Day 4721

It was a nice Fall day. The skies were blue, the temperature was mild, and most of my water problems are behind me. There is still water dripping from the can light in the office ceiling, but the drips are very slow now. What was once a steady stream is now only about two drips per minute. Probably by tomorrow morning I can remove the last remaining bucket.

Dawn was eager to walk this morning. She doesn't like it when we sleep in on weekends and did her best to make sure we hadn't forgotten about her. It was nice to see the sun again. The meadow behind our house was still wet and spongy from all the rain, but the roads have dried out. We had a nice walk at a fairly brisk pace and then returned home for another weekend breakfast.

I think all I really do on Sunday is walk. It would have been a nice day for walking in the park, but I went to the mall anyway. It's nice to have a change of pace and I enjoy looking in the shop windows before the stores open. There are very few middle aged mall walkers. There are old people like me and young couples with children. This seems to be a popular place to bring young children. There were tons of kids today.

It's easy to see that the Christmas season is the most important time of the year for retailers. The stores are opening an hour earlier now and most of them have all new merchandise in the windows. I see clothes I like in many of the windows but have no interest in buying anything. There is no reason for me to dress up anymore. I actually kind of miss the days when I had to wear a suit and ties for client meetings. Once, in the early days of my business I had a retail menswear client and agreed to be paid in clothes. I still have an abundance of nice clothes. All these years later I still have a few things that I've never even worn.

As soon as I returned from the mall, Dawn was waiting to go on her Sunday outing. She gets really excited about visiting new places, but still is scared while she's in the car. You'd think our Sunday routine would be old hat for her by now. Apparently not. She's always happy when we reach our destination, but the journey still seems terrifying to her. 

It's surprising how much our ice cream cones vary from week to week. Sometimes the ice cream is hard. Other times it is soft like a Dairy Queen cone. The size varies too. It just depends on who is serving that day. I wish they were more consistent about giving Dawn a free pup cone. She seems to know that these little cones are just for her. No pup cones today, but Dawn got plenty of ice cream. The ice cream always calms her down.

I should have done some chores today but didn't feel like it. I took a nap instead and as usual Dawn left the room as soon as I got on the bed. Janet says to ignore this behavior, but I still feel bad knowing that Dawn is uncomfortable when Janet is gone. She is definitely a one person dog.

It's almost time to pay property taxes again. Hopefully this is the last big expense of the year. I didn't do a great job budgeting this year. I probably did a little too much traveling as well. At any rate, I hope next year is more predictable. We shouldn't have as many appliance repairs. I think everything broke this year.

It's back to shredded wheat and fruit tomorrow. I need to think about putting up the Christmas tree as well. Christmas will be here before you know it.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4506

I'm making progress. I picked up my rental car and I'm almost finished packing. I don't know why it takes me so long to get ready, but it does. There always seem to be surprises. I decided to take the star tracker with me, but I had trouble getting it to work today. I think I set up everything the same way I did the previous time, but I must have done something wrong. It took me forever to get the tracker working properly. 

The rental car was an even bigger surprise. There are usually dozens of cars to choose from. This time there were only three. The entire lot was almost empty. This was an airport facility that usually has hundreds of cars. None of the available cars had GPS, so I will have to use my phone again. The car was smaller than what I wanted as well. Oh, well. It is what it is. I thought that travel would become easier when Covid restrictions were lifted. It actually seems more difficult now.

I always have trouble packing when I go to West Texas. Is it going to be hot or cold?  Usually it's a bit of both. It can be quite warm during the day, but freezing cold at night. I'll take my winter coats again, because I'll be helping at star parties and I remember being pretty chilly during these events. Do I need to take sweaters too? I probably just need to get a bigger suitcase. This time my things don't need to fit in an overhead bin on a plane. They just have to fit in the trunk.

I wore my new boots on my long walk today. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to regret wearing them on the trip. So far, so good. I've only put about 10 miles on the boots so far, but they seem comfortable. I don't think I'm going to get blisters or anything. I'll take my dependable Bondi-7 shoes as a backup. I really don't want to let foot pain ruin this trip.

I think our bad weather is behind us. It looks like clear skies for the rest of the week. I think the weather is going to be nice out at the observatory as well. At least the forecast looks good for Ft. Davis. Clear skies are fairly essential if you are having a Dark Skies Festival. It's a very long drive just to get rained out. Unfortunately, this has happened to me before. Let's just hope that everything goes as planned.

I will be getting up early tomorrow, so I was planning on getting to bed equally early tonight. I don't think that's going to happen. I've still got a lot to do after I post tonight's blog entry. This happens every single time I travel. I woke up this morning thinking that I've got plenty of time to get everything done. Where did the day go? I really didn't do that much. I took my walk. I tested the star tracker. I picked up the rent car. Oh, I tossed a few things in a suitcase too. Unfortunately, I'm not done yet. I'm not even close.

