Day 4948

Not the best of days. It was 104 degrees this afternoon, our water heater started leaking and will need to be replaced, and my application to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center was denied. Other than that, it was just a normal Wednesday.

Dawn regressed a bit this morning. I had to put the bowl with her breakfast next to her on the bed again. She didn't want to move and is still fearful about everything. Dawn definitely isn't getting her exercise this week. She goes out in the backyard to pee several times a day and I managed to get her down to the park this morning to poop, but all she wants to do is sit on the bed.

It was too hot for another walk in the park today, so I went back to the gym after breakfast. There were people on the basketball court, so all I did was walk three miles around the indoor track and return home. I tried to find a replacement for the broken knife rack at Bed Bath and Beyond on the way home, but the store is going out of business soon and there wasn't much left. I'll have to look for the knife rack online.

I did find orange juice at Central Market, so at least I could check something off my list. When I returned home I got a rude awakening. There was water on the floor in the utility room and it was spilling out into the kitchen. I was initially puzzled since I hadn't done any laundry recently. A quick look revealed that the water was coming from the water heater. It looked like the place where the supply lines enter the heater had rusted out. 

I shut off the heater to stop the leak and we have no hot water now. A plumber is coming out tomorrow to look at things, but he pretty much confirmed that I'll need a new water heater after looking at the pictures I sent him. He also told me that the shelf that is currently above the water heater will have to be removed because it won't pass current building codes. This was a new wrinkle. The last time I replaced this water heater you didn't need a city inspection. Water heaters have gotten a lot more expensive too. Why is nothing easy anymore? I'm going to have a hard time even finding a water heater that will fit in our tiny utility room. The size and shape of these things has changed over the years.

I'm disappointed that I didn't receive credentials to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center, but the rejection might be a blessing in disguise. Instead of paying for a trip to Florida this month, I'll be paying for a new water heater instead. Hopefully the plumbers can take care of everything tomorrow. I hate being without hot water.

Hopefully nothing else breaks and there is no more bad news tomorrow. At least Dawn ate her dinner normally tonight. I'll feed her a bedtime snack soon and then we'll call it a day. 

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4707

The house was very cold this morning. Luckily we had lots of blankets on the bed. I wish the furnace didn't decide to break on a weekend, but it is what it is. It actually got below freezing last night, so after we got finished taking Dawn on a chilly sunrise walk, our cold house seemed a lot warmer. 

I tried without much success to get the furnace running again. At one point the blower kicked in for a few minutes and warm air was flowing through the vents but it didn't last long. Something is seriously wrong with the fan and it doesn't take long for a circuit breaker to shut the furnace down. I really hope that I can get someone out here to fix this tomorrow morning. I hate being cold.

After breakfast I went walking at the mall. The car started easier this morning, so that was encouraging. I'm still a little nervous that it won't start when I need to go to the airport. The mall is already in full Christmas mode. Christmas trees are everywhere. The house where people bring their kids to see Santa is up. And most of the stores already have Christmas themed window displays. It's almost like Thanksgiving has been completely forgotten.

I walked my 2.5 miles and came home. Dawn was waiting for her Sunday outing, so off we went again for another walk. I kept falling behind on this third walk of the day. I was tired and my feet hurt. It was a nice day for walking though. The temperature rose quickly once the sun came up and it felt like a brisk Fall day. By the time we finished our ice cream cones, I was ready for a nap.

I tried without any success to find a better hotel for my Artemis trip. I finally gave up and confirmed my reservations at the hotel I've been trying to avoid. So far, it appears that the launch will take place on schedule. I still wonder why I am doing this. I don't really like night launches. If I stayed home and the launch was successful, I'd be kicking myself though. I guess I'm still going because I can. Press credentials for this thing were hard to get.

I should have started packing today, but I couldn't get motivated. It will be a busy day tomorrow. I hope the furnace repairs aren't too expensive. Who am I kidding. Of course they will be expensive. On a more positive note, I don't think there is anything left in the house to break. Maybe it will be smooth sailing for a while after this. One can always hope.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4662

Today was disappointing. The rent has gone up again on my storage unit and the washing machine broke. The storage warehouse increases rates every year. All storage warehouses do this. This is why I moved several years ago. Now my rent is even more than it was at the last storage warehouse when it became too expensive. I hate to move again because it is a giant pain. Janet says I ought to just throw everything in the storage unit away. That's not easy for me either.

The irritating thing about the washing machine is that I may have caused the problem myself. I decided to wash the hat I always wear when I walk in the park. The old hat was filthy. I was going to put the hat inside a lingerie bag but I couldn't find one, so I just threw it in with the rest of the laundry. I was kind of worried that the bill of the ball cap might get bent by throwing it in the washer, but I never thought the whole hat would fall apart. When the washer stopped in mid-cycle with an error code that indicated a clogged filter, I unloaded the soggy wash and discovered that parts of the hat had completely disappeared. Who knows how this happened but I bet those missing pieces are stuck in the machine's filter. I'd clean the filter myself if it were accessible. It's buried away inside the machine somewhere. I called the appliance repair shop but my favorite technician doesn't work there anymore. Hopefully whoever replaced him knows what they are doing. It's always something. I was dreading the annual maintenance costs for my car and now I've got an appliance repair bill on top of that.

The web worms in the park keep getting worse. Janet and I have to check each others clothing after our sunrise walk to make sure we aren't bringing any of the little green worms inside with us. Typically a few worms escape our scrutiny and I'll see them crawling on my shirt while I'm eating breakfast. They say the infestation should be over in two or three weeks. It won't come a minute too soon.

