Day 4920

No rain today, but the humidity was so high that it felt like it was raining. At least it was overcast and relatively cool outside. The humidity would have seemed even worse if the sun was shining. I had plenty of time to contemplate the weather today. I don't think I did anything except walk and eat. 

Our sunrise walk with Dawn was enjoyable. Dawn is always eager to go on these early walks. I'm always sleepy, but this is how I wake up. I wish the entire day was like these mornings. It warms up quickly though. By the time I'm ready for my long walk, I usually think it would have been smarter to go to the gym. Today wasn't that bad. I only questioned my sanity a few times during the walk.

The loose dog I saw animal control trying to capture yesterday was still there this morning. I guess they didn't catch it. There's a story here but I don't know what it is. The dog seemed friendly and I thought it would be easy to capture. The dog probably knew what it's fate would be if it wound up at Dallas Animal Services. Maybe a local rescue group will take an interest in this dog. There seems to be an epidemic of people dumping dogs around town and most of the rescues are full. It's all kind of sad.

I'm impressed at how quickly the park department removed all the downed trees from Sunday's big storm. I saw crews working with chain saws yesterday and today almost all of the trees were gone. There were lots of downed trees in the park, so this was a big effort. The park department seems like a model of efficiency compared to other parts of city government. Maybe I just notice things since I'm walking every day, but I'll have to admit that I'm impressed.

As soon as the ground dries out I'm going to have to mow again. We've had so much rain this Spring that the grass is doing really well. Grass has overrun several gravel pathways in the yard, but I don't really care. It's green and everything looks pretty nice. I keep thinking that I should hire a lawn service to take care of the yard, but I need to stay active and it isn't that hard to keep doing things myself. What else would I do anyway? I'm not that busy.

I've got an appointment soon to sign up for TSA Pre. In theory this will make it easier to travel. It will certainly save me time at the Orlando airport. I won't be going anywhere soon though. The roof was expensive and there are other big bills this month as well. I miss my time in Titusville though. I'm already looking at upcoming launches and trying to decide which ones I really need to see. I'm sure I'll be back at Kennedy Space Center later this year however. It's important to still have something interesting to do.

Dawn did well at her training class tonight. She's not been winning ribbons lately, but Janet says she still enjoys the class and knows all the commands. I probably need some sort of training class myself. I've forgotten just about everything.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4847

We had a little bit of everything today. There were clear skies this morning and we were under a tornado watch this evening. I walked indoors at the mall and Dawn got a nice walk outdoors when we resumed her regular Sunday outing. I even mowed the grass today, although that was somewhat of a failure. It's time to replace the mower batteries again.

There were few signs that we were going to have nasty weather later in the day when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk this morning. It just felt like a nice Spring day. Janet had to help evaluate a dog this morning, so I had my weekday breakfast of shredded wheat and berries while Dawn pouted in the bedroom. I told Dawn that she was still going to get her outing later, but I don't think she believed me.

After breakfast I went mall walking. I'm always surprised at how many things change week-to-week at the mall. New stores open and others close on a regular basis. There's certainly a lot of activity. Some stores change their window displays every single week, while others haven't changed anything in several years. I still have no desire to buy anything, but it's a pleasant experience to do my five laps around the mall perimeter. This is as close as I need to get to the rest of society.

I wasn't sure that Dawn was strong enough to take her regular walk at her Sunday park, but she was full of energy today. She did well. We're reduced her meds to a minimal dose and she still doesn't seem to be in any pain. Dawn hasn't fallen or stumbled in almost a week. These are all good signs, but we are still a bit cautious. Right now it seem like the muscle tear in her shoulder was the cause of the falls instead of the bulging disc in her neck. Either way, we still need to keep her quiet for a while longer. Dalmatians are so full of energy that they are often their own worst enemy when they are trying to heal.

I really need to find someone to mow the lawn for me instead of continually trying to keep our old mower running. Lawn care prices have always seemed high to me and we have a small yard, so I keep thinking that I can do it myself. Pushing the mower is getting harder though. Oh, well. At least I made an attempt today. I'll finish things up when the weather turns nice again.

I was a bit surprised to be under a severe weather alert this evening. The weather had been nice for most of the day, so this kind of came out of left field. Luckily the storm wasn't as bad in our part of town as the Weather Channel had been predicting. We got about ten minutes of very heavy rain and that was it. There was no hail and definitely no tornado. I think other parts of the state did get tornados though. It's that time of year.

