Day 4951

Janet returned home this evening and Dawn is beyond happy. I think a week alone with me is about her limit. For the most part she's been very good, but this morning I was worried enough about her that I almost took her to the vet. She seemed very agitated and tore up her dog bed in the kitchen. Then she tried to hide in all the wrong places, like inside closets and behind the television. I took her outside and she was panting heavily. I don't know whether she had a mild seizure or was just having a panic attack. At any rate after about fifteen minutes she was completely back to normal and there were no problems for the rest of the day. It will be nice to finally go on a walk with her again tomorrow. She has refused to take a walk all week.

The last time Janet went on vacation Dawn seemed to relax as the week wore on. This time she seemed to become a little more stressed with each passing day. She is a very fearful dog and it doesn't take much to get her shivering and shaking. I think today she might have just given up hope that Janet was ever returning and thought she might be stuck with me forever. All is well now though. I hope she remembers that these vacations don't last forever the next time Janet goes someplace. 

Once I was convinced that Dawn was fine I went to the gym. Walking around the indoor track is the only way I'm going to get my steps this summer. It's way too hot to go walking in the park. When I took Dawn out to pee this morning it was already 90 degrees. It didn't take long for the temperature to climb over 100. I didn't stay long at the gym today. I was still a little worried about Dawn and came home as soon as I finished my three miles around the indoor track. I picked up a few groceries on the way home but I'll probably have to go to the store again tomorrow. 

My call to tech support yesterday accomplished nothing. I'm still getting the spoofed e-mail spam that appears to come from me. The person I talked with yesterday sounded pretty convincing and I actually thought the problem was solved. I should have known better. These guys have never really helped me before. Why should they start now. 

I hope Janet has some ideas about how to get rid of the pile of stuff in the living room that used to reside in the utility room. I have no idea where to put these things now that we no longer have a shelf. Our closets are full and the storage warehouse is getting pretty full as well. Some of the things could be thrown away, but at least half the stuff are things we use all the time. All these problems could have been avoided if the building inspector didn't have to inspect new water heaters. The way the shelf in the utility room was attached before worked well for over fifty years. It's a shame that the rules had to change at a time when I've lost all patience with bureaucracies. Getting a new drivers license was a pain. So was getting approved for TSA Pre. I never dreamed that getting a water heater would be a hassle too.

I guess I'm just getting old and grumpy. Dawn and I should get along great because she's old and grumpy as well. Neither of us like dealing with change. All in all, I think we did pretty well this week. We're both glad Janet is back though. It takes a team to keep this house running.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4946

We made it through our first day. I hate to see Dawn sad, but if she had her way, neither of us would ever leave the house. As I expected, Dawn refuses to take a walk and seems nervous even going outside to pee. At least she is still eating. Dinner and her evening snack are fairly normal because I've always fed her those meals. Breakfast is a bit of a challenge though. Typically Dawn gets up with Janet and follows her out to the kitchen. Janet takes her outside to pee and fixes her breakfast before I'm even out of bed. Now she doesn't know what to do.

She refuses to come out to the kitchen and eat breakfast with me. She won't even get off the bed while I'm trying to make it. The last time Janet went on vacation Dawn would eat her breakfast if I left her bowl on the bedroom floor. That didn't work today. I eventually had to place the bowl on the bed with her and then leave the room. Ten minutes later the bowl was empty and she got her morning meds. 

I wish I could tell Dawn that everything is going to be OK and that Janet will be back soon. It doesn't work that way though. Dawn will act like she lost her only friend until Janet eventually walks through the front door again. I guess it all makes sense in a weird way. Dawn spent most of her life as a breeding dog in a kennel run by two older men. I don't think she will ever trust men. Janet was the one who rescued her while I was away at a launch in Florida. They bonded immediately and in Dawn's mind I'm probably just Janet's assistant. We do the best we can when Janet is away, but she's always been a nervous dog. I do think Dawn is trying and I understand as well. I get nervous too when life throws me a curve ball.

It's still too hot for my long walk in the park, to I went to the gym again after breakfast. I had to walk a little further on the indoor track because there was no sunrise walk with Dawn. I got my steps though and shot some baskets before I returned home again. I thought Dawn might come out and join me for lunch because she always gets some sliced turkey with Janet at lunchtime. Dawn loves sliced turkey. I got the turkey out and called her, but Dawn still refused to leave the bedroom. Oddly, she was happy enough to go out in the back yard with me after I finished my sandwich. This is something we always do, so I guess it seemed normal to her. Dawn loves to lounge in the sun and roll in the grass. We stayed outside for about ten minutes and then Dawn was off to the bedroom again.

