Day 4540 - Memorial Day

My Mom's Dad was career military. Both her brothers were fighter pilots. My Dad served in the Navy during World War II, although I'm still not entirely sure what he did. I never served. I had a low draft number during the Vietnam era, but got a medical exemption due to an injury I received rock climbing in college. Several high school friends served in the military, along with a couple of early ad agency co-workers. One of my art director partners was in the Marines and another flew jets in the Air Force. All in all, I've had very few connections with people who served and am probably not qualified to make many judgements about military life. I do think it's terribly sad that so many people have died in needless wars. The best way to honor all who died would be to just stop getting involved in needless wars. Going to Vietnam proved absolutely nothing. Going to Iraq and Afganistan proved nothing as well. I wonder if we will ever learn.

If you don't have military family or friends, Memorial Day is mostly an excuse to put some meat on the grill and have a barbecue. I didn't even do that today. I did try to go to the gym because it was a hot day. Their website said they'd be open this morning, but when I arrived, the place was closed. I wish more people would take the time to update their websites. The trip wasn't a total loss though. I stopped at a store and got some socks that were on sale on the way home.

I think I've become obsessed with the star tracker. Even though I'll seldom use the tracker, it is a cool, well designed piece of technology that appeals to me in an odd way. Little complicated things are fascinating. Maybe that's why I used to like mechanical watches so much. At any rate, I keep looking for ways to enhance the little tracker. Recently I discovered a better way to connect my camera to the tracker. The gizmo was a little expensive and I've been looking for a used version. Today I found one on eBay and bought it. I'm sure I'll get a lot more use out of the socks I bought.

Since I couldn't go to the gym today, I was forced to take my usual walk in the park. I could have skipped a day of course, but I'm nearing 200 days of meeting all my Fitbit goals. Why stop now?  Goals can be addictive. Just look at all these blog posts. I've completely forgotten why I started this blog in the first place. Now the goal is to just keep going.

Our sunrise walk with Dawn was quite pleasant this morning, but the afternoon walk to get my Fitbit steps was miserable. It was too hot for me. I wasn't able to complete my full route today but that's OK. As long as I get at least 10,000 steps and am able to close all three rings on the Apple Watch activity app, I'm good.

I missed having a chance to see the rescue Dalmatians today. It really didn't seem like Monday without a visit to see the dogs. We'll see them next week though.  It's nice having a routine. I've got Saturday, Sunday, and Monday covered. Maybe I need to find a repetitive activity for Tuesday.

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4443

The weather was crazy today. It seemed unseasonably warm when we walked Dawn early this morning. The temperature was 70 degrees and we didn't even need jackets. We returned home thinking that it was going to be a nice day. I was dumbfounded when I walked outside again after eating breakfast and the temp-erature has dropped to 38 degrees. What happened? This sudden change seemed almost instantaneous. Oh, well. I put on some warmer clothes and took my long walk. The weird thing about this sudden change of temperature was that it wasn't accompanied by a lot of wind. It didn't even feel like a front was moving in.

I walked early today because it was time for Janet to have cataract surgery on her second eye and I was the designated driver. I was a little surprised that they scheduled both eyes so close together, but that's the way they do it these days. The whole procedure is amazingly fast. It was almost time to return to the surgery center by the time I drove home. I've been dreading having cataract surgery myself, but Janet's success with these procedures makes me feel a little more confident. The first surgery has already dramatically improved her vision and she said the second surgery went well too. 

The surgery center is super efficient and they always send the designated driver lots of messages about how the surgery is progressing and when and where to return. Some of these messages arrived while I was in the car driving back to take Janet home again. Much to my chagrin I realized that I've forgotten how my paired phone works in the car. Nobody calls anymore and I never listen to the radio. When the calls would come in I would press the green button on the steering wheel and couldn't figure out why I couldn't hear anything. The call was connected but I could barely hear a voice. How do I make this thing louder I kept thinking? After several dropped calls I finally figured out that you controlled the volume on the phone with the volume dial on the car radio. The volume dial was multi-function and controlled all the car's audio. Since I had turned off the audio months or even years ago, I'd almost forgotten that this button existed. When we drive to visit the kennel Dalmatians in Janet's car she listens to the radio. When I drive, we don't listen to anything. I've forgotten how to program stations in my car's radio. Basically I like silence. When I drive out to West Texas, I make the entire long drive in silence.

