialized dog. She is learning new things every day.

Since I walk much longer than Dawn these days, I just keep walking after we return to the house with Dawn. Today on the second leg of my walk I ran into Treasure. I recognized her right away and introduced myself to her new family. I had never met them before and they were initially surprised that I knew so much about their new dog. Treasure definitely found a great home. These people love her.

On my way back to the house I discovered a Great Horned Owl tending a nest with two baby owls. Great Horned Owls don't build their own nests and sometimes steal them from other birds. This particular nest used to belong to a Hawk. I hope the Hawk doesn't want it back. Hawks are predators and are known to come after nestlings. This nest seemed too small for three owls. I hope the babies don't fall out before they are ready to fly. I got a few pictures, but I'll have to return to this tree if I want a picture of all three owls. I only managed to capture two today and the mother was partially obscured by a twig. You have to be very patient to get good bird photos. I don't know if I am patient enough.

I'll be really glad when my seasonal allergies go away. Every year it's the same thing. My nose runs and my eyes water for weeks at a time. Sometimes I take Allegra, but I don't like the way decongestants make me feel. Given a choice, it's almost better to have a runny nose. At least I don't have the coronavirus. From what I've read, the coronavirus doesn't cause congestion or a runny nose. It goes straight for the lungs.

We'll probably visit the kennel Dalmatians tomorrow. Dawn is comfortable in the house now and mostly just sleeps on the bed while we're gone. A visit at the kennel is definitely preferable to applying liquid silicon on the roof. I have a feeling I'll be doing both though.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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