Day 4771

I said goodbye to Florida today. For a while I didn't think I'd be able to say hello to Texas though. In less than a month, Southwest Airlines seems to have gone from being one of the best airlines in the country to one of the worst. My flight was delayed before I even left Titusville. When I got to the airport, I discovered that it had been delayed even further. I also discovered that my plane was at a Delta terminal gate instead of at the regular Southwest terminal. Nobody ever explained why. 

Evidently my flight had arrived from Jamaica before heading on to Dallas. They wanted everyone from Jamaica off the place to go through customs in Orlando before getting back on to continue their flight to Dallas. Not surprisingly this took a while and caused the second delay. A third even stranger delay occurred after we were already on the plane. Two gay guys and a woman with kids were fighting over a group of seats toward the back of the plane that they both claimed were theirs. Neither party wanted to give an inch. The plane was completely full, so there weren't a lot of seating options available. The rest of the passengers kept wondering why the airline didn't just kick these unruly people off the plane so we could be on our way. Nope. They brought in some kind of negotiator to reason with them instead. This took a while too. We were on the ground for an additional 45 minutes. I imagine that they promised the squabbling passangers free vouchers if they would just shut up and sit down.

I wanted to return to Dallas earlier, but when the USSF-67 Mission was delayed for a day and I had to reschedule my reservation, tonight's Monday evening flight was the best I could do. My Airbnb host was extremely nice and let me check-out at 3 PM instead of their normal 11 AM departure. This was great and meant that I didn't need to spend all day sitting at the airport. You might have thought that I would have wanted to go to a museum or do something fun with my extra time. Unfortunately my rental car was an SUV with no trunk and I didn't want to leave my cameras and luggage in plain sight while I was doing something else. Staying at the Airbnb a little longer turned out to be a good idea. I had time to finish my article for SpaceFlight Magazine and get some additional exercise walking around the neighborhood.

I had the time, so I decided to explore the nature trail I discovered yesterday. I didn't encounter an alligator, but I'm pretty sure that a few saw me. The trail wandered through a heavily forested area with swampy lagoons, lots of native palm trees, and some huge cypress trees with lots of Spanish Moss hanging from the limbs. I heard lots of strange bird sounds I'd never encountered before, but saw very few birds. They were well hidden in the tall trees. I'm sure there were snakes, but luckily I didn't see any.

I tried my best to sleep in late today, but I woke up early like I always do when I'm traveling. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but once you are awake you might as well get up. I think one reason I don't sleep well is soft beds. Hotels almost always have soft beds and apparently so do Airbnb rentals. Some people find a soft bed comfortable, but I like an extremely firm mattress. Sometime I feel like sleeping on the floor, but lord knows what lurks on strange floors. I'll get a lot more sleep now that I'm home. We'll still have to get up early to take Dawn on her sunrise walk though. 

I'll probably spend most of the day tomorrow unpacking, doing laundry, and sorting through all the pictures I took. There are some interesting launches this year, but I don't know when I'll be down at Kennedy Space Center again. These trips are getting more expensive and I'm definitely not becoming wealthy. My left hand starts to go numb on long drives too. Maybe I grip the steering wheel too hard. Who knows? This isn't much of an issue when driving between Orlando and Titusville, but I seriously wonder if I could make the drive out to McDonald Observatory anymore.

As soon as I post this I"m headed straight for bed. It's been a very long day and I'm tired.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4695

What a weird day. When I left the hotel this morning to go to the launch, it was so foggy outside that I could barely see the car. What a surprise. I kept thinking that the fog would lift quickly, but the closer I got to the ocean, the thicker the fog got. Visability was terrible on the roads and by the time I arrived at the KSC Press Site, you couldn't see anything. Nobody knew where to point their cameras because you couldn't even see the launch pads. Fog was quickly enveloping the 45 story tall Vertical Assembly Building and as it got closer to launch time, you couldn't even see the sun. Instead of burning off as the sun rose, the fog was blowing in from offshore and it just kept getting thicker.

None of this seemed to bother Space X. The countdown proceeded right on schedule and at 9:41 AM the Falcon Heavy lifted off. We could hear the launch, but we couldn't see a thing. This seemed impossible to me. The Falcon Heavy is a huge rocket with 27 Merlin engines. I was expecting an immense flame from this thing. I didn't even see an orange glow through the fog. If it wasn't for the roar the rocket made, you wouldn't have known there was a launch at all. 

