Day 4760

These uneventful days are even becoming too uneventful for me. I'm very comfortable with boredom, but this is getting ridiculous. Every day is exactly the same. I really can't blame anyone but myself. I've got the time to do practically anything. I just don't have the desire. I'm reluctant to even get in the car and drive across town these days. A predictable routine close to home is much more desirable.

It's not a bad routine when you think about it. I get plenty of sleep when you count naps. I eat healthy meals that I actually enjoy. I certainly get plenty of exercise. Just so I don't get too comfortable in my little cocoon, I try to travel to Kennedy Space Center every couple of months and cover a launch. I'm not a real journalist, but my articles do get published.

I used to spend a lot of time having lunch with people. A lot of this was just maintaining business contacts, but I suppose it was fun as well. I do remember some lively discussions. I don't do this anymore. I keep up with people by scrolling through my Facebook feed every morning. Occasionally I'll hit the like button but that's about as engaged as I get. If you're not on Facebook, I've probably forgotten your name.

Is this healthy? Who's to say. I certainly feel more balanced and content than I did during the ad agency days when life was a cacophony of ambition and conflict. I'm no Henry David Thoreau, but there is a beauty in solitude. To be alone with your thoughts is fairly rewarding when you are actually thinking.

So there you have it. I get up every morning and take an early walk with Janet and Dawn. I eat my bowl of shredded wheat and do a few chores around the house. My long walk is almost always the same, but I'm never thinking the same things. I daydream a lot. These conversations with myself feel more rewarding than the lunchtime arguments I used to have with friends over a bowl of Pad Thai.

I do wish my feet didn't hurt. I vaguely remember four day hikes I used to take in the summer when I lived in Aspen. I couldn't do that anymore. Six miles a day on very familiar trails is plenty. I used to take more pictures, but I think I've photographed everything in the park by now. Sometimes I'll just use an old photo for the blog when I see something on my walk that I've already photographed. One year I decided that I was going to learn the names of every tree and flower in the park. I brought home leaves and photographed flowers and then looked them up in books. There were hundreds of different species. It was interesting for a while, but I've already forgotten the names of a lot of the plants I spent so long trying to identify. Now I just count ducks.

It's probably a blessing that Dawn doesn't want to walk with me. I used to walk our other Dalmatians twice a day and unpredictable things would happen. It was stressful. Over the years several dogs got stung by bees or cut by broken glass. Dot ripped out a nail when thunder scared her and she started running back home. Dash got out of his harness once and I was afraid he was going to run away. Later Dash was almost killed when he was attacked by a very aggressive dog in the neighborhood. A stranger drove Dash and I to the vet and it took him months to fully recover. This is still one of my very worst memories. I try my best to avoid conflict and danger but you never really know what's going to happen next. I really hope my life stays uneventful.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4224

Sundays are all about walking. I usually take three walks on Sunday. We still get up early to take Dawn on her sunrise walk. We wait until around 11 AM to take Dawn on her Sunday outing, mostly because the ice cream shop doesn't open until eleven. This is plenty of walking, but usually around mid afternoon I feel compelled to take my long walk in the park as well. Sundays usually result in 20,000 step days. I'm sure I could think of better things to do if I tried, but a day of walking seems good enough to me.

Dawn woke me up twice last night licking her paws. She's figured out how to get the socks off. I don't understand the licking at all. It started rather suddenly. There are no injuries or hot spots. There are no signs of discomfort if you hold the paws or try to examine them either. She's an equal opportunity licker and goes after all four paws. This is either behavioral or medical and our goal next week is to find out what is going on. My guess is that it is a behavioral issue, but I could easily be wrong. We'll probably have to do a skin patch test for allergies as a starting point. There's got to be a specific reason for this licking, although our initial trip to the vet didn't turn up much. It's always something with dogs. We've had lots of dogs over the years and the times when there were no problems were few and far between.

For a long time I've noticed that there was a vertical pole above one of the water fountains in the park. I just assumed that there was a bird bath on top of the pole because there was a dish that certainly looked like a bird bath. Today I discovered that if you press a button on the pole you will get sprayed with a fine mist of water. I wish I knew about this before. I've been soaking my shirt and hat with water before I leave on hot days and I pass this handy pole just about when my clothes have dried out again. I sprayed myself with water today and it made the walk much more enjoyable. I can take advantage of the mist in both directions too, since I pass the pole again on my way home.

Today while I was walking I saw a guy with a cat carrier walk up to a bunch of ducks and release a duck from the carrier. There was a lot of quacking and some startled looks from people nearby. The guy explained that the duck had been living on his front porch and he thought it would be better off living with other ducks. This may explain some of the weird looking ducks I've seen in the park. This kind of looked like a domestic duck, but I don't know my ducks that well. We'll see how well this duck gets along with the wild ducks in the days ahead. Somehow, I doubt that this one is going to fly away.