We'll follow this weird little routine for the rest of the week. Dawn still needs her bedtime snack, but I know she'll come out and eat that. This is something we do every evening. We'll take a final trip outside to pee before bed and then she'll reluctantly let me join her on the bed after I get finished with today's blog post. I don't know how she can spend so much time on that bed. Even I have my limits when it comes to napping.

At least it didn't rain today. Rain would only complicate things further because Dawn doesn't like to get wet. It's hard enough to get her to go outside and pee as it is. I don't think she's drinking enough water either, but I make sure her bowls are always filled with fresh water. Jeez. How do you make a dog drink water? Dawn will gradually adjust to things as the week rolls on. It's a slow process though. I wish I could make it easier for her.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4945

Dawn is still nervous because Janet is away, but we're doing OK. She's eating her meals and has had her evening meds. I think taking a walk is a lost cause, but we'll give it a try tomorrow morning. I hate seeing Dawn sad like this, but I think she knows Janet will return. We've been through this routine before.

The day started normally enough. We took a nice sunrise walk and then had our big weekend breakfast. The temperature was a little cooler this morning, but it's still obvious that this is July in Texas. I've been hoping that it would cool down enough for me to start walking in the park again, but this wasn't going to be the day.

After Janet left for the airport this morning, I made sure Dawn was OK and then went mall walking like I normally do every Sunday. The mall was a little more crowded this morning because it was closer to opening time when I arrived. No new stores this week and very few changes in the store windows. I made my five loops around the mall perimeter and then came home again. There was a long line waiting to get in the new Tecovas store. It was either their Grand Opening or they were giving away something. I didn't join the line. I haven't worn cowboy boots in years.

When I returned home I filled out an application for credentials to attend the Echostar Jupiter 3 launch. This is another Falcon Heavy launch. I've seen quite a few of these already, but they are always interesting and it is often easier to get credentials directly through Space X than it is with NASA. We'll see what happens. The upcoming launches I really want to see don't take place until later in the year or early 2024. Until then, I might as well do something to pass the time.

I hope Dawn calms down soon. When she's nervous it makes me nervous as well. I always worry that she might get stung by a bee or need to go to the vet for some reason. She's never ridden in my car without Janet nearby. She rarely rides in my car at all, since we usually take Janet's car when Dawn is with us. At any rate, getting her in the car would not be fun. It probably won't be a problem. I suspect that Dawn will just sit on the bed for most of the week.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing next week. I have a feeling that it's going to be a slow week. I've got my list of things I need to do with Dawn every day, but almost everything else has been taken care of. I got my new drivers license and have TSA Pre now. My passport doesn't expire for several more years. There are no doctor or dental appointments for quite a while either. It's a shame I'm no longer in demand as a writer or web designer. Having a deadline to meet every day sure made the days go faster.

It's pretty quiet around the house now. I'll go to bed earlier and get up a bit later, but the days will be more or less the same. There will be shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast and a trip to the gym. If I'm lucky, maybe Dawn will take a short walk tomorrow.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4665

I did a lot of walking today. 20,000 step days are becoming increasing rare, but I had another one today. The weather was just about perfect and I certainly didn't have anything better to do. There was no need to go mall walking this morning. It was much nicer to be outside.

We had to share the trails with a bunch of runners on our sunrise walk. A local running group was having a race. We probably should have started our walk earlier, but we typically walk later on weekends. Even though we are both retired, we still seem to differentiate between weekdays and weekends. Walking with Dawn is much more enjoyable when the park is empty. She loves to smell things and will wander right in front of passing runners and bicycles if we aren't watching carefully. Janet ordered some little clip-on lights so bicycles won't run over us when we are walking in the dark. Neither of us are a big fan of bicycles.

The park was more enjoyable when I took my long walk after breakfast. The runners were gone and all that was left of the race were a few volunteers cleaning up. Surprisingly, my feet didn't hurt very bad today. I maintained a fairly good pace for my entire walk. I'm still having problems with seasonal allergies, but they weren't as bad today. The air was clean and the humidity was much lower than it was a month ago. I can tell the humidity is lower because I don't have to empty the dehumidifier as often. During the summer I had to empty the water bucket twice a day. Now it takes the entire day to fill with water.

Dawn got a nice Sunday outing today. Since the temperature was cool all day we were able to walk a full mile at her Sunday park. Dawn likes to eat grass and we've had to be careful and keep her away from tall grass in these parks lately. The city has been trying to eradicate the Johnson Grass that has overrun the native prairies in the area and they've been selectively applying herbicide to the Johnson Grass. When I first started seeing the tractors applying the herbicide, I thought they would kill everything. Whatever they are using appears to be very selective. Only the Johnson Grass appears to be dying.

