Day 4359

The Christmas tree is up. It is a small tree decorated with Dalmatian ornaments. We used to buy Dalmatian ornaments whenever we'd see them, but it's been a long while since there's been anything new on the tree. We have plenty of ornaments now. Maybe we should find an ornament for Dawn. All our previous dogs seem to have one.

I retrieved all the gear we need for the Santa Paws photo shoots and it will clutter up the entryway for the next several weeks. The poles and crossbar that hold up the backdrop have seen better days, but I think they'll be good for another season. I really meant to buy a new softbox this year but I never got around to it. There are several boxes of scarves, bandanas, hats, and costumes the dogs can wear. These will probably need to be washed. Somehow I've managed to lose the spare modeling light bulbs for my Norman strobes, but I've got the rest of the week to find them. I can't even remember how long we've been doing this, but it seems like a very long time.

Every time I go to the storage warehouse, I find things I've totally forgotten about. What on earth am I doing with an old dentist's drill, an outboard motor, a wind sail board complete with sail, and the entire PA system from my old band? I really need to clean this place out, but I have no desire to get rid of this stuff. Everything has a memory attached to it. If the cost for storage space didn't continue to go up every year, I'd just get a bigger space so I could clear a few things out of my office. I wonder if that Storage Wars show is still on the air? My space would be a perfect candidate for the show.

Today was a good day for walking. The weather was just about perfect. Since we're trying to give Dawn a second walk in the afternoon now, I spend even more time walking than I used to. It's all good though. If I wasn't walking I don't know what I'd do with myself. I don't feel like taking on work projects anymore and  I have little desire to do things with other people. Someday I'm going to try to walk all the way around the lake. It will need to be a day when Janet is home though. She may need to come retrieve me if I don't make it all the way around.

I'm thinking about going out for breakfast on Fridays again. Its been a while. Some of my favorite restaurants are gone now, but there are new ones to discover. Oddly, I still have no desire to return to my morning smoothie. I always knew that shredded wheat was a temporary solution, so maybe it's time to start eating out again.

We can't decide whether to take Dawn with us to one of the Santa Paws events. It would be nice to have a Christmas picture of her, but she hates car rides. She probably has bad memories of the kennel too, since another dog bit her there. That's how she wound up with us in the first place since she needed a quiet place to recover from her injuries. Probably she'd rather just sleep on the bed while we're gone.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3804

We went out for breakfast this morning at a little neighborhood restaurant that had recently reopened. We should have taken Dawn with us, since the place had a nice dog friendly outdoor seating area. You could tell that the restaurant was trying super hard to get back on its feet. All the new distancing rules were followed and everyone was super friendly. I was initially a little sceptical about going to a restaurant, but I'm glad we did. I hope this place makes it. They had only been open a month or so when the pandemic hit. Not very good timing.

We took another very early walk this morning, but the park wasn't empty this time. I guess I should have expected more people since it is Memorial Day weekend. We were expecting rain again, but the skies lightened and we began to see patches of blue during our walk. I got overconfident seeing the weather improve and went up on the roof to remove yesterday's standing water. I should have waited. The rain returned later in the day and the roof is already wet again. This has definitely been the wettest Spring I can remember.

It was time to defrost the little spare refrigerator today. We got this refrigerator during a power outage because it could be powered by our generator. Somehow the refrigerator went from temporary to permanent after the power was restored and is now an essential part of the kitchen. Things that won't fit in the regular refrigerator go here. I wonder if anyone makes a self defrosting dorm refrigerator? We never even looked. It's hard to believe that everybody used to have to defrost their refrigerator. All the places I lived right after college had refrigerators that needed to be defrosted. I never did this very often. Usually my freezer compartment was caked in a thick sheet of ice.

I sure wish that bee hadn't stung me the other day. I've still got a big welt on my leg. Now that I've started looking, I'm seeing the beginnings of nests everywhere. It's time to get some more wasp and hornet spray and get rid of them before they get any bigger. We have wasps who build paper nests and mud daubers who make theirs out of mud. Both critters seems to love our house. The spiders are starting to return as well. Welcome to Summer in Texas.

I've started listening to astronomy podcasts. I was surprised at how many there are. Obviously a lot of people are a lot more industrious about their hobbies than I am. One of the astronomers I met at McDonald Observatory does regular videos about galaxies and deep sky objects. Several people I've met at NASA events have podcasts about rocket related stuff. I watch some of these too. It seems weird to me that there seems to be fewer and fewer really good blogs, but an abundance of podcasts. I like listening to podcasts, but can't imagine doing one myself. I don't even like to talk.

We're not sure if the kennel will be open on Memorial Day, but if it is we'll go photograph a new Dalmatian that recently entered the rescue program. If the kennel is closed I can always make my smoothie and sweep the water off the roof. It's life in the fast lane around here.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day