Day 4315

It was a quiet day. We took Dawn on her sunrise walk before Janet left for the golf tournament. My foot still hurt, but it was a lot better than yesterday. I must be doing something right. Dawn and I basicallly had the day to ourselves, which didn't make Dawn very happy. She perked up when I fixed her dinner, but she basically spent the day sitting on the bed. I keep telling her that we need to be friends. One of these days Janet is going to take a trip and then what is she going to do?

I thought about bleaching the stains in the ceiling today, but I didn't want the house to smell like bleach for the rest of the day, so I took a nap instead. Dawn tolerates me on the bed when Janet is away, but she moves to a far corner so she isn't right next to me. I guess this means that she likes the bed more than she dislikes me. It's pretty obvious that she thinks the room is hers. It's her new luxurious kennel. That's fine by me. I just sleep there.

I did take a long walk this morning, but I walked very slowly. I only went four miles instead of my usual six. When I got back, my foot was in no worse condition than when I began. It was such a nice day that I hated to stay home. I still have no idea what caused the terrible foot pain the other day. There is still no swelling and everything is slowly returning to normal. My feet always hurt a little when I walk, but this was over the top. Hopefully the severe foot pain isn't a recurring problem. I don't want to stop walking.

I still haven't heard anything from the observatory, so I guess I'm not going to be needed in October. That's just as well. Milky Way season is almost over and I still have a lot of bills to pay. I'll just plan on going out sometime in the Spring. Spring is far enough away that I can still be optimistic about future travel plans.

The day went quickly even though I did virtually nothing. I didn't watch TV or even spend much time on the computer. I just did nothing. Maybe doing nothing is my superpower. When Janet texted me to say she'd be late, I should have gone out and picked up something for dinner. I remembered that she already had something planned that was in the refrigerator, so I did nothing. I still should have gone out and gotten take out. Janet had a long day.

I think there's going to be a new dog when we visit the kennel tomorrow. We may need to either pick her up or drop her off at the vet. I'm not sure. I'll take my camera in case we need to take her picture for the website. Dogs and rockets are about the only things I use the camera for these days. I've heard rumors that the group wants to increase the Christmas photo schedule this year. I hope I'm up for it. I get tired really easily these days. Santa Paws is a good fundraiser though. I'd better get in shape.

It's time for a haircut again. At least this isn't another doctor's appointment. Time has gone really quickly this year, although I think I've done even less in 2021 than I did in 2020. 

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4277

I got a letter from the new editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today hoping that I would continue to be a contributor to the magazine and asking if I had any ideas for new articles. This was definitely encouraging news. It kind of keeps the dream of being a space reporter alive. I still have no plans to return to Kennedy Space Center any time soon, but eventually the pandemic will be over. I am confident that there will be future articles.

The weather has been really nice this week. When we took our sunrise walk with Dawn this morning it was only 69 degrees. The weather was still cool enough for me to take a nice long walk after breakfast. It's pretty evident that I enjoy walking outdoors more than going to the gym. Extreme heat isn't fun though and it's nice to have the gym as a backup, even though I might not need it again for another year. I may be wrong, but I think Summer is finally over.

I'm still not doing much during the day. It's nice to have a doctor's excuse to be lazy. I've still got a week or so to go before I can lift anything, but my recovery is proceeding nicely. Eventually I'll have to get the lawn mower out and cut all the tall grass. The only useful thing I did today was spray for spiders under the eaves. Hopefully, now that the windows are clean and the spiders are gone I won't have to do this again for quite a while.

Dawn is weird. She gets excited when I get her leash for our sunrise walk. She gets even more excited when I begin preparing her dinner. When I want to take a nap with her during the day however, she immediately moves to the far corner of the bed. She'll stay on the bed with me as long as I don't look at her. If I stare at her, she'll get up and go to her bed in the kitchen. Doesn't she know by now that I actually like dogs, especially Dalmatians? I'm still waiting to win this dog over, but I think she's made up her mind.

I wonder who sold my number to the telemarketers. There has been a huge increase in telemarketing calls this year. AT&T is supposed to block these calls, but they don't do a very good job. I get spam text messages and cell phone calls as well. I wonder who actually answers these calls? I don't. If I don't know you already, I don't pick up the phone. Somebody must be picking up the phone though. I can't believe that so many people would be spamming me if it wasn't profitable.

When I was ready to take the trash to the curb this evening I discovered that Janet had already done it. She's making the bed in the morning too. I like this, but don't want to appear lazy. That was always one of the best things about making my living as a writer. I could stare at the ceiling for hours at a time and everyone would always think I was working. Pretty soon I'll be able to lift things again and I'll resume my household chores. Personally, I enjoy doing nothing. It's an acquired taste though. Most people I know like to stay busy.

Dawn took a new route on her sunrise walk this morning. She ended up walking an extra half mile. This was the first time she's done this in over a month. I wonder what she'll do tomorrow morning?

