Day 4835

What happened? Today was supposed to be nice and I was going to go up on the roof and look for leaks. It wasn't warm and nice at all. It was very chilly outside and there was an all day drizzle. It never rained very hard, but it never stopped either. I waited and waited to take my long walk and I finally gave up, put a raincoat on and walked in the rain.

Dawn had a minor setback this morning. When we took her out to pee in the yard, she saw the neighbor's dog in the back alley and started barking and running toward the fence. She always barks at anything in the alley, but this was an unfortunate time. She was running too fast and must have strained a muscle in her weak leg. She didn't fall, but she was limping a bit. 

We helped her back on the bed and she didn't want to get off again for quite a while. We had to feed her breakfast in bed again. Eventually today's Rimadyl pill kicked in and she started walking normally again. We don't want Dawn to be in pain, but we definitely would like her to take things easy for a while. We're making progress, but it's going to take a while for her to heal. We would have been fine this morning if Dawn hadn't seen the neighbors walking down the alley with their dog. You win some. You lose some. Dawn is a very protective dog. I can't seem to explain to her that it's not our alley.

I was the only one walking in the park today. I saw one man walking his dog but that was it. There were no bicycles and no joggers today. I did see a group of park employees laying new sod in a bare area. I guess they don't get the day off when it rains. My raincoat kept me surprisingly dry and I was able to complete my entire route. My shoes and socks got wet though. Why didn't I think to wear my waterproof Hoka boots? Days like today were exactly why I bought those boots. 

I got a form letter from my accountant today saying that since my tax materials arrived later than their self imposed in-house deadline, they might not have time to finish my return by April 15. They could need to file an extension on my behalf. First in, first out the letter said. What? I delivered the materials the same time I always do every year. It's never been a problem before. I don't want to file an extended return. I'll have to give the guy a call. My return is always pretty simple. I can't believe it would take them that much time to prepare it this year.

I'm so sick of all this rain. It just seems to go on and on. We're going to miss bulky trash pick up this month because the remaining leaves in the back yard are too wet to rake. The roof still isn't leaking, but I have very little faith in my repairs. It never gets dry enough for me to find and seal the remaining leak. Dawn doesn't like the rain either. It's really hard to get her to poop when the ground is wet. If we do managed to get her down to the park, the ground is slippery and that increases the danger of falling. The rain isn't over either. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, but there will be new storms arriving on Thursday and Friday.

Hopefully there will be no surprises tomorrow. Is a predictable life, a healthy dog, and a dry house too much to ask?

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4048

Today was busier than usual. I can't say that I accomplished a lot though. When I woke up, Janet had gone running and Dawn was nervously peering around the corner of the bedroom door at me. As soon as I got up, she hopped on the bed and reclaimed it for herself. It's unfortunate that she still doesn't feel comfortable being alone in the house with me, because that's how we spend most of our time together. Janet has always spent more time away from the house than I do. Eventually, I made the bed with Dawn sitting right in the middle. I've actually gotten pretty good at this. Dawn is often on the bed when I'm trying to make it.

Before getting started on my Saturday errands, I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. This periodic letter to a Luddite relative is the only reason I have to go to the post office anymore. It's the end of an era. I've spent a lot of time at the post office over the years. On my way to the grocery store, I stopped at my pharmacy to ask when they were going to get the vaccine. My pharmacist had no idea. He said that the website I'd signed up on was only to receive information about when the vaccine might become available. It was not a sign-up sheet to get vaccinated.

I found everything except for raspberries on my grocery list. I had to go to a second store to get the berries and ended up buying some tasty looking items at the deli counter for dinner. I also stopped at Fry's to get a nickel metal hydride backup battery for an audio recorder. I thought that this hard to replace battery was the reason that the time and date settings wouldn't stay in the recorder's memory. I had to disassemble the recorder to access the rechargeable battery, but it turned out that this wasn't the problem after all. The recorder's main battery had gone bad.  

After lunch we took Dawn on her one mile walk. She loves the one mile walk but definitely doesn't want to go any further. I continued to walk after Dawn and Janet returned to the house. That's what I do these days. I thought it might rain, so I wore the new raincoat I got for the last launch I attended in Florida.  The raincoat was a tight fit over my winter coat. I guess I should have gotten a larger size. Maybe it will just be a summer raincoat. It fits perfectly over a t-shirt.

I seldom get over 20,000 steps on a single walk, but I did today. With Dawn's new schedule it's more convenient to take one longer walk than the morning and evening walks I used to take. Hey, I'm flexible, even if I continue to do the same things over and over again. My new shoes are still comfortable, but they are already starting to show some wear. Expensive running shoes are a new thing for me, but they are much more comfortable than the longer lasting leather hiking boots I used to wear outdoors. I guess since all I do these days is walk, the cost of these shoes isn't exorbitant at all. It makes more sense to spend money on something I use every day than on audio recorders that sit on a shelf until all the batteries go bad.

