Day 3830 - My Birthday

Another trip around the sun. I guess I'm doing pretty well for 72. My Dad already had Parkinson's and Macular Degeneration at this age and my Mom didn't even make it this far. Janet and I do our best to stay healthy, but when you are over seventy, every extra year is a gift. I figure that I've got a good ten years left before I start to fall apart, but you never know. Not all of us are destined to be Betty White.

We went out for a birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant this evening. With all the controversy about whether Texas has reopened too soon, I didn't know what to expect. We were both pleasantly surprised and felt completely safe. The tables were spaced far apart, the staff all wore masks, and everyone was super nice. Our waiter even recognized me and said that it was nice to see us again. I always enjoy dining at Knife and was glad we didn't decide to stay home.

The restaurant wasn't crowded. Everyone was responsible. You could tell that the entire staff was trying hard to make this work. Too bad everyone doesn't seem to be able to reopen this way. It's crazy out there. Some stores are still completely closed. Others have you order online and then they bring your merchandise out to your car. A few stores are just pretending like none of this ever happened. I find this inconsistency confusing. Clearly we can't keep the entire country quarantined forever, but it is equally obvious that the virus isn't going away. Texas is having a big spike in new cases at the same time the state is trying to reopen.

Everyone was really pretty good about staying quarantined for several months, but it feels like everyone has had enough. "We did our part," you can almost hear people saying. Now they expect the virus to go away. I'm going to continue to stay away from people. I've never liked crowds anyway. I think that as long as you avoid public transportation, bars, sporting events, concerts, weddings, church services, and other situations where people are crowded together you are probably OK. I might even go ahead and get a haircut. When Janet went to the salon last week, she said that everyone was so careful and that they only let a few customers in at a time.

When we came home from the restaurant the skies were clear and now we are under a severe weather warning. Texas weather is always full of surprises. I hope we don't lose power. The wind is blowing pretty hard outside. It is always a pain when we lose power right in the middle of a blog post. I've got to get all the emergency power devices working and then start over again using the laptop.  Hopefully that won't happen. I don't have that much more to say anyway.

Thanks for all the birthday greetings. Checking to see who sent you a birthday message on Facebook has become a ritual part of almost everyone's birthday these days. Did Facebook always send out birthday notices? I can't even remember when this started. Nobody sends birthday cards anymore except my sister who refuses to use the Internet. I wonder if people have started having birthday parties again? During the lockdown, people in our neighborhood would put up birthday signs in their front yards and drivers would honk when they drove by.

It is a little weird to be 72. Most of my NASA and astronomy friends are half my age. I don't feel old at all. Hopefully I'll feel as healthy when I turn 73 as I do now. I'm not doing anything special, but I can tell you for a fact that lots of exercise and a healthy diet work wonders.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3797

The weather was much better today. We got up early to avoid the crowds, but apparently we didn't get up early enough. Even before 8 AM, the park was already filled with runners and cyclists. This must be the city's new exercise destination now that the gyms are closed. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. It was a Sunday morning on a very nice day.

It's pretty clear that the quarantine is over in Dallas. Traffic is back to normal and people aren't shy about gathering together in the park. When I returned later in the day for my afternoon walk, the place was packed. There were large barbecues, clusters of hammocks strung between trees, and a flotilla of kayaks on the water. Most of the large gatherings consisted of young people. Maybe they are starting to develop herd immunity.

There are still a lot of people wearing masks in the park. I suspect that some of these people will continue wearing masks forever. They will become a fashion statement or a badge of identity. There definitely aren't many who know how to wear a mask correctly. I see a lot of noses poking out on top of these masks. People take them off to talk to other people or even to sneeze. Basically, you wear a mask to show other people that you are a team player. Medically, most of the disposable earloop masks are of dubious value.