Apparently, another arctic cold front is headed our way. This seems a little strange because it feels like it is already here. Nope. According to the forecast it is going to be even colder tomorrow. It is supposed to rain as well. I just hope that we don't have any more freezing rain. If history is any guide, we will have to endure this erratic winter weather for another month. Occasionally we've had some really bad weather in March. I'll be glad when April arrives. It's officially Spring in April and wildflowers are everywhere.

I hope we don't allow ourselves to be dragged into another needless foreign war. Haven't we learned our lesson by now? I'm an unabashed isolationist and think our country would be a lot better off if we just minded our own business. The Vietnam era was pointless. So were the endless wars in the Middle East. I can understand why Putin would like to recreate to old Soviet Union. Maybe he succeeds and maybe he doesn't. I just don't understand why we are obligated to get involved. Let the Europeans handle this. I don't even understand why we are a member of NATO. Sadly the only thing that Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on is foreign wars. They both love a good foreign war. It's a perfect distraction from all our domestic problems.

I was able to walk three miles today. I guess that's progress. I was struggling to walk two miles yesterday. It's sad that my two regular activities have lost their magic. What would I replace them with though? Walking keeps me moving and blogging keeps me thinking. I still believe that physical and mental activity are equally important so I'll keep on keeping on. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to look a lot like today.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4340 - Veterans Day

Everyone usually posts pictures of their parents on Veterans Day. I only have a single picture of my Dad in uniform. My Mom was in the Navy during World War II as well, but I don't have any pictures of her service days. I never served myself, although many of my high school friends ended up going to Vietnam. I'm glad I had a medical exemption. Far too many good people have been killed or injured in pointless wars that didn't even serve our national interest. Vietnam is a trading partner and tourist destination now. We didn't win that war. Iraq and Afghanistan certainly aren't any better off after years of war. Both countries are as corrupt as they ever were. I think World War II was the last war that we actually won. I'm proud of my parent's service. Tom Brokaw was right in calling people of my parent's age the Greatest Generation. They had a sense of unity and purpose that just isn't here today. My parents gave me an amazing opportunity to grow and thrive. If you are anywhere near my age, your parents did too. I just hope we don't squander that opportunity as we appear to be doing now.

Last year at this time I was preparing to go to Florida to attend the Space X Crew 1 launch. Time flies. Crew 3 just launched yesterday and it appears that there will be many more missions like this to the ISS. I am pleased that we are finally getting serious about returning to space. We need to remain explorers. I think the Chinese understand this even if some Americans don't. If we don't go to the moon and Mars, they certainly will.

It's weird that I'm so interested in exploring the cosmos since I rarely even leave my own back yard. I took my long walk today, but that was about it. I did get an invitation from the Space Force this afternoon to attend tomorrow's Starlink launch. The invitation was a little late, since the launch is scheduled for early tomorrow morning. There is no way to make travel arrangements that quickly. I was pleased that I'm still on somebody's approved list, but I hope I will get a little more advance warning about future launches. I'm still hoping to return to KSC for next February's Artemis 1 launch.

I need to find something interesting to do in Dallas. It's too complicated and often too expensive to continually plan trips to Kennedy Space Center or McDonald Observatory. Almost every day I see photographers in the park patiently waiting to get the perfect bird picture. I don't have the patience for this. My reaction to birds these days is usually "Hey, I've already got that shot." I used to love to go to movies, but there hasn't been a new movie in a long time that has interested me. I could care less about another James Bond film, or anything in the Marvel universe. I probably wouldn't even like the movies I used to love anymore. I certainly don't like do it yourself projects anymore. I'm really tired of fixing things. Maybe I should volunteer for a sleep study. I do like sleeping.

