Day 4647

Another slow day that was punctuated with a bunch of small chores. As usual, the day started with Dawn's sunrise walk. It was definitely jacket weather this morning. The temperature was only in the low 60's. The park was quiet today. A waning moon was high in the sky and you could still see Jupiter in the pre-dawn twilight. This is a good time of day to walk. I'm always a little nervous about running into coyotes but we haven't seen any in quite a while.

I took my own long walk in the park right after breakfast while the temperature was still cool. There was a lot more activity than when we walked Dawn a few hours earlier. I watched stone masons working on the series of gates the park department is building. There was a crew with lots of machinery paving a road that had gotten torn up earlier in the summer. The mowers were out as well, but they seem to have forgotten the meadow behind our house. It would be nice if they mowed this area because our shoes get wet walking through the high grass every morning when we leave the house with Dawn.

When we returned home I washed the car and narrowly avoided getting stung by bees. I'm really showing my age. It's a lot harder to get down on my knees and clean the wheels now. It's time to mow the grass again, but I'll save that for another day. By the time I finished the car it was getting warm and I wanted to get back inside.

There is already new firmware available for the star tracker, so I installed the latest version this afternoon. I'm always a bit apprehensive about updating this thing, but it still works. The Benro team has added so many features over the past six months that I think the app is running slower now. Some operations seems to take a very long time to complete. I wonder when I'll actually start using the tracker. The one time I used it out at McDonald Observatory was very promising. I was able to get some good pictures. I can't imagine using the tracker in Dallas though. The combination of light pollution and crime isn't conducive to astronomy. There are too many streetlights visible from our back yard and the rest of the city is just too dangerous at night. There are a few dark, secluded areas in the park, but bodies show up in the park from time to time and I don't want to be one of them.

I can't decide whether to make reservations for the next Artemis launch attempt, or just wait a while. I have a strong feeling that this launch is going to get postponed further, but I could be wrong. I'd hate to make the trip to Florida just to see another launch get scrubbed, but I'd also hate to be here in Dallas when there was a successful launch. I probably should just plan on going to these events as long as I can afford the trip. It sure beats sitting here and doing another load of laundry.

Dawn got another blue ribbon at her training class tonight. She is really doing well. Dash won a few ribbons before he lost interest in the class, but Dawn has done better than any of our other dogs. Janet says Dawn really likes the class too. It's nice to see Dawn overcoming her many fears and gaining confidence. She's come a long way.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4619

I got as message today that NASA was providing a wide variety of one-on-one interview opportunities with people connected with the Artemis program. This sounded interesting, so I went to their website link and looked for someone to interview. Every time I found someone interesting and selected them I received a message saying that another person had picked the same person at almost the same time and they were no longer available. I tried again and again and every single time someone else had grabbed my time slot first. After seven of eight tries I just gave up. 

It probably would have been easier to interview some obscure technical person, but I wanted to interview an astronaut. The astronauts available for interviews were by far the most popular. Most of the available time slots were snapped up in just a few minutes. The feeding frenzy for interviews was one more sign that this launch is going to be a three ring circus. I've heard that 700 journalists will be covering the launch. I guess it's an honor to be included in this group, but I still wonder if I made the right decision. I really hate crowds.

There was rain in the forecast for today, but true to form we never got any. Our sunrise walk was pleasant, but it got hot pretty quickly. By the time I finished breakfast the temperature was already too high for another walk in the park. Oh, well. I guess I was planning on going to the gym anyway. I got a late start because I wasted a lot of time trying to snag an interview on the NASA website. When that failed I paid some August bills. Actually it was a good thing that I got a late start at the gym. I didn't have to spend the entire afternoon looking for something to do.

I'm eating lunch again, which I haven't done in a long time. This means that I am probably gaining weight as well. After lunch I installed the new firmware in the star tracker and gave it a spin.  This update was major. So many things had changed that it was disorienting at first. I had a lot of trouble getting the camera to connect, but eventually I succeeded. Since the tracker worked fine once I managed to get the camera connected, I suspect that I may have installed one of the cables improperly. The cables are definitely a weak link on this thing. They are very finicky.

After I put the tracker away I looked at the NASA interview website again and discovered that a retired European astronaut was available. I hope he speaks English. This guy is German and I've totally forgotten the German I learned when I was working in Europe on the Siemens account. I never was very fluent but at least I made an effort. German is not an easy language to learn. I'm glad I was finally able to secure some sort of interview with an astronaut. It makes me feel a little more legitimate as a journalist.

I thought it was going to be too hot for Dawn's training class tonight, but it quickly became obvious that Dawn really wanted to go. Dawn loves that class. Janet said the weather was fine once the sun went down. The weather certainly didn't bother Dawn. She did great tonight and came home with a blue ribbon. She's got quite a collection of ribbons now. Dawn is full of surprises. I never expected her to be a star at class.

Looks like we may still get some rain later tonight. I'm not counting on anything though. Somehow the rain always seems to miss us.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day