Day 4949

It's been a long day. Two plumbers have been here all day installing the new water heater. I never dreamed that putting a water heater in a confined space was such a complicated procedure. Due to new code requirements, the plumbers couldn't simply duplicate the old arrangement. New water heaters have to be installed on a raised base with an overflow pan that drains to the floor drain. Too many things use the floor drain in the utility room already. Now I've got one more. 

The plumbers told me that I could no longer use the copper pipes at the top on the water heater to support a shelf. I have no shelf in the utility room now and no place to store the things that were sitting on it. The new water heater is slightly larger than the old one and takes up more space, but the good news is that we have hot water again.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but the price of water heaters has more than doubled since the last time I replaced one. The plumbers were amazed at how old the leaking water heater was. "Your new one won't last that long," the lead plumber told me. I wonder what else can go wrong in this house? Probably more things than I can even imagine.

Dawn is still frightened of almost everything, but she is eating her meals and going outside to pee and poop. That's all I can ask for at this point. She was actually very good today with all the commotion going on in the house. She just stayed in the bedroom all day until the plumbers left. I was a little worried last night that Dawn wasn't coming back to the bedroom to go to sleep. We had a very brief power outage and when the lights and TV went out, it scared her and she ran to the kitchen. Basically everything seems to scare Dawn except plumbers. She seemed fine with the plumbers today.

Since I was home with the plumbers all day, I didn't get to go to the gym. It wasn't a good day to take a long walk since the temperature got up to 104 degrees. I'm hooked on getting my steps though. After dinner I took this week's trash out to the curb and then took a short walk. I walked just long enough to get 10,000 steps and returned home. No sense in being stupid. I thought it would be cooler if I waited until evening to walk. It was still 95 degrees though.

Somebody has spoofed my e-mail address and I'm seeing spam that appears to come from me in my spam folder almost every day. It's irritating. I did a little research and discovered that this type of spoofing is extremely common and very hard to stop. I'll call my hosting company again and ask them to put a stop to this. I did this once before and the spoofing stopped for about two weeks and then started all over again. I'm beginning to think that my Luddite sister who isn't on the Internet at all might have the right idea. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be uneventful. Having plumbers banging around all day in one room with a scared dog in another room was a bit stressful. I'll be glad when Janet returns home.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4826

It seemed strange that it was still dark when I woke up this morning. I looked at my watch and it was after 7 AM. Were we about to get another thunderstorm? Nope. I forgot that the time changed last night. Now we are living under Daylight Savings Time again. Some people actually prefer Daylight Savings Time, but I'd rather have sunlight early in the morning and dark skies at night. I see no benefit in having the sun still up at 9 PM. Oh, well. We're stuck with this until next Fall.

Dawn was a handful today. She's feeling better and if I let her out of my sight for one minute she'll try to jump off the bed. I could tell Dawn was mad because whenever I come home from mall walking she knows that it's time for her Sunday outing. Dawn has a good sense of time and Sunday is her day. She became very restless when we didn't go anywhere this afternoon. There was no ice cream either. I took her out in the back yard numerous times but that wasn't good enough. Maybe next week, girl. We're going to try a short walk in the park tomorrow.

Mall walking does nothing to restore my faith in humanity. The mall walkers seem strange compared to the people I see walking in the park. The store displays seem even stranger. Fashion these days seems to be a celebration of ugliness. The winter coats are gone from the windows now and have been replaced by colorful Spring styles. Some stores seem to cater to older people getting ready to go on a cruise ship, while others seem to be trying to attract the impossibly thin. The high end European boutiques all have unrealistically thin mannequins in their windows, while a few stores actually feature fat mannequins. Lifelike mannequins have apparently gone out of style. They all look like stylized android robots now. It's a strange world out there and it appears to be getting stranger every week.

Since Dawn was restless today and I couldn't trust her, I tried to update the Polaris star tracker in the bedroom with her. That didn't work. I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing and Dawn managed to jump off the bed while I was actually sitting on it. I spent so much time taking Dawn outside that the star tracker shut itself off and I had trouble restarting it. Maybe I just don't multitask well, but I won't be trying this again. 