I had to pick up a prescription this afternoon and once again discovered that GoodRx had much better prices than my Part-D prescription drug plan. I'm still not sure how GoodRx actually works. It's not a drug plan and you don't pay anything to use the app. Today I paid about a third of what I would have paid using my Part-D plan. The Part-D prescription drug plan prices are considerably less than retail as well. If there is so much flexibility in drug prices, why don't the pharmaceutical companies just charge less in the first place? It would be tempting to just drop my Part-D coverage, but I suspect that GoodRx only covers certain drugs. I have a feeling that a lot of expensive cancer drugs or the Sovaldi I had to take for Hepatitis-C wouldn't be listed on the app at all. 

I need to pick up my unsold gear at the music store this week and decide what to do about my broken large format printer. It would be nice if I'd hear something about my credential status from Space X, but I'm not holding my breath. They'll probably wait until the last minute to send out notices again. At least Dawn is getting better and we weren't hit by a tornado tonight. Everything else will eventually work itself out.

Miracle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4653

I mowed the front lawn this morning. As expected, the mower's battery died right as I was finishing up, but I did get the job done. I don't seem to be able to manage more than one chore a day lately, but ever so slowly I am getting things done. The yard looks nice now. At this time of year I start to hope that I won't have to mow for another season. It's probably just wishful thinking though. It got up to 90 degrees this afternoon. The grass will probably keep growing for a while.

There were still a few stars in the sky when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn this morning. We carry a flashlight with us now. I continue to be surprised at how quickly the days are getting shorter. It was a pleasant morning but it felt like it was going to get hot later on. On our sunrise walks it feels like Fall. Later in the day it still feels like summer.

I mowed the grass right after breakfast while it was still relatively cool. I wonder how long I'm going to keep doing this? I've found someone who will do the mowing for me but haven't used him yet. I get tired, but it's still easier to do this chore myself. Truthfully, it's easier to do most chores myself. I hate dealing with suppliers.

I went back to the gym because the day was getting warm. I was surprisingly good on the basketball court this morning. I don't think I've ever completed this many free throws in a row before.  Most of the other people using the court shoot from all over. I just shoot from the free throw line over and over again. If I ever get really good at completing free throws I may try more difficult shots. I'll never join in a pick up game with other gym members though. Shooting free throws is satisfying, but I don't even like basketball that much.

I had a productive morning, but I was basically done by noon. Sometimes I think I don't get enough sleep at night, but I probably get too much sleep if you count all the naps I take. I'd probably take more naps if Dawn wasn't so grumpy about sharing the bed with me. When I lie down on the bed during the day, Dawn gets up and leaves the room. Usually she waits just outside the bedroom door and as soon as I leave the room she hops up on the bed again. She doesn't do this with Janet. Only with me.

There is going to be a Delta IV Heavy launch out at Vandenberg Air Force Base this weekend. After this launch there are only two more of these huge rockets left before they are retired. Hopefully, I'll be able to see one of these remaining launches. I've applied to cover a Delta IV Heavy launch before but it didn't work out for some reason. There's always something to look forward to in the world of spaceflight. Maybe I'll even get to see a Starship launch someday. 

While I'm waiting for something exciting to happen, I'll continue to do small chores around the house. I need to do some maintenance work on the roof but I don't like to climb up there anymore. I'm getting too old for a lot of this stuff I used to do around the house. Even the easy stuff is getting hard. I tried to fix the troublesome Porcher toilet again this afternoon, but the parts I bought last week didn't work. Who knows what's on the agenda for tomorrow. I suspect the day will be very similar to today. 

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4480

Dawn got a bath this afternoon. It wasn't a big event, but it will have to do. Today was a slow day. All our dogs have hated getting a bath. They seem to love getting dirty though. Dawn loves to roll in the grass in the back yard. The grass is pretty thin in places, so she is mostly rolling in the dirt. Of course as soon as she's back in the house, she likes to roll on the bed. If you have a dirty dog, you also have a dirty house.

Dawn always feels better after a bath. She just doesn't like the whole process. We always take her to one of those self bathe places. I'm glad that someone came up with this idea since it works a lot better than trying to take your dog in the shower. At least it was a nice warm day. The whole ordeal was over quickly and now we have a clean dog again for a few days.

I printed out all my reservations, maps, and directions for my trip this morning. I always do this when I travel and carry around a yellow manilla envelope with all this information wherever I go. Everything in the envelope is readily available online, but I like having things on paper. 

