Day 4424

We got ice and a little snow, but our heavily hyped winter storm wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. We never lost power, so the house stayed nice and warm. This was important because it was very cold today. I hope our good luck continues because it is supposed to be even colder tomorrow. It's probably good that last night's freezing rain turned to sleet fairly quickly because the trees never got coated with a lot of ice. I didn't see any downed trees in our neighborhood.

Janet and I had planned to just stay in the house all day. That was certainly Dawn's plan as well because it was hard to even get her to go out in the backyard and pee. Some dogs love snow. She isn't one of them. After several hours of doing absolutely nothing Janet and I got bored and decided to go on a walk. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to go walking on ice when the temperature was 20 degrees but we both had cabin fever. I knew I couldn't wear my Hoka shoes on a day like this so I dug out my Dad's old Pivetta hiking boots. These boots are almost 60 years old and they are still better than anything you can buy today. A pair of`Pivetta boots was the gold standard for serious hikers for many years. It's too bad this fine Italian company is no longer in business. Lord knows what a pair of hand made boots like this would cost in today's market. You just can't get things like this anymore.

The sleet and snow made the ground crunchy instead of slippery. Even going downhill felt fairly safe. We stayed away from roads wherever possible and stuck to dirt trails. For the most part there wasn't a wind. That helped a lot. When the wind did pick up near the lake, it was brutal. We didn't set any records today, but we did walk almost four miles. Even though we were both very cold when we returned to the house, the walk was much better than sitting around the house staring out the window. I think we have both become addicted to movement.

I don't know why it is going to be so cold tomorrow. The storm has already moved well beyond us. I'll be glad when it is above freezing again. There's a lot of ice on the roof right now and I hope the pumps still work when the ice starts melting. If memory serves, these type of conditions frequently cause roof leaks. Heat from the house melts the ice from the bottom while the layer on the top is still frozen. the water can't escape and it typically finds a way inside. The pumps froze up fairly quickly last night, so they won't be much help until things get a lot warmer.

We both started our cars this afternoon and kept them running until the engines reached operating temperature. This is a habit we got into during last winter's extended freezing spell. There's nothing worse than the sound of an engine that won't turn over on a really cold morning. I won't drive on ice unless it's absolutely necessary, but I do want a reliable car in the winter. I learned how to drive on ice when I was going to high school in Fairbanks, Alaska. On an empty road I'm generally OK. It's the other cars you have to worry about. Very few Dallas drivers have any idea how to drive on ice and snow.

I feel bad for my friends out at McDonald Observatory. It's five degrees and snowing out there. I think they are essentially trapped until conditions improve. Everyone is well prepared though. They stock up on food ahead of time and if things get really bad they can all move temporarily into the Astronomers Lodge which has a large emergency generator. It's only when gasoline for the generator starts to run low that things start to get dicy. I miss my time out at the observatory. Not in the winter though. Being trapped on a mountain in a snowstorm is not for me.

Dawn is such a lazy dog. She had a good time just lounging on the bed today. She had no interest in going outside whatsoever. Janet finally got her to go outside and poop, but she had to put Dawn on a lash to get her out the back door. Needless to say, Dawn did not join us on our walk today. 

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same. I hope a lot of the sleet and ice blows away or evaporates. I don't think it is going to melt. The temperature tomorrow morning will be nineteen degrees.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4319

No pain meds today. I was able to complete my regular six mile walk without much of a problem. I think I will always have some foot pain. I walk a lot and there isn't a lot of cartilage left between these old bones. The foot doctor told me that in severe cases they can fuse the bones of the foot together, but that seems like a terrible idea. It would seem like the foot needs to stay as flexible as possible when moving.