I'm still having second thoughts about this trip, but I'm definitely going. I seldom look forward to new experiences, but I always enjoy the memories afterwards. I need to remember that I love this place. I just wish it wasn't so far away.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3994

Brrr. It was 34 degrees when we woke up this morning. We didn't let the cold deter us. We bundled up and took our walk anyway. I'm not sure that Dawn liked her hat, but it had to keep her head warmer and everybody we passed said she looked cute. We actually didn't pass many people at all on the trails. The park was virtually empty. You have to be dedicated or a little crazy to leave the house on a day like this.

I had my appointment with the eye doctor today.  This is basically just a yearly check up to make sure that I don't show any signs of diabetic retinopathy. I still think my eyes are fine because I have 20/20 distance vision. There are problems though. Too many years of staring at a computer screen have ruined my close up vision and  according to my doctor, I am developing cataracts. I still can't detect any obvious signs of the developing cataracts, but they are apparently getting worse. "When will I have to start thinking about surgery," I asked the doctor. "Probably next year," he replied. Yikes. I was hoping he'd say ten years from now, or something else in the distant future. " How can these cataracts be getting worse," I asked. "I don't notice any changes in my vision at all." "You will by next year," the doctor replied.

I really don't like going to the doctor during a pandemic. Even though half the chairs in most medical waiting rooms have been removed to keep people apart, I still keep looking at all the other people with suspicion. "All these other people have got to be sick," I think. "Get me out of here."

The worst thing about going to the eye doctor is driving home after your eyes have been dilated. Everything seems so bright and even sunglasses don't help that much. Dilation doesn't just make things brighter, it also makes it harder to focus on anything. I squinted to reduce the glare and tried to avoid all the fuzzy cars in front of me. When I made it home safely, I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in a darkened room waiting for my eyes to readjust.

If it was thirty degrees warmer, today would have been perfect. The sky was clear and seemed to be completely free of pollen. I had no allergy problems today at all. Since it may freeze tonight, I remembered to set some of the outside faucets to drip. Some of the faucets are insulated, but others freeze almost instantly when the temperature dips below freezing. Tonight would have been a good night to take the telescope out, but I really don't like the cold. The stars will still be there tomorrow. It isn't that surprising that I am a little more familiar with the Summer skies.

I guess I'll go back to the storage warehouse and get the rest of the photo gear tomorrow. I need to wash the backdrop as well. Maybe I washed it after the last of 2019's events but I can't remember. One of the main reasons I got this new 10' x 20' backdrop is that it is machine washable. You couldn't wash my older hand painted muslin backdrops and after a few years they all began to smell of dog pee.

Hard to believe it's going to be December tomorrow. This has been one of the weirdest years I can remember. Everybody I know can't wait to get back to normal, but I think what constitutes normal is changing. The world is never going to be the way is used to be. The virus will eventually disappear, but a lot of our new habits and routines will remain. I'm pretty adaptable, but I'm not really looking forward to what lies ahead.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3949

The first day of the astrophotography workshop was a big success. Yesterday's high winds cleared away all the dust and I woke up this morning to beautiful clear skies. I was able to get a take-out breakfast at the Indian Lodge restaurant a few miles down the road and then took a walk along one of the ranch roads before heading for the observatory.

Since I arrived a little early, I learned that I was the last member of the general public to leave the observatory before Covid shut the place down and was also the first person to return. It was good to be back. This afternoon we learned a lot of specialized camera techniques designed to make shooting pictures at night a little easier. I know my way around a camera pretty well, but I learned a lot that I didn't know before. Nobody could answer my questions about how to avoid losing things in the dark. I was very careful tonight, but I did end up losing a small piece of my tripod. I don't know how it fell off, but it's a safe bet that I'll never see it again.

I think I got some nice shots tonight, but nothing is finished yet. A lot of astrophotography is about the processing you do afterwards. To get the best images, you take a lot of pictures of the same thing and then stack them all together. This eliminates the grainy look you see in some night sky photos. We're going to learn how to do this tomorrow.

One thing I learned tonight was that I'm not really made for standing outside for six hours on a cold night. My feet were killing me when we finished our photo session around 1 AM. I definitely showed my age every time I had to kneel down and get back up again. It's hard to set the camera when your hands get really cold as well. I'm not complaining though. It was a memorable evening. The sky was even clearer than it was last March. It's amazing what you can see on a dark night. I saw at least ten meteors tonight, and there wasn't even a meteor shower. If you look carefully, you can often see satellite crossing the sky. I should have brought my binoculars, but I had way too much heavy stuff to carry already.

It's a good thing I was driving slow on the way back to the Prude Ranch after the workshop was over for the night. I almost hit a deer. It was a huge buck with quite a rack on his head. When I was walking this morning, I saw Mountain Lion tracks. There are lots of critters up here. When we were up on the mountain tonight we saw someone shining a searchlight way off in the distance. This was in an area where there weren't any roads, so everyone wondered what was going on. "Some rancher is out hunting wild hogs," we were told.

I'm going to sleep late on Saturday morning. At least I hope I will. I should have written the blog earlier, but then I wouldn't have had anything to say. Daily blogging and astronomy aren't really a great mix, because both happen at night. At least I've finally figured out how to backdate a post so it will appear on the correct day. It may say I posted this late Friday night, but it is really the wee hours of Saturday morning.

