Day 4755 - New Year's Eve

Well, 2022 is a wrap. It was a pretty good year all things considered. There were no medical emergencies. Dawn is healthy. Janet and I are healthy. I got to take a few fun trips this year. I'm still writing and I'm still managing to take at least 10,000 steps every day. Hey, today I got 20,000 steps. Not bad at all. I have no big goals anymore, but life has been good. If next year is more or less the same, I'll be happy enough. There's not a lot to prove anymore.

Dawn was excited to take a walk today. I don't think she will ever understand that she could have taken a walk every day last week. Dawn wanted to keep going this morning, so we walked an extra mile. She is happy again, since her world has returned to normal. Instead of our usual weekend breakfast, I fixed french toast this morning. It was a nice change of pace.

My grocery list wasn't large today, but I had to go to several stores. All the stores were crowded and food keeps getting more expensive. It seems strange to me how much simple things like bottled water, cheese, and strawberries have gone up in price. I wonder where this will end. I still believe that everything that goes up must eventually come down, but I've been waiting a long time. I'm glad I had some good years when I was younger, or things would be looking pretty bleak.

When I took my long walk this afternoon, I saw the eagles again. The birders in town must have some kind of secret network where they immediately tell each other whenever the birds are in the area. I've never seen the birds without a large contingent of people with cameras nearby. It only seems to take minutes for a large group to assemble. Most of them have huge telephoto lenses and tripods, so it's not like they were just wandering through the area. When the eagles are gone, the cameras are gone. It's still a mystery how these people find out about the birds so quickly.

It's amazing how quickly the weather changes around here. I've still got freeze covers over all the outdoor faucets, but the temperature got up to 70 degrees this afternoon. That's quite a change in less than a week. I wore shorts on my walk this afternoon and wasn't cold at all.

Dawn is definitely a weird dog. All our other dogs have been scared of the vacuum cleaner. When I vacuumed the bedroom this afternoon, she just sat on the bed like a little diva and looked at me. She wasn't scared at all. Of course when I finished with my chores and sat down on the bed to take a quick nap, Dawn immediately left the room. The fact that I'm more scary than the vacuum cleaner just isn't right.

People are already shooting off fireworks in the neighborhood. Fireworks are another thing that doesn't seem to bother Dawn. She just ignores the noise. I have no interest in fireworks myself. It just seems like a strange way to celebrate. We'll stay up till midnight and ring in the new year with a glass of bubbly. It seems like eons ago when I was always playing at someone's New Year's Eve party when the band was together. I won't be doing that again. It probably won't be that long until we don't even bother to stay up until midnight anymore. The older I get, the more one year starts to seem exactly like the next.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4412

It's kind of amazing that prices at the grocery store keep going up every single week. I essentially buy the same things week after week and my bill keeps getting higher. Gas prices are higher as well. I kind of think that stores kept prices artificially low during the holiday season and now they're trying to make up for lost time. I'm not really alarmed by the price increases yet, but it makes you wonder what things will be like this summer.

We took a sunrise walk again this morning and Dawn didn't seem to mind the cold. I thought getting an early start would help me get my shopping done before the stores got crowded, but it didn't make any difference. I got a slow start and didn't leave the house until 11 AM. I'm glad I only do this once a week. The traffic in Dallas has really gotten irritating.

We took Dawn on another walk later in the day and then I continued on my regular long walk. I carried a small camera with me again in hope of seeing the eagles. No eagles today, but I did see a nice Red Shouldered Hawk. I guess I'll continue taking the camera with me for a while. I'm not as dedicated as the serious birders, but I am out in the park a lot. Maybe I'll get some good eagle pictures in the weeks ahead. The little camera I'm taking with me leaves a lot to be desired, but you don't need high resolution pictures for the blog. The camera is so small that it's easy to forget that I have it with me.

We heard that Jack got adopted today, so now it's just Charlie and Oliver again. The two puppies must have gotten adopted immediately because we never saw them at the kennel at all. I have a feeling that Oliver will get adopted soon as well. He's young, smart, and good looking. He's also very strong. Hopefully someone young will adopt him who can give him the exercise he needs.

My walk took longer than usual today because I stopped to talk with some of the birders. Most of these guys use full frame Nikon or Canon cameras with huge telephoto lenses. They remind me of the rocket photographers at Kennedy Space Center. The equipment is certainly the same. I still like my smaller micro 4/3 cameras. They are much smaller and lighter and still take great pictures. Maybe I'm just lazy. The birders drag these huge cameras out in the woods every day and all I can manage is a little point-and-shoot camera I can put in my pocket.

I got an e-mail from AT&T today saying that I could get an iPhone 12 for only a dollar a month. There must be a catch. I usually keep a phone around three years before it becomes obsolete. That would only be $36 for the phone. I may need to go check this out. I don't really need a new phone, but if it only added a dollar a month to my bill, why not. The newer phone camera would certainly be better than the one I've got now.

My foot pain was worse today. I slathered my foot with Voltaren before I took my walk, but it didn't help much. I don't think it actually helped at all. The fact that I can still walk makes me think that I've just got a garden variety case of arthritis. I've been to the doctor and I definitely don't want to get hooked on pain killers. I guess I'll just continue doing nothing for a while.