Since we couldn't see the launch, we couldn't see the return of the two side boosters either. Once again it was the sound that reminded us that this launch was actually taking place. As the side boosters began their landing burns, we heard a double sonic boom from each booster. The sonic booms were so loud that we also heard a strange high pitched sound as the sonic booms ricocheted off the VAB. The sound pressure levels had caused the entire building to vibrate. As cool as these sounds were, it was still a huge disappointment not to see the launch. 

I initially thought I might have picked the wrong location. I decided to go to the NASA Press Site at the last minute when I remembered that I got eaten alive by mosquitos the last time I was at the ITL Causeway. It wouldn't have made any difference where I went today. The Causeway was completely fogged in as well. Even though they were closer to the landing site, they still couldn't see anything either.

The launch was a success even though it was a total bust for all the launch photographers. I wasn't the only one who'd been waiting a long time to see the Falcon Heavy's twin side boosters return to land at Cape Canaveral. I was lucky to see the Falcon Heavy SPT-2 Mission launch in 2019. It was spectacular and I really wanted to see another one. Oh, well. You win some and you lose some.

Since the launch was over by 10 AM and my flight home didn't leave Orlando until 6 PM, I had a lot of time to kill. I stayed at the hotel until noon and then went into Titusville and had lunch at Sonny's. I didn't get any good pictures today, but I did have some good barbecue. 

Even though I tried my best to kill time in Titusville, I still arrived at the airport hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. This proved to be a good time to get my steps and I walked back and forth on the concourse until I met my goals. 

The flight home was late getting started because people were so slow getting on the plane. The flight was completely full of little kids returning from a trip to Disneyworld, overweight people who were having trouble navigating the narrow aisle, and way too much carry-on luggage. We were so late getting off the ground in Orlando that we lost our gate when we arrived in Dallas. We had to wait on the plane until they found a new gate for us. All in all it was a long and somewhat frustrating day.

Dawn seemed glad to see me when I got home though. At least the day ended well.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4573

When I went out to water the lawn early this morning I could already tell that it was going to be too hot for a walk in the park. Dawn and I have our morning routine down pretty well now. When I get up, I make the bed while she is still sitting on it. It's not that hard because I only use a small corner of the bed. I fill her water bowls with fresh water and fix her breakfast. When I return to the kitchen to fix my own breakfast, I can hear her eating in the bedroom. After I finish eating, I take Dawn down to the meadow behind our house so she can poop and pee. It would be nice if she felt like walking further, but so far she wants to go straight back to the house. I give her morning meds with a little cream cheese and then I do the breakfast dishes. I still haven't used the dishwasher. Why bother for one or two plates.

I thought I'd combine grocery shopping with a trip to the gym this morning. I went to the gym first so the groceries wouldn't spoil in the hot car. The gym is pretty empty on a Saturday morning. The roads were pretty empty too. Maybe everyone is traveling during this holiday long weekend. I shot some baskets on the basketball court and walked three miles on the indoor track. That was enough for me.

The grocery store was out of shredded wheat. How can you be out of something so basic? My list was very small today. I needed milk, orange juice, and strawberries. The fresh squeezed orange juice I get was a dollar more than the same bottle was last week. I wasn't really surprised. Everything seems to get more expensive on a weekly basis.

Dawn typically likes to lie out in the sun for a while in the afternoon. Not these days. It's just too hot. When I took her out to pee after I returned home, she did her business quickly and then ran straight to the back door. She's a smart dog. Nobody needs to be outside in this type of weather.

Maybe Dawn likes Janet better because she finds me boring. I certainly haven't found much to get her excited this week. She's fine with me napping on the bed now though. She seems relaxed and mostly just ignores me. We both seem to have the ability to nap for a long time.

I watched the Artemis-1 rollback to the VAB on a NASA livestream for a while this afternoon. This was kind of like watching paint dry because the huge mobile launcher moves at a maximum speed of one mile per hour. I saw a few of my photographer friends on the video feed taking pictures of the rollback. These guys seem to never tire of photographing rockets. It is an interesting little community. I wouldn't mind being a part of it. Unfortunately Florida is just as hot and humid as Texas right now. Winter launches are much more pleasant.

Hopefully Janet won't have any problems with her flight home tomorrow. Every time I turn on the news there's another story about flight delays and cancelations. I don't think it's been this bad for quite a while. Planes are full. Pilots are unhappy and are picketing in front of airports. TSA lines are ridiculous. On top of all this, airfares are more expensive than ever. I'm glad we did a lot of traveling back when flying was easy and cheap.