I don't know how the people in Florida can handle all the devastation they are currently facing. I think the worst that has ever happened at our house was a broken water pipe under our concrete slab that flooded the AC vents under the floor. A tree fell on our house once, but it didn't do any real damage. It's a good thing we've been lucky because I don't handle major problems well. I get the problems fixed, but they put me in a bad mood for weeks. Even something as minor as a broken washing machine can ruin my day.

At least the weather was nice today. It's easy to avoid the web worms when I'm taking my long walk in the park, but it's dark when we take Dawn on her sunrise walk and she often leads us right through them. Dawn is a creature of habit and it's easier to walk through the web worms than it is to get her to take a new route. I wasn't very fast on my walk this morning. My feet are slowing me down again. I think the recurring foot pain is going to be around forever. It's not bad enough to stop walking, but it sure is irritating. 

For some reason Southwest Airlines has only refunded half my airfare from the canceled Florida flights. I did change my reservation from September 27 to October 2, but I didn't think that would complicate a refund. I suspect that the rest of the money will turn up in a few days, but today the missing funds were just one more source of irritation.

I finally tested the remote shutter app for the Olympus camera. It works, but is not nearly as convenient as the remote shutter app for the Panasonic camera. Both of these apps connect to the camera using WiFi, but it's not easy to get the Olympus camera to connect. I guess I'll keep using the Panasonic camera for rocket launches.

I've taken this week's trash out to the curb and I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow. Getting a haircut usually puts me in a good mood for a while. I could have used a haircut today.

Sweet Pea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4581

This has got to be one of the hottest summers on record. I remember one summer like this, but I was a lot younger then. If this continues, I may just start saying that this summer is the worst ever and chalk the past up to memory loss. If I were smart, I would have just stayed inside today, but I'm hooked on getting my steps. Getting at least 10,000 steps every day and writing a blog post every evening are about the only goals I have left.

I got an early start on my long walk this morning, but it didn't help much. It was already too hot when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. In this weather I soak my hat in cold water before I leave the house and it is already dry before I reach the halfway point. The wildflowers are almost all gone now and the grass in the meadows is turning yellow. I still see a few ducks, but most of the other animals are in hiding. I don't see as many joggers anymore, but there are still plenty of cyclists. Maybe it feels cooler when you are moving faster. Surprisingly, I was able to complete my entire route today. My pace was really slow, but that had more to do with foot pain than with the heat. 

Dawn did get her Sunday outing, but we were careful to make sure she didn't get overheated. We only spent a few minutes in our Sunday park and then went straight to the ice cream store. It wasn't surprising that the place was pretty busy today. Ice cream and hot weather were made for each other. Sometimes we bring home a pint of our favorite flavor. They said they were out of that today, so we picked something else. We had some of the ice cream for dessert tonight and were surprised to find the flavor that the store said they were out of. It was a small surprise, but a nice one.

I hope I can get my car worked on tomorrow. I don't drive much, but it is still a real inconvenience being without a car. I can't get to the gym for starters. If the car ends up being in the shop for a while, I'm going to have to continue these very hot walks in the park. I stay hydrated and don't think there is any danger in walking in the heat but it isn't very pleasant. It definitely helps to get an early start. I don't think it would be wise to walk in the afternoon. I'm still hoping that the problem with my car is minor. The check engine light came on in my old Defender whenever the gas cap went bad. The same thing happened back when Janet had a LR-2. There is even a sign inside of my gas filler door that says to turn gas cap until you hear a clicking sound or the engine light will come on. Replacing the gas cap is easy. Replacing a major engine component is something else entirely.

Janet tells me that there is a new Dalmatian up at the kennel now. We'll get to meet this new boy tomorrow. I think we are supposed to take him to the vet as well. I need to remember to take my camera. The new guy will need to go on the website soon. It been a while since we've visited the rescue Dalmatians. Last week was the July 4th holiday and the week before that Janet was on vacation. I always enjoy visiting the dogs. Playing with a dog is so much more enjoyable than dealing with people.

The in-door water supply in our refrigerator doesn't work anymore. When did that happen? It might have happened months ago, since I usually just drink bottled water. You can still get ice through the door, but no water. Oh, well. One more thing to fix. So many problems around our house involve water. The washing machine has been repaired several times. We just got a new dishwasher. I need to get a new toilet as well. These are all basically water problems. Our worst water problem was having a water line break under the concrete slab of our house. What a mess. Hopefully that will never happen again. 

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4522

Not a great day. I waited most of the day for the air conditioner repairman to arrive. I was hoping that the problem was minor and that all I would need was a new capacitor or something equally trivial. Nope. When the repairman finally arrived at the end of the day he said the capacitor was fine. I need a new compressor motor. As luck would have it, he didn't have the proper motor on the truck and will have to order it. Yikes. How could this motor cost over $600? I guess that's still a lot less than replacing the entire unit. The parts warehouse was already closed when the repairman discovered the problem, so he won't be able to order the part until tomorrow morning. Oh, well. It looks like another very hot night. He said it is a bad idea to try to run the AC without the motor running too. I tried that last night and eventually the fan started turning. "That's a good way to burn out the compressor and that's when things get a lot more expensive," he said. Did I mention that the temperature was almost 95 degrees this afternoon?