I was back on the roof this afternoon removing the standing water from yesterday's rain. Both pumps are working again, but there is still a lot of residual water after it rains. Removing the water with a big push broom is actually good exercise. I'm usually tired after I finish the job. I'm always careful, but I hope I never stumble and fall. That's the first question my doctor asked at my physical last week. "Did you have any bad falls last year," he said.  I guess I've arrived at the "I've fallen and I can't get up" stage of life. I felt like telling the doctor that I was much more careful than he was. At least I don't ride bicycles.

Dawn likes our bed so much that she gets upset when I change the sheets. I told her that everything was going to be OK and that she would be pleased when I was finished. After everything was clean, there was still dog hair on her blanket. I've noticed that the vacuum cleaner canister fills up twice as fast now that we have Dawn. Dalmatians shed constantly. You just get used to the dog hair after a while.

I had another 20,000 step day, but I didn't do anything of consequence. 20,000 step days are so common now that maybe it's time to up the ante and try for 25,000 steps a day. I'm hoping that walking will keep me in shape, but I need something to occupy my mind as well. I'll complete my application for launch access to Kennedy Space Center and send it to the Air Force tomorrow. Maybe I'll start editing my McDonald Observatory pictures and send a batch to Sky and Telescope. They haven't actually requested the pictures yet, but have indicated that they will use them when the article eventually appears. I'll be glad when they give me a publication date. Right now I don't know whether the article I wrote will appear a few months from now or next year.

The chigger bites still itch, but I've got some nice looking fresh fruit for tomorrow morning's smoothie. Life goes on.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3779

You know what I said yesterday. Yep. Same thing today. Even by my admittedly low standards, this quarantine life is getting monotonous. The weird thing is that unless you know someone personally who has gotten sick, the danger doesn't seem real. You hear these horrible things on the news, but it all seems distant, like the war in Syria or something.

Nobody I know well has gotten sick. Three people I've met at one point or another have been tested for the virus. One guy tested positive and the other two tested negative. All three showed exactly the same symptoms. To this day, the two people who tested negative remain convinced that they had the virus. They were never tested again though, because they weren't sick enough to be admitted to the ER and test kits were scarce.

Luckily, these three people all recovered without requiring hospitalization. The guy who actually tested positive spent fourteen days confined to his bedroom. The two who tested negative were free to go anywhere they wanted. Each of these experiences make me wonder about testing. Everybody admits that current tests frequently return false results, but still testing appears to be vitally important.

I'm sure that mass testing will greatly improve all the mathematical models and projections I keep seeing, but what does the test do for the individual being tested? If you test negative today, you could still test positive tomorrow. If you've actually had the virus and have acquired antibodies, nobody knows whether this means you are safe to reenter society. Some say that people with antibodies could still get sick again or even continue to infect others. So with this in mind, does a massive testing program remove any uncertainty at all? Not for me. I guess the best a testing program could do is find some of the asymptomatic people who actually have the virus and remove them from circulation.

If we do wind up with a massive tracking/surveillance program, I'd prefer the type of high-tech tracking being proposed by Apple and Google. I'm comfortable with my phone warning me that a sick person is nearby. I'm not very comfortable at all with an army of human trackers going door-to-door. Nobody in their right mind who lives in a city would open their door to a stranger who says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." At best these people are probably Jehovah's Witnesses. At worst, they are planning a home invasion.

It will be interesting to see how all this develops. Right now it feels a lot like the blind leading the blind. When you read about the early day of polio or the Spanish Flu, the same thing happened. People were scared and many of the early remedies did nothing or even made matters worse. If you are unfamiliar with the history of polio, you should read about it. The first documented polio epidemic in the United States occurred in 1894. The disease wasn't eliminated in the Western Hemisphere until 1994. We live in an age of instant gratification. I don't think many of us are ready for a hundred year war on the coronavirus.