When I drive I'll often take a road atlas with me. Even though the atlas is out of date, it still makes more sense to me than Google Maps.  I'm about as old school as you can yet, but I do try. I've finally realized that the app on my phone is much more convenient that a paper airline ticket.

It was such a nice day that Dawn got two walks. I continued walking after Janet and Dawn returned home this afternoon, but I didn't make it very far. My feet really bothered me today and by the time I'd walked two miles I realized that it was time to head for home. None of this makes a lot of sense to me. Yesterday I walked much further with relatively little foot pain. Today was terrible.

It's time to get the lawn mower running again. It's an electric mower and I usually have to replace the batteries every couple of years. I kept the battery inside this winter, so hopefully it will take a charge. We'll see. The large batteries are kind of expensive, but I still like the electric mower better than the old gas powered mowers I used to use. I just wish this mower was self propelled. I'm tired of pushing the heavy thing up and down our hilly front yard.

I'm supposed to pick up my press credentials at the Starfish Room in the Cocoa Beach Hilton. I looked up the hotel online and it doesn't have a Starfish room. This kind of stuff drives me crazy. Every time I go to Florida I'm always thinking "What if I get down there and they're not even having a launch?" I have no faith in anything these days. I usually call to double check everything, which probably annoys the people who put all their information on a website just to avoid people like me.

I've taken this week's trash out to the curb and am halfheartedly thinking about going out for breakfast tomorrow morning. I'll probably just stay home and have another bowl of shredded wheat, but I should resume my Friday morning restaurant breakfasts one of these days. It's been a while, but I know I used to enjoy them.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4173

Our weird weather continues. I saw the sun for a while this morning, but by mid-afternoon the sky was dark and I was hearing a lot of thunder. My schedule revolves around finding a time to walk these days. I usually manage to stay dry, but sometimes I end up cutting it pretty close.

While I was waiting for a good time to walk, I wrote a bunch of letters. I wrote the tree trimmer, thanking him for his estimate and told him that Janet and I still couldn't decide whether to remove the big Oak in the back yard or just trim it. I wrote SpaceFlight Magazine, asking them if there were any upcoming launches they particularly wanted to cover. I listed the launches I was interested in attending and am hoping that at least one of them will be something the magazine is interested in. I also wrote the observatory asking whether they were planning to continue their new photography night program. I heard back from the observatory in just a few hours with an affirmative answer. I think I'll probably be going back sometime this Fall. Maybe I'll get that little telescope I've had my eye on and take it with me.

Dawn seems to be getting more relaxed around me. We spend time in the back yard together every day when weather permits. She is very relaxed in the back yard with me and reasonably relaxed when we are napping on the bed together. The kitchen is still a problem though. I have a feeling that this is not going to change. 

The training class that we used to take Dot and Dash to has opened up again. It's another sign that Covid restrictions are over. Janet has decided that training will be good for Dawn and has enrolled her in a beginner's class. I'm not sure whether I'll go along or not. I used to train Dash while Janet trained Dot. There's not much point in going to the class without a dog. Dawn might do better in class without me around anyway, since I tend to make her nervous. I'm real curious to see how Dawn will do in this class. She really seems to want to be around other dogs.

The sky was already starting to look dark by the time we got around to walking this afternoon. Dawn was adventurous today and ventured off on a new route she hadn't tried before. She enjoyed smelling things and ended up walking much further than her normal one mile loop. It's encouraging to see her try new things.

We stayed dry on Dawn's walk but I had a feeling that I might get wet on my own longer walk. I continued walking anyway, checking the weather radar on my phone from time to time. For a while I thought I might be able to complete my regular six mile route until I started hearing thunder. I never saw any lightning, but the thunder was very loud. There must have been cloud to cloud lightning high overhead. I headed home expecting to get wet, but only experienced a few light sprinkles. I kept seeing heavy rain falling off in the distance and somehow managed to make it home before it arrived. It wasn't a great walk, but I managed to get enough steps to keep Mr. Fitbit happy.

I thought about mowing the grass today but it was still too wet. Some of my neighbors were mowing their grass, but they had gas mowers. My electric mower just isn't powerful enough to cut through wet grass. I hope we get some dry weather soon. The grass is growing fast and pretty soon it will be too tall to mow. 

It's time to make a grocery list again. I'm glad I got new windshield wipers because it looks like I'll be doing my shopping in the rain. This has been an unusually wet Spring. It probably means that we will have an unusually dry Summer.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day