Day 4594

It was a busy day. The good news was that I got the recall work done on my car without a lot of problems. They were ready for me when I arrived and the car was finished as promised by the end of the day. It is a shame that loaner cars seem to be a thing of the past. They sold them all when new cars were impossible to get from the factory. Now they just call an Uber for you and give you a ride home. Hey, it's better than nothing I guess. I have no idea what they actually did on the recall. The car was running fine before the recall work and it is still running fine.

The bad news is that I can't find a hotel for my upcoming trip to attend the Artemis-1 launch. I knew that hotels were going to be tight for this launch, but I had no idea that they would be sold out a full month ahead of time. I'll continue looking tomorrow. It looks like I'll be staying a lot further from Kennedy Space Center than I'd like. I really hope I don't have to stay in Orlando. I suspect that I'll have the same problem with rental cars. You can't really plan a trip like this too far in advance though. Truthfully, I didn't really think I'd get press credentials for this popular launch. Without credentials, there would have been no point in making the trip at all. I've always stayed at the same hotel on previous trips to Titusville. You'd think being a regular customer would help me get a room. Nope. Sold out just means sold out.

Since I didn't have a car for most of the day, I couldn't go to the gym. I took my long walk in the park again and almost instantly regretted it. It is still way too hot to take an enjoyable five mile walk. I soldiered on and completed my route, but I'm definitely going to return to the gym as soon as it opens again on Monday. There still seems to be no end in sight for these hundred degree days. The forecast is discouraging. It looks like triple digits as far as the eye can see.

I got my grocery shopping done later in the afternoon after my car was finished. It's a lot better to shop early in the morning. Everything disappears quickly. The first store I went to didn't have strawberries and the second store I went to didn't have my favorite beer. I didn't have a long list today, but it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to find everything. Maybe it was the heat. I couldn't wait to get back home and take a nap with Dawn.

We had Chinese take out for dinner again. The restaurant I like had a coupon that said I'd save $8 on my order if I ordered online. I gave it a try and only saved one dollar because of some additional online charges. The food was still good though. I hope this little neighborhood restaurant manages to stay in business. It looked alarmingly empty today when I went to pick up my order.

I'm still trying to decide whether to go out to the observatory at the end of September. There is a rare special viewing night at the 82" Otto Struve telescope and it isn't sold out yet. Only one place left though. Is this worth the terrible drive out there? It's hard to say. The Otto Struve is one of the largest telescopes in the world that occasionally provides access to the general public. There is no guarantee that you'll see anything though. I've made the long drive several times only to find cloudy skies or rain when I arrived.

We'll take Dawn to get ice cream tomorrow, but her Sunday outing won't include an afternoon walk. It's just too hot outside. I'm sure I'll still take my walk in the park though. I'm closing in on completing a full year of meeting my step goals. I'd hate to blow it now just because of some hot weather. Wish me luck at finding a hotel in Titusville tomorrow. I should have been more optimistic and booked a hotel before I got my press credentials.

Jewel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4593

Yay. NASA approved my application for press credentials and it looks like I will be attending the Artemis-1 launch later this summer. Forget everything I said yesterday. This launch definitely won't look like all the others. The Space Launch System is the largest rocket we've ever built and it's headed to the moon. Well, this first one is headed around the moon anyway. Hopefully, I'll get lucky about the launch dates. The trip could still get expensive if the launch gets delayed after I'm already in Florida.

All in all, it wasn't a bad day. I entered a few of my astrophotography pictures in a Dark Skies photo contest, went to the gym in the morning, and got a haircut in the afternoon. The weather was still very hot, but other than our sunrise walk with Dawn I managed to stay indoors. These sunrise walks provide a good preview of what the day is going to be like. It was humid this morning. I hate getting hot and sweaty before the sun even comes up. Sunrise walks are still tolerable though and Dawn likes them.

I haven't had the nerve to check airfare and hotel rates for my upcoming trip to Florida yet. I'm sure it will be more expensive than last time. I can't think of a single thing that has gotten less expensive this year. Sign of the times I guess. I think travel is still beneficial though. I don't do much, but it's good thing to have something to look forward to. Who knows. I may make it as a space journalist yet.

I got stung by a bee again this morning. This is the second time in a week. Technically, I guess I got stung by a wasp, but it still felt the same. These wasps are everywhere in our yard. It's hard to avoid them. I really hope that Dawn doesn't get stung. She's scared of almost everything already. I definitely don't want her to get scared of going out in the back yard. Lounging in the grass on a sunny day is one of her favorite things.

I always feel better after a haircut. I don't know why I spent my younger years wearing my hair longer. Shorter is definitely better. Especially in the summer. My hair is a lot thinner now, but it still seems to grow fast. It's funny. Yesterday I said I typically don't get a haircut unless I've got a trip planned. Well, now I've got a trip planned again. I still can't decide whether to go back to the observatory this year. One thing at a time is probably best.

I take my car in tomorrow morning for the factory recall. It seems like my car is a little old to still be getting recall notices, but you hate to ignore these things. Hopefully the dealership will do what they promised and won't keep my car over the weekend. They said the repair should only take two hours. I've heard that before. Two hours means about the same thing as two weeks to these guys. We'll see how it goes. I've got groceries to buy tomorrow and being without a car will complicate things.

Pongo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4586

Well, my wallet is a little lighter, but I have my car back. I still can't believe how expensive catalytic converters have become. It's ridiculous. Your car will run just fine without one, but it's something you've got to have. Rules and regulations. This unforeseen expense makes me want to drive a simple older car. That wouldn't work though. I already drive an older car. When your car is over ten years old, things start falling apart left and right.

