Day 4900

There are only 100 days left before I reach my goal. I've thought about continuing the blog after I reach my 5000 day goal, but I probably won't. Writing something even halfway coherent for 5000 consecutive days is a long time and I'm running out of things to say. It's probably time to put this thing to bed. I have surprisingly few readers after all this time, but a large audience was never my goal. I just wanted to see if I could do this and it looks like I can.

I was finally able to renew my driver's license today. It took two pairs of rather expensive glasses and a new eye exam, but I'm good for another five years. I ordered new glasses yesterday, but the prescription I had on hand was for progressive lenses and the Lencrafter store couldn't fill it in-house. This pair of glasses won't be ready for ten days. I got a second pair of simple distance-only glasses today and took them with me to the DMV. 

Before I could take a new eye test I needed a doctor to fill out a one page DMV form. Seems easy enough, but I couldn't get an appointment with my regular doctor for over a month. My license would have expired by then. I found another eye doctor at the mall and was able to get a same day appointment as a walk in patient. I actually liked this doctor better than my regular doctor. She said my eyes weren't really that bad and that I should have been able to pass a DMV eye test without glasses. I already knew this, but a lot of good that does me now. 

I guess I needed glasses anyway, but truthfully I can't tell any difference wearing them. Maybe things look a little sharper, but I could be imagining things. I kept looking at signs, taking the glasses on and off and the signs all looked the same. I passed the eye test easily when I returned to the DMV. Oddly, the line of letters they had me read today was larger than the ones on the test I failed yesterday. When I asked about this the examiner said that they always have people without glasses read a smaller line. Made absolutely no sense to me. Oh, well. I'm done now and ready for my next encounter with government bureaucracy. As long as my new license doesn't get lost in the mail, I'm good to go.

All in all, it was a very busy day. I finished mowing the grass in the front yard after breakfast this morning. The new mower batteries make a big difference. My fear was that the new batteries wouldn't last any longer than the old ones and I'd have to buy a new mower anyway. I guess I'm good to go on the mower for a while as well.

I still found time for a long walk today. I kind of wish I had a 5000 day goal on long walks as well. I'm getting tired of walking six miles a day. The walks make a difference though. I'm in a lot better shape than many people my age and long walks are conducive to daydreaming. Walking is exercise for lazy people. I still prefer long walks to going to the gym, even though it would do me a lot of good to start lifting weights again. Maybe one of these days I'll be motivated enough to do both.

Tomorrow I need to write my article about the AX-2 launch. If I wait much longer I'll forget everything.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4899

Good grief. I failed the eye exam this afternoon and the DMV won't renew my license until I get glasses. Jeez. I've never worn glasses in my life, but I guess things change. Up until a year or two ago I had 20/20 vision. At my last eye exam, the doctor said my vision had deteriorated and wrote me a prescription. He didn't seem alarmed though and said it was up to me whether I wanted to get it filled immediately. "Fill the prescription if you start having trouble seeing things," he told me. I promptly forgot about the prescription because I thought my vision was fine.

I think I got cheated at the DMV because the lady renewing my license just held up an eye chart card behind her desk in a slightly darkened room. If the chart had been illuminated better I think I would have passed the test. You don't argue with the DMV though. I went home and looked through piles of paper until I found the prescription. Luckily it hadn't expired yet. I went to a Lenscrafters store in the mall, picked out some frames and got the prescription filled. At first I though that I was going to walk out of the store in an hour with new glasses because they had an in-house lab. Nope. It wasn't going to be that easy. It turns out that my eye doctor wrote me a prescription for progressive lenses. Not only are progressive lenses much more expensive, they are also more difficult to grind and must be sent out to another lab. 

Janet says progressive lenses are hard to get used to and I probably should have found an optometrist to write me another prescription for simple distance only glasses. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow because it's going to take up to ten days to get the progressive lenses made. Ten days is cutting it close since my license expires soon. I still don't understand why I need the glasses. I can read all the road signs just fine.

