Day 3656

It rained a lot today. I tried to avoid getting wet, but there weren't a lot of breaks in the weather. I tried something different for breakfast this morning. Since I was out of fresh fruit, I made the dish I submitted to the SXSW Cookbook many years ago. I was actually an SXSW presenter back in the day. When they asked me if I wanted to be included in a cookbook featuring recipes from various other SXSW presenters and participants I jumped at the chance. Most of the recipes were from famous people like Sheryl Sandberg. And then there was me. Not surprisingly my recipe was something to eat for breakfast.

I managed to go to the grocery store after breakfast and get some more strawberries and blueberries before the heavy rain started. Luckily, the pumps on the roof were working today. Even though the roof hasn't leaked in quite a while, I'm always nervous when it rains.

I had to postpone my walk because of the weather. There wasn't a lot to do around the house. I did a little searching on the Internet and discovered a retired astrophysicist who offered private viewing opportunities on his rather large backyard telescope. As luck would have it, the guy only lives about an hour from Dallas, so I sent him an e-mail and asked if he'd be interested in giving another retired guy a refresher course in deep sky objects. It looks like I'll go visit this guy on a clear moonless night sometime early next year.

Eventually, the rain stopped a little before sunset. I took an abbreviated walk just to make sure I made my quota of 10,000 steps today. I knew the park paths would be muddy, so I just walked through the neighborhood streets. Wow. There are a lot of new houses since I used to walk these streets with Spot and Petey years ago. Everything is bigger and more expensive than it used to be. I probably couldn't afford to buy a house in this neighborhood anymore.

For a dismal, grey day we ended up having a spectacular sunset. I almost missed it, since I was walking back towards the East. I was quite surprised when I returned home and looked westward before going inside. The sunset was pretty, but I knew it would be gone before I could go grab my good camera. I took a quick picture with my phone and then began fixing dinner.

Hopefully, the weather will be better tomorrow. I had a bad case of cabin fever today. For some reason I'm not very interested in watching movies even though we have Netflix and Amazon Prime. I've been reading some interesting histories of the Davis Mountains and the McDonald Observatory recently. I have to read things two or three times before I start to remember everything.

I'm not sure I'll make it to the gym tomorrow. I'm not even sure I'll remember it is Sunday.

Petey & Dot are today's Dalmatians 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

Watch of the Day