Since we still aren't taking Dawn on a sunrise walk, I didn't get my steps at the mall and needed to take a walk in the park later in the afternoon to meet my goal. It was an exceptionally nice day today and that meant the park was even more crowded than usual. I need to remember to avoid the park on weekends. I think I prefer cool overcast days when there is a light mist. On days like these I have the park to myself.

Maybe I do wobble when I walk. When I was at the mall this morning I tried several times to walk in a straight line. There are many places where you can follow a straight line scored on the concrete floor. I could follow this line when I concentrated, but whenever I started to daydream or look in store windows I started to drift away. I'd look up and I was two or three feet away from the line. I'm never conscious of doing this, but maybe it looks weird to others. Truthfully, I think Dawn is steadier on her feet than I am these days.

I'll be glad when Dawn has finished with her meds. I shouldn't be critical since I take meds for blood pressure, cholesterol and a variety of other ailments myself. I think Dawn's meds have changed her personality though. It bothers me that there is no way to ask her how she really feels. I guess the vet is probably right. Without a lot of bed rest and inactivity Dawn might never get better. We'll see how tomorrow goes. As always, I hope there are no surprises.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4815

This weather is driving me nuts. As soon as the leaks stop the rain starts again. Once water gets under the Armor Flex coating on the roof there is a time delay before it reaches the inside of the house. What this means is that it can be sunny outside while the roof is leaking inside. The leaks aren't nearly as bad after my attempt to patch the roof, but even a small leak is still annoying. It's not raining right now, but we have tornado warnings starting tomorrow evening. I'm wondering if this will ever end.

There was nothing important on the agenda today. I ate my breakfast and tried to time my long walk so I wouldn't get wet. We were lucky again on Dawn's sunrise walk, making it home a few minutes before a heavy shower began. My luck ran out later this morning. Everything looked good on the weather radar, so I headed out. The weather was fine for the first mile or so and then a sudden shower appeared out of nowhere. I got wet, but it was quite warm so it wasn't a big deal. The shower didn't last long and I was almost dry again by the time I returned home.

I am so hooked on getting my steps these days that very little stops me. It's been a long time since I failed to get at least 10,000 steps. When I make the drive to West Texas it's almost impossible to reach my goal since I'm spending all day in the car. I missed my goal when I had gall bladder surgery too. There's not much you can do when you are hooked up to IV tubes in the hospital.

My feet were in bad shape today. I could barely walk when I got out of bed this morning. The odd thing is that the pain is worse when I first wake up. After I put on shoes and start walking around it usually gets a lot better. Aches and pains are the story of my life these days. Between bad knees, a bad shoulder and the persistent foot pain, something always seems to hurt. Most of this can just be attributed to growing older. Like many people my age I probably have a moderate case of osteoarthritis.

It's hard to believe that it is already March. Where does the time go? I did make it down to Florida in January for a Falcon Heavy launch, but most of this year has just been dealing with rain and roof leaks. It would be a nice break from this frustration to make another trip out to the observatory in April for their annual Dark Sky Festival, but I'm not sure that I'm up for the long drive anymore. When I made the trip last year it was really tiring. I definitely don't want to fall asleep at the wheel and my left hand tends to go numb if I grip the steering wheel for too long. Unfortunately there is no way to fly to this destination. It's a long drive to West Texas or nothing.

We're on the edge of the tornado warned area, so hopefully we won't get any severe weather tomorrow. I actually worry more about high winds than tornados. High winds have already brought down several large trees in our yard and there are several more that are just waiting for the right storm to take them out. These old mature Oak trees really don't hold up that well to high winds. I wonder if there are still places where the weather is nice all the time. Florida has frequent hurricanes and my favorite place in West Texas is dealing with a huge range fire right now. I wouldn't even consider living up North. How do people deal with all that snow? Who knows? Maybe it will be nice tomorrow. Our weather forecast is often wrong.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4784

The weather was strange today. When we took our early walk with Dawn this morning the temperature was in the high 50's. That was as high as it got and it continued to get colder for the rest of the day. It's already down to freezing and will probably get even colder overnight. I'm not looking forward to next week at all. The forecast says we are going to have freezing rain and icy roads for most of the week.