I read an article last week saying that people are stealing duck eggs from nests in the park and eating them.   Maybe this explains why I've seen fewer baby ducks this year. It probably explains the no poaching signs as well. Stealing eggs from wild ducks seems all wrong to me, but then all eggs are basically stolen. I doubt that chickens lay eggs just so we can eat them.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what kind of car I want next while I'm walking. For a while I was convinced that I wanted a Sprinter Van that had been converted into an RV. These vans are large and inconvenient to drive around town and I think RV toilets are disgusting. The last thing I want to do on a trip is spend my time cleaning out the black water tanks. I've had passing fantasies about sports cars for years, but they are so low to the ground that it is frightening to drive on freeways with eighteen wheelers on both sides of you. Lately I'm leaning toward getting one of the new Broncos. I configured one on the Ford website today and you can basically get a Bronco with all the bells and whistles for less than the cost of a base model Land Rover Defender. I owned a Bronco once. It was very reliable. I don't think I ever opened the hood the entire time I owned the car. The thing I don't like is that the Bronco's rear seats don't fold flat. Nobody's rear seats fold flat anymore. Why doesn't anyone make a car with two seats in the front and a big flat area in back where you can carry anything? My old Defender came close, which is probably why I liked it so much.

I've heard that there is a new Dalmatian up at the kennel. I'll take my camera and hopefully we'll get to meet her tomorrow.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4168

Dawn got her special outing today. It wasn't a clear day, but it wasn't raining either. We thought we'd take her someplace new, but the strange surroundings scared her and we got back in the car and went back to her usual Sunday park. What a dfifference. Dawn would hardly move at the new location, but she bounded out of the car and immediately began smelling things when we returned to our regular Sunday park. This park was new to Dawn at one point too, but I don't know how much new Dawn can handle. Of course we got ice cream cones on the way home. Even though it was a gray and somewhat dismal day, I think Dawn really enjoyed herself.

I took a short nap when we returned home and then I went walking again. I could be doing other things, but walking still seems the best way to fill an otherwise uneventful day. I daydream a lot when I walk. I seldom think about serious things. I plan future trips. I think about what kind of car I'd like to buy next. I count ducks, And I wonder what the neighbors are doing. Sometimes these walks are tiring. Other times they are boring. They always beat mowing the lawn though.

I had to do some website updates today and I couldn't figure out why my changes weren't showing up in my browser. I uploaded the new pages several times and still kept seeing the old site. It finally occurred to me that I needed to clear my cache files. When I refreshed my browser, it was just reloading the old site that was already in the browser cache. Problem solved. I vaguely wondered why I don't always have to do this. I probably used to know the answer, but my web development skills are fading fast.

I watched a YouTube tutorial titled "Getting started with PixInsight" this afternoon. I thought if I understood the basics of this complex program, I might actually get some use out of it. This video was supposed to be for beginners, but it still seemed very complex to me. It was hard for me to stay interested. Things that were easy and intuitive in Photoshop required ten mysterious steps here. I still don't even understand the PixInsight menu. It baffles me that a lot of people love this program. Maybe I picked the wrong hobby. I've been taking photographs for the better part of my life. You'd thing this would be easy, but astrophotography has been a struggle for me.

I'm getting bitten by mosquitos inside the house. Where did these things come from? Mosquitos seem unusually bad this year. It must be all the moisture. I'm starting to see lots of ants too. I guess it's that time of year. Where can you go where the weather is pleasant and there are no bugs? Bugs are everywhere. There were moths inside the Astronomer's Lodge. When I go to rocket launches in Florida I always get bitten by bugs. I always get the most powerful insect repellent I can find and the bugs don't even care.

I still haven't finished unpacking from my trip. The clothing has all been washed and put away, but there's still a lot of equipment I need to deal with. I took the star tracker apart and put it back in it's box today. That's a start. Now I've got a case I can use for pet photography again. Maybe I'll deal with the rest of the camera equipment next weekend. I doubt that I'm going to be using it any time soon.

Tomorrow we visit the rescue Dalmatians again. It only seems like a few days have passed since we saw them last week. Where has the time gone? We are almost halfway through 2021 and it still seems like the year is just getting started. Covid has changed everything. I'm so used to doing nothing that it's starting to seem normal.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4060

I backed a Kickstarter project today. Either I'm getting very bored, or my tolerance for risk is improving. I backed another Kickstarter project a long time ago and if memory serves, the project got funded and the product was eventually produced. I hope this project gets funded too. The product is very cool and will help me with my astrophotography efforts if it ever gets produced. You have to be patient with Kickstarter. A lot of ideas die on the vine and even successful projects can take a long, long time to go into production.

I received a package from the dehumidifier company this afternoon. Inside was a small piece of styrofoam. That's all. There were no instructions or anything. This wasn't what I was expecting at all. The styrofoam piece is the wrong size to fit into the bottom of the shut off float so it will actually float. Even if the small part did fit, the float would still not be able to shut off anything. I was expecting some sort of electrical switch that would turn the unit off when the tank became full. No luck there. This is very frustrating to say the least. I think the solution is just to never buy this brand of dehumidifier again.