If you want to try this sort of thing, get a pair of the most comfortable shoes you can find and dress very warmly. You are going to get cold anyway, but it's worth it. There's something very peaceful about looking up at the night sky. In today's crazy world, I'll take any kind of peaceful I can get. I'm looking forward to doing this again tomorrow night.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3856

I received a notice this morning that NASA rejected my request for media accreditation for the July 30th Mars 2020 launch. The language in the notice was exactly the same as it was for the DM-2 launch last month.  "Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, we had to limit the number of media permitted on site, etc..." I wasn't going to go to Florida anyway, since it has become one of the world's leading virus hotspots, but this was still sad news. How long is this going to go on? I'm sure there are many people who have had more important plans interrupted, but this is very frustrating. I haven't heard from the Air Force yet, but I doubt that they are credentialing out of state visitors right now either. Florida is struggling. So is Texas for that matter. Maybe 2021 will be better.

The skies have been clearing this afternoon and I decided to try and find the comet this evening. I scouted out a few locations on my afternoon walk and thought if the skies remained clear, I might finally be able to see it. The best location I found still has some trees on the horizon, so wasn't sure if the comet would clear them. I wasn't sure if sunset haze would obscure things either. Hey, what did I have to lose.

It was another hot day. Getting started on our morning walk before 6 AM really helps. It is noticeably cooler before the sun rises. Today we had a nice breeze and lots of cloud cover too. We had a nice walk and were able to complete our full five miles. Dawn seems to be an early bird. She likes these early walks as long as she gets her breakfast first. Dogs have their priorities. I'm content to wait for breakfast until we finish our walk, but Dawn wants to eat as soon as she gets out of bed in the morning.

If I'm able to find the comet tonight, I'll want to take a picture of it as well. Hmm. How do I take long time exposures with my good camera? Seems like I've done this before, but it's been a while. I looked up directions on the Internet and the procedure was a little more complicated than I anticipated. With old mechanical cameras you just set the shutter on bulb and used a locking cable release to activate the shutter. With modern digital cameras you have to disable a lot of automatic functions before you can use the camera manually.

After spending an hour looking for the comet, I finally had to admit defeat. I saw nothing. The sky was pretty clear, but there was haze on the horizon. Actually, there is always a thin haze on the horizon down by the lake. If I really want to see this comet, I'm going to have to get in the car and look for a higher elevation. It's possible that I was just looking in the wrong place, but I don't think so. There were many maps on the Internet showing just where to look.

I've never been wild about venturing into the park at night. It's dark, there are coyotes, and there are always the voices. I can always hear people off in the distance that I can't see. What are these people doing? Every time I've gone into the park to look at stars at night, I hear these hidden voices. It's kind of creepy.

When I returned to the house from my futile comet hunting excursion Dawn didn't initially recognize me and started barking like crazy. She's a good little watch dog. I wish she'd watch things a little more carefully though and realize that it's me coming in the house. Don't bite me girl. I'm friendly.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3529

Every time I go to the bank I wonder what has happened to jobs in this country. There are lots of empty offices and very few employees. All I needed this morning was to go to my safe deposit box, but I had to wait forever because there was only a single banker helping everyone. Next to his office were six identical vacant offices. The tellers cages were equally empty. There was only a single teller on duty.

This is happening everywhere. There are fewer cashiers at the grocery store. There are fewer employees selling stamps at the post office. Even my new breakfast restaurant seems to be doing more with less. I noticed this morning that there is no full time cashier. When you are ready to pay your bill you walk over to the empty cash register stand and after a while a waiter will notice you and come over to take your money. Unemployment is supposed to be at an all time low. I wonder where everyone is working? I don't think they are working at ad agencies. There are significantly fewer agencies in Dallas than there were when I moved here in the 1970's.

I thought it was going to rain for a while this afternoon, but all we got were a few ominous looking clouds. No rain hit the ground. The clouds didn't even cool things down very much. It was still a hot and very humid day. When I start hoping for rain you know something is wrong. It has been dry way too long and the grass in the front yard is looking pitiful. I'll take my chances with the roof. We need some rain.

I lost another friend to cancer today. The list keeps growing. It's amazing to me how many former classmates and coworkers are gone. It's alarming how many of these people were actually younger than I am. I guess I should focus on the equally amazing number of people I know who have survived something serious. Life is never entirely fair, but I try to remember to enjoy the time I have left on this earth. It's not going to last forever.

I wonder why there's not more concern about all the fires in the Amazon rain forests? Jeez. This is where our oxygen comes from. You can't get more basic than that. The sad thing is that these fires weren't caused by drought or lightning strikes. They were set by humans who want more farmland and cattle ranches. With all the talk about climate change these days you still don't hear much serious discussion about the real cause of all our problems. The problem is overpopulation. There are simply too many people on this planet. It is not sustainable. We have become an invasive species who are rapidly destroying everything. We all need to quit having babies for a while.