Today was mostly walking and football. I woke up with an upset stomach so I just had shredded wheat instead of our normal big weekend breakfast. After breakfast I went to the mall and walked several miles indoors. I enjoy mall walking at Northpark. The temperature is perfect. The air is clean and filtered. There's plenty to see as well. Looking at the window displays in all the stores is much more pleasant than fighting a cold lakeside wind while wondering why I didn't dress warmer. There are a few weeks in the spring and fall when the weather is actually nice. The rest of the time it is either too hot or too cold outside.

There are always several new stores that just opened when I go to the mall. Things always seem to be changing. Today, even the indoor duck pond was closed for some type of refurbishment. I wonder where they are keeping the ducks and turtles while all this construction is going on. When I returned home Dawn and Janet were ready to go on their Sunday outing. This was definitely the coldest walk of the day, but we made it. We walked faster than usual in an attempt to stay warm, but we were all glad to return to the car. It seemed kind of strange to get ice cream on such a cold day, but Dawn loves her ice cream cones. Personally I could have used a cup of hot chocolate.

It was definitely an afternoon to stay inside so I ended up watching both NFL playoff games. The Bengals and Chiefs game was the more interesting game. It was a close contest right down to the final seconds. The Eagles ran all over the 49ers. It was pretty clear that the Eagles were going to win this game early on. Dawn wanted the bed to herself and wasn't happy with me watching the Eagles game. Later, when Janet came home Dawn was much more interested in the cooking that was going on in the kitchen, so I had the bedroom to myself. I don't often spend the afternoon watching football but the Bengals and Chiefs game was definitely worth watching. 

The house feels cold even though the temperature inside is the same as it's always been. I've had to bring out the little ceramic space heater and put it under my desk. No shorts today either. I'm wearing heavy pants and a sweater. I'm not sure what to expect with the roof next week. We haven't had sustained freezing rain for quite a while. If memory serves, sometimes the leaks are worse when heat from inside the house melts the bottom layer of ice on the roof. We'll just have to see what happens. There's not much I can do about the weather.

I might not be able to get my steps next week. That would be a shame. It's probably going to be too cold and wet to walk in the park and too icy on the roads to drive to the gym or mall. I'll never get 10,000 steps pacing around the house. The house is just too little. Hopefully, we'll be able to give Dawn her morning walk before the rain and sleet starts.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4779

What a dismal day. It was cold and raining when we woke up. It rained all day and it hasn't stopped yet. Needless to say, Dawn didn't get her sunrise walk. She didn't even want to go outside. I immediately started the pumps on the roof and prepared myself for the worst. At first I thought I was going to get lucky, but I set the buckets out anyway. I managed to finish breakfast before I started hearing the all too familiar sound of dripping water. The big leak today was located in the office, but I see some staining in the kitchen above Dawn's water bowl. I'm afraid there will be more leaks before this rain ends.

There wasn't much I could do today. I checked the weather radar frequently, but the storm was huge and covered much of Texas. It could have been worse I guess. At least we weren't getting snow like they are are in the panhandle or tornado warnings like they were in Houston. The roof blew off the animal shelter in Pasadena, Texas and all the dogs were left exposed to the weather. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. I think the rain is supposed to end by midnight.

It was pretty clear that I wasn't going to get 20,000 steps today. A walk in the park was out of the question, so I reluctantly got in the car and went to the gym. You can tell I've become obsessed with getting my steps because I definitely do not like driving in the rain. I'm always glad for heated seats and a heated steering wheel on a cold day like this. I need new wiper blades though.