Janet and I finally made our appointments to get vaccinated. We'll be getting our first shot early next week.   We opted for a hospital connected with our primary care physicians instead of one of those drive-thru mega sites. I've heard that this hospital has things running very smoothly and that you are in and out in less than twenty minutes. I hope that this is the case. I wasn't really anticipating such a demand for this vaccine. We decided that it would be a good idea to make our reservations now, before they opened the floodgates and let everyone get the vaccine. Right now the vaccine is only available to first responders, health care workers, and old people. Janet and I would be in the old people category.

It remains to be seen whether I'm going to feel comfortable traveling again after I get vaccinated. I hope so, because I don't think I'm going to get published again until I have a story to tell. There are going to be a lot of interesting launches this year and hopefully some star parties as well. I need to get on the road again, because it's hard to write about doing nothing. Years ago I had a regular column in a little magazine called The Dalmatian Quarterly. I just wrote about my dogs and the stories were well received. I guess I could write stories about Dawn, but the magazine is gone. It died, along with a lot of other interesting little magazines. I'm lucky that specialty publications like SpaceFlight Magazine still exist. I'm such a Luddite. Magazines are still much more satisfying to me than social media.

Dawn is still enjoying her two short walks each day. I'm not sure I'm enjoying my own walks though. My feet are starting to hurt again. The easy solution would be to just stop walking for a while until the foot pain subsides. That's hard to do though. I think I've become addicted to these long walks. They provide a structure to my day. Walking takes up so much time that I don't fret much about being idle. It's weird how walking really does occupy the mind. I decided to support the Kickstarter campaign on my walk today. I also came up with a different slant on my new Sky & Telescope article. There was a very unusual cloud formation overhead as I walked. It felt like I was looking up at an enormous quilt with an entire sky full of puffy little rectangular squares. These weird clouds were actually a transition to clear skies. By the time I returned home, the sky was completely clear.

I guess I'll have to contact the dehumidifier people again tomorrow. It's hardly worth the effort though. I really don't think anything will be resolved. I should probably just rake leaves and work on my astrophotography article. After I get that shot next week, my arm will probably be too sore to rake leaves anyway.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4040

I went along on Dawn's walk today. She seemed confident and happy. She trusts Janet and she seems to know that she doesn't have to walk too far anymore. We took turns holding the leash and it didn't seem to matter as long as Dawn was leading the way and could go wherever she wanted. One mile seems her limit now and she definitely knows the way home. Is there a lesson in this? I'm not sure, but it's clear that our fitness goals are not the same as Dawn's.

Maybe something happened after Dawn had the seizure. Maybe she's finally become confident enough to let us know what she really thinks. Either way, it's fine. Dawn is not a young dog and if she only wants to walk a mile, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll continue taking long walks, mostly because I can't think of anything better to do. Walking is a great way to daydream and think. I find myself thinking about cars and astronomy a lot. When Covid fades from the scene, there are a lot of dark sky sites I'd like to visit. I almost never find myself thinking about politics and current events. I don't even care. My little world has always been a private one. Walking in the woods and watching ducks suits me just fine.

Today's walk was incredibly windy. The wind almost blew me over when I was walking by the shoreline. I always worry that another tree is going to blow over in the yard when we have strong winds. This is always when it seems to happen. Luckily, everything was still standing when I returned home. Today I saw three vultures eating a dead possum by the side of the road. They would take turns with one vulture tearing into the carcass at a time. There are three Muscovy ducks that I see almost every day. A small female joined the two males several months ago and now appears to be the leader of the group. She swims ahead of the two males and leads the way when they are on land as well. Ducks and geese always seem to have a leader. I wonder who gets to be the leader in those giant v-shaped formations I often see flying overhead?

I need to find a new way to occupy my time. Following rocket launches is getting harder and harder because of Covid restrictions. McDonald Observatory has closed again too. I doubt that they are going to be needing volunteer help for quite a while. I don't write songs anymore and I can't imagine building a website just for fun. So many things I used to enjoy just seem stupid now. It's probably not a good sign that my favorite activity now is taking long naps.

It's time to make a grocery list again. These weeks go by incredibly quickly. It seems like I was just making a list yesterday. The last time I went to the store, a lot of shelves were empty again. I hope people haven't resumed hoarding stuff. When other people start hoarding, you start hoarding as well and it quickly gets out of hand. It took us months to use up all the stuff we got last April.

I wish Dawn would start trusting me. Maybe that's too much to ask. There are people I know who still don't trust me.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3894

I missed the free shredding event this morning. It was only two hours long. Who has an event that is only two hours long? Oh, well. I didn't really know what I wanted to throw away anyway. There will be other events like this and I will probably miss them too.

I still can't find everyday items in the grocery store. Today my favorite kinds of cheese and popcorn were gone. I couldn't find those blue Scott shop towels either. When I asked where the peaches were, the produce guy told me that they had all been recalled. This seemed odd. I'd read about fresh peaches being recalled because of Salmonella contamination, but this wasn't supposed to be happening in Texas. The contaminated peaches were a different brand than I buy anyway. Hopefully, I haven't been eating contaminated peaches. I eat a lot of peaches.

