Day 4778

I'm getting apprehensive about the weather again. We're supposed to get a lot of rain and possibly even snow tomorrow. This means that the roof will inevitably start leaking and I'll be back to square one with my cleanup efforts. To say that I'm getting tired of this would be an understatement. At this point I just hope the forecast is wrong. It often is.

Today was a another day of long walks and paying bills. I extended my 20,000 step streak to six days. I think that's a record for me. It's going to be hard to make it a full week though if it rains tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I hate the thought of driving to the gym in the rain tomorrow, but I can't just sit around the house all day. Walking brings a necessary structure to my life. I need to keep walking.

It's time to start working on my taxes again. I had a talk with my accountant today about whether it was time to stop filing as a business. Am I retired or not? I'm certainly busy enough. I still build and maintain animal rescue websites and I regularly write for SpaceFlight Magazine. The British magazine even calls me their U.S. Correspondent now. The only problem is that I'm not making any money. I think a business has to make money at least two years out of five. I need to find a gig with a magazine that actually pays for content. Easier said than done though. Especially when all you want to write about is astronomy and space. The magazine industry is not very healthy. I used to receive a ton of trade magazines at the house. Most of them are out of business now.

All the extra walking I'm doing is killing my feet. I probably need to retire my current pair of Hoka shoes and break out a new pair. I have one fairly new pair of Bondi 7 shoes that I just use when I travel and a brand new pair that I got just before they discontinued this style. My current shoes still feel comfortable but I'm sure they are not providing the support I need. The soles and heal areas are completely worn out. It's too bad that sneakers don't last like boots. I've got twenty year old hiking boots that are in better shape than my two year old Hokas.

Tonight there was a conjunction of Venus and Saturn right after sunset that astronomer friends said was a must see event. It's not happening. It was clear for most of the day, but clouds have rolled in and the skies are overcast now. This is probably the beginning of the bad weather that is supposed to start later tonight. There is also a green comet in the northern skies that people are talking about. I'll probably never find this. I had trouble finding Neowise a few years ago and it was much brighter. Lately my only connection with astronomy is testing the Benro Polaris star tracker every time a new firmware update comes out.

We were thinking about visiting the rescue Dalmatians this Wednesday but we'll wait and see what the weather is like. It's a long drive to this new kennel and it looks like we'll be playing with them outdoors instead of indoors like we did at the old kennel. Weather and rain will be an issue. I have a feeling that we won't end up visiting every week like we used to. We'll figure out something though. Janet and I still think socializing the dogs is important.

There's nothing on the agenda for tomorrow. I'll probably spend most of the day fretting about roof leaks.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4761

I think I'm becoming invisible. I've sent numerous messages to people who could potentially help me fix up the house and have received no replies. Nothing. I have a feeling that contractors just don't want to mess with this small house, but at least they could send me a polite letter saying that they're too busy or something. I guess it's easier to just ignore me. I found out that the falcon heavy launch is next week, but I still don't know if I'm going to be credentialed or not. I've heard nothing yet. This is cutting things pretty close for someone who has to make travel arrangements. The magazine I write for has dropped off the radar too. I don't even know if they want me to write an article about this launch. This is all frustrating for me, but it's probably a sign of the times. People just don't want to be bothered these days. Lord help you if you actually want to talk with someone on the phone. You have to send a text message now. Talking is apparently socially unacceptable.

This is a strange complaint from someone who rarely talks anyway, but I do wish it were easier to get things done. I've almost given up on calling customer service. You just get a call center in a foreign country and end up talking with someone you can barely understand. I have resolved exactly zero problems talking with customer service people. Lately, it's hard to even make a hotel or restaurant reservation with a phone call. Everyone just wants you to use their mobile app, which half the time doesn't even work. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but I don't think younger people even realize how much better life used to be. We're going backwards. Life in the 60's, 70's and even parts of the 80's was great.

It's kind of pointless to dwell on these things. The world has changed. All you have to do is turn on the television and it is apparent that we are living in some sort of dystopian alternate universe. I blame a lot of these problems on drugs. If we could just get rid of all the drug users, so many problems would just disappear. Crime would go down dramatically if there were no drugs to sell or traffic. Problems at the border would disappear. A lot of mental health issues would be alleviated. It would be an uphill battle though. Everyone seems to be high on something. People on the street are taking heroin, often at government sanctioned safe injection sites. People in offices and warehouses are smoking pot. Anyone with the least bit of anxiety is taking Xanax. It all seems so wrong. Would it really be so hard to do without this stuff? I don't know why anyone is taking Fentanyl? I can't imagine taking any pill that wasn't prescribed by my own doctor for a very specific reason.

