Day 3806

The weather was much better today. There was a slight chance of rain as we headed out on our morning walk, but we chose to ignore it. The park was surprisingly quiet this morning. People must be returning to work. It's amazing how quickly traffic has returned to normal levels. I don't know where everybody is going, but they're certainly going somewhere. It appears that Texas has decided the pandemic is over.

Those companies that make vinyl signs and banners bust be doing a booming business these days. Almost every store and restaurant in the neighborhood has a brand new banner saying that they're open again. I was kind of hoping that the empty highways and quiet skies would last a little longer. I understand the urgency of getting back to business though. So many small businesses are on the verge of going under. I'm sure that if I wasn't retired I would feel a lot more urgency about getting back to business myself. It takes an enormous about of work to make a small business successful. It still seems so unfair that the only winners in this whole situation appear to be huge companies like Walmart, Home Depot, and Amazon.

We took Dawn to look for a new collar today. Hey, even a dog can help support small business. Janet is convinced that short excursions will help Dawn overcome her fear of the car. Dawn seems excited to be going somewhere now, but she still doesn't like the car itself. We didn't find the perfect collar at the pet store, but the short trip gave us all something to do. I think Dawn would have preferred to go for ice cream again.

I took some letters to the post office this afternoon and was planning to get stamps while I was there. There was such a line at the counter that I quickly decided that I didn't need stamps after all. Ever since the pandemic started there have been lines at the post office. I don't get it. The grocery stores have all figured out how to make this work. Somehow the simple process of buying something at the post office has gotten way more complicated. I'm sure once the government gets involved everything becomes more complicated. I dread the day when I need to fly again. I have a feeling that going through the TSA line will be like getting a medical exam.

I keep wondering who got selected to cover the Demo-2 launch at Kennedy Space Center. Somebody is out there taking photos and making videos. I'm seeing lots of activity as the launch approaches, but I don't recognize many of the people making videos. I think NASA staff is doing a lot of the coverage themselves. At any rate, tomorrow is the big day. There seems to be a good chance that the launch will get rained out, but I'll be watching tomorrow afternoon anyway. I'm still disappointed that I couldn't be there in person.

I got Murphy up on the Dalmatian Rescue website today. At least I did something constructive. I'll probably be up on the roof again tomorrow. I'd much rather be at an observatory.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 536

We took Dot and Dash shopping for new collars today. They love going into any type of store, but dog stores are just about the only places that will tolerate them. Dot, being a typical girl, couldn't find anything pretty enough, but Dash came home with a spiffy new collar. This was no ordinary collar, mind you. This one was beaded and hand-made in Kenya by the Maasai.

After the shopping excursion, Janet and I went to meet the three new Dalmatians who just entered the Dalmatian Rescue program. One of the new dogs was Scooby, who I rescued earlier in the week. The other two, who were rescued by Ann and Pat, were named Shelby and Maverick. I remember naming a dog Ranger last year when the Texas Rangers were playing in the World Series. I have a feeling that Maverick's name might have something do do with how well the Dallas Mavericks are doing this year in the NBA playoffs. All three of these new dogs are fabulous and by some stroke of good luck, none of them have heartworms.

A fire engine went by with its siren wailing while I was taking the dogs on their evening walk. All the sudden I heard a cacophony of howling in a nearby patch of brush. I instantly knew what I was listening to. The neighborhood coyotes have had pups. May is typically when coyotes have their litters. I have heard this frenzied howling before. I turned the dogs around and we started walking the other way. Better safe than sorry. Dash just isn't predictable around coyotes. He usually starts barking and growling at them, which is not good. I definitely don't want to provoke a mother coyote while she is protecting her den.

I've come up with a plan to keep my new large-format printer from clogging all the time like the old printer did. I'm going to start using it as my everyday printer. It's a bit of overkill to use this huge printer to print Microsoft Word documents, but it might actually save money. I can't even begin to guess how much expensive ink I've wasted in cleaning cycles trying to unclog the old printer. Maybe this plan will work better than my plan to get rid of the bees. It's time to call a professional beekeeper to come remove them. I had a dream about the bees last night. Well, it was more of a nightmare actually. The bees had gotten inside the house and were attacking us.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day