Day 3940

It's going to be a very busy month. I'm still planning my trip back to McDonald Observatory for the astrophotography workshop and I found out today that I have been cleared by NASA to attend the upcoming Space X Crew 1 launch. I was quite surprised to receive media accreditation for this important launch because Kennedy Space Center is still restricting media access because of Covid. Maybe persistence pays off. I'm still near the bottom rungs of the ladder, but I'd like to think that I'm slowly rising among the ranks of space journalists. At any rate, my magazine seems excited that I am welcome again at Kennedy Space Center and is planning to do a feature on the Crew 1 launch.

To be honest, I'm still a little apprehensive about flying as well as making that long drive out to West Texas again, but life goes on. I simply can't spend the rest of my life doing nothing but taking long walks in the park. Both the astrophotography workshop and the opportunity to witness another manned launch are events I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'll look for some really good masks and be as careful as I can.

Our beautiful Fall weather continues and Dawn definitely seems to approve. We took another four mile walk this morning and Dawn did great. She did better than me actually. On the final stretch as we were returning to the house, Dawn had so much energy that I gave the leash to Janet and they both pulled well ahead of me, arriving home almost five minutes earlier than me. I really slow down toward the end of our walks these days, mostly because my feet start to hurt. I've really got to find some better shoes.

By all indications, Dawn is back to normal again. She is certainly acting normally. Hopefully, this will continue and Dawn will remain stable after she had completed taking all her medication. I would like to think that this seizure is a rare event and if it ever reoccurs in the future we can just repeat the treatment that we are using now. Janet and I are both hoping to avoid complex MRI and CT scans when there is no practical medical solution anyway. 

In theory you can do brain surgery on a dog, but it is risky and not very common. There are no guaranties that the dog's life will be any better afterwards. Sometimes I think we went too far with extreme medical intervention with our other dogs. I'm still not sure that spinal surgery helped Dot all that much and we never should have attempted liver surgery with Gretta. She never made it out of the hospital.

I may be forced to try taking Allegra soon if my allergies don't clear up. With two long distance trips on deck, I just can't risk sneezing constantly. Sneezing and a runny nose are awkward at best and might even be alarming to someone else when you re wearing a mask. I could explain again and again that I am just suffering from seasonal allergies but nobody would believe me. I am so tired of this pandemic. I've always has seasonal allergies. They've gradually gotten worse as I've grown older and I doubt that there is anything I can do about them. I will test some antihistamines later this week, but I already know how they make me feel. It might be better than sneezing in public though.

I still haven't started my roof repairs. I did write a letter to my sister though and took it to the post office. One day at a time. I always try to accomplish something.  Today was actually pretty good. I think I accomplished several things. So did Dawn. We are both moving forward.

Hersey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3870

It's been exactly one year since I received the press proofs of my first article for SpaceFlight Magazine. A second article was published about six months later and a third is still scheduled for publication in September. It was a good beginning, but I thought my budding career as a space journalist be a lot further along by now. I certainly thought I'd be down at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning for the launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission. Oh, well. It wasn't meant to be. Little did I know back then that the world was about to change. I keep trying to get media accreditation again, but it might be a while. In a post-covid world, newcomers go to the back of the line.

I shouldn't complain though. My problems are small compared with what other people are going through. I was going to get a haircut later in the week, but my stylist got laid off at the salon. Another covid casualty. I know someone locally who got infected now. He's OK, but it makes me realize that the disease is all around us. Most of my friends are healthy and continue to lead normal lives. A few seem to have flipped out and are way too angry for their own good.

Sometimes when my day is uneventful it is tempting to go on an angry rant myself. It would certainly be an easy way to fill up space. The problem is that I'm not really angry. I'm still very detached. I think this is the secret to social distancing. I look at the world like it is an episode of Black Mirror or the Twilight Zone. It is not my world though. I try to navigate the pandemic and the social unrest like everything is covered in a sticky glue that you can't let touch you. You have to plan your moves very carefully.

I have a few farmer and rancher friends that I envy. I keep thinking that their farms are so remote that they are completely unaffected by all this turmoil. This probably isn't true though. Farmers and ranchers might not have to worry about riots in the city or getting killed by a random cough at a grocery store, but some of them are probably having big problems selling their cattle or their crops. The whole supply chain is screwed up now. We are in the middle of a global mess that affects all of us.

