Day 4799

Not a lot happened today. It's a good thing that I have a high tolerance for boredom, because I didn't do anything of consequence all day. I'm actually surprised that the day went so quickly. We got up later than usual so there was no need for flashlights on our early walk with Dawn. No clear blue skies today. The temperature was warm enough, but it was overcast and felt like rain was on the way. It's discouraging to think that the buckets will be back in the house and strategically placed under the leaks again by tomorrow morning.

Dawn expects a piece of shredded wheat when I fix my breakfast now. We have many little rituals and most of them involve food. I was in no hurry to get started this morning because I knew there was nothing on the agenda. I have nobody to blame but myself for this. I'm just not interested in very much these days.

After I checked the mail and looked for nonexistent important messages in my inbox, I got ready for my morning walk. It's hard to decide what to wear on days like these. If I dress for the back yard, I'm cold when I'm walking near the lake, If I dress for the shoreline, I'm hot during the rest of the walk. I should have this figured out by now. I've been walking this same route for years.

When I was walking, someone warned me about a loose pitbull in the park. I said that I knew about the dog and that it belonged to a nearby neighbor. "Oh, dear," said the woman and told me she had already called 311 about the dog. This dog is very sweet and I hope it went back inside before animal control came to pick it up. There are people who think it is perfectly fine to let their dog out to pee without a leash even if they don't have a fence. You can't convince these people that this is dangerous for the dog. 

My pace wasn't that great today and my feet hurt, but I managed to complete my six miles. By my last mile I'm always wondering why I do this everyday. Often my walks are boring. Walking is good exercise but I ought to be able to think of something more interesting to do. I must be a familiar face in the neighborhood by now. A lot of people wave at me, even though I have no idea who they are.

This afternoon I made an appointment to see the dermatologist. I don't really need to see the dermatologist anymore, but I've learned that it's easier to go ahead and make an appointment whenever you get a notice from a doctor. You can't ignore doctors. Once you are on a doctor's list, you're going to be there forever. Maybe I'll ask the dermatologist about my tick bite. Usually I have no reaction to ticks at all, but this time I have a hard lump where the tick bit me. Hopefully it wasn't once of those Lyme Disease ticks.

I spent the afternoon recharging camera and computer batteries and updating the apps on my iPad. My cameras are always ready even though I seldom use them anymore. I do use the camera on my phone though. That's probably reason enough to get a new phone.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4646

I surprised myself today. I actually got a lot done. The day started normally enough with Dawn's sunrise walk and my go-to breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit. After breakfast I picked up the pace a bit. I completely rewrote my article for SpaceFlight Magazine, edited the accompanying pictures in Photoshop and submitted the package to my editor, all before a scheduled 10:45 appointment with the dermatologist.

The drive to the dermatologist's office took longer than my exam. I'm told that I need these periodic exams to make sure my actinic keratosis hasn't morphed into squamous cell carcinoma. All was good today, as it always had been in previous exams. The doctor zapped the small keratosis growths on my face and scalp with his trusty blue can of liquid nitrogen and sent me on my way. "See me again in six months," he said. "I thought it was once a year," I replied. I think I see doctors far too often for seemingly needless reasons, but what do I know. One of these days the dermatologist might actually find something important.

On the way home I mailed the letter I wrote to my sister yesterday and then stopped at a plumbing supply store to get some parts for my troublesome toilet. I doubt that the problem is fixable now, but it's worth a try. Every plumber that comes to the house says I ought to just replace the toilet, but I hate to give up on things. Right now I'm just turning off the supply line after every flush. I turn on the supply line and fill the tank again whenever I need to use the toilet. This actually seems to be a simple and effective way to keep the toilet from running. I wonder why I didn't think of this sooner?

Although it was a bit chilly on our sunrise walk with Dawn, it was quite warm by the time I finished running all my errands. It definitely felt too hot for a walk in the park. After a quick lunch I went to the gym again. There was someone on the basketball court when I arrived, so I did my two mile walk on the indoor track first. Surprisingly, I managed to match my outdoor walking pace today. Maybe I should always take my walk before shooting baskets. I doubt that this increase in speed really matters. I'm still painfully slow, indoors or out.