I would suggest long walks as a solution, but I don't think I'd get many takers. A contemplative life appears to be a luxury. Life is far too hectic for most productive people and the stoners just don't care. It's probably no surprise that I see a lot of older people walking in the park. When you reach my age you're just happy to be alive and staying healthy takes on a whole new meaning. When I was in my 20's and 30's I never thought about my health. I didn't think I was invincible or anything. It just wasn't an issue. Getting high was never an issue either. I've never liked taking drugs or understood why others depend on them. 

I'm not going to change the world, but I'm going to try to enjoy the time I've got left. For me this means living a peaceful and largely uneventful life. When I finish my blogging goal I'll probably disappear from social media. Who needs it? Long walks are good. Maybe I'll spend more time looking at the stars. I'm lucky to have a friend like Janet. Even loners need someone to talk to.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4382

Thanks for nothing Fedex. My package still hasn't been delivered. When I didn't receive a message this morning saying that the package was on the truck for delivery, I called Fedex again to see what was going on. Jeez. Just yesterday the Fedex guy who called me promised that the lost package had been found and that it would be delivered to me today. The representative I talked to today told me that yes, the package had been found, but that it was still in Oklahoma City. The agent I talked with yesterday had been overly optimistic about getting it the rest of the way to Dallas. 

What? How could this even be possible? Contrary to what every other Fedex customer service representative has been telling me for the past two weeks, my package apparently never even reached Dallas. This seemed hard to believe, especially since I've been hearing stories about exactly where the package was for over a week. Apparently, everything I've been seeing on my Fedex account was a lie. The lady I talked with today said that Fedex doesn't even bother with scanning individual packages while they are in route. All packages headed to the same destination are put in a large container together and only the container is scanned. If your package wound up in the wrong container for some reason, all the subsequent information generated by the system would be wrong.

This far fetched story may be true or it may be one more in a long list of fabrications created by people who know nothing more than what they are seeing on their computer screen. All I know is that the last time I looked at my Fedex account all references to the delivery date had been erased and it just said "Delayed, no delivery scheduled." This is beyond frustrating. It is madness. I'm beginning to think that the only people who work for Fedex are drivers, people with bar code scanners, and offshore customer service agents who just make up answers to customer questions. Absolutely nobody seems to know what is really going on.

I didn't get my package today, but I did get my tooth filled. I knew I was in for trouble when I overheard the dentist tell his assistant, "Hmm, this cavity is interesting. It's not what I expected." Thats when I knew my bill was going to be higher than expected as well. I sat in the chair for a long time and although I couldn't see what the dentist was doing, it felt like I was getting three fillings instead of one. When the dentist was finished, he told me that the cavity was much deeper than it looked on the x-ray. The cavity traveled all the way down the root almost to the bone. "So, I guess if you hadn't caught this now, I would have had to have a root canal," I said to the dentist. "No," he replied, "you would have had to have an implant." The dentist assured me that the tooth was stable now, but my mouth still hurts for some reason. I've had enough dental problems for one year. 

Even though my trip to the dentist and an extended conversation with the Fedex agent took a lot of time, I still managed to get a lot of walking in. Dawn got her sunrise walk. I took another short walk after breakfast, and then two more walks after I returned from the dentist. It wasn't my best day, but I did get 20,000 steps. The temperature was pretty warm today. I was able to wear shorts on both of my afternoon walks.

The traffic was terrible today. I thought everyone would be on their way to grandma's house by now but apparently not. My drive to the dentist's office took almost twice as long as it usually does. Hopefully things will be a little calmer tomorrow. I'm going to do my grocery shopping on Friday, since Saturday is Christmas Day. I don't expect to see my package tomorrow and I can't imagine that it will arrive on Christmas Day. Was today's Fedex customer service story true or just another fabrication? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4308

Sunday is all about walking and eating. Janet fixes a big dinner and I spend most of the day walking. I should be fixing things around the house but almost everything that needs attention is way out of my league. I like walking because it's easy to convince myself that I'm doing something healthful and beneficial while I'm really just killing time.

