Day 4645

Today was pleasant but uneventful. I wore a light jacket on our sunrise walk with Dawn this moring. The weather is definitely getting cooler. It's not surprising that Dawn is enjoying the cooler weather. I'm enjoying it too. After returning home for breakfast, I decided to take my long walk in the park instead of going to the gym again. My feet still hurt, but the walk was pleasant. Construction on the new bike path is finished, but now crews are building a series of stone gates. I'm assuming that these gates will be used to control traffic, but that still doesn't explain their purpose. There isn't much traffic to begin with.

The missing Muscovy Duck has returned, but there are still only five geese at Sunset Bay. I only report on these things because nothing else is going on. It seems so long ago now that everyone was looking for eagles in the park.

I wrote a letter to my sister today but haven't gotten around to mailing it. I'm glad I haven't put a lot of effort into finishing my article about the trip to Kennedy Space Center. I got a message from my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine this morning that indicates I will have to make major changes anyway. I thought they would postpone their articles about Artemis until the rocket eventually launched, but they seem to want to keep their original production schedule whether the rocket launches or not. Basically my article will be about making a long trip to see nothing happen.

I have no idea when Artemis will eventually launch. Yesterday the next launch attempt was scheduled for September 23rd. Today this date was changed to September 27th, with a back up attempt scheduled for October 2nd. I fully expect these dates to keep changing. It's not going to be easy to make travel plans, even if I do decide to travel to Titusville again for the next launch attempt. I kind of like the idea of an October 2nd. launch. The Crew 5 mission is supposed to take place a few day later. Maybe I might be able to see both.

I guess my phone is officially obsolete. IOS 16 was released today but all I got for my phone was a minor security update. I will probably be stuck at IOS 15.7 forever. This is not a good reason to update the phone however. My phone works just fine. Apple doesn't even make the smaller phones I like anymore. My phone will join the other obsolete Apple products I currently use. It used to be important to me to have the latest model computer available. Not anymore. When I eventually finish my 5,000 day blog quest, I can't see many reasons to even turn a computer on.

I need to remember that I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's time for my annual visit to see the dermatologist. There's nothing seriously wrong with my skin, but once you get on a doctor's patient list, you're there forever. The visit is usually quick and painless. I have a few actinic keratosis patches on my face and scalp. the dermatologist zaps these with liquid nitrogen. Sometime they come back and other times they don't. I only continue to go to these appointments because occasionally actinic keratosis turns into squamous cell carcinoma. My keratosis has always been benign but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I guess I'll rewrite my Artemis article tomorrow. The first draft I wrote in Florida isn't going to work now.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4643

Just a normal Saturday doing normal Saturday things. I wished I'd worn a jacket on our sunrise walk with Dawn. It was the first time I've felt chilly outside for a long time. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 60's. When we returned home, we had our weekend breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. I made the bed, checked my messages, and got ready to go grocery shopping again.

I still can't get used to how expensive everything has become. It's not just food either. Even furnace filters have doubled in price. At least gas is more reasonable now. I filled my tank for quite a bit less than what I was paying two months ago. Strawberries are expensive again. The price goes up and down throughout the year depending on where they are imported from. I've got to have strawberries though. They have become an essential part of my morning routine.

It's weird how quickly it heats up during the day. I was thinking of walking in the park today, but by the time I was ready it was already too hot. Mornings feel like Fall has arrived, but by noon it is obvious that Summer is still hanging around. The leaves haven't started to fall yet, but that is coming soon. It's a shame that the yard will be covered in Oak leaves in a month or so. Our yard is finally looking nice for the first time all summer.

I went back to the gym this afternoon since I didn't feel like dealing with the heat. We seem to have a thirty degree temperature swing every day. My gym is always nice and cool. You can have a pretty good workout without even working up a sweat. I completed my usual routine and went home again. I'm still slower walking on the indoor track than I am outdoors. This remains a mystery to me. Logically, I should be faster walking indoors in a nice climate controlled environment.

I hope that my favorite Chinese restaurant hasn't gone out of business. I was going to get take-out tonight, but the website wasn't working and when I called to place an order, no one answered. The last time I picked something up at this restaurant nobody was there. It was sad seeing the place completely empty and I wondered if they were having trouble. I should have driven over to the place to see what was going on, but I just ordered a pizza instead. The pizza place changed their menu and prices have gone up, but the pizza was still good.

There were lots of things on my to-do list that got ignored this afternoon. I just didn't feel like doing anything. The rest of the world was watching shows about the queen, but I watched another Starlink launch on the Space X live stream. Why do I keep watching these things? All these Falcon 9 launches are identical.

These weeks really go quickly. It's already time for Dawn's Sunday outing and another walk at Northpark mall. Didn't I just do this a few days ago? You'd think I'd get bored with such a repetitive, regimented routine, but I find the monotony strangely comforting. Don't expect me to be spontaneous. It's just not going to happen.