You'd think we could all rally together to find a solution. That's what my parents did during World War II. It's not happening though. I have never seen so much anger and division. Much of the rancor takes place on Facebook. I look at what some of my friends say online and think "Do I even know you." I think there are going to be articles in prestigious medical journals for years to come about how social media causes mental illness.

The solution for some of us has always been dogs. It's hard to be angry when you've got a good dog. Dawn continues to be a joy. She certainly came into our lives at exactly the right time.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3856

I received a notice this morning that NASA rejected my request for media accreditation for the July 30th Mars 2020 launch. The language in the notice was exactly the same as it was for the DM-2 launch last month.  "Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, we had to limit the number of media permitted on site, etc..." I wasn't going to go to Florida anyway, since it has become one of the world's leading virus hotspots, but this was still sad news. How long is this going to go on? I'm sure there are many people who have had more important plans interrupted, but this is very frustrating. I haven't heard from the Air Force yet, but I doubt that they are credentialing out of state visitors right now either. Florida is struggling. So is Texas for that matter. Maybe 2021 will be better.

The skies have been clearing this afternoon and I decided to try and find the comet this evening. I scouted out a few locations on my afternoon walk and thought if the skies remained clear, I might finally be able to see it. The best location I found still has some trees on the horizon, so wasn't sure if the comet would clear them. I wasn't sure if sunset haze would obscure things either. Hey, what did I have to lose.

It was another hot day. Getting started on our morning walk before 6 AM really helps. It is noticeably cooler before the sun rises. Today we had a nice breeze and lots of cloud cover too. We had a nice walk and were able to complete our full five miles. Dawn seems to be an early bird. She likes these early walks as long as she gets her breakfast first. Dogs have their priorities. I'm content to wait for breakfast until we finish our walk, but Dawn wants to eat as soon as she gets out of bed in the morning.

If I'm able to find the comet tonight, I'll want to take a picture of it as well. Hmm. How do I take long time exposures with my good camera? Seems like I've done this before, but it's been a while. I looked up directions on the Internet and the procedure was a little more complicated than I anticipated. With old mechanical cameras you just set the shutter on bulb and used a locking cable release to activate the shutter. With modern digital cameras you have to disable a lot of automatic functions before you can use the camera manually.

After spending an hour looking for the comet, I finally had to admit defeat. I saw nothing. The sky was pretty clear, but there was haze on the horizon. Actually, there is always a thin haze on the horizon down by the lake. If I really want to see this comet, I'm going to have to get in the car and look for a higher elevation. It's possible that I was just looking in the wrong place, but I don't think so. There were many maps on the Internet showing just where to look.

I've never been wild about venturing into the park at night. It's dark, there are coyotes, and there are always the voices. I can always hear people off in the distance that I can't see. What are these people doing? Every time I've gone into the park to look at stars at night, I hear these hidden voices. It's kind of creepy.

When I returned to the house from my futile comet hunting excursion Dawn didn't initially recognize me and started barking like crazy. She's a good little watch dog. I wish she'd watch things a little more carefully though and realize that it's me coming in the house. Don't bite me girl. I'm friendly.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3855

We got up early enough this morning to see the comet if it hadn't been cloudy again. Cloudy was good though. It kept our morning walk nice and cool. We keep leaving earlier and earlier in an attempt to avoid the heat. I used to think 7 AM was early. Now our goal is to be out of the house before 6 AM. The extra hour makes a big difference. There are fewer people on the trails and the weather is noticeably cooler.

Dawn did well today, but it is still the middle of July. It's going to be a long march to September. Dawn has the right idea about surviving summer. She went back to sleep on the bed while I had my breakfast. I usually watch TV while I'm eating breakfast. The news is still dismal, but the stock market was having a good day. It's kind of a mystery to me why the stock market has made such a dramatic recovery in recent weeks. What do other investors know that I don't. People are even starting to buy cruise line stocks again. I wouldn't feel comfortable taking a cruise for a long, long time.

I got Luckie up on the Dalmatian Rescue website after breakfast. I'm glad the rescue websites I work on are fairly simple. I've lost some of my skills. I haven't created a complex website in quite a while now and it shows. Use it or lose it has been my motto for many years. When it comes to web design, I think I've lost it.

I mowed the grass in the front yard this afternoon. It was too hot to be outside, but if I keep waiting for cooler weather, the yard is going to look like a jungle. Since I survived this task, I decided to go ahead and take my afternoon walk to get my 20,000 steps. It's a simple and at times mindless life, but I do have goals.