Dawn went back to taking the short way home on her sunrise walk this morning. Maybe she was just saving her energy for the Sunday outing that came later. Dawn seems to love walking in this other park, although she whines in the car the entire way there. She's never been big on riding in the car.

There was a light mist when I took my long walk after breakfast. It cleared up a bit later in the morning and I was hoping that the forecast had changed. Nope. Severe weather is still headed our way and probably should arrive within an hour or so. Most of the really bad weather is to the North of us, but we are still under a tornado warning. I'm always apprehensive about bad weather. Power outages are common and too many things can go wrong. I keep wondering if there is a place where the weather is always perfect, but nothing comes to mind. We have the occasional tornado, but other places have floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and terrible winters. I shouldn't complain. Actually, Dallas weather has been better than most of the country this year.

Dawn is getting really bold. She even comes out in the kitchen when I'm fixing her dinner now. We're not best buddies yet, but we are making progress. She's real friendly early in the morning, but as the day progresses she remembers that I'm a man and not to be trusted. I wonder what those two guys who used her for breeding did to her. She clearly has some bad memories.

I should hurry up and finish this post because the storm keeps getting closer. I can hear thunder off in the distance now. If the power does go out, I can usually keep writing using the laptop. I've had to do that a few times before. I've even got an alternate way to get on the Internet using my little mobile hotspot. I still don't like storms though. We've got too many big trees in our yard that could come crashing down on the roof.

Tomorrow we'll visit the Dalmatian Rescue kennel again. There's a new girl entering the program, but I think she might still be at the vet getting her initial checkup. I'll take my camera anyway, just in case. We always enjoy meeting the new dogs, but we enjoy seeing Charlie too. He's been at the kennel so long that I'm sure he thinks it is his home.

Dawn enjoyed her ice cream cone today. I enjoyed our dinner tonight. It was a very nice day, even though very little happened. I guess I should say that very little has happened yet. The big storm is still not arrived.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4126

We took Dawn in the car to another park today. She seems to like these outings. Dawn is still nervous about riding in the car, but now that she knows where we are going, there is visible excitement as well. It was a perfect day for a walk. The temperature was in the low 70's with a clear blue sky and little to no allergies. For some reason Dawn walks faster and eats less grass when we walk her at the alternate park. At any rate, everyone had a good time and we celebrated by having an ice cream cone on the way home. We're not expert dog trainers, but this is our way of introducing Dawn to new experiences. It seems to be working.

I should have mowed the grass today, but maybe it can wait one more week. I still feel compelled to take my daily long walk and this typically doesn't leave me with enough energy to do yard work as well. I'm probably just making excuses. I'll do almost anything to avoid yard work. Usually in the Spring I'm up on the roof every other day, but this year it's been over a month since I've climbed up to inspect things. At some point I'll need to remove the remaining leaves and make sure there will be no leaks over the Summer, but I'm basically done with the roof for a while. My knees are bad, my shoulder is unstable, and I'm getting too old for this kind of foolishness.

The irises in the park are finally blooming. Most of the flowers are late this year, but the big freeze didn't seem to hurt anything. Actually it seems like it is going to be a very good year for wildflowers. The only things the big freeze decimated appear to be Azaleas, Rhododendrons and our Asian Jasmine ground cover. I'm still hoping that the ground cover returns to life, but things don't look good at the moment.

I had a good long walk this afternoon. Counting our earlier short walk with Dawn, I managed to complete over six miles today. I didn't set any records, but my feet didn't give me a lot of problems either. I've found that the best way to alleviate foot pain is to avoid uneven surfaces and never walk on my toes or the balls of my feet. This slow, flat footed walking style probably makes me appear even older than I am, but on a good day it appears to work.

After my walk I resumed my quest to transform my laptop into an astrophotography processing machine. Every time I come up with a plan, there is a snag that renders the plan worthless. Hardware limitations on the 2011 machine make it impossible to run the latest operating systems. I am currently running a 32 bit operating system and almost all modern software is 64 bit. I may be able to run some 64 bit software by installing the last operating system supported by my laptop. Unfortunately, if I attempt the upgrade I may lose all my currently installed software. It's a problem. My latest plan is to add a new partition on my hard drive and create a dual boot system. On one partition I'll keep all my faithful old software and on the new partition I'll install a newer operating system that hopefully will run some of the astrophotography software I need. My laptop doesn't have enough memory to run the newer operating system, but that can be fixed. I really should have replaced the memory when I upgraded the hard drive and installed a new battery several months ago. Oh, well. I probably thought that attempting to upgrade too many things at once was pushing my luck.

