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

Day 4462

Another nice day. I keep hoping that our cold, rainy weather is over with, but as luck would have it there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow. I did nothing of significance today, but I did do a lot of walking. Dawn seems to have no problems with Daylight Savings Time. Even though we basically did everything an hour earlier today, there were no complaints. Some of our dogs would have become irate at a five minute change in their feeding schedule, but Dawn was fine. Underneath her many fears and phobias she's a very laid back dog.

I don't know why I spent so much time walking today because this wasn't a good day for my feet. After our sunrise walk, Dawn's Sunday outing, and my regular long walk I was beat. It was a good day for the weather however. I'm finally starting to see a few wildflowers in the park and the trees are starting to turn green. It's too bad that foot pain is still an issue. This would have been a good day to walk all the way around the lake.

I wasted a lot of time this afternoon trying to get my old Skype phone to work. This is a physical phone but it just hooks up to Skype. I used to use it a lot when I had clients in Europe, but I haven't turned the thing on in years. The phone is so old that the plastic case is starting to turn sticky and rubbery. The first thing I learned was that Skype is now part of Microsoft. When did that happen? The phone wouldn't connect to the AT&T WiFi, but it would connect to the older T-Mobile Hotspot. Microsoft has changed my easy to remember user name to a long string of letters and numbers that were almost impossible to type on the phone's tiny keyboard. I finally got the phone connected, but of course I have no one to call on Skype anymore. The whole exercise was just a way to kill time.

I'm surprised that I haven't heard anything from NASA regarding the upcoming Artemis-1 launch. Things are starting to happen next week and ordinarily I would have received a yes or no on my application for press credentials by now. I have no idea what is going on anymore. I don't hear much from NASA and I don't hear much from SpaceFlight Magazine. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone even remembers me. I don't think there's much I can do about the situation. I'm not a major player. There are a ton of launches in 2022 and even if I'm lucky I'll probably only be able to afford to attend two.

The Internet and my Fitbit both crashed about the same time this afternoon. It took me quite a while to figure out where the problem was. I ended up having to restart the router, the fiber optic gateway, the thermostat in the hall, my phone, the computer, and of course the Fitbit itself. I didn't even remember how to turn the Fitbit off. I think it has been on since the day I bought it. Everything works now, but I still have no idea what went wrong. Just another example of the complexities of networked life. Nobody really understands how all this stuff works.

I spoke too soon about Sammy's puppies. She had two more after last night's blog post. Now there are eight males and three females. Mom and the pups are still doing well. Dalmatian puppies are born without spots. The spots come later. Several of the pups were born with black ears though. These are going to be some good looking dogs.

Janet made a big pot roast for dinner so I'd have something healthy to eat while she was on vacation. I love a good pot roast. Dawn loves the carrots, so may she'll join me for dinner next week. Dawn is definitely Janet's dog, but I'll try my best to make life enjoyable for her while Janet is away. 

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4420

We tried to enjoy the nice weather today, because it looks like we've got snow and ice to look forward to later in the week. The forecast looks dismal and I'm dreading the thought of freezing rain. Freezing rain means icy roads and power outages. Winter can't be over soon enough for me.

It's hard to believe that things will change this quickly when the temperature is over 70 degrees. I didn't even need a jacket on my walks today. Actually, I did wear a jacket on our sunrise walk with Dawn, but even then you could tell the day was going to be a good one. We changed our schedule a bit because Janet had plans this morning. I took my long walk after a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and ended up seeing both eagles again. I should have brought a camera since one of the eagles was fairly close. It was still a nice walk though. Foot pain wasn't too bad today and the weather was perfect.

Dawn got a rare afternoon Sunday outing and she had a good time. She still isn't comfortable riding in the car though. That's probably not going to change. We usually walk around the perimeter of the Sunday park and one leg of the journey always makes Dawn a little nervous. She does fine until we turn the first corner and then she balks and has to make sure that I am walking nearby. None of this makes any sense. As soon as we make the second turn she is fine again and Dawn and Janet begin pulling ahead of me. It's OK. I just can't keep up with the way my feet are acting. I usually see them making the final turn off in the distance and start heading back to the car as I slowly trudge along. I keep walking though and completed 20,000 steps again today.

We've never been to the ice cream place in the afternoon before. What a difference. Ice cream must be a lot more popular in the afternoon. The nice weather probably helped business as well. At any rate, this was the first time we had to wait in a long line to get to the drive through window. The line moved quickly though. An employee with a laptop walked down the line of cars and took people's orders so that when you arrived at the window, your order was ready. Dawn loves ice cream. I think we do these Sunday outings just to see how happy she gets.

