Day 4822

It's been a long day. Dawn's condition hasn't improved much, but we're getting a lot better at managing things. There were no falls or stumbles today because one of us was always holding her harness to make sure a fall was impossible, even if her front leg knuckled under. It takes a while to learn how to let a dog walk naturally while standing very close and holding onto the harness. The harness has a handle which I attach a short length of rope to so I can stand erect while walking instead of being stooped over to reach the handle. Since Dawn seldom walks a straight line you have to be careful not to accidently step on her. I always watch her tail for signs that she is getting ready to pee or poop. You have to loosen your grip on the harness so she can squat naturally.

Dawn is a very stubborn dog, so she still insists on going down to the park behind our house to poop, even though it would be so much easier if she would just go in the yard. It's actually less stressful to take her to the park since she just wanders around the yard forever without doing anything. In the park she does her business quickly and heads for the house again. She's even more stubborn about sleeping on the bed. We have a step at the foot of the bed that we made for Dot and if we help guide her up the step, she's fine. One of us always stays with her even though it is doubtful she would try to go anywhere. Dawn loves that bed. 

We're still not sure exactly what's wrong, but we have a pretty good idea. Several months ago she started shaking her head frequently for some unknown reason. It definitely wasn't an ear infection because her ears are clear and clean. The head shaking led to the hematoma on her left ear and the No Flap Ear Wrap. We're thinking that the violent head shaking eventually also led to a slipped disc in her neck. Paralysis or partial paralysis of a front leg is often associated with injury to the nerve roots in the neck or shoulder. All of this could easily have been caused by a bulging disc in her neck that pinched a nerve root leading to her leg. The x-rays that were taken several days ago seem to confirm this although we would need an MRI to make sure. We're not going to do that because she is a terrible patient and it would involve a long car ride to get her to the MRI machine. A long car ride with Dawn in her current condition would be a nightmare. If we can just keep her from falling we're pretty sure her condition will improve.

Our schedules have changed a bit since once of us always needs to be in the house to keep an eye on Dawn. She could injure herself badly if she fell while we were gone. So far it is all working well. Janet got to run her errands and go to the gym and I got to take my long walk. I can tell that Dawn isn't feeling well because she lets me sit next to her on the bed now. As stubborn as she is, I think she understands that we've here to help her.

It must have rained last night although it wasn't raining when we woke up this morning. Dawn woke me up during the night when she was barking strangely in her sleep. It sounded like she was possessed by a demon. Since I was also having a strange dream when she woke me up, it was all very disorientating. I think I heard thunder but it might have been the dream. At any rate, when we woke up there was a small leak in the kitchen that stopped about an hour later. There must have been a lot of rain because the pumps on the roof removed a lot of water.

Tomorrow the roofers come over and I guess I'll need to formally approved their bid. I've got a few questions, but I'm willing to go ahead and do this. Hopefully we can schedule something that doesn't involve rain during the process. The last thing I want is a big blue tarp over an exposed roof during a rain storm. I'm also getting a haircut tomorrow. It will be a busy day, but I think we've got everything scheduled. 

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4811

It must have rained last night because the roof started leaking again. It wasn't a bad leak, but a leak is a leak. I didn't even bother to go up on the roof and remove the standing water. Every time I do, it just starts raining again. These leaks are frustrating. There's little I can do about them. It's going to continue raining and I can't find the source of the leak. Eventually we'll have a new roof but I can't find a lot of joy in that. Putting a new roof on our house is way too expensive and when everything is said and done, the house will still looks the same.

Roof leaks weren't my only problem today. The dryer quit working as well. Luckily the load in the dryer was almost dry when the machine quit. Who knows what the problem is this time? I've already replaced a lot of things on the washer and dryer, but there's obviously still a lot of stuff left that can break. I'm hoping that the dryer just overheated and threw some kind of circuit breaker. That is doubtful though since the machine has cooled down and still is  not working. I can't call the appliance repairman until Monday either. Did I mention that I hate going to the laundromat.

I had a lot of things on my grocery list today, so shopping took a while. I'm still having trouble dealing with the continual price increases. Enough is enough. Almost every week I notice that something I buy regularly has gotten more expensive. This trend has been going on for a long time and shows no signs of ending soon. You'd think at some point customers would revolt. I'm not sure there's a lot we could do. Nobody's forcing us to go to the grocery store.

