Day 4734

Another wet day. The roof is leaking again and I've had to dry out my shoes several times. Today's heavy rain kind of surprised me, since the day started out normally enough. We had a nice early morning walk with Dawn, ate a big weekend breakfast, and then I did my grocery shopping. I stayed dry the entire time. I even had time to take a long walk in the park before the rain started. I walked pretty slow today and my feet hurt towards the end, but I did manage to see both of our resident bald eagles. All in all it was a pretty good morning even though grocery prices continue to creep upwards.

Everything changed around mid-afternoon when the rain started. It was a heavy driving rain, so I knew the roof was going to leak. I pre-positioned buckets, but I guessed wrong and the leak started in a place where I didn't have a bucket. No problem. That's what towels are for. These leaks are frustrating because there's not much I can do about them at the moment. This is the worst time of year to replace a flat roof. At least the pumps are working today. I need a few more pumps, but they are high wattage gizmos and even two of them running at the same time tends to throw circuit breakers. 

Dawn is really starting to relax. When I took an afternoon nap today, she stayed on the bed with me and didn't appear nervous or alarmed. She still has good day and bad days, but I'm starting to see a real improvement. This is happening just in the nick of time, because Janet will be visiting her family over Christmas and Dawn and I will be alone together for a while. That's always interesting, but somehow we manage.

This evening Janet and I went to the annual Christmas party for Dawn's weekly training class. I haven't been to one of these events since we used to take Dot and Dash to training class quite a few years ago. The party was held in a park event building just down the hill from our house. I offered to drive, but Janet said we should just walk since it was so close. We got a little wet, but there was plenty of time to dry out once we arrived.

It was an enjoyable evening. We had a great dinner with some exceptionally good brisket and then there was a gift exchange. Everyone had a number and when your number was called you could pick from a large pile of wrapped gifts on a table or steal a gift from someone who had picked out a gift previously. After a gift had been stolen twice, it was retired and couldn't be stolen again. The most popular gifts always seems to be dog beds, but dog blankets seem desirable as well. Gift cards are very desirable, but don't turn up all that often. I've you happen to pick a package containing a gift card, you can expect that it will be stolen. There is a name for this kind of humorous gift exchange, but I've forgotten what it is.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow. There is no rain in the forecast anyway. I don't know how I managed to get 23,000 steps today with all the nasty weather. I must have been pretty busy this morning. Tomorrow I'll go mall walking and weather permitting, we'll take Dawn on her Sunday outing. If this sounds like exactly what I did last week, you'd be wrong. Last week I was taking Santa Paws pictures.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4670

Today was uneventful for me, but it is Dawn's favorite day. Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday and Dawn loves to supervise in the kitchen while she puts all the food away. All I have to do is tell Dawn that it's "grocery day" and she gets all excited.

We started the day with our usual sunrise walk. We got started a little later this morning so it wasn't quite as dark. Unfortunately, the days keep getting shorter. The sun was already up when we did this walk in the summer. Today a few stars were still shining at 6:45 AM. 

The weather was cool and there was a nice breeze, so I decided to walk in the park again instead of going to the gym. I've definitely had better days. My pace was slower this morning and I felt tired when I returned home. I have no idea why my performance varies so much from day to day. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night.

I decided to apply for credentials to attend the next Falcon Heavy launch. The timing isn't ideal, since the USSF-44 Mission is supposed to take place at the end of October, only a month away from the next Artemis attempt. I attended the last Falcon Heavy launch three years ago and always wanted to see another. I'm not sure I can afford two trips to Florida so close together, but we'll see what happens. When I apply for press credentials, I'm never sure if I'll get approved.

I'm thinking about getting a new phone. My old phone works just fine, but it's hard to ignore all the promotional advertising I get on an almost daily basis from AT&T and T-Mobile. I guess it would be nice to have a better camera. I use my iPhone camera a lot more than my professional cameras. I probably wouldn't get the new iPhone 14. An iPhone 13 on sale sounds a lot more attractive. Maybe I won't get anything at all. I always think about buying stuff I don't need when I get bored.

Dawn is still leaving the room when I want to take a nap during the day. This is unfortunate, because I enjoy taking a good nap. I feel guilty when Dawn leaves the room though. It is her room. She spends most of the day in the bedroom and it's the one room in the house where she feels completely comfortable. I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that Dawn was treated very badly by men when she was used as a breeding dog. She has had a hard life and there's no particular reason why she should trust me. 

The failing dryer belt seems to be getting worse. I was hoping that it would last for a while, but I'll probably have to call the appliance repairman again soon. I'm really tired of things breaking or wearing out. Something around the house always seems to be on its last legs. I need to take my car in for a service appointment pretty soon as well. It's always something. I'd much rather spend my money on trips to the space center.

Tomorrow is my grocery day. Dawn is not nearly as excited when I return with groceries. I tend to get unexciting things like bottled water and laundry detergent. Janet brings sliced turkey and cheese.

Harshey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4609

I think I like mall walking. The air is clean, filtered, and just the right temperature. No seasonal allergy problems at all. There are also no bugs. The place is well lit, but you don't get sunburned. I don't hear constant police and fire sirens like I do when I'm walking in the park. I actually like that the stores are closed. The latest trends are on display in every window, but there are no irritating salespeople asking if you need help. If you did see something you liked, you could just buy it online. Every store in the mall has a website. 

