Day 4844

There are critters everywhere this Spring. Last night there was a bunny in the yard when we were taking Dawn out to pee. It took me forever to get the bunny to leave because I didn't want Dawn to get it. Finally, I got it to go out an open gate and then we let Dawn outside. I did close the gate again after the bunny left. 

We've never had a dog with a really strong prey drive, but Dot killed a squirrel once and Gretta killed a bird. Dogs will be dogs. I've always been worried that our dogs would want to tangle with a possum. We see possums in the yard almost every week. There have also been racoons, armidillos, and the ocassional snake. Dawn pretty much ignores the squirrels. There are so many of them that they aren't interesting anymore.

This weather is driving me nuts. It's cold. It's hot. It's wet. It's dry. You never know what to expect. It was really chilly early this morning, but by mid-afternoon it felt like summer. When I wear a jacket on my walks I try to pick something that is easy to take off and tie around my waist. I'm usually cold on the outbound leg of the walk and hot on the return.

I still haven't gotten the grass mowed. My long walk always takes priority and by the time I get home I'm too tired to push the mower. I need to ask my neighbor's landscape crew how much they'd charge to mow my front yard while they are at her house. It's a very small yard and it would only take them a few minutes. Whatever they'd charge, I'd probably think it was too much. I've taken care of the yard for decades and am not used to paying for lawn care. Something's got to change though. I just don't have the energy that I used to.

Yesterday I tripped and fell while I was walking Dawn and now my back hurts along with everything else. Sometime I don't know how I manage to keep walking six miles a day. I've got bad knees, a dislocated shoulder, and some pretty nasty foot pain. I don't think the fall did any damage, but I've really got to watch my balance on uneven ground. Truthfully, I've got to watch my balance walking around the house. This is probably one more reason that it isn't a great idea to go back to the observatory and spend the night outdoors photographing the stars. There are a million ways to fall out there.

Very little happened today. I walked the same route I walk every day and then came home and charged camera batteries and backed up the laptop. There is very little need to back up the laptop since everything gets transferred to the desktop computer anyway. I hate seeing that little message saying "no backups in 208 days" and I guess today was the day to make it go away for a while.

There is more rain in tomorrow's forecast. Hopefully we will be able to get Dawn walked before the rain starts. Hopefully the roof won't leak either. I'll probably miss the rain when the ground is parched and dry this August. Right now I've had enough of the stuff. This has been a very rainy Spring.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4564

The time before 10 AM is very valuable in the summer. It's just about the only time you can get anything done outside. The best time of the day is our sunrise walk with Dawn, but there's usually enough time left for another walk or an outdoor chore before it gets too hot. Today I washed the car, cleaned spider webs and mud dauber nests off the front windows, and washed the sidewalks and front porch. I was going to clean up some of the wood siding, but the paint is so old that it was flaking off when I used the pressure hose. Never mind. I think I accomplished enough. Washing the car was really all I wanted to do anyway.

The house smelled good today. Janet was making me a slow cooker pot roast to eat while she was away. I did a load of laundry and did some bookkeeping on the computer once it became too hot to work outside. I definitely wasn't feeling very energetic today. I took a nap and was pleased that Dawn didn't immediately run away.

After lunch I went to the gym. It would have been insane to walk outside this afternoon. I think this was the hottest day of the year so far. The gym's air conditioning bill must be huge. They keep the place really cold. This is fine by me. I like to exercise without sweating. I'm still surprised that I burn more calories shooting baskets than I do using some of the machines. This is good news because I can count shooting hoops as exercise instead of just having fun. 

I've settled into a routine at the gym that probably won't change much. If the basketball court is empty, I'll use it first. I've learned that if I wait, I often miss my chance. I'll be doing something else and a bunch of kids will arrive and start a pickup game. After shooting free thows, I'll use the indoor track for a while. The number of miles I walk varies. I'll walk less if I already have quite a few steps when I arrive at the gym. I'll walk more if I still need to walk a few miles to get my self imposed minimum of 10,000 daily steps. I don't get 20,000 steps a day nearly as often as I used to. I'm getting older and it just doesn't seem worth the effort on many days. Depending on how much time I have left, I'll finish my workout by doing a few things that will improve my upper body strength. I need to do more of this because my upper body strength is abysmal. 

I really need to work on my balance. I read an article recently that said if you couldn't balance on one leg for at least ten seconds with both arms at your side, you were likely to die within ten years. That sounded pretty harsh, but it's very difficult for me to balance on one leg for ten seconds. I always thought it was just because I had weak ankles, but maybe there's a lot more going on. At any rate, I'm going to work on my balance. It couldn't hurt.

The little bird whistle for the Alessi tea kettle arrived in the mail today. It pleases me to be able to fix little things like this. A big project for me is putting a new hard drive in a computer or learning how to use the star tracker. Huge home improvement projects are out of my league. I don't even want to think about the big stuff. We still need a new roof, major sheet rock repairs, and some carpentry work on the exterior siding. A huge Oak tree needs to come down as well. Lord knows when this stuff will get done. I really hate dealing with the contractors and workmen you need for big projects. Fixing a tea kettle is more my style.

I'm really tired of turning on the television in the morning and hearing about politics. This is not what I'm worried about. Where are the stories about giant solar flares that could wipe out the entire power grid? These solar storms have happened before and will happen again. Where are the stories about global crop failures? What happens if the giant volcano under Yellowstone National Park explodes? I guess I like astronomy because it tries to deal with the big things. The little things are like mosquito bites. They are irritating, but we'll probably live. 

I'm going to try to get to bed earlier tonight. We have to get up really early tomorrow so we can walk Dawn before Janet leaves for the airport. I hope that Dawn decides to get along with me. It's going to be a long week otherwise.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day