Day 4592

I never imagined that summer would be a never ending string of hundred degree days. This is getting old. The temperature was a bit cooler this morning since it was overcast. The skies were dark and it looked like it was raining somewhere. Unfortunately we didn't get any. The cloudy skies did knock the temperature down a bit though. It stayed below 90 until mid afternoon. It's weird when 90 degrees feels like a cold wave.

It's so dry out that we put some water out for the squirrels. I'm not fond of squirrels, but they deserve water too. Watering outdoor plants had become a daily necessity. It's amazing how quickly everything dries up. A patch of Asian Jasmine out of reach of our sprinkler is already dead. I just paid the July water bill and it has gone up considerably. I'm sure the August bill will be even worse.

It was back to the gym again after breakfast this morning. I was terrible on the basketball court today. Weird. I was pretty good yesterday. Getting my steps on the gym's indoor track is boring, but it still beats walking outside. Each time I complete a lap, I calculate how much time I have left in my head. I'm surprised at how much time people spend talking at the gym. At times everyone seems to be chatting with someone except for me. You probably have to be able to carry on a good conversation to get hired as a trainer at this place. If people aren't talking, they are looking at their phones. Even when I'm walking in the park, I see people who are constantly looking at their phones. I don't get it. I still prefer solitude. The voices in my head are just fine.

The Land Rover dealership called today to remind me of my Saturday appointment. Unfortunately, they had totally forgotten what I was coming in for. I wanted to confirm that I'd be able to pick my car up the came day and the service representative said, "No, you'll have to leave it here for seven days before we can get to it." Wait a minute. You guys told me that it would be ready in two hours. We finally got it straightened out that I was coming in for a scheduled factory recall instead of an engine repair. They eventually confirmed that the car would be ready by the end of the day Saturday, but I have no faith in these guys. I wish I could just take the car to the other repair place, but the dealership is the only place that deals with factory recalls. 

I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow. I usually get a haircut before I travel somewhere, but there are no travel plans this time. Finally there are firm dates for the Artemis-1 launch and Special Viewing nights at the McDonald Observatory's historic 82" telescope. These are both events that I've been waiting for, but I'm losing my interest in going to either of them. There are three tentative dates for the Artemis-1 launch, all two or three days apart. If I go down to Florida for the first launch opportunity, it would be just my luck that the launch would be delayed until the last scheduled date almost a week later. This could be very expensive and hotels are booking up already. Covid restrictions are returning too. Is this even worth it?  I'm putting the cart before the horse though. My press credentials haven't even been approved yet. The trip out to the observatory is a little different. I'm not sure I want to make that long drive ever again. Each time I make the drive it seems a little worse. 

It's kind of sad that taking a nap with Dawn is right up there with rocket launches in terms of my priorities. That's where I'm headed though. I'm tired and have nothing to prove anymore. After a while one rocket launch begins to look exactly like the next one and the night sky always looks more or less the same. I'm starting to question what fun actually is. These days I think getting a good night's sleep is fun.

It looks like another triple digit day tomorrow. I've taken the trash out to the curb and watered the lawn. It's time to get some sleep.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4528

Yay. The star tracker is working again. I'm not sure what the Benro people did, but apparently their third try was the charm. The first two patches they sent me to fix the connectcion problem didn't work, but the one they sent me yesterday worked perfectly. I'm still curious how a routine firmware upgrade rendered my camera useless and what the Benro engineers did to fix the problem. I'll probably never know the whole story though. Communication with my Chinese contacts has been rudimentary at best.

Now that the star tracker is working again, I'll have to turn my attention elsewhere. There are a ton of things that need attention around the house, but most of them are beyond my ability. I can't put on a new roof by myself. I'm not a good carpenter. And I'm certainly not a plumber. Sadly, I'm not very good at delegating things either. It would be easier if I could do everything myself, because I don't tend to trust people.

I went out and voted after breakfast this morning. When I arrived at the polling place, I was greeted by a poll watcher who told me that the power was out and asked if I was scared of the dark. Hey, no problem. I actually kind of like the dark. The room where the voting machines were was completely dark. All I could see were the glowing screens of the machines. I was surprised that the place was even open, but they said the voting machines were running on backup power. I was led to a machine by a lady with a flashlight and I cast my ballot. If there was even a time to be suspicious about whether your vote counted, this might be it. There must have been some people scared of the dark, because it appeared that I was the only one in the room voting. Voting in a dark room was certainly easier than getting the star tracker to take pictures on a dark sky.