The examiner didn't even ask for all the documents that I got out of the safe deposit box. I had everything she wanted right in my wallet. I hope I can get this mess resolved soon. You need a driver's license for just about everything these days. I certainly couldn't cover launches at Kennedy Space Center without one.

The rest of my day was fairly uneventful. We walked Dawn early in the morning, I ate my breakfast, and then I took my long walk. I made good time today and completed my walk five minutes earlier than I normally do. Ironically, my Fitbit said that I don't burn any more calories though. Sometimes I think the Fitbit is worthless. It measures the distance traveled fairly accurately, but the number of calories burned is all over the map. Some day when I'm slow it says I've burned a lot of calories. Other days when I'm feeling more active, I says I'm burning less. The sleep function never agrees with the Apple watch sleep function either.

I've got to pick up a bunch of prescription at the pharmacy tomorrow. Every time I get a physical exam my doctor renews everything whether I'm running low or not. I'd rather renew pills one at a time on an as needed basis, but I can never get the pharmacy and my doctor on the same page. I'll just have to find a place to put the new pills until the old pills run out. I guess I'll take all the driver's license documents back to the safe deposit box. They certainly weren't needed. 

Hopefully things will go smoother tomorrow. The weather was nice, but today wasn't a great day.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4747

It was as just as cold and nasty as everyone predicted this morning. It was eleven degrees when we woke up, with a wind chill that was below zero. Not surprisingly, we did not take a morning walk with Dawn. Dawn is no fool. She ran out in the back yard and quickly did her business and then came right back inside again.

Considering the weather, I actually had a very busy day. After breakfast I went and had my annual eye exam. My cataracts are getting worse, but evidently my eyes are deteriorating very slowly. My doctor said that he wouldn't recommend doing anything yet and said that I could easily go another year without cataract surgery. I no longer have 20/20 vision unfortunately. I was given a prescription for glasses, but it is optional if I ever use it. I'm still OK to drive and I guess do anything else without glasses. I may fill the prescription if I ever drive back to McDonald Observatory. My eyes get tired on long car drives.

The car started fine in the cold weather. I was a little worried about that. The outside faucets that I set to drip are still dripping, so I guess that's good too. So far there are no problems related to the cold weather. The furnace is running constantly, but it is still working normally. Our house is not well insulated and you can see condensation on all the windows on days like this. The dehumidifiers help, but there is only so much you can do with large expanses of single pane glass. I just hope that this cold spell doesn't linger. With temperatures this low, I feel like we are under siege.

This afternoon I got a haircut. Either my hair is growing faster or it's been longer than I thought since my last haircut. Even my stylist thought it was growing fast. I guess Covid worries are largely over. I didn't need a mask at the eye doctor or at my hair appointment either. Janet was the only one worried about Covid since she is traveling soon and didn't want to go if I was infected. She worries about giving Covid to her relatives. I took another Covid test this morning and that one turned up negative too. I just have a head cold and even that seems to be getting better.

Since it was way too cold to go walking in the park today, I stopped by the gym on the way back from my hair appointment. I still had to get my steps. I was in street clothes, but that was fine for walking around the indoor track. Actually I fit right in. A lot of the old people who come to my gym just wear street clothes anyway. I got my 10,000 steps, closed all the rings on my Apple watch and headed home for dinner.

Janet fixed an early Christmas dinner for us tonight, since she will be gone on Christmas Day. I'm glad that Dawn doesn't know what's up yet, since she will be very upset. We made it through Janet's last vacation, and we'll make it through this one as well. I know how to get Dawn to eat and take her meds and she will go down to the field behind our house with me in the morning to poop and pee. We won't even try to take a walk while Janet is gone. That would be stressful for both of us. 

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4361

My eye exam was a pleasant surprise. I've been dreading this exam for weeks because last year my doctor told me that I would be needing cataract surgery soon. Well, it's not going to be this year. My eyes have actually improved. There were no signs of diabetic retinopathy. There were no signs that my cataracts had gotten worse. Actually my doctor said that there was less cloudness in my right eye this year. The left eye has never been a problem. I aced the eye chart this year. I could read everything on the bottom line and the doctor's assistant said that I still had 20/20 vision.