It was still hot today but it didn't seems as bad as earlier in the week. Maybe I'm just getting used to this ridiculous weather. Dawn only gets one walk a day now, since it is too hot for an afternoon walk. Our sunrise walk is still tolerable, but even that is starting to feel uncomfortable. I'm taking my long walk right after breakfast now, but I think I'll return to the gym tomorrow. That was the only thing I missed about being without a car all week. My addiction to Fitbit steps made me walk outdoors when it would have been a lot smarter to stay inside.

I think they are almost finished with the new path through the park. I watched a crew pour the last segment of concrete this morning. I'll kind of miss all the activity. Watching all the construction gave me something to do now that all the animals are in hiding. The only bad thing about this new super path is that there will be a lot more bicycles. Dawn loves to cross from one side of these paths to the other in search of the best smells. You really have to watch for bicycles approaching behind you. They are fast and they are silent.

I'm still having problems entering the Dark Skies photo contest. Why do people put websites online that don't work? I see this all the time. Some of my favorite restaurants have websites that don't work and I always have to call in my order. Maybe I notice this more since I spent so many years developing websites myself. Jeez. You are supposed to test these things before you take them live. I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes myself, but I did test my websites extensively. Mostly I just didn't want my clients yelling at me.

Janet got some steaks for dinner but they didn't arrive home with her. We think the checker just forgot to put them in the bag, but who knows. Probably the next person in line got a nice surprise in their bag. I was surprised that the store replaced the meat without any proof of what actually happened. I was also surprised at the cost of steaks. I usually buy the bulk items and Janet buys the perishable stuff, so I've lost track of how expensive many things have gotten lately. I don't think anything is getting cheaper.

Dawn is still getting upset whenever Janet leaves the house. I'm sure she's worried that Janet is going on another vacation. It's a shame that Dawn worries like this. Janet hates being housebound and I hate leaving the house. It would work out better if Dawn got upset when I left the house because I'm almost always here. 

It's time to make a grocery list again. At least I've got a car to go grocery shopping though. I hope that nothing else breaks this summer. After the air conditioner, the dishwasher, and now the car, I think enough is enough.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4585

There was rain in the forecast today. I was hoping we'd get some, but we didn't get a drop. The sky darkened and I heard thunder, but the storm passed a little to the east of us. Usually, I'm always trying to avoid the rain, but today I was disappointed. The rain would have cooled things down a bit and our yard could have used a good soaking.

At least it was a little cooler this morning. Our sunrise walk with Dawn was pleasant and the weather was still reasonably nice when I took my long walk after breakfast. I really thought I was going to get wet today because the sky kept getting darker the further I walked. It's a shame that the rain went elsewhere.

I was hoping to hear something about my car today. No calls or progress reports though. I didn't call them. I've learned not to bother repair people. It just makes them mad and never makes the job go faster. Hopefully, I'll still get the car back sometime tomorrow. The shop is closed over the weekend and I'd hate to be without a car on Saturday and Sunday. If I was smart I would have just kept the car until the part arrived. Your car will run fine without a catalytic converter. You just don't want to get it safety inspected.

Dawn started acting weird again when Janet left the house this afternoon. She refused to leave the bedroom and wouldn't even come out to eat her dinner. I thought that Dawn would relax after Janet returned from vacation. Nope. Every time she leaves the house Dawn starts acting worried. Maybe she thinks Janet is leaving on another vacation. It's sad that Dawn is still not entirely comfortable with me. I'm the one who is here at the house all the time. We really should be best buddies by now.

For the first time in several weeks the temperature didn't top 100 degrees. The high today was in the low 90's. Our air conditioner didn't struggle to keep the desired temperature and I was even mildly tempted to do some yard work. I stayed inside though. The temperature might have been a little lower, but the ants and wasps were still out in force. I'm afraid that today's milder weather was just an anomaly. We'll be back to triple digits tomorrow and it looks like the heat wave will continue for the rest of the month.

One downside to walking early in the morning is that there isn't much to do in the afternoon. There are still things on my to-do list that need attention, but I don't feel like doing them. This usually leads to mindless things like watering the lawn and doing laundry. I'm always up for a nap, but Dawn kept leaving the room this afternoon whenever I came in the bedroom and this made me feel guilty. She loves that bed and I can always nap on the couch.

I hate to see Covid making a resurgence. I really thought we were done with this thing. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if mask mandates and other restrictions return. I do know several people who have successfully avoided Covid  for the past two years, only to catch it within the past two weeks. I still haven't caught Covid. The main precaution I take is to avoid other people. It isn't hard, because I was doing this long before the virus arrived on the scene. I would be really surprised if I caught the virus at this point, but stranger things have happened. I learned a long time ago to never take anything for granted.

The trash has been taken to the curb and my week is essentially over. I have no real plans for tomorrow, although I would like to get my car back.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4583

When it rains is pours. I was hoping that something very minor was wrong with my car, but I didn't get luckly. I took the car to the shop first thing this morning and got the bad news a few hours later. One of my catalytic converters has gone bad and needs to be replaced. I can't ignore this because the car won't pass the safety inspection that is due next month without functioning catalytic converters. Third party converters aren't available for this model either, so I will need the expensive Range Rover catelytic converters. These things were never cheap, but now the price has gone up dramatically because of the rare earth materials that are used to scrub the vehicle's exhaust. I think a lot of the platinum and palladium used in catalytic converters comes from China or Russia. Also, the larger the engine, the more expensive the converter. None of this is good news for me. I could have replaced all my kitchen appliances for less than this is going to cost me.