I'm still concerned about the weather in West Texas. Two of the three long range forecasts I'm following predict clear skies. Unfortunately the third says there's a 50% chance of rain. Why can't you weather experts agree on these things? I want clear skies when I go to the observatory. I should be concerned about the wild gyrations in the stock market, but I've given up on stability in the market. The market overreacts to everything these days. I try not to overreact to anything, but it's getting harder.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3506

We're going to McDonald Observatory. I finally became confident enough about the weather to make a reservation to spend the night on the top of Mt. Locke looking through one of the observatory's big research telescopes. Only very small groups are allowed on these special viewing nights, so you have to plan well in advance. This is where weather becomes a problem. Luckily, I discovered a website called dryday.com that specializes in providing long range forecasts for construction, agriculture, wedding planners, and anyone else who needs to know when the weather is going to be nice. You have to pay for this service, but for someone as obsessed with weather as I am, the subscription price seemed like a bargain. I know there is no way to absolutely guarantee clear skies months in advance, but I feel better now. This company's track record for predicting the weather is pretty impressive.

This will be the first road trip we've taken in quite a while. I was thinking about taking the train since Amtrak has a stop in Alpine, Texas. The devil is in the details though. Although Amtrak has daily service to Alpine on the westbound run, the train only runs three days a week returning to Dallas. The worst thing about the return trip was that the return train arrives in Alpine at night and only stays at the station for a few minutes. That's bad enough, but the train has a history of being up to three hours late as well. Riding Amtrak isn't cheap anymore either. When you add up the price of two round trip tickets and a rental car in Alpine, the 500 mile drive starts looking better and better.

I spent quite a while travel planning today, but there was still time to punish myself in the sun. It's really hot on my walks these days. I'm basically walking five miles a day and a little more on Sunday's. My effort to stay fit must be working because I've noticed that my average resting heart rate is gradually getting lower. I'm not really adding a lot of muscle, but my legs do feel firmer. I wonder how the runners who pass me on the trails every day do it. I can barely walk in this weather. I wouldn't even consider running.

I've finally run out of the Cadence Kitchen meals I was eating while Janet was away. These meals were delicious and very easy to fix, but they contain too much salt. What now? Maybe I'll try Nature's Plate again. Their kitchen is right in the neighborhood. I used to like these heat and serve vegan meals a lot until their chef became fascinated with sweet potatoes. I'm fine with lentils and chickpeas, but I was never fond of sweet potatoes. I'm not fond of faux meat either. Don't try to trick me with tofu barbecue. If you crave the taste of meat, just eat meat.

I wonder if Sky and Telescope would be interested in an article about my trip to the observatory? Maybe I'll write them tomorrow and see. I'm not going to let my Spaceflight Magazine article go to my head, but I do like writing. I should be writing more. The nice thing about being retired is that I don't have to worry about being rejected. Getting accepted is just a bonus.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3247

I closed out my account at the old storage warehouse and said goodbye to the place. I never would have made the deadline without the movers help. I don't know why I thought I could make the move on my own. I didn't even come close. The deed is done though. I hope I won't need to move anything else for a long, long time.

I also hope this cold wave we've been having is over soon. It makes life difficult. It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning. Dash still needs to go out at night, but he doesn't like the cold. After I let him out to pee last night, he started shivering violently. We went back to bed, but he continued shivering even after I wrapped him in a blanket. It was almost an hour before he was calm again. Tomorrow Dash has another big exam at the cancer center. Hopefully they can tell us what these night tremors are all about. The shivering is almost a nightly occurrence now and it seems to be getting worse.

I'm amazed that Dash still enjoys walking. He does OK if he keeps moving forward, but he stumbles a lot at home and is having trouble getting up on the bed. I wish I could convince Dash to sleep on the floor, but he is very stubborn. It's sad seeing him going downhill like this. He definitely doesn't want to give up, but with each passing day he seems a little slower and weaker.

I got my first payment from an auction house today. This was reassuring. Maybe this whole process is going to work after all. You have to be patient when you are consigning things. I started this journey last June and the final auction won't take place until next June.

I watched another episode of Mars on the National Geographic Channel this afternoon. I wonder who's idea it was to combine a science fiction story with a lot of present day interviews with people like Neil deGrasse Tyson and NASA astronauts? I find the back and forth structure distracting and wish I could watch the story about the 2033 Mars landing all by itself. I've never liked multi-tasking, even if it's just watching a TV show. A simple little adventure is all I want at this point.

The sky was clear today, but there is still rain in the forecast. It's strange that Texas gets all the rain these days and California is in the middle of a multi-year drought. The wildfires in California keep getting worse and worse. The last time I spent time in Northern California I never would have dreamed that one day entire towns like Paradise would end up burning to the ground. I used to live on the West Coast and always thought that Texas was the place with terrible weather. I know I complain a lot, but with every passing year Texas is looking better and better.