It looks like I'll have to walk outdoors tomorrow because my gym isn't open on Sunday. I'd better get an early start. I asked the receptionist if they were ever going to open on Sundays again and she said they were having trouble hiring people. Nobody wants to work anymore. I have mixed feelings about working. I always enjoyed writing for a living, but hated having people tell me what to do. I've had a lot of dumb assignments in my time.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4565

Our first vacation day has gone pretty well. Dawn is never a happy camper when Janet isn't around, but she did all the important things today. She ate her dinner, took her meds, and went down to the meadow behind our house to do her business. I think she knew what was going on as soon as she saw Janet's suitcase. Dawn is a very smart dog.

We thought we'd try to make the day as normal as possible by still giving Dawn her normal sunrise walk before Janet left for the airport. We had to leave well before sunrise this morning and were a little worried about encountering coyotes in the park. Everything went well though and the sky brightened quickly. When we left the house we got to see the rare alignment of the planets that I've been hearing about recently. Mercury was too near the horizon to see, but Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were all clearly visible. There was also a nice crescent moon between Venus and Mars.

I'm glad I wasn't the one traveling today. Travel has become very stressful with all the flight delays and cancelations. Almost every day I read sad stories about people who missed a wedding or a cruise because of an unexpected flight cancelation. Luckily, Janet did reach her destination. Even Southwest Airlines, which I have always thought was the most trouble free way to fly, has pilots picketing Love Field now. Flying has become a giant mess for a multitude of reasons. What else is new. Everything these days is a giant mess for a multitude of reasons.

I took a long walk this morning instead of going to the gym. Since we got up so early, I was able to leave the house before 8 AM. This helped, but it still got hot alarmingly quickly. I had to change my route because a construction crew was working on one of the bridges I always cross. They were putting up barricades as I arrived and I asked one of the workers if I would be able to return over this same bridge in about an hour. Nope. It was going to be completely closed to all traffic for at least four hours. Since crossing this bridge was the only way home, I wisely decided to turn around and continue my walk on the other side of the lake. I walked the same number of miles today. Just in a different direction.

I didn't use the car today because I'm always nervous about driving when Janet is away. Who would I call if I had car problems? This is probably irrational thinking because I'll still need to go to the grocery store this weekend. I need orange juice, milk, beer, and some more fresh fruit. The pot roast Janet made will probably last me most of the week.

Since the only thing I had to do today was fret about Dawn, I decided to update the star tracker again. The last firmware update went well, but this new one had problems. Now my camera randomly disconnects from the tracker again, just like it did in the very beginning. It's frustrating being a Beta tester. I documented the problem the best I could and sent all the information to Benro customer support. Since they fixed the problem before, I'm sure they'll eventually fix it again. I wish they'd just decide that the project was done when I had the tracker working. We're a long way away from that unfortunately.

Dawn has to go outside and pee one more time before we call it a day. I hope she decides to sleep normally tonight. When Dawn is too nervous to sleep, I have trouble sleeping as well. I'm going to be optimistic though. Dawn has done pretty well today. She was eager to eat her dinner tonight which was a very good sign. The last time Janet was gone, it took several days to get Dawn to eat normally.

Rio is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4488

It was a beautiful day for a launch. The temperature was 70 degrees with clear skies and no mosquitos. You couldn't ask for more in Florida. It's amazing how routine Space X has managed to make these launches seem. There are rarely any delays or problems these days. Lift off occurred right on schedule. The Falcon 9 booster, which has already flown four time before, landed safely on the drone ship again and the Axiom-1 astronauts are on their way to the space station.

It felt good to be back at Kennedy Space Center. I reconnected with some of the other launch photographers and met a few new NASA media relations contacts. The guy who had his camera set up next to mine was shooting footage for an iMax movie. He had two assistants and $50,000 worth of equipment. My little camera and tripod looked pretty humble by comparison. I did manage to get some good pictures though. Launch photography is weird. You spend several hours setting up your equipment and making sure it all works correctly. Then the launch itself is over in just a few minutes. 

This was the first daytime launch I've seen in quite a while. Night launches are more dramatic. You can see the rockets exhaust a lot longer at night. Often you can see stage separation and watch the second stage ignite. Daytime launches have their advantages as well. One of the biggest advantages is that you can actually get some sleep after the launch.