It's a safe bet that nobody is going to find a solution tomorrow. I'll continue walking and see how many days I can continue my 20,000 step streak. Last night's violent storms weren't as bad as everyone expected. I removed the water from the roof today and am ready for the next storm. I'm still thinking of upgrading all my computers to solid state drives. If I can't go out for breakfast on Friday morning anymore, it might take a fast computer to keep me happy.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3764

I'm seeing more and more pictures of people baking bread, fixing elaborate meals, and even sewing from friends who used to spend most of their time in meetings. I guess we are part of this trend. Janet baked a pineapple upside-down cake in a large cast iron skillet today and it was delicious. It was much better than the pineapple upside-down cakes we used to get at Central Market. Actually everything we've been eating lately is much better that the take out meals that used to be our standard fare. I wonder how long we all need to remain quarantined before these newly acquired habits become permanent? Healthy, home-cooked meals are actually a good thing. Having the time to cook them is even better.

My life still hasn't changed much. Janet never used to spend much time at home, but it's been enjoyable having her around. We do more things together now. I have a feeling she'll be running marathons soon. She runs three miles every morning before coming home to take a long walk with Dawn and I. I'm still spending a lot of time puttering around on the computer, but I think I need a project. I enjoy writing, but don't really enjoy chronicling the spread of the coronavirus. I'm tired of talking about it. I'd much rather be writing about astronomy and space. I feel like I submitted my story to Sky and Telescope at the worst possible time. Boston, the home of the magazine is becoming a hotspot and I doubt that my story is the first thing on the editors minds these days. There's still a story in the works at SpaceFlight Magazine too, but I don't even want to ask about that one. London is in a world of hurt these days.

Dawn really enjoys her long daily walks, especially on cold mornings like we've had for the past several days. She enjoys the outdoors and often suns herself on a big rug we've placed in the back yard for her. She'd probably enjoy lying in the grass too if we actually had any grass in the back yard. Now there's a big project. I could re-sod the back yard without the help of the landscape guys. I've done it before when I was younger and had more energy. If I got the tree guy to come over and cut down the remaining damaged Oak tree, our grass would probably get enough sun to finally grow on its own. When I talk about mowing the grass, I'm only talking about the front yard. Until the trees started falling, the back yard was always covered by a thick tree canopy and the grass never got enough sun to grow.

I'm surprised that nobody noticed that my picture of a Buttonbush flower on Sunday's Easter post looked exactly like a coronavirus. I thought it was kind of clever. I have no idea what all the black moths were doing on the Queen Anne's Lace plants today, but they looked ominous. There were hundreds of them and they reminded me of tiny little vultures.

I not only forgot to mention the resemblance of Buttonbush plants to coronavirus illustrations, I also forgot to mention that the watch of the day on Saturday's post used to belong to Alice Cooper. Actually, every watch has a story but I can't be bothered to explain it. I've completely forgotten the backstory to many of the watches I used to collect. It seems so long ago. Collecting things was a waste of time and money. Of course if I had put that money in the stock market, it would all be gone by now anyway. Who knew the apocalypse was coming.

What day is it? Time has lost all meaning. We go to bed later and get up a lot later. When you turn on the television it feels a lot like Ground Hog Day. It's the same news over and over again. There are still chores to do, but it's easy to put them off until tomorrow. What's the rush.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3755

Today was uneventful. In today's world, that's a good thing. We have plenty of food. There's a pot roast cooking in the slow cooker. Dawn is content and sleeping on the bed. If I turned off the television, I could easily imagine that everything was normal.

I miss going to the gym on Sunday. I was never a dedicated gym rat, but my exercise routine did make me feel like I was making an effort to stay healthy. Shooting baskets on the gym basketball court was fun too. My exercise mostly consists of walking now, with an occasional excursion to the roof to remove the standing water. It looks like we are going to have quite a few rain free days next week, so today was the logical day to clear the water away. As always, I was amazed at how much water still remained after the pumps quit working. It's hard to remove the water when the pumps get clogged. It's Spring and the pumps frequently get clogged with catkins that fall from our Oak trees.

