Day 4768

It's been a very busy day. I made it to Florida and am looking forward to getting a little sleep before leaving early tomorrow morning to pick up my press credentials. The day started normally enough. We gave Dawn her sunrise walk and then I had my regular breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit. It didn't take me too long to finish packing, so I even had time to take a short walk in the park before leaving for the airport. Dawn is a smart dog and she knew something was different today. She seemed a little nervous when I left, but I talked to Janet later and she said Dawn was fine. Friday is grocery day, and when Janet got back to the house with groceries Dawn was a happy camper again. She'll probably be even happier when she grabs my spot on the bed tonight.

I can't say that Southwest Airlines is fine yet. They've still got some work to do to get back to normal. I wish they'd told me that they'd closed a big section of the parking garage. I didn't discover this until I was already inside the garage and couldn't get out again. It took me forever to find a parking place. I had to park in a completely different area and I'll probably have a hard time finding my car when I return.

Flights to Orlando are always completely full. It takes a long time for people to board and even longer for them to find a place for their luggage. There are usually tons of kids on the plane and I ended up sitting next to a very talkative teenager today. The kid seemed scared of flying and every time he heard a strange noise he kept asking me what the noise meant. His Mom gave him something to eat before going to her seat in the back of the plane and within ten minutes the kid had dropped his sandwich on the floor and managed to spill a big Diet Coke all over himself. Luckily the bottle wasn't pointed toward me or I would have been a sticky mess.

Even though we left Dallas late, we arrived in Orlando right on time. The pilots must have just flown a little faster while they were in the air. I always try to get a rental car with in-dash GPS but these things don't seems to exist anymore. I didn't feel like messing with CarPlay, so I just drove to my Airbnb by memory. I found the place just fine even though it was dark when I arrived. I've been to Titusville enough times now that it's beginning to seem more familiar to me than Dallas.

For some reason I've only got a one hour window to pick up my credentials early tomorrow morning. I need to be sure to set an alarm tonight because I'm tired and it would be easy to oversleep. After I pick up my badge, I will head over to the Press Site where a bus will take the launch photographers to the pad to set remote cameras and get some close up photos of the rocket before launch. These trips out to the launch pad are always my favorite part of a trip to Kennedy Space Center.

The Falcon Heavy launch itself is early tomorrow evening. It looks like it is going to be a clear day, but it will be very cold by Florida standards. The weather forecast says it will only be 36 degrees in the morning. That's colder than it is in Dallas right now. I brought some extra sweaters, but I'm beginning to think I didn't dress warmly enough. I went to a nearby grocery store after I arrived to pick up some food for my stay and it is already pretty chilly outside. This isn't like Florida at all.

I"d better post this and get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4693

It's been a long day. I'm back in Titusville again for another launch. This time it is a Falcon Heavy carrying a secret payload for the Defence Department. I have no idea what is being launched into orbit, but I do know that the two side boosters are coming back to land at Kennedy Space Center. Seeing these two rockets return side by side preceded by a dual sonic boom is always pretty spectacular.

It's a good thing I know my way around the Space Coast fairly well by now. It's impossible to find a rental car with an in-dash GPS anymore. The guy at the terminal said that I could look for myself and see if I could find one, but after starting up about ten different cars, I just gave up. No GPS for me this time. I made it to the hotel OK and I know where I'm going tomorrow, so all is well.

The day started normally enough. We took Dawn on a sunrise walk, came home and ate a big breakfast, and then I finished packing my bags. There was plenty of time to take Dawn on her Sunday outing before I had to leave for the airport. It was such a pretty day that it was a shame that I had to spend the day flying. I really enjoy my time at the space center, but I don't particularly enjoy traveling. 

I have a very slow Internet connection tonight, but I certainly have a fancy room. I think the hotel put me in the wrong room by mistake, because I certainly didn't reserve a three room suite. This place is huge. I'll have to check at the front desk in the morning and make sure I'm not paying extra for this. This hotel is very nice. It is brand new and is only a few miles from the space center. Too bad that it is almost always completely booked.

Tomorrow morning I'll go pick up my credentials at the Press Accreditation Office and then head over to the Press Site to join the folks setting up remote cameras. I don't set up remote cameras myself, but I like to get on the bus with the rest of the launch photographers. NASA doesn't 't let you get on the bus if you aren't actually going to set up remote cameras, but Space X doesn't mind. This is often the best part of attending a launch. You are able to spend several hours very close to the launch pad and there are many opportunities to take some great pictures. 