It looks like I'll be walking in the park this week as well, since I don't think I'll get the car back until Friday. Each day I take these walks it seems to get hotter. Granted, I didn't get an early start today, but after the Uber driver took me home, I was still on my way before 9:30 AM. That wasn't early enough. There is no way to stay cool in triple digit weather. The long range weather shows these 100 degree days lasting for the next several weeks. No rain in sight either. My rational mind wants to just abandon the thought of getting my steps every day. My stubborn mind wants to keep going though. We'll see. I definitely need to get an earlier start tomorrow. Today's walk was miserable.

It's hard to get used to temperatures in the mid-80's on our sunrise walks with dawn. It never gets cool anymore and the air conditioner always seems to be running. I really hope that nothing goes wrong with the AC system this summer. Maybe since I recently replaced the motor in the outdoor unit, I won't have to do anything else for a while. It is a bit disconcerting to hear the AC running constantly. All I know is that mechanical things break a lot more frequently than you'd like.

The new pictures that were released today from the James Web Space Telescope are pretty amazing. It's hard to wrap your mind around the sheer number of galaxies in our little corner of the universe. There's got to be other life out there. It's pretty humbling to realize that earth isn't very special at all. There are probably millions of planets like earth.

I added Spot, our new Dalmatian, to the rescue website this afternoon. Every time I do any type of website maintenance it's kind of alarming how much I have forgotten over the years. Even simple things take me longer now, because I make stupid mistakes. Jeez. I used to be really good at this. Any skill is a use it or lose it proposition. It's easy to stay on top of your game when you are doing something every day. Doing the same thing once a month is a lot different.

I've got no big plans for tomorrow. No little plans either. Sometimes I wish I could just sleep until summer was over. I may need to look for another movie to watch. I'll try to take my walk early, but it's definitely not a great time to be outside.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4582

No luck getting the car into the shop today. I guess those days are gone forever. I do have an appointment for tomorow though. I've abandoned the dealership for an independent Land Rover garage. The dealership couldn't get me in until the middle of August. I still hope this engine problem can be resolved quickly. I'm tired of walking in this heat and am more than ready to return to the gym.

I took my long walk right after breakfast again and it seemed even hotter than yesterday. I was able to complete my entire route today although I was very slow. I'd hate to even think about doing this all summer. I know that we had a terribly hot summer back when we had our first Dalmatian. Spot was getting old and he couldn't handle the heat well at all. I couldn't either, but those days are just a distant memory. Today is very real. I hope our air conditioner keeps working and we don't have any power outages. There was a very brief brownout this morning but it only lasted a few seconds. 

Luckily, Janet's car is still working fine. We went and visited the rescue Dalmatians this afternoon and they were glad to see us. We haven't been up at the kennel for several weeks, so it was good to catch up with everyone. Today, we met Spot, our newest rescue. He is a very friendly young male and hopefully he'll find his forever home soon. I took some pictures of Spot for the website and when we were finished playing with Charlie, JoJo, Willie, and Rocket, we took Spot to the vet for some additional tests and new bloodwork. I was hoping that JoJo wouldn't want to play in the outdoor yard today, but true to form he headed outside as soon as we saw him. It took treats to get him back inside again to the much cooler indoor play area. Rocket has really come a long way. He is no longer fearful and has become an expert at catching treats in the air. All the dogs were more subdued today because of the heat. Just like our own home, the kennel air conditioners were having trouble keeping the place cool.

We're getting these messages from Ercot now advising us to set our thermostat higher to save energy and avoid power blackouts. Usually the recommended temperature is 78 degrees. I hear people saying that there is no way they're keeping their homes that warm. Some still insist on keeping the temperature at 72 degrees. I keep wondering how they can even get their homes that cold. We're meeting the Ercot guidelines, but it's not for lack of trying to get the place colder. We can get the temperature down to 76 degrees at night when things cool down, but during the hottest part of the day our AC struggles to keep the place below 80 degrees. Cool air is still coming through the vents, but it doesn't stay cool long. We have way too many single pane floor-to-ceiling windows. You can feel the heat radiating in just standing next to these windows.

Dawn is a lot smarter than JoJo about the heat. She's OK with her sunrise walk, but wants to stay inside for the rest of the day. When we take her outside to pee, she does her business very quickly and races right back to the door to get inside again. I can't say that I blame her. It takes me almost an hour to cool down after I take my long walk. I'm drinking a lot of water lately. I'm sure that's a good thing. You've got to stay hydrated.

I'm not sure how I'm going to get my steps tomorrow. I have to get the car down to the shop by 8 AM. Since nobody has loaner cars anymore, I'll need to take an Uber back home. Lord knows how long this will take. Everything seems to take longer than expected. I hope this garage will actually work on the car tomorrow. The dealership was notorious for stacking cars up so they could maintain a steady workflow. Sometimes I would take my car in and it would be several days before they would get to it. It is what is is though. There's not a lot I can do about the situation. Car have become way too complicated for me to work on them myself anymore.

Here's hoping that tomorrow goes well. I enjoyed visiting the Dalmatians today and the house is finally getting cooler again now that the sun has set. We're doing the best we can, but this is going to be a very long summer.

Sophia is toay's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4490

It was hard to get up this morning. I'm still feeling tired from my trip. You can't keep a dog waiting though. I dragged myself out of bed and off we went on our morning walk. It was a nice morning, but really windy. I think the wind blew in more pollen because both Janet and I had allergy problems this morning.