When I returned home there was a two word message from my editor. All it said was "great stuff." I'm glad he liked the hastily written article I sent, but still would have liked more time to write a proper article that included the launch. Maybe the editor, like myself, suspected that the Artemis launch might never happen and just wanted something for the November issue. At any rate, I've got one more article under my belt and can feel like a legitimate space journalist for a while longer. 

As usual, I have no plans for tomorrow. Writing my article under severe time constraints this morning made me realize that I can still be professional when I need to. My hasty article was actually pretty good. There isn't much need for my services these days, so I'll probably just take another walk in the park. I might as well take advantage of these nice cool mornings while I can. Good weather in Texas is a rare commodity.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4373

FedEx is driving me crazy. I've been waiting for an important package since Saturday. After several delays the package was finally supposed to be delivered today. At 7:05 PM I received two simultaneous messages. One said "operational delay, no delivery attempted." The other said "package delivered, signature on file." Which message was true? The FedEx facility that was supposed to hold the package for me said it never received anything and when I attempted to look for the signature on file, it wasn't there either. It is impossible to get any help. You just get referred to a call center in the Philippines or Malaysia somewhere. I put a trace on the package. We'll see what happens. I really wish the shipper had used UPS or DHL instead.

I may never receive my star tracker, but I did receive a clean bill of health from my dermatologist. He froze a few little patches of keratosis on the top of my head with liquid nitrogen but that was about it. I have to see this guy at least once a year because actinic keratosis is considered pre-cancerous and needs to be monitored. So far, so good, but I'll have to see the dermatologist again in six months. The doctor is a nice guy but his office is relentless about sending out surveys. Enough with all the surveys. Even the people at FedEx who lost my package tonight wanted me to fill out a survey.

It must have rained last night. When we woke up this morning the ground was all wet. It must have been a gentle rain because I never heard anything even though I'm a light sleeper. Now theres's water on the roof again and I don't feel up to climbing up there and sweeping it away yet. No roof leaks so far, so knock on wood. Rain and water on the roof just adds to my frustration. Dawn doesn't like the rain either, but we finally got her to take her morning walk. Once we got in the park she seemed happy again. Rain seems to enhance all the smells she likes.

Today's FedEx mishaps just adds to my belief that the world is broken. Nothing works smoothly anymore. Traffic is terrible. Stores aren't stocked well anymore. Prices have gone up dramatically. It's not just food either. Everything is more expensive. People seem angrier too. None of this is good. I don't think young people realize how much better life was in the 1950's. You didn't have iPhones or the Internet, but you didn't need to lock your doors at night either. Cars looked interesting in the 1950's and houses were still built with high quality lumber. I'd go back if I could. I'm not all that impressed with artificial intelligence and social media influencers.

I wonder if I'll hear from FedEx tomorrow. They've already made it pretty clear that they are tired of hearing from me. I"m afraid the package might get sent back to Hong Kong is it is misplaced too long. Hopefully I will eventually get the computerized star tracker I've been waiting for all Summer. I read a news story recently about a FedEx driver in Alabama who dumped hundreds of packages in a ravine because he just didn't feel like delivering them. I hope my driver is a happy man who loves his job. Maybe this was just an honest mistake.

I still haven't washed the backdrop from our Santa Paws photo shoot. This is probably a good project for tomorrow. Tomorrow is my Blogiversary too. Can you believe I've been doing this since 2009?

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4003 - Dawn's Birthday

Most of our dog's birthdays have been celebrated on the day we adopted them. It is rare to know a rescue dog's actual age. We know that Dawn is eight years old today because she was used as a breeding dog at the same kennel where she was born as a puppy. The dogs might not have been cared for well, but they did have records. I don't know if she ever had a birthday celebration before. We do know that she loves cake though. I think she had a good day today.

I went back to the dermatologist for a followup visit this afternoon. I think this visit was largely unnecessary, but the doctor did find two new patches of keratosis that he zapped with his handy bottle of liquid nitrogen. It's interesting that the solution to many minor skin problems is to freeze the offending area or burn it away. It seems pretty crude and basic to me, but it seems to work.