The only thing I've got to complain about today is a paper cut on my left index finger. It's hard to type. Otherwise, things are looking good. Dash did well today. My back is feeling better. The roof is drying out. I was even able to get back to sleep after taking Dash outside last night. A few more days like this would be welcome.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3065

I voted today. I don't always vote in primary elections, but I took this opportunity to vote against the candidates who irritated me the most with their incessant robocalls and spammy brochures. I still don't understand why politicians of the same party spend so much time trashing each other in primary elections. Both parties do this. All it does is leave voters trusting nobody when it's time for the general election.

Dash is still getting used to our new schedule. I was pleasantly surprised that he stayed still enough for me to put his leg brace and boots on by myself this morning. He was actually eager to go on his morning walk. Unfortunately, he wasn't so eager to take his pills and eat breakfast when we got home. This was equally surprising because usually a nice walk will give Dash an appetite. I had to experiment to find something he would take his pills in, but eventually we succeeded. He didn't seem very hungry this morning, but eventually he finished his breakfast around 11 AM.

It looks like we're going to have clear skies for the next week. There is no rain in the forecast at all. Now, all I've got to do is get the roofers to come back and finish the job before the next thunderstorm arrives. I tried to contact the foreman and schedule something but I kept getting a message saying "mailbox full" and the call would hang up. It's like pulling teeth to get these repairs completed. I feel certain that when the roofers eventually do return, it will rain the next day.

I went to the grocery store this morning to buy some more Chicken Tenders. When everything else fails, Dash will still usually eat Chicken Tenders. He'd probably like a bucket of KFC too, but I've got to draw the line somewhere. The store was out of Chicken Tenders, so I got some Steak Fingers instead. They might not taste the same, but they certainly look the same.

The temperature was in the 90's this afternoon. I didn't even try to take Dash on an evening walk. He just can't handle the heat anymore. As the temperature warmed up, I could tell he was reluctant to even go out in the back yard and pee. Thank goodness it is still cool around sunrise. We need a cool morning breeze or we won't be able to walk at all.

I set the DVR to record tonight's episode of The Expanse. I might as well just watch the show live. There isn't much else to do this evening. We've still got to take our evening pills. I'll do fine with mine, but I'm not so sure about Dash. He certainly wasn't very enthusiastic this morning.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2990

It was so nice to see the sun today. The weather was beautiful. Dash was in a good mood. I even felt like getting up this morning. We need more days like these. After a nice long walk with Dash, I went out for breakfast. I was seated near a table where several employees were talking with their boss about personnel problems. Everyone was trying to make themselves look good and their co-workers look bad. Jeez. I don't think I could ever work in an office again. There is way too much drama for me.

I'm beginning to think I might not be able to work with anyone again. Every time someone dangles a job in front of me, I try to talk them out of it. I've been corresponding with the person who wants me to update their website. When I try to explain the pitfalls of sticking with a flawed concept, I get the dreaded "I appreciate your honesty" response. Usually this just means "why aren't you agreeing with me?" Strangely, the job hasn't gone away, so I may end up doing it after all. Who knows. Maybe they actually do appreciate my honesty.

I was going to repair my dog walking shoes this afternoon, but when I took a closer look at the shoes, it seemed like a waste of time. I should just buy a new pair of boots. I didn't feel like cleaning or going up on the roof, so I wrote a letter to my sister instead. I do this about once a month. I haven't actually spoken to my sister or anyone else in my family in years. Sporadic letters seems like a good way to keep in touch to me. Anything more would be overkill. I truly don't understand how people spend so much time on their phones. What do they talk about? I really have nothing to say.

The weather remained nice for our afternoon walk. If it stays warm, I'm going to have to start mowing the grass again soon. The first time I get out the lawn mower is a good test to see whether I've gotten stronger or weaker during the year. With each passing year, the mower seems a little heavier. Last year I though that 2017 might be my last year pushing the mower. We'll see how it goes this year.

I think allergy season might have started. It's a little early, but my eyes are already itching and I'm sneezing a lot. Janet is already suffering from seasonal allergies, so I guess it's just a matter of time. Every Spring I am miserable until the allergy season passes. I start thinking how nice it would be to live in Arizona, and then I remember all the rattlesnakes and scorpions. Can't we just have nice weather without all the pollen?

I dont have any plans for the weekend. This usually means that I'll do a little cleaning and then end up wondering why things don't look any better. After a house reaches a certain age, I don't think cleaning really helps much.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2600

I like round numbers like 2600. These even numbered days seem like mile markers that delineate a very long road. I'd like to think that sometime in the distant future, this odd journal might prove valuable to someone. It probably won't, but you never know. There couldn't be that many people doing this sort of thing. Maybe we'll learn what happens to hopes and dreams as we age. Maybe we'll just see what happens as my mind slowly turns to mush. I wish I could offer some special insight every hundred days, but this is just another day. In truth, it is a very uneventful day.