I went out and looked for the comet again a few minutes ago, but there were thick clouds on the horizon to the Northwest. I'm still not sure how the comet can be visible in both the morning and evening skies for the next several days, but that's what I keep hearing. Pretty soon it will be evening skies only. I think the best viewing opportunities will last for about a week. I'm hoping that we'll get clear skies on at least one of these days. I keep seeing cool pictures of the comet all over the Internet and I haven't been able to see it at all.

It looks like the new Ford Bronco is going to be incredibly popular. They are taking reservations online like Elon Musk now, and one model sold out in a single day. They say dealers are going to be charging a premium for the Bronco for at least a year. I don't know why I'm even interested. My car is running fine. It still looks almost new. I guess planning to buy a new car is just so much easier than planning to move to a new state.

I've already decided that it would be stupid to travel to Florida right now but I'm still wondering why I haven't heard anything about media accreditation for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover launch. Usually when a launch is only several weeks away, all these details have been worked out. You'd think I would have at least received a rejection notice by now. Who knows. Maybe I'll hear something tomorrow. Otherwise, the big event of the day might be looking for blueberries.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3826

Another day with the rescue Dalmatians. Monday's are all about the dogs now. We spend the morning walking Dawn and the afternoon playing with the three remaining boys in the rescue program. Hank, Murphy, and Charlie are all doing well. They never seem to tire of chasing red rubber Kongs and begging for treats. All three of these dogs have an enormous amount of energy. I hope they get adopted by someone who enjoys staying equally active.

I wish I had an enormous amount of energy. I'm just not feeling it these days. By the time we've finished our early morning walk, I'm tempted to just go back to bed. I never do, of course. I'm still disciplined enough to make the bed, fix my breakfast, and contemplate how to navigate my way through another day. I used to have a ton of ongoing projects that kept me occupied, but it's getting harder and harder to find anything that captures my interest.

The office is filled with the wreckage of abandoned obsessions. I still have the huge printer I used to make Giclée prints for gallery shows. There are still a few model trains on shelves that somehow never made it to my dealer in Kentucky who is selling my collection. I have a ton of watch repair tools and timekeeping paraphernalia, but no desire to even keep my remaining watches running. I wonder how I ever became so interested in watches? It's a mystery.

I'm still interested in following rocket launches and hanging out at major observatories. Jeez. Couldn't I have picked something less complicated like gardening or collecting stamps? Getting access to launch sites requires multiple levels of approval and the observatories I like to visit are very far away. I'm still waiting to hear whether I'll be able to attend the upcoming Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch in late July. I keep checking my e-mail to see if my request for media accreditation has been approved. I also check the news to see if the virus keeps getting worse in Florida. Who knows. By the end of July, I might not even feel safe going to Florida. Flying on a half empty plane seems fine, but I'm not sure about how I'll feel when the flights are full again.

I found a book in the office today that has been missing for years. When I became interested in astronomy again, I knew I had a book somewhere that explained a new and easy way to learn the names and locations of the constellations. I got the book back in high school but I haven't seen it in ages. I even thought for a while that this might have been a library book. All I knew that the book was large and the cover was blue. Imagine my surprise when I found the volume today. I was actually looking for something else, but there it was. It is actually a very interesting book. I wonder how many other forgotten treasures are lost in the labyrinth of this messy office?

The world is still a train wreck, but I'm tired of talking about it. A little house in the country with clear, dark skies and no neighbors for miles and miles sounds pretty good to me now. Of course if there really was a way to escape the chaos of urban life, I'd probably immediately get bit by a snake or fall off a cliff or something. I like to think I'm self sufficient, but few of us really are.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3808

I got the oil changed in my car today. I basically just wanted to get the irritating "service required" light on the dash turned off, but the oil hasn't been changed in over a year so it was probably time. The dealership said that an oil change didn't count as "service" so they couldn't turn the light off. I told them that at the prices they were charging, it damn well better count as service. I got my way. I've been a customer of this dealership for long enough to know that service representatives come and go, but in the end the customer is always right.

While I was waiting for the service to be completed, I took a look at the new Defender that had just arrived at the dealership. I've been waiting to see these ever since I sold my Defender 90 quite a few years ago. This iconic model got delayed again and again and went through many design changes along the way. I was disappointed that the new Defender has lost the boxy, hand assembled look of my former car, but I had to admit that the updated version looked a lot better than the pictures I'd seen on the Internet.