The weather is supposed to be warmer tomorrow, so Dawn should have a nice Sunday outing. We do the same things week after week, but that's not a bad thing. Everyone needs a little continuity in their life.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4352

Very little happened today. I got up when I heard Dawn barking in the back yard. Dawn and Janet always get up earlier than me. I got dressed and we went on our sunrise walk. The weather was crisp and cool but Dawn wasn't interested in walking very far. Before eating breakfast I changed the sheets and began a load of laundry. All the bed coverings got cleaned today and Dawn spent the day sleeping on an old worn out blanket I've had since my days in Seattle. There were several holes in the blanket, but I can't remember which dog chewed them. Eventually, everything was cleaned and dried and I put the bed back together while Janet and Dawn were eating lunch. Making the bed seems complicated now. There are all these layers and lots of pillows. Was it always this way? It seems like changing the bed used to be much easier, but everything is easier when you are younger. A word of advice. Don't get a low platform bed if you have bad knees.

I read an article today that the city wants to pass an ordinance that bans loud leaf blowers. Seems like a weird thing for the city to be spending their time on, but I'm in favor of this one. When I take my long walk in the morning all I hear is the sound of leaf blowers. Some of the yard crews bag the leaves and take them away, but mostly they just blow them in the street and the wind immediately blows them back in the yard. What is the point of all this? Nobody blows the leaves away in the park, but by Spring they are always gone. 

My new Fitbit still doesn't count steps the same way as my Apple Watch. At the end of the day there is quite a difference in the step count. I don't know why this bothers me, but clearly one of these devices is wrong. After many years of wearing a tracker, I still don't know which device is right. Maybe they are both wrong. The new Fitbit adds quite a bit of new information, but as you might expect, most of it is useless. I pride myself on not being addicted to my phone, however I'm the weird one with a different tracker on each wrist.

I'm amused at all the birders I see out in the park lately. They usually have huge telephoto lenses that I don't know how they can hold steady without a tripod. There are always a lot more nature photographers on bright sunny days. Don't these guys realize that this is when the light is at its worst. An overcast day without any hard shadows usually leads to much more pleasing pictures. At least these folks are taking pictures though. My cameras are still sitting in a bag at the house. If I didn't have a phone in my pocket I wouldn't be taking any pictures at all.

The phone in my pocket has a new case again. I bought the case about three months ago but never got around to using it. Finally my old case broke and I realized that I already had a spare. When I bought this thing I wondered why it was more expensive. It was exactly the same as the other two Lunatik cases I've used in the past. Turns out that this case wasn't the same. This one was made of metal. I'm glad they finally thought of this. Maybe this one will last a little longer than the other two.

On slow days like this I sometimes think about filling a few paragraphs with political or social commentary. I really try to avoid this. Everybody's got an opinion these days, but very few have the facts. I don't even know how you find facts anymore. It seems like we live in a world with multiple realities. When I'm channel surfing cable news while eating breakfast I realize that there are just a bunch of competing narratives out there trying to convince you that your own preconceived conclusions are right. Are any of these narratives even close to the truth? I doubt it.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3662

What day is it? Ever since Christmas, it's been hard to tell. I don't think anybody has gone back to work yet. There are more people in the park than usual, but the roads are surprisingly empty. I went back to the hotel for breakfast this morning and for a while, I was the only one there. I guess the holiday travelers have gone home and the business travelers haven't arrived yet. I had the same experience at the grocery store a few hours later. Oddly. I had to go out again this afternoon and this time there was a ton of traffic. I'll be glad when the world becomes predictable again.

The hotel has one of those open kitchens where you can watch the chef cook. While I was waiting for someone to take my order, I heard the head chef say "who made this batter?" He looked disgusted and threw it away. I was glad he intervened because I was going to have French Toast again and that batter was for me. The French Toast was delicious again, but I can't eat as much as I used to. Once again, I wish I could order a child's portion.

I had to take a few things to the storage warehouse today and while I was there I tried to see if there was a way to rearrange things to create more space. Nope. I think the place is pretty full. I need to find more space because I don't think the keyboards I have on consignment are going to sell. It's been a year and they haven't gotten much attention. Apparently people don't get as excited about vintage keyboards as they do about vintage guitars. At least this storage warehouse is heated, so if the keyboards have to come back they won't get ruined again.

It was a good day for a walk. It was a little chilly, but the sky was clear and the air was dry. I saw an older guy pointing a camera with a long telephoto lens at some nearby trees. "Are you looking for the owls," I asked. He was, but told me that he hadn't seen any in months. I hadn't either. I asked him if he had photographed the pelicans yet, and he said he was already bored with them. "Are you a birder too" he asked me. Nope. I do see a lot of birds though. Now, I'm wondering where the owls went as well. A few years ago the city even rerouted a bike path around where the owls used to live because it was considered a well known habitat. Now, all the owls are gone. There are plenty of pelicans though. I've never seen this many before.

The Quadrantids meteor shower peaks tonight. As someone with an interest in these things, I should set my alarm clock for 4 AM and get up to take a look. I probably won't though. I've done this before any usually see nothing. There is just too much light pollution in the Dallas area. Even in the middle of the night the sky isn't black. It is kind of a light gray color with a few bright stars poking through. The only time I've actually seen meteors is when I used to walk Dot and Dash before daylight on days when Janet had to go to work early. If I wake up to go to the bathroom at the right time, I might go outside for a while. Otherwise, I'm going to sleep as long as I can. When I have to choose between astronomy and sleep, sleep usually wins.

Although it has seemed like Saturday all week, tomorrow actually is Saturday. I will fill the car with gas, get more fresh fruit for my smoothies, and do all my other Saturday errands. I could have done all this stuff today, but I'm a creature of habit. Saturday errands need to be done on Saturday.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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