The pre-dawn sky was crystal clear this morning when I took Dot outside to pee, so as soon as I got her ready for breakfast and her morning meds, I grabbed my binoculars and went out in the front yard to look for the illusive Mercury again. I was surprised at how bright the planet was without the usual haze along the horizon. It was equally surprising how far the moon moves in a single day. Today, the thin waning crescent was barely viable well to the east of Mercury, just above the horizon. I wish I lived in a place that had clear skies like this all the time. It would probably be more fun to build a little observatory in the back yard than spend my evenings endlessly writing this blog.

I had another website to update today. This one had needed three different versions of each image, so pictures would load quickly on any type of device. Sometimes I wish I'd never learned about mobile websites. Making something mobile aware or mobile ready can definitely slow down what would otherwise be a very simple process. I guess I should have been glad for the complicated update, since I didn't have much else to do this morning. If I was smart, I would have postponed the update and gotten a haircut instead. I used to always get haircuts in the afternoon, but Dot is making afternoons away from home much more difficult.

When Dot wakes up from her long morning nap, she is very restless. This is definitely a new development and I don't know what it means. She wants to stay up for the rest of the day, but tires easily and gets very frustrated. If I leave her alone for any length of time, she often struggles to get up and then gets her nearly useless rear legs twisted in an awkward position. This often causes her to panic if I'm not nearby to help her up. If Dot struggles too much, she inevitably pees or poops on herself. It's a mess. I spend my afternoons holding her up by her harness as we slowly walk around the house or the back yard. All this aimless activity often makes Dash think it's dinner time and he starts barking in the kitchen which doesn't help matters a bit. To ease the boredom and frustration, I've split their dinner into several smaller portions, spread out over a three hour period. It's hard to decide which dog to walk first when the long dinner ritual is finally finished. If I guess wrong, I will be greeted with a pile of poop on the floor when I return with Dash.

I guess I'll try to make an appointment to get my hair cut on Saturday. I don't like going to the mall on weekends, but it's just not going to work being away that long tomorrow afternoon. I have trouble even going to the post office now. At least the dogs still sleep normally in the mornings. I'd hate to have to give up my Friday morning breakfast. On a week like this, I really look forward to going out to eat on Friday morning.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2522

I felt good this morning. The rain has lifted and Dash and I walked under a partly cloudy sky, watching the dawn turn into a beautiful sunrise. It was also heartening to see that democracy still works.

I was beginning to wonder. To my democratic friends who think the world has ended, how could you not see this coming? You simply can't go around saying let them eat cake forever. I'm convinced that the election turned out the way it did because millions of good people got tired of being ridiculed and shamed for simply wanting to continue living according to the values their parents and grandparents taught them. Our parents were good people. They weren't burdened with the tyranny of political correctness. They had more important things to do than worry about gender neutral pronouns and safe spaces. They won World War II, went to the moon, and built an an amazing, vibrant country with the belief that we were a great melting pot where everyone could prosper by working hard and adopting a shared set of values. When a political party starts to ridicule those values, this is what happens. When you look at a political map, you see a vast sea of red surrounded by a few slivers of blue on either coast. It is arrogant and wrong for the elites to characterize this vast sea of red as an irrelevant bunch of ignorant racists, sexists, and homophobes. These people are America and they have spoken.

I'd like to see us adopt a shared set of values again. Diversity without the desire to assimilate just creates tribalism. That's where we are now. We are just a bunch of tribes with no particular loyalties to any of the other tribes. Remember that poem by William Butler Yeats where he says "when the centre cannot hold; anarchy is loosed upon the world?" That's where we're headed. So many things are falling apart because we have lost the center that kept us together for so many years.

Perhaps I had time to ruminate about politics because today was so slow. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get any more writing assignments. I didn't even have any website updates today. I picked up some prescriptions at the pharmacy and spent the rest of the day walking Dot up and down the hallway. She is not sleeping as much as she did a few months ago. Now, I get summoned by her barking every hour or so. We walk around for a little while and then she gets tired and wants to lie down again. It's too bad we can no longer take the long, active walks we did when the dogs were younger. Dalmatians are very active dogs and I think they get frustrated when they spend too much time in the house. I get frustrated too.

I saw another meteor this evening. I guess that's one good thing about the time change. I don't like walking in the dark, but I do like looking at the stars. In less than a week I'm going to get a chance to see the largest supermoon since 1948. I've seen these close approaches of the moon before and it really doesn't look much bigger. Maybe this time will be different. I hope it doesn't rain on the 14th. I'd really like to see this.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2262

Instead of lead grey skies and rain, we woke to see the sun again. Yesterday's nasty weather had moved Eastward to bother someone else. It must have really been windy yesterday, because most of the leaves in the backyard are gone. Janet noticed the difference first and asked if I'd been raking  leaves. Nope. The wind just blew them away. If we still had a lawn, this would have been a good thing, but the leaves served a purpose. Now there is a lot of exposed dirt, making it easier than ever for the dogs to get muddy. We have to replace the St. Augustine grass every year because something always kills it. Squirrels and possums dig holes in the grass looking for acorns. Grubs eat the roots. The large Oak trees suck up all the available water. It's still too early, but in March or April we'll plant new grass and start all over again.