Have I turned into a hopeless geek who has lost all contact with thee rest of the world? Maybe. These things need to be done however and I don't think anyone else is going to help me. Eventually I'll get my computer problems solved and move on to other things like fixing the sliding glass door.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4081

I managed to get most of the leaves bagged and out of the yard before it started raining. This was quite an accomplishment, since there were a lot of leaves. I'm starting to understand why there are so many ads on TV for products claiming to reduce arthritis pain. You've seen the ads: Voltaren, Australian Dream, Blue-Emu, Capsaicin, Infrared light therapy, Salonpas, the list goes on and on. The sad fact is that at a certain age, your joints start acting like a rusty hinge. I can't recall raking and bagging leaves ever being this troublesome before. My shoulder bothered me. My wrists bothered me. My knees bothered me. Of course, my foot wasn't going to get left out of the pain parade either. Maybe that lawn care service actually was worth the money.

I was pleased to see a package from England in this morning's mail. Inside were two copies of the October 2020 issue of SpaceFlight with my article about the Artemis program. It's been a long wait. I wrote the article a year ago last February after a visit to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. My joy was short lived unfortunately. Where was the February 2021 issue with my article about the Space X Crew 1 mission? The magazine forgot to send the second article. This means that I'm going to have to ask them again, which I hate to do since everyone at the magazine is working from home and dealing with all sorts of Covid problems. I'm determined to get a copy of the Crew 1 article though, even if it takes me another year to do it.

Dawn really surprised us today. When she finished her one mile loop, she just kept walking. She wasn't reluctant at all and seemed to be really enjoying herself. Maybe it was the weather. It was a lot cooler this morning, but the rain hadn't arrived yet and it was still dry. There were lots of new smells as well, because the city workers had just mowed the grass along our trail. By the time Dawn decided that she'd had enough and headed for home, she'd walked over two miles.

By the time I'd finished my longer walk, I'd gone over five miles. I wasn't trying for distance today. I was just trying to beat the rain without destroying my feet. I've developed a peculiar flat footed style of walking that seems to work. Flexing the foot causes the most discomfort. If I can just lift the left foot up and down without a lot of heal and toe flex, I'm usually OK. Janet says I should go back to the gym and try exercises that don't involve walking. She's probably right.

My seasonal allergies started early this year. I've had a runny nose for weeks now. It got so bad today that I took an Allegra. Of course this pill did nothing. It never does. I hate adding a mask to seasonal allergies. Sneezing and blowing your nose constantly just doesn't work very well. I've ruined more than one mask by sneezing into it. I can't really recall when the seasonal allergies go away, but May comes to mind. It's going to be a long Spring.

I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow morning. I won't have time for my regular huge smoothie, so I'll just have a bagel and a cup of coffee instead. I'm sure it will still be raining in the morning. It's supposed to rain all the way through the weekend. I'm glad I took care of the leaves before the rain started. I'll be glad to get a haircut too. I'm long overdue.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4048

Today was busier than usual. I can't say that I accomplished a lot though. When I woke up, Janet had gone running and Dawn was nervously peering around the corner of the bedroom door at me. As soon as I got up, she hopped on the bed and reclaimed it for herself. It's unfortunate that she still doesn't feel comfortable being alone in the house with me, because that's how we spend most of our time together. Janet has always spent more time away from the house than I do. Eventually, I made the bed with Dawn sitting right in the middle. I've actually gotten pretty good at this. Dawn is often on the bed when I'm trying to make it.

Before getting started on my Saturday errands, I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. This periodic letter to a Luddite relative is the only reason I have to go to the post office anymore. It's the end of an era. I've spent a lot of time at the post office over the years. On my way to the grocery store, I stopped at my pharmacy to ask when they were going to get the vaccine. My pharmacist had no idea. He said that the website I'd signed up on was only to receive information about when the vaccine might become available. It was not a sign-up sheet to get vaccinated.

I found everything except for raspberries on my grocery list. I had to go to a second store to get the berries and ended up buying some tasty looking items at the deli counter for dinner. I also stopped at Fry's to get a nickel metal hydride backup battery for an audio recorder. I thought that this hard to replace battery was the reason that the time and date settings wouldn't stay in the recorder's memory. I had to disassemble the recorder to access the rechargeable battery, but it turned out that this wasn't the problem after all. The recorder's main battery had gone bad.  