We got an early start on our walk this morning in an effort to avoid the Saturday crowds. Apparently we weren't early enough. I think twice as many people cycle and run on Saturday than on any other day of the week. The pandemic hasn't been kind to many businesses, but it's been great for anyone selling recreational equipment. They say sales of bicycles, running shoes, and kayaks are skyrocketing. I see more people exercising in the park than I've ever seen before.

I'd hate to work in retail these days. I basically only go out on Saturdays now and I continue to be amazed by what I see. A huge number of people wear their mask below their nose. Don't they know that the nose is connected to your lungs? Even stranger are the people who always pull their mask down or take it off when they are talking to someone. Jeez. You can talk through these things. I went out to pick up some barbecue for dinner and while I was waiting for my order, I watched three different people pull down their mask to talk to the lady at the checkout register. No wonder we are having problems with this virus. Maybe this was why there was a help wanted sign on the restaurant as well.

I'm tempted to call my contact at the Air Force and ask what has happened to my request for media credentials. The only reason I hesitate is that I don't know what I would do if I was suddenly approved. There is a launch I'd like to go to next week at Kennedy Space Center, but I'm not really ready to fly yet. I've been on enough airplanes to realize that flying is probably the worst place to social distance. If the airlines were still running a full schedule, this probably wouldn't problem. Unfortunately, most airlines are cutting back flights so when their planes are in the air, they are still full.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Eventually boredom is going to drive me back to the gym. Janet has been going to her gym for several weeks now and says it isn't crowded and feels much safer than the grocery store. She's probably right. My gym was never crowded even before the pandemic. It's probably virtually empty now.

I do lots of daydreaming on my walks these days. I've got plenty of of plans, but most of them take place in a world that probably doesn't even exist anymore. What's going to happen to my plan to become a space reporter? I've got the full support of a magazine in London, but basically no place to go. I'm getting older and don't want to get sick either. I think 2020 is a lost cause. I'm thinking about 2021 now.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3825

I'm beginning to feel like Forest Gump. I find myself spending more and more of my time walking. I've gone from three miles a day, to five miles, and now eight miles. Occasionally, I'll walk ten miles a day. Walking is a great way to kill time. You can let your mind wander without the distraction of cable TV reminding you that the world is coming unglued or your computer reminding you that you have definitely become a non-essential worker. I don't try to solve problems when I walk. I don't brood or get angry. I just observe things. I wonder about cloud formations and the color of the sky. I notice the changes in vegetation that take place over time. I listen to bird sounds and try to identify them. I try not to think about people at all.

Some people plan elaborate hiking vacations. I seem content to walk the same neighborhood trails over and over again. For some reason I have no desire to walk to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or hike the Appalachian Trail. I don't think I'm looking for adventure at all. Walking is just a peaceful, solitary way to kill time.

One of the nice things about dogs is that they generally like to walk even more than I do. Janet likes walking as well. I wonder how far I've traveled over the years? I didn't even start counting until I got a Fitbit several years ago. Fitbit says I've already earned my "Africa" badge by walking the 5000 mile length of the continent. Add thirty years of walking Dalmatians to that total and I imagine that I've covered a lot of territory.

There is nothing wrong with doing repetitive things. There's always something new if you keep your eyes open. We saw the Monk Parakeets on our walk this morning. These bright green South American parrots have been spotted around our lake for many years but nobody knows how they got here. They are not migrating birds and they are definitely not native to the area. I think there are several dozen birds in the local colony. I've seen them several times now.

Now that the Spring rains are over, I'm already starting to see the water level in the lake start to drop. The lake is actually quite shallow. If we have a dry Summer, a few parts of the lake will dry up completely. The native prairie areas are still green, but these will dry and turn yellow as the Summer progresses. All these things are interesting and I don't have to travel anywhere to see the changes.

I guess writing the blog is another repetitive thing that I've been doing for years. I didn't think that I'd have anything to write about today, since I certainly didn't do much. There's always something to write about though. You can look outward, or you can look inward. I prefer to look inward. I wish more people would try this. There is a lot to be said for keeping quiet and minding your own business.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3815

I'm more forgetful now. The other day I forgot to take my house keys with me when we walked Dawn. Luckily Janet had her keys with her, but it was a reminder that I need to be even more methodical than I already am. It's important to keep your mind sharp as you grow older. I remember watching my Dad descend into senility in his later years while thinking that I wasn't going to let this happen to me.

I don't think you can prevent the inevitable, but I do think it is possible to postpone things for a while. Eating healthy food and getting plenty of exercise can do wonders for an aging body. The mind is a little trickier though. Is it better to remember the past, or is a mind unencumbered with a ton of old baggage healthier? Is knowledge cumulative, or should you wipe the slate clean and be receptive to new things?

I wonder about all this as my memory banks slowly become scrambled. I don't know if your brain can only hold so much, or if your memories remain forever and just become lost over time. Some things only appear in dreams now. There are a few recurring dreams that I genuinely can't decide whether they really happened.