Today was quiet. The dogs spent the day sleeping and I spent the day writing. I finished another article and sent it off to the client. I probably could have written more, but there were no hard deadlines to meet and I wanted to save something for tomorrow. I went to the vet to pick up some more Phenobarbital for Dash, but they were busier than I was today and hadn't had time to fill the prescription yet. The constant coughing has stopped and I'm finally starting to feel normal again. Hopefully, the next thing after feeling normal is feeling motivated. I haven't felt motivated for over a week.

I need to remember to find my early voting location before Friday. I think that's the last day for early voting in the Super Tuesday Primary. With all the attention these primary elections are getting, it would be a shame if I didn't cast my vote. I used to think that my vote didn't matter. Now, I'm inclined to think that the entire election doesn't matter. I always vote though. I don't want to be sitting here a year from now thinking that if only more people like me voted, then things might have turned out differently. The presidential candidates aren't the only ones on the ballot next Tuesday. The other candidates are mostly judges though. I think judges are picked by their lawyer friends. The rest of us never heard of these people. Half of the judges seem to run unopposed. Why to we vote for local judges and then let the congress and the president pick federal judges? I tend to vote for judges based on whether I like the sound of their name. If I've received a ton of junk mail or robocalls from a particular candidate, I'll almost never vote for them. Political junkies probably wish that people like me were never given the right to vote.

Dot's vet is still in Hawaii on vacation, but we'll go tomorrow for our water therapy appointment anyway. Only the vet can give Dot acupuncture, but several of the vet techs have been trained to operate the underwater treadmill. I've been watching Dot's water therapy for so long now that I could probably run the treadmill myself. So far, Dot seems to be handling the Palladia pills fairly well. Maybe she's a tiny bit weaker, but it's hard to tell. This will be the first therapy session since she's had a full week of chemotherapy, so I'm hoping that she'll still do well. On Friday, we'll determine whether to continue the Palladia for another month.

This week has been boring even by my low standards. Maybe I'll have something different for breakfast tomorrow. That ought to liven things up.

Nora is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2205

It was nice to see a little patch of blue sky for a change. It was still cold and damp, but things are definitely improving. The White Pelicans have returned to the lake, which is a sure sign that Winter is here. These large birds return year after year and stay in the vicinity until Spring. The Pelican sighting was probably the high point of the day. There certainly wasn't much else going on.

Today was really uneventful. I got so bored at one point that I got in the car and got gas. I didn't really need any gas, but it was something to do. I also got a bag of Fritos, because that's what you do when you're bored. When I was fixing breakfast this morning, I dropped one of my pills on the floor and couldn't find it. I didn't want one of the dogs to eat the pill, so I stopped everything, got a flashlight and made a major search. What I discovered was a kitchen floor that was covered with dog hair, dirt, and food crumbs that Dot had dropped out of her mouth. One thing let to another and pretty soon I had the vacuum cleaner out and was cleaning the vent registers. Eventually, I found the missing pill and went back to preparing breakfast.

When I turned on the computer there was a request to make a small website update. This task only took about twenty minutes, so there was still a large chunk of time to fill. Most of my e-mail is junk, but occasionally there are great deals. The B&H Deal of the Day was a nice LED film lighting fixture that I had been thinking about getting at full price. When they knocked $300 off the retail price, it was very hard to resist. I did some quick research on Google, discovered that filmmakers generally thought this was a high quality product, and bought the light 30 minutes before the one day deal expired.

As if it wasn't already enough trouble when Dot poops in the house, she has added something new to the mix. Now, if I don't catch her quickly right after she goes, she will eat the poop. Not good. I don't know why she is doing this now, because she has never eaten poop in her life. Maybe this is just something that happens when you get old and a bit senile. On the other hand, she may have noticed all the commotion around her whenever Janet and I try to clean up her mess and she might just be trying to help.

Last year at this time I was going to physical therapy for my dislocated shoulder. The shoulder still hurts. I was taking Dot to physical therapy too, but it seems like she was a lot stronger a year ago. Maybe this is what entropy is all about. There seems to be a slow, inevitable decline to almost everything. Some days I accept this decline as gracefully as I can. Other days I wish I were 25 again.

Alle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2178

Today was busy. I worked on two different website projects, got a new writing assignment, and tried to clean up the mess Dot made last night when she pooped on one of the larger rugs in the living room. At least the weather was nice. When we walked the dogs this morning, I saw stars for the first time in well over a week. Hopefully, clear skies mean warmer weather as well. It's going to take a long time for that rug to dry out after I hosed it down this morning.

I retrieved most of the equipment from the storage warehouse this afternoon for this weekend's Santa Paws photo shoot. This stuff seems to get heavier every year. Things that I used to be able to easily lift with one hand now require both hands. Last year I remember thinking I was too old for this sort of thing and here I am again, another year older. I can't even remember how many years we've been doing these fundraisers, but it's been quite a while. I try not to be grumpy, because this is actually a great fundraiser. My knees are shot though. My back isn't so good either. This isn't fun anymore.

