Day 4757

I took down the Christmas tree today. If memory serves, it will be a long time until the next major holiday. It's usually warm around Christmas here in Dallas. It's easy to get lulled into thinking Winter is over. Then comes February and you realize that you've still got a long way to go until Spring. I'm not a big fan of Winter, but I do like the holiday season. I turn on the Christmas lights every evening and they add a festive tone to our otherwise austere house. 

Food at the grocery store is a lot more interesting during the holidays. I frequently pick up something to eat at the Central Market deli counter and the selections are always much better around Christmas. As I put the tree away, I was glad that Janet, Dawn and I had survived another year. At our age you can't take anything for granted. Hopefully, when it's time to unpack the Christmas decorations again, life will still be treating us well.

We were under a severe weather watch today, but the storms never materialized. It rained for about five minutes right after breakfast and that was it. Maybe people living to the East of us got some bad weather, but I doubt that it was too bad because I've heard nothing on the news. Once I was sure that I wasn't going to get wet, I took my long walk. It was so warm today that I didn't even need a jacket. This is Texas weather at its finest. One week we are freezing and making sure that all our outside faucets are set to drip. The next week I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt on my daily walks.

I saw both eagles on my walk today. It would have made a great picture, since they were sitting close together on a tree limb near their nest. Later, I saw one of he eagles flying low over the lake. It was probably looking for fish. I didn't see many white pelicans today. I still think they don't like it when the eagles are nearby.

I made pretty good time today, but I didn't set any records. I usually keep a steady pace during my first two miles. I start to slow down a little on the third mile and by the fourth and fifth miles I've slowed down considerably. The last mile is always the hardest because I'm tired and a lot of it is uphill. You'd think I'd be in great shape doing this day after day, but I'm just hanging in there. These long walks are great for my heart and maintaining bone density, but I'm not building any muscle mass. If I want that I'm going to have to work a lot harder and start going to the gym every day.

I seldom watch television, but Janet was cleaning and wanted me out of the way so I started watching a Las Vegas marathon that was already on the bedroom television. I'd never heard of this show even though it starred James Caan, ran for five seasons on NBC, and was apparently fairly popular. I watched two episodes before I became bored and went back to the computer. The show was mildly entertaining, but I just can't watch TV for very long. It still seems strange that I was totally unaware of this big budget show, even though I used to like to go to Las Vegas myself. There are probably a ton of things that I'm totally unaware of.

Tomorrow the holidays are officially over. I need to run some errands and take a few things back to the storage warehouse. I'm sure I'll find time to take another long walk and then start complaining about my feet hurting. Somehow I feel like 2023 is going to look a lot like 2022.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4397

Another day, another problem. This Polaris star tracker is driving me nuts. I don't think I'm cut out to be a Beta tester. The Polaris unit itself seems very well made. It's the software app on my phone that controls the thing that's full of bugs. I think I may have defective connecting cables as well. Everything works well for a little while and then the app freezes and I have to restart everything and try again. I really got nowhere today. The app kept saying that I didn't have a memory card inserted in my camera. The card was there however and it actually was recording pictures for a while. 

It's very hard to communicate with the Chinese manufacturer and the other Kickstarter backers in the Facebook support group are just as lost as I am. A few seem to be able to track stars and are getting some amazing pictures. I suspect that they are all using the one camera that magically seems to work. I imagine that it is very hard, or almost impossible for the Polaris unit to support hundreds of different cameras.

Dawn seems better today. Her poop is still soft, but it is not a runny liquid anymore. Hopefully, this will clear up soon. Dawn definitely doesn't seem sick and her appetite is still good. She is mad at us now because we are feeding her less until her GI tract seems stable again. She had to go outside several times last night and it was very cold. Luckily, Janet is a light sleeper so she was able to let Dawn outside when she appeared restless. We think Dawn is getting better, but if the diarrhea persists we'll take a fecal sample to the vet to be tested. There's always a chance that she might have giardia.

I stubbornly continue to walk, although I'm beginning to question my own sanity. It just isn't very pleasant to walk on a cold windy day. The wind is worse than the temperature for me. A lot of my route is along the shoreline of the lake and on days like today, the lake effect wind can be pretty bad. It's really hard to dress properly. When the wind stops and the sun comes out, I am hot. When the sun goes behind a cloud and the wind start blowing, I'm freezing. The foot pain is always lurking in the background as well. The pain wasn't bad today. Maybe it was just so cold that my feet went numb.

Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday and she said the store shelves are starting to get empty again. I hope we're not headed back to the dark days of 2020. It seems that way sometimes. I'm tired of panic buying. I'm tired of mandates that create more problems than they solve. If the past two years have proved anything it is that the government is fairly inept at solving these type of problems and that everything in today's society gets so politicized that we lose focus of the real problem. Hey, at least we aren't Australia. Those poor Australians are fucked. What ever happened to Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max? I'm amazed that the Australians don't rebel against their repressive government. Maybe they've looked around at other countries and realize what will happen if they do. Sadly, we've living in an increasingly totalitarian world.

We took the Christmas tree down today. I'll take some of the decorations back to the storage warehouse tomorrow and that will be the end of the holiday season. I kind of liked looking at the Christmas tree in the evenings. The lights were pretty and strangely optimistic. I'm not really a very festive person, but holidays are certainly better than nothing. It's fun to watch dogs open their Christmas gifts too.

I'm making my grocery list for tomorrow. Hopefully, I won't run into the same empty shelves that Janet encountered today. I'm almost certain that prices will be higher. Inflation is not only real, it can be quite dramatic. Janet and I have different items on our respective grocery lists, but the things I buy have gone up in price every single week for several months now. The price of gas keeps getting higher as well. You really have to wonder where this is all going to end?

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3655

I don't know why I never thought of this before. I started looking for observatories near Dallas and found more than I expected. Most of these telescopes were fairly small and were maintained by local colleges and universities. Some had public access and others didn't. One even offered private viewing opportunities. All of these small observatories were located in rural areas with very dark skies but were still close enough to a town that I could stay in a motel if I didn't feel like driving back to Dallas in the middle of the night. This is worth exploring further. Before I become a star guide at McDonald Observatory, I probably need a refresher course in what I'm actually looking at.

I didn't have the proper ingredients for my smoothie this morning, so I just threw everything I had in the Vitamix and drank it anyway. Surprising, adding a carrot to the remaining fruit wasn't half bad. After breakfast I went to the grocery store and got enough food to last me through the weekend. It looks like it is going to rain tomorrow and I wanted to have the option of staying dry at home.

My household chore for the day was defrosting the small refrigerator. This was supposed to just be an  emergency refrigerator to use when our big refrigerator in the kitchen was broken. The refrigerator was fixed long ago and we still use the little one. Defrosting this thing reminds me of the days when the TV didn't have a remote, ovens weren't self-cleaning, and light bulbs burned out every few months. It's amazing how we just take our automated lives for granted these days.

The park has been full of people all week. This period between Christmas and New Year's is confusing, since every day seems like Sunday. Lots of folks were trying out new bicycles and scooters today. For the past several years I've been seeing people learning to fly their new drones right after Christmas. I've been led to believe that these things practically fly themselves, but there must be some skill involved. A lot of new drone pilots are terrible. I saw a guy this afternoon repeatedly crash his Christmas toy while his girlfriend laughed at him.

It looks like all the leaves are off the trees now. I can't decide whether to rake and bag the leaves myself or hire the landscape guy to do it. Janet and I used to rake leaves every Fall and then one year it just seemed like a lot of trouble. Some years we got someone to remove the leaves for us and other years we just left them on the ground. By Spring, most of them had blown away anyway. I don't know why I'm even thinking of raking leaves this year. I must not have enough to do.

I've been getting a lot of notices about big after Christmas sales in my e-mail lately, but I still don't feel like buying anything. This is unexpected. Back in the day, I always felt like I needed a new camera or microphone. Gadgets just don't interest me as much anymore. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Where do you go when gadgets fail to excite you?

Hard to believe we are approaching the end of another decade. New Year's Eve 1999 still seems like it was yesterday. That's a little unsettling. Even in the best of worlds, it's doubtful that I have another twenty years left.

Taylor os today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3604

Today seemed productive. I didn't really do that much, but nothing went wrong. After breakfast I went to the storage warehouse to see if I might still have a copy of the banner I was thinking of reprinting. Nope. It wasn't there. I sent the file I found yesterday to the printer and told them to reprint the banner.

Next, I went to get a haircut. I was amazed to see that all the stores are already in full Christmas mode. There were Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. A crew was already putting together the little hut where kids come to see Santa. It still seems a little early to me, but what do I know. Maybe it was always this way.