Going to the doctor still doesn't seem normal yet. All the new Covid protocols make it seem like you are in some kind of dystopian novel. You can tell that people don't want to ride in an elevator with anyone else in a hospital. They wait until they can get a car for themselves and then try to push the button before anyone else can get in. Half the chairs have been removed in most waiting rooms so that patients are spaced out. Everyone wears a mask of course and you always have to fill out a form saying that you don't have a cough, a fever, or have had any exposure to someone with Covid. Whoever is making those infrared forehead thermometers is making a ton of money. Everyone takes your temperature these days. Sometimes your temperature is taken several times before you actually see a doctor.

Apparently some of my friends out at McDonald Observatory have already received their copies of the February issue of Sky & Telescope. I got tagged on Facebook this evening with a congratulatory message about the article that included a picture of the February cover. My editor didn't even tell me that my article made the cover! I was surprised and elated. I didn't expect that I would be the magazine's feature article and I certainly didn't expect to be on the cover. Now I am stoked to write more astronomy articles. I'd like to go out to Mount Wilson in California and spend some time in Big Bend where the skies are even darker than they are on Mount Locke. All I need now is for Covid to go away. It's really put a damper on everything.

I watched the high altitude Starship test at Boca Chica on the Internet this afternoon. Everything went extremely well until the very end when the Starship exploded on landing. This was pretty good for a first test though. There are already two more Starship prototypes ready to go and I have a feeling that one of them will make a successful landing. SpaceFlight Magazine is interested in doing a feature on the Boca Chica facility, but I need to figure out if there is a story for me to tell. It is almost impossible to get access to the facility from Space X and if you go down on your own you can end up waiting weeks for a launch. Schedules change frequently and nobody on the outside really knows what is going on. There will be lots of Starship launches in the future, so maybe I can make some connections. I don't even know where I would stay right now.

I still can't figure out this weather we've been having lately. I had to wear a heavy coat on our morning walk with Dawn, but when I took my afternoon walk later in the day it was warm enough to wear shorts. I end up changing several times a day just to keep up with the weather. We've got another nice day in store for us tomorrow, but there's a 90% chance of rain on Friday. I don't know why I even look at these weather forecasts. They're always wrong.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3841

I finally got the grass mowed. I thought about waiting until the weather was cooler, but I'd probably be waiting until Fall. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90's for the rest of the week with a few triple digit days thrown in for good measure. The Saharan dust cloud appears to have returned as well. It definitely wasn't a great day to be outside. At any rate, the yard looks better now and I got some exercise. I'm glad we have a small yard.

We got our earliest start yet on Dawn's morning walk, but we still had to cut things short today. Instead of our usual five mile walk, we only walked four miles. Since at least half of our walk was completed before sunrise, Dawn was fine. Dawn still loves these morning walks, but we have to be careful that she doesn't become overheated. I have a feeling that our walks are going to become even shorter in the weeks ahead.

I watched a Space X military launch on my computer this afternoon. Some of my Florida photographer friends were there, setting up cameras right next to the launch pad. I wonder whether I'll ever be able to do this again. I was just getting started as a space journalist and then the pandemic happened. Since both Florida and Texas are hotspots now, I'm not anticipating getting clearance to return to Kennedy Space Center any time soon. I shouldn't complain though. There are worse places to be quarantined than where I live. Even though the vegetation is starting to dry out, the park is still a beautiful place. There are fewer flowers now, but I enjoy listening to the birds and trying to identify them.

Dawn enjoys the wildlife too. She saw her first rabbit up close this morning. I'm glad she was on a leash. She was a little too interested in this bunny. A lot of Dalmatians have a strong prey drive. Spot and Dot would chase squirrels for hours. Dot even caught one once. Greta went after birds. I have a feeling that Dawn would have gone after this rabbit. I guess it's not as bad as having a cat. We've never had a Dalmatian try to bring a dead mouse into the house.

I wish I'd gotten a haircut when the stores first opened. Now I'm becoming reluctant to go out in public again. Dallas has been setting new records for Covid-19 infections every day for the past week. Twenty people died yesterday. We're still doing a lot better than Houston or Austin, but the trend isn't your friend here. I'm sure the park will be full of people barbecuing and having parties on July 4. It's no problem staying away from these people since the park is huge, but it's still a little sad to see so many folks ignoring everything.

The dermatologist must have known what he was doing. The scabs on my face are starting to peel away and my skin looks clear again. Like many things involving medicine, I should have done this procedure earlier. Hey, better late than never. I'm glad I don't have to return to a hospital any time soon. I don't want to go anywhere near a hospital right now.