A broken air conditioner is bad enough, but now I think the refrigerator is broken again as well. Late this afternoon I noticed that the temperature inside the fridge was a lot higher. For the past week I've noticed that a metal strip around the edge of the door seemed unnaturally hot. The refrigerator was still cooling fine, but this didn't seem right. I probably should have called the appliance repairman two days ago. Now it appears that the refrigerator is broken. We shifted some critical food to the little refrigerator but it won't hold that much. Hopefully I can get this fixed tomorrow before food starts to go to waste.

The only good thing about today was that I was able to complete my six mile walk. I started after breakfast so it wouldn't be too hot. It was a lot cooler than it was later in the day, but it still seemed way too hot for me. I don't know why it seems so important for me to walk everyday. On some days it's a real struggle. I think it's about time for me to start wetting down my hat and t-shirt before I start these walks. Last summer this really seemed to help.

I got a message from the Benro folks that they had another firmware package for me to install. Instead of just attaching the file I needed to the e-mail message, they provided a link to one of their servers in China. Of course, this link didn't work. Both my Firefox and Safari browsers said they couldn't establish a secure connection to the server and refused to open the link. This has happened to me before with Chinese servers. I have a feeling that it's going to take me a long time to get this star tracker working.

The temperature has gone down eight degrees outside, but only one degree inside. What's that all about? I can't really open the windows to let a breeze in because I took off the window screens years ago for aesthetic reasons and if I open the windows at night, tons of bugs will fly in the house. Ordinarily I wouldn't even want to open the windows at night, but ordinarily we have an air conditioner that works.

I kind of worry about Dawn. She hates hot weather and is currently the only one wearing a fur coat inside the house. Hopefully, it will start cooling down soon. It's supposed to get down to 70 degrees by tomorrow morning, but that still a long way away. I sure hope that compressor motor comes in tomorrow.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4413

Life is full of surprises. I had to take Janet to the ER this evening because she had unusually high blood pressure. A systolic reading of over 200 seems alarming to me. The ER doctors did a lot of tests but didn't seem nearly as alarmed as we were. Something is wrong though. It doesn't seem right for blood pressure to dramatically spike overnight. We quickly discovered that Sunday night is not the best time to have a medical problem. Doctors rarely give you their personal cell phone number and a lot of the little neighborhood ER clinics that have sprung up all over town aren't even open. The first place we went to had a sign on the door saying that they closed at 5 PM. Too bad it was 6:15. 

We ended up going to a small hospital that rarely gets trauma patients. If we had gone to one of the large hospitals we would have been waiting for hours. Gunshot wounds and car accidents take priority over high blood pressure. I'm really glad now that my gallbladder problem happened during regular working hours. My doctor helped me bypass all the red tape and get admitted to the hospital very quickly. On the weekend, you are on your own. Janet is home now and seems fine. She'll go see her regular doctor in the morning. I've always thought it was a lot easier to find an emergency vet for your dog at night than to deal with your own after hours emergencies. Tonight's experience did nothing to change my mind.

The rest of our day was pretty normal. The weather was pleasant and Dawn got a nice Sunday outing. I had trouble keeping up with Dawn and Janet because this wasn't a good foot day for me. Janet tried a new "Calming Collar" on Dawn during the ride to the park. I didn't think it would work, and sure enough it didn't. They probably just infused the collar with Lavender Oil or other new age gimmick. Lets face it. Dawn is always going to freak out in the car. She's fine when we get to our destination and I guess that's all that counts. Ice cream actually works a lot better than the Calming Collar with Dawn. Ice cream cones do a great job of calming her down.

When I took my long walk later in the afternoon my feet hurt so bad that I wasn't able to complete my regular route. This hasn't happened in a long time. It's just as well that I took a shorter walk today. The park was so crowded that it wasn't even enjoyable. A Springlike day in the middle of Winter brings the people out in droves. I enjoy walking in inclement weather more because I have the place to myself. I think the eagles had the same idea. They were nowhere to be found this afternoon.

I made a feeble effort to clean out the office today. I threw away a bunch of empty boxes and old mail. I need to continue throwing away empty boxes in the storage warehouse as well. I always used to save these things in case we moved. We're not going to move though. I should have realized that years ago.  I also tried to dust a few shelves that held the remains of my model train collection. Most of the trains went to my dealer friend who's been trying to sell them for several years, but a few slipped through the cracks. There was a thick layer of dust on the models and they were surprisingly difficult to clean. I spent several hours on this futile effort and only managed to clean a single shelf. Unfortunately, dozens of dusty shelves still remain.

When Janet was checking her blood pressure at home, I got out my wireless blood pressure monitor to compare with Janet's monitor to see if hers might be faulty. It turns out that mine was the faulty one. The cuff wouldn't pump up anymore. I changed the batteries, but the cuff still wouldn't inflate properly. One more broken thing to fix now. I think the old fashioned mechanical blood pressure monitors were much more reliable. You just can't depend on batteries or devices that require a cell phone app to work.

I'm not sure if we'll be visiting the Dalmatians tomorrow. I guess it depends on when Janet can get a doctor's appointment. I'm not sure if I'll be doing much walking either. Today's walk wasn't very auspicious. Maybe I need to rest for a few days. Maybe we all need to rest for a few days.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4186

I think I'm losing my ability to fix things. A light burned out in my office today. It should have been a simple matter to replace the bulb. It wasn't. I had to get a ladder to reach the fixture, hidden on top of a tall cabinet. I kept replacing bulbs, but none of them would light up. Were these all bad bulbs, or had the fixture itself gone bad? I should have screwed a bulb I knew was good into the fixture to test it, but all the known good bulbs were in the ceiling can lights and I would have had to go outside and bring in a taller ladder to reach them. I still don't know if the light fixture is bad. It probably is, but it's too much trouble to test it. I eventually found a brand new box of LED bulbs I bought at Home Depot a few months ago by mistake and used them to replaced the bulbs in another easier to reach fixture in the office. The brighter bulbs seem to help. Problem solved I guess. The light on top of the tall cabinet still doesn't work though.