My haircut took a while, but I wasn't in a hurry. When I left the mall I could have sworn there there were even more Christmas trees standing than when I arrived. I didn't stop at the Apple Store today. I have very little interest in computers anymore. I didn't stop at the Tesla Store either. When you're thinking about taking long car trips, an electric car doesn't sound that appealing. I guess it's good that I don't feel like buying things these days. I don't have the money anyway.

I found out this afternoon that the last of my vintage guitars has finally sold. The whole process took over a year but I'm happy with the results. I kept one guitar just in case I feel like playing again. I rarely take it out of its case. Maybe I'll sell that guitar one day as well. I'm a bit surprised that I don't miss anything that I've sold. I spent so long collecting some of this stuff and now that it's gone, it's quickly forgotten. I don't regret the years I spent accumulating things, but it's time to move on.

One of the reasons that I'm in a good mood is that even though it rained a lot recently, there have been no further leaks. I haven't been up on the roof yet either. I'm sure there is still standing water. Maybe my last repair attempts actually worked. Of course, a leak could still appear at any minute. That's the way it works with water. It's always waiting to surprise you. I'll leave the buckets out for another day, just to be safe.

Tomorrow, I go back to the dentist to see if they can fix my retainer. I hope they don't try to tell me that it is just fine the way it is. I'll quit wearing the contraption if that happens. The dentist seems confident that he can adjust the retainer. How? The thing is made of hard plastic and it either fits or it doesn't. I hate to make the long drive for a third time, but I'm kind of curious to see what they're going to do.

I took my walk toward the end of the day because of my hair appointment. The time change really makes a difference. I left the house around 3 PM and by the time I returned home the sun was already starting to set. All in all, I think I liked Daylight Savings Time better. I can always sleep a little later until the sun comes up, but when the day ends early you're stuck. I'd better get used to this. Early sunsets are going to be around for quite a while.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3188

I listened to a program about Schadenfreude on the way to the gym this morning. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the concept of feeling pleasure at someone else's misfortune. Apparently, researchers have discovered that in today's increasingly polarized world, people will tend to accept something they know is wrong if they think the wrong might make someone they dislike look even worse. This explains a lot. Politics and a lot of foreign policy decisions depend on Schadenfreude.

Democrats and Republicans. Palestinians and Israelis. The Patriots and the Falcons. Is it all just the same? People pick their team and stick with them no matter what. If you're a Falcons fan, you're going to be happy at Tom Brady's misfortune whenever he gets sacked. If a rough tackle puts him out of the game, you're even happier. Politics and diplomacy are starting to seem a lot like football. I like football, but is this any way to run the world?

I like to solve the world's problems while I'm on the treadmill. I never tell anybody my solutions because they'd never listen. Global warming? Piece of cake. Just stop having babies until the earth's population declines by about 40%. Cities would become smaller. Fish would return to the ocean. Forests would flourish. Could anyone convince the entire world that two children is plenty and maybe none would be even better for a while until we got things back in balance? I doubt it. Russian meddling? Big deal. Just open the files and show everyone that our own CIA has been doing the same thing for most of the Twentieth Century. We've done more meddling over the years than all the other countries combined. Countries shouldn't meddle in other countries business, but they do. People shouldn't take pleasure in someone else's misfortune, but they do. Basically, we were the meanest monkeys in the monkey kingdom. Otherwise, dolphins would probably rule the earth.

I only philosophize at the gym. Most of the time I realize that Dash is right. It's better to think about nothing. I'm fairly comfortable living like a dog. I eat. I sleep. I observe and occasionally photograph things in nature. People say it it is important to be passionate about something but I don't even know what that means. Dogs can be obsessive, but I don't think they are passionate. Passion often leads to anger. Obsession just leads to collections. Our first Dalmatian collected tennis balls. He would find them on walks and carry them in his mouth until we got home. He was obsessed with tennis balls and by the end of his life had collected hundreds of them. It all made sense to me. During the same period of time I was collecting model trains.

I've already started seeing pumpkins and Christmas Trees. The Hallmark Channel is already advertising that they are ready to debut 34 all new Christmas Movies. Where has this year gone? It's almost over already. I guess I'd better make reservations for Thanksgiving Dinner before it's too late.

Dalmatian of the Day

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