Day 4467

All is well that ends well. Janet is home again and Dawn is a very happy dog. Actually today was Dawn's best day this week. She was finally starting to relax a little. I could clearly see the fear and uncertainty start to recede. Who knows. If Janet's vacation had lasted a few days longer we might have started to bond. I'm glad the week is over though. It's been a tough week for both of us. Dawn had to work really hard to overcome her many fears. Her worst day was when she threw up on the bed and refused to eat her breakfast. My worst day was when I felt like I'd come down with the flu. I have no idea if I really had the flu or not, but I had a persistant cough, was running a fever, and everything ached. I feel quite a bit better now and of course Dawn is over the moon now that Janet has returned..

I was determined to get something done today. I wrote several query letters with proposals for future articles. I guess it's a good sign that I've already received one reply. There's a launch in early April that Spaceflight would like me to cover, so I've already applied with Space X for credentials. Space X is much easier to deal with than NASA, so I'm optimistic that this is going to work out. The proposal I sent to Sky & Telescope might take a while to percolate to somebody's desk. They have always been very slow to respond. At least I did something. I was getting to the point where I was becoming too discouraged to even try.

I'm not sure how long I can continue taking my daily long walks. It's not fun anymore and the foot pain keeps getting worse. Usually only the last mile is terrible, so I'm thinking of scaling back my walks to 10,000 steps a day. That's less than half of what I can do on a good day, but I haven't had a good day in a long time. Maybe I'm wrong but I think reducing my daily mileage is a lot better than just quitting.

I had to make a non-standard change on the Dalmatian Rescue website today and it took me forever to remember how to write the code. I kept wanting to revert to the old way I used to build static sites years ago. This didn't work because I need to use the new mobile friendly website code. Why have I forgotten all this? I eventually figured out what I needed to do, but it was a bit disconcerting to see how quickly skills fade away if you don't use them everyday. I guess this is why I still do a daily blog post and take pictures with my phone whenever I see something interesting. If you want to call yourself a creative person, you've got to have some skin in the game.

I hope now that life has returned to normal I can finally get some sleep. Dawn and I didn't sleep well this week. The slightest noise would wake Dawn and she would sit up in the bed and look real alert until she thought the danger had past. This would usually wake me up as well. My problem was that I was always either too hot or too cold. The temperature never seemed right and my sleep stats on Fitbit and my Apple Watch were very strange. My resting heart rate was much higher than usual and my respiration rate was all over the place. At any rate, I'm tired of feeling poorly. Maybe I just don't handle stress very well.

It's hard to believe that it's already time to go grocery shopping again. My list will probably be longer than usual this week because the refrigerator is looking pretty empty. The pot roast that Janet fixed lasted all week. I don't know whether I'll need to get gas since I didn't go anywhere this week. The car never left the driveway. Hopefully the car will start tomorrow.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4401

The days just blur together lately. Is it Sunday or Tuesday? Often it's hard to tell. I get up at the same time and do the same things day after day. I'm not complaining, because nothing is preventing me from doing something different. What would I do differently though? That is the big question.

Today I wrote a letter to my sister and sent a couple of query letters off to editors. I kind of wish my sister would get on the Internet. This is the only physical letter I write anymore and the only reason I have to go to the post office. It does save on stamps though. A roll of stamps lasts me a really long time now.

Now that I've figured out how to use the star tracker, it just sits in the box. I really should take this thing outside and put it to the test. Too bad that West Texas is so far away. I miss my time at the observatory. Astrophotography in Dallas certainly has its limitations. Our back yard is way too bright with streetlights in the alley plus our own bright security lights. Exposures in the front yard would be ruined by the headlights of passing cars on our busy street. 

I always worry that a drunk driver will come crashing through our front yard as well. It has happened before. Would you believe it has happened three times before. If the world was a nicer place the obvious solution would be to just drive to a nice dark area and set everything up. I've lost my nerve for that sort of activity though. The local news provides plenty of valid reasons to just stay home at night.

Luckily, I still feel safe when the sun is up. Long walks give a nice structure to my life. It's hard to fault walking. It's great exercise and provides plenty of time for reflective thinking. I often do my best thinking on my daily walks. Only a small percentage of my ideas ever turn into anything tangible, but I can tell that my mind is still working. It's hard to tell if your mind is working when you're home and the television is on.