The launch itself is early Tuesday morning. I like daytime launches a lot better because you can see a lot more. The weather forecast looks good too. Lets just hope that nothing goes wrong with the rocket between now and Tuesday. I've got two choices of where to view the launch. I'll ask the guys on the remote bus tomorrow which location is best. 

I need to remember to set an alarm for tomorrow morning. The Press Accreditation Office is only open for two hours. I'd hate to have come all this way and miss getting my credentials.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4507

It's good to be back on Mount Locke. It was a long, tiring drive out to the observatory, but there wasn't much road construction and I didn't encounter any accidents. I've made this trip so often that I'm starting to remember lots of little things along the way. I-20 isn't exactly a scenic drive, but there are lots of wind turbines, a huge oil refinery, and mile long freight trains that run parallel to the freeway. Once you get out of Dallas/Fort Worth, the traffic is mostly large trucks. I don't know which is worse: big city congestion or 500 miles of non-stop eighteen wheelers.

This wasn't the best rental car I've had. The seats weren't very comfortable and there was no GPS. The car did have Apple CarPlay though, so I was able to use the GPS on my phone. Apple Maps actually does a good job of tracking and route planning. I'm not sure that this is good for your phone though. My phone felt hot after being on all day. I think it's going to be harder and harder to find cars with in-dash GPS in the future. Your phone basically provides everything you need.

I always forget things when I travel. It doesn't matter how carefully I pack. Something important always gets left behind. I took two cameras and the Polaris star tracker with me, but I forgot to take my tripod. Jeez. How could I forget this? A tripod is pretty essential. You definitely can't do astrophotography without one. I feel stupid to forget something this important, but that's what happens when you start to rush things so you can leave on time. Hopefully I can borrow a tripod from one of my friends out here.

It's a good thing that I did leave early because when I arrived at the Astronomer's Lodge I discovered that they had put me in the cottage instead of the lodge itself. Some of you might actually like the cottage, but getting there involves a lengthy climb up some very steep steps. The manager had already left for the day when I arrived, but the cook was still there and she was able to transfer my reservation to an available room in the lodge. I'm glad that everything worked out because I wasn't looking forward to hauling my heavy suitcase up those steep steps.

I walked for a couple of miles on the mountain after dinner this evening. It's amazingly quiet up here. There are no traffic noises, no airplanes flying overhead, and very few people. Some of the resident astronomers live on the mountain, but you rarely see them. Other than talking to the cook about my reservation, I haven't spoken to anyone. There is one other car parked outside, so at least one other person is staying in the lodge. One of the nice things about staying here is that meals are included. I'm pretty sure they had to include meals to get anyone to stay here. There aren't any restaurants for miles and miles.

I'm going to be very busy with volunteer work on Friday and Saturday, but tomorrow is kind of a free day. I'll try to catch up on my sleep and then go do some personal photography. There's lots of wildlife up here and the scenery is spectacular. If I can find a tripod to borrow, I'm finally going to try out the star tracker. After all the time I've spent monkeying around with it, I really hope it works.

It's been a long day and it's about time to get some sleep. Before I go to bed I'm going to go outside and check out the sky. I'm not expecting much since it was cloudy while I was eating dinner. Things change quickly on the mountain though. Who knows what I might see.

Bowser is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4506

I'm making progress. I picked up my rental car and I'm almost finished packing. I don't know why it takes me so long to get ready, but it does. There always seem to be surprises. I decided to take the star tracker with me, but I had trouble getting it to work today. I think I set up everything the same way I did the previous time, but I must have done something wrong. It took me forever to get the tracker working properly. 

The rental car was an even bigger surprise. There are usually dozens of cars to choose from. This time there were only three. The entire lot was almost empty. This was an airport facility that usually has hundreds of cars. None of the available cars had GPS, so I will have to use my phone again. The car was smaller than what I wanted as well. Oh, well. It is what it is. I thought that travel would become easier when Covid restrictions were lifted. It actually seems more difficult now.

I always have trouble packing when I go to West Texas. Is it going to be hot or cold?  Usually it's a bit of both. It can be quite warm during the day, but freezing cold at night. I'll take my winter coats again, because I'll be helping at star parties and I remember being pretty chilly during these events. Do I need to take sweaters too? I probably just need to get a bigger suitcase. This time my things don't need to fit in an overhead bin on a plane. They just have to fit in the trunk.