I wish Southwest Airlines had more flights to and from Orlando. Even though the launch was over before noon, the first flight home didn't leave Orlando until 7:30 PM. That's a long time to wait for a plane. It's a long time to wear a mask as well. I wasn't in any hurry to leave the space center, so I went and had barbecue at the NASA cafeteria. The cafeteria was being remodeled, but they set up tables where you could eat outside. It was a perfect day to have a brisket sandwich at an outdoor table and watch the eagles fly around the Press Site. There was actually an eagle's nest with a young eaglet inside right next to where I parked my car. 

When I did get to the airport is was an absolute zoo. There was a huge line at the TSA checkpoint. For a little while I thought I might be late for my plane, even though I arrived with hours to spare. When I eventually got to my gate I discovered that my flight had been delayed. It wasn't just my flight either. I noticed that there were many delayed or canceled flights at the other gates as well. I think almost half of today's Southwest flights had some sort of delay.

With so much time to spare, it seemed like a good time to take a long walk. I walked up and down the concourse, stopping to read the menus at a variety of different restaurants. Eating is a good way to kill time, but I wasn't really hungry. The Sonny's barbecue I had for lunch really filled me up. I managed to get 20,000 steps today. I'm surprised that I didn't get more. When we were finally ready to board our delayed flight, there was an announcement that we would have to wait a little longer because the pilot hadn't arrived yet.

Dawn wasn't nearly as eager to see me when I returned home as she was to see Janet after her recent trip. I kind of expected this, but it would have been nice to see a wagging tail. I did finally get Dawn to take a cookie from me, but she still seems a little nervous. We're going to have to work on building trust again.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3140

We got a surprise today. It rained. I wasn't expecting rain, but another guy I see walking dogs in the park told me it was going to start raining in one hour. He said he needed to get home quickly because his dog was storm phobic and freaked out when it rained. I told him that Dash was the same way. We talked for a few minutes about the problems of caring for old sick dogs and wondered whether we'd ever have the energy to care for another dog again when our dogs were gone. My neighbor and I both love dogs and are both seventy years old. We didn't have an answer to that question.

Janet is coming home today, but her flight got delayed and she's still sitting in an airport somewhere. Dash is going to get a nice surprise later tonight. We actually did pretty well with pills and meals, but I can tell that Dash is more enthusiastic about eating when Janet is home. I was actually amazed that I was able to get the socks and protective rubber boots on by myself since Dash never stays still. We did OK though. I actually thought that Dash would want to take a walk this evening since the rain cooled things down considerably. He wasn't in the mood though. Maybe he already knows that Janet is on her way home.

I'm curious how well the roof repairs held up to today's rain. It rained pretty hard for at least an hour, so this was a good test. I didn't have the nerve to go look today. Maybe I'll climb up and inspect things tomorrow. I really hope the repairs worked. It was very hard to get the roofers to make these repairs. If they don't work, I know that it's going to be even harder to get them to come out again. I'm pretty sure that they're done with me now.

I'm still looking for a replacement for the location tracker app I've grown to depend on. I've downloaded three different apps that claim to have similar functions, but they all seem kind of buggy. Why did Facebook have to kill this app?  Probably for the same reasons they stopped supporting Networked Blogs. Everything they've done since the Cambridge Analytica mess has seemed to make the platform worse. I wish they'd just left things alone. Most of us knew all along that they were selling our data and just didn't care.

It's hard to believe that it's almost August. Unfortunately, August is just as hot as July. The weather won't get nice again until October. Until then we will continue to have sky high water and electric bills while I fret about the air conditioner breaking down. Dash has done better this Summer than I expected. It really helps to get an early start in the mornings. I'll be up at 6 AM again tomorrow, ready for our early morning walk. I won't have to worry about getting him to take his pills though. Janet will take over that task when she returns. She's better at it than me anyway.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1280

Janet is home again. The new roof has been paid for. I didn't even get stung by a bee today. For the most part, all is well with the world.

The day did start off with a humongous Summer rainstorm, but the dogs and I are learning to adjust to these storms. Instead of walking the dogs right after I get up, as I usually do, we all had our breakfast instead. Dot and Dash love to eat, so postponing their walk was no big deal to them. I am so slow fixing my own breakfast that by the time I was finished eating and had done the dishes, the rain was over. Problem solved. The sudden downpour cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so we actually had a very enjoyable walk. Our afternoon walk was another story entirely. Once the sun broke through the clouds, the moisture in the ground turned to steam and the air became a sauna.