We like to eat out on Thanksgiving and I started looking for places today so we could make reservations. Some places we have enjoyed in the past just weren't there anymore and others weren't offering a Thanksgiving buffet this year. Many restaurants had scaled back service and a few major hotel restaurants were only open for breakfast now. The restaurant landscape has really changed since Covid. I finally found one place where we'd eaten before that still had a nice Thanksgiving brunch and made a reservation.  Hopefully, it will be an enjoyable meal that will remind us of a time when life was less complicated.

I've noticed a huge increase in spam calls, telemarketers, and even spam text messages in recent months. Did somebody get my number, or is this just part of modern daily life? The spammers are irritating, but I don't know how to stop them. I have two different call blocker services on the land line but spam still gets through. I block callers almost every day now on my iPhone. I wonder if there is a limit on how many calls I can block? This information must take up some memory in the phone. Why do people do this? Are there really than many gullible people out there who fall for these telephone scams? You really feel under siege at times. The post office delivers tons of junk mail every day but seems to lose the occasional legitimate mail I send out. The phone company knows they are bombarding me with spam calls. They even identify these calls as "suspected spam." Why do they even put the calls through? I suspect that the spammers might be their best customers.

A neighbor wanted to talk about dogs while I was out walking today. I slowed down as we reminisced about various dogs we'd owned, but I kept thinking that the conversation was messing up my Fitbit pace. I've become a slave to the Fitbit and the Apple Watch. I kind of measure my day by how well I'm able to walk. I must be a fixture around the neighborhood though, because people frequently ask why Dawn isn't with me. Sometimes they still ask about Dot and Dash. Few people ask about Petey anymore, but every once in a while someone will still mention Spot. 

Dawn still enjoys her sunrise walk, but she wouldn't dream of walking six miles with me anymore. She used to take long walks with us, but not lately. I don't know if she is getting old and tired or if she has finally become comfortable with her new life and is doing exactly what she wants. She certainly seems happy enough spending most of the day sleeping on the bed. I can't fault Dawn for being lazy. I'd spend my day sleeping too if I could get away with it. Unfortunately, if I sleep too much during the day, I'm awake all night.

I have an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. Usually I have some place to go right after I get a haircut. There are no travel plans in the works now though. I doubt that I will be going anywhere before the end of the year. I can't even think of any place I'd like to go other than the space center and the observatory. National parks are overcrowded, cities aren't safe, and a lot of foreign countries are still off limits. Dawn's going to have to get used to sharing the bed with me during the day.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4196 - Summer Solstice

It's the first day of Summer, the longest day of the year, and also Father's Day. Occasionally my birthday falls on one of these days as well. I'm going to skip the Father's Day remembrances this year. A lot of what happened during the early years have been lost to the mists of time. I do remember the latter years when I had to take over my Dad's affairs after he could no longer handle things himself. Not a lot of good memories there. Truthfully, I've never had strong family ties and don't spend a lot of time thinking about family. I jokingly tell people that I was raised by wolves, but I suspect that my parents did a pretty good job raising me. I've always been able to cope and have succeeded at just about everything I've tried. I'm sure my Dad had a lot to do with that, whether I was aware of it or not.

I thought I'd try to outwit the weather and take my long walk right after breakfast this morning. I don't drink my morning smoothie during the weekend, so I was able to get an early start. Janet volunteered at a dog event again today, so Dawn had no interest in walking with me. If she could have overcome her fears, she would have enjoyed the walk. It was still pretty cool outside at 7:30 AM. Keep in mind that this is Texas in the Summer, so 'pretty cool' means 80 degrees.

I was easily able to complete six miles this morning. I should do this more often. The problem is that it takes so long to drink a half-gallon fruit smoothie that I don't know where I'd find the time. If I drink the smoothie first, it's already gotten too hot outside for a pleasant walk by the time I'm finished. If I walk first, I don't feel like eating or drinking anything when I return. Today was easy. I just had a quick bowl of cold cereal before leaving the house. I won't abandon the smoothie though. I've convinced myself that it is extremely healthy.