After we made our trip to the ice cream store and headed home, I tested the washing machine. I'm happy to report that is is working normally again. Even the clothes seem to be a little cleaner. The only downside to cleaning out the drain filter is that the machine drains more rapidly now. Sometimes the floor drain overflows now and I've had to plug it again. I stuff a cloth down the floor drain pipe so that condensation from the AC can still drip through the pipe, while backflow from the washing machine drain is greatly reduced. I wouldn't have these problems if the builders of this house had put in three inch drain lines instead of two inch pipes. A two inch drain is just too small for modern appliances.

Dawn is still weird about being in the house with me when Janet is gone. When I try to take a nap in the bedroom, she hops off the bed and goes out to the hallway by the front door and whines until I leave the room. I've started napping on the couch in the living room because it just makes life easier. I don't think Dawn is ever going to change. She is nervous about everything and doesn't feel safe when Janet isn't around. When Janet is here, Dawn actually seems to like me. I'm OK with all this. Dawn had a very rough life before we adopted her. I'm sure she has a doggie version of PTSD.

Tomorrow the appliance repairman returns to fix the refrigerator. This is basically preventative maintenance since the refrigerator works just fine now. The warm to the touch metal exterior is a bad sign though. If we don't replace the fan that cools the compressor, it could fail at any time. It could still fail even with a new fan, but I'd like to keep this thing running as long as possible. Modern refrigerators keep getting larger and it is almost impossible to find a replacement that will fit into the designated refrigerator slot in our kitchen.

I didn't see any little green web worms today. I did see a lot of dead Hackberry trees in the park though. Maybe the worms have finally eaten their way through their food supply and died.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4660

Not a lot happened today. It was still dark when we started our sunrise walk with Dawn. There were other people in the park, but you could only see the lights they wore. Some people carried flashlights. Others wore headlamps and some even put little lights on their shoes. A lot of dogs had lighted collers. We used to have a little red light that would clip on Dawn's collar, but it got lost on a walk over a year ago. You don't really need these lights very long. The predawn sky brightens quickly. I could see Orion in the South with Mars overhead and Jupiter setting in the West as we left the house. By the time we arrived home it was daylight.

I discovered where the little green worms were coming from this morning. There is a tree I often pass under on our morning walks with hundreds of the things dangling from thin weblike threads. I must have walked through this mess the other day and didn't even realize it. Evidently the city is infested with these little green caterpillars this Fall. They seem to favor Hackberry trees.

The temperature was nice and cool today, so I took my long walk instead of going to the gym. Our Fall typically doesn't last very long, but I hope this weather continues. It's rare that the temperature is just right in Texas. Today was perfect. I could walk without getting hot and sweaty, but I didn't need a coat either.

It doesn't look like there is going to be an Artemis launch until mid to late November, but I still feel compelled to check on the rocket every day. Overnight they rolled the rocket back to the Vertical Assembly Building where it is safely stowed away. With the hurricane's path moving to the East, there is a chance that the storm will pass directly over the space center now. By the time Ian reaches the space coast it will be a lot weaker, but it will still be quite a storm. It's a good thing I'm not traveling to Florida this week. I've heard that they might even close the airport in Orlando soon.

My seasonal allergies keep getting worse. I'm not sure what causes these allergies, but it doesn't make any difference whether I'm indoors or out. Either way I'm always blowing my nose. The nasal congestion is irritating but I'm used to it by now. I've had seasonal allergies for years. I really appreciate the few weeks each year when the allergies completely go away.

I was thinking about learning some new features on one of my cameras today, but when the time came, I had already lost interest. Modern digital cameras will do a lot of things that people like me seldom use. I basically shoot the same way I used to with my old Nikon film cameras. The only controls I use are shutter speed and f-stop. I wish manufacturers would invent a way to insure perfect focus at night. That's always a tricky one for me.

I wish Dawn would warm up to me. Janet was gone this afternoon and every time I came in the bedroom, Dawn would leave. We both like to nap. It's a shame that it's so hard to do this together. I don't think Dawn will ever completely trust men.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4586

Well, my wallet is a little lighter, but I have my car back. I still can't believe how expensive catalytic converters have become. It's ridiculous. Your car will run just fine without one, but it's something you've got to have. Rules and regulations. This unforeseen expense makes me want to drive a simple older car. That wouldn't work though. I already drive an older car. When your car is over ten years old, things start falling apart left and right.