Will I get another Land Rover after being overcharged for service for over twenty years? Who knows. The car I was looking at wasn't even for sale. It was just a dealership demo and there won't be any Defenders available for sale until later in the year. The short wheelbase model like my former Defender won't make it's debut until 2021. There's certainly no hurry to get another car. I can't think of many reasons to buy another Land Rover either. If I wanted a practical car for West Texas I should just buy a Ford. That's about all I saw when I was out at the observatory. If I want to be really practical, I don't need a new car at all. It seems to work pretty well to just rent cars when I travel.

Dawn's new collar came today. We got her a hand beaded collar made by the Maasai tribe in Kenya, just like the ones Dot and Dash used to wear. When one of our dogs goes to the Rainbow Bridge, their collar is retired and placed in the cedar box with their ashes. Hey, everyone has traditions with their pets and this is one of ours. The Maasai collars are works of art and last a lifetime. Dawn seemed to know hers was special. She was excited and kept wagging her tail while we were fitting her tags to the new collar and seemed proud to wear it. Who knows what dogs really think though. She probably just liked all the attention.

I think my Spring allergies are finally coming to an end. I can take a walk without watering eyes or constant sneezing again. This was one of the longest allergy seasons on record. It's also one of the wettest Springs I can remember. Hopefully the seasonal allergies don't return until next year. They've really been a nuisance. This is definitely not a time when you want to be sneezing constantly.

I'm beginning to think that my application for media accreditation from the Air Force got lost, just like the manuscripts that I used to send to Sky and Telescope. I still haven't heard from them. For some reason mail coming from my hosting account occasionally gets classified as spam by other mail servers and never gets delivered. It's weird that a big company like Bluehost gets classified as a spammer, but it happens occasionally. I have to use an alternate e-mail account to communicate with the University of Texas and with Sky and Telescope. Maybe this has happened with the Air Force as well. I should have heard something from them by now.

Now that I've gotten my oil changed, the only thing left on my list is getting a haircut. The salons are open again so maybe I'll make an appointment. I can't live under a rock forever.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3798

Visiting the rescue dogs on Monday has become part of our regular schedule again. We missed seeing these guys when everything was shut down. Hank, Charlie, and Cinder are the only Dalmatians currently staying at the kennel, but we don't want to forget about them. Each of these dogs has their own distinct personality and it's fun spending time with each of them. They certainly love the attention.

Dawn is content to stay home when we visit the other dogs. I don't think she has any desire to return to the kennel. When we return from our long morning walks, she immediately hops on the bed and takes a long nap. She's found what she wanted. Dawn still loves her walks, but I think we're going to have to shorten them as the weather grows warmer. Dawn is not a young dog and Texas summers can be pretty intense. So far, it's still really nice early in the morning but I don't know how long this is going to last. Today's high temperature was over 90 degrees and it's not even June yet.

I finished filling out all the paperwork and sent my application for media accreditation to the Air Force. Hopefully, my request will be approved. There are several important launches taking place this year and I'm uncertain if NASA will return to normal operations in the immediate future. Getting military clearance might be my only chance to return to Kennedy Space Center this Summer or Fall. The magazine I write for has been very helpful. We'll see what happens. Now I've just got to sit back and wait. I'm still looking forward to covering the Mars 2020 launch in July.

I'm not looking forward to seeing the dermatologist later this week. I've known that I probably needed to have the blemishes on my face looked at for quite some time, but I've been avoiding making an appointment. My doctor finally made the appointment for me and gave me no choice. Maybe it won't be that bad, but I've seen what dermatologists do. I don't want anyone cutting on my face.

Stores are open again in Dallas, but I have no desire to go shopping. I wonder how many of my new habits will become permanent. I wash my hands obsessively now. Whenever someone approaches on a path in the park, I move well out of the way. I've always been somewhat suspicious of strangers and now I look at them like hand grenades waiting to explode. I'm not really fearful about the disease, but my natural suspicions about people have been amplified. This is probably not a good thing. Especially if millions of other people feel the same way.

I'm not sure when I'll return to a restaurant. I believe the information I'm hearing that confined indoor spaces where you linger a while are the most dangerous. Grocery stores are actually pretty safe because you are moving around and are not in one place for very long. Walking in the park is not dangerous at all. I'm glad I have no desire to go bar hopping. A crowded bar is probably the worst place you could be right now.

I know where I'll be tomorrow. We'll be walking Dawn early in the morning to avoid the heat and then I'll make my morning smoothie. Sounds pretty much like what I did today.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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