I was a little tired when I returned from my walk, but a short nap took care of that. I realized that it was now or never for removing the rest of the dead Photinia trees, so I got out my heavy reciprocating saw and went to work. I must have saved the hardest trees for last, because it required quite an effort to cut them down. The trouble with this type of saw is that the blades are relatively short, making it almost impossible to cut through a thick stump. It is also impossible to cut the trees down flush to the ground. At some point I'm going to have to hire someone to dig up the roots of these trees. The exposed stumps don't look all that great. All that being said, the yard does look a lot better now. I don't look better unfortunately. I always manage to cut myself when I am doing yard work. One of the hazards of taking blood thinners I guess. The slightest scratch results in a cut.

It's time to start watering the grass again, but I couldn't find a sprinkler that worked. All three were broken. I guess it's time for another trip to Home Depot. I'll need to buy a hose as well. The one hose long enough to reach all parts of the yard has a big leak in it. Whatever I buy probably won't last any longer than the worthless tools I threw away today. I think all this stuff is made in China out of recycled tin foil.

Dawn had no interest in staying outside with me while I worked in the yard today. Every time I took her out to pee, she immediately went to the back door and wanted to go inside as soon as she had done her business. The little diva spent her day sitting in the middle of our king sized bed while I was sweating outside. Whoever coined the phrase 'it's a dog's life' never met our dogs.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4074

Somehow they can flawlessly land a rover on Mars, but they can't keep the lights on in Texas. I watched the Perseverance landing today and I'll have to admit that I was impressed. After traveling almost 300 million miles, the spacecraft landed within 115 feet of it's target. I can't say that I'm very impressed with Texas. Other states seem to be able to cope with winter. Why can't we? Not planning for a storm like this is like not putting antifreeze in your car because you don't think it's going to be cold. Jeez. I can't predict the future. Can you? I'd like to see a little contingency planning. If the utility company's were cutting corners to save money, then why is my electric bill always so high? Something seems fishy to me. At the rates most utilities charge, there should have been plenty of money to winterize everything.

It still hasn't gotten above freezing, but it was a little warmer today. Maybe tomorrow will be the magic day when everything starts to thaw. We still have power and no pipes have frozen. I'm glad that our water pipes are buried under the slab. Most of the burst pipes in town seem to be located in exterior walls or uninsulated attics. For once the design of our house is working to our advantage. Even the snow on the flat roof is providing extra insulation. This is no time to let down your guard though. I think we'll leave our faucets dripping until it's t-shirt weather again.

I hope we don't have problems getting Dawn to walk again when this cold spell is over. She seems awfully comfortable sitting on the bed and doing nothing. Most dogs would be upset if you left them behind on a walk. Dawn doesn't even leave the bed. She just gives us this look that says "Bye you crazy fools. I'll keep the bed warm for you." 

Our shorter walks seem much more tiring than the longer ones we used to take when the weather was warmer. It's hard to walk on crusty snow and icy roads. Neither of us wants to fall. Your bone density gets worse as you age and I don't think a bad fall would be very forgiving. My boots aren't very forgiving either. I don't think the orthopedic surgeon who looked at my feet would approve of these boots, but they are waterproof and keep my feet warm. I'll go back to wearing the special running shoes when all the snow melts.

They say that most grocery stores are running out of food because trucks can't get in to restock them. I hope that changes in the next day or two. We've got enough food left for a couple more days, but the refrigerator is starting to look a little bare. I'm glad we stocked up on grocery day last Saturday. People who didn't plan ahead are living on Cheetos now.

While I was watching the Perseverance landing on NASA TV today I kept thinking how ironic it was that I abandoned my attempts to go out to JPL in California because of Covid. It never even occurred to me that if I had managed to get press accreditation, I wouldn't be able to go anyway because a winter storm had closed all the airports. It just goes to show that it doesn't pay to predict the future.

