Day 3657

A loud thunderclap woke me up this morning. I looked outside and it wasn't raining. Weird. Something had changed though. It had gotten very cold again. These rapid weather changes are driving me crazy. You never know what to wear. Maybe we always had a succession of cold fronts sweeping away the warm weather every winter. I don't remember it this way though. Something seems different this year.

Janet returned home today. We'll resume our regular schedule and go visit the Dalmatians tomorrow. I'm not sure whether the five new dogs are at the kennel yet. They always spend at least a week at the vet after we pick them up to make sure that they don't have any hidden health issues. I think this group is relatively healthy. None of them have heartworms. Some do have intestinal worms though. Luckily, these are easy to treat.

It wasn't easy to get my 20,000 steps today. I was already tired when I returned from the gym. The gym was as piece of cake compared to my long walk though. The wind was brutal. The wind chill made the temperature seem much colder than it actually was. Whenever the wind stopped blowing, I felt overdressed. When it started up again, I was cold. I couldn't believe that I saw a few runners this afternoon wearing shorts and t-shirts. What planet do these people live on? I was wearing two coats and I was still cold.

I received a reply from a magazine I sent a query to last month. The e-mail was dated 2:37AM, which seemed a bit strange in itself. Basically, it was just a form letter saying the magazine always welcomes new submissions but that it was difficult to get published. OK. They said the article I submitted was not appropriate for the magazine. Of course it wasn't. I never submitted anything. I just attached a writing sample to my query as the magazine requested. This magazine goes to the bottom of my list. I have a feeling that it is going to be next to impossible to connect with these people.

If it warms up a bit, I'll definitely have to go up on the roof tomorrow. It rained a lot yesterday and there is bound to be a lot of residual water on the roof. When the pumps quit pumping, it doesn't mean that the roof is dry. There are far too many low spots for the two pumps to remove everything. No wonder I spend so much time daydreaming about traveling to space launches. Keeping this house from crumbling around me is a never ending chore.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Dalmatians again. I didn't visit the kennel while Janet was away because it was filled to capacity with Christmas boarders. When the kennel is full, we're just in the way. Most of the holiday boarders should be gone when we go up tomorrow. Hopefully, the dogs will be as glad to see us as we will be to see them.

The year is rapidly drawing to a close. I wonder if 2020 will be any different? It was really sad losing Dash this year, but there were some good things as well. Every year is this way. You've got to learn to take the bad with the good.

Petey & Greta are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3472

I finished my new article this morning and sent it off to several publications that I thought might be interested. I think the chances of getting this article published are close to zero. Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad article at all, but the response time for unsolicited submissions at many publications can be as long as three months. Since I am basically writing about the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing which takes place next month, the event will be over before they even get around to reading my story. I guess I can always put the story up on my website. My writing always gets accepted there.

Researching and writing this story was actually kind of fun. I've been doing this sort of thing for most of my adult life. I've been writing ads and marketing materials since the mid 1970's. Until recently I frequently wrote about the watch industry. This is one reason why you see so many watches on my blog. The whole concept of writing for free is foreign to me though. I firmly believe that writers and photographers should get paid.

As I was sending off my submissions this morning, it became apparent that this was somewhat of a quixotic quest. There just aren't that many printed magazines left. If I want to write about space, the smart thing to do would be to make myself known to existing space related websites and try to become a regular contributor. That's how I ended up doing a lot of writing about dogs and watches. Can I muster up enough energy to do this sort of thing all over again? Only time will tell.

Since there's a good chance that my initial effort to become a space journalist will just wind up gathering dust on my website, I spent the afternoon experimenting with a few ideas for creating my own space related site. In theory, this should be pretty easy. Just buy a interesting sounding domain, do a little coding, and put a few pages together that you can upload to the same webserver where all your other stuff resides.

There's one little fly in the ointment. I can't actually remember how to do what I was envisioning on my walk this morning. How frustrating. I know I've done this before. I'm going to have to do some research tomorrow since I apparently can't count on my memory anymore. Use it or lose it they say. I guess I've lost it.

I finally got my last piece of art re-scheduled for a new auction. I had to agree to lower the reserve and estimated hammer price, but it's not a big deal. The whole idea is to get this stuff sold. Inch by inch I am making progress toward my downsizing goals. I got a message from my train dealer recently that he had an offer on one of my better trains. Good news. If the sale goes through, it just might pay for my trip to Florida.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's very hot outside. I live in Texas and it's almost July. What am I doing walking outside in the sun? It's insane.  If I want exercise, I should be swimming at an indoor pool.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3471

I'm back on Dallas time. Not surprisingly, I'm back on my regular schedule as well. I made my signature smoothie with a big bowl full of peaches, strawberries and blueberries, a banana, two raw eggs, 1/4 cup of Quaker Oats, a pinch of Cinnamon, and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I know it's not rocket science, but the Vitamix is a wonderful machine. On my morning walk I noticed that the wayward White Pelican that refuses to migrate was still sitting on its favorite log at the lake. I wanted to tell the bird that I'd seen several endangered Brown Pelicans while I was in Florida. Not that the Pelican would care, but I also saw a Bald Eagle, lots of Ibis and Egrets, and some of the largest insects I'd encountered in a while. Florida has even more critters than Texas.

I'm still a bit surprised that the trip went so smoothly. I'm used to getting lost, sick, or stressed while I'm away from home. This little journey was a welcome change of pace. Travel is so easy these days. I made all the arrangements on my phone. Airline, hotel, and rental car reservations were all made in a matter of minutes on an app with a few easy clicks. Travel agents and paperwork seem to be a thing of the past. I made the entire trip without using any cash. Cash seems to be a thing of the past as well.

Meeting so many clever people at the Space Center inspired me to make an attempt to up my game a bit. I decided to write an extended article about what it meant to be standing on the same launch pad that sent astronauts to the moon fifty years after the Apollo 11 landing. I will submit the article to several magazines for publication if I ever finish it. I started writing this afternoon after I returned from my walk. Lord knows if the article will ever get published but at least I'm making an effort. I've written a shitload of ads and TV commercials but I haven't gotten anything published in a magazine since I used to be a contributing editor for The Dalmatian Quarterly many years ago.

I'm always humbled by the people I meet at these NASA events. On previous trips I met Bobak Ferdowsi, the talented JPL systems engineer who gained a bit of fame by wearing a mohawk haircut with stars shaved in his head during the televised Mars Curiosity landing. Scott Manley, the talkative Scottish YouTube personality and Kerbal Space Program expert was on the bus with me during a memorable launch at Vandenberg Airforce Base. This time my group included an actress who has appeared on Star Trek and the guy who invented the Fidget Spinner. Somehow, I'm always the oldest guy in the room.

This morning while I was walking I saw several large trucks in the neighborhood that were clearly intended for picking up brush and debris. I was hoping that these trucks would stop on my street and pick up the huge pile of brush and logs that is currently covering my front lawn. Nope. The trucks didn't pick up anything in the neighborhood. They were just passing through. I wonder how long it's going to take to clear away all the debris from our recent wind storm. The park department is doing a good job of cleaning up the damage in the park, but nothing has happened on the streets. There are still huge stacks of brush and logs piled up along every street in our neighborhood.

I thought I managed to escape the mosquitoes while I was in Florida, but several suspicious red welts appeared on my neck and face this morning. It seems that the mosquitoes got me anyway. What's with the time delay? Mosquito bites appear immediately in Texas.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day