We always have a big breakfast on Sunday morning and then after doing a few chores around the house, we left again for Dawn's Sunday outing. We took my car this time because Janet's car was in the shop for a recall repair. She had a loaner car, but they don't allow pets in rentals and loaners anymore. The way Dalmatians shed you could never convince anyone that a dog had not been in the car. Dawn is always nervous about new things, but she did pretty well in a different car. It probably helped that Janet sat in the back with her. There was plenty of room. The seats were down and Dawn had her favorite blanket. I'm glad this worked because I may need to take Dawn and Janet to training class this week. The Audi dealer is way behind schedule and who knows when the recall repairs will be completed.

The wind was blowing harder when we started our walk but it kept things cooler. Dawn enjoyed her second walk, but we got a big surprise when we went for ice cream afterwards. The place should have been open for several hours, but evidently employees arrived late and they weren't ready to serve yet. We were told to come back in an hour. So much for ice cream this week. We definitely weren't messing with getting Dawn back in a car again today.

I worked on my article for SpaceFlight Magazine for a bit and then I took my afternoon walk. I don't even call it a long walk anymore, because I haven't been going that far lately. I'm trying to give my foot some time to recover and it seems to be helping. For the past several days I've only been walking two miles. I still had a respectable total though because of the two short one mile walks with Dawn.

The catkins are falling from our Oak trees again. These small cylindrical flower clusters form every spring just as the tree's leaves start to turn green. They make a huge mess. I have to sweep the porch every day because it is completely covered with catkins. If it's a windy day they blow inside when you open the front door. The catkins can completely clog the pumps on the roof as well, so I'm hoping that all the wind we've been having lately is blowing the mess off the roof. I'd much rather have this stuff on the front porch than the roof. I really don't want to climb up there again to unclog the pumps. It's just getting too hard.

With all my aches and pains I'm really having second thoughts about taking a long road trip again. I don't know if I have another road trip in me. Especially all the way out to West Texas. Maybe a few trips to Kennedy Space Center each year is all the traveling I need. The way prices have gone up, I don't know if I could afford much more anyway. At any rate, I'll need to decide soon because the Dark Sky Festival is at the end of the month. This might not even be an issue because I don't even have a place to stay yet. Nobody has bothered to reply to my enquiry about reservations at the Astronomer's Lodge.

It's weird how much can change in a year. Janet sees an apocalyptic future. I won't go quite that far, but things do look pretty dismal. Workers aren't showing up to make ice cream. Restaurants don't have bread to make french toast. Prices for absolutely everything have gone through the roof. I'm glad I grew up and spent most of my working years in much better times.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4334

It was pretty clear that I really did need a new battery when I tried to start the car this morning. Luckily, I was successful and the engine eventually roared into life. I drove to the new Land Rover garage I discovered and got the battery I needed. I was both pleased and discouraged by the new place. They were extremely fast and very professional. I liked them. Unfortunately, prices were just about the same as the dealership. I could have saved a lot of money if I just bought a battery myself at the Interstate Battery store. Like I mentioned earlier, it's not that easy though. Once the car has been disconnected from a source of electricity, a number of security settings have to be reset. I suppose there are YouTube videos that would explain how to do this, but YouTube videos have not been very helpful to me in the past. I paid the inflated price and will probably use this garage again. All things considered this was a much better experience than going to the dealership.

The doctor who examined my esophagus and did my colonoscopy earlier this week called today with the results of the biopsy samples they took. Nothing abnormal was found in my esophagus, but some pre-cancerous cells were discovered in the small polyp that was removed from my colon. None of this seemed alarming to the doctor, who said I should plan to repeat the EGD/Colonoscopy procedure five years from now. She also prescribed a proton-pump inhibitor to help control my acid reflux. There are some side effects to taking a PPI for an extended length of time, but like the doctor explained, there are side effects to everything, including continual acid reflux. 

When we started our walk this morning, one of the neighbor's dogs came after Dawn. The dog didn't hurt Dawn, but she was terrified. She was also scared when the guy who owned the dog started yelling at it. It was pretty obvious that Dawn remembered the attack that ultimately led to us fostering her while she recovered from some pretty serious wounds. For the rest of the day, she acted very fearful. Hopefully, this isn't a big setback, because we were really starting to make some progress. The whole event could have been avoided if the guy had just kept his dog on a leash. One of my pet peeves is unleashed and unattended dogs in our neighborhood. You never know what is going to happen.

It was another nice day today. We got Dawn to walk by avoiding the neighbor's house and going in the opposite direction. Later, I took my long walk and wished I'd worn a lighter jacket. At this time of year you can be freezing when you start a walk and hot by the time you finish. I see people looking for the eagles almost every day now. They are in the area, but are fairly illusive. I've managed to see one of the Bald Eagles in the air once and a few days later noticed another sitting on a tree limb. I doubt that I will see them often. They don't hang out with the other birds.

I got a message from my editor at SpaceFlight wanting me to participate in a teleconference about the Artemis program. I guess I can do this. Maybe the NASA teleconference will help me write future articles.  I really wish the magazine could help me get credentialed more consistently. Covid restriction have made it difficult for me. I guess I shouldn't complain though. The magazine doesn't pay expenses and I really can't afford to make the trip to Kennedy Space Center more often than I currently do anyway.

I hope that Dawn isn't scared tomorrow morning. She loves her walks and it's hard to get to the park without going down the street with the loose dog. It's always something these days. Life in the city is usually three steps forward and two steps back. It takes a lot of patience.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4298

I got the car back. It runs fine, but it seemed to run fine before I took it in for the scheduled service. I assume that the mechanics did everything on the lengthy receipt I received, but when I leave the dealership it always feels like I just paid for the world's most expensive carwash. The car never seems any different than it did before. I won't be going back to the dealership any time soon. The prices they charge are ridiculous and they don't even try to be competitive.