I wore my new boots on my long walk today. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to regret wearing them on the trip. So far, so good. I've only put about 10 miles on the boots so far, but they seem comfortable. I don't think I'm going to get blisters or anything. I'll take my dependable Bondi-7 shoes as a backup. I really don't want to let foot pain ruin this trip.

I think our bad weather is behind us. It looks like clear skies for the rest of the week. I think the weather is going to be nice out at the observatory as well. At least the forecast looks good for Ft. Davis. Clear skies are fairly essential if you are having a Dark Skies Festival. It's a very long drive just to get rained out. Unfortunately, this has happened to me before. Let's just hope that everything goes as planned.

I will be getting up early tomorrow, so I was planning on getting to bed equally early tonight. I don't think that's going to happen. I've still got a lot to do after I post tonight's blog entry. This happens every single time I travel. I woke up this morning thinking that I've got plenty of time to get everything done. Where did the day go? I really didn't do that much. I took my walk. I tested the star tracker. I picked up the rent car. Oh, I tossed a few things in a suitcase too. Unfortunately, I'm not done yet. I'm not even close.

I'm still having second thoughts about this trip, but I'm definitely going. I seldom look forward to new experiences, but I always enjoy the memories afterwards. I need to remember that I love this place. I just wish it wasn't so far away.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4492

We've been under severe storm warnings for most of the day, but once again nothing materialized. When the front passed through our part of town, we hardly even got any rain. For some unknown reason these bad storms usually pass either to the north or the south of us. We seem to be in an odd sweet spot right in the middle. There definitely was some bad weather in the area with multiple reports of tornados on the ground. I hope we can keep avoiding these things. We've been lucky for a long time.

I made rental car reservations for my trip to the observatory. It's a little early, but with rental car shortages everywhere it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm still a little apprehensive about this trip. I don't have the stamina I once had. I'm sure everything will be fine though. I'm definitely not the only old guy out there.

I completed my full six mile route today. Once again, I wasn't terribly fast, but I made it. I got rained on a bit, but luckily I was very near a shelter. This shower only lasted five minutes, so I was quickly on my way again. I've mentioned several times that there weren't any wildflowers this year. I was wrong. The same flowers are blooming that bloom every Spring. They're just later this year. The frequent rain we've been having lately has caused everything to turn green in a hurry. It's too bad we don't get a little rain every month. We seem to get our yearly rainfall all at once. By July the park will be dry and brown again.

I got the star tracker out again this afternoon. There have been several software and firmware updates since I last used this thing and I didn't want to get too far behind. I made the firmware updates successfully, although I never like to update firmware. There are too many tales of people bricking their cameras or computers by inadvertently doing something wrong. My main worry is a power outage during an update. I still haven't mastered the Polaris tracker, but I definitely don't want to brick it before I get a few decent pictures.

I feel sorry for the star tracker employees. I think they live in one of the cities that the Chinese have locked down. I certainly haven't heard much from them lately. I'm really glad they managed to get my tracker in the mail before everything started heading south. Deliveries are months behind schedule now and many people in certain countries still haven't received their orders. Dealing with Chinese companies directly is definitely different. There is a custom camera cage I'd like to order from another Chinese company, but I can't figure out how to use their website. I've seen a lot of websites, but this is definitely something new. Maybe I should ask the star tracker guys how it works.

I wish I had more energy. When Janet was ready to take Dawn on her afternoon walk, I had just returned from my six mile walk and was too tired to come along. If I had joined them, I would have gotten 20,000 steps again. Oh, well. I probably needed a nap more than 20,000 steps. Hopefully, our bad weather is over now. I'm really tired of rain.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4486

It's been a long day, but I made it to the airport on time, had a smooth flight to Orlando, drove to Cocoa Beach to pick up my press credentials, and then checked into my hotel in Titusville. I wasn't able to get a rent car with GPS this time, but luckily I know my way around the area by now.

I ran into several people I know while I was being credentialed and they suggested that I go to Playlinda Beach this evening to get some good pictures of the Artemis-1 rocket while it was sitting on the pad. It sounded like a good idea to me, especially since I didn't have anything else to do this afternoon. I had to renew my annual pass to get into the Canaveral National Seashore, but they have a special senior rate that is quite reasonable. The National Seashore is beautiful and I always enjoy visiting there. There were several areas near the water that had a clear view of launch pads 39a and 39b. It was amazing how much bigger the SLS rocket was on 39B than the Falcon-9 on the nearby 38A. The Artemis rocket is huge. Hopefully, I will get some better pictures tomorrow, but at least I got something today.

