Day 4648

Not much happened today. You can tell the days are getting shorter. We left on our sunrise walk a little later than usual, but the sun still wasn't up when we returned. The weather was nice though. It was just chilly enough to wear a light jacket. Fall is definitely here. It won't be long before it's time for the State Fair.  

When I took my long walk after breakfast I noticed that the first of the White Pelicans have returned for the Winter. Usually about a dozen birds arrive early and the rest begin to appear about a month later. Seasonal changes are very predictable and so far this year everything is right on schedule. 

The stone masons have just about finished the four stone gates in the park. I still have no idea what these gates are for, but they are large and look expensive. There has been a lot of construction work in the park this Summer. The place looks good this year. It's too bad the city doesn't run as efficiently as the park department. The park is definitely cleaner and a lot safer than the city that surrounds it.

I got a notice this morning that it was time to set out this month's bulky trash. That meant that I needed to move a big pile of brush and tree limbs I had cut earlier in an attempt to clean things up on the roof. The neighbor's Pecan tree would droop down and touch our roof when it rained and often this would knock over my pumps. It took a lot longer to move the tree limbs than it took me to cut them in the first place. I got the job done though. I was tired when I finished, but at least I didn't get stung by bees.

A year ago today I was down in Florida for the Inspiration 4 launch. Now I'm waiting for news about the next Artemis-1 attempt. I'm pretty sure I'll return to see the next attempt, but I haven't made any firm plans yet. I wonder why I still enjoy doing this? I've covered quite a few of these things now and each launch is remarkably similar to the previous one. The space community is filled with interesting people though. It's nice to feel like I'm a part of this group even if my contribution is very, very small.

I've really got to get some work done on the house. It bothers me that the carefully curated list of suppliers that I've collected over the years is basically worthless now. Just about everyone has either retired or died. I hate to start over or rely on websites like Angi's List. There are few thing more irritating than hiring a sloppy painter or an inept carpenter. Something's got to be done though. I'm not going to get this work done myself.

This weeks' trash has been taken to the curb and I'm wondering whether to go out for breakfast in the morning. I'll probably just have my regular bowl of shredded wheat, but I did used to enjoy my restaurant breakfasts on Friday.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4317

What a beautiful sunrise this morning. The days keep getting shorter, so we'll continue to start our walks with Dawn just before dawn, at least until the time changes in early November. I hope this weather continues for a while. It is usually brisk and cool in the morning. I wear a light jacket on our sunrise walks and it is still brisk and cool without the jacket when I take my long walk after breakfast.

I took two Tylenols when I got up this morning because I wanted to have an enjoyable walk. Tylenol actually seems to work better for arthritis pain than for headaches. Who knew? I won't take any tomorrow and we'll see what happens. I do think my foot is gradually getting better, largely because of the new shoes.

I've got to think of something new for breakfast. I don't feel like returning to making smoothies every morning, but I'm getting tired of the shredded wheat. I've eaten just about everything over the years. There was a period where I had a grapefruit every morning. I had yoghurt for a while, although I hate it now. I made pancakes from scratch and went through a period where I fixed myself elaborate omelets. One of my omelet recipes was even featured in a cookbook once. If you've been reading the blog long enough, you may remember the SXSW Cookbook. I started making smoothies when Janet got a Vitamix but never really used it. I thought the Vitamix was magic. I started making delicious soups for dinner and then discovered smoothies for breakfast. Somewhere along the line I started going out to restaurants for breakfast every Friday. Covid ended that activity. I need to make breakfast interesting again. It used to be my favorite time of the day.

I'm a lazy person by nature, but I feel guilty doing nothing on Tuesday because that's when Janet cleans the house. To make myself useful today, I cleared away all the brush that had taken over the narrow side yard on the East side of our house. I almost forget that this small patch of land exists. This is the side of the house where the bedrooms and bathrooms are and the windows are glazed with frosted glass. This lets lots of light in, but blocks the ugly view. You don't need curtains either. I'm still impressed at how clever the architect of this house was in the mid 1950's. It's too bad that seventy years have passed and the house is falling apart.

I cleared away a mountain of brush and small trees and hauled them to the curb just in time for the bulky trash truck which arrived about an hour after I was finished. I had totally forgotten that it was bulky trash day today, but it turned out to be convenient timing. After the side yard had been cleared, I cleaned the windows. They were covered in spiderwebs because spiders seems to love our house. That's one good thing about Winter. The spiders are gone. Everything looks nice now and I hope it stays that way. I don't want to go in that side yard again until next year.

When I was walking this morning, I saw two helicopters in the distance that appeared to be circling my house. This was a little alarming. I worry about fire a lot since I hear so many firetrucks going up and down our street. As I got closer to home, I thought that it must be a bad auto accident instead of a fire. Our street is way too busy for it's size. For a while it was used as a detour when a freeway was under construction and a lot of people kept using the road after the freeway was finished. I started seeing a lot of police cars and wondered how many police cars you really need for a wreck. About three blocks from home a lady walking her dog passed me and said "be careful, they're chasing bad guys." I never did find out what was happening. Just another day in the city I guess.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day