In fairness, I think I could read the eye chart better this year because it was closer. I mentioned this to the doctor's assistant and she said this didn't matter because the projection system ensured that the chart would appear the same size to the viewer even though the far wall in the other exam room was further away. "This may be true," I told her, "but the closer projected image is definitely brighter and brighter images are easier to see." She gave me a strange look. I know she knew I was right. I bet everyone who gets their eyes examined in the smaller exam room gets a better score.

I asked the doctor about different types of cataract lenses and he told me that the Crystalens system didn't work as advertised and that most people who opted to go this route ended up having serious problems. He didn't recommend bifocal or trifocal lenses either, saying that they felt strange to everyone not already wearing bifocal or trifocal glasses. When I asked him if drops were being developed that could just dissolve the cataracts, he just laughed. "It's not going to happen," he told me. "Cataract eyedrops would put me out of business." Hey, at least the guy was honest. I didn't want to argue, but they are already using eye drops to treat cataracts in dogs. The Lanosterol treatment has also proved to be effective with guinea pigs, horses, rabbits. I think it's only a matter of time before these eye drops, or something even better, is approved for use in humans. 

Sometimes it is better to wait. When I first discovered that I had Hepatitis C, there were several treatments available that had serious side effects and didn't even work for many people. Then Sovaldi was invented and this little pill revolutionized everything. My Hepatitis C was totally eliminated in twelve weeks with no side effects whatsoever. Cataract surgery is a safe and very common procedure. Lots of people I know have had the surgery and are very happy with it. Given a choice, I'd much rather keep my natural lens so I can continue to focus at all distances. I was happy that my doctor thought my eyes looked just fine today.

The weather continues to be wonderful. I took my long walk early this morning because I didn't want to walk in the bright sunlight after my eyes had been dilated. This was probably a good idea since it takes four or five hours for your eyes to completely return to normal after they've been dilated. I always hate driving home after an eye exam. Everything is fine now. I only have to see the dermatologist and the dentist now and then I'm done with the medical parade.

Dawn was good with me today. I took her outside after my long walk and then again after I returned from the eye doctor. Both times she came when I called and followed me to the door. I sat with her for about fifteen minutes while she sunned herself in her favorite spot and she appeared completely relaxed. She also followed me out to the kitchen when I fixed her dinner tonight. It's a slow process, but we're making progress.

Gretta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3994

Brrr. It was 34 degrees when we woke up this morning. We didn't let the cold deter us. We bundled up and took our walk anyway. I'm not sure that Dawn liked her hat, but it had to keep her head warmer and everybody we passed said she looked cute. We actually didn't pass many people at all on the trails. The park was virtually empty. You have to be dedicated or a little crazy to leave the house on a day like this.

I had my appointment with the eye doctor today.  This is basically just a yearly check up to make sure that I don't show any signs of diabetic retinopathy. I still think my eyes are fine because I have 20/20 distance vision. There are problems though. Too many years of staring at a computer screen have ruined my close up vision and  according to my doctor, I am developing cataracts. I still can't detect any obvious signs of the developing cataracts, but they are apparently getting worse. "When will I have to start thinking about surgery," I asked the doctor. "Probably next year," he replied. Yikes. I was hoping he'd say ten years from now, or something else in the distant future. " How can these cataracts be getting worse," I asked. "I don't notice any changes in my vision at all." "You will by next year," the doctor replied.

I really don't like going to the doctor during a pandemic. Even though half the chairs in most medical waiting rooms have been removed to keep people apart, I still keep looking at all the other people with suspicion. "All these other people have got to be sick," I think. "Get me out of here."

The worst thing about going to the eye doctor is driving home after your eyes have been dilated. Everything seems so bright and even sunglasses don't help that much. Dilation doesn't just make things brighter, it also makes it harder to focus on anything. I squinted to reduce the glare and tried to avoid all the fuzzy cars in front of me. When I made it home safely, I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in a darkened room waiting for my eyes to readjust.