When we got home I upgraded the firmware on the star tracker and gave it a try again. The tracker would still connect to the camera and take pictures, but the calibration was way off. The tracker couldn't even find the sun today. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Other Kickstarter backers seem to be having success with their trackers, but most of them are using Canon cameras. I don't think the calibration problems I was having today have anything to do with the camera though. When I use the compass on my phone, it finds North pretty accurately. When I use the calibration function on the Polaris app, I get a completely different compass reading. This is still a frustrating work in progress.

The house smelled great today. Janet fixed a pot roast for dinner in the slow cooker and the smell permeated the house for hours. Crock pot meals are easy and almost always delicious. Dawn enjoyed dinner almost as much as we did, because she loves carrots. The pot roast contained lots of carrots and we made sure that Dawn got some. 

We plan to visit Charlie and Oliver at the kennel tomorrow and then pick up a new cold weather sweater we ordered for Dawn on the way home. I hope the bad weather doesn't materialize. Ice storms are the worst. We'll see what happens. When storms approach I always wish we had a whole house generator. We do have a small generator, but it definitely won't heat the house. I guess it makes no sense to worry. I can't change the weather.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4287

I finally mowed the grass today. It was kind of nice having a doctor forbid you from doing something you hated to do anyway. Time to move on though. I'm better now and the yard looked terrible. It was time to mow. I didn't take my normal long walk today, but according to my Fitbit, mowing the grass is better exercise anyway. Fitbit doesn't seem to understand lawnmowers. My tracker always records this activity as riding a bicycle.

Although it got hot later in the day, it was reasonably cool when all our activity took place. We had a nice sunrise walk with Dawn, even though the sun was already up. We get started later on Sunday. After I mowed the grass, we took Dawn on her Sunday outing. For the first time in weeks I was able to keep up with Dawn and Janet. As usual, we all enjoyed an ice cream cone on the way home. I'm really going to have to work on getting back in shape during the weeks and months ahead. I have a feeling that a lot of the weight I lost during my hospital stay was muscle mass.

I received a press proof of my SpaceFlight Magazine article this morning. Wow. That was fast. It finally occurred to me that the November issue was probably almost ready to go to press and they just squeezed my article in at the last minute. The editor did tell me what pages the article would appear on before I even wrote it. I was pleased that they used three of the pictures I sent. One of the pictures was a full page spread and looked pretty dramatic. They changed a few things in the text that I thought were confusing, but British grammar rules are different. At least I've got another article about rockets under my belt. I was afraid that having a new editor might mean that I was done at the magazine. It appears they still like me though, so all is good.

Janet made a pot roast in the slow cooker today and the house smelled good all day. Pot roast is almost a perfect meal to me. The meat is as tender as a good brisket and it's packed full of healthy vegetables. As an added bonus, pot roast doesn't seem to give me heartburn. We ate well tonight and I'll have tasty leftovers for the rest of the week.

I thought that I'd used plenty of bug spray when I watched the launch last week, but it's obvious now that some mosquitos made it through the barrier. Florida mosquitos are much worse than Texas mosquitos. The bites itch more and leave bigger welts. I still cover the bites with clear nail polish, although I think this method only works with chigger bites. Actually Florida mosquitos feel a lot like Texas chiggers.

It's been a busy weekend, but I'm ready for another week to start. We'll probably visit Charlie and Cooper at the Dalmatian kennel tomorrow. A young female Dalmatian came and went while I was in Florida and I never got to see her. The females always seem to get adopted quicker. I don't really have any plans for next week, but that shouldn't be surprising. They say the weather will be dramatically cooler starting Tuesday. Hey, that's something to look forward to.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4070 - Valentines Day

Brr. It's 12 degrees now and the temperature is falling. The roads were coated with ice this morning with a light dusting of snow on top. The snowfall was never heavy during the day but it is starting to accumulate this evening. This is exactly what the forecast predicted, but it's still hard to believe. This is not a normal Texas winter.

Needless to say, neither of our cars left the driveway today. We've gone out to start them several times to keep the batteries charged, but that's about it. I'd like the house a little warmer, but we followed the power company's instructions and lowered the temperature. The last thing we want now is a power outage.

Dawn has no interest in going outside. She will run out in the backyard quickly to pee and poop, but I've never seen her do her business so quickly before. I'm sure Dawn thought we were crazy when Janet and I decided to see how far we could walk this morning. We made it four miles, but I don't think we'll be doing this again tomorrow. The first half of our walk was brisk and enjoyable, but we were both really cold by the time we returned home. We had to walk carefully to avoid slipping on icy ground. I wore heavy hiking boots so my feet were warm, but the soles flexed too much which caused my foot pain to return. I really can't win with my feet. Today I wore a lightweight cloth mask which made breathing easier, but what I really need is one of those wool Balaclava head coverings that mountaineers use. Of course by the time I can get the car out of the driveway to get one at REI, the worse of this weather will be over.