I"m not going to predict what will happen tomorrow. I do hope it gets above freezing though. This winter storm has worn out it's welcome. It's time to go back to regular weird weather.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4049

I'm getting tired of all this rain. I keep forgetting that this happens every year, but the gloomy days are still irritating. It will be a while before we can rake the leaves. The yard is a soggy mess rtight now. We did manage to get Dawn walked before the rain started. That was a good thing. There are no problems with walks now that Dawn gets her own way. I'm not surprised that Dawn is stubborn. Most of our Dalmatians were stubborn. I'm just surprised that she doesn't like to walk. I thought all dogs loved a walk.

After we took Dawn back to the house, Janet continued walking with me. We generally walk along the same trails where we used to take Dawn and wonder what the problem is. We see lots of other people walking their dogs and most of the dogs seem to be having a great time. Oh, well. Dawn still walks a mile a day and maybe that's all the exercise she needs right now.

I need to find a project that doesn't involve cleaning or yard work. I'm kind of envious of my Florida photographer friends who still manage to show up at Kennedy Space Center for every single launch. It's just too expensive to do this unless you are a local. I'm a little less envious of my friends in West Texas. It's snowing out there and very cold. I have a feeling that I won't be returning to until the weather is warmer. West Texas is still a virus hot spot. 

It's weird that there is almost nothing I'm interested in doing in Dallas. Was there ever anything I was interested in doing in Dallas? It's hard to remember. Most of my time here has been spent behind this computer. If your occupation involves writing and web design, you end up spending an enormous amount of time staring at a computer screen. There's really no reason to continue doing this, but old habits die hard.

I spent some time this afternoon configuring my new camera. Every time I buy a camera, the menu list keeps getting longer and longer. New digital cameras are complicated. You can configure this one to do almost anything, but I doubt that I will ever use most of the settings. I still take pictures exactly the same way I did years ago with my old Nikon-F.

I've found a lens that I'd like to use with the new camera. Maybe I'll go out and look for this sometime next week. I used to buy almost all my equipment for the business online, but Covid has given me a new respect for local businesses. There aren't a lot of camera stores left in Dallas and I'd like to support them. I think retirement hit me at about the right time. This definitely isn't the best time to be running a small business. It doesn't seem fair that Amazon keeps getting richer while small businesses of all types are being decimated by the pandemic. Life never was fair though. Even the ducks in the park know that.

Something tripped a breaker while we were eating dinner tonight and the kitchen and utility room went dark. Strangely, the television and the microwave in the kitchen were still on. These appliances must have been on a different circuit. Nothing was turned on in the kitchen when the breaker got tripped, so the whole thing is a big mystery. Our new sensor that is supposed to monitor the electric wiring didn't detect anything either. Ghosts? It could be. This is a pretty old house.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4047

Another gray, dismal day. At least it wasn't raining. It's hard to get motivated on days like this. I impatiently channel surf while I'm eating breakfast, never finding anything worth watching. I check the pumps on the roof and then forget to turn them off. I turn on my computer and mindlessly scroll through my Facebook timeline. I keep thinking I ought to be doing something useful and usually just end up charging camera batteries.

Janet goes grocery shopping on Friday now, so we didn't walk Dawn until she returned home. Dawn acts listless and seldom leaves the bed when I'm puttering around the house by myself. As soon as she hears Janet's car in the driveway, she hops us and races to the door to greet her. Lets face it. This dog just doesn't like me. I guess I can live with this. She's a very sweet dog and I'm sure she has her reasons.

As long as we take the short one mile route that Dawn likes, we have no problems walking her anymore. I'm beginning to think that she never liked our longer walks, but just went along with us because she was afraid something bad would happen if she resisted. Dawn is much more confident and assertive now. Maybe we're finally starting to see her real personality. There are any number of reasons why Dawn could be acting this way, but maybe she's just a lazy dog.