If it was thirty degrees warmer, today would have been perfect. The sky was clear and seemed to be completely free of pollen. I had no allergy problems today at all. Since it may freeze tonight, I remembered to set some of the outside faucets to drip. Some of the faucets are insulated, but others freeze almost instantly when the temperature dips below freezing. Tonight would have been a good night to take the telescope out, but I really don't like the cold. The stars will still be there tomorrow. It isn't that surprising that I am a little more familiar with the Summer skies.

I guess I'll go back to the storage warehouse and get the rest of the photo gear tomorrow. I need to wash the backdrop as well. Maybe I washed it after the last of 2019's events but I can't remember. One of the main reasons I got this new 10' x 20' backdrop is that it is machine washable. You couldn't wash my older hand painted muslin backdrops and after a few years they all began to smell of dog pee.

Hard to believe it's going to be December tomorrow. This has been one of the weirdest years I can remember. Everybody I know can't wait to get back to normal, but I think what constitutes normal is changing. The world is never going to be the way is used to be. The virus will eventually disappear, but a lot of our new habits and routines will remain. I'm pretty adaptable, but I'm not really looking forward to what lies ahead.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3989

I think Dallas has decided the coronavirus is over. People cetainly weren't sheltering in place today. There were traffic jams everywhere and the stores were packed. I had to pick up some last minute items for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner and it seemed like the entire town had the same idea. The grocery store that I went to was so crowded that I had trouble moving from one aisle to the next. I got what I needed though. Janet and I will have a nice Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

The storm last night was intense, but it was over very quickly. The thin line of storms passed through town at about 50 miles and hour and within fifteen minutes it was all over. We got a lot of rain within a short amount of time and there were some momentary high winds, but we didn't have any damage. One thing we learned was that Dawn does very well during a storm. We all sat together in our pitiful little hallway "safe space" during the worst of the storm and Dawn was completely calm. She just lay down between us and waited until the coast was clear. Petey and Dash would have totally lost it and Dot wouldn't have done that well either. A lot of our former dogs have had severe storm phobias, but Dawn just takes the weather in stride. I think she's more fearful of men than she is of tornadoes.

I succumbed to temptation and got the camera. There was no real justification for this purchase, but I knew that six months from now when the camera was full price again, I would be kicking myself for not getting it when it was on sale. I have plenty of cameras, but this is something I will definitely use. There are several innovative features that will be very useful the next time I find myself at Kennedy Space Center. My next attempt at astrophotography might benefit from this camera as well. At any rate, the deed is done. Now I have to read the instruction manual and learn how to use this thing.

I got a reminder call about my eye exam on Monday. Once you see a doctor about anything, they make sure that you'll continue seeing them forever. My vision is still good, although I need readers now for close up work. My vision would probably be even better if I hadn't spent so many years staring at a computer screen. The eye doctor says that I am slowly developing cataracts, but I can't notice any changes yet. Eventually, I'll have to deal with this, but cataract surgery is still way off in the future as far as I'm concerned. My distance vision is still 20/20 and I want to keep it that way. Good vision is important to almost everything I do. Hopefully the eye doctor won't throw me a curve on Monday.

We had a really nice walk this morning. Last night's storm seemed to have cleared the air and I didn't have any allergy problems at all. Lately it's been a little chilly when we leave the house, but we warm up quickly. Dawn loves the cool Fall weather and has been eager to walk these days. There are days when it's hard to get her out of bed, but today she was waiting at the door for us. It's nice to see her back to her old self. That seizure last month really had us worried.

I hope that tomorrow's celebrations don't cause a big virus spike. I'm tired of listening to pundits attempt to pin the blame for all this on somebody. If there is a huge spike, we'll never hear the end of it. Have a nice Thanksgiving. Eat too much and watch footfall afterwards. Just don't sit grandma right next to your college age kids at the table.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3623

Whenever I go to the eye doctor, I'm always tempted to get out of the chair when nobody's looking and go take a closer look at the eye chart. It would be easy to just memorize the bottom line of letters so I would have a perfect score. That bottom line of tiny letters always looks fuzzy to me, but it is the only one the doctor is interested in. I can read the larger letters just fine.

