Day 4422

We walked Dawn this morning and then I took Janet to the eye surgery center. The place was huge. It was also crowded. I never dreamed there were so many people in town with eye problems. The surgery center was very efficient. I got text messages every hour updating Janet's progress. The cataract surgery went well and Janet said that I had nothing to worry about when it was my turn.

All our phones seem to be dying. I took another phone to the neighborhood fix-it place today and they put in a new battery in less than thirty minutes. This is so much easier than going to the Apple Store. On the way back home I drove by the eagle's nest and noticed that the area was being fenced off. There didn't appear to be any eagles in the nest, but I can almost guarantee that there will be wrecks along this stretch of road, now that the nest location is common knowledge.

On the other side of the road there now appears to be a growing contingent of eagle watchers.  Some bring lawn chairs and sit there for hours whether the eagles are there or not. This nest must be new. It appears that the whole city discovered it the same day I did.

I don't think I've done a good job preparing for the storm. We haven 't gone to the store and bought extra food, stocked up on batteries, or done any other panic buying. Actually buying extra food doesn't make sense. If the power goes out for any length of time, the food in your refrigerator is just going to go bad anyway. I was going to test my generator to make sure I can still get it started, but I can do that tomorrow. The generator is a little harder to start with a bad shoulder, but I'm pretty sure it still works fine. It's too bad that the power company guys didn't trim our trees near the alley before the storm. They're in the neighborhood now, but they haven't made it to our house yet.

When I took my long walk today, I brought a camera with me. The eagles weren't in their nest unfortunately, but I did see one of them a mile or so down the road. The birds hunt over a fairly wide area, so you never know when they are going to turn up next. Usually when you see one, it is sitting on a branch near the top of a tall tree. One of these days I'll get a good picture, but it probably won't be when I'm taking my long walk. It's too much trouble to carry a DLSR with a telephoto lens while I'm walking and the little pocket camera I had with me today just doesn't take great bird pictures. It does pretty well with squirrels though.

It's weird how dependent we are on electricity. We have a gas furnace, but it doesn't work without electricity. The fan and a lot of switches and sensors all require electricity. It's too bad we don't have a fireplace. A fire in the fireplace makes a long power outage a little less ominous. We do have hot water though. The water heater doesn't seem to require any electricity at all. Maybe this storm won't be that bad. I'm not a very positive person, so I always expect the worst.

Janet has a follow up appointment with her eye doctor tomorrow, but I don't think Dawn will be going to training class tomorrow night. The rain isn't supposed to start until the afternoon. Who knows when it will start turning to ice. I plan on hunkering down and not going anywhere until this is all over. Hopefully, we won't lose power this year.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4406

It was still really cold this morning, but there was no wind. It made a world of difference. We still had to dress warmly for our sunrise walk with Dawn but as the sun got higher in the sky it gradually turned into a very nice day. It was a good day for walking. Dawn got her Sunday outing and I had enough energy left to take my long walk later in the day.

When we went to the ice cream store today we thought the place was closed. We were about to drive away when one employee finally came to the window. It turned out she was the only employee in the building and had to do double duty as cashier and ice cream maker. I don't know if there was a staff shortage or if the management just thought that no one would want ice cream on such a cold morning. Usually there's a line at this place, but we were the only customers today. The ice cream was good though. It made Dawn very happy.

I saw the eagle again today on my long walk. People have told me that you are more likely to see the eagle in the afternoon. Maybe that's true. I've almost always seen the bird when I end up walking later for some reason. I was really glad that it wasn't windy today. Yesterday was miserable. I had a moderate amount of foot pain, but I still managed to get over 20,000 steps. 10,000 steps used to be my goal. Now I try for 20,000. I don't think I'll ever walk 30,000 steps in a day. My body just isn't up to the challenge. For now, I'm lucky to be able to keep walking at all. One step at a time.