There are severe thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. I'm never happy about the prospect of thunderstorms. I have too many memories of leaking roofs and falling trees in the backyard to appreciate this type of weather. I don't think the bad weather is going to start until sometime in the afternoon. Tomorrow's project for the day is to convince Dawn to walk in the morning.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3974

I got an e-mail today saying that NASA was providing a limited number of one-on-one interview opportunities with Crew-1 mission specialists prior to the launch. I signed up to interview the Commercial Crew Program Launch Integration Manager and was subsequentially approved. Good grief. Why did I do this? I guess I'm really a reporter now. I'll have to think of some intelligent questions to ask before I leave. Do I record the interview or make notes in a little reporter's notobook? Personally, I'd rather just listen and write down what I remembered later. That would probably look very unprofessional though. A lot of reporters I saw the last time I was at the Space Center carried little notebooks with them. Maybe I'll do that. I'd better remember to take something to write with too. I forgot to take a pen with me when I went to McDonald Observatory. A pen is definitely simpler than a tape recorder. Somehow I hate to add audio equipment to the camera gear I'm already taking.

I found a raincoat I liked at REI. I took a coupon with me that I got in the mail a few days ago which said I could save 20% on any item in the store. When I tried to use the coupon the clerk said it wasn't valid until three days from now. I bought the raincoat anyway, but I kind of felt cheated. If someone sends you a coupon you ought to be able to use it as soon as you receive it without reading a bunch of fine print with a magnifying glass. Janet said that maybe I should have bought a larger size, but the coat looked good in the store mirror. It's going to be warm at the Space Center anyway. It might be wet, but with temperatures in the 80's I don't think I'll need a sweater under the raincoat.

I didn't feel like getting up this morning. I'm definitely not a morning person. I usually wait until I hear Janet call out "thirty minutes" before I get out of bed. Dawn and Janet are always up before I am, but thirty minutes gives me enough time to make the bed and get dressed before we leave on our morning walk. It was pretty warm this morning. I'm always surprised at how different each day begins. Yesterday I needed a warm coat. Today a t-shirt was fine.

I got Emma up on the Dalmatian Rescue website today. It wasn't really necessary to add her to the site since she is already adopted, but people are always interested in learning about new dogs in the program. I used to work on several animal rescue websites, along with my regular clients, but the Dalmatian site is the only one I've got left.  I think if I didn't update this site periodically, I would forget how to work with HTML documents entirely. It's kind of alarming how much I've forgotten already.

I'm not going to get my special N-95 masks in time for my trip. The company said that they would refund the fee I paid to expedite my order, but that they were running behind and wouldn't be able to ship for at least another week. Why did I not anticipate this? I thought I ordered in plenty of time, but I should have known by now that nothing goes smoothly in 2020. Oh, well. I have other masks. We bought a ton of them back when toilet paper was in short supply.

Tropical storm ETA is less of a worry now, but I'm sure I'll find other things to worry about. Lets face it, I'm just not a good traveler. Hey, what are you going to do? You can't see many stars in Dallas and they definitely don't launch rockets here.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3973

Dalmatian Rescue has a puppy. We were excited to go meet Emma this afternoon because it's been a while since we've had a puppy in the program. I took my camera to take pictures for the website but it was only a formality. Emma has already been adopted. We must have a waiting list for puppies because they get adopted almost instantly. This four month old bundle of energy will be going to a great home. I'm glad we got a chance to meet her.

Colt is back at the kennel, but he is not well yet. The vet discovered that he has kidney problems and he is on a special diet now. We will be watching him carefully and hopefully his blood work will improve in the weeks ahead. Two of our own dogs eventually died of kidney failure so we know that any form of kidney disease is not something to be taken lightly. There is no cure for chronic kidney disease, but depending on the severity of the disease and how early you begin treatment, a dog can still live a comfortable life for quite a while. 

Charlie is healthy as a horse, but he could lose a few pounds. He's been at the kennel for so long that you can tell that he feels like this is his permanent home. I'm always surprised at how happy Charlie seems. He actually appears to like living at the kennel. Charlie is very smart and we enjoy teaching him new tricks. He'd probably already have a home by now if he wasn't so unpredictable. Let's just say that I wouldn't want to be sleeping in bed next to Charlie.

It was so muggy on our morning walk that we couldn't decide whether it had rained during the night or was about to rain later in the day. It's amazing how much the weather changes from day to day around here. You can never decide what to wear in the morning. The overcast skies cleared by the time Janet and I went to the kennel, but it remained a bad allergy day. I felt like I had pepper in my nose while we were walking this morning. Tomorrow I may have no allergy symptoms at all.

I've been watching how tropical storm ETA has been developing. It's moving away from Florida now and the latest forecast says that the storm may head for the Florida panhandle rather than doubling back to head toward Orlando. The weather actually looks pretty good for launch day now, but the forecast doesn't fill me with confidence. I don't think anyone really knows where this storm is going to go next. I don't think I have the temperament to live in a coastal area. The tornado warnings we get here are bad enough. Hurricanes are much harder to escape.

I walked into the bathroom adjoining the office this afternoon and saw a rather large lizard staring at me. How the hell to these animals get into the house? First it was a bird and now I have a lizard to deal with. I couldn't just open a window and let the lizard fly out. I had to catch it. Have you ever tried to catch a lizard? They can be pretty fast. I eventually trapped the lizard under a piece of Tupperware and was able to remove it from the house. I'm tired of dealing with invading critters, but I'm sure this lizard won't be the last thing I have to catch.

I may have to go buy a lightweight raincoat tomorrow. The tropical storm may have moved to the West, but it's probably still going to be raining when I arrive in Florida. I had a super light raincoat from my backpacking days, but I can't find it anywhere. All I remember about it was that it was blue and weighed almost nothing. I don't know why I even try to find things I haven't seen in forty years. I can't find stuff I bought last month.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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