I've taken the trash to the curb and had a cursory look at the night sky. Jupiter, Saturn and Venus are all really bright. There's a lunar eclipse coming up soon, but it takes place in the middle of the night. I'm not sure I want to get up at 3 AM to see something I've seen many times before. I don't know if I'm getting lazy or just have a bad case of "been there, done that." At any rate, I'm perfectly content to have a bowl of shredded wheat tomorrow and take my long walk. That's enough for now.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4252

Yesterday's rain did cool things down a bit. It was pleasantly cool on our sunrise walk and we were able to take Dawn on her Sunday outing as well. We had a nice, traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast and then I took my long walk right after breakfast. I've started wearing an elastic knee brace and it really helps. I didn't feel like my right knee was constantly popping out of joint today. My body felt surprisingly normal. I like days like this because clearly nothing else in the world is anywhere near normal.

Dawn did very well on her Sunday outing. She added another mile to her sunrise walk and didn't appear tired at all. Cooler temperatures make a huge difference. It may seem weird to call temperatures in the eighties cool, but that's the way it is in Texas. Eighty degrees is always a lot better than one hundred degrees. When we went for ice cream after our walk, there was a line of cars at the drive up window.  We haven't seen this for a while. Maybe we were just a little later today. We didn't get a free pup cone this time, but the ice cream was still good.

The Union Pacific Big Boy steam engine that we went to see last year in Palestine, Texas was in Fort Worth this weekend. Somewhat surprisingly, I had no interest in seeing it again. Maybe it was the difference between a pleasant drive in the country and a congested drive to another big city. Janet and I have actually ridden on the yellow passenger cars that were part of today's train, although they were pulled by a different engine. Quite a few years ago Union Pacific brought a special historic excursion train to Dallas and we managed to get tickets. Train travel is still appealing to me. In my younger years I've taken the Great Northern Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago. I've also ridden the Sante Fe Super Chief and other historic trains. Amtrak doesn't even come close to these grand old passenger trains, but even the worst Amtrak train is better than most airlines.

It's sad to see what is happening in Afghanistan. What a colossal waste of money and American lives. We were there for twenty years and accomplished absolutely nothing. You'd think we would have learned after Vietnam that these types of 'nation building' wars are pointless. Biden could have done a much better job of getting out, but we shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I thought my Fitbit was broken this morning. It was completely dead and didn't appear to take a charge. Sadly, I've become addicted to this thing. Looking at stats and comparing one day to another brings a certain structure to my days. Lord knows there isn't much else in today's world that provides a reference point. At any rate, I was mad that I had no sleep data from last night. I thought I might have to go out and buy another Fitbit this afternoon, but I left the Fitbit on the charger while I took my long walk and eventually it must have remembered the battery was dead and started recharging. Crisis averted. I know it shouldn't matter how many steps I get in a day, but it does.

We've got to decide whether to keep Dawn on the allergy medicine or not. She's definitely not biting or licking her paws as much, but it might have nothing to do with allergies. It could have been that the MRSA infection was causing intense itching or even pain. I guess it makes sense to continue the medication until her paws heal and then discontinue it for a while to see if the licking returns. Maybe trial and error is the only solution. Dawn's bladder stones need to be removed as well. I hope the vet is able to flush them out. This would be much better than surgery.

It's time to visit the rescue Dalmatians again. I'm not sure if Bullet is still there. I think someone was looking at him last week. Janet got a new toy for Charlie. That's always interesting.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4175

Another busy day. It's rare that I get two 20,000 step days in a row, but today was one of those days. The weather was pretty decent, so Dawn got her Sunday outing. She really likes the park we take her to on Sundays, but other places we've tried have been dismal failures. Dawn is a hard dog to figure out. I'm just glad when something works. We always get ice cream cones on Sunday. This time we remembered to bring towels so Dawn wouldn't get ice cream all over the car.

We finally got rid of all the dead Asian Jasmine in the back yard. We spent hours pulling the dead vines off our back fence, which looks pretty bare right now. Surprisingly, the Asian Jasmine that survived the big freeze is coming back strong. In a few years the yard will look just like it did before. This doesn't necessarily mean that the yard will look all that great. There are still several dead photinia trees, bare patches where the grass has died, and a half destroyed greenhouse that was damaged in one of our periodic windstorms.

I was tired after Dawn's Sunday outing and all the yard work, but I still took my long walk anyway. The park was surprisingly crowded today. It was probably the holiday weekend. Usually people stay away when the weather is cool and overcast. Now that crowds are returning everywhere, I'm starting to miss the lockdown. It was nice to fly on empty planes and drive on uncrowded roads. That's all over now. Everyone who has been waiting for an opportunity to gather together is making up for lost time.