I'm always putting my brain through its paces when I walk. I'll pick out a specific rock or tree and always try to account for it when I pass. I count ducks and try to remember the names of flowers and trees. There are hundreds of objects in the park that I have committed to memory, but it is surprising how often I'll forget about them. If I'm daydreaming, an entire mile can go by and I won't notice anything. It is a very rare walk when I can remember my entire list.

There is a large sailboat anchored out in the lake and I always try to notice when it is exactly perpendicular to me. There will always be a point when I am looking exactly at the bow or stern of this boat. The position of these encounters changes from day to day and I've learned to estimate wind speed from how quickly the boat turns in the water. I used to try and keep my eyes agile by alternately focusing on something very close and then turning my vision to something very far away. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed. My distance vision is still good, but my close up vision is shot.

It's interesting watching Dawn while we walk. She has a mind of her own. Now that she knows her way around, I've noticed that she likes to choose her own route. When we come to a fork in the trail, I  like to keep her on a loose leash to see which direction she'll choose. Often I am surprised. What is going through that dog's mind? Dawn will always follow us when Janet and I are leading the way, but she will make her own decisions when left to her own devices. She is a very smart dog.

This week has gone quickly. The trash is out on the curb again and my supply of fresh fruit is almost gone. Tomorrow it's time to make my signature omelette again. I edited a bunch of pictures to send to Sky and Telescope today. Eventually the magazine will need them. I just need to remain patient.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3645

Yay. Another article has been accepted for publication by SpaceFlight Magazine. The editor liked the story I submitted about visiting Michoud Assembly Facility and it will appear in a February 2020 issue that features the Artemis Program. Like my previous article, the magazine will use my photography as well. Inch by inch, I'm slowly crawling my way toward legitimacy. The magazine now says that if there is a launch I want to attend, just to let them know and they will get me press credentials. I'm already planning to return to Kennedy Space Center for the upcoming ESA Solar Orbiter launch.

It's too bad I'm not making the same kind of progress with astronomy magazines. I've contacted several publications, but so far only Sky and Telescope has responded. There's really not a lot to write about in Dallas. The light pollution is so bad that you can't see much other than the moon and a few bright planets. I've become apprehensive about going out at night as well. Every time I turn on the local news, it's very apparent that Dallas has become a dangerous place at night. I felt much safer in tiny Fort Davis.

Luckily, I'm still OK with going out during the day. I encounter the occasional coyote and snake in the park, but it is still a relaxing place where I can daydream on my walks as I continue to learn about the local plants and birds. It was still pretty cold on my walk today, but the sky was clear and my winter coat kept me warm. One of these days, I need to drive over to the other side of the lake where I can get a better view of the White Pelicans while they are wintering here. These large birds are interesting to photograph, but I need to be closer.

I received my annual notice from Social Security. I'll be getting $28 more next year. These yearly cost of living increases are so tiny that I wonder why they even bother. Maybe the cost of living hasn't really increased. It feels like things are more expensive, but what do I know. Interest rates have been very low for quite a while. I'm glad I managed to save a little while I was working. Depending totally on Social Security would be pretty bleak.

It's too bad there is no money in being a space journalist. I like writing about rockets. I talked to a real journalist while I was at Stennis Space Center and he told me the main benefit of publishing was that he got to write off all his trips. "I publish things regularly, but most magazines pay very little." he said. "I'll be lucky if I make $50 for this article," he concluded. Hmm. Maybe it's a good thing that I spent most of my career in advertising.

I don't have any real plans for tomorrow. I got caught up on things a lot quicker than I expected.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3475

Another 20,000 step day. This isn't much by historic standards, but it's about all I can manage these days. Multi-day backpacking trips didn't used to faze me when I was younger. Times have changed. I don't think I could make it all the way around the lake today. I'm not winded or even that tired. It's my joints. My knees, shoulders, and elbows have all seen better days. Sometimes it feels like all the cartilage is gone. I take glucosamine and chondroitin but I'm not sure how effective this is at rebuilding cartilage. I certainly don't see much difference after years of taking these pills.

Although it felt like I spent the day walking, I did manage to get a few other things done. I went back to the store and got strawberries. I should have looked in the refrigerator first. Janet had already gotten strawberries when she went to the store a little earlier. I  also got some more peaches. I guess I didn't realize that there are almost as many varieties of peaches are there are apples. The Earth Rich peaches I got yesterday tasted mushy and fibrous. Today I got a different variety called Sierra Rich which tasted much better.  Needless to say, there is plenty of fruit in the house now.

I was terrible on the basketball court this morning. Maybe skipping a week at the gym made a difference. Hand/eye coordination is a curious thing. You'd think that after all this time I would have perfected the free throw. Nope. Some days I can sink quite a few shots in a row and other days I'm all over the place. Even though my coordination wasn't up to par today, I still enjoyed my time on the court more than the treadmill and hand bicycle. I see a lot of people walking and jogging on the indoor track in the Summer. It would make sense for me to do this as well. For some perverse reason, I still prefer to walk outdoors, even though it's getting pretty hot outside.