Almost overnight we have gone from daily rain to daily extreme heat with near one hundred degree temperatures. Maybe I shouldn't have been so critical of all the rain we were getting. I'm starting to miss the cooler temperatures already. It's been so humid the past several days that the buckets in the dehumidifiers are filling almost three hours earlier. I have to keep an eye on the dehumidifier without an automatic shut-off. It's in a small bathroom and I never thought it would collect enough water to overflow. We got pretty close today.

To keep myself from getting depressed, I keep buying astronomy gear. Nothing I've bought is terribly expensive and all of it is light and easy to transport. I could backpack with this gear if I was the backpacking type. Today's purchase was a better and easier to adjust mount for my star tracker. Eventually, I'll use this stuff, but it will probably have to wait until I make another trip out to the observatory. It's not even worth the trouble to set this stuff up in the backyard. In addition to all the light pollution in Dallas, there is a very bright security light in the back yard that is almost impossible to turn off at night. The security light comes on automatically at sunset and there is no switch. I would have to turn the light off at the breaker box and that would turn off some other things as well that need to be left on. 

I've grown so frustrated at my inability to get author copies of my latest SpaceFlight Magazine article that I decided to just buy a back issue off their website. That effort failed too. I filled out the online form and ordered the February 2021 issue, but when I tried to place my order I kept getting asked for my password. There was no place to add a password or join anything. I gave up. I don't think I'm ever going to get a copy of this issue.

Dawn was eager to walk today, but quickly realized how hot it was. She's starting to seem like a very smart dog for choosing such short walks. One mile is fine in this weather. Six miles, not so much. I kept walking out of stubbornness. I hate to give up now, because it's only going to get hotter next month. I have to change clothes when I return home these days. It's so hot and humid that I'm drenched in sweat. Even my hat was wet today. I filled it with water from a water fountain and put it back on my head. I thought this would keep me cooler, but it didn't help all that much.

It's been a long week, but at least it's almost over. I've already taken this weeks trash out to the curb and I'm about ready to call it a day and go to bed. Getting up bright and early tomorrow morning might be a problem.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4046

Another rainy day. Even Dawn got bored today. By the time the rain finally stopped around 4 PM, she was eager for a walk. Cabin fever didn't make her walk any longer, but she enjoyed all the new smells in the wet ground. When she reached her one mile limit and headed back toward the house with Janet, I continued walking. A long walk was about all I was going to accomplish today and I wanted to accomplish something. I was able to walk four miles before I noticed that it was getting dark. Even though the days are slowly getting longer, the sun still sets pretty early. By the time I returned home it was completely dark.

There wasn't much to do today. I decided to inventory a bunch of old camera gear and discovered a lot of things I'd completely forgotten about. Why did I buy this stuff? Did I ever use it? The answers to these questions are lost in the mists of time. On thing is certain. I've spent as long, long time photographing things.

I'm getting tired of watching static fire tests on the Boca Chica live feed. The SN9 Starship has had multiple static fires this week. The rocket sits there for hours doing nothing and then the actual test lasts about one second. Space X must be learning something because they keep doing these tests over and over again. Next week SN9 will do another high altitude hop. That will be worth watching.

I'm seeing more and more people posting pictures on Facebook when they get vaccinated. Is this the thing to do now? They even have stickers that say they got vaccinated, just like those stickers you get when you vote. Most of these people I see are younger than me and have nothing to do with the health care industry. I wonder how they got the vaccine? I thought this first round of shots was only for first responders and old people. I'm still in no hurry. I'm happy to let these eager beavers be the guinea pigs.

We had a short power outage today, but the new detector I installed that is supposed to monitor our household wiring and power lines didn't detect anything. Hmm. This gadget probably doesn't work any better than the noisy dehumidifier that keeps rattling in the bathroom. One of my watch winders quit working today as well. I guess that's not a big deal, since I don't wear mechanical watches anymore anyway. A lot of new stuff just isn't made very well. When I was cataloging camera gear this afternoon, I kept noticing that the older something was, the better it appeared to be made.

I decided to go paperless with a few more bills today. I'm getting tired of wondering whether something got lost in the mail. Pretty soon everything will be paperless. I never thought I'd get to this point, but our mail service isn't what it used to be. Most of the mail we get these days is junk anyway. Maybe my goal is to just be able to throw all the mail away without even looking at it.

The trash has been taken out to the curb and Dawn is waiting for her late night snack. This day is done. I don't expect anything exciting to happen tomorrow, but you never know.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3988

Today was an exercise in futility. I attempted to follow the instructions from the manufacturer for getting a warranty replacement for my dehumidifier. I called the list of service providers the manufacturer provided and asked about bringing the dehumidifier in so I could get the diagnostic report that was required for warranty replacement. All the repair shops I called said they didn't even work on dehumidifiers and none of them had heard of the warranty replacement program. One of the companies on the approved vendor list had already gone out of business. This was going nowhere, so I called the manufacturer again for some clarification. It appears that the replacement program is real and that my dehumidifier qualifies, but this isn't going to be easy. I think I have a Plan-B now that I'll work on after the holidays.