It was still hot today but it didn't seems as bad as earlier in the week. Maybe I'm just getting used to this ridiculous weather. Dawn only gets one walk a day now, since it is too hot for an afternoon walk. Our sunrise walk is still tolerable, but even that is starting to feel uncomfortable. I'm taking my long walk right after breakfast now, but I think I'll return to the gym tomorrow. That was the only thing I missed about being without a car all week. My addiction to Fitbit steps made me walk outdoors when it would have been a lot smarter to stay inside.

I think they are almost finished with the new path through the park. I watched a crew pour the last segment of concrete this morning. I'll kind of miss all the activity. Watching all the construction gave me something to do now that all the animals are in hiding. The only bad thing about this new super path is that there will be a lot more bicycles. Dawn loves to cross from one side of these paths to the other in search of the best smells. You really have to watch for bicycles approaching behind you. They are fast and they are silent.

I'm still having problems entering the Dark Skies photo contest. Why do people put websites online that don't work? I see this all the time. Some of my favorite restaurants have websites that don't work and I always have to call in my order. Maybe I notice this more since I spent so many years developing websites myself. Jeez. You are supposed to test these things before you take them live. I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes myself, but I did test my websites extensively. Mostly I just didn't want my clients yelling at me.

Janet got some steaks for dinner but they didn't arrive home with her. We think the checker just forgot to put them in the bag, but who knows. Probably the next person in line got a nice surprise in their bag. I was surprised that the store replaced the meat without any proof of what actually happened. I was also surprised at the cost of steaks. I usually buy the bulk items and Janet buys the perishable stuff, so I've lost track of how expensive many things have gotten lately. I don't think anything is getting cheaper.

Dawn is still getting upset whenever Janet leaves the house. I'm sure she's worried that Janet is going on another vacation. It's a shame that Dawn worries like this. Janet hates being housebound and I hate leaving the house. It would work out better if Dawn got upset when I left the house because I'm almost always here. 

It's time to make a grocery list again. At least I've got a car to go grocery shopping though. I hope that nothing else breaks this summer. After the air conditioner, the dishwasher, and now the car, I think enough is enough.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4574

Life has returned to normal. At least I hope it has. Janet returned this evening and Dawn was overjoyed. I think she got back just in the nick of time because Dawn was starting to become fearful and was acting weird again. This morning when she was eating her breakfast in the bedroom, I accidently turned on the dishwasher while I was fixing my own breakfast and the noise terrified her. She stopped eating and ran and hid in a corner. I don't know why the little four note chime the dishwasher makes when it powers on is so frightning to Dawn, but it's always been that way. I need to figure out a way to turn off the sounds on the dishwasher. Life will be a little easier without these fearful beeping noises.

Last night when I was letting Dawn out to pee before we went to sleep, there was a possum at the back door. It's a good thing I saw the possum before I opened the door. I'm sure this is what Dawn has been smelling in the yard this week. She's definitely been interested in something. After I chased the possum away, the rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Since my gym wasn't open today, I was forced to take a walk in the park. I got an early start, but it was still very hot. Surprisingly, I was able to complete my entire route, but I was drenched in sweat by the time I returned home. I doubt that the gym will be open tomorrow either since it is a holiday.

After a shower and a change of clothes I cleaned up the house for Janet's return. It's weird that a little noise from the dishwasher freaks Dawn out, but she doesn't mind the vacuum cleaner at all. When I vacuumed the bedroom, she just sat on the bed and watched me. She didn't seem alarmed or upset at all. Most of our other dogs hated the vacuum cleaner. Who knows. Maybe Dawn was just happy to get her room cleaned.

Dawn was eager to eat her dinner tonight and took all her meds, so I guess the dishwasher trauma wasn't that bad. Dawn is definitely a complicated dog. Hopefully, now that Janet has returned, life will return to a more relaxed pace. Dawn totally trusts Janet and doesn't really trust me at all. We've managed to get all the important things done, but she never really did relax and become my buddy. That's OK. At least we both know how to get by when the need arrises.

I was going to get Chinese take out for dinner tonight, but the restaurant was closed. I sure wish people would update their websites. I thought about getting pizza instead, but my favorite pizza place was closed as well. I saw several other closed restaurants in my search for take-out and ended up getting something at the deli counter at a nearby grocery store. When I got home I saw an article online that a lot of restaurants in Dallas were closing for the month of July because it was the slowest month of the year and they wanted to give their employees a rest. Sounds like they just wanted to save money to me.