Cleo it today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4642

There's a hint of Fall in the air. The temperature was in the high 60's when we took our sunrise walk this morning. It's almost jacket weather. It's amazing how quickly the world turned green again. All it took was a little rain. Dawn enjoys these cooler mornings. So do I. We had a long, hot summer this year and I'm glad it's over.

I got a message from NASA today asking if I planned to attend the next Artemis launch attempt. I answered yes, even though I think September 23 is way too early. I was afraid that if I answered no, I would get taken off the approved list and my place would be given to someone else. There are still way more people who want to cover this launch than there are places available. We'll see what happens. I fully expect that the launch will get postponed again. We won't even know until the 17th. if the repairs they are making now will work.

I took another walk in the park today. It was actually even cooler than yesterday. I keep wondering where the missing ducks and geese have gone. For years there were ten resident geese that always hung out around Sunset Bay. Now there are only five. This gaggle of geese were always together, so I doubt that five just wandered off. I hope nobody snatched them to eat for dinner. The geese were very tame and would have been easy to catch. One of the Muscovy Ducks is also missing. There have been a pair of Muscovy Ducks living in the park for many years. This week was the first time I have only seen one and it appears to be lonely.

According to my Fitbit, I get a lot more exercise walking in the park than I do at the gym. I guess this makes sense. I spend over two hours walking in the park vs a little more than one hour at the gym. There are a lot of hills to climb as well. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm usually tired when I return from these walks. It's an enjoyable way to get my steps though, so I'll continue as long as the weather stays nice.

I'm always surprised at how many flowers I see in the Fall. There is an explosion of white Clematis vines along the shoreline now. I'm also seeing a lot of Water Primrose flowers. Both of these plants are considered invasive, but they are very pretty. I'd much rather see these plants than Poison Ivy, which is also very common in the park.

The "service required" light is really starting to irritate me in my car. This light appears every September. There is nothing wrong with the car, but the only way to turn the light off is take the car to a Land Rover service center and do the required service. I thought the independent Land Rover garage I discovered might be able to help me out, but they insist on doing the service as well. Oh, well. I'll probably learn to live with the irritating light for a while. I may still need to go to Florida to cover the next Artemis launch attempt. A trip to Florida and a Land Rover service visit cost about the same thing. It's one or the other this month.

This week has gone quickly. It's hard to believe that it's already time to make a grocery list again. I'd like to see something actually go down in price at the grocery store, but this is probably wishful thinking. Nothing has gotten cheaper on my grocery list for a long time.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4515

Evidently Dawn thought that the weather was back to normal because she was eager to walk this morning. I was a little reluctant because my feet hurt but we all had a nice walk. My feet remain a mystery. Later in the day they felt fine and I ended up with a total of 23,000 steps.

After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. I used to write tons of letters to people all over the world, but this one to my luddite sister is the end of the line. Nobody writes letters anymore. Few people can even send a decent e-mail message. All you get is a cryptic bare bones text these days. I write one of these letters every month and I kind of enjoy the process. It connects me with an earlier, simpler world filled with typewriters, postage stamps, and the delayed gratification of waiting two to four weeks for a reply.

On the way back from the post office I stopped at the pharmacy because I'd received a message that a prescription was ready. I wasn't low on anything, but I was curious which prescription got automatically filled this time. The pharmacist told me that no prescription had been refilled and that the automated message system must have gotten scrambled again. There were no pills to pick up. Jeez. Is it really that hard to keep track of these meds?  I don't know why they even need an automated refill system. The old way worked fine for decades. When I had about five pills left in the bottle, I would just call a refill in. Worked like a charm.

We got a little rain today, but it didn't really affect anything. Dawn got her morning walk before the rain started and I took my long walk after everything cleared up again. I haven't been up on the roof in a long time. I'm just depending on the pumps to keep the standing water level reasonably low after a rain. Pretty soon the summer heat will just evaporate the water. I'd like to think my roof climbing days are over, but lots can go wrong with a flat roof. One of these day I'm going to have to get up there again.

I finally got the nerve to look at my brokerage account today. Not a pretty sight. It seems like we are in a perfect storm of bad news. Inflation is surging. The stock market is crashing. The country is divided and increasingly polarized. And we seem to have reignited a cold war with Russia. A lot of this pain is self inflicted. In my opinion we never should have locked down the world for two years. You simply can't turn off the global economy and expect it to start up smoothly again. Apparently China still hasn't gotten this message. 

I was surprised at how far I was able to walk today. It probably helped that the temperature was cool, but my feet did hurt this morning. I wonder what happened?  I really need to think of something else to do during the day. I don't know if I'd have the time though. I'm hooked on getting my steps and I'm pretty slow anyway. There really isn't much time for anything else. It's remains a mystery how I managed to get so much done during my working years.

I did manage to get the trash out to the curb this evening. This week has gone really quickly. It still seems like I returned from the observatory yesterday.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4198

The weather was a pleasant surprise this morning. It was only 69 degrees outside when we woke up. The rain that brought yesterday's water leak, also brought some much cooler temperatures. Dawn loved her early walk this morning. She really responds well to cooler weather. So do I.