I need to think of something to do around the house that doesn't involve cleaning tomorrow. I'm the expert at isolation, but I'm becoming bored. I'm realizing now that working saved me from cabin fever for many years. Staring at a computer when you are working and making money is one thing. Staring at the same computer when you are retired is something else entirely. I don't recommend it.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3835

Dawn got a bath today. Yes, that was the big event of the day. We took her to a neighborhood dog-wash place and probably erased weeks of car conditioning efforts. As far as Dawn is concerned, a bath is even a worse destination than the vet. None of our dogs have liked getting baths, but it was time. The dog-wash place was busier than we expected, but everybody was wearing masks. I thought the restaurant we went to on my birthday felt safer. I'm sure Dawn would have agreed. She would have loved to accompany us to the steak house.

Since Dawn was good about getting bathed, we took her to get an ice cream cone on the way home. All is well now. We have a clean dog and Dawn is starting to think that all car rides end with ice cream.

I forgot what day it was again. For a while this morning I thought it was Tuesday. I guess it's understandable that the days would blend together. The pandemic has made them virtually indistinguishable. It's a shame that infection rates are going up in Texas. I was hoping that things were returning to normal. I'm hearing now that some stores and restaurants are thinking of closing again. I might have missed my chance to get a haircut. We'll see what happens in the next week or so, but things aren't looking good.

Things aren't looking good in Florida either. I really doubt that I'm going to get media accreditation to attend the Mars 2020 launch now. Especially since states are starting to impose travel bans on other hot-spot states. Even if I did get approved, I'm not sure if it would be wise to go. Air travel still seems questionable. Now that we are all getting used to the idea of distancing, I wonder if people will ever feel safe on a plane again. Do you remember how crowded a full plane actually is? Yikes. I haven't been that close to other people since this whole mess started.

Our early morning walks are still enjoyable, but it is definitely getting warmer. At least the rain is gone for a while. I don't know if we could get started any earlier. I'm half asleep when we leave the house as it is. The only way to get more sleep would be to get to bed earlier. I've tried, but it seems to take longer and longer to finish the blog every evening. It's hard to write when you've got nothing to say.

I got a call from the dermatologist's office today saying that my biopsy results were negative. What biopsy? I didn't even know they did one when they removed the keratosis from my face. I guess this is good news. The blemishes were not melanoma or even a pre-cancerous lesion. It's a little late now, but I didn't need to have these things removed in the first place. Better safe than sorry though. You don't want to mess around with anything that might turn into cancer.

It looks like I'm going to have to go up on the roof tomorrow. There's still water up there from our recent rain. The hotter is gets, the worse it is up on the roof. Being a roofer has got to be one of the worst jobs in the world. Oh, well. I've got to keep the roof free of water. It's the only way I'm going to keep the leak from returning.

Hopefully, I'll remember that tomorrow is Thursday. I can't forget trash day since we seem to generate a lot of trash. I hope nothing terrible happened today. I didn't even turn on the TV.

Rio is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3828

The doctor wasn't pleased with my progress this morning. "I froze the hell out of those things last time and the roots are still there," he told me. It was a little unsettling to learn that keratosis blemishes had roots. I've watched enough science fiction movies to know that having something growing inside you with roots is not a good thing. "We're going to have to scrape these," the doctor told his nurse. I had visions of sandpaper and asked the doctor if it would hurt. "You won't feel a thing," he told me.

The doctor was correct. The anesthetic they injected in my face was pretty effective. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see what the doctor was actually doing. After a while I began to smell something burning. "Is that me," I asked? I couldn't feel anything, but there was a definite smell of burning flesh. "This is how we remove these growths now," the doctor told me. "It is very effective. "Will this bleed a lot," I asked the doctor? "I doubt if it will bleed at all," He told me. "There is already a scab." The nurse placed a small bandage under my eye and the doctor said he'd see me again in four months. I was good to go in less than fifteen minutes.

