Day 4844

There are critters everywhere this Spring. Last night there was a bunny in the yard when we were taking Dawn out to pee. It took me forever to get the bunny to leave because I didn't want Dawn to get it. Finally, I got it to go out an open gate and then we let Dawn outside. I did close the gate again after the bunny left. 

We've never had a dog with a really strong prey drive, but Dot killed a squirrel once and Gretta killed a bird. Dogs will be dogs. I've always been worried that our dogs would want to tangle with a possum. We see possums in the yard almost every week. There have also been racoons, armidillos, and the ocassional snake. Dawn pretty much ignores the squirrels. There are so many of them that they aren't interesting anymore.

This weather is driving me nuts. It's cold. It's hot. It's wet. It's dry. You never know what to expect. It was really chilly early this morning, but by mid-afternoon it felt like summer. When I wear a jacket on my walks I try to pick something that is easy to take off and tie around my waist. I'm usually cold on the outbound leg of the walk and hot on the return.

I still haven't gotten the grass mowed. My long walk always takes priority and by the time I get home I'm too tired to push the mower. I need to ask my neighbor's landscape crew how much they'd charge to mow my front yard while they are at her house. It's a very small yard and it would only take them a few minutes. Whatever they'd charge, I'd probably think it was too much. I've taken care of the yard for decades and am not used to paying for lawn care. Something's got to change though. I just don't have the energy that I used to.

Yesterday I tripped and fell while I was walking Dawn and now my back hurts along with everything else. Sometime I don't know how I manage to keep walking six miles a day. I've got bad knees, a dislocated shoulder, and some pretty nasty foot pain. I don't think the fall did any damage, but I've really got to watch my balance on uneven ground. Truthfully, I've got to watch my balance walking around the house. This is probably one more reason that it isn't a great idea to go back to the observatory and spend the night outdoors photographing the stars. There are a million ways to fall out there.

Very little happened today. I walked the same route I walk every day and then came home and charged camera batteries and backed up the laptop. There is very little need to back up the laptop since everything gets transferred to the desktop computer anyway. I hate seeing that little message saying "no backups in 208 days" and I guess today was the day to make it go away for a while.

There is more rain in tomorrow's forecast. Hopefully we will be able to get Dawn walked before the rain starts. Hopefully the roof won't leak either. I'll probably miss the rain when the ground is parched and dry this August. Right now I've had enough of the stuff. This has been a very rainy Spring.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4820

Dawn had a setback today. She could hardly walk this morning and we had to help her off the bed. She was favoring her left front leg and her neck seemed puffy as well. Things didn't get better as the day progressed, so we took her to the vet. They took x-rays and gave her some pain pills, but we still don't really know what is going on. If I had to guess, I think she might have a slipped disk in her neck, but it could be anything. She was very stressed before we went to the vet, but the pain meds appear to be working and she is calm now. Hopefully we can find out what is going on soon. This is a strange set of symptoms with no apparent cause. Up till now she has been a very healthy dog.

Dawn didn't get a morning walk for obvious reasons and I didn't take my own walk until later this afternoon because I didn't want to leave Dawn alone in the house. Everything is more of less back to normal while we wait for a diagnosis, but it's going to be hard to keep her off the bed. Our bed is her favorite place, but jumping on and off is not going to be good while she has a weak front end. Her front legs aren't swollen and appear normal but she has already fallen twice. Something is definitely very wrong.

I made an appointment with the roofers to go over their bid and schedule getting the new roof installed. I'm not looking forward to this, but it has to be done. I hope I picked the right roofing company. These guys came highly recommended, but I've been disappointed by roofers before. I want this to be the last roof we have to deal with on this house. Janet and I are getting too old to be dealing with continual roof leaks. When the roof is fixed we will need to repair damaged sheetrock inside the house and then get new carpets and paint. First things first though.

It's time for a haircut again, so I made an appointment for later in the week. I also renewed some prescription that I will pick up tomorrow. I usually get a haircut before I travel, but there are no travel plans in the immediate future. There are interesting launches at Kennedy Space Center in April, but I may need to skip them. A lot depends on what is going on with Dawn. It wouldn't hurt to lay low and save some money either. I've already been to Florida four time in the past several months.

I got my steps today but didn't complete my full six miles. There was a lot going on. It's just as well that I didn't walk as far today because my feet were bothering me. I was slow on my long walk which was a shame because it was such a nice day for walking. It feels like Spring has arrived even though it's a little early. Spring flowers are already starting to appear and a lot of trees in the park are turning green. I hope we don't have a late March freeze, but it has happened many times before. Wildflowers this early in the year almost guarantees that we will have another freeze.

Tomorrow is my last day to attempt roof repairs before more rain arrives. I don't have a lot of the Armor Flex liquid silicon left, but there is enough to patch a few leaks. All I need to do now is find them.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4447

Another cold, grey day. We were finally able to take Dawn on a walk before breakfast and she seemed to enjoy it. We had a big weekend breakfast and then I went and did my grocery shopping. I left a little early this morning because I thought it was going to rain. Actually it did rain, but not until much later in the day.

The shelves are still looking a little bare in most stores but I still found everything I needed. I was going to get gas, but there were lines at Sam's Club where prices are lowest. I can wait. I drive so little that my tank won't be empty for a long time. Prices in the stores still seem high, but that is probably because I never used to look at prices. Now that I've become more aware of what things really cost, it all seems expensive.

I've been worried about falling for months, but it was Janet who actually fell. She stumbled while running in the park this morning and got some nasty looking scrapes and bruises. Hopefully no harm was done, but falling on pavement is never fun.

I dressed warmly for my long walk today. It wasn't as cold as yesterday, but it still felt very chilly to me. Nobody seems to dress as warmly as I do. I don't see how some of the people I see in the park can stand the cold. On cold days I wear a light down ski jacket under a heavier down outer jacket. The inner jacket has a hood and I wear a wool hat under that. Add a pair of lined leather gloves and I'm ready for anything.

So far no roof leaks today even though we got quite a bit of rain later in the day. I'm glad the pumps are still working because I have no desire to go up on the roof these days. My sense of balance isn't as good as it used to be and there is no reason to be tempting fate.

I'm still working on getting Dawn to trust me. She's fine when Janet is in the house, but still seems nervous around me when we are alone together. I don't know what to expect when Janet goes on vacation. I guess she'll either get used to me or it will be a very long week. I don't think I'll be able to take her on walks while Janet is away. If she froze in place a long way from home I would be out of luck. Right now it's hard enough for both of us to get Dawn moving again when she has these periodic freezes. I don't think the refusal to move is stubbornness. It is some kind of fear or panic.

I follow space more than politics and have been surprised that even this tiny little slice of reality has been affected by the crisis in the Ukraine. A major component of the Cygnus rocket that resupplies the international pace station is manufactured in Ukraine. Without this component there will be no more launches from Wallops Island. The Atlas 5 rocket which has been used for years to launch the majority of research satellites uses Russian engines. The fuel used to keep the international space station in a stable orbit comes from Russia as well. If the supply for these things is disrupted, the space program slowly grinds to a halt. It's sad how little I knew about Ukraine before this crisis. I still thought that Chernobyl was in Russia. And when did the spelling and pronunciation of Ukraine's capital city change from Kiev to Kyiv? Is this recent or am I just another unaware American?

I think it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow. I sure hope so. There's been too much gloomy weather on top of all the world's gloomy news. I want an early Spring, a friendly dog, and lots of wildflowers in the park. 

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day