I used to hate malls because they were so crowded, but there are relitively few walkers before the stores open. The walkers all seem like nice people too. There are no pan handlers or crazy people wandering around trying to harrass you. It's also really easy to find a parking place before the stores open. Granted, this is not real life, but I'll take it. Real life is ugly and messy these days.

Northpark has a great art collection. I try to learn a little about the artists as I'm walking. Most of the art on display is sculpture, but there are a few large scale paintings as well. Each piece has a little plaque with information about the artist. This stuff has always been here but I never paid much attention before. It's interesting. Today the mall had new cars on display. I think they do this every year before the new model year begins. Cars have really gotten expensive. Luxury cars are around $100,000 now and regular cars seem to start around $50,000. The real expensive cars are always displayed near Neiman Marcus and the cheaper cars are down at the other end of the mall around Macys. There are a ton of police patrolling the mall. It feels pretty safe. I wish the park had half as many police. I've seen some pretty strange things in the park.

Since I did my mall walking early, there was still plenty of time for Dawn's Sunday outing. It was a little cooler this morning, so we thought she might like to spend a little more time outside. Nope. It was still too hot for her. She peed quickly and headed straight back to the car. I think she knows that the Sunday outing is all about the ice cream now. For the second week in a row we tried to buy a pint of our favorite flavor to take home with us and the store was out of it. The cones were good though.

I did a bunch of little odds and ends around the house this afternoon, but didn't really accomplish much. I watered plants, swept the porch, recharged device batteries, made another attempt to fix the leaking toilet, and oiled some sticking locks. Dawn doesn't mind when I nap with her now. I don't think we're best buddies yet, but she's not frightened of me anymore. I think that week we spent together while Janet was on vacation turned out to be quality time. This is all good news to me. I like to take naps and it's much easier if your dog approves.

It's back to the gym tomorrow. There's no point in mall walking when the stores are open. I hope I hear something from NASA this week. The launch is getting closer and I still know virtually nothing. All I have is a short cryptic note saying that my request for press credentials has been approved. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't make the trip at all. So far, this event has caused me a lot more stress than joy. I do have an article to write though. The magazine would be very disappointed if I wasn't there at the launch.

There is a 40% chance of rain next Wednesday. Usually the rain seems to miss our house even when there is a 100% chance of rain, but one can still hope. We really need the rain.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4553

Our heat wave continues. It's hard to get very interested in doing anything when it's so hot outside. It never realy cooled down last night and was still warm when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. This was still the best part of the day. As the sun got higher in the sky the temperature just kept rising.

We always have a big breakfast on weekends and as soon as we finished I started on my long walk. I soaked my hat in water before I left the house and hoped for the best. It's a shame that my gym isn't open on Sunday anymore. This always used to be my favorite day to go to the gym. Oh, well. The walk wasn't bad for the first two miles, but by by the time I reached the halfway point and started heading home again, it was getting pretty hot. I got my steps though. Somehow it still seems important to make an effort.

I was informed when I bought the dishwasher that I had a 48 hour window after delivery to inspect it for damage. After that, I'm stuck with the thing whether it works or not. I called customer service this morning to try to get an extension. I explained that I didn't want to take the dishwasher out of the box until someone knowledgable arrived to install it. I wouldn't even know what to look for if there was some kind of internal or mechanical damage. I guess my explanation made sense, because the service guy gave me an extension until Tuesday afternoon after talking to his supervisor. It seems like you have to talk to your supervisor before you can do anything these days. Hopefully I can get a plumber to install the dishwasher tomorrow. I really want to put this chapter in my life behind me.

Dawn did get her Sunday outing today, but it was a bit different. It was way too hot to take our regular walk in the park on the hill, so we just let her walk around in the grass and sniff things for a few minutes before heading for the ice cream store. This seemed fine to Dawn. She peed, smelled a few bushes, and headed back to the car. I thought the ice cream store would be crowded today since it was so hot, but there was only one car ahead of us. Not many people were out and about at all. The roads were pretty quiet. I guess most people just stayed inside today. I can't say that I blame them. The only time we saw many people today was when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. I guess we aren't the only folks who realized this is the is the only decent time to go outdoors during a heat wave.

Whenever I try to take a nap on the bed when Janet isn't home, Dawn gets up and leaves the room. She sits just outside the bedroom door and watches to see if I'm still there. If I don't leave in a timely fashion she eventually starts to cry. Not surprisingly, this makes me feel bad. Today I just took my nap on the sofa in the living room. Dawn stayed in the bedroom and seemed happy enough. I wish I knew what caused this behavior. I'm a normal member of the family when Janet is in the house. When Janet is gone, I'm someone to be feared. The behavior changes instantly as soon as Janet enters the front door. It's going to be interesting when Janet goes on vacation. Dawn eventually calmed down the last time Janet went on vacation, but it took several days.

I thought about taking the Havahart trap outside today since the rat is probably still around somewhere. I almost instantly realized that this was a terrible idea, since all the trap would catch is squirrels. There seem to be hundreds of squirrels in our yard since we have large trees. I think I have distant memories of trapping squirrels before when I was trying to catch mice. Squirrels are always eating and they seem to love whatever I bait the trap with.

I'm not sure if I'll be visiting the Dalmatian kennel tomorrow. It all depends. I have a feeling that I'll be sitting around waiting for the plumber most of the day. This is assuming that I can even get a plumber to come out tomorrow. We'll see. I'm trying to remain optimistic at this point.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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