Janet wanted me to take a suit to the dry cleaner for a Christmas party that required a suit for some reason. I continue to be amazed that all my old suits still fit. I haven't put a suit on since I quit going to that breakfast networking group a couple of years ago. I kind of enjoyed the novelty of dressing up and having bacon for breakfast back then, but the moment has passed. It feels odd to wear a suit now. It actually feels odd to wear anything other than my worn dog walking jeans and beat up hiking boots. I'll look nice for the party though. I managed to find decent looking wool suit in the closet that still didn't have any moth holes.

I watched the Orbital ATK Cygnus pre-launch press conference on NASA TV this afternoon while I was working on one of my websites. I kept thinking that I could have been at that press conference. Oh, well. Even though I'd rather be in Florida now, I still think I made the right decision. I couldn't really afford the trip. I didn't have time to make travel arrangements anyway. And it's been months since I've felt comfortable leaving Dot. When you're taking things one day at a time, you really can't block out a week to take a quasi-vacation. I'm OK leaving the house for a couple of hours. A couple of days, not so much.

Every time I turned on the TV today there was wall-to-wall news and speculation about the San Bernardino shooting. Two of the shooters have already been identified by police as a very religious middle eastern man and a woman from Qatar. Workplace violence? I don't think so.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1857

I saw the sun today. It's amazing what a little sunlight and blue skies can do. It was still cold outside and I had way too much work to do, but today was much more satisfying than yesterday. Let's hope the clear skies continue for long enough for the ground to dry up. Although the sun made me happy today, cleaning my muddy boots didn't. I don't know how Northerners keep their houses clean. It all seems pretty hopeless to me.

I've heard that tonight is an ideal time to try and see Comet Lovejoy. I doubt that I'll be able to see the comet with all the city lights, but since I didn't even think I'd have the opportunity, I'm going to go out with a pair of binoculars and give it a try. The comet is located near the constellation Orion. This is something even I can find in the night sky, so maybe there's hope.

I called the oral surgeon's office today to confirm my surgery appointment and discovered that the estimate they gave me was for having all four wisdom teeth removed. Whoa! I thought that estimate was too high. The last thing I want is to go to the dentist thinking I'm having one tooth removed and wake up to discover that four are gone. The receptionist explained that almost everybody has all four wisdom teeth removed at the same time, so they just assumed I was going to do this too. "That's not what the dentist and I talked about," I said. Jeez. If I ever have to have all my wisdom teeth removed, I prefer to have them removed one at a time at ten year intervals.

Dot did great at her physical therapy session today. I'm amazed at how much stronger she seems than last January. Since a large part of the year was spent recovering from cancer, her new found strength and stamina seems even more remarkable. I keep thinking that if Dot can do this, maybe I can too. Hopefully, after a year or so, my own physical therapy efforts will start paying dividends as well. I've got to remember that nothing dramatic ever happened during Dot's therapy. There were no decisive moments. She just very slowly began to improve over a long period of time.

There are articles to write tomorrow, broken websites to fix, photo shoots to schedule, and a pile of bills to pay. I'm still going to have a nice breakfast at my favorite restaurant though. I deserve it.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1208

We went to another casino party tonight. Janet and I usually play roulette at these charity fundraisers, mostly because we are the designated roulette dealers whenever Dalmatian Rescue has similar events. Sometimes we can pick up tips from other dealers that we can use ourselves. Not tonight. The pair at the roulette table this evening were the most inept roulette dealers we've come across yet. They didn't know the odds on the board. They would routinely pay numbers that didn't win and forget to pay number that did win. They seldom paid winners the right amount either. These dealers didn't even appear to know how the game was played. Nobody got mad though. We were just playing with monopoly money and the entire evening was for a good cause. Janet and I are much better roulette dealers than these bumblers though.

The weather finally cleared up today. With an abundance of clear skies and warm temperatures, the dogs finally got the enjoy the newly landscaped back yard. It would have been a good day to do a little more gardening, but I'm still not sure where all the poison ivy plants are hiding. The meds are starting to work, but I still think it's going to be at least another week before the itching subsides.

I had to get all my Saturday chores finished a little early today, since we needed to leave the house for the fundraiser by 6 PM. We ate dinner at the event, so that saved a little time. The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping, doing laundry, vacuuming, making fresh juice out of a big bag of oranges, and looking for the source of the latest leak up on the roof. I couldn't find where the water was coming in, but I did get clean sheets on the bed and gave the dogs a nice long walk before we left for the evening.

I hope I remembered how to use the DVR correctly. I set up the machine to record the new Dr. Who episode this evening, but I haven't had time yet to see if my efforts were a success. So far, the new season of Dr. Who looks like it's going to be a good one. I'm kind of pleased that I've finally mastered the television. I no longer have to watch shows when they are aired. Now, I can watch them any time I want.

Tomorrow is definitely going to be a dog park day. I can tell Dash has cabin fever from being cooped up too long. He needs a chance to run off-leash. With all the rainy weather we've been having this Spring, we've missed our Sunday visit to the dog park for several weeks in a row.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day