When Janet and I were out walking we saw several power company trucks in the neighborhood. Some people must have lost power overnight, but luckily there have been no widespread outages. This is what everyone fears. There have been several ice storms here in Dallas that have knocked the power out for days during the middle of winter. We have so much glass in our house that the temperature drops quickly. An extended power outage in this house isn't fun. I don't think that ice is going to bring down power lines this time, but it definitely is sticking to the roads. I won't be driving anywhere tomorrow. My rear view mirrors have frozen and are stuck in the retracted position anyway, so that's not good. 

Janet made a pot roast in the slow cooker today and the smell made staying inside a lot more pleasant. A good pot roast is almost the perfect meal for a cold winter day. The wind chill is already below zero and the actual temperature will be close to zero by tomorrow morning. I've done everything I can to keep the pipes from freezing, but when it gets this cold they just might freeze anyway. Got my fingers crossed that everything will be fine. They say it's going to be real hard to find a plumber when all this is over.

I don't know why cold bothers me so much. I went to high school in Alaska where the temperatures got down to -40 during the winter. It was common to see kids with bandaged ears at school. The cool kids never dressed warmly enough and their ears would get frostbitten if their cars stalled out on the way to class. Dad made sure that we dressed like we were making a trek toward the South Pole. I was always warm. Our large coal fired furnace ran constantly during the winter. Every Fall a large dump truck would come to the house and fill an entire room in the basement with coal. The house was well insulated and there was double pane glass everywhere. Oddly, I was warmer in Alaska than I am now.

The snow is supposed to stop later tonight, although tomorrow is going to be our coldest day. I feel sorry for folks who had an appointment to be vaccinated tomorrow. It's going to be a mess. At least there won't be quite as many bugs next Spring. This hard freeze should kill most of them.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3874

I spent a lot more time watching Bob and Doug return to earth than I intended. It was fascinating watching all the events leading to splashdown in real time as they happened. The capsule was completely automated and the astronauts were basically just passengers. All the people in the control room at Hawthorne were just monitoring a very complicated sequence of events to make sure nothing went wrong. Nobody had to intervene. Unlike the Boeing Starliner mission, the Space X software worked perfectly. I've always been impressed with what Elon Musk has been able to accomplish. Today was a big milestone. I can't wait to see Starship get off the ground.

It didn't take me long to spot Elon in the mission control video feed. He was the guy in the front row who kept taking his mask on and off and casually eating a sandwich while everyone else was staring intently at their screens. I kept wondering what the guy behind him wearing white hi-top boots was doing. Other than the outlandish shoes, he was dressed very normally. I spotted a woman on the back row of monitors who didn't appear to be wearing a mask. What was the story here? The room itself seemed spotless with the exception of one table with a big piece of laminate material falling off. Some might find the long lock-off shots of control rooms boring, but I like looking at the details. Where is the box of donuts? Who is texting or taking selfies instead of looking at their screen? There is always something going on.

I bet Space X will keep the splashdown location secret the next time there is a manned launch. I was surprised to see a flotilla of cabin cruisers and fishing boats coming near the capsule as the Space X team prepared to secure it. Space X was probably even more surprised. Apparently they forgot to ask the Coast Guard to set up a safe zone around the splashdown area. Some of these private boats got very close to the capsule while it was floating in the water. Oops. I doubt that this will happen again.

I didn't spend all day watching the landing. We had a nice walk with Dawn this morning. We didn't get an early start, but the weather was a little cooler and there was a nice breeze. There are always fewer people in the park on Sunday than on Saturday. Tomorrow morning there will be fewer still. Everything is very predictable after you've been doing these walks for a while. Usually you see the same people day after day. When a regular walker disappears, you can't help but wonder what happened. Did they catch the virus, or did they just get tired of exercising?

I briefly thought about going back to the gym today, but then I remembered that the grass needed mowing. Mowing the grass burns just as many calories as my time on the treadmill. The yard looks better too. I'll go back to the gym some day, but I'll still in no hurry. I'm getting plenty of exercise on Sundays. 20,000 steps was a piece of cake today.

Janet made a pot roast for dinner tonight. We've had to cut out a lot of activities, but we are certainly eating well during the pandemic. Tomorrow we meet Marshall when we go visit the rescue dogs at the kennel. He's finished with his initial visit to the vet and will be joining Charlie, Hank, and Luckie. I need to remember to take my camera so I can get some pictures of him for the website. I don't anticipate an exciting week, but it will be predictable.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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