Walking outdoors is very conducive to daydreaming. Walking indoors is just exercise. I enjoy trying to identify plants and animals, along with observing what has changed in the neighborhood. There's something new to think about every day. Even cloud formations can be interesting on a hot summer afternoon. There were sailboat races on the lake today. I also noticed that the wild fennel is in bloom. I've often thought about taking sailing lessons, but since I don't even use my kayak anymore, I doubt that I'd go sailing very often. It is not an activity that is usually done alone. The boats are still fun to watch though. There are lots of little Sunfish and Lasers at the lake, along with a variety of larger craft. I think that one of the local sailing clubs must have been having a regatta today. The lake was a busy place.

Now that I've become a slave to my Fitbit, I'm not doing as many household chores. There only so much time in a day. Without a dog, the house stays cleaner now. It's amazing how much hair a Dalmatian can shed. They shed constantly. We were sweeping up big piles of dog hair every week with Dot and Dash and yet each dog always had a full, healthy coat. Where all that hair came from will remain one of life's enduring mysteries.

Not surprisingly, we miss all the dog hair. I think Janet and I will be going to go visit the rescue dogs again tomorrow. There are several new dogs in the program that need to be photographed for the website. That's not the real reason we're going though. We just need our weekly Dalmatian fix.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3202

My mind wanders at the gym. I think about things. What if disease and famine were meant to be part of our existence? Did we accidentally become smart enough so that we could ignore the rules that applied to everything else on the planet? Humanity has spread like a Kudzu vine, destroying everything in its path? When I go to the doctor, I sometimes wonder if I should just eat healthy food and take my chances. I take a lot of pills that didn't even exist 40 years ago. Was I meant to live that much longer than my grandparents. Modern medicine has dramatically extended our lives and increased our numbers, but was that really what nature intended?

We have risen to the top of the food chain and eaten all the other animals. The oceans are systematically being depleted of fish. The forests have been chopped down to build houses for us. So much oil has been pumped from the ground that it is causing earthquakes. I read statistics occasionally that say there are still plenty of animals left on the planet. When you read the fine print, you discover that only a tiny percentage of what remains are actually wild animals. The vast majority of animals that remain on the planet are cows and pigs that are being raised for food. 60 percent of the mammals are livestock, 36 percent are humans, and just four percent of the living mammals on the planet are wild. I wonder if we have become too smart for our own good. Maybe our cleverness just guarantees that we will be extinct soon. Would the Earth be safe if we quit trying to live forever?

I don't know the answer to these things, but it makes the time go faster on the treadmill. I was terrible on the basketball court today. I couldn't connect with anything. Maybe some residual emotion from yesterday was seeping out of the base of my brain and destroying my hand/eye coordination. Fitbit says my resting heart rate is higher this week as well. Not good. I need to take a deep breath and just turn off the television.

We tried some new protective coverings for the bed last night, but they didn't really work. Two or three times a night, Dash will wake up and circle around on the bed to find a new position. When he does this, the blankets and protective coverings just get crumpled and wind up in a ball. This is a work in progress. Luckily, Dash made it through the night and pooped outside early this morning. I actually got some sleep last night.

I'm thinking about applying to participate in another NASA event. This one takes place in Houston, so travel would be easy. The are so many flights to Houston from Dallas that I might even be able to return the same day. This is all good. The bad thing is that I think I've lost my mojo. NASA seems to be looking for social media stars. That's definitely not me.

The catalog for the second auction came out today. My remaining art looks pretty good. The first auction takes place later this week. This will all be over soon. When I look at these catalogs it still seems strange that these things used to hang on my wall.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight. We've got to start walking earlier though. By the time we got home, it was completely dark.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3111

My Sunday trip to the gym is starting to seem a little too familiar. I instantly know which channel is playing on the televisions in front of the treadmills. I recognize all of the other members, even though I don't know any of them by name. I can accurately guess what my heart rate will be when I finish my twenty minutes on the hand bicycle. I know exactly how long it will take to walk a mile on the treadmill. The only thing that seems to change is basketball. When I started, I could sink five free throws in a reasonable amount of time. As my aim gradually improved, I realized I could complete ten free throws in the same amount of time. Today I completed fifteen. Progress is often illusive, but it's nice to know I'm not getting worse.

My mind wanders while I'm exercising. It's always active though. I try to guess the name of the band when I hear a song playing on the sound system. I calculate the number of calories I'm burning in my head. Sometimes, I solve the world's problems, but I've always forgotten the solution by the time I've returned home. I think it is important to keep your brain active. I daydream a lot. One of the reasons I've kept writing this blog for so long is that I think that writing keeps you from becoming senile. I'm sure I could play Tetris or do Sudoku puzzles instead, but moving words around until they make sense is more satisfying.

Walking has become less satisfying as the temperature increases. We walked really early this morning to keep thing comfortable for Dash. It's a good thing we took this sunrise stroll, since it became far too hot to go out again later in the day. Since we got such an early start, I returned from the gym well before noon. I should have just taken a long nap this afternoon, but there was too much to do. I bought a new garden hose to replace one that had developed a leak. I had the hardware store match some enamel to a paint chip so I could finish repairing a large crack in the wall that had been hidden for years by one of the paintings I shipped off to New York. Repairing sheetrock and painting is a messy job, so I'm going to save this odious task for a day when I'm in a really good mood.