Tomorrow we'll take our sunrise walk again. I bet that Dawn will be eager to walk. It's been more than a week she's had her regular morning walk. Even though it's Monday, we won't be able to visit the rescue Dalmatians, since the kennel will be closed for the holiday. Since my gym is closed as well, I'll probably be walking in the hot sun again. I think Dawn and I did pretty well this week, but it's good to have Janet back.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4567

Dawn seems a little calmer today. She still doesn't want to leave the safety of the bedroom, but she will come out to the kitchen to eat her meals, and walk down to the meadow behind our house to do her business. Today, all I had to say was "dinner's ready" and she ran right out to her bowl to eat. This is an improvement over yesterday.

I still need to remember to fill her water bowls frequently during the day and make sure she takes her meds at the proper time. Dawn and I both live by a fairly rigid schedule, so we're working on getting everything coordinated.  I think we're doing pretty well. Dawn still doesn't like me in the bedroom with her during the day, but is perfectly comfortable sharing the bed with me at night. It's always been this way and I still don't have an explanation.

Since my gym wasn't open today, I took my long walk right after breakfast. I probably should have left the house earlier, but Dawn and I slept in this morning. Neither of us are early birds. The temperature was still in the mid 80's around 9 AM but climbed quickly during my walk. I don't see many ducks and geese anymore. I don't know where they're hiding to get out of the heat, but they must have found a good place. No such luck for me. I was able to complete my entire route, even though I was getting pretty hot toward the end. I probably should take these long walks before I eat breakfast, but I doubt that I'd have much of an appetite when I got back. I'd probably feel more like throwing up. I'm going to have to make the decision on whether to walk or go to the gym just about every day this summer. It's a tough choice. I don't like to drive in the city, but I don't like to return home drenched in sweat after a walk either. 

I felt better after a shower, but running the shower raises the humidity in the house. I don't like that either. Basically, I just don't like anything about summers in Texas. I remember summers in Colorado and Northern Idaho were much nicer. Maybe just being younger was nicer. I think Dawn has the right idea. She basically just lies in bed all day next to an air condition vent. The bedroom is one of the coolest rooms in the house and the bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch and chairs in the living room. No wonder she doesn't want to share this room. It's the best room in the house.

I still haven't found much to do during the day. I've been avoiding fixing things around the house because I've already done all the easy things. The only things left are difficult tasks with a high risk of failure. I think most of these things can wait for a while. I really need to get the factory recall scheduled for my car, but I'm dreading calling the dealership. They stopped offering free loaner cars after the chip shortage decimated their new and used car inventory. I think they just sold most of the loaner cars. At any rate, the last time they promised me a loaner car, they ended up sending me home in a Uber. Boo. Even though I hate driving, I hate being without a car even more.

It didn't really seem like Sunday today without Dawn's Sunday outing and a trip to the ice cream store. We'll resume these activities when Janet returns. Dawn's a smart dog. Unless her entire support team is around, she feels much safer staying close to home. I can't blame her. I kind of feel the same way.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4566

Dawn and I made it through the first day OK. She was reluctant to eat her breakfast this morning, but finally decided she was hungry when I added a little gravy to her bowl. She did much better with dinner tonight. She's taken her meds and we're still working on getting her outside to poop. Things that were easy when Janet was home are a bit more difficult now. I'd say all in all we're doing fine.

I got groceries much earlier than usual this morning. I should do this more often. The stores weren't crowded at all. My list wasn't long this week, but there were still a few things I needed. I don't know why I  always worry that I'm going to have car problems when I'm on my own. Probably because occasionally I do have car problems when I least expect it. All went well though, and I was back home again before we're usually finished with breakfast on the weekends.

I thought about going on a long walk this morning, but it was way too hot. Dawn didn't get a sunrise walk because she didn't want one. When Janet is gone, she does her business as quickly as possible and heads straight back to the house. That's OK with me. The last thing I want is to have her freeze in place or start acting weird when we are far from home.

Since it was already near 100 degrees when I finished my grocery shopping I wisely decided not to attempt a long walk today. I went to the gym instead. Hey, the car worked well for grocery shopping so I figured it would work well again. My gym is never crowded on Saturday. This seems a bit counterintuitive to me, but I always like an empty gym. I shot baskets for a while and then walked long enough on the indoor track to keep my Fitbit happy. I think I exercise more to keep consistent stats than to actually improve anything. There are a lot more serious people at the gym than me, but I'm still probably getting some benefit from this. It's always good to keep moving.

I wrote a letter to my sister today and took it to the post office. I wouldn't need these letters if she read the blog. That's a lost cause though. I may pretend to be a Luddite but she's the real deal. No complaints about writing letters though. Writing letters is good. It's better for the soul than adding three or four emojis to the end of a text message. I used to keep up a running correspondence with at least half a dozen people. Now it's down to this one letter a month.