I spent several hours clearing away the water today and in the process, discovered several new areas that need to be repaired. I wasn't surprised to find some damage. We've had record amounts of rain this Spring and water is relentless. If it sits for long enough, it eventually destroys the coating. Luckily, I still have plenty of silicon coating material. As soon as the roof gets dry enough, I will spend another afternoon making repairs. This is a seemingly endless process, but I can see the results almost immediately. My repairs either work or they don't. Eventually I still need a new roof, but it's probably wise to see if the world ends first.

Everything seems to be working smoothly in the park now. The city has reopened the parking lots, but banned parking in non-designated areas. This seems to work great on cool, overcast days like today. The park is never crowed on rainy days anyway. We'll see how things go on Easter Sunday next week. Joggers, people walking their dogs, and cyclists have never been a problem. Maybe the city should think about banning slacklining and hammocks. That would take care of the kids who like to hang out in large groups.

I think I finally found my lost e-mail from 2018 and 2019. It was located in an invisible file that I finally learned how to view. As soon as I can copy the mail to an archive and save it, I might find the nerve to erase the damaged hard drive and try to reformat it. There's certainly no hurry to do something so drastic. It's not like I'm in a hurry or anything. Working from an external drive has been fairly trouble free. The computer responds much slower now, but like I said, I'm not in a hurry.

I'm starting to hear a lot about the need to build herd immunity. Some say this is the only way to stop the virus. Others say that reducing quarantine restrictions to allow herd immunity to build among healthy people is too dangerous and will cause needless deaths. All I know is that herd immunity is a real thing. Animals can develop it and so can humans. If enough people develop immunity to a specific disease, they can indirectly protect the rest. It may take months or years for a large population to develop herd immunity, but if they are all in quarantine, this acquired immunity won't develop it at all. I have a feeling that this will be the big question in the months ahead. How can we quickly identify the healthy ones, so we can get the process started. We need the healthy people to keep the world running. Right now, we are all just treading water.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3746

I finally heard from Sky and Telescope today. As I suspected, my manuscript wound up in the editor's spam folder again. I don't know why this happens so frequently, but it does make it difficult to communicate. At least the manuscript is in the right hands now and will be reviewed shortly. I really hope the editors like my article. I'll feel a lot more like an astronomy writer after I get a few things published.

Life still consists mostly of meals and long walks. It's easy for me to forget that it's been that way for a very long time. All I have to do is turn on the television and I'm easily convinced that I'm under a very restrictive quarantine. Maybe I'd go out to eat a little more often or wander around local shops when I'm bored, but basically I'll be living exactly the same way when the world returns to normal.

The pandemic has made me wonder about a few things. Why aren't they fixing the roads now? Traffic may never be this light again. I can't imaging that the construction workers would be in much danger. Most of them would be working alone inside their own excavators and bulldozers. This seems like a perfect opportunity to get some much needed work done without disrupting anything.

I also wonder whether we've gotten everything wrong about the virus. What if it was actually spreading around the globe much earlier than we currently believe. Maybe it spreads incredibly easily, but takes much longer than we think to register positive on current tests. Maybe all of us already have the virus but just don't know it. We really need to develop a reliable test to measure whether some of us already have antibodies to the virus. Right now we don't have a clue who actually is infected until they show up at the hospital. It's all about statistics. If a lot more people actually have the virus than we think, the mortality figures start to look less alarming.

I felt more comfortable walking Dawn in a harness today. She's actually learning to heal and walks very well on a leash, but she has a smaller head than our previous Dalmatians. In retrospect, it was pretty easy for her to slip out of her collar. Maybe we should investigate those wide collars that Greyhound owners often use.

Most of the people I see in the park are doing an excellent job of social distancing. The one exception seems to be young people who are still hanging out with their friends. I still see them walking in fairly large groups that are clearly not family members. It's still hard for me to understand people who don't enjoy being alone. It's peaceful being alone. I'm not going to judge, but I don't need a hug.