Since I don't go to concerts or sporting events, airports are about the only place where I see a lot of people.  I'm not a big fan of crowds and seeing a cross section of humanity like this is kind of frightening. It makes me appreciate my solitary existence. There's certainly nothing glamorous about flying anymore. It's kind of like taking the bus. Now that everyone has decided that Covid is over, airplanes are full. I enjoyed it more when the airlines blocked off the center seats in early 2020, but those days are over. Flying is a zoo again.

The clerk at the Hertz counter told me that none of their cars have in-dash GPS anymore. Evidently it is no longer a desired feature, since most people use their phones for everything. I ended up using Google Maps on my phone to find where I needed to pick up my credentials. It worked surprisingly well, although you can't really see your phone while you are driving. I still like an in-dash GPS system a lot better. Who would have thought that a GPS in your car would end up being old-school and only appreciated by old farts like me.

Tomorrow looks like a busy day. We get to go out to the launch pad and take some close up pictures of the Falcon-9 rocket. I think that Axiom Space is having a press conference in the afternoon as well. A lot of the space photographers set up remote cameras near the launch pad, but I've never had the nerve to do this myself. I've heard too many tales of cameras getting ruined by everything from rain to rocket exhaust. Some photographers build special enclosures to protect their cameras, but these tend to be heavy and bulky. It's not something you'd want to fly with.

I did pretty well at remembering what to pack, but I really should have brought a pair of shorts. When I was out at Playlinda Beach this afternoon it got pretty hot. It's hard to think of every contingency, especially if you like to travel light. I did bring a raincoat which will come in handy if it rains tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be nice for the launch on Friday though. I'm hoping that the forecast is accurate this time.

I wonder if Dawn will miss me while I'm gone. I suspect not. I bet she's already claimed my spot on the bed.

Paxton is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4483

Another nice Spring day. We walked a little later this morning so I got to sleep in a bit. Dawn enjoyed her early walk and enjoyed getting a little bacon with our Sunday breakfast even more. It was a relaxing morning, but the tranquility didn't last long. After breakfast I was forced to start packing for my trip.

I hate packing, but I try to be methodical about it. First I make sure all my devices are fully charged. Then I transfer the documents I need from the desktop computer to the laptop. Most of these documents have been printed as well, but I like to have a backup. I did a load of laundry because some of the clothes I wanted to take were dirty. I located the cables and plugs I need and put them in a bag. I put my meds, toothpaste, razor, other toiletries in another bag, and then put some orthotics in my new Hoka shoes which I will be taking on the trip. I did this off and on during the day and I'm still not completely done. Should I take a jacket? I usually do but the forecast says it will be very warm in Titusville. I'll definitely take a light raincoat. It always rains at some point during these trips.

We had a nice Sunday outing with Dawn this afternoon. It was warm, but it still felt like Spring instead of Summer. Dawn seems to like getting two walks during the day, but she still doesn't like riding in the car. Each of these walks is a little over a mile. Dawn does pretty well, but I don't think she would want to go much further. As usual, we concluded our Sunday outing with ice cream cones. I wonder if all dogs like ice cream. All of ours certainly did.

I didn't take a long walk today because I still had packing to do. I did take a short little walk later this afternoon just to make sure I got at least 10,000 steps. It's hard to meet my step goals while I'm traveling. Sometimes I'll walk after dinner at the hotel. If I'm early at the airport, I'll walk up and down the concourse until my flight boards. Launch events are usually pretty busy though. There always seems to be some place that I need to be.

I hope the trip goes smoothly. Yesterday a ton of flights to Florida got canceled because of storms in the area. Hopefully that is over now. The Artemis-1 wet dress rehearsal got delayed because of lightning strikes and a problem with fans on the mobile launcher. Since the Axiom-1 rocket is on an adjacent launch pad, I hope this doesn't foul things up. The last thing I want at this point is to add extra days to my trip. Everything is too expensive as it is.

I wish I'd booked a later flight, but I really didn't have much choice. I need to pick up my press credentials at a place I've never been before and I wanted to allow enough time to get lost. I'll have to get up very early but I can always sleep on the plane. I always fear that I won't be able to get a car with GPS at the Orlando rental car lot. Oddly, cars with in-dash GPS are surprisingly hard to find. I can't imagine driving around in a strange city without GPS these days. How did we used to do this?

I'd better go finish packing before it gets too late. I'