The gym was crowded today. I guess a lot of people had the same idea I had. I walked three miles around the indoor track to get my minimum 10,000 steps for the day and close all three rings on my Apple watch. At least I kept up a decent pace today. Usually I'm slow on the indoor track. I had planned to work on my upper body strength while I was at the gym, but after finishing my three mile walk I felt like I'd had enough. I did use the leg press for a bit, but didn't even bother shooting baskets. Rain really puts a damper on my mood.

There's going to be a NASA Social for the Crew 6 launch at the end of February and I can't decide whether to apply. NASA discontinued these events for social media influencers during the Covid years, but they are slowly starting to return. I've been to a few of these and sometimes they provide even better access than press credentials. Since I can't afford that many trips to Florida this year, I'll have to look at the 2023 launch schedule and see if there are more interesting things in the future. I'll think about it. I'm not even sure my application would be approved since NASA tends to favor newcomers now. I've already been to five of these NASA Socials.

I'm getting tired of listening to the roof leak drip. The leak isn't far from my desk and it's a constant reminder that the house needs a new roof. I still haven't decided on a roofing contractor. I have gotten several bids, but all have left something to be desired. Why is a flat roof so expensive. I may get one or two more bids, but I really have to do something this year. Old houses and flat roofs aren't a good combination.

We probably will wait another week before visiting the rescue Dalmatians at their new kennel. The kennel said that Wednesday was the best day to visit. but it doesn't look like tomorrow is going to be a good day. I think we will be playing with the dogs outside and ir would be better to wait until the weather was warmer and the ground was dry.

I don't have big expectations for tomorrow. I just hope the roof stops leaking.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4770

Today's Falcon Heavy launch was a resounding success and ended up being one of the most beautiful launch events I have ever witnessed. What a difference a day makes. It was warmer today, the skies were clear, and there was no wind. The timing for this mission was perfect. The launch took place right at sunset, and as the rocket rose through the atmosphere, the exhaust plumes from the three boosters glowed with fantastic sunset colors. 

You could see the two side boosters detach from the center core high in the atmosphere and begin the boost back burns that would return them to landing zones LZ-1 and LZ-2 at Kennedy Space Center. Shortly after the side boosters landed we heard the two very loud double sonic booms that have become a signature of Falcon Heavy launches. From our vantage point at the NASA Press Site, you could hear these sonic booms ricochet off the nearby Vertical Assembly Building making a strange high pitched ringing sound each time the sound hit the building.

It was worth waiting an additional day to see this launch, but I'll be glad to be back in Dallas tomorrow. Traveling is tiring for me. I never sleep well while traveling and according to Fitbit my resting heart rate goes way up along with my heart rate variability. Not good. I'm sure a lot of this is caused by the lack of sleep, but my poor travel diet might have something to do with this as well. It's nice to see rocket launches and look at stars under dark West Texas skies, but I think I do better in familiar surroundings, leading a somewhat dull predictable life. I eat much healthier meals when I'm home and certainly sleep a lot better. All in all I think I prefer my simple life of long walks and predictable days to unexpected surprises and excitement.

I certainly had a few unexpected surprises today. I found myself locked out of my e-mail account because the laptop reverted to the old passwords I used to use before I updated everything recently. I couldn't access the new passwords on my desktop computer at home and much to my chagrin I discovered that I never bothered to set up e-mail on my phone. Since Space X only communicates with me using e-mail, I drove out to the NASA Press Site this afternoon not knowing whether the launch had been canceled or not. 

Luckily the launch was right on schedule. The iPhone app I use to remotely trigger my cameras is such a battery hog that my phone completely died shortly after the launch. I did get the photos I need though. When I was putting my equipment away I thought my phone was broken, but then I remembered that the battery was probably dead. It did feel a bit weird to drive back to Titusville realizing that I had no way to communicate with anyone. I had a brief scare when the rental car automatic transmission wouldn't go into gear at the Press Site and then I noticed that I hadn't closed the driver's side door completely. Strangely, the warning light on the dash didn't say "door open" or anything remotely understandable. It just said "transmission not engaged." That seemed alarming, but everything ended well and I'm back at the Airbnb now.