My walk was slower today. I probably walk slower when I'm discouraged. It's not surprising that I like going to launches so much. These trips take me to an imaginary world that is largely free of day-to-day problems. Broken appliances and roof leaks aren't the end of the world, but they are irritating. As soon as you take care of one thing, something else needs attention. I enjoy my walks, but even a walk in the woods doesn't eliminate day-to-day problems. My feet still hurt and I never know when it's going to start raining.

Janet has gone to a charity event tonight and this always puts Dawn in a bad mood. This dog has grown way too dependent on her and neither of us know what to do about it. Dawn just doesn't trust men. She's fine with me feeding and walking her, but she's always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's a shame that Dawn doesn't trust me since I'm the one who's here at the house the most. I understand though. Dawn was mistreated by men for most of her life and I'm a man. It's pretty simple.

I guess I'll go mall walking in the morning. If I'd been selected for Crew-6 coverage I'd be leaving for the space center tomorrow. I shouldn't dwell on that though. I get accepted for some launches and rejected for others and never know why. There are plenty of other launches later in the year. 

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4800 - Valentines Day

Only two hundred days to go. I should have established a less ambitious blogging goal back in the beginning, but I still think I can do this. In less than a year I will have written a daily post for 5000 consecutive days.

I wasn't surprised to see the roof start leaking again when we woke up this morning. We got a lot of rain last night. Thunder and lightning woke me up several times and I always got up and checked for leaks. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. The leaks didn't start until I was having breakfast this morning but it didn't take long for the water to make a mess of things. We had water running down a wall again, making it impossible to capture in a bucket. Luckily this leak was in a hallway where we have brick floors.

It was still raining early this morning, so Dawn didn't get her usual sunrise walk. We didn't forget her though. When the rain ended, Dawn got a nice walk later in the day. I didn't take my usual long walk because I was too busy dealing with roof leak problems. I did get my 10,000 steps though. Just barely.

All in all the leaks weren't nearly as bad as the previous two rain storms. The pumps on the roof were working well too. When I started seeing clear sky, I climbed up on the roof and swept away the remaining standing water. So far, so good. The leaks have finally stopped and I don't see any more rain in the two week forecast. If the roof gets completely dry again I may try to patch the obvious holes with the remaining Armor Flex silicon coating I have left. I doubt that this will fix the problem, but maybe it will help.

I still haven't gotten an estimate for replacing the roof from the roofing company, but I wasn't expecting anything until the end of the week. Prices were pretty high when I replaced the roof the last time and I expect that they are even worse now. I don't have much of a choice though. You just can't live in a house with leaks all over the place.

Although I had the best of intentions to quit climbing on the roof, it looks like this unpleasant chore is still going to be a part of my future for a while. I'm more careful these days but I'm also more clumsy. I definitely don't want to end my days by falling off a roof. Maybe by Summer we'll have a new roof and I can put this all behind me.

We didn't have our usual Valentines cupcakes this year. Janet had a class this evening and we were both tired anyway. Hopefully tomorrow will just be an ordinary February day. I'd like to hear something about the Crew-6 launch soon so I can make plans, but I'll be happy enough if nothing happens at all tomorrow. As long as the house stays dry, I'm good.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4625

We got more rain overnight, but it was over by morning. Dawn was able to get her sunrise walk and the temperature was nice and cool. I was surprised that the water level in the lake looked normal even though we've had an enormous amount of rain in the past few days. We must have timed things right this morning because we encountered no bicycles and very few runners. We did see a lot of ducks though. I wish every morning was like this. It was a very pleasant walk.

Since the weather was so nice, I decided to take a walk in the park instead of going to the gym. I left the house right after breakfast because I knew how quickly the weather could change if the sun came out. It was heavily overcast and there was a light mist, but even that was nice. It seemed like a treat to be able to walk without immediately getting hot and sweaty. It was surprising how quickly the meadows have turned green again after a few days of rain. There was very little standing water though. The ground was so dry that it probably immediately just absorbed all the water.

I was determined to get something done today. After a light lunch I went to the T-Mobile store and tried to update my non-functional Internet hotspot. The little hotspot quit working about a month ago because it was very old and still used 3G for connectivity. The phone company warned me that the unit was obsolete and would quit working when they pulled the plug on their 3G network. I've been avoiding having yet another expense, but I hate to travel without an Internet hotspot. The hotspot has been great when there are power outages at the house as well. 