This wasn't what I expected at all. The entire procedure was much less traumatic than a trip to the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to go back for another four months. A trip to the doctor in today's post-pandemic world is still a little unsettling. There are rules about how many people can ride in the elevator and lots of social distancing circles on the floors. So many people are wearing masks that you just know that some of them have got to be sick. I definitely wouldn't want to work in a hospital environment right now. You can tell these guys know that they are at ground zero. I always have to fill out a questionnaire saying that I haven't traveled anywhere in the last fourteen days and haven't come into contact with anyone who has been exposed to the virus. How would they even know if I was telling the truth?

The rest of my day was uneventful. We're still walking extremely early, but you can tell that the temperature keeps rising. Summer is here. There was a breeze this morning, but Dawn seemed a little tired. We'll probably try a shorter route tomorrow morning. Dawn loves these walks in the woods and enjoys smelling things, but we don't want to push her too hard. She's getting older and isn't as obsessed with exercise as Janet and I seem to be.

If I were writing a dystopian novel, it would be hard to top what is happening right now in real life. People around the world are tired of being quarantined and are becoming restless. The virus is still here though and keeps reappearing like a forest fire that can't be extinguished. Social unrest is growing everywhere and there is already a shortage of Xanax. Everyone is upset about something. Truckers say they are going to stop delivering to cities with protests. People want to go back to the beach. Supply chains are crumbling as workers fall sick in critical industries. Police and emergency workers are under attack at the same time there are massive riots and arson in many cities. Kim Jong-un is blowing up buildings along the South Korean border and a weird little country just appeared right in the middle of Seattle. Basically, it's a total shit show everywhere you look.

This isn't going to end well. We need to get a grip on things in a hurry. It's easy to break something. It's a lot harder to put it back together.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3827

I always used to think I was an early adopter. My first computer was an Osborne 1. I was online way before browsers and the World Wide Web even existed. I had a home office long before it became a fad. What a surprise to discover that I'm actually pretty old school. In my own way, I'm probably just as bad as my Dad who steadfastly refused to use a computer at all. I'm still having a hard time adapting to online banking. I've made the switch, but it still seems easier to write a paper check and take it to the post office. I rarely made mistakes when writing checks, but I always have to check for typos now. It's easy to void a paper check, but a lot harder to undo an online mistake after you've hit send. At any rate, I did manage to get the bills paid today.

I'm becoming increasingly skeptical about modern life. What does all this technology really prove? I don't answer my phone anymore because I know I will be talking to a telemarketer. I seldom even make a call because it is so irritating to connect with an automated call center. I carefully delete cookies and the browser cache every evening before I shut off my computer. Almost nothing is trustworthy or reliable anymore. Maybe that's why I like those old Perry Mason shows. When somebody wanted to talk to Perry, they just called him up and he always picked up the phone. Nobody would ever send Perry a text message in the courtroom. I miss the days when I had a list of dependable suppliers and vendors and I could call each of them directly whenever I had a problem. All bets are off these days. Do you really trust Angie's List or Yelp. I don't.

Even writing the blog was easier when it was just a daily journal entry written by hand in a little leather bound book. Maybe I should go back to those simple journals. I was never writing for an audience. The blog and the yearly journals that preceded it were always just a way for me to keep track of my life when my memory begins to fail. My memory is still pretty sharp, but it is interesting to go back occasionally and see what I was doing five years ago. If I ever get Alzheimer's, having a detailed record like this might help.

I always wanted to keep this narrative going for 5000 consecutive days. Maybe 4000 is enough. I'm having second thoughts about all this. The world has changed a lot since I started the blog over ten years ago. People seem more argumentative now. I remember flame wars on those old Usenet News Groups but it never seemed personal. There is an angry vibe online these days and I've never been interested in arguing. I'm not even interested in having a dialog. Whenever I see one of those "If you blah, blah, blah, just unfriend me now" messages I feel like unfriending the person even if I happen agree with them. All the raw emotion and endless memes are becoming tedious. I think I was more comfortable with the Internet back when it was just a few nerdy electrical engineering majors struggling to send simple messages over a 300 baud modem.