After lunch we took Dawn on her one mile walk. She loves the one mile walk but definitely doesn't want to go any further. I continued to walk after Dawn and Janet returned to the house. That's what I do these days. I thought it might rain, so I wore the new raincoat I got for the last launch I attended in Florida.  The raincoat was a tight fit over my winter coat. I guess I should have gotten a larger size. Maybe it will just be a summer raincoat. It fits perfectly over a t-shirt.

I seldom get over 20,000 steps on a single walk, but I did today. With Dawn's new schedule it's more convenient to take one longer walk than the morning and evening walks I used to take. Hey, I'm flexible, even if I continue to do the same things over and over again. My new shoes are still comfortable, but they are already starting to show some wear. Expensive running shoes are a new thing for me, but they are much more comfortable than the longer lasting leather hiking boots I used to wear outdoors. I guess since all I do these days is walk, the cost of these shoes isn't exorbitant at all. It makes more sense to spend money on something I use every day than on audio recorders that sit on a shelf until all the batteries go bad.

There are severe thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. I'm never happy about the prospect of thunderstorms. I have too many memories of leaking roofs and falling trees in the backyard to appreciate this type of weather. I don't think the bad weather is going to start until sometime in the afternoon. Tomorrow's project for the day is to convince Dawn to walk in the morning.

Chloe 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 4040

I went along on Dawn's walk today. She seemed confident and happy. She trusts Janet and she seems to know that she doesn't have to walk too far anymore. We took turns holding the leash and it didn't seem to matter as long as Dawn was leading the way and could go wherever she wanted. One mile seems her limit now and she definitely knows the way home. Is there a lesson in this? I'm not sure, but it's clear that our fitness goals are not the same as Dawn's.

Maybe something happened after Dawn had the seizure. Maybe she's finally become confident enough to let us know what she really thinks. Either way, it's fine. Dawn is not a young dog and if she only wants to walk a mile, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll continue taking long walks, mostly because I can't think of anything better to do. Walking is a great way to daydream and think. I find myself thinking about cars and astronomy a lot. When Covid fades from the scene, there are a lot of dark sky sites I'd like to visit. I almost never find myself thinking about politics and current events. I don't even care. My little world has always been a private one. Walking in the woods and watching ducks suits me just fine.

Today's walk was incredibly windy. The wind almost blew me over when I was walking by the shoreline. I always worry that another tree is going to blow over in the yard when we have strong winds. This is always when it seems to happen. Luckily, everything was still standing when I returned home. Today I saw three vultures eating a dead possum by the side of the road. They would take turns with one vulture tearing into the carcass at a time. There are three Muscovy ducks that I see almost every day. A small female joined the two males several months ago and now appears to be the leader of the group. She swims ahead of the two males and leads the way when they are on land as well. Ducks and geese always seem to have a leader. I wonder who gets to be the leader in those giant v-shaped formations I often see flying overhead?

I need to find a new way to occupy my time. Following rocket launches is getting harder and harder because of Covid restrictions. McDonald Observatory has closed again too. I doubt that they are going to be needing volunteer help for quite a while. I don't write songs anymore and I can't imagine building a website just for fun. So many things I used to enjoy just seem stupid now. It's probably not a good sign that my favorite activity now is taking long naps.

It's time to make a grocery list again. These weeks go by incredibly quickly. It seems like I was just making a list yesterday. The last time I went to the store, a lot of shelves were empty again. I hope people haven't resumed hoarding stuff. When other people start hoarding, you start hoarding as well and it quickly gets out of hand. It took us months to use up all the stuff we got last April.

I wish Dawn would start trusting me. Maybe that's too much to ask. There are people I know who still don't trust me.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3978

Today was more interesting than I anticipated. It was a scrub day so there was nothing to see at Kennedy Space Center. I'm sure there was lots of activity at Pad 39A, but folk like me weren't allowed anywhere near the place. After breakfast I looked for something to do in Titusville and discovered that the American Space Museum was open. This little volunteer run museum had always ben closed when I've been in Titusville before. The museum is full of rare artifacts from the early days of space travel and the docents are full of interesting stories about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs they worked on. Several of the docents had been at the same launch I attended last night. I enjoyed talking to these people although I will never recognize them if we happen to meet again. We were all wearing masks. This little museum seems to take Covid much more seriously than my hotel or the airlines. I even had to sign a contact tracing form so they would know how to find everyone if somebody became sick. It's weird talking with strangers these days. You just never know where they've been or what they've been exposed to.