Even though it was a busy day out at the Press Site, I still managed to get my Fitbit steps and close all three rings on my Apple Watch. I even found time to get started on my article for SpaceFlight Magazine. I kept wondering why I was seeing other people out walking today and then I remembered it was Sunday. The last time I stayed at this Airbnb during the middle of the week and didn't see anymore. They were all at work. I just walked around the neighborhood today, even though there was a hiking trail nearby. I was curious about the hiking trail but was afraid I'd run into an alligator. 

I was determined not to eat any more restaurant food, so I got a chicken Caesar salad and a small quiche for dinner at the grocery store and ate in my room after I returned from the launch. I often forget how lucky I am to live in Texas. Food and gas prices are higher in Florida and I hear that Florida prices are still much better than the rest of the country. It's hard to buy for one. Most portion sizes are too large and when you can find a single serve size of just about anything, the price is always $4.99. It's easy to spend more than you think on a simple meal. Picking up something at a grocery store is still much cheaper than going to a restaurant though. What ever happened to $5.00 hamburgers? A burger and a beer will cost you more than twenty dollars these days.

I'm ready to come home and resume my simple life. Hopefully Dawn will be glad to see me again. You never know with that dog.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4687

What a dismal day. It basically rained all day, although we were able to take Dawn on an abbreviated sunrise walk during a break in the clouds. The rain has been heavy enough that I'm worried about the roof leaking, but so far so good. The pumps on the roof are still working and that's probably helping a bit.

There's not a lot to do on a cold rainy day. I ate my breakfast and checked my messages for nonexistent messages from NASA. I was getting ready to go to the gym when we had a short power outage. Power outages freak Dawn out. Maybe it's the beeping noises the battery backup devices make when they kick in. Dawn couldn't find anyplace where she felt safe and ended up huddled in the kitchen. The power came back on in less than ten minutes but that was of little comfort to Dawn. I couldn't get her to come back to the bedroom at all. 

I waited around for her to calm down and tried taking her outside so that she could see that everything was alright. Nothing seemed to work. Dawn tried sitting on several living room chairs, but couldn't find a place where she felt comfortable. I finally ended up leading her back to the bedroom on a leash and sat with her until she started to relax. I don't know what causes this behavior, but it seems to happen every time there's a power outage.

The rain wasn't going to stop, but it was a fairly gentle rain and Dawn eventually fell asleep in the bed. I went to the gym, but I turned off the backup batteries before I left. Hopefully if there was another power outage, there wouldn't be any beeping noises. The fact that I would willingly drive in the rain shows how addicted I've become to getting my daily steps. Rain or shine I need to get at least 10,000 steps.

The gym was surprisingly crowded today. I thought the place would be empty, but what else are you going to do on a rainy day. Probably a lot of people were getting cabin fever sitting at home waiting for the rain to stop. I was absolutely terrible on the basketball court this morning, but I eventually completed thirty free throws and moved on the the running track. I walked two miles, got my steps, and headed home again. I thought the rain might clean up my car, but it wasn't meant to be. Passing spray from other cars just made the car even muddier.

One of the pumps on the roof must be partially clogged. It wasn't operating well today and kept throwing the breaker for the pump circuit. I didn't climb up on the roof to investigate because it was pretty nasty outside. Maybe if it clears up tomorrow I'll go up on the roof and clean out the pump, but I think my roof climbing days are just about over. It's slippery up there and I'm not as nimble as I used to be.

It's not raining right now, but the day isn't over yet. I see another band of storms approaching us on the weather radar and I'm starting to hear thunder. I'm not a big fan of an all day rain. Sure, the yard needed the water, but I definitely don't need the stress of waiting for the next roof leak. Maybe I'll get lucky this time. After this narrow storm band passes, I think it's clear sailing for the rest of the night.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day