As I was leaving, the young service advisor implored me to give him a good rating on the survey I knew would be coming. "My job depends on this," he told me. "I know," I told him. "All your predecessors have told me the same thing." I didn't tell him that none of his predecessors were still working at the dealership. I'll give the guy a good score, even though he basically knew nothing. It wasn't his fault that the dealership charged insanely high prices. It's too bad that the survey doesn't rank the dealership itself instead of a low level employee who had no control over anything.

When I returned home, there was a bill from the plumber in the mailbox. This bill was quite high as well but I didn't feel quite as bad about it. The two plumbers had spent the better part of a day trying to retrofit a 2021 restaurant faucet to a quirky 1950's mid-century modern GE kitchen unit. These two large bills pretty much insure that I won't be going anywhere in October. I'm tapped out and the month hasn't even started yet.

I took my long walk early today because I thought I was supposed to pick my car up at 10 AM. As it turned out, the car wasn't ready until very late in the day, but it was still nice to be walking while the weather was cool. While I was walking I saw park department mowers approaching the meadow behind our house. This was good news. The grass has grown very tall in the meadow and it's full of sticky pollen. Every time we return home from Dawn's sunrise walk we have to get wet rags and clean Dawn's legs and paws. They always let the grass grow longer in the Fall so that it has time to re-seed. I'm pretty sure that this native grass will be back next Spring.

I forgot to mark Cooper as adopted on the Dalmatian Rescue website when I was updating things yesterday. I took care of that this afternoon while I was waiting for the call to pick up my car. It still surprises me that my website development skills have seemingly evaporated. I used to be so good at this stuff. I guess the old adage "use it or lose it" still applies. When you do something every day you're going to be a lot better at it than when you do the same thing once a month.

My Fall allergies are back with a vengeance. I'm always blowing my nose and wiping my watering eyes while I walk. It seems like every year the space between when the Spring allergies end and the Fall allergies begin grows shorter and shorter. I'll be so glad when all the Covid fears are over. I'm always checking Google to make sure my allergy symptoms aren't a sign of Covid instead. I've had seasonal allergies for so long that I ought to know the difference. Unfortunately you don't hear much about seasonal allergies in the news and we are constantly bombarded with Covid news. 

It looks like we are finally going to get some rain tonight. All three weather apps on my phone show a band of rain headed towards us. The yard is dry and we really do need the rain, but all I can think of is roof leaks.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4297

As expected, they didn't finish working on my car today. I knew they wouldn't and it's not even a big deal. I think I am finished with the dealership. This whole experience was the last straw. I looked on the Internet and discovered two places in the Dallas area that exclusively work on Land Rovers. Both had excellent reviews along with much lower prices than the dealership. I don't know why I haven't looked for something like this earlier. I just got in the habit of going to the dealership. I liked the free loaner cars and the place wasn't far from my house. Now that the loaners cars aren't a sure thing and prices have gone through the roof, it looks like my loyalty to the dealership was a bad decision. It would be smarter to just pay for a rent car myself and take advantages of the lower prices at other repair shops.

The rain I was expecting last night never arrived. It was still dry this morning when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn. We have to leave later now because the days are getting shorter. I wish they would make the change back to Standard Time a little sooner. I don't care when it gets dark at night because I do almost everything in the morning now. It would be nice to wake up to sunlight again though.

My pace is improving on my long walks. I've lost weight, but I feel like I'm back to normal now. I'm probably ready to start lifting weights again. Truthfully, I was probably ready a week ago, but I just haven't felt like going to the gym. Something needs to be done about muscle atrophy, so I can't avoid the gym forever. I'll probably return as soon as the weather turns bad. Our beautiful Fall weather isn't going to last forever, so I might as well take advantage of it while it's here.

I still haven't heard anything from the observatory, but it might be best if I postponed any travel plans for a while. October is going to be an expensive month with car repairs, plumbing bills, along with various doctor and dental bills all coming due at the same time. Living on a fixed income is fine when nothing goes wrong, but you can start to feel poor pretty quickly when you are hit with surprises. I never liked surprises even when I was younger. Now I hate them.

I finally found something to enter in the Olympus photo contest. The theme for the contest was "Into the forest" and I had to go all the way back to 2004 to find a wildlife photo shot with an Olympus camera. This certainly wan't one of my best, but it will have to do. I'm glad the rules didn't stipulate a new Olympus camera. My photo of a male and female Mallard duck sitting on a log together was shot with one of the first serious digital cameras available. It took pictures natively in tiff format at 300 DPI. Even my current cameras don't do that anymore.

Janet said that Dawn did really well in training class tonight. Apparently, she's ready to graduate to a more advanced class starting next week. Progress with Dawn has been slow, but she is definitely becoming more comfortable with her new life. Dawn seems confident now and a lot of the fear she had initially is gone. When I fixed her dinner tonight, she was right there beside me and eager to eat. Six months ago this would have seemed impossible.

Sweetpea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4296

Today's service appointment was a mess. After making the service appointment over a month ago to ensure that I'd get a loaner car and then calling yesterday evening just to make sure that a loaner car would be waiting for me this morning, it get to the dealership this morning and you guessed it: no car.

I had to take an Uber home, but that wasn't nearly as frustrating as discovering that prices had nearly doubled for a major scheduled service. Everything I had done today was something I'd had dealt with before and it was unbelievable how much prices have gone up. I've driven a Land Rover since 1995 but maybe it's time to just get a cheap American car and say to hell with it all.