I'm thinking that my experiences with the star tracker would make a nice, humorous article for Sky and Telescope. There aren't many humorous articles in the magazine though and anything I'd write would probably just make me look stupid. All I'm saying is that some of the other Kickstarter backers figured this thing out a lot faster than I did. Hey, I gave the idea a try though. We'll see what my editor thinks.

I really need to order the Hoka boots. They might not cure my foot pain, but they probably won't make it any worse. I've pretty much concluded that these boots aren't going to be available in local stores. I probably haven't done anything yet because I'm irritated at the Hoka company. Now that I've visited their website and looked at shoes they send me mail every day trying to get me to buy something else. Why won't companies just leave you alone?  They are never satisfied and are relentless about trying to sell you more. I get mail from Samsung now after we bought the new TV. Hey guys, I'm never going to buy an Android phone. Every new purchase adds to the continual barrage of promotional mail you get every day. How did we get here? I've spent most of my working life in advertising and I was never this relentless.

I used to look forward to the future, but now I'm nostalgic about the past. I'm convinced that we are headed in the wrong direction. Maybe I should write a book about how civilization is going to end in 300 years. It would never get published though. I'm not a historian. I'm not an economist. I'm not even a pundit. You've got to have credentials these days.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4165

Our rainy week continues. It doesn't rain continually and I'm usually able to find time to walk Dawn and myself, but it's pretty damp outside. It's amazing how green everything has become. I thought a lot of our outdoor plants died during the big winter freeze, but most of them have recovered. Even the Asian Jasmine ground cover is coming back. It's nice to see the yard coming to life, even though it will mean I have to mow the grass more often.

Today was a slow day. After breakfast I put together a proposal for a new Sky & Telescope article and sent it to my editor. I have no idea how this proposal will be received, but I definitely would like to keep writing for the magazine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess. I don't expect an answer anytime soon. It took me over a year to get my first article published.

Since I had a lot of time on my hands today, I practiced my astrophotography processing skills. I think I'm doing everything correctly now, but I'm still a bit disappointed in the results. I can spend hours working on a photo and the end result doesn't look that much better than the original out of the camera. This either means that my camera is very good or my processing skills are very bad. I'll keep working with what I've got. It's going to be a while before I see dark skies again.

There was a light drizzle when I embarked on my long walk today. That was fine by me. It's been very humid lately and the light rain helped cool me down. I'd like to think that these walks are helping me physically, but my Fitbit seems to disagree. I'm walking too slow and not elevating my heart rate enough. If I made Mr. Fitbit happy, I could never complete six miles though. Slow and steady is the only way I can continue walking for long distances. I really need to return to the gym. My calves are strong, but the rest of my muscles are pathetic. Walking doesn't do a lot for your upper body.

Most of the bills for my trip to West Texas have come in. I paid some today while wondering why I didn't pick a less expensive hobby. Following rocket launches and searching for dark skies can cost more than you might think. At least I don't collect watches anymore. Who knows. Maybe I'm not doing so bad after all. I know people who spend a fortune on fishing.

Dawn very gradually seems to be warming up to me. There are times during the day when she seems like a normal dog. I still can't be in the kitchen with her though. If I'm in the kitchen, she immediately goes back to the bedroom. She's the first dog we've had that doesn't hang around waiting for table scraps. Dawn likes me to walk her and seems to tolerate me sitting on the bed with her. Hey, it's a start.

I"m having second thoughts about replacing the ice maker in the refrigerator. The freezer is full and I would have to empty everything out to give the repairman enough space to work. Do I really need ice anyway? The only thing I ever use the ice maker for is to add a little ice to the blender when I make my morning smoothie. I just do this to make the smoothie colder. Maybe it would taste just fine without the ice. On the other hand, I could just fill the ice maker bin with a bag of party ice every few weeks. I could do this for years for much less than the cost of an appliance repairman.