I will concede that petting a dog might be good for you. I'm enjoying having Dawn around. She is a difficult dog to get a urine sample from though. We've been following her around with a ladle every morning and haven't succeeded yet. Dawn squats very quickly and we haven't been quick enough to capture a sample. It's much easier to get a sample from a male dog. We do need another urinalysis though to figure out whether she has crystals.

I'm not looking forward to going to the grocery store tomorrow, but it's time to look for more fresh fruit. All I really need are strawberries and blueberries. I'll try to be quick.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3744

Hey, I'm doing my part. My car hasn't left the driveway all week. With the exception of a short trip to the vet yesterday, Janet's car hasn't moved much either. I can't say that my behavior has changed. I've been living this way for years. Janet is the only person I talk to regularly and I frequently drive less than ten miles a week. Isolation isn't all that bad. For many, many years I made a good income writing and designing websites from a computer in our spare bedroom.

It seems strange and somewhat disorienting to see people turning to things I've been doing for decades. Videoconferencing, working from home, ordering supplies online, maintaining a home network, and learning to tolerate long periods of silence and isolation are all skills I mastered years ago. I wonder how many people are going to decide that this is actually a better way to live when the pandemic is over?

I think people are already discovering the benefits of being outdoors. I see more people in the park than I've seen in years. I see them doing yoga, practicing kickboxing, and lifting weights, as well as the usually walking and cycling. Parents are taking their kids on long walks. I suspect that most of them are trying to wear the kids out so they will take a long nap and let the parents get some work done when they get home. Seems like a good plan to me. We all keep our distance in the park and hope nobody tries to force us indoors. There aren't a lot of things you can do proactively to stay healthy. I'm convinced that exercise and getting some good outdoor air into your lungs is a good place to start.

Local grocery stores are starting to limit the number of people inside the stores. In theory this is a good idea, but all it really does is cause people to bunch together at the store entrance waiting to get in. I wonder when the panic buying will stop? Eventually everyone is bound to have enough rice, bread, beans, and toilet paper.

I'm already starting to see used gloves and masks littering parking lots. This is insanity, but I'm really not surprised. For years I've seen people in the park pick up their dog poop in poop bags and then just throw the bags in the woods. What does this prove? There are plenty of trash cans in the park. Leaving a sealed poop bag in the hot sun is worse than doing nothing at all. Dog poop is biodegradable. Poop sealed in a bag and not disposed of properly probably becomes radioactive or something.

I wonder where all these people throwing away used masks and gloves in grocery store parking lots are getting them? You certainly can't find these items in stores yet. We still have lots of purple surgical gloves left over from Dash's chemo treatments. No masks though. When I administered Dash's meds every day, I couldn't touch the Palladia pills. They were very toxic and I had a complicated cleanup procedure to follow. Even Dash's poop was toxic and had to be disposed of properly. Washing my hands frequently seems simple by comparison.

One of the most enjoyable things about Spring is that there are new wildflowers to enjoy every single week. The Prairie Verbena arrived this week. These little purple flowers have always been one of my favorites.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3736

I'm still getting used to the new normal. Lots of people were walking their dogs in the park today. There were more people without dogs as well. Hey, exercise and fresh air are good things. There was a lot less traffic as well. In Dallas that's a great thing. It's ironic that now that the roads are finally clear, there is no place to go. I feel bad for all the restaurants and small businesses in our neighborhood. Nobody is going anywhere. I wonder if some of these restaurants will survive.

The grocery stores are still doing well. If you're going to get the coronavirus, it will probably happen in a grocery store. This is the only place left where people tend to congregate. Everyone is still looking for water and toilet paper. I saw several people waiting for the bus carrying big packages of toilet paper and nothing else.

I don't think I need to worry about a lack of fruit and fresh vegetables. The produce aisles in most stores are still well stocked. Apparently, people can go without food, but not without toilet paper. I'm having trouble finding distilled water for my coffeemaker. Is there anything special about distilled water? I initially thought it would be easier to find than regular bottled water. I can't find rubbing alcohol either. I guess people started buying that when the stores ran out of hand sanitizer.