I'm not sure when I'll get my car back, but it probably won't be when it was promised. I don't know why I'm bothered about all this since I don't drive much anyway. I guess I'm just sick of the rising cost of everything. 

I got up early this morning to arrive for my service appointment on time. I shouldn't have bothered. Absolutely nothing happened with the car until around noon. It turned out that they wouldn't start the repairs until I approved each line item in an online service form. I ended up declining a lot of things because I knew I could get them done at just about any garage in town for a fraction of the price. I finally did get a loaner car just before the dealership closed this evening. This is pretty much an admission that the repairs will take longer than they initially claimed.

The temperature wasn't hot today but it was extremely humid. Sadly, my morning walk wasn't that pleasant today. When I looked at the forecast, it was pretty clear that rain was on the way. We need the rain, but I never did get up on the roof to clear away falling leaves and pecan shells. I usually check the pumps if a rainy spell is expected. I haven't done that either. Hopefully everything still works. I'm really not in the mood to deal with a roof leak again.

I got an e-mail today advertising a new Olympus photo contest. I knew I had some very good photos in the categories they were looking for so I thought about entering.  After I found the photos I was looking for in my files, I read the entry form again and discovered that the photos had to be taken with an Olympus camera. Never mind. It appears that most of my good photos were taken with a different brand of camera. It's hard to cheat these days because the make and model of the camera is always listed in the photo's Metadata.

The next thing on my agenda is an appointment with the digestive specialists who removed the stones from my bile duct. They apparently discovered that I have Barrett's esophagus when they were inserting their scope into my intestines. I'm not sure what they want to do next, since I've already read the lab reports saying that the cells they removed to test turned out to be normal. I bet they want to do another endoscopy to confirm their earlier results. Since these guys are also who my doctor recommended to do my next colonoscopy I wonder If I could get them to do both procedures at the same time. It would save me a second trip to the hospital and I'd only have to be anesthetized once. Makes sense to me anyway.

Hopefully, there are no surprises from the dealership tomorrow. I've already resigned myself to a big bill. I just don't want it to get any larger. It looks like it is going to start raining soon. Let's hope there are no roof leaks tonight. I've already had a bad day. There's no need to make things worse.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3460

I've been going back and forth all day about whether to fly or drive to Florida. Surprisingly, the cost is about the same either way. My car gets atrociously poor gas mileage and I'm not much of a long distance driver anymore, so there would be more stops along the way than you might expect. Airfare isn't exactly a bargain either since I need to have the flexibility to change my schedule at the last minute. It's hard to decide. I don't like to drive, but I don't like to fly either.

If I do decide to drive, my car is ready. The dealership called me this morning and said the service department was slow today. If I wanted, they could put on my new tires and do the other maintenance I need now instead of waiting until next week. Why not. I drove up to the dealership and picked up a loaner for the day. They gave me a Jaguar SUV. New cars are so totally electronic that they are confusing to me. I had to get someone to come show me how to get the car out of park. It wasn't intuitive at all. I also had them show me where the little button was that keeps the motor from shutting off every time you stop at a traffic light. Having your car die every time you pull up to a traffic light is unnerving. What if it won't start again? Does this feature really save energy or just cause road rage when the gizmo fails in heavy traffic?

When I was taking my walk today, I saw some guys from a local work-working store loading hardwood logs from somebody's front yard into their trailer. This never even occurred to me before. Neighbors are selling their downed trees to woodworking shops. My Dad was a wood carver and would frequently pay what I though was a lot of money for choice blocks of Walnut or Cherry wood. Since our part of town is full of old hardwood trees, there's probably a lot of valuable wood. Some people will throw this wood away. Others will use if for firewood. A few have wood stoves or like to grill using wood. The city seems to prefer to grind the wood up and use it for mulch. All I really wanted was to get the wood out of my yard. I don't think Elm is a very desirable carving wood anyway. People use Mesquite and Hickory for their smokers, but I'm never heard of anyone using Elm to smoke their meat. I've heard of Elm being used for furniture, but my tree wouldn't make many chairs. The wind turned it into a bunch of jagged splinters.

I've been really tired lately. This isn't new, but I thought my energy would return when I started getting more sleep. It isn't happening. Everybody slows down as they grow older, but it's hard to find a reference point. I know people my age who have a lot more energy than me, but I know other people my age who are dead. I'm doing better than either of my parents were at this age, but I can't keep up with Janet. I guess this isn't a big deal. Very few people can keep up with Janet.

It's off to the gym again tomorrow. Going to the gym is good. The active people I know seem to live much longer than the sedentary ones. Maybe a good workout will make me more decisive. I'm going to have to make the fly or drive decision soon. The whole country seems to be on the move. It won't be long before the planes fill up the same way the hotels in Florida did.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3452

I decided to get my car serviced today. This was a minor service, so I just stayed at the dealership while the work was being done. As I wandered around looking at cars, it became painfully obvious that I can't really afford to be a Land Rover customer anymore. Prices have really increased since I got my first Land Rover in the early 1990's. I've bought houses for less than the sticker price on some of these cars. Maintenance costs a lot more too. Truthfully, the cost of an oil change seems to double every time I visit the dealership. It's a shame because I've always liked Land Rovers. I still think the British build the best looking cars.

I had breakfast on the way to the dealership and was disappointed that my Shrimp and Grits weren't as good today. The grits were terrible and I think they just used Jimmy Dean sausage in the sauce instead of Andouille sausage. It seemed clear that there was a new chef today. I don't know why turnover is so high in the restaurant business. Nobody stays for very long anywhere. Even the restaurants themselves don't stay around very long. Three or four years is a good run for some. I need to find a family restaurant where the entire staff has been around for decades. You find those places in little towns, but they're few and far between in a big city.