Tomorrow I go back to the dermatologist. I've already gotten half a dozen text messages reminding me to wear a mask. I imagine that they'll do something, since my face hasn't completely cleared up. Will the doctor cut me or give me another liquid nitrogen treatment? Will I even have time to walk Dawn and finish my breakfast smoothie before my appointment? When you are used to doing nothing, even having one thing to do can seem complex.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3802

Maybe I've become too dependent on weather forecasting apps. Janet and I were both convinced that it was going to rain this morning, so we walked Dawn even earlier than we usually do to avoid getting wet. Getting started before sunrise meant we had the park to ourselves. We saw dozens of Great Egrets and very few people. The temperature was nice as well. I was a little sleepy when we started our early walk, but I hope we can manage to do this again. It was a very pleasant two hours.

It never did rain today. Actually the skies cleared up and it got quite warm later in the day. I didn't feel like mowing the grass, so I thought I'd try to remove the water stains in the living room ceiling with bleach. I don't know why I'm always convinced that this will work, because it never does. I certainly didn't get off to a good start today. When I went outside to get the stepladder, I got stung by a bee.

It's not easy to soak the ceiling with bleach, because gravity causes it to drip down my arm and all over the floor. I've ruined a few items of clothing when I've tried to do this in the past, so I only wear things that I don't mind getting soaked by bleach. I made a good effort today, but I can't honestly say that the ceiling looks any better. I guess I'll be forced to sand everything down and patch the areas with drywall mud. There's still no reason to actually remove and replace the sheetrock until we get a new roof. It would be nice if the house looked a little better though.

I paid some more bills and did a little accounting in Quickbooks this afternoon. Online banking is starting to seem more familiar now. I don't know if I'll ever be confident enough to set everything up to auto-pay, but I'm making progress. I'll have to admit that this is a lot easier than writing checks and driving to the post office.

After all the dire warnings from my dermatologist about possible side effects from cryosurgery, I haven't noticed anything at all. If my face is going to turn bruised and blotchy, it certainly hasn't happened yet. The keratosis doesn't look very different either. Did I even go to the dermatologist? We'll see if the liquid nitrogen treatment works, but this wasn't what I expected.

It's a shame I'm not down in Titusville now. I'm starting to see a lot of media coverage of the Demo-2 mission now that the launch is only a few days away. Obviously some people still have media credentials. Too bad I'm not one of them. I can see these guys asking the astronauts questions on TV. I wonder how many members of the press are actually there. NASA isn't saying, but the Press Site at KSC does look pretty empty.

It was amusing to hear Dr Fauci say that there would be irreparable damage to the country if we didn't open up soon. Wasn't this the same guy who said kids shouldn't go to school next year and that we should stay in lockdown mode over the Summer? I wonder why nobody seems to hold the good doctor accountable for his many flip-flops? He has changed his mind radically on almost everything. The virus isn't something to worry about in the United States. No, forget that. The virus will kill millions. Don't wear a mask. Nevermind. You've all got to wear a mask. I could go on and on. It's all on tape. Hey, the guy's got an honest face. And he's a scientist.

In other news, the State of Washington announced today that they mistakenly gave away millions of the state's unemployment money to a Nigerian Prince. Yep. We're really on top of this pandemic stuff.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3800

My visit to the dermatologist wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was diagnosed with actinic keratosis which my doctor assured me could be easily and effectively treated. This was good news because I was a little nervous that the rough skin on my face might be squamous cell carcinoma instead. Left untreated, actinic keratosis can actually turn into squamous cell carcinoma, which is probably why my regular doctor wanted to get me into the dermatologist's office in a hurry.

Treatment was fairly straightforward and involved no cutting. Basically the doctor wanted to destroy the skin lesions by freezing them. Technically this is called cryosurgery, but it felt more like accidentally getting freon on your skin while you were trying to top up your car's AC. The doctor took a pressurized canister of liquid nitrogen and carefully sprayed the skin lesions. "Don't freeze my eyeball," I told the doctor. "I still need these eyes."

The whole process took less than five minutes. The dermatologist wants to see me again in a month to makes sure the actinic keratosis has completely disappeared. He said there would probably be some redness, blistering and crusting in the weeks ahead but not to worry about it. On the off chance that the liquid nitrogen doesn't work, he said that there might be some curettage and excision involved on my next visit. This sounds suspiciously like going under the knife, so lets hope the liquid nitrogen works.

I wouldn't recommend spraying your face with liquid nitrogen. I've felt like I've walked into a hot frying pan for most of the day. A freezer burn is still a burn. The whole purpose of the treatment is to destroy the keratosis. Luckily our new social distancing rules will ensure that few people see me for the next several weeks.