My life hasn't changed much. I've been living in a semi isolated state for decades. Even when my business was busy, I rarely saw clients face to face. Most of my business was conducted over the Internet. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't distracted by meetings and office politics. I have a feeling that when this pandemic has run its course, a lot of people aren't going to want to go back to work. Working from home isn't so bad.

I'm really glad I got to attend the Solar Orbiter launch and spend a week out at McDonald Observatory before the world changed. Those were the only trips I had planned this Spring anyway. Lots of people's vacations are being rescheduled as we speak. This is definitely not the time to be visiting Italy or taking a cruise. This won't last forever though. I have a feeling that there are going to be some tremendous travel bargains later in the year.

I hope that large companies and our own government are finally starting to realize that it's not a good idea to outsource production to countries that can make the stuff cheaper. Wouldn't you rather pay a little more for your medicine in return for the security that it was always going to be there when you need it. We could solve so many problems if we made our own stuff again. I can remember when every little town had a factory. It was these thousands of factories that kept people employed and helped our parents and grandparents win World War II.

Mistakes have been made, but hopefully we can learn from them. Personally, I hope that things don't return to normal when all this is over. I like the fact that there is dramatically less traffic on the roads. Maybe we'll all discover that we don't need to drive as much. They say air quality has improved as well. There are already dramatic air quality improvement in China because their factories aren't churning out an endless supply of things we don't really need. Could we solve the global warming problem just by consuming less? It's worth a try.

I hope I don't get the virus. I hope you don't either. Until the panic subsides, I'll just continue doing what I've always done. I'll make my smoothie in the morning. I'll take long walks by myself. I'll get to know Dawn a little better. And I'll write my blog in the evening. As far as I'm concerned, life is good.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1769

I finally got the new generator running. It was easy to start, runs fairly quietly, and seems to produce electricity. I tested it using the only electrical appliance that I could find that was easy to unplug and take outside. Janet should be pleased. Her hairdryer runs just fine using the generator. The only problem I had was getting the gas out of the gas container and into the generator. I hate the complicated locking safety spouts they put on gas containers these days. I can never get them to work. They incorporate a spring that won't allow gas to flow unless you unlock it and press down on the end of the spout. When you finally press hard enough to get the gas flowing, it usually leaks all over the place. I finally gave up and got an old tin funnel out of the tool shed and poured the gas directly out of the can into the funnel.

With the generator running and ready for the next power outage, I moved on to more difficult tasks. I unclogged the large format printer for the fifth time this month and then began to disassemble the workstation where I used to keep the old ESQ-1 synthesizer that I'd banished to the storage warehouse a few weeks ago. One reason that I've been so slow in decluttering the office is that it is quite difficult. There are cables everywhere and when I initially put the studio together, I meticulously fastened each of them into neat bundles with cable ties. It's kind of sad to deconstruct things after all the work I put into putting everything together, but the time has come. The studio was state of the art in the 1980's, but it is a museum piece today. It took quite a while to remove all the wiring and take the big desk apart, but eventually I succeeded without breaking anything. The disassembled synthesizer desk, along with some surprisingly nice luggage from my world traveling days, went to the storage warehouse to join all the other relics from my youth.

Dot has her big cancer recheck tomorrow. Since she had a different type of cancer than Dash, she will get a different type of exam. Instead of a chest x-ray, she will get an ultrasound scan of her abdominal area. Dot has done so well during her recovery that I really hope her exam goes perfectly. It would be really nice to have nothing to worry about for a change.

On my way home from the storage warehouse I stopped at Home Depot and got some tile grout and silicon sealer. The shower is leaking because the grout where the walls meet the floor has all come loose and water is seeping under the tile and finding a way outside. Every time I take a shower I have to put a towel outside the shower stall to sop up the leaking water. When the leak was just a very small puddle it was easy to ignore. Even though I am very good at ignoring things, the growing leak has become a problem that I've just got to deal with. All that being said, the box of tile grout will probably still sit on a shelf for several weeks before I am forced to actually repair things.