Dawn isn't going to get an ice cream cone tomorrow. She seldom rides in my car and would be terrified if I tried to take her somewhere without Janet. She seemed terrified just going down to the meadow behind our house to pee this evening. Hopefully she will start to relax soon, but it will probably take a couple of more days.

I don't have any big plans for tomorrow. No little plans either. I'm going to have to start my long walk really early to avoid the heat. Going to the gym isn't an option because it is closed on Sunday. This would actually be a good time to binge watch movies on Netflix, but I'm not that kind of guy. I'd rather lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling than watch movies on TV. Maybe I'll fiddle with the star tracker again. That's definitely still unfinished business.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4549

I don't know what it is about beeping noises. When I removed the old battery fron the uninterrupted power supply in the bedroom this morning so I could take it to the battery store, the unit made a single high pitched beep. That was enough to freak Dawn out and she left the room for her dog bed in the kitchen. It was at least two hours before she would come back to the bedroom again. Dawn doesn't like anything out of the ordinary. Hey, I don't either, but this is ridiculous.

The battery store is located in an industrial area and the roads are filled with large trucks. It was a traffic jam of eighteen wheelers and it was only 10AM. This explains your inflation problem right here. Everything moves by truck these days and diesel fuel is insanely expensive. I'm old enough to remember when areas like this were all served by trains. Just about every warehouse had it's own rail spur where boxcars could unload. This system worked well for many, many years. We took long road trip summer vacations when I was a kid and I never remember seeing large trucks on the highways. There weren't as many cars either. Sometimes we traveled by train. Even our small town was served by a daily passenger train. I miss train travel and empty roads. At least I got to experience these things. Younger people probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

I'm glad the new battery I bought worked. Hopefully, there won't be any more annoying beeping noises for quite a while. There is no need for Dawn to be on high alert all the time. Last night a small stick landed on the roof and woke Dawn up. It seemed like hours before she would go back to sleep again. I probably wouldn't have noticed except that I was having trouble sleeping as well. I fell asleep watching television after I finished my blog post last night and when I woke up again it was almost 2 AM. When I got up to brush my teeth and take my evening meds, I had trouble getting back to sleep again. 

I got gas on the way home from the battery store. I was only down a quarter of a tank, but I wanted to see how much I'd save by buying gas at Sam's Club. I saved five dollars, but the gas was still pretty expensive. Since my car gets terrible gas mileage in the city, gas is actually ridiculously expensive. I calculated that two trips to the gym, a short trip to pick up Chinese take out, and our visit to the Dalmatian kennel yesterday cost me $35 in gas. My conclusion: $5 gas when you are getting 14.5 miles per gallon isn't good.

Since there was a nice breeze when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk, I decided to walk in the park today instead of going to the gym. I probably didn't want to spend $6 on gas just to go to the gym either. It wasn't hot on my walk, but it was extremely humid. I didn't feel like walking my full six mile route, but I did get enough steps to satisfy my need for consistency. I've met my fitness goals for over 200 days now. I wonder how long I can go? Usually the only things that force me to start over are an extremely long road trip that leaves little time to walk or an illness. It doesn't really seem like it's been 200 days since I was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, but I think that was the last time I was unable to get at least 10,000 steps in a day.

I'm glad the new dishwasher is coming soon. I think the water leak is getting worse. Still haven't caught the rat either. Janet said that Dawn did really well at training class tonight though. I'm glad Dawn enjoys her training class. Maybe it makes up for the annoying beeps she heard this morning.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4526

I thought we were going to get a bad storm last night, but it passed slightly to the East of us. We experienced a few minutes of strong straight line winds, but got very little rain. Needless to say, I didn't see last night's lunar eclipse. I expect the rain. What I didn't expect was a power outage. The power went out several hours after the storm had passed. I probably wouldn't have noticed but Dawn woke us up. This strange dog isn't bothered by thunder and lightning, but power outages freak her out. I called in the outage to the power company and tried to get back to sleep. Dawn wasn't about to go back to sleep. She sat on the middle of the bed in high alert mode for what seemed like hours.

It seemed a bit ironic that just after we had fixed the air conditioner and bought some new fans, we didn't have any electricity. Both the AC and the fans were useless. We could feel the temperature rising in the house almost immediately, but at least the outage happened during the middle of the night when things were cooler. If we lived in a safe place, I would have opened the doors and windows so we could get some air circulation. That's not going to happen in the city though. Eventually I went back to sleep and hopefully so did Dawn.

The power was back on in the morning, but it must have been off for about four hours because that's how far the clocks were off. I reset everything, turned off the washer and dryer which somehow come on automatically after an outage, and got ready for our early morning walk with Dawn. Everything is back to normal again. Last night wasn't what I expected though. I was hoping to view an eclipse.