I was finally ready to order the Hoka boots today. I didn't expect to find the boots locally, but I never dreamed that every single web site I visited would be out of stock. These shoes must be made in China or Vietnam. Most places indicated that they didn't expect a new shipment until March. This is bad news for me. My current shoes are wearing out and I wanted to replace them with the boots. I may have to buy another pair of regular Hoka running shoes instead. My feet depend on these things now.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to depend on the Polaris star tracker. The last time I tried it, the thing worked pretty well. Today was a disaster. I can't tell whether the problem is caused by bugs in the software, bad connecting cables, or a fundamental flaw in the tracker itself. Inconsistency is a common theme among members of the Kickstarter user group. The unit will work one day and then go haywire the next. Today when I tried to track something it pointed straight down toward the ground when I told it to go find the sun. If this thing can't even find the sun, it's worthless. I don't think I have the patience to be a Beta tester. Maybe I'll just leave the unit in the box for a while until Benro completes a few more software updates. Another firmware update for the hardware itself might be a good idea as well.

I'm pretty sure now that the new Fitbit wasn't draining my phone's battery. I just have a bad battery on my phone. I guess it's time for a new one. I still am using the original battery that came with my iPhone SE. I don't want to deal with the Apple Store again, but I found a little fix-it shop in the neighborhood that can replace iPhone batteries. I'll try to get a new battery installed tomorrow.

I think it's supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow. A nice day would be welcome. I'm already tired of Winter and we've got several more months to go. At least we aren't getting snow like a lot of the Eastern states. Tomorrow it's time to visit the rescue Dalmatians again. I think we'll go, but I'm never sure anymore. Charlie would certainly be glad to see us. He doesn't get as much attention during the holidays.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4404

Dawn got a bath today. I hate to say that this was the big event of the day, but it probably was. None of our dogs have liked getting a bath. They seem so disappointed when we arrive at the self bathing place instead of a park or the ice cream store. Dawn acted like we were torturing her but seemed happy enough as soon as she was dry again. I guess if a bath is the worst thing Dawn has to look forward to, she's doing pretty well.

My long walks keep getting slower and slower. On a good day it takes me about nineteen minutes to walk a mile. Today it took thirty. My feet were terrible today, but I kept plodding along. I just can't bring myself to stop walking. It has become an integral part of my day. If I went to the gym and did other exercises, my shoulders would hurt instead. I'm not even sure these slow walks do me any good. It still beats staying in the house or driving somewhere though.

I think I was wrong about the Fitbit draining my phone's battery. I've disconnected both Fitbit trackers and the battery still doesn't last very long. It's probably time for a new phone, but I like my small iPhone SE. There used to be several nearby stores where I could get the battery replaced, but they have either gone out of business or quit offering the service. I liked it when the local Interstate Battery store used to change phone batteries while you wait. It was quick and much less expensive than the Apple Store. It's too bad I can't change the battery myself but you need special tools to remove the glass. Fixing a computer is much easier. I'm clumsy with small things.

I watched the last episode of The Expanse this afternoon. I never would have guessed that this was the end of the series if I hadn't already read about it online. I'm pretty sure that Amazon is finished with this series, but the final episode was certainly inconclusive. I want to know more about those strange dog like creatures on one of the ring worlds that can bring people back from the dead.

I continued my efforts to fix small things around the house. Today I took apart the shower nozzle and cleaned out all the scale and calcium deposits. Maybe now I can adjust the shower spray again. Our city water leaves a lot to be desired. I wish we could just get distilled water from the tap. I always use distilled water for the coffee maker and I've never had to clean it.

I was going to practice using the star tracker again today but the day got away from me. I really didn't anticipate my walk taking such a long time. Today's walk should have been enjoyable because the weather was so nice. Tomorrow it's supposed to get much colder again. I need to order the Hoka boots even though I suspect they won't make any difference. I suspect that a new battery won't really improve my phone's performance either. Apple doesn't support their old products anymore. Actually nobody supports old products. They just want you to buy new stuff.

I got an invitation to attend an upcoming Space Force launch at Kennedy Space Center at the end of the month. I'm not going though. Covid restrictions have kind of ruined travel for me. I don't feel like going anywhere until this whole mess is over with. If I can't get a handle on my foot pain, I might not feel like going anywhere period. The whole idea of volunteering for a week out at the observatory seems a lot less appealing than it did this time last year.

At least I've got my routine. Tomorrow is grocery day again. Maybe I can finally find my favorite ginger ale. Sunday is Dawn's outing and Monday we visit the rescue Dalmatians. One little event each day is plenty. I just need to stay busy enough to avoid raking leaves.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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