I've taken this week's trash to the curb and the weather forecast still says more rain tomorrow. I'm growing tired of this rain and kind of wish that I'd just stayed out at the Astronomer's Lodge. I haven't come up with a plan for tomorrow yet, but if it happens to clear off, I know I'll get a lot more done.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3660 - New Years Day

We did manage to stay up until midnight last night. We had cheese and crackers and a little champagne as we watched the fireworks on TV. I can't imagine standing up for hours in Times Square just to see the ball drop. It was hard enough staying awake inside our own house. New Year's celebrations always seem a bit anticlimactic to me. One second after midnight everything still seems the same.

It wasn't as cold as it was last New Year's Day, but it still felt like Winter. After watching the usual 'Year in Review' shows on TV as I slowly drank my morning smoothie, I bundled up in a warm coat and took my walk. While I was walking, several old World War II aircraft flew directly overhead. It looked like they were headed for the Cotton Bowl where there was a rare outdoor hockey game today. Several minutes later I heard a loud explosion. I thought it was thunder, but I checked my phone and there was no rain in the area. Maybe there were fireworks when the planes did a flyover of the stadium. The noise must not have been serious because I've heard nothing about it on the local news.

I sent another query letter to a magazine this afternoon. I've been writing commercially for most of my life, but trying to establish myself as a 'different kind' of writer still seems a bit futile at this point. I'm definitely an outsider in the world of publishing. The magazine world seems very weird to me. Circulations are still dropping dramatically and every year well known magazines disappear. At the same time the competition to appear in these magazines keeps growing. Since I'm trying to write for semi-scientific magazines, most of the writing seems to come from the academic world. If I ever do manage to get an article in Sky and Telescope, I'll probably be the only author without a PhD.

Now that the new year is underway, I need to resume my efforts to fix up the house. There is still one guy who hasn't gotten me a bid yet for replacing the roof. He's had a year to put his bid together. I'd just forget about this guy and assume that he's not interested, but he came highly recommended. I'm sure he'll be too expensive anyway, but I'm determined to get a bid. I also need to get another Oak tree removed in the back yard and either repair the greenhouse or tear it down. Now I'm thinking that tearing the building down and putting up a carport so we could move our entrance to the back of the house might be a good idea. The appliance repairman is on my list too. The washing machine is still making a funny noise during the spin cycle. I've given up on finding someone who can fix the sliding glass door.

I wish the house was maintenance free so I could use the small amount of time and energy I have left to concentrate on going to rocket launches and observatories. You've got to have a place to live though. The house was beautiful when we moved in, but that was a very long time ago. Age is not always kind to old buildings. It's not very kind to old people either.

I'm pessimistic by nature. I generally feel that the glass is half empty, but I'm going to try my best to remain positive about 2020. A lot of good things could happen this year. I just need to remember that nothing is going to happen unless I make an effort. I have a feeling that the days of accidental success are over.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3657

A loud thunderclap woke me up this morning. I looked outside and it wasn't raining. Weird. Something had changed though. It had gotten very cold again. These rapid weather changes are driving me crazy. You never know what to wear. Maybe we always had a succession of cold fronts sweeping away the warm weather every winter. I don't remember it this way though. Something seems different this year.

Janet returned home today. We'll resume our regular schedule and go visit the Dalmatians tomorrow. I'm not sure whether the five new dogs are at the kennel yet. They always spend at least a week at the vet after we pick them up to make sure that they don't have any hidden health issues. I think this group is relatively healthy. None of them have heartworms. Some do have intestinal worms though. Luckily, these are easy to treat.

It wasn't easy to get my 20,000 steps today. I was already tired when I returned from the gym. The gym was as piece of cake compared to my long walk though. The wind was brutal. The wind chill made the temperature seem much colder than it actually was. Whenever the wind stopped blowing, I felt overdressed. When it started up again, I was cold. I couldn't believe that I saw a few runners this afternoon wearing shorts and t-shirts. What planet do these people live on? I was wearing two coats and I was still cold.

I received a reply from a magazine I sent a query to last month. The e-mail was dated 2:37AM, which seemed a bit strange in itself. Basically, it was just a form letter saying the magazine always welcomes new submissions but that it was difficult to get published. OK. They said the article I submitted was not appropriate for the magazine. Of course it wasn't. I never submitted anything. I just attached a writing sample to my query as the magazine requested. This magazine goes to the bottom of my list. I have a feeling that it is going to be next to impossible to connect with these people.

