Day 3441 - Memorial Day

It was a quiet day. I'm getting plenty of sleep now, but I still wake up feeling tired. I still have vivid dreams of being lost. Maybe these dreams are wearing me out. Sometimes I'm with friends and sometimes I'm alone, but I always seem to be in the wrong room or the wrong building. These aren't scary dreams, but a lot of walking is involved. I always wake up before I get where I'm going.

The weather is warmer than it should be for this time of year, but at least there's a breeze in the morning. I had my morning smoothie while watching a marathon presentation of Jay Leno's Garage. Anything is better than the news these days. Jan Leno's Garage isn't nearly as good as the old version of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, but what are you going to do.  Political correctness has basically ruined television.

I'm still trying to find the perfect shoe and sock combination for my daily walks. It's odd that this never seemed to be a problem when I was walking with dogs. The dogs probably stopped so frequently to smell things that my feet never got hot or became swollen. I'd probably be more comfortable wearing light weight running shoes, but I like firm ankle support. Boots are better if you accidentally step on a snake too.

Since today was the last day for REI's big annual sale, I made one last trip to the store to look for a solution. There were great prices on everything, but I came home with nothing again. I looked at boots, wool socks, solar powered gadgets and everything else with a 25% off sign, but I seem to have totally lost my interest in buying things. This is a new experience for me. Buying things used to always put me in a good mood.

Driving to Florida is starting to seem like a better option than flying. The launch date for the Falcon Heavy is almost certain to change several times and changing airline reservations at the last minute is proving to be more of a hassle than it should be. The price for a flexible, refundable ticket is more than double what a plan-ahead discount fare would be. There are no nonstop flights where I'm going either. The downside to a long drive is that I would need to get new tires. My current tires are a little worn for a long trip. We'll see. I probably shouldn't overthink this until a get a better idea when the launch is actually going to take place.

I discovered that I can stream the PBS Breakthrough series for free on my computer. I watched the show about The Rocket this afternoon. This type of stuff is interesting to me. I've watched countless launches on TV, but I still didn't know how rockets actually work. I'll have to watch the episodes about The Car, and The Robot later. It's amazing how many things we take for granted today were developed during wartime. Even the telescope was initially developed as a tool for sailors to observe opposing ships at a distance. We definitely wouldn't have gotten to the moon without World War II and the Cold War with the Soviet Union that followed.

I saw a Dalmatian on my evening walk today. It's a surprising how rare they are in this part of town. I had a brief conversation with the owner which gave me a chance to give the dog a pat on the head. This beautiful five year old female appeared to have a very good home. As the guy and his dog continued on their way I kept thinking how strange it was to not be holding a leash in my hand.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2522

I felt good this morning. The rain has lifted and Dash and I walked under a partly cloudy sky, watching the dawn turn into a beautiful sunrise. It was also heartening to see that democracy still works.

I was beginning to wonder. To my democratic friends who think the world has ended, how could you not see this coming? You simply can't go around saying let them eat cake forever. I'm convinced that the election turned out the way it did because millions of good people got tired of being ridiculed and shamed for simply wanting to continue living according to the values their parents and grandparents taught them. Our parents were good people. They weren't burdened with the tyranny of political correctness. They had more important things to do than worry about gender neutral pronouns and safe spaces. They won World War II, went to the moon, and built an an amazing, vibrant country with the belief that we were a great melting pot where everyone could prosper by working hard and adopting a shared set of values. When a political party starts to ridicule those values, this is what happens. When you look at a political map, you see a vast sea of red surrounded by a few slivers of blue on either coast. It is arrogant and wrong for the elites to characterize this vast sea of red as an irrelevant bunch of ignorant racists, sexists, and homophobes. These people are America and they have spoken.

I'd like to see us adopt a shared set of values again. Diversity without the desire to assimilate just creates tribalism. That's where we are now. We are just a bunch of tribes with no particular loyalties to any of the other tribes. Remember that poem by William Butler Yeats where he says "when the centre cannot hold; anarchy is loosed upon the world?" That's where we're headed. So many things are falling apart because we have lost the center that kept us together for so many years.

Perhaps I had time to ruminate about politics because today was so slow. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get any more writing assignments. I didn't even have any website updates today. I picked up some prescriptions at the pharmacy and spent the rest of the day walking Dot up and down the hallway. She is not sleeping as much as she did a few months ago. Now, I get summoned by her barking every hour or so. We walk around for a little while and then she gets tired and wants to lie down again. It's too bad we can no longer take the long, active walks we did when the dogs were younger. Dalmatians are very active dogs and I think they get frustrated when they spend too much time in the house. I get frustrated too.

I saw another meteor this evening. I guess that's one good thing about the time change. I don't like walking in the dark, but I do like looking at the stars. In less than a week I'm going to get a chance to see the largest supermoon since 1948. I've seen these close approaches of the moon before and it really doesn't look much bigger. Maybe this time will be different. I hope it doesn't rain on the 14th. I'd really like to see this.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day