I also wrote the company that I bought my N-95 masks from and told them that the elastic bands on the masks I had purchased were so dry and brittle that the elastic straps were breaking when I tried to slip the elastic over my head. The only way I've been able to use these masks is to make holes on either side using a hole punch and attach new elastic. The company asked me to send pictures to back up my claim, which I did. They said they'd get back to me. These masks are genuine but I have a feeling that they've been sitting on a warehouse shelf for ten years. Rubber does not become dry and brittle overnight. Will my dehumidifier get replaced under the company's warranty replacement policy? Will the mask distributor send me a replacement for the bad batch of masks I received? Who knows. I don't have high hopes for either of these issues. It is 2020 after all and few things go according to plan. 

The weather forecast said it was going to rain today, so we got started on our morning walk earlier than usual in an effort to avoid getting wet. It never did rain, but it was damp all day. It felt like we were walking in a light mist. By the time we returned home our clothes were wet and we had to throw them in the dryer. Dawn didn't seem to mind the weather. For the most part, dog seem to like damp days. The moisture must make the smells more intense.

I'm still very tempted by the Black Friday camera deal I received a few days ago. I don't really need another camera body, but I'm spending way too much time trying to convince myself that this purchase is actually necessary. Trust me. It isn't. I still may get the camera although it would make more sense to save the money for something essential. I know my weaknesses. I tend to buy gear when I'm bored or have too much time on my hands.

Maybe I'll accomplish something tomorrow. I certainly didn't today. Jeez. I just looked at the radar and discovered that we're under a tornado warning. What else is next. I'd better post this now before the power goes out.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3901

Another hot summer day. It got up to 106 degrees this afternoon. This is one reason why we got a really early start this morning. I don't think Dawn likes the idea of walking so early, but we are doing it for her. These pre-dawn walks are the only way to beat the heat.

Even though the skies were clear for most of the day, we've under another thunderstorm watch now. It's hard to keep up with Texas weather. It looks like the storm is starting to dissipate, but I'm going to continue to watch the weather radar until the fast moving front passes over us. I hate the thought of losing power in the summer. It doesn't take long for the house to become impossibly hot and humid.

I managed to find most of the items on my grocery list this morning. Grocery shopping has become like a scavenger hunt. You never know what you are going to find on the shelves.  There seems to be plenty of bottled water and toilet paper now. It's common everyday items that seem to have disappeared. I managed to find peaches by going to a different store, but I still can't find my favorite cheese.

I forgot to update my credit card information on the shopping app I always use to avoid the checkout line and it wouldn't process my transaction. I couldn't seem to enter new information at the store, so I had to start over and go through the checkout line after all. I finally figured out how to empty my shopping cart in the app so I wouldn't be charged twice, but it took a while. Technology is always easy until it isn't. I think I'm better at figuring these things out when I'm at home.

The little red light we clip on Dawn's collar wouldn't work this morning. I thought the batteries might be dead, but the light seemed to work perfectly later this morning when the sun was up and we were back home. It's easy to find a bargain these days, but nothing seems well made anymore. We got some solar powered patio lights for the back yard a few months ago and some of the lights are already starting to fail. I suspect this is because we got the lights at the Dollar Store. What can you expect from a solar powered light that costs a dollar?

The launch I'd been wanting to attend all summer got aborted right when the count reached zero early this morning. Just as the rocket started to fire, everything shut down. Now the launch is delayed at least another week while ULA tried to determine what the problem was. If I had traveled to Florida, I would have incurred three extra days of hotel bills and then had to return to Dallas anyway without seeing anything. I think someone is trying to tell me to just lay low for a while. Travel is complicated and filled with uncertainties. Walking your dog every morning is pretty simple.

I hear thunder but it still hasn't rained yet. As much as I hate the idea of rain, maybe it would cool things down a bit. The temperature is still hovering around 100 degrees.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3900

I like big even numbers. Only a hundred days to go before I've been blogging for 4000 consecutive days. Piece of cake. I'll reach this goal before the end of the year. Can I keep this going for 5000 days? That remains to be seen. I don't even know if I'll live that long. I feel like I've got less to write about than I did in the beginning. I certainly have fewer readers. It's good to have goals though. Even if they are silly ones. One way or another, I'll keep writing.

I thought about repairing Janet's broken Apple Watch today. Hey, I've already successfully fixed two computers. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and it seemed like something I could do if I was careful and dexterous. Parts were available too. I'm not that dexterous unfortunately. Maybe it would be better to take the watch to the Apple Store. Nevermind. The Apple Stores have so many Covid regulations now that it's not not even worth the trouble to go there. Apple repairs are expensive too. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I could get a brand new Apple Watch at Best Buy for half the price of an Apple repair. It was a discontinued Series Three model, but it was still brand new. I went out and got Janet a new watch. I still may attempt to repair the old one though if I get really, really bored.

We got a late start on our walk this morning. The sun was almost up before we even left the house. The temperature warmed up quickly and I was a little worried that Dawn wasn't going to make it. She did fine though. Actually, she seemed to have more energy than I did. When is this summer going to be over? I've had enough.

The State Fair of Texas has been canceled this year, but they've decided to open the fairgrounds on selected weekends for drive-thru fair food. I didn't realize that the demand for funnel cakes, turkey legs, and deep fried pickles was that high, but I guess it is. People actually seem excited about the prospect of drive-thru fair food. I think I'll pass on this one.