It looked like it was going to rain this morning when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. The rain never came, but it did stay overcast for most of the day. The cloudy weather made it easier to take my long walk. I was able to complete my full six mile route, but it wasn't easy. My feet seem to be getting worse. The Hoka shoes help, but walking is still painful on some days. It's time for my physical exam tomorrow, so I'll ask my doctor if I'm doing anything stupid. My gut feeling is still that a little discomfort is better than becoming idle. I need to keep moving and walking is still a lot easier on my joints than most other forms of exercise.

I've got to remember not to eat breakfast tomorrow. I need to fast because they will be doing routine blood work again. At least I was able to get an early morning appointment. I hate going without food for very long. I got a call from the clinic while I was out walking reminding me to wear a mask. I have a feeling that my doctor's office will keep requiring masks forever. Not a problem. Whatever keeps you happy is my motto. I don't wear a mask very often these days, but I've got plenty of them. Most are unused. I just wear the same one over and over again.

Dawn won a ribbon at training class again tonight. She's got quite a collection now. Janet says Dawn really enjoys the training class. Like most Dalmatians, she forgets everything she's learned on our morning walks, but that's OK. I've forgotten almost everything I learned in school as well.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3969

Don't you hate it when you're running errands and you realize that you forgot your mask right as you reach the first store on your list. Damn. I had to drive all the way home, get a mask, and start my errands all over again. I finally did what I should have done months ago though. I put a few spare masks in the glove compartment.

I wrote my NASA contact and asked whether they had an updated schedule yet. Nope. They did tell me that I probably guessed correctly on my choice of travel days though. I feel a little better now. I'd still like to see an official schedule however. Kennedy Space Center is fairly huge. If you arrive at the wrong gate for an event, you might miss it completely. I've already had a fifteen minute drive turn into an hour drive by getting confused on directions. Don't want that to happen again.

It was overcast today, but the temperature was still nice for our morning walk with Dawn. I thought it might rain for a little while, but it never did. By mid afternoon, the skies had partially cleared and I could see a little blue peaking through the clouds. I shouldn't have been disappointed today, but I've been spoiled by the near perfect weather we've been having lately. 

I finally worked up my nerve to look at the long range weather forecast for Titusville. There's a 30% chance of rain on launch day and thunderstorms are predicted on the day before the launch. This is fairly typical weather for the Space Coast at this time of year, but it sure would be nice to have clear skies down there as well. I'm not wild about driving in from Orlando in a rainstorm, but I don't have much influence over the weather. It is what it is.

I got the results for my recent doctor visit and all is good. I always prefer it when a doctor calls me with results. Everyone is switching to online patient portals now, and half the time the information gets entered incorrectly. Occasionally, the information is correct, but I completely misinterpret it. It's better if you can talk to someone and ask questions. If we have to do this electronically, it would be nice if all the doctors could just enter their information in a common database. It would seem that they would wont to share information, but that never seems to happen. I have so many separate patient portals now that I have a hard time remembering what they are for.

I discovered that my new carry-on bag includes a nifty built-in battery that can be used to recharge a phone or tablet up to five times. This is actually very handy. I wonder why nobody has thought of this before. It's easy to run your battery down at the airport if you have a long wait between flights. The charging stations at airports never seem to work either.

Janet and I still can't decide what to do for Thanksgiving this year. In recent years we've gone out to eat at a local hotel that has an amazing Thanksgiving buffet. It was always fun to try all sorts of things that we normally never eat. I think buffets are gone for the foreseeable future though. What a shame. I doubt that many people get Covid from serving themselves at a buffet. Probably a lot of people will get the virus from having Thanksgiving dinner with their family though. Experts still say that family gatherings are one of the most common ways the virus spreads.

I loaded the dishwasher last night and forgot to turn it on. I forgot to wear a mask to the pharmacy today. I wonder what I'll forget on my trip to Florida. I was real careful about taking everything I needed on my trip to McDonald Observatory, but I still ended up forgetting several things. I guess I'd better get used to this. Old people forget things. I did remember to take the trash out to the curb this evening though. That's something.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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