When we went up to the kennel to visit the rescue Dalmatians today, we discovered that Willie was back. This was disappointing, but sometimes things just don't work out. Willie is a very sweet dog who is going to find a great home, but it looks like he will need to be the only dog in the family. It was hot today and everyone wanted to stay inside except for Jo Jo. This dog definitely prefers playing outdoors. We continue to be impressed at how well Rocket is adjusting to his new life. He seems like a normal dog now. After everyone had their play time and lots of treats, we headed back home. It was my turn to drive today and I kept thinking how much nicer it was out in the Davis Mountains. I like a road with no cars on it.

There was plenty of time to take a long walk this afternoon, but I wasn't feeling up to the task. It was just too hot outside. After walking a a little more than a mile I headed for home again. Since Dawn walked a little longer this morning, I managed to eek out a total of four miles today. It wasn't much, but it kept my Fitbit happy. I don't think we're going to see cool weather for quite a while. This strange May heat wave will eventually end, but it's Summer now. Summers in Texas are always hot.

As usual, I have no plans for tomorrow. I'll probably think of something, but I hope it doesn't involve the star tracker. I'm getting sick of that thing. I anticipate more power outages this summer, but lets hope there isn't another one tonight. I need to catch up on my sleep.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4464

Today was busy. It's easy for me to forget how many aspects of Dawn's life that Janet takes care of. I was finally able to get Dawn to do everything she needed to do, but it wasn't easy. I've never seen a dog so totally focused on a single person. Without her best friend nearby, Dawn seemed lost. She was pathetic and sad all day. The only way I could get her to eat was to go to to the opposite end of house after I fixed her meals. When Dawn was sure I wasn't anywhere near her food and water bowls, she would finally venture out of the bedroom and eat. She wouldn't leave the bedroom at all for her meds. I had to bring each pill back to the bed covered in cream cheese. She was reluctant to go outside and pee but I knew she couldn't hold it forever. We were a little off schedule today but I was able to get her to go outside with me on a leash. I didn't even try to get her to poop until later in the morning. She has a favorite place in a field behind our house and it took quite a while to get Dawn to work up her nerve to leave the backyard without Janet nearby. Maybe it helps that I'm usually the one who walks her. I've been doing this for months with this trip in mind.

Hopefully Dawn will start to relax a bit in the days ahead. It's going to be a long week if she stays as frightened as she was today. I was glad that she was OK with sleeping with me. She usually sleeps in the middle between Janet and me, so as long as she was on one side of the bed and I was all the way on the other, we maintained an uneasy truce. If I get too close, she starts to cry. Even with all these difficulties it is still much better for Dawn to be here than at a kennel somewhere. The house is her territory now. She loves our house and yard. I'm just kind of in the way. Dawn tolerates me when Janet is around, but I don't think I'm that important to her. Janet is the love of her life and I'm some kind of kennel attendant that takes care of a few basic chores.

If you saw how scared the puppy mill dogs the rescue group just picked up are, you'd start to understand what Dawn has gone through for most of her life. She was born in the same puppy mill kennel and spent nine years there as a breeding dog. In the grand scheme of things life in a regular home is still very new to her. To say that she has trust issues with men would be a giant understatement.

I'm still hoping that Dawn will eventually learn to trust me. It's going to take a lot of patience because Dawn hasn't had many good things happen to her in her life. She's really a wonderful dog and she deserves to relax and enjoy the rest of her life. Janet loves to travel and I prefer to stay around the house, so it would be great for everyone if Dawn could realize that I want to be her friend.

Dealing with Dawn took most of the day, but I was still able to go on my long walk, take a shower, and work with the star tracker some more. I think Dawn likes it when I take my long walks. She has the house completely to herself for two hours. She's very comfortable being alone. I watch her on the petcam sometimes while I'm out walking and she seems completely relaxed.

The latest version of the star tracker software is finally getting there. I had very few problems today. Some of the things that crashed the app before seem to have gotten fixed. I guess the next step is to take it outside at night and take some pictures. Some of the people in the Polaris support group are already getting good pictures. I'm just a little slower at mastering this thing.

Dawn has two more things to do before we're done for the day. She gets a late night snack at 10:15 PM and then goes out to pee one final time before bed. She's not a happy camper right now, but I think she did pretty good for her first day without Janet.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3971

I got a haircut today, so I guess I'm ready for my trip to Florida. My stylist recently started her own company, so we talked about the joys and pitfalls of owning a business. I hope she does well. I'm glad that I'm not trying to start a company in the middle of a pandemic. Finding a good N-95 mask and worrying about whether my customers were going to give me a deadly disease wasn't even on my radar when I started my own company.

