Day 3749

The park is still open to pedestrians and cyclists, but all entrances have been blocked and there are signs saying that the park is closed to motorized vehicles. This seems to be something that is going to be enforced. I saw lots of parking enforcement cars and an increased police presence in the neighborhood this morning. This is a good thing for all the locals who love to walk their dogs in the park. These new rules should drastically decrease traffic within the park without changing things for Dawn and the neighborhood dogs at all. I wouldn't mind seeing then traffic rule becoming permanent. The park has become way too crowded in recent years anyway.

I still feel like defending the vast majority of dog walkers, joggers, and cyclists I've seen during the past week. They have all been very polite and make sure to keep their distance. I still see a few kids who seem determined to hang out with their friends, but even these groups are small. I think the city still allows groups of fewer than ten people to gather. I've never seen more than five kids walking together. These young people should still not be hanging out with non-family members, but I don't think they are a danger to anyone else in the park. It's a very large park and there's plenty of room to keep your distance. I still worry a lot more about going to the grocery store.

Crowds certainly weren't a problem today. It was cold and it rained a lot. Luckily Janet and I were able to walk Dawn and get our steps in before the weather turned ugly. We did get a lot of rain though. I'm pleased that both pumps on the roof are still working and no new leaks have appeared. The forecast shows more rain ahead, so I'm not going to be able to remove the standing water for quite a while. Fingers crossed. I hope my repair work continues to hold up.

I've transfered all the files on my desktop computer to three smaller external drives, but still haven't gotten the nerve to erase the damaged disk and see if I might be able to reformat it. As long as I'm still able to access data on the drive I might as well postpone this effort anyway. Once I erase the disk, the data is gone forever and there still might be something I need.

This is not a good time to be a hypochondriac. The media keeps bombarding us with information about how to tell if you might have the virus. Since many of the early signs are exactly the same as the flu or other minor illnesses, it's easy to wonder. If you feel winded after a run or long walk you automatically start thinking about your lungs. Are the normal aches and pains of growing older a sign of something worse? Is the virus really airborne as some people speculate? I try not to obsess about these things and remind myself that I feel fine.

Seasonal allergies are a bitch too. I've had bad Spring allergies for as long as I can remember. This is the worst time of year, when everything is growing and there is pollen everywhere. I've done a good job at refraining from sneezing when another person is anywhere in the vicinity, but it doesn't seem natural. If you have allergies, you sneeze a lot.

We're living in a time that is going to be in the history books, just like World War II and the Great Depression. I have no idea how this will end, but I would have definitely preferred my retirement years to be a little more uneventful.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3730

Today was amazing. Nothing went according to plan, but I managed to come up with a new plan that was much better. My tour guide shift was over early today, so I used my telescope key to open the door to the 82" Otto Struve dome and ask one of the staff members if it I could take pictures of the telescope. No problem. Go right ahead they told me. I had full access to the telescope floor all my myself and spent several hours getting some good pictures of the Otto Struve. I've always wanted to see this telescope, so this was an amazing opportunity.

Tonight's star party got canceled because of coronavirus fears. There was rain in the forecast and nobody thought it was a good idea to pack 500 people into the small visitor center theater for the alternate cloudy weather program. Since the CDC now recommends that gatherings of more than 50 people be canceled, moving the star party indoors wasn't going to work. Everything was canceled and I had the night off.

Since I was expecting rain, I thought I'd spend the evening in my room watching Netflix movies on my computer. Amazingly, the skies cleared around 9 PM and I got an e-mail from an astronomer I'd met earlier in the day, asking me if I'd like to join him while he was observing at the 36" telescope.

This telescope was only a short walk from the Astronomer's Lodge, so I said I'd be there in a few minutes. We spent the next three hours looking at things I'd been wanting to see for years. I saw the Owl Nebula, Cleopatra's Eye, The Crab Nebula, The Eskimo Nebula, and the beautiful planetary nebula NGC 2438 superimposed on the open cluster M-46. Of course we looked at the Orion Nebula too and I could see colors and fine detail for the first time ever. The evening ended up being much better than the star party that was originally planned and probably better than a special viewing night as well. Best of all, I may get a chance to spend another evening at this telescope several days from now if the weather holds up. I think I finally have enough information so I can actually write my Sky and Telescope article the way it was originally intended.

The coronavirus has finally left its mark on the observatory. Nobody is sick, but all the rules have changed. Mostly this is because technically the observatory is part of the University of Texas system and has to follow the University's guidelines. We used to serve ourselves at a buffet line for lunch and dinner at the Astronomer's Lodge. No self service anymore, Starting today, the kitchen staff, all wearing gloves, has to hand us our food individually. I guess they were worried that someone would sneeze on the buffet table. Silverware is individually wrapped now and our salad is served in saran wrapped bowls instead of the giant salad bowl where we used to serve ourselves. There aren't big bowls of Guacamole and hot sauce on the tables anymore. We have our condiments served in little plastic cups with lids now. Do all these precautions actually change anything. I doubt it. Rules are rules though and I imagine that things will only get worse in the near future. Nobody wants to get sick. It's not acceptable to cough or sneeze in public anymore. Jeez. I've spent most of my life sneezing for no reason at all. It's awkward.

Tomorrow is my day off and I was thinking of driving to Marfa  It all depends on whether it rains or not. I'm not going to worry about the weather though. Something interesting will happen rain or shine. It always does.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day