After visiting the museum I thought I'd go to Playalinda Beach. I'd heard that this was a good place to watch a launch and wanted to take some pictures. The beach is actually part of the Canaveral National Seashore which is run by the National Park Service. I had to buy a pass to get in, but now I can go to any National Park in the country for the next year. The National Seashore is quite beautiful with unspoiled dunes and a very clean sandy beach. There was no easy access to where you could see the launch pads, but I needed some exercise anyway. I took a four mile walk along the beach, taking pictures of seabirds along the way. Walking along an empty beach is quite peaceful. The sound of crashing waves and the smell of salt water was just what I needed today. I never did get the pictures of Pad 39A that I was hoping for because NASA had recently expanded the restricted zone and there were no longer clear views of the Space Center. I did get a few pictures when I encountered a really tall guy who climbed on a dune and held my camera over his head. Why didn't I do this myself? Sadly, I can no longer raise my hands all the way over my head. That's what happens when you've got a bad shoulder.

I wish my good masks had arrived in time. Florida will make you a believer in wearing a mask. Floridians are the only people who make Texans seem sane. If you look long enough you can see just about anything down here. What you don't see are a lot of masks. Actually, it probably the same everywhere. I just don't get out much. It's pretty clear though that if anyone tried a complete lockdown again there'd be a rebellion. People are tired of Covid and just want to go back to normal.

The launch is still on for tomorrow evening. There's still a good chance of rain as well. Do you hold them or fold them? Nobody really knows what will happen. If the launch doesn't take place tomorrow, I will have to come home. I've heard that if Space X can't launch on Sunday there could be a delay of up to a week. I definitely can't afford to stay down here that long. I've got my fingers crossed. I've got everything I need for a good story except the launch itself.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3739

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I'd like to think that all my long walks are keeping me healthy. What's not to like. Walking burns calories, strengthens your heart and lungs, lowers your blood sugar, increases bone density, reduces the risk of stroke, improves circulation and posture, and enhances creativity. Will my five mile daily walks keep me from getting the coronavirus? Hard to say. It certainly doesn't hurt to stay in shape though.

Dawn seems to agree with me. She loves her daily walks. I don't think she ever got a good walk before. All we have to do is show her a leash and harness and she's ready to go. It's fun to watch her explore and smell everything in her path. It's amazing that something so simple can bring so much joy to a dogs life. It's good to have a dog around again. Dogs have their priorities straight.

The pandemic keeps inching closer and closer to home. There has been a death in Dallas in the last few days and someone has tested positive in our own neighborhood. Janet and I still feel healthy and hope to stay that way. I think social distancing is working, but I feel sorry for all the small businesses that no longer have any customers. I took some letters to the post office this morning and a nearby strip mall was virtually empty. A lot of little shops and restaurants aren't going to make it if this national quarantine goes on much longer.

I went ahead and applied for press credentials for the upcoming Space X Crew Dragon launch that is supposed to take place in late May. This is a big one, since it will mark the first time American astronauts will travel to the International Space Station on an American rocket since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. The launch could easily get postponed, especially since NASA has already shut down the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Who knows. The world could change a lot by mid-May. I'm going to stay optimistic though.

I'm also going to stay in touch with the astronomers at McDonald Observatory. I wrote one of my new friends today and asked hime to let me know when the 82" Otto Struve telescope is eventually rescheduled for another all night special viewing session. I would still really like to spend some time behind the eyepiece of this historic telescope. With all the disruptions caused by the coronavirus, it is doubtful that the telescope would be available until late this Summer. It's going to happen sometime though, and I want to be first in line.

I wish people would stop hoarding food. It forces you to go to the grocery store a lot more often than necessary. There is plenty of food. There is even plenty of toilet paper if people would just continue to shop normally. Panic buying forces you to go to the store frequently, just to see if the empty shelves have been refilled. One day you buy water. The next day you buy bananas.  I just hope there is still a steady supply of fresh fruit for my morning smoothie.

Life is still pretty normal for me. I spent the afternoon clearing water from the roof. Both pumps have become clogged with catkins from our remaining Oak trees. The roof was a mess, but apparently the patches I made recently are working. Despite an abundance of rain, we haven't seen any more leaks.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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