I got a message from my dealer that some of my model trains had sold. He seemed excited by the sale. I was too until I noticed that one of the items had been mispriced. It's hard to complain though. A sale is a sale and at this point I'd just like to sell the entire collection while I'm still alive. I started consigning things over a year ago and there is still a ton of stuff that hasn't sold. My friend selling the trains told me that it could take three years to sell the entire collection. Lord knows how long it will take to sell the guitars. I guess I've just got to be patient.

It looks I'm going to have to be patient with the Falcon Heavy launch as well. I got a letter from NASA today. I thought this was going to be the letter with a firm itinerary for the launch and instructions for picking up my press credentials. Nope. It was a letter explaining the complexities of scheduling a launch with a promise of more information next week. There was a reminder again to be sure to make flexible travel arrangements. I've definitely been warned.

Hey, I'll be ready to go when they are. I feel more confident about my car now. I still need new tires but I probably won't buy them from the dealership. There are too many tire dealers where you can get get exactly the same tires for considerably less. The dealership doesn't even try to be competitive. Most of their customers are rich and don't even care what things cost.

All in all, it wasn't a bad day. The weather was mild. It didn't rain. Even the stock market continued to rally. My feet still hurt after my longer walks, but you can't have everything.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3144

We had a power outage last night. It only took three hours for the electric company to restore the power, but that was enough for me to see the perils of losing electricity during a heat wave. I could feel the house growing warmer almost immediately. After about an hour, I began feeling hot and stuffy. This was at night too, when the air was cooler. I imagine that things would have been even worse if we lost power during the day.

I could tell that Dash wasn't comfortable. He got off the bed and went looking for a cooler place to sleep. Dash can't tolerate heat at all anymore. I keep the house as cool as I can for him, but it has made our electric bill go through the roof. Fall weather can't come soon enough for me.

By morning, everything was back to normal. Dash took his morning meds and we began our slow journey through the park. We tried out the new boots I bought recently. They are smaller and lighter than his regular boots, so maybe he won't drag his feet so much. They passed their first test this morning. The boots stayed on his feet during the entire walk.

On my way to breakfast this morning I put the top down on the loaner convertible. I can't remember ever driving a convertible before and the experience was kind of fun. Visibility is great in a convertible. You don't really have to worry about blind spots. The roads can be pretty noisy though. Big trucks can be intimidating too. I'm not sure I'd want to drive on Dallas freeways with the top down. The most surprising thing was that if you turn on the car's air conditioner with the top down, it creates a pretty convincing illusion that the outside air is actually cooler.

I didn't get to keep the convertible for very long. As I was finishing breakfast, I got a call from the dealership saying that my car was ready. When I picked it up, I noticed that they had one of the new all electric Jaguar iPace models on display. Tesla is going to face some really tough competition as the major manufacturers all begin introducing their own versions of an all electric car. The iPace is pretty cool. I'd certainly be tempted the next time I'm car shopping.

Even though the power was only off for a short time, there were a ton of things that needed to be reset. It seems like everything has a built-in clock these days. The thermostat has a clock. The land line phone has a clock. Even the coffee maker has a clock. I think I reset everything, but knowing me, there will be something I forgot and it will start beeping while I'm sleeping tonight.

It seemed like Saturday today. I wonder if it will feel like Sunday tomorrow. When Janet fully retires, it's going to be impossible to tell what day it is. I guess it doesn't really matter. The sun keeps coming up every morning and the blog keeps getting posted every night. If I need to know the details, I can check my Fitbit.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3143

When I took my car in for service this morning I was surprised that my loaner was a brand new Evoque Convertible. The car only had 72 miles on it. I jokingly told the guys that I wished they'd given me a beat up old clunker instead. Whenever I get a really nice loaner, I'm always worried that I'll get dinged in a supermarket parking lot and have to pay for repairs. The car was cute and fun to drive though. I doubt that anyone really needs a four wheel drive Range Rover convertible, but they built one anyway.

The pleasant surprise of driving the sporty convertible home was countered later in the day with an equally unpleasant surprise. I learned that in addition to the expensive standard maintenance, I needed new brakes. For years and years I thought new brakes just meant new brake pads. Not anymore. Land Rover makes you replace the rotor, pads, caliper, and sensor. "Jeez, I thought I got new brakes last year," I told the service adviser. "You only had the front done, he reminded me. "Now, you need the rear." It's almost impossible to leave a Land Rover dealership with your wallet intact. I think that's why Janet finally gave up and bought an Audi.

Car repairs are never a pleasant experience, but at least the weather was nice today. I walked Dash before I went to the dealership this morning and the temperature was only 69 degrees. This pleasant taste of Fall didn't last long, but it sure was enjoyable. Dash walks so slow now. I don't think my Fitbit even counts these walks as exercise anymore. I can tell that Dash still enjoys being outdoors though. He stumbles along, smelling every bush and tree. We'll keep doing this as long as we can. It's his one remaining link to the days when he could run like the wind.

I bleached the stain off the living room ceiling this afternoon. The odd thing was that the sheetrock didn't feel damp. It was completely dry. Where did this odd stain come from? The longer I live in this house, the more it's starting to feel like it's haunted. Odd things just happen that have no logical explanation. In addition to flickering lights and odd stains, I think we have carpenter ants again. That cruise ship cabin is starting to look better and better.

Janet is at her retirement party tonight. She has already had other retirement parties, but tells me that this time it's for real. We'll see. It's hard to imagine Janet not working. It's actually pretty easy to imagine me not working. That's what I'm doing now. Looking back, I can see that I've been easing into retirement for a long time.