The new 5G hotspot is a little bigger than my old companion but it still fits in my pocket. It took a lot longer for the T-Mobile guys to get me hooked up than I though, but everything is working now. It took a long time for them to find my account because they look for a phone number to find your records. The old hotspot has a phone number but I had no idea what it was. I just turn it on and connect whatever device I want to use to the hotspot WiFi. Eventually they found my account by taking out the SIM card and using the SIM card ID to find my account. Oddly the new hotspot uses the same phone number as the old one. The guys told me to write this number down in case I need it in the future.

On the way home I stopped at Home Depot and got a new extension cord so I could get the second pump on the roof working again. I got a heavier gage cord this time because maybe the old cord was too light to handle the pump's amperage. The heavier the cord, the more expensive it is. It's probably directly related to the price of copper. There was a display of electrical wire next to the extension cords and I was amazed at how expensive copper wire has become. I don't know why I was surprised. Everything is a lot more expensive now.

Hopefully I won't need to climb up on the roof again for a while. Both pumps are working now. It's amazing that doing one or two things can use up an entire day. Tomorrow I'll try to check a few more things off my list. The Artemis rocket is waiting for me and I've still got a lot to do.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4505

For the second day in a row we visited some Dalmatians. The dogs at the kennel were in fine form today. This week Candy and Willie joined Julip in finding their forever homes. Dorothy has a potential adopter as well, although she and Willie were still at the kennel this afternoon. Rocket is really making progress at overcoming his fear. He would come when we called him today and was eager to take cookies from us. His skin condition continues to improve as well. Willie is very affectionate and enjoys being petted more than playing. He's a smart dog and we were able to teach him to lie down during our visit. Dorothy is the athlete of the bunch. She can catch anything and never missed when we tossed her toys. When we first met Jo Jo we didn't think he liked to play, but it turns out that he just likes to play outside. We'll spend more time outside with him now. Oliver is still a goofy clown who always makes us laugh and Charlie is starting to show a mellower side to his personality. We always spend a little more time with Charlie because he seems to enjoy our visits so much. It's nice that these dogs are finally starting to find their forever homes. We probably won't see Willie again, but we will definitely remember him.

It rained a lot last night, but it wasn't a bad storm. Dawn wasn't wild about walking this morning because the ground was still wet. She definitely doesn't like getting wet. A handful of treats kept her moving however and we were able to complete our walk. There was really no reason for Dawn to be upset this morning. The rain had stopped and the roads were already starting to dry out.

I got a press proof this morning of my article about the Axiom-1 Mission. It looked good and will run in the June edition of Spaceflight. I had thought about writing an article about the Dark Sky Festival for Sky and Telescope while I was out in West Texas, but it turns out that one of my friends at the observatory is already working on an article about this for the magazine. It's just as well. He know a lot more about the newly created Dark Sky Preserve than I do anyway.

I should have been packing today, but I can't seem to manage planning ahead. I always wait until the last possible minute and end up forgetting things. I've thought about the trip a lot, but haven't actually put anything in a suitcase yet. I have tested my cameras though and transferred the files and applications I need to my laptop. I've made my rental car reservation and checked the weather at my destination. I guess this will all come together just like it always does. I'm still not looking forward to the drive though.

I didn't take a very long walk today. It was getting late by the time we returned from the kennel and I didn't really feel like walking anyway. I always make sure that I at least make an effort though. Life is basically about making an effort. Only 14,000 steps today and a lot of that was just playing with the dogs.

At least the wind has died down for a while. It wasn't windy at all when I walked today. Hope I can get some extra sleep tonight. I'm going to need it in the days ahead.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4479

Another blustery day. I think today was even windier than yesterday. It rained a bit last night, but the weather wasn't as bad as I expected. Some thunder in the distance woke me up briefly. The power never went out and the roof didn't leak. The ground was wet in the morning and Dawn didn't want to go outside and pee. The little diva doesn't like getting her paws wet.

I didn't do anything of consequence today. I was surprised that the day went so quickly because I can't remember doing anything at all. Our routine was a little different because Dawn didn't want an early walk. We waited until this afternoon when the ground was a little drier and the sun was starting to reappear. My own routine almost never changes. I made the bed, ate breakfast, checked my e-mail, and caught up on today's news. Then I walked. When we took Dawn on her walk after lunch, I didn't realize how windy it was and didn't dress warmly enough. I had to come back to the house with Janet and Dawn to get a warmer coat before continuing on with my long walk. I'm still not walking very fast, but I was able to complete my entire six mile route today. I really need to think of something more interesting to do with my time. These walks may be good exercise, but they are getting boring. I guess I could go over to the other side of the lake, but it is still the same lake. I don't think it would make much difference.