When Dawn returns to the house with Janet, I continue walking. I sometimes think that Dawn has the right idea, but I'm more disciplined than she is. I know that I'm getting older and my contemporaries are dropping like flies. If I want to stay healthy, I'm going to have to work at it. I have no interest in taking a class at the gym or doing anything competitive. Walking is the best way I can think of for staying active. 

When I leave the house, I can go West or I can go East. There is a well developed path that goes all the way around the lake and smaller trails that branch off in different directions. I've tried them all. The park is interesting and is a great place for bird watching, but after ten or fifteen years there aren't many surprises anymore. I probably should find someplace new just for a little variety, but I can't bring myself to get in a car just to go walking. Some days are boring, but I'm content with learning the habits of animals and watching the seasons change.

I'm reading more and more about astrophotography and realizing that the premise of the article I'm planning to write isn't original at all. People have been writing about this subject for decades and what's new to me is already old hat to scores of others. It's a good thing that I'm discovering this now. I'm a good writer, but I need to learn more before I attempt to teach. I'm still going to submit an article to Sky & Telescope, but it will take a little longer and will probably be much different than what I originally envisioned.

It's time to make a grocery list again. I continue to be amazed at how quickly time flies when you're doing nothing. I would have thought that the days would just drag on in slow motion, but this entire year has gone by in a flash. For a while I was frustrated that Covid has seriously curtailed my efforts to become a space and astronomy journalist. Now I'm realizing that there's a reason for everything. I couldn't really afford to be traveling all the time anyway. I'll attend launches and see dark skies again, but taking a break gives me time to rebuild my finances. My big project now is getting Dawn to like me.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3941

Now that I am retired, I often wonder how I used to get so much done during my working career. I've really slowed down. All I basically did today was carry on an e-mail correspondence with three different people and it just about wore me out. Things are definitely starting to happen. I am getting messages about the astrophotography workshop from McDonald Observatory, messages about the upcoming Crew 1 launch from Kennedy Space Center, and messages from my editor about the Sky and Telescope article. For a while today, I actually started feeling like a working journalist.

I definitely didn't feel like a working roofer today. I postponed making repairs with the silicon coating again. I've done this a lot lately. I had used up so much time eating breakfast, walking Dawn, and answering e-mail messages that there wasn't much time left for dirty, messy work. It was hot this afternoon too. Basically I just didn't feel like climbing up on the roof. There's still plenty of time. The weather looks good for the next week.

Dawn continues to do well. We are back to our old walking schedule now with no adverse effects. Dawn still spends a lot of her day just lying on the bed, but I don't think there's anything wrong. She's basically just a lazy dog. She and I should be soul mates. I wouldn't mind spending a lot of my time just lying on the bed as well.

I did some research on star trackers this afternoon. I'm debating getting a tracker for my trip to the observatory. They dramatically improve pictures of the Milky Way and there are actually quite a few to choose from. These little gadgets are fairly expensive though. It's hard to justify getting something like this when I know it will rarely get used. There is way too much light pollution in Dallas to take pictures of the stars at all.

We passed another downed tree during our walk in the park this morning. Every time I see something like this, I think one of the Oak trees in our back yard is going to be next. Coincidentally, I passed some tree trimmers in the neighborhood on my afternoon walk. I thought about asking them to stop by my house after they finished and give me a bid for taking down the tree that got damaged last Summer. The workers were all up in the neighbor's tree however and I didn't want to bother them, so I just kept walking. Another missed opportunity.

It doesn't seem like a week has passed since I hauled last week's trash out to the curb. For that matter, it doesn't seem like a year since I had my last eye exam. Time goes by so quickly now. I guess that's a big reason why I don't want to pass up opportunities to do things I enjoy. There just isn't that much time left. Almost every week I read about someone I went to high school with who has passed away. Jeez. Van Halen died the other day. I didn't even know he was sick. I need to make a resolution not to waste a single day. Maybe I'll do that later after I waste a few more days doing nothing. Like I said, Dawn and I should be soul mates.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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