Day 3913

Jacket weather has arrived. Our recent rain was accompanied by a cold front, bringing considerably cooler temperatures. This was the first time I've needed a jacket since late last Spring. The last time I actually remember wearing a coat was last March when I was out at McDonald Observatory. There must have been a few more cold days after I returned to Dallas, but my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

The heavy rains washed away all the food the guy set out for the ducks and geese the other day. What a shame. The huge bag of feed was probably pretty expensive. Maybe the ducks ate it all before the rain arrived, but I doubt it. At any rate, I hope the ducks and geese ate hearty before the rain washed their unexpected treasure away. I'm not even sure that the wildlife in the park needs any help finding food, but it made me feel good to see the man attempt to take care of a gaggle of angry geese. People can fend for themselves. My loyalty remains with the animals.

Space X and ULA have both added me to their media lists. I received the notice from Space X today. I don't know if this will amount to anything in the future, but it's another step in the long road to legitimacy as a space journalist. I also got a letter from SpaceFlight Magazine saying that my author copies of the October issue with my article about the Artemis program were on their way. I now have three published articles under my belt and am confident that the fourth will eventually appear in a future issue of Sky and Telescope. This is really slow progress but it beats doing nothing. It's not exactly a natural transition going from writing ads about soft drinks and tacos to becoming a legitimate space journalist.

I was proud of Dawn today. She seems to slowly be learning to trust me. Today Janet had to be gone for a considerable amount of time and Dawn came when I called and ate her meals in the kitchen normally. This may not sound like much, but less than a month ago, she refused to come out of the bedroom until Janet returned to the house. I think this will all work out fine. I have no idea what Dawn went through earlier in her life, but it clearly wasn't good. I think the key to winning Dawn's trust is to be patient and consistent. She may never be completely comfortable with men, but I think she will eventually become comfortable with me. I can see a difference already.

I saw a video today where someone took the music from Bladerunner and added pictures of San Francisco with dark orange forest fire skies. It was kind of eerie, especially considering that the original Bladerunner movie was supposed to take place in 2019. I guess we are entering science fiction territory here. You wonder what else can go wrong in 2020. We've still got three months to go.

I've taken this week's trash to the curb. I'm so bored now that I'm starting to miss my restaurant breakfasts on Friday mornings. I doubt that I'll be going out any time soon though. They now say that indoor dining is pretty high on the danger list. Janet and I survived our birthday dinners, but we'll just stick with take-out meals for a while. When you've stayed healthy this long, you start to get superstitious.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3911

The days are getting noticeably shorter now. We start our morning walks at the same time, but it's much darker now when we leave the house. The sky doesn't noticeably lighten until we're almost at our halfway point. This morning we completed our walk and had returned home before the sun rose above the horizon. Daylight Saving Time doesn't end until November, so we've got more dark walks ahead of us. I think Janet and I will both be glad when the temperature cools enough so that we can walk at any time of day.

I wrote another letter to my sister today and took it to the post office. These are the only physical letters I write to anybody. Everyone else switched to e-mail a long time ago. Sadly, even e-mail is becoming too much of a bother for a lot of people. Texting is gradually replacing e-mail as the preferred way to communicate. I find all this kind of sad. Communication has become so rudimentary now. I still like a nice long letter and will never resort to using Emojis.

This afternoon we took Dawn to another park to get her used to riding in the car. Janet often does this by herself, but sometimes I go along to see whether having both of us in the car makes things better or worse. Helping Dawn overcome her many fears is a long slow process. She seems eager to go on a car ride now until the car starts moving. It's weird. She's always excited when we get ready to go and eagerly hops right in the back seat. As soon as we start backing out of the driveway, she starts shivering, shaking, and panting excessively. Usually she quickly reverts to acting normally again as soon as we arrive at our destination.

I actually found Clorox wipes today. These weren't genuine Clorox wipes. They were just a poorly packaged imitation that was probably quickly rushed to market by someone who wanted to take advantage of the pandemic shortages. I bought the imitation wipes anyway. These things can be useful in a world where you are constantly wiping down surfaces and cleaning your hands away from home. I still think the pandemic will be officially be over when the real Clorox wipes return to the shelves. That hasn't happened yet.

Janet asked me if I had Zoom on my computer. I guess she wants to learn how to use it. You're on your own there buddy. I have no interest in learning about Zoom or installing it on any of my devices. There is a certain freedom in being a Luddite. To me, Zoom just seems like an irritating way to bring the stress of pre-Covid days into your own home. Zoom is incredibly popular and the company is one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street now, but I have no desire whatsoever to talk to twelve people at once.

There was nothing happening on the Boca Chica cam today, but tomorrow something might explode. Since tomorrow will probably be as boring as today, I'm sure I'll tune in to watch the pressure test. I kind of wish there were live streaming cams everywhere. It would be nice to be able to check and see if there were crowds or lines before I went anywhere. I've become obsessive about avoiding crowds these days. They weren't quite finished filling my prescription when I went to the pharmacy this afternoon, and I had to wait at the store for fifteen minutes. Jeez. I couldn't wait to get out of that place.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day