We encountered another aggressive dog this morning and narrowly avoided getting bitten. Once again, the owner was walking a very large dog on one of those long flexi-leashes and couldn't control it when they saw us on the path. We tried to stay out of the way, but the dog was totally out of control. These type of incidents happen way too often. It's getting harder and harder to relax in today's chaotic world. Often, I think I would be happier if I didn't encounter other people at all.

If I've got time tomorrow, I may take a few guitars to the vintage guitar store and get them appraised. I'm curious whether these things are treasures or junk. I usually take care of thing well, but the guitar I've had since high school is pretty well trashed. That's a shame, since a guitar from the 1960's would definitely qualify as vintage. The question is whether it still qualifies as desirable. I hope the experts are interested in this stuff. I need to clear out the storage warehouse.

I'm not looking forward to the Fourth of July. Dash, like many dogs, gets freaked out by loud noises. Fireworks used to be a nightmare when the dogs were younger. Maybe this year won't be so bad. Dash can't hear well anymore. Hopefully what used to be a frightening boom will just be a low rumble this year.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2220

I've wondered for years why the city has never bothered to fix our street. The street has been ignored for so long that it has gradually just become a collection of potholes. I really wasn't expecting that it would ever be repaired, but much to my surprise a parade of heavy equipment arrived in the neighborhood late this afternoon. It looks like the shabby street is finally going to be repaved. There must be a master plan for street maintenance in Dallas, but I've never been able to figure out what it was. Some streets seem to be continuously under repair. Others get fixed every five years or so. And then there's our street. I haven't seen a road crew here for twenty five years. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to repave the street. It could be weeks, or it could be months.

Other than watching the road crews unload the huge machines that scrape the old asphalt off the road before it is repaved, there wasn't a lot that happened today. I actually forgot what day it was from time to time, because the day seemed exactly like yesterday. It was clear and cold for the second or third day in a row. Dot got us up right on schedule by pooping in her bed again. I managed to spot Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter in the pre-dawn sky on our morning walk. When we returned home, I fixed my breakfast smoothie and made some coffee. The breakfast ritual takes quite a while, but I wish it took longer. Day like this can drag on forever.

I started writing another article after breakfast. I probably could have completed two articles today, but why bother. I still need something to do tomorrow. I write to a word count and need at least three hundred words for my editors. When the subject is interesting it is not hard to come up with 600 to 900 words. Today I only managed 360. Not surprisingly, it is often harder to write the shorter articles than the longer ones. Coincidentally, it is also harder to write blog posts on days where nothing happens.

I saw a psychologist on one of the morning TV shows talking about how buying a lottery ticket actually makes most people happier for a short period of time. Almost universally, when you buy a ticket you start thinking about what you would do if you win. Nobody really expects to win, but supposedly thinking about something positive for a day is good for you. So, you really haven't wasted your money on a piece of paper, you've actually bought a little positive attitude instead. No matter what your circumstances, for a very short while your glass is half full. Works for me. Daydreaming is also supposed to be good for you, so I should be in great shape. I daydream all the time.

It is ironic that I have made money by selling all my worst stocks at the end of 2015. If I had held on to these losers, they would have all gone down even further when the market started crashing in January. We had another bad day today with a drop of 364 points. The market has already dropped over 7% this year and the month isn't even over yet. Not good! Bolder people than me are aggressively shorting stocks now. I think the market is too volatile to do something risky like this, but I understand why some people take the risk. It sucks to keep losing money. No wonder people are buying over 100,000 Powerball tickets a minute today. When you can't count on jobs or the economy, you start counting on luck. Hey, maybe I'll win tonight. Or, maybe you'll win. Good luck.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1674

Someone has been sprinkling ground up bits of broken glass along several of the paths in the park. I don't know if this is to cause passing bicycles to have flats, or an effort to hurt animal paws, but it is definitely malicious. One more thing to look out for every morning. This city is wearing me down. Daydreaming is one of my favorite things, but it's just not as easy to absentmindedly daydream during our walks anymore. There's always something to look out for.

Dot worried me today. She was very slow and a bit stiff on our walk this morning. You could tell she wanted to walk, but just didn't have the energy. She went to sleep as soon as we returned home, but even her sleep wasn't restful. She kept changing position and groaning occasionally as if something was bothering her. There were no visible injuries. She was breathing completely normally. And she didn't appear under any stress. She just seemed tired. I'll ask the vet to check for any hidden warning signs, but I think she's just getting old. I know how she feels. It doesn't take much to wear me out either.

We don't get much mail anymore. I used to always look forward to getting the mail everyday, but the steady stream of magazines, circulars, and catalogs has almost come to a standstill. I think the battle for shoppers hearts and minds is over and that Amazon has won. Practically the only thing I get in the mail these days are bills to pay. Even the bills come with admonitions and enticements to get me to switch to online payments. Switch to online payments and we'll give you a $25 Starbucks card they say. No thanks for now. I still like printed statements. I prefer reading a book to looking at the same thing on a Kindle. I'd still rather read a magazine than visit a website. My days are numbered though. I've become a dinosaur.