If it warms up a bit, I'll definitely have to go up on the roof tomorrow. It rained a lot yesterday and there is bound to be a lot of residual water on the roof. When the pumps quit pumping, it doesn't mean that the roof is dry. There are far too many low spots for the two pumps to remove everything. No wonder I spend so much time daydreaming about traveling to space launches. Keeping this house from crumbling around me is a never ending chore.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Dalmatians again. I didn't visit the kennel while Janet was away because it was filled to capacity with Christmas boarders. When the kennel is full, we're just in the way. Most of the holiday boarders should be gone when we go up tomorrow. Hopefully, the dogs will be as glad to see us as we will be to see them.

The year is rapidly drawing to a close. I wonder if 2020 will be any different? It was really sad losing Dash this year, but there were some good things as well. Every year is this way. You've got to learn to take the bad with the good.

Petey & Greta are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3639

I'm still coming down to Earth. I spent most of the day catching up on things around the house. There was water on the roof that needed to be removed. I got the pumps running, but I'm not going up there until the weather gets warmer. It's time to start getting ready for the next Santa Paws photo event. I began by transferring last Sunday's pictures to my computer and charging up the camera batteries. Actually, we're pretty organized. There is not really that much to do at this point.

I'm trying to think of publications that might be interested in an article about Michoud and the Artemis Program. I've read tons of articles about this subject already. Would another article even be interesting? It might if I had the scoop on something. I don't. I may send out some query letters anyway tomorrow. I did send a few photos of the Artemis Day event to SpaceFlight Magazine. They told me they were interested in publishing them to illustrate a story they are already working on. We'll see if this is really true.

I went to the grocery store to get some fresh fruit so I could have my smoothie for breakfast tomorrow. I picked up something for dinner too. The refrigerator is looking empty. I also talked to someone at McDonald Observatory about writing for their StarDate magazine. Basically, I was not very focused today. I was all over the place.

The weather has gotten much colder. We keep going back and forth like this. One day I'm warm and the next day I'm freezing. I had to wear a winter coat when I took my walk this morning. I guess that's not so strange. It is Winter after all. It's just hard to get used to all these rapid changes. It was 70 degrees when I left for New Orleans.

It doesn't look like I'll be going to see the Starliner launch. I thought I had a good chance to get off the waitlist when the launch got postponed twice. The launch is so near Christmas now that I'm sure quite a few people are dropping out. The NASA folks told me that some attendees have indeed canceled, but they can't add anyone else to the roster because there is no time to complete the security checks. Jeez. I've gone through a ton of security checks already. How many of these things do you really need? Couldn't the government just keep a master file somewhere.

I'm not sure if I accomplished anything at all today, but at least I made an effort. I think that a picture I took of Hank at last Sunday's Santa Paws event has helped find him a home. I need to check on this and see if it is true. Hank does take a good picture. It would be cool if his Christmas picture resulted in an adoption.

I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. I still don't feel like going up on the roof. Maybe I'll get an answer to some of the e-mails I sent out today. If not, I can always take a long nap.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3527

I got a letter from the Editor at Sky & Telescope today saying that the magazine was interested in my proposal for an article about the McDonald Observatory Special Viewing Night program. The Editor didn't promise to publish anything, but did encourage me to write an article about my trip to the observatory and submit it to the magazine on completion. This was encouraging. A personal letter from the Editor saying "your proposed article sounds interesting" is definitely a step above those little "thank you for your submission" postcards I used to get from magazines when my articles were rejected.

It was another slow, very hot Summer day. I only took one walk today, but that was enough. Instead of an afternoon walk, I went to Northpark and got a haircut. The mall was having their annual auto show and it was amazing how many cars on display were over $100K. I wasn't surprised that prices for the Rolls Royce Wraith and the McLaren 720S Spider were in the stratosphere, but a lot of ordinary cars were out of reach as well. When I bought my first car, you could get a nice Ford Mustang for under $2500 and a VW Beetle for $1800. Jeez, a new Porsche 911 only cost around $6000. This would be one of those out of reach 100K+ cars today. And they say inflation isn't a problem.

