Day 3536

Traveling is always more enjoyable than what comes afterwards. Today we unpacked, did a lot of laundry, and resumed our regular routines. I went to the post office and got mail service restored. There wasn't as much accumulated mail as I expected. What was missing was the junk that the mail carrier just stuffs in every mailbox along with the real mail. I wish you didn't need to go on a trip to avoid this clutter.

It was noticeably cooler today. It felt like we got the benefit of a little cold front that proceeded this afternoon's rain. My morning walk was hot and humid as I expected, but when I walked again after the rain clouds passed through town, it felt like Fall. The temperature was still almost 80 degrees, but when you're used to to 102, 80 degrees feels wonderful. The only downside to the cooling rain was that the pumps on the roof weren't working, so I'm going to have to go up on the roof tomorrow and sweep the standing water away.

I'm going to have to rethink my Sky & Telescope article. This is an astronomy magazine and since I didn't actually look through any telescopes while I was at McDonald Observatory, they might not be as interested in what I have to say. You never know though. Weather is always part of any story about astronomy. Even though it rained, I'm still going to write an article and submit it to the magazine. The trip was still quite interesting to me. Maybe it will be interesting to others as well.

One interesting bit of trivia I learned during our trip was that Hotel Limpia where we stayed in Fort Davis was also home base for the first astronomers while the observatory was being built during the early 1930's. The historic hotel has been refurbished but is essentially unchanged. We might have stayed in the same room as Otto Struve or other early luminaries in the world of astronomy.

There was another opportunity to attend a NASA event in my inbox this morning. This wasn't a launch. It was a chance to go behind the scenes with NASA at this year's International Astronautical Congress in Washington DC and meet with scientists, experts and astronauts. Sounds interesting, but I can't afford to spend five days attending a high end Washington DC convention. These are the type of things you usually do on an expense account. Retirement is kind of weird. You have all the time in the world, but business travel is a thing of the past. Everything you do is on your own dime. These days I've got to finish paying for one trip before I can start thinking about another.

I'm definitely going to be thinking about other trips. Travel is a lot more interesting than walking around the lake and counting ducks. Don't get me wrong. I like the local ducks, but there are other birds in the sky. I'll leave you with a picture of one of the Fort Davis hummingbirds. Tomorrow it's back to pictures of half dead Texas flowers.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1912

I threw a load of laundry in the dryer this morning and got an error message. The dryer is broken. It runs for about five seconds and then shuts off. Too bad this malfunction didn't occur a month ago when I had the appliance repairman out to the house to fix the washing machine. I could have gotten both of these unreliable appliances fixed at the same time. Life was simpler when our machines were mechanical. Mechanical things usually give you a warning before they fail. You would typically hear odd squeaks and rattles that weren't there before. These early warning signs have saved me many times. Now when something goes wrong, you just get a cryptic error message on a circuit board. Usually these messages mean that the circuit board itself has gone bad.

I managed to get a repairmen out this afternoon, but the dryer is still not working. These repairs are a two step process now. The repairman comes out to assess the situation. Then he almost always has to order a part and returns to fix the machine a week or so later. Since I am obsessed with doing laundry, this is a real inconvenience. I hate going to the laundromat, but what choice do I have? I took the wet clothes out of the dryer, gathered up a pile of quarters, and went to the laundromat to dry them off while Janet watched Dot.

While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I drove to a nearby Home Depot and got a gallon of elastomer to patch the roof with. I could have called the roofers, but lord know when they would have gotten around to fixing things. I'm really tired of things breaking, but seem powerless to stop these mishaps. At least the car didn't break down while I was running errands this afternoon. Janet thought it would be easier to just buy a new dryer, but I remembered how much trouble it was to get the one we have into the utility room in the first place. You have to carefully measure each appliance to make sure it will fit in the small allotted space and then when the machine arrives, you have to completely take the door off the utility room, because it is such a tight fit. Apparently the washer and dryer we bought aren't very reliable, but at least they fit in the room.

The hospital called today to remind us of Dot's appointment to have her sutures removed tomorrow. I had carefully written the date down in my iCal calendar when Dot was initially released from the hospital, but somehow I got the time wrong. Why do I do this so often? I'm glad we got a reminder, because we would have been late otherwise. Hopefully Dot will feel a little better once her stitches are out.

Janet wanted to test our safe space for Dot by leaving the house for a short time and watching her on the baby monitor. She was resting peacefully when we left, but as soon as she heard the car start, she sat up in her pen and began barking frantically. We only drove around the block, but I didn't have the heart to go further. Dot is stubborn. She would have continued barking until she wore herself out. So much for any plans to leave the house. I will have to think of a Plan-B, because once that Janet returns to work, it will be impossible for me to stay in the house continually.

Jeez, I must have fallen asleep with a finger on the return key while I was writing this, because I just had to remove what seemed like a mile of line break tags from the blog's HTML. Oh, well. I'm awake now and Dot gets her stitches out in the morning. There's something to be said for that. I hope the dryer gets fixed soon. You definitely don't want to listen to me talking about dirty laundry for the next week.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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