I made another effort to understand PixInsight this afternoon. I watched the first four videos in a twelve part series called PixInsight for Total Beginners. The complex astrophotography processing software was still hard for me to understand. Photoshop was designed for and by visual people. PixInsight seems to have been designed by mathematicians. It's clear that the software can do some amazing things, but it's not intuitive at all. I still think that maybe I picked the wrong hobby.

It's difficult to learn things on your own. It's easy to go down a rabbit hole and become hopelessly lost. No wonder classes and clubs are popular. I seldom take classes. I'm too much of a loner. I flounder around and eventually figure out what I need to know on my own. I'm probably doing a lot of things backwards, but does it even matter? People sometimes ask why I use such an old version of Photoshop. My answer is always the same. I'm still discovering new things that CS5 will do.

I'm not sure whether we'll visit the Dalmatians tomorrow or not. The kennel might be closed for Memorial Day. It's hard for me to relate to this day. I've lived a long time and it still seems odd that I don't know a single person who died while in the military. All the people I knew from my parent's generation came back from World War II and Korea. Several people I knew in high school got sent to Vietnam and they all came back. I don't even know anyone who got sent to the Middle East during all the various Gulf Wars. A lot of people did die though. Were any of these wars even necessary? Maybe World War II, but the others accomplished nothing. I'm not a globalist. I guess I'm basically an isolationist at heart. We ought to make all our own stuff in our own factories and stay out of other people's business. 

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3975 - Veterans Day

Mom and Dad were both proud Navy veterans. Mom came from a military family with a father who was an Army Colonel and two brothers who were Air Force pilots. I didn't carry on this heritage of service. I never served at all. I had a low draft number during the Vietnam era, but got an exemption because of a knee injury. I'm glad I didn't get drafted. Even back then I thought the Vietnam War was needless. Today I feel that every war the United States got involved in since World War II was an unnecessary war. We certainly didn't need to get involved in the Middle East. Far too many people died or were injured for nothing. Are things any better in Iraq or Afghanistan now? I don't think so. People have been fighting in the Middle East for thousands of years. They will still be fighting long after the last American troops have returned home. We need a strong military, but we also need to learn to mind our own business.

Today was kind of stressful. I'm still not finished packing because there have been so many changes to the launch schedule. I've been on the phone and answering e-mails all day. Nobody knows where tropical storm ETA is headed. Yesterday it was traveling toward the Florida Panhandle. Today the storm has reversed course and is headed back toward the Florida mainland. I still don't know if the storm will be gone by the time I arrive or if I will land right in the middle of it.

Today's schedule changes weren't all bad. A ULA launch that was supposed to take place today got postponed until Friday evening. This means that I will get to see two rocket launches while I'm at Kennedy Space Center. I had to reschedule an interview with a Crew-1 mission specialist so I could attend the additional ULA NROL-101 launch on Friday evening, but I think I've finally got everything worked out.

The elephant in the room is still the weather. Where is this storm going to be when I wake up tomorrow? Will it strengthen to become a hurricane in the next few hours? Who knows. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Southwest Airlines has canceled flight to Tampa but they are still flying to Orlando. I guess that's a good sign.

It's much easier to walk your dog than it is to travel to another state in the path of a hurricane. We had a great walk with Dawn this morning. The temperature was much cooler today and it was right in Dawn's comfort zone. It's amazing what a difference a few degrees can make. Dawn was frisky and full of energy this morning because the temperature was in the fifties. If it was 15 degrees warmer, you'd see a different dog. I'm glad Dawn likes the cooler temperatures, but I wish the weather was a little more consistent. It's hard to decide what to wear in the morning.

I'd better wrap this up soon so I can return to packing. Did I tell you that I hate packing? I'm always forgetting things because of my tendency to procrastinate. It's hard to remember all the details when you are doing everything at the last minute. I also still have to make a list of question for my interview with the Commercial Crew mission specialist. Jeez. Why didn't I do that earlier today? Don't worry. Everything will get done. I haven't missed a deadline yet.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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