A few more observations about my day at the courthouse yesterday. I think you can divide people into two categories. There are the ones who check their e-mail and texts obsessively. And there are the others who play Candy Crush Saga obsessively. I hate waiting and paced up and down the courthouse halls all day while the lawyers were deciding what to do with us. I was virtually the only person walking around though. Most people were just sitting on a bench and staring at their phones. They couldn't leave them alone for five minutes. It's kind of sad. I suspect the smart phone has already had an even larger impact on society than the automobile. For the Millennials, the phone has actually replaced the automobile as the iconic object of their generation.

Even though Dot was tired today, we still took both dogs to training class tonight. Dot spent most of the evening sitting in the grass with Janet, while Dash and I went through the exercises. Dot was happy. She doesn't like to be left out and there is no reason to leave her out of anything. We'll all just slow down a bit and let her enjoy her remaining days

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1505

Although I spent my teenage years in Alaska, I don't think I could take Northern Winters anymore. This morning was brutal. The temperature was in the teens and there was a stiff wind that made the wind chill feel much worse. The dogs have both learned to do their business very quickly, so we can return to the warm house as soon as possible. I'm glad Dash has finally overcome his reluctance to pee in the yard, but I think this cold spell has made him a bit too casual. This evening when he went outside, he quickly peed on the patio furniture on the back porch and immediately came back inside.

I found myself daydreaming about retirement today. Although I am very busy, the relatively small amount of money I make for my efforts is hardly worth the trouble. I've depended on the stock market to make up the difference for quite some time. If I could still make a reliable 10% total return year-in and year-out, I'd probably have retired already. My financial adviser isn't too keen on the idea of retirement though. He's a realist. He is convinced that there will be other years like 2008, and that it's always a good idea to keep a few irons in the fire. I reluctantly agree. My business changes so quickly that if I abruptly quit, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on within three years. So here I am, competing with a bunch of millennials who just don't don't know how to price things. I'm holding my own, but it feels a lot like treading water.  I wonder how these young wordsmiths and design wizards are ever going to get rich if they keep undercutting everybody's prices.

Since our dog walks were cut short by the cold, I spent a little extra time in the gym today. My biceps are getting bigger, my core is stronger, and it is clear I'm making progress. My shoulder still hurts, unfortunately. I have a feeling that I should see a good physical therapist, or maybe even get an MRI scan of my shoulder. Something is really wrong. After today's workout, I couldn't lift my right arm above eye level. The shoulder always hurts and I'm seldom able to lift this arm above my head, with or without weights. The dogs continually pull this shoulder out of joint on our daily walks, so most of my rehabilitation efforts are futile. Hey, everything else is going well though. I'm a one armed wonder.

I don't think I can skip tomorrow's networking breakfast, like I did last week. I have to give a progress report on the website I'm designing for the group. Yes, there is a website and it's almost done. I wonder if these guys realize that I'm just coming to these meetings for the food. Now that I've become serious about staying healthy, enjoying the occasional tasty meal has become a big deal. I was just getting ready to to make my morning oatmeal today, when I discovered a leftover bacon and mushroom quiche in the refrigerator. That little quiche made my day.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 658

I got a call from an antique dealer friend who said she had found some bone china Dalmatian figurines at an estate sale. Did I want them? Sure. Of course I do. Annette told me that she had already bought the figurines, since she knew I would like them, so I met her at a nearby Starbucks to pick them up. This is great! Now people know what I like so well that I don't even need to look for things myself. The ceramic Dalmatians are very pretty and soon will join all the other Dalmatians on the coffee table.

I spent the rest of the day dealing with living, breathing dogs and cats. I must have added at least twenty five new pages to the rescue website I'm trying to bring up to date, but there are still more animals to go. Probably by the time I get pages made for all the new animals the rescue group sent me, some of them will have been adopted and I'll have to take the pages right back down again. Hopefully, I can convince these folks to send me information about adoptable animals immediately after the animal is admitted, instead of waiting three months and sending me a huge pile of stuff all at once.

I actually found myself daydreaming again on our morning walk. This was the first day in a long time that didn't find myself focused on neck pain and worrying about slipping on a loose rock. The physical therapy is really making a difference. I'm sleeping better now as well. My physical therapist told me that drugs and steroid injections really don't work for my type of problem and that many people with neck pain are misdiagnosed. He said when tissue is physically caught and pinched by the vertebra, the only real solution is to physically work the tissue loose again. Maybe this is what chiropractors do as well. I've never been to a chiropractor, so I don't really know. I do like this approach a lot better than just throwing a lot of strong drugs at the problem. Pharmaceuticals aren't the answer for everything.

One of those red "check engine" lights came on in my car today. Damn! Now I can't postpone my next service visit much longer. I think this light just has something to do with the catalytic converter and isn't very serious, but you never know. I guess I'll make an appointment with the Land Rover dealer tomorrow.

Jersey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day