The original batch of people being quarantined for Ebola exposure will be released at midnight tonight. Their 21 days are up and they will be free to go about their business. A lot of people in town will be relieved when this happens. Others will become even more alarmed, convinced that 21 days isn't long enough. That's just the way it is these days. I don't think as a country, we will ever come together and fully agree on anything again.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1767

So, I'm going to get groceries this morning and there's an ambulance with all its lights flashing parked right in front of the store. This is actually not an uncommon occurrence. I've seen ambulances and firetrucks parked in front of grocery stores dozens and dozens of times. Hey, EMT's get hungry too. What made this truck different was I immediately noticed that many people entering the parking lot took one look at the truck and just kept on driving. They weren't going to take any chances and assumedly went somewhere else to buy their groceries. Most of the people who did enter the store took a quick picture of the truck with their cell phone.

I'll have to admit I was a bit relieved to see that there were no men in biohazard spacesuits inside. There were just four EMT's in their regular uniforms sitting around a table at the little cafe inside the grocery store. Why were they all huddled around a laptop though? That didn't seem normal. They weren't drinking coffee or eating breakfast either.

With a heightened sense of awareness, I wandered around the store looking for something for dinner. I saw four old people coughing profusely while pushing their carts and a guy at the checkout counter wearing a big gauze bandage with blood stains on it. I'm sure that the busy store has always been filled with people like this. I just never noticed them before Dallas became ground zero for Ebola. Now that one nurse on the quarantine list decided to fly to Cleveland and another went on a cruise, you just don't know what to expect. I keep waiting to hear that one of the quarantined people is dating the chef at a popular restaurant, or has a brother who works in the produce department of my regular grocery store. Out of an abundance of caution and just a touch of hypochondria, I picked up a frozen pizza and two frozen Chinese dinners and headed home.

I hope they re-think this "self-monitoring" policy very quickly. It's obviously not working. Why would anyone on a quarantine list who has already been exposed to a deadly virus even think of talking a cruise? Jeez, cruise ships are notorious germ factories already. This is the last place you'd want one of those Presbyterian nurses to be.

When I was up on the roof today, I heard Dot barking and immediately climbed down and went inside to let her out in the back yard. The incontinence episodes have taught me that whenever Dot barks, she needs to pee. Sure enough, she peed within seconds after letting her outside.  There haven't been any accidents in quite a while, but it still takes a lot of coordination.

I discovered that there's a feature on our land-line phone that lets you either block 25 callers, or white-list 25 callers and block the rest. Janet and I added up all our friends, relatives, and clients and came up with a number less than 25. This might be a way to get rid of the annoying telemarketers forever. At any rate, we're going to enter our meager list of friends into the phone and give it a try.

I hope this is a quiet weekend with no surprises at all. I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, I could just turn off the television and pretend everything was fine. I wonder how long that would last?

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1765

You really can't make this stuff up. Not only do we have a third confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas, we have someone who apparently thought that planning her wedding in Cleveland was a lot more important than the safety of the entire country. The first nurse was deservedly called heroic. I don't think many people will be using that term to describe the second nurse. It is simply unbelievable that someone who had regular contact with Thomas Duncan and already was under strict quarantine would conclude that it was a good idea to hop on a plane to Cleveland so she could help her mother plan her wedding. To make matters worse, she already had a fever when she boarded the plane. So much for the idea of "self-quarantine."

Dallas is understandably worried. So far, the CDC and Presbyterian hospital have refused to reveal the names of the other 70 hospital workers who have had direct contact with Duncan. They could live next door to you for all most people know. The quarantine rules have been so lax to this point that absolutely nobody knows where these people buy their groceries, go out to eat, or relax with a beer after work. All I know is that you definitely don't want to wake up to the sound of helicopters hovering over your house.