I'm amazed at how many people watch the Boca Chica live cameras. There are usually at least a thousand people from all around the world watching even when nothing is going on. People in the chat speculate about what is happening whenever they see a forklift or crane move. It's fascinating to watch how quickly things change at this facility. They work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is all so different than NASA. Have I become an Elon Musk fanboy? Who knows. I despise politicians, but I admire people like Elon and Steve Jobs. We need more people like this.

I'm kind of glad i didn't get accepted for the Delta IV Heavy launch now. The launch has already been delayed two times and I would have had to extend my stay quite a bit. Hotel bills and rental cars can add up quickly. I wish I had less expensive interests. When a launch gets delayed it can get pretty expensive. You think "one more day won't cost that much," and then it becomes two, three, or even four days. You hate to leave though and miss everything.

These weeks sure go quickly. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day again. It seems like I just did this. Will I find my favorite cheese? Have peaches returned to the produce department? Such excitement. I can hardly wait.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3557

Every once in a while I go to a restaurant that I thought was terrible just to see if it got any better. Today I went to a place that I remembered as being dirty with rude waiters. The place was very clean and everyone was extremely friendly. I ordered the one thing on the menu that I used to like and it was terrible. What was going on here? Did this place get bought by someone else? It was all very disorienting.

It rained a lot last night, but the rain didn't cool things down. It was still hot and muggy. I knew I would need to go up on the roof and clear the standing water away, but I decided to get my morning walk out of the way first. By the time I returned, I was too tired to go up on the roof and took a nap instead. I kept trying to postpone this task by taking some mail to the post office and updating my phone to IOS 13. Eventually, I turned on both pumps and water came gushing out of the attached hoses. Damn. There was a lot of water up there. I had to deal with it.

I hate going up on the roof these days. It seems like I've been clearing away water forever. Every time it rains, the damaged areas get a little worse. There really isn't a good solution. Since the house is old and has settled, there would still be standing water even with a new roof. To reengineer the roof so it still looked the same but had just enough of a pitch to reliably drain water away is ridiculously expensive. I guess I'll just keep patching things. I'll probably have to go buy a five gallon can of the silicon coating material myself since the roofer still hasn't brought me the coating he promised. Residential roofers don't know how to do a flat roof and commercial roofers aren't interested in doing small jobs like this. They'd rather do a shopping center instead. It's all very tiring. I've gotten bids on a new roof, but nothing seems realistic. This is why I hate rain. If it would just quit raining, I wouldn't have a problem.

Every time I update my phone I get all these messages asking if various apps can connect to Bluetooth or operate in the background. My instinct is always to say no to everything and then the apps quit working. I think I've got everything I use working again, but I keep wishing that people would quit constantly updating everything. I was happy with the way my computer and phone worked five years ago. I really don't care about Dark Mode or a host of new Emojis. As long as I can check the weather and take pictures on my walks, I'm good.

With my five mile walk, a trip to the post office and grocery store, and a lot of manual labor on the roof, I got in quite a few steps today. It will be interesting to see what my regular doctor thinks when I go in for my annual physical soon. I feel healthier than I did last year. I also feel older. Maybe I'm just treading water. Janet and I both think it's important to keep moving. It's amazing how sedentary some people our age have become. It would be nice if I actually liked exercising like Janet does, but I can't complain. Staying active keeps me from wondering about my purpose in life. You don't need a purpose when you are walking. You just walk.

The backyard security light stayed on twice as long as it usually does last night. It was a lot cooler yesterday. Maybe the problem with the photoelectric sensor is temperature related. Maybe the rain washed away some of the spider webs. Who knows. If we still had dogs, I would have replaced this light by now. Some things just don't seem to matter as much anymore.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3550

It looks like the highway department is already late on their bridge project. Our road was supposed to close today, but now it looks like it won't close until late tomorrow evening. From what I've read, the new bridge won't have any more lanes than the old bridge but will have better sidewalks. Pretty expensive sidewalks if you ask me. Construction is supposed to be finished by March of next year, but that seems unlikely. Highway projects never seem to get finished on time.

I thought today would be a good day to see if I could fix the old dehumidifier. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but the unit has proved very difficult to disassemble. I finally got the thing apart after removing almost forty screws. Even then, it was difficult to gain access to the guts of the machine. The dehumidifier is put together like a Rubik's Cube. I patiently disassembled the unit one slow step at a time and then discovered what the words "sealed system" mean. Although there was plenty of dust inside the unit, the parts I really wanted to clean were inaccessible. I was able to clean the front surface of the evaporator coil, but the rest was out of reach. Maybe my cosmetic cleaning job will help, but I doubt it. I should have just believed the instruction manual when it said "no user serviceable parts."

I wasted a lot of time today with my futile repair efforts, but at least I was inside. Our Fall heat wave doesn't show any signs of abating. When I gave up on the dehumidifier and decided to take my walk, I was wondering if we were ever going to get any Fall weather. Hey, it's supposed to be nice in September. I read that somewhere. For now, I'll continue to drink lots of water and sweat even more.

I ate too much today. Not only did I have a big breakfast, we went out for dinner at one of my favorite smokehouses. I had Burnt Ends, which are even tastier than a rack of ribs. The food was delicious but barbecue is always too salty. I'm going to have heartburn tonight. I don't know why I continue to eat food that I know will give me heartburn. There are plenty of things that don't. I do try to eat a healthy plant-based diet, but pizza and barbecue are just too tempting at times.