We had a nice walk with Dawn this morning before I left for my doctor's appointment. The sky was overcast, but this kept the temperature down and Dawn was happy. I like overcast days. Everything photographs better without hard shadows. For photographers, an overcast day is like having a giant softbox in the sky.

I watched an interview with Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley after they arrived at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon. I noticed that the pair arrived in a Gulfstream corporate jet. Quite a change from the old days when astronauts used to fly their own Northrop T-38 fighters to the cape. I guess they won't be using the old Airstream Astrovans anymore either. These guys will make the final journey to Pad-39A in a Tesla Model-X.

When I handed my ID cards to the receptionist at the dermatologist's office this morning, she handed me back the ID cards belonging to another patient. I recognized immediately that the Medicare cards were wrong, but ended up putting the other guy's driver's license in my wallet. Jeez. I didn't even recognize my own picture. The error was quickly rectified but it made me wonder how the world works at all. We all make mistakes every day. I make many of them myself.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3799

If I told you that it is hard to differentiate one day from another it wouldn't be news. I'm sure you've heard this before. You've probably heard it from me before. When we take our walk with Dawn in the morning I look for things that have changed. We watch the progress of a road construction crew we see along the way. It take longer than I thought to build a road. We're seeing sailboats on the lake again. Why weren't they there before? I wonder if the sailing club was shut down or considered nonessential? It wouldn't make sense to ban boats on a lake, but then nothing really makes sense these days. The White Pelicans are gone, but one stayed behind just like last year. I wonder if it is the same bird? I think about these things because there isn't much else on my mind.

It's definitely getting warmer. The temperature was in the low 90's for the second day in a row. By walking very early we are still able to keep Dawn from getting overheated, but those days are numbered. I've never been a fan of Texas summers. Hey, at least we had a nice long Spring. It's been a wet spring as well and everything is very green.

Janet continues to take Dawn on short trips in the car in hopes of getting her used to traveling. If Dawn wasn't fearful of car travel, we could take short day trips with her. Janet tries to do something pleasant on each of these trips so Dawn will eventually look forward to getting in the car. It's a work in progress. Today they went to get ice cream at a local custard stand. Dawn apparently loves frozen custard. Maybe we'll take her to Keller's next and get hamburgers. We use to do this with Spot and it was one of his favorite things.

I still check my e-mail each morning, hoping to hear good news about two yet to be published articles. In addition to the upcoming Sky and Telescope article, there is another article about my visit to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans that I'm waiting on as well. Both of these articles have been approved for publication, but waiting on them to appear in print is testing my patience. I need some sort of positive affirmation that I'm making progress.

I need a haircut, an oil change for the car, and new walking shoes, but I have little desire to leave the house. I'm not that worried about catching the virus, but somehow the pandemic has made me even more reclusive than I was before. Now that I've become more familiar with online banking and shopping there is no compelling reason to get in the car and go anywhere.

I do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow that is unavoidable. Since it is a mid-morning appointment, I'll either have to skip breakfast or my morning walk with Dawn. It's hard to say which will be more important when I wake up tomorrow morning. I have a feeling that the walk will win. I haven't really been that hungry lately.

It will be interesting to see how things go at the dermatologist. They said to wear a mask to my appointment, but the patch on my skin that they are supposed to examine is actually covered by the mask. I'm sure the doctor will want me to remove it and I'll break the earloop like I always do. I'd better take a spare with me. It's all part of the new normal.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3798

Visiting the rescue dogs on Monday has become part of our regular schedule again. We missed seeing these guys when everything was shut down. Hank, Charlie, and Cinder are the only Dalmatians currently staying at the kennel, but we don't want to forget about them. Each of these dogs has their own distinct personality and it's fun spending time with each of them. They certainly love the attention.

Dawn is content to stay home when we visit the other dogs. I don't think she has any desire to return to the kennel. When we return from our long morning walks, she immediately hops on the bed and takes a long nap. She's found what she wanted. Dawn still loves her walks, but I think we're going to have to shorten them as the weather grows warmer. Dawn is not a young dog and Texas summers can be pretty intense. So far, it's still really nice early in the morning but I don't know how long this is going to last. Today's high temperature was over 90 degrees and it's not even June yet.