Dot had a bit of a setback today. She stumbled a bit on her morning walk, but I wasn't really worried since her legs have been weak for quite some time. It was the afternoon that got me worried. When she tried to get up from an afternoon nap, she fell over completely and landed in a heap on the brick floor. I initially thought she might have had another seizure, but she showed none of the signs of her earlier vestibular seizures. I helped her up and after some initial unsteadiness, she walked normally to the back door and wanted to go outside. She seemed normal for the rest of the day and we even took a brief walk. We skipped training class this evening though, just to be on the safe side.

I'll be glad when I can feel on the safe side again. The world seems to grow more chaotic with each passing day. Our make-believe war with ISIS doesn't seem to be having any effect at all. Saudi Arabia is artificially depressing the price of gasoline in hopes that they can make it economically unfeasible for the United States to continue producing shale gas. So much for energy independence. In the past two weeks, the stock market has lost 100% of the gains it has made so far during 2014. We're back to square one. Oh, did I mention that the health care system is a complete mess, with or without Ebola?

I need to make a list of questions to ask the vet when we go for our physical therapy session tomorrow. Dot really had me worried today. Even though everything seems fine right now, I fret that the cancer may have returned or that there may be something else wrong that we haven't even diagnosed yet. I think we're doing all we can, but we can't make her any younger. Dot is my constant companion, so I'm hoping that the vet can reassure me tomorrow.

Nobody can reassure me about the CDC. I think it's time for Tom Frieden to go. He is still thinking globally, worrying about wrecking the fragile economies of three West African countries, instead of doing what over 90% of the American people want him to do: recommend an immediate travel ban to and from these countries. If all a travel ban did was alleviate fear, it would still be a good thing. I just don't understand why we haven't done this already.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1758

The Ebola patient at Presbyterian Hospital died today and a second person was admitted to the same hospital with symptoms. Everyone is a bit nervous. When I sneezed tonight at dog training class, everyone around me gave me a strange look. One woman asked if I was OK. Jeez, it was just a sneeze. I sneeze all the time. I have seasonal allergies and they're pretty bad during the Fall.

I understand why people are nervous though. I'm nervous. Many mistakes have been made already and more will be made in the future. The guy who was admitted to Presbyterian today was a sheriff's deputy who was ordered by his supervisor to enter the victim's apartment before it was sanitized to get a quarantine order signed. The deputy wore no protective clothing at all. Then, when he began feeling sick, he just walked into a suburban CareNow clinic for treatment instead of calling the CDC. These things just keep happening. I still can't believe that one of the quarantined kids left his house and went back to Dallas public schools the day after he was quarantined. They say that 50 people are at risk, but I bet the true number is several hundred. The guy who was admitted to the hospital today wasn't even on the CDC short list.

I was sad to hear that the dog that belonged to the Spanish nurse that has Ebola has been euthanized. Why couldn't they just have quarantined the dog? We love our dogs here in the United States. I think that once people start to realize that their dogs could be at risk, or even killed by government officials during an Ebola panic, it might change people's opinions about our open borders. I keep hearing that you can't stop people from traveling. Why not? If we denied entry from all West African countries, we could put a stop to Ebola in America. People forget that for much of this country's history, if you were sick when you came through Ellis Island, you were turned away.

Today was another busy day. I finished my writing assignments, made a few website updates, and got my October invoices in the mail. I think I've finally managed to catch up with all of my power outage backlog. I guess this means that tomorrow I'll have to go up on the roof and check out the water situation. I've been avoiding this, since my last trip to the roof involved a lot of work. We've had quite a bit of rain recently and it's not going to evaporate with our cooler Fall weather, so I guess that sweeping and pumping away the standing water is almost inevitable.

I can't stand another day of oatmeal, so I bought some bacon while I was at the grocery store today. A little bacon for breakfast is bound to make Thursday a better day.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day