The doctor told me basically the same thing he told me last year. My distance vision is still 20/20. My close up vision is slowly deteriorating. And I am developing cataracts. Apparently cataracts are extremely common as we age. I won't need to do anything about mine for at least another five years, but according to the doctor they aren't going away. They say that researchers have discovered a compound that can safely remove cataracts without surgery. They've only tried the eye drops on mice so far, but maybe they'll be available five years from now. I'd definitely prefer eye drops to surgery.

The worst thing about these annual eye exams is driving home with your eyes dilated. I wore dark sunglasses but the road was still pretty bright. Luckily the effect wore off pretty quickly this year. Within a few hours after I returned home, I was able to take my walk in the park. I think I'm good for another year.

I went to the storage warehouse and picked up some kiddie gates, a large crate, a dog bed, and Dot's food and water bowls for our Thanksgiving guest. Janet picked up some food at the vet. We'll be keeping Ginny at our house during the Thanksgiving holiday. Treasure gets a holiday vacation with another volunteer as well. Some of the dogs will stay at the kennel, but hopefully this will help keep things from becoming too crowded. Ginny is still recovering from her heartworm treatment and needs to stay quiet. Kennels are definitely not very quiet during the holiday rush. There's a lot of barking going on. I think our house is the perfect alternative for a dog who needs her rest. Very little happens here.

I found out today that my background check has been completed and that I have been approved to stay on Mount Locke for an extended period of time. The public affairs director at the observatory said that they would be looking forward to seeing me next year. This is good news. I've got a lot of planning to do. The first obstacle to overcome is finding a place to stay. I could always rent an RV for my initial visit, but I'd rather stay at the astronomer's lodge or some type of permanent housing at the observatory. Almost 100 people live on-site. Some of them are temporary. Maybe I could make arrangements to rent somebody's place while they weren't there. This can all be worked out. I doubt that I will be returning to the Davis Mountains until next Spring anyway.

I need to write Spaceflight Magazine and see whether they'd be interested in an article about my upcoming trip to the Michoud Assembly Facility. It's not a launch, but it still could be very interesting. The first of the Space Launch System rockets that will return the United States to the moon is nearing completion at Michoud now. If I can follow this rocket on it's journey through testing and launch, it would make a good story. The launch is still over a year away though. We'll see what I discover in New Orleans. There's always a story somewhere.

I hope that Ginny enjoys her stay at our house. I'm a little nervous and a little excited. They say Ginny sometimes tears up her bed. Hey, it happens. We've got an indestructible Kuranda bed for her, so she should be fine. There's a lot on my plate for a guy who does nothing. A NASA adventure, an interesting volunteer opportunity at a distant observatory, and a dog around the house for a while. It's going to keep me busy.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3622

It was a typical busy Sunday. I got my 20,000 steps with a few extra to spare. It was a nice day so I went to the gym early to give myself time to make some more roof repairs when I returned. Sometimes I wonder if going to the gym on Sunday does me any good at all. I've noticed that walking for an hour and a half burns more calories than an hour and a half at the gym. I guess a little variety doesn't hurt. My workout at the gym is certainly different than a long walk.

It took a while to find additional worn spots on the roof. I'm gradually getting them all repaired. I didn't apply a lot of silicon today, but hopefully the strategic small repairs I made will help. I don't think I will ever have faith in this roof, but if I can keep it from leaking until I can find a reasonable bid from a reputable roofer, that's good enough for me. It looks like I have a little less than a gallon of the silicon material left. I'll save the rest for emergencies. Hopefully, there won't be any.

I sent my acceptance letter to NASA today, so I will definitely be attending the Artemis Day event at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. I've seen pictures of this enormous rocket factory and it will be interesting to see the next moon rockets being assembled. The first one is almost ready to be shipped to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for live fire tests. Hopefully, I will find a way to see it again when it eventually launches from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center sometime in 2021.