I finished filling out all the paperwork and sent my application for media accreditation to the Air Force. Hopefully, my request will be approved. There are several important launches taking place this year and I'm uncertain if NASA will return to normal operations in the immediate future. Getting military clearance might be my only chance to return to Kennedy Space Center this Summer or Fall. The magazine I write for has been very helpful. We'll see what happens. Now I've just got to sit back and wait. I'm still looking forward to covering the Mars 2020 launch in July.

I'm not looking forward to seeing the dermatologist later this week. I've known that I probably needed to have the blemishes on my face looked at for quite some time, but I've been avoiding making an appointment. My doctor finally made the appointment for me and gave me no choice. Maybe it won't be that bad, but I've seen what dermatologists do. I don't want anyone cutting on my face.

Stores are open again in Dallas, but I have no desire to go shopping. I wonder how many of my new habits will become permanent. I wash my hands obsessively now. Whenever someone approaches on a path in the park, I move well out of the way. I've always been somewhat suspicious of strangers and now I look at them like hand grenades waiting to explode. I'm not really fearful about the disease, but my natural suspicions about people have been amplified. This is probably not a good thing. Especially if millions of other people feel the same way.

I'm not sure when I'll return to a restaurant. I believe the information I'm hearing that confined indoor spaces where you linger a while are the most dangerous. Grocery stores are actually pretty safe because you are moving around and are not in one place for very long. Walking in the park is not dangerous at all. I'm glad I have no desire to go bar hopping. A crowded bar is probably the worst place you could be right now.

I know where I'll be tomorrow. We'll be walking Dawn early in the morning to avoid the heat and then I'll make my morning smoothie. Sounds pretty much like what I did today.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3793

My annual physical went well. I'm definitely getting older, but it appears that I'm just as healthy as I was last year. The only mildly alarming thing is that my doctor wants me to see a dermatologist. He thinks that some small scaly spots on my face that I always thought were keratosis might be squamous cell carcinoma instead. I hate having something removed that is so close to my eye, but I've learned not to ignore things like this. I'll see the dermatologist next week.

I enjoy talking with my doctor. In addition to being an excellent physician, he is also a history buff and loves talking about Texas history. He comes from a long line of Texas doctors that can trace their roots all the way back to the Republic of Texas. We talked about the Davis Mountains for a while and then I asked him about the coronavirus. He wasn't very confident that the pandemic would end soon. He said we were dreaming if we thought there would be a vaccine before the end of the year. "Just look at history," he told me. "It took decades to develop a safe polio vaccine. We failed to develop any sort of vaccine for SARS or other types of coronaviruses. Even the common flu vaccine we all take every year isn't always effective. You have to remember that a vaccine just helps speed up the development of herd immunity within a population. No pandemic since the Black Plague has been eradicated until herd immunity has been established and often that takes years."

This wasn't very encouraging. I told the doctor I was feeling fine but wondered why he was wearing a cast on his arm. He told me he was a Covid Casualty. When his gym closed, he started riding a bicycle for exercise. At some point, he lost control of the bike, flew over the handlebars, and broke both his arms. I never realized this guy was a badass. He fell in a remote area and somehow managed to reattach the chain to his bicycle with two broken arms and ride four miles back to town.

The nurse who did my EKG said that the past month at the clinic has been very weird. "We've been open the entire time," she told me, "but everyone canceled their appointments because they were scared of leaving the house." She said that there were many days when the entire staff just sat around with nothing to do. The phlebotomist who did my blood work said that even now some patients freak out if you even touch them. It's pretty hard to draw blood without touching someone.

I did have a mild fever last night after receiving the Shingles vaccine, but my temperature returned to normal this morning. Some people have a terrible reaction to these shots, but I've been pretty lucky. I felt a little tired today, but that might just be because it was hot and humid. At least I can cross this off my list. Hopefully I won't hear any bad news from the dermatologist.

There's going to be an all day virtual NASA Social for the Crew Dragon launch on the 27th of this month. It's definitely not the same as being there, but this was a good idea. I applied and quickly got accepted. I was pleased to see that many friends I'd met at previous NASA Socials were already there. I enjoy being part of the space/astronomy community. You can talk for hours with these people without ever mentioning politics or the coronavirus.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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