Day 4858

The big event of the day was seeing one of the bald eagles again. When we were taking Dawn on her early walk this morning there was an eagle in a tree very near us. I haven't seen the eagles in so long that I honestly thought they were gone. This was the first time Janet had seen them at all. I wish I'd had my camera with me because it would have made a nice picture. 

It was kind of funny that the eagle was only about 500 yeards away from the tree with the baby owls. As usual, there were a group of photographers under the tree photographing the owls. They didn't even realize that there was an eagle, and probably a much better picture, very nearby. I think Janet and I were the only ones who saw the eagle because it flew away shortly after we passed.

The weather continues to be near perfect. I'm used to walking in all types of weather and it's rare to have conditions when it's not too cold or too hot. It's a luxury to be able to take a walk without getting hot and sweaty or wearing a heavy coat. I think Dawn likes this weather too. She loves sitting out in the back yard on days like these. I still get tired by the time I finish my long walk, but this is the best time of year to be out in the park. Everything is green and pretty with an abundance of wildflowers. I forget when the mosquitos start arriving, but I haven't seen or felt any yet. Hopefully this nice Spring weather will morph into a mild Summer. I don't know if I can handle a Texas heat wave anymore.

I need to finish raking the remaining leaves because it's time to set out items for bulky trash pickup again. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I thought about raking this afternoon, but I was tired and didn't feel like getting dirty. I tried to get rid of fire ant mounds instead. The fire ants seem to get worse and worse every year. I'm not sure if the fire ant granules I put out even work. One of the mounds I treated last week still had ants in it today. Fire ants are even appearing through cracks in our sidewalks now. It's getting out of hand.

I need to learn more about weather. For the past several days it has been completely clear in the morning. Then around mid-day lots of puffy cumulus clouds develop. Late in the afternoon the clouds disappear and it is clear again. I'm guessing that as the ground heats up, moisture evaporates and forms into clouds. I could be wrong though. These are definitely not rain clouds. They just appear during the warmest part of the day.

Drivers in Dallas keep getting worse and worse. A reckless driver nearly destroyed a recently restored building in the park built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930's. Yesterday there was a fatality accident near the dam at the southern part of the lake. Today I saw another serious wreck with several wreckers and lots of cops as I was returning home from my walk. People don't even seem to be trying to watch the road anymore. It's one of many reasons I don't like to drive in Dallas.

I've taken this weeks' trash out to the curb, so I guess my week is over. Tomorrow Dawn will wait for hours for Janet to come home with the groceries. I think grocery day is her favorite day. I've just about given up on hearing anything about Viasat-3 press credentials. Still no news today.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4671

Shopping isn't easy anymore. I had to go to four different grocery stores to find the things on my list. There was nothing exotic or rare that I was trying to find. It was just ordinary stuff. I had trouble finding shredded wheat. I had even more trouble finding distilled water for the coffee maker. I needed dishwasher detergent. Most stores just had pods. I needed the liquid kind. Same thing with Swiffer dusters. Lots of places had the wet dusters but I wanted the dry variety. 

I think the problem is two-fold. There are still supply chain issues for many common items. The real problem is how stores restock inventory though. Increasingly stores use register receipts to determine what goes on the shelves. If not many people are buying a certain item it gets discontinued. That's why all the stores had plenty of sugar coated mini-shedded wheat, but very few still carry plain shredded wheat. Variety is disappearing from many stores. People like cheap stuff, so there is lots of cheap stuff. There are actually lots of expensive status items too. What's missing these days are the plain, practical items that were commonplace twenty years ago. 

I eventually found everything I needed but it took longer than expected. When I leave the house these days, I feel like I'm entering a dystopian world. Traffic is terrible and nobody knows how to drive anymore. There is an explosion of people making u-turns in the city. You really have to watch when making a turn at an intersection. Somebody making an unexpected, and often illegal u-turn can wind up right in your lane as you are turning. Stores rarely have exactly what you need anymore. I guess that's why Amazon is so popular. At any rate, I'm glad I do this only once a week. Traffic isn't as bad when I go to the gym because I almost always go during the day when most people are at work.

The weather was nice today. It was cloudy most of the day and there was a nice breeze. Even though I didn't get my shopping done until well after noon, it was still cool enough to take a walk in the park. The temperature was in the 70's all day. If this pleasant weather continues next week, I may mow the grass again. It's finally getting cool enough that this might be the last time I need to mow. My pace was just average today. It wasn't too fast and wasn't too slow. I did get a lot of steps though. I had a rare 22,000 step day. This is probably why my feet hurt today. It's probably time to retire my worn out Hokas and start using the new pair I bought recently. Walking a little less wouldn't be a bad idea either.

We're having more power outages now. These outages usually only last a few seconds, but sometimes they happen several times a day. The short outages knock out the Internet and cause all the networked items to reboot. Like the bad traffic and empty store shelves, these power outages are just another sign of the times.  Our power grid is no longer up to the job. A huge number of people have moved to Dallas recently and they use a lot of electricity. These newcomers also probably explain the surge in u-turns on our roads.

Today was a pretty good day. The weather was perfect. I managed to stay active without doing any household chores. Dawn was a little friendlier toward me and we has a delicious dinner of Maryland Crab Cakes and bacon wrapped asparagus. Tomorrow is Dawn's day. Hopefully we will have a nice Sunday outing.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day