I thought about making reservations at the Astronomer's Lodge for the Dark Sky Festival, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. I'm still not entirely sure I want to make the trip. I always enjoy my time at the observatory, but I really hate the long drive. Maybe I'll wait and see how I feel after my trip to Kennedy Space Center. I'll either feel better about traveling or worse. It's hard to tell at this point since I haven't been anywhere in quite a while.

Even though today was chilly, it's finally starting to feel like Spring. The meadows in the park are turning green and the Dogwood and Redbud trees are all in bloom. Wildflowers are finally starting to appear, although there aren't nearly as many as I've seen in previous years. The Oak trees in our yard are starting to get leaves again. The tree we were thinking of cutting down actually seems healthier than the other trees. I wasn't expecting that. There's a downside to Spring, unfortunately. It won't be long before I have to start mowing the grass again. It might finally be time to find a yard service to take over this chore for me. It's getting harder and harder for me to push the mower.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of March. Where has this year gone? It will be Easter soon and then I'll have another birthday where I'll feel absolutely ancient. At least I'm still relatively healthy. Almost every day on Facebook I read about someone about my age who has passed away. I think I've got a few good years left. Maybe quite a few. The challenge is not to waste them.

Dawn and Janet came back from training class earlier than I expected tonight. The dogs were getting cold and class let out early. I'll be surprised if there are many more cold days like this. Summer is just around the corner and we all know what Texas Summers are like.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4109

I think one of the worst habits I ever acquired was meticulously recording every transaction I make in Quickbooks. I have a category for everything and even divide grocery shopping into numerous sub-categories. It takes an enormous amount of time to enter everything correctly and I'm getting tired of it. I really should have just made two categories: stuff I really need and stuff I don't really need. Today I entered three months worth of receipts and am finally caught up for 2021. My accountant tells me that I've made Quickbooks Pro ridiculously overcomplicated and he doesn't even look at most of the entries. Old habits are hard to break though, and just like my daily blog entries, I continue to categorize everything.

Nesting season has arrived and I'm seeing pairs of duck in places where they never usually go. They leave the lake at this time of year and you see them in fields and meadows throughout the park. I even see pairs of ducks in people's yards. You'd think the ducks would be more careful about where they choose to nest. The coyotes get a lot of the eggs and sometimes the ducks as well. It won't be long before we start seeing baby ducks though, and some of them always survive.

They say that if you spend an hour a day studying something, you will become an expert within three years. I try to spend a little time each day learning more about astrophotography. Today, while I was doing my Google searches I stumbled across a very desirable star tracker that was actually in stock and ready to ship. Anything related to astronomy has been almost impossible to find since the pandemic started. I guess people have more time on their hands and interest in the hobby has exploded. A lot of things are on back-order for months now. When I saw the iOptron tracker, I felt it was a sign and that I needed to act quickly. The tracker is on order and I should be able to take it with me when I go out to McDonald Observatory in May. I'll never be able to use this thing in Dallas, but when people start doing things in person again, I may join a local astronomy club that owns a nice dark sky site in southern Oklahoma. On the other hand, the tracker may end up in the storage warehouse with a lot of other passing fancies.

Janet and I made reservations to see Dallas Blooms at the arboretum next week. We always mean to go to this event but for some reason something always comes up and we end up being too busy. They say this event is one of the 14 best places to see spring flowers in the world. I don't know where the other 13 places are, but we really enjoyed going to the arboretum around Christmas and we've heard that Dallas Blooms is spectacular. There are 500,000 tulips for starters, along with 100's of varieties of flowering plants and trees. Hopefully, it won't rain.

We must have gotten some rain last night, because the yard was wet in the morning. We totally avoided the severe weather though. There was bad weather to the North and to the South of us, but all we got was a little rain. I didn't even hear any thunder last night. The only thing that woke me up was the sound of Dawn snoring.

Dawn continued to walk well today. She's been doing well on her daily walks all week. I did pretty well today too. I kept up a decent pace for five miles and didn't have a lot of foot pain. I still have no idea why the foot pain varies so much from day to day. I'm very consistent about the way I walk. You'd think the way my foot feels would be consistent as well. It's a mystery. I"m just glad there are good days as well as bad days.

The trash has been taken to the curb, the refrigerator is almost empty, and I feel like the week is just about over. I don't know why my week always starts on Friday, but it's been that way for a long, long time. Hey, when you don't work in an office, you make your own rules.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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