My grocery list was small today and I found everything I needed. The stores were busy today. I don't know why they even bother to put all those stickers on the floor telling people where to stand. Everyone completely ignores them. If it wasn't for all the masks, you'd never know there was a pandemic at all. I guess I wish the unnatural quiet of April and May had lasted a little longer. I liked the empty roads and uncrowded stores. I didn't like the hoarding though. Hopefully, we won't run out of toilet paper again.

We're finally starting to see a little Fall color around town. I'm beginning to notice a lot of reds and yellows among the trees during our walks in the park. We don't have many Maple trees around here, but there is some colorful foliage. Red Oaks actually do turn red in the Fall. Many of the Sumac trees are turning bright red as well. Dogwoods and Crepe Myrtles can be colorful too. Who knows. Maybe the trees will put on a show this year after all.

It's a shame that I don't have as much energy as I used to. I continue to get my 20,000 steps on most days, but that's about it. There were a number of chores that needed my attention today, but I just couldn't bring myself to tackle them. Mowing the grass and washing the car will have to wait. So will vacuuming the house. Grocery shopping and a haircut were all I accomplished today. Maybe I'll be more industrious tomorrow. The weather tells me that it's time to work in the yard, but my body tells me that it's time to take a nap.

Dawn still seems nervous around me when Janet isn't in the house. She must have had a terrible life with the two men who used her as a breeding dog. Dawn just isn't as comfortable around men as she is with women. I have a feeling that it is always going to be this way. Dawn isn't a young dog and her well established view of the world will be hard to change. This is still kind of new to me. All our other dogs instantly identified with my lazy doglike ways.

It's too bad my gym is closed on Sundays now. I"m finally ready to go back, but it's hard to find the time on a weekday. It's not like I'm super busy or anything. It's just hard to find the time because I'm so slow at everything these days. I doubt that I'll get any faster, but I'm definitely going to keep moving. Sedentary people my age begin to go downhill very quickly.

I'm watching tropical storm ETA carefully now. There's a good chance that it could mess up my trip to Florida. Current projections show the storm crossing back over Florida just about the time I'm due to arrive. If the launch gets delayed, I hope they decide something before I leave for Orlando. The last thing I want is to be landing right in the middle of this thing. There's really nothing I can do except to continue watching the weather reports. Hey, it's 2020 so almost anything could happen.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3904

I received a letter from the Air Force today telling me that the credentialing process is complete and I have been approved for press access to Cape Canaveral. It turns out that I have actually been approved since mid-June. I just never received the approval e-mail. All's well that ends well I guess. If I knew I was approved earlier, I would probably have headed down to Florida for the much delayed Delta IV Heavy launch and had to return with nothing to show for my efforts. That launch has been delayed three times and still hasn't been rescheduled. The letter I got today was kind of vague. I still need to find out exactly how all this works.

Apparently I am approved to cover launches that take place at Cape Canaveral but not at Kennedy Space Center. These are two separate entities. There are lots of interesting military launches, so I'm good with this. I'll probably be headed back to Florida as soon as I feel safe getting on an airplane again. Lord knows how long that will take.

We walked early today because we thought it was going to rain. It was even darker than usual because of the heavy cloud cover. Walking at night under a clear sky seems kind of peaceful. Under heavy clouds it is kind of spooky. Eventually the sky lightened and we all relaxed a bit. We didn't get wet either. Eventually it did rain but it took most of the day for the storm to arrive. It's still raining right now, but it doesn't seem like the kind of storm that would cause a power outage. Maybe I'm being over confident.

Not a lot happened today. It seemed like I spent most of the day waiting for rain. I got a little wet on my afternoon walk, but that wasn't the main event. The heavy rain didn't start until this evening. At least both pumps seem to be working. I wonder how long this bad weather is going to last? According to the weather app on my phone it's going to be raining from now through Saturday.

I'm glad I'm back in touch with the Air Force. One of their media relations officers is going to call me tomorrow and fill me in on the details. Now I can start planning something again. I need to select a launch that would be interesting for the magazine to cover. I actually hope this takes a while. It will give me something to do.

Once again, I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. Somehow my days seem to go directly from breakfast to dinner with very little in between. Dawn seemed nervous around me again today. This happens periodically and usually doesn't last very long. Neither Janet or I can figure out what triggers this behavior. It's kind of sad though. She's such a sweet dog and there is no reason she should feel uncomfortable.

Can you believe it's September already? This has truly been a wasted year.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day