Considering that it was a Monday, I was surprisingly busy today. I completed a couple of website revisions and wrote an article or two. I remembered to pay my quarterly estimated taxes too, so I can cross that off my list. I was actually so productive today that I feel I should be entitled to take Tuesday off. That will never happen though. There is always work to do on Tuesday.

Janet's flight was delayed by weather this evening, so I found myself out at the airport watching the bags go round and round at the baggage claim carousel. I like bags and it's always interesting to see what other people are carrying. At least half the bags are dull, utilitarian looking Samsonite models, but occasionally I see something interesting. My favorite bags are made by PortaBrace. These distinctive blue bags are made by hand in Bennington, Vermont and used almost exclusively by film and video production crews. I frequently use mine as suitcases. They are almost indestructible.

I wish tomorrow was Friday. It's not like the workload is all that terrible this week. I think I'm just getting tired of oatmeal for breakfast. Even mixed with strawberries and blueberries, it's still oatmeal.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1261

UPS said that my package would be ready at the customer service center at 7 AM this morning. When was is really ready? Noon! When I arrived at the Will-Call counter to pick up the package, I noticed a big poster on the wall that said We're all about speed. Although I wasted a huge amount of time, I still believe that all's well that ends well. I now have what I need.

Unlike UPS, the road crew made no performance promises whatsoever. They were back in full-force this morning, blocking my driveway, stirring up dust and making lots of noise. The roofers were back too. I'm not sure why they were here, because there were tornado warnings on the Weather Channel this morning. I would have waited to start the roof until all this bad weather was gone for the year, but that's just me.

Despite the approaching bad weather, the dogs still got their morning and afternoon walks. The rest of the day was spent getting things ready for my upcoming road trip. I never pack well. Since I don't like to carry a lot of luggage, I always try to cram too much in my suitcase. It seldom fits. Rather than just get a larger suitcase, I start tossing things out, thinking that I won't really need them. This seldom ends well either, and I often arrive without toothpaste, an electric shaver, or socks.

Life is always full of surprises. Now, the day looks like is will end exactly the way it started. I am facing some very long delays. I managed to stay on schedule all day. I got to the airport in plenty of time for my flight. Even though they took my tube of toothpaste away at the security checkpoint, I still made it to my gate with time to spare. I was pulling out my boarding pass and getting ready to board the plane when I saw my departure time change on a big flat screen display overhead. My flight is being delayed for two hours because of severe thunderstorms in the area. So here I sit, wondering what is going to happen next.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1249

It was a busy day. The roofers woke us up with a lot of banging and pounding over our head. It's clear that roofers get off to an earlier start than I do. The dogs have kind of an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude about all the activity. As long as they can't actually see the roofers, they don't bark all that much. I guess they're pretty used to noise on the roof. Quite a few tree limbs have fallen on the roof over the years and of course, I'm up there myself quite a bit getting the water off.

I had lunch with my ad agency friend today. I'll have to admit I was a bit envious of my friend. He drove up in a brand new Lexus IS convertible and proceed to tell me about the fantastic vacation in Rome he just returned from. My friend has never looked healthier or happier. He's on permanent disability. Nice work if you can get it is all I've got to say.

After an unusually healthy lunch, considering the way we both used to eat, I went grocery shopping at Central Market and then returned home to finish my work for the week. I was glad to see the roofers leaving for the day when I arrived. I had put up with all the noise I could handle this morning.

I went to the airport this evening to pick up Janet. I checked the American Airlines website just before I left, to make sure that the arrival time or the gate hadn't changed. They're always changing gate assignments at the last minute. The gate was the same, but the website said that the flight was going to be early. While I was driving to the airport, they must have changed their mind. When I arrived at the designated baggage claim area, I discovered that the flight in question was actually going to be late. This happens all the time. No wonder this company went bankrupt.

Dot and Dash were delighted to see Janet again. Dash got so excited that he started jumping straight up in the air. When he makes these vertical leaps, he can get three feet off the ground. All this activity would have been fine, except he was doing his wild leaping around in the living roof. I'm always scared he'll land right on top of the glass coffee table and cut himself. Once we let the dogs outside to blow off steam, they both quieted down and were calm again. They must have known what was coming next: some tasty dog treats from one of the suitcases in the hall.

I think the roofers said they were coming back tomorrow. Oh, well. We certainly won't need an alarm clock in the morning.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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