Our road is open again. I was amazed at how much the construction crews were able to accomplish in a single day. All the beams that will support the roadway on the first half of the bridge are in place now. It looks like there will be no support columns between the Northbound and Southbound lanes anymore. The long steel beams span the entire length of the bridge. There must have been a huge crane to lift these beams in place but I didn't see it. I was asleep. Most of the work must have taken place last night.

It looks like we will be keeping one of the rescue dogs over the Thanksgiving holiday. Boarding kennels are typically booked to capacity over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays so we are trying to find temporary short-term fosters for some of the Dalmatian Rescue dogs. Hopefully, this new experience will be good for the dogs. I'll have to go pick up kiddie gates, dog beds, water and food bowls, and other paraphernalia from the storage warehouse tomorrow.

I'm kind of dreading my appointment with the eye doctor. My doctor is kind of old school and doesn't have an Optomap camera to take pictures of the retina. He still dilates my eyes which I hate. It takes me about six hours for the effects of the eye drops to wear off. They give you a pair of paper sun glasses but they don't help much. I never enjoy driving home after an eye exam.

McDonald Observatory has scheduled a Special Viewing Night for the 82" Otto Struve Telescope on December 16. It's tempting. That's when the Starliner launch is supposed to happen at Kennedy Space Center too. What are my chances of getting off the wait list and invited to the launch? Honestly, chances are slim but it could easily happen. It also snows in West Texas in December. There's that too. I'll probably just fret and end up doing nothing.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3254

My eye exam went better than I expected. I still have 20/20 distance vision and while my close range vision has deteriorated, the doctor said wearing readers was normal for someone my age. I wish I didn't need the readers. You don't realize how nice it is to be able to focus your eyes from two inches to infinity until you lose this ability. Years ago, I use to think I could strengthen my eye muscles by alternately focusing on close and distant objects while walking the dogs. The plan didn't work. Almost everybody loses some close range vision as they get older.

I show no signs of macular degeneration, which is a good thing since my Dad already had macular degeneration at my age. There were no signs of diabetes related damage either. The only bad thing is that I've started to develop cataracts. The doctor said that it would be at least five years before he would recommend surgery, but eventually I would need it. Fair enough. Evidently, it is very common for older people to develop cataracts. Considering that I haven't had an eye exam in almost twenty years, I was happy with today's results.

I do wish I didn't need to have my eyes dilated for the exam. The drive home from the eye doctor was interesting to say the least. There is a new high-tech machine called an Optomap that makes eye dilation unnecessary, but this clinic didn't own one. Janet's eye doctor uses one of these scanning laser ophthalmoscopes and she loves it. I can see why. It's been over four hours since my exam and my eyes still aren't back to normal.

I'm not worried about my eyes anymore, but I am worried about Dash's paws. It's turning out to be very difficult to keep them from bleeding. The combination of blood thinner medication, the vertigo associated with vestibular disease, and the neurological problems that are making his rear legs weak are really making a mess of things. We can get the bleeding to stop, but almost anything can open up the cut again. The rear paws are the problem, but he even managed to hurt one of his front paws this morning when he fell.

Dash pooped in the bed again last night. We're going to try disposable puppy training pads tonight, but I'm not very optimistic about their success. Dash still moves around at night. If we put a pad under his butt when we go to sleep, he'll be using it as a pillow when we wake up. Luckily, we've got a good washing machine. I never dreamed that the super hot 'sanitize' cycle would turn out to be so useful.

I received another auction payment today. It still seems curious to me that some objects hold their value while others don't. I wish I'd held on to childhood toys and baseball cards. When you are a kid, you never think that baseball cards will be worth money when you are an adult. They were just pieces of cardboard wrapped with bubble gum inside. Most of my art was just pieces of paper too. Why do these things still have value and my old computers are worthless? My warehouse space is filled with old computers that were state-of-the-art when I bought them. Now they are just door stops. The movers literally used one of the computers as a doorstop while they were moving my unit last week.

It's hard to believe that it's Thanksgiving tomorrow. This year is almost over. We've been going to the same Thanksgiving Brunch for five years now. I hope the food is as good as it was last year.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day