Of course haircuts, food, clothing, and just about everything else are more expensive as well. You notice these things when you're living on a fixed income. Hopefully the economy stays strong. I'm too old for another financial crisis like we had in 2008.

My stylist asked me about the new breakfast restaurant I've been going to lately. Several other people have asked me about this place as well. Probably as soon as I tell everyone how much I like this place, they'll get a new chef and everything will fall apart. Nothing seems to last very long in the restaurant business. Hopefully this restaurant will continue to do well. I like having good food in the neighborhood.

I always feel better after a good haircut. Anything that makes you think you've got your act together is a plus. I didn't feel like shopping after my haircut was finished. I just returned home and did nothing. Apparently I don't have my act together after all. Basically it's too hot to embark on any sort of a major project. Sometimes just getting through these hot days is a major project in itself.

I don't think there'll be any major projects tomorrow. I need to clean out the greenhouse before repairs can start, but I think I've already missed this month's big trash day. I guess this task can wait another month. I don't want to attempt to take the old dehumidifier apart unless I've got a lot of time. I'm bound to encounter some surprises and the job will probably take three times as long as I expected. I can always think about what type of article I'm going to write. That's something I can do indoors. I can even think about writing lying on the bed. I might fall asleep, but it's worth the risk.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3507

The carpenter came over again to look at the greenhouse this morning. He asked me what I was trying to accomplish. Did I want a second office? A tiny guest house? A man cave? A woodworking shop? It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that I didn't have an objective. I just wanted to get rid of the eyesore the demolished greenhouse had become. It turns out that it would be a lot easier and less expensive to just make the place a nice greenhouse again. Glass was broken and the roof was gone, but most of the basic structure was intact. I guess thats what we're going to do. Neither Janet or I have much interest in gardening, but if we ever move, having a greenhouse in the back yard could be a selling point.

There were a lot of things I never considered when I was thinking of turning the greenhouse into something else. The first big hurdle would be putting in a concrete floor. Right now the place has a thick gravel floor covered with loose fitting bricks you can walk on. This is great for drainage in a greenhouse, but terrible for any kind of a living space. Due to the location of the greenhouse you'd have to use one of those giant concrete pump trucks to pour a concrete floor. I'm not even sure a concrete pump would work because of the location of several large Oak trees. Occasionally the greenhouse floods after heavy rains as well. Mostly this is because the place is right in the path of runoff from the flat roof of our house. Making the place cozy and watertight wouldn't be easy. It's just not worth the trouble. It looks like we are just going to repair the greenhouse and make it like it was before.

I sent off a few query letters to see if any magazines would be interested in an article about my upcoming trip to McDonald Observatory. I felt I needed to make the effort. I'm so lazy that I could easily go another year without writing anything at all. Who knows. It might make an interesting story. Or maybe not. I have no interest in writing a travel guide. Basically everything I write is all about me. Reading about my low key adventures is definitely an acquired taste. Not everyone is interested.

Is a trip to Alpine, Texas inherently any more interesting than a walk in the park? I'm not sure. Either way, you observe things and think about them. My daily walks take two hours and the road trip will take seven hours. Most of my travel west of Fort Worth has been in an airplane. From what I've seen out the window, West Texas is pretty flat and uneventful. If there is a story at all it will probably be found at the observatory itself. We'll see what happens.

It is hard to believe that it is already August. Where has this year gone? Time seems to speed by so fast now that you hate to waste it. Maybe that's why I'm thinking about travel and new experiences more than I have in prior years. In the grand scheme of things, there isn't that much time left. Maybe becoming a space journalist is kind of a worthy goal after all. There are lots of places to visit and things to do. When I was a kid I loved astronomy and read a lot of science fiction. Now, I've come full circle.

I skipped going out to breakfast last week. A restaurant breakfast is starting to sound appealing again. Pancakes, waffles, omelets, or Eggs Benedict? So many choices. It's odd that not a single restaurant I've even been to offers a fruit smoothie for breakfast. It's a shame. I've got a good recipe.

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day