I doubt that I'll be eating much for breakfast tomorrow, but there will be plenty of errands to run. Saturday's are always busy. I need to get more fresh fruit for my smoothies. I need to get some batteries and light bulbs at Home Depot. Maybe I'll do a side-by-side test of the old and new dehumidifiers. If the old one still isn't working well, I guess it goes out to the curb with the lawn mowers.

The new Dalmatians are finding homes quickly. It looks like Bandit will be the next to find a home. He might get adopted tomorrow. I wish more people would take a look at Charlie and Treasure. They've both been at the kennel a long time. Everyone finds their forever home eventually. I think the dogs are more patient than I am.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3519

When I was walking this morning an old guy on a bicycle pulled over and started giving me advice on being out in the sun. His advice basically consisted of putting your head under the water every time you passed a water fountain or a hose and sitting under a tree frequently. As he was talking, two older woman passed us on the trail and he wondered if I should accompany them home in case they might fall. "They just live around the corner," I told him. As we parted ways, I kept thinking that those who think they are invulnerable are usually the first to fall. This dude was older than me, wasn't wearing a hat or a bicycle helmet, and has a badly sunburned head. I suspect that he had been out in the sun a little too long himself.

There is rain in the forecast again and the roofer still hasn't delivered the can of silicon material he promised. I'm not terribly worried because it is so hot outside that the water on the roof evaporates quickly. Who knows, maybe it just boils away. If I run the pumps, the residual water shouldn't be a problem. I'll send the roofer another e-mail. Eventually, he'll drop off the product. I definitely don't feel like buying an industrial sized drum of this stuff myself.

Truthfully, I haven't been thinking about the roof much lately. I've totally forgotten about keeping my big printer unclogged. I haven't bought ink in months and the printer is probably ruined. I can only think about a few broken things at a time. Now I wonder why the security light in the back yard comes on normally every evening at sundown, but shuts off again at 10 PM. The bulb is good and the photocell works. What is wrong with this thing? The dehumidifier isn't working properly either, but we've already ordered a new one. There's no sense wondering about the machine's inability to bring the humidity below 45%.

A word of warning. Don't ever let an assassin bug bite you. These things are nasty. I thought I was out of the woods when the pain of the sting and the hard welt the bite produced started to subside. I guess that was just stage one. This morning my arm was itching like crazy and there was a large soft swelling where the bug had bitten me. Nothing serious, but an itch that won't go away is irritating. I tried some Hydrocortisone Cream but it didn't do anything. The weird thing about these bugs is that I've seen them outside on our window screens for ages. I always thought they were harmless.

The big event of the day was taking a phone bill to the post office. Every time I get in the car I debate whether to take it to McDonald Observatory or not. The car runs well and I haven't had any problems in quite a while, but I don't trust it. The problem is that I don't really trust anything. Would a rental car really be any better? Maybe my initial idea of taking the train wasn't such a bad plan anyway. I've got some time to think about this but there doesn't appear to be an easy answer.

I can't believe that I still see people letting their dogs swim in the lake. Don't these people listen to the news? Dogs are dying all over the country because of blue-green algae in lakes. There have already been problems in other Texas lakes and our lake isn't looking all that clean. I wouldn't go near the water right now. If it isn't blue-green algae, it's flesh eating bacteria, rotting seaweed, or sharks. When I was a kid in Colorado, rivers were so clean you could drink out of them. I'm afraid those days are gone forever.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3478

It's almost an unwritten rule that something will quit working when you need it the most. Now that the huge pile of brush is gone, it was time to tame the front yard. A big patch of grass was dead, but the rest was about a foot tall. I plugged the mower into the charger when I got up this morning and quickly discovered that the charger didn't work. It was pretty easy to see why. There was water leaking out of the case. I shook the charger and I could hear water sloshing around inside. This must have happened during the big windstorm that blew the greenhouse apart. The charger for the electric lawnmower is a rectangular plastic brick. It never occurred to me that it wasn't watertight.

I looked for a replacement charger online and quickly discovered that the part isn't available anymore. Hey, it's an old lawnmower. Was I going to have to buy a new lawnmower just because I couldn't find the right 24 volt charger? I kept looking and eventually discovered other folks in the same situation I was. A few people mentioned that there was a charger for another brand of lawnmower that could still be used instead of my discontinued model.  Ordering things that people recommend online can be a risky business. Often people don't know what they are talking about. I wish they would just agree on things. According to the reviews, this replacement charger worked perfectly, was better than the original, didn't work at all, arrived broken, or had a plug that was difficult to attach to the mower. Oh, well. It was still a heck of a lot cheaper than a new mower. I ordered one from Amazon and we'll see pretty soon if it works.

The mower battery still had about half a charge so I was able to chop down some of the high grass and tall weeds before the mower died. This is why I'm not a big fan of yard work. It never goes as planned. Janet asked why I hadn't gotten any bids on replacing the greenhouse yet. It's on my list. I do things every day, but I just haven't gotten to this yet. I don't think making the greenhouse a higher priority would have saved the battery charger anyway. I'm pretty sure that this thing was ruined on June 10 when the violent storm blew through town. I just haven't gone inside what's left of the greenhouse since then.

I had thought about going up on the roof today, but by the time I finished monkeying around with the lawnmower it was too hot. There is a metal flashing around the edge of the roof that gets so hot during the summer that it burns your hands. Somewhere I have some lightweight gloves I can use to keep from getting burned but I didn't feel like looking for them. I was tired anyway. The roof can wait. I took my two long walks and called it a day.