The only reason I'm going out for breakfast tomorrow is that I've run out of some key ingredients for my morning smoothie. If the weather is nice, maybe I'll put the top down on the convertible.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3109

The "Service Required" light has come on in my car again. There's nothing wrong with the car. It runs fine. The light is programmed to come on whenever the dealer wants you to come in for required maintenance. They know that if you see the warning light every morning, you are eventually going to make an appointment for the expensive service. The trick works every time. Even if the car is working perfectly, I eventually begin to worry that something "might" go wrong. The service light didn't bother me much when the car was under warranty. Now that the service costs an arm and a leg, I'd rather just keep driving until I hear a funny noise. I'll go ahead and make an appointment though. You win, expensive dealership. I'm superstitious.

I talked to the owner of a vintage guitar store today. A friend recommended this place, and sure enough these guys knew their stuff. Sadly, my guitars aren't particularly special. They are old though. The store was interested enough to want to take a look at them. I made an appointment to get an appraisal and hopefully I can move some of these things from the storage warehouse to a consignment agreement. I've decided that it makes sense to consign as much stuff as possible. Climate control isn't very good in the storage warehouse and for the most part, the stores provide much better insurance. You've got to do your homework though. There are good dealers and shady dealers for almost everything.

I couldn't decide where to go for breakfast this morning, so I went nowhere. While I was getting groceries for the weekend, I picked up a pathetic looking breakfast taco to eat. By the time I got home, I wasn't even hungry for that. It's a shame that I've lost my interest in going out for breakfast on Fridays. I can think of an excuse to avoid every restaurant within a ten mile radius these days. Maybe I've just become too picky, but I think something has fundamentally changed. I don't have much of an appetite anymore.

The security light in the back yard has started to work again. I don't know what is going on. Some days it works perfectly and other days it turns itself on and off randomly. The electrician hasn't come out to replace the photocell yet, so I've probably got a few more days to ponder this mystery. I still think a big spider is causing the problems. Since bugs are attracted to light and spiders are attracted to bugs, it makes sense that a lot of spiders are living near the light. The only problem with this theory is that if a big spider were sitting on the photocell, the light should come on. It goes off instead. I don't know what would cause the lamp to randomly go dark in the middle of the night, especially if it still returns to normal the next evening.

Janet and I are going to go photograph new rescue dogs this weekend. That still seems like a useful thing to do. So many things I do these days have no purpose whatsoever.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2762

The landscapers didn't show up today, but I did get my car back. I knew the bill was pretty high, so I was planning to use a gift card I'd gotten for my birthday to help with the payment. I couldn't remember the exact amount on the card, so I called the activation number to get a balance. They told me that the card had already been used and that there was a zero balance available. How was this even possible? The card was brand new and I hadn't even taken it out of it's sealed packaging yet. This was a whole new kind of fraud that I wasn't even aware of. The purchase that drained the card was made on my birthday when the card was in my possession. The transaction was made at a Wall-Mart Supercenter in Houston. Again, how is this even possible? The only thing that I can think of is that the cashier who activated the card when Janet purchased it knew how to use the bar code information in the packaging to redeem the card after it was activated. The Visa people said they would send us a new card, but that it would take 90 days. This has destroyed my faith in gift cards. I don't think I'll ever buy one again.

When I was leaving to pick up my car at the dealership, I saw two loose dogs running around the neighborhood in my rear view mirror. I was going to call Janet and warn her about the dogs, because I knew she'd be walking Dash soon. The light was already green where I needed to turn left though, and I didn't have time to get my phone out. As soon as I turned the corner, I saw that the two dogs had run out into a busy street and gotten run over by a car. I don't know how the dogs had gotten from a neighbors front yard to this busy street in the time it took me to drive around the block, but they did. The whole thing made me sick to my stomach. The dogs were transported to a nearby vet, but I still don't know if they survived. Please people. keep your dogs on a leash and don't let them run loose in a busy city. Things like this happen way too often in Dallas.

This was not a good day. Two dogs got run over as a result of someone's carelessness. Some scammer managed to suck all the money out of my birthday gift card before I even opened the cardboard packaging. To add insult to injury, my car repair bill was twice as much as I expected. Brembo brakes are great until it's time to get new rotors and pads. Yikes. I forgot my discount coupon too. I could have knocked 10% off my entire bill. I was so flustered about the gift card fraud that I totally forgot to bring the coupon with me.

At least my leg continues to get better. It will probably take forever for the swelling to completely go away, but I'm starting to be able to walk normally again. My wrist feels better too. I think I might start taking short walks again tomorrow. I hope Dash is cooperative, because I'm not really ready for long walks yet. This better be the last time I'm bitten by a dog for a long, long time. I've been bitten before, but this is the most painful bite I can remember.

We need to make a list of questions to take to the vet tomorrow. Dash has so many weird little quirks that it's hard to remember them all. Strange behavior has always worried me, because it is often the first sign of a larger underlying problem. We need to do a chest x-ray and make sure that the cancer hasn't returned. Since Dash has an enlarged heart, we need to determine if this is going to become a problem in the future. He's still a little wobbly from the vestibular disease, but I'm not sure if there's anything we can do about that. Dash has good doctors. We just want to give him the best chance possible to live a healthy and happy life.

The landscapers just told me that they will be here tomorrow. We'll see. I'm going to call Land Rover and see if they'll still honor their discount coupon. They should, but that doesn't mean they will. I can't bring back the two dogs that ran into the street, but I can make sure that Dash is always safely on a leash. I'll do my part to ensure it's a good day, but a little good luck wouldn't hurt either.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day