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3766

It really is becoming difficult to remember what day it is. Every day is exactly the same. I'm finally getting enough sleep, but oddly it doesn't leave me feeling refreshed. I'm just as tired as I ever was. This would be the perfect time to embark on major projects, but it's hard to get motivated. I could use the time to finally clean out my office. I could clean up the back yard and put in some new grass. I could redesign my website or make a real effort to build my stock photo library. There are literally dozens of worthwhile home improvement projects that could use my attention. How to you get motivated when you know there is no urgency? I don't work well without a deadline. When time is suspended, everything can wait until tomorrow, or next week, or even next month.

Somewhere people are under tremendous pressure to save the world. It seems weird when the role you have been assigned in this effort is to stay home and do nothing. I'm actually very good at doing nothing. Should I give lessons? I could make a YouTube video but it would never get finished. When you are an expert at doing nothing, you rarely finish anything.

The fact that my daily routine hasn't changed one bit makes the pandemic seem like it's off in another universe somewhere. My own little neighborhood seems pretty normal. I'm glad that Texas hasn't imposed draconian rules like some other states. Stores are closed but the parks are still open. We walk Dawn every day and and wave at the neighbors who are out gardening in their yards or walking their own dogs. Until I turn on the television it's easy to forget than anything is wrong.

Today was beautiful. The sky was blue and the temperature was in the mid-sixties. Dalmatians love this type of weather. Janet and I walked Dawn five miles today and she didn't even seem that tired when we returned home. I was a little tired though. I need some new walking shoes. Shoes are one thing I hate to order online. I really need to try them on.

Since the weather was nice, I resumed my roof repairs. I think I've found all the bad areas, but the next time it rains, I'll find some more. There hasn't been a leak for quite a while now. I'm slowly working up my nerve to repair the sheetrock on the inside of the house. I'm superstitious though. As soon as I fix the ceiling, I'm convinced that the leak will appear again.

I'm also working up my nerve to repair my desktop computer myself. I watched some more YouTube repair videos today. The first video made the repair process look extraordinarily difficult. After watching for twenty minutes, I realized that I was looking at the wrong computer. This wasn't even the one I owned. When I found the correct video, the repair still seemed hard enough that I could easily screw things up. I still might give it a try. I learned today that it is possible to replace my hard drive with a super fast solid state drive. A customized computer always sounds appealing.

When I was exploring other repair options I learned that FedEx and UPS aren't delivering to non-essential companies. Apparently they are only delivering to residences during the pandemic. A repair shop told me that they could do the repairs but that I would have to get the parts myself and bring them with me. When the repair technician started coughing badly on the phone, I decided that it might be better to just do the repair myself.

The trash has been taken to the curb. Garbage pickup is still considered essential. There won't be any Friday morning breakfast outings for a while though. Some of my favorite restaurants will probably never reopen.

Becker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3358

It was much nicer today. I could almost overlook the fact that it was 23 degrees this morning because the sun was shining and there wasn't much of a wind. Of course Dash wanted a walk. It takes a while to get him suited up on cold days. We try to put his socks and boots on before he gets up because it much easier to fit these things while he is still lying down. When he gets up we take off his harness so he can wear a warm sweater underneath. Then we attach the Help 'Em Up Harness again, trying to make sure that Dash doesn't fall down in the process. On really cold days he also wears his hat. You may think this is overkill, but everything fits well and when Dash came home this morning, he wasn't shivering.

Long walks were the order of the day. There wasn't much else to do. I think Dash and I were both ready to get outside. Without writing and website design jobs to keep me busy, my days can get pretty long. If Dash were young and healthy, I could walk for hours in the park. Walking is a great way to daydream and kill time.

The muddy area on top of the sewer pipe still seems to be drying up, so I canceled the plumbing appointment that I postponed yesterday. Plumbers are expensive and I'd hate to tear up the yard and spend a lot of money just to discover that the pipe was fine and I was dealing with a drainage problem instead. We have had a lot of rain lately. I think I'll wait until we get some dry weather and then see what the yard looks like. I can always call the plumber back.

When I was busy with work, I also seemed to have lots of hobbies. I collected things. I taught myself to repair watches. I played in a rock band for a while. I convinced myself that I was an artist and had several gallery shows. Now that I have all the time in the world, nothing interests me. Most of the watches aren't running anymore and I don't even care. I tried to resume playing the piano and took online lessons for a month or two, but quickly became bored and my keyboard is now gathering dust. We have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime and I'm not even interested in watching movies. This is all very curious. I wonder how this happened? I'm not depressed. I don't think I'm avoiding things because when something needs to get done, I still take care of the problem quickly and efficiently. Some people are motivated by desire. I must have always been motivated by deadlines. Without a deadline to meet I'm alarmingly content to do nothing.

I'll probably do nothing tomorrow. A roofer may come over to give me an estimate on a new roof. Since he's a roofer, he may not come at all though. We'll see. On Thursday we take Dash to the cancer center again for one of his periodic echocardiograms. Against all odds, I think Dash's condition has actually gotten better since we saw these doctors two months ago. He's eating better and seems to have more energy. He even got up on the bed by himself today. The little guy is pretty amazing. We were warned that Dash was living on borrowed time over two years ago and he's still with us today. He seems happy too. Maybe doing nothing is the secret to a long life. Dash has perfected doing nothing. He sleeps all day and when he's active he's mostly interested in smelling other dog's poop in the park. I think he's a good role model.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day