Janet and I were wondering what to eat on the Fourth of July and decided on hot dogs. We haven't had hot dogs in ages. They're not good for you. You don't even want to know what they're made of. But few things could be more American. My childhood is filled with memories of hot dogs. Sometimes we grilled them. Other times we just boiled them in a pot of water on the stove. They were even good cut up and mixed with baked beans. Hot dogs and potato salad actually sounds like a good idea for the Fourth.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3161

Good grief. The dehumidifier has started to leak. This trusty little machine has been running 24/7 ever since we had our big water leak several years ago. I've grown to depend on this thing. Now it has joined both toilets, the shower stall, a bathroom sink, and of course the impossible roof in a coordinated effort to drive me crazy. Why do I have all these water problems? I've come to the conclusion that there's only one thing for certain about water. Eventually it's going to wind up someplace it doesn't belong.

I guess I'll go ahead and order a new dehumidifier. I'll probably even get the same brand again. This thing has worked like a champ. Nothing lasts forever unfortunately. I'm reminded of that almost every day.

It certainly seemed like Monday today. I'm perpetually slow anyway, but on Mondays it seems like I'm moving around underwater. I guess I accomplished something, but it would certainly be hard to prove. Our morning walk took forever. There was nothing wrong. Dash just didn't feel like going very fast. Breakfast was equally slow. I don't think I made my smoothie larger than usual, but it took almost until lunch to drink the whole thing. I spent a long time trying to figure out where the leak in the dehumidifier was coming from. No luck there. Water just seems to be dripping through a screw hole on the bottom of the sealed system.

When I went to the bank this morning, I noticed that a client had failed to sign a check they sent me. The bank took the check anyway. Did they not notice or did they just not care? I didn't care that much. This client has done this before. The bank probably sees unsigned checks like this everyday. I have a feeling that the entire world is becoming sloppy and forgetful. Hey, I'm certainly doing my part.

I wrote a letter to a friend with a sick dog who thought the diagnosis they received from their vet might be wrong. I encouraged them to get a second opinion. It is not that uncommon for an initial diagnosis to be wrong. Dogs can't talk and symptoms are often confusing. It has often taken us several tries and an expensive MRI or two to figure out what was going on with Dot and Dash. The important thing is to never give up. Especially when you think there is still hope.

I got a lead this weekend about someone who might be interested in another collection I have. I tried to call the guy, but of course he wasn't in. I wrote him a letter instead. Letters still have their uses. They somehow seem more serious than a voicemail message that would probably be mistaken for spam anyway. Whether I hear back from the guy or not, it is going to take a long time to unload these collections of mine. It definitely took a long time to assemble them.

Maybe I actually accomplished more than I thought today. It just seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. I'll try to pick up the pace tomorrow. There's no point in going too fast though. I've got an entire week to fill.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3137

I didn't go out for breakfast this morning. There was too much to do at home. Getting Dash ready in the morning is quite a challenge. He is very reluctant to get up, but as soon as he does start moving, he immediately needs to poop. There is a clear path to the door but he hasn't been able to make it outside yet. I have to try to give him his meds before I clean up the poop, because if I wait too long he'll go back to bed and we'll have to start all over again. So far, the only pill pocket that works is a little cube of rare steak. There are lots of pills, so he gets a fair amount of steak. This usually spoils his appetite and he won't eat his breakfast.

I clean up the poop as quickly as I can and get him ready for his morning walk. I wish we could get started earlier, but we're doing the best we can. We've only been walking about half as far as we usually do, because it's already starting to get hot when we leave the house. I'm glad that Dash has the good sense to head for home early when the weather is hot. Usually he will finish his breakfast when we return to the house, but sometimes I end up saving it for lunch. When Dash has cooled down and goes back to sleep, I fix my own breakfast.

Dash has been very slow and lethargic this week. I don't know whether it's the heat, or if something had gotten worse with his heart. Whatever is going on, it's troubling. I don't want to overwork him, but I don't want him sleeping 24 hours a day either. We've got to strike a balance. We go back for another big recheck at the cancer center next week. I really hope his condition hasn't deteriorated.

I took my last remaining synthesizer to the repair shop today. I'll probably try to sell this one too. It isn't as rare as the two I've already consigned, but there isn't as much wrong with it either. I think all this one needs is a new backup battery. Why this battery is soldered to the main logic board in a hard to access place, I'll never understand. Probably I just wasn't supposed to keep the thing this long.

The keyboard technician told me that the damage to all my synthesizers was probably caused by heat.  The storage warehouse just wasn't cool enough. The fact that you should never keep musical instruments in a storage warehouse has been an expensive lesson to learn. I should have sold all these things immediately when they were no longer being used. Most of the guitars weren't as damaged as the synthesizers, but heat took their toll on them as well. All three of the good guitars will need some major setup work.

It's discouraging to realize that my desire to keep things has always been at odds with the realities of living in a small house. There never was room for this stuff. I always thought that the storage warehouse was like a giant pause button. Maybe I could keep things in suspended animation until a mythical much larger house materialized. Life doesn't work that way though. Time marches on whatever you do.

I just finished giving Dash his evening meds, but he hasn't touched his dinner yet. Usually he will get hungry before we go to bed, but you never know. I guess I should look on the bright side. He hasn't thrown up yet.

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day