It had warmed up quite a bit by the time I finished breakfast and took my own longer walk, but it was still nice outside. There was no point in going to the gym today. If the weather is tolerable I always prefer walking outdoors. It's easier for the mind to wander on a pleasant long walk. When I'm at the gym I find myself counting laps or being distracted by overheard conversations. A trip to the gym is all about the exercise. A long walk is a way to lose yourself in idle thoughts and daydreams. 

I had planned to get a lot more done today, but I got hopelessly bogged down balancing my checkbook. Usually when I'm out of balance, I'm only a few dollars off and it is easy to find my mistake. Today I wasn't even close. There was a difference of several thousand dollars between what Quickbooks said I had and my most recent bank statement. It took a long time to figure out that I had failed to enter a number of transactions last month and then compounded my error by entering something twice this month. The duplicate entry got saved in the May 2020 ledger though, so it was very hard to find. Why do I bother entering all this stuff in Quickbooks and then writing down the results in a checkbook register as well? Force of habit, I guess. I didn't need to do any of this. My online bank statement was correct all along. 

I make a lot more mistakes than I used to. I spend more time editing the things I write these days because they are riddled with spelling errors. This didn't used to be the case. It's probably good that I'm not working with clients anymore. My old clients were never very forgiving. There's probably a good reason most companies make you retire at 70. You may think you're just as sharp as you were when you were younger, but you're just kidding yourself. The brain deteriorates just like the rest of your body.

As soon as the roof is completely dry again, I'm going to have to go look for the source of the leak. I think I'm going to have to bring a power washer up on the roof to clean away all the scum that has accumulated this Spring so I can see if there are any small cracks in the elastomer surface. I hauled a power washer up on the roof a long time ago using a rope. I was stronger then and the roof was in better condition. It's not going to be easy this time. I've still got plenty of the special silicon coating material, but I've got to know exactly where to place it. I'm not looking forward to any of this. There is no point in calling a roofer though. Been there, done that. Most roofers aren't familiar with my type of silicon elastomer roof and they just make the situation worse. 

No wonder I like to go out to West Texas and stare at the stars. Summers in Dallas seem to be a never ending punch list of loathsome household chores. The ceiling looks awful where the leak occurred. The sheetrock needs to be replaced, but there is no point in doing this now if the roof is just going to leak again. I'll have to make some temporary repairs though, because I hate looking at the mess. We've got to find a way to get rid of all the mosquitos in the back yard and I'm sure Dawn would appreciate it if I'd fill in the bare areas with some fresh St. Augustine sod.

Will I do any of this tomorrow? Probably not. I'll just take another long walk and think about more pleasant things.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3913

Jacket weather has arrived. Our recent rain was accompanied by a cold front, bringing considerably cooler temperatures. This was the first time I've needed a jacket since late last Spring. The last time I actually remember wearing a coat was last March when I was out at McDonald Observatory. There must have been a few more cold days after I returned to Dallas, but my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

The heavy rains washed away all the food the guy set out for the ducks and geese the other day. What a shame. The huge bag of feed was probably pretty expensive. Maybe the ducks ate it all before the rain arrived, but I doubt it. At any rate, I hope the ducks and geese ate hearty before the rain washed their unexpected treasure away. I'm not even sure that the wildlife in the park needs any help finding food, but it made me feel good to see the man attempt to take care of a gaggle of angry geese. People can fend for themselves. My loyalty remains with the animals.

Space X and ULA have both added me to their media lists. I received the notice from Space X today. I don't know if this will amount to anything in the future, but it's another step in the long road to legitimacy as a space journalist. I also got a letter from SpaceFlight Magazine saying that my author copies of the October issue with my article about the Artemis program were on their way. I now have three published articles under my belt and am confident that the fourth will eventually appear in a future issue of Sky and Telescope. This is really slow progress but it beats doing nothing. It's not exactly a natural transition going from writing ads about soft drinks and tacos to becoming a legitimate space journalist.

I was proud of Dawn today. She seems to slowly be learning to trust me. Today Janet had to be gone for a considerable amount of time and Dawn came when I called and ate her meals in the kitchen normally. This may not sound like much, but less than a month ago, she refused to come out of the bedroom until Janet returned to the house. I think this will all work out fine. I have no idea what Dawn went through earlier in her life, but it clearly wasn't good. I think the key to winning Dawn's trust is to be patient and consistent. She may never be completely comfortable with men, but I think she will eventually become comfortable with me. I can see a difference already.

I saw a video today where someone took the music from Bladerunner and added pictures of San Francisco with dark orange forest fire skies. It was kind of eerie, especially considering that the original Bladerunner movie was supposed to take place in 2019. I guess we are entering science fiction territory here. You wonder what else can go wrong in 2020. We've still got three months to go.

I've taken this week's trash to the curb. I'm so bored now that I'm starting to miss my restaurant breakfasts on Friday mornings. I doubt that I'll be going out any time soon though. They now say that indoor dining is pretty high on the danger list. Janet and I survived our birthday dinners, but we'll just stick with take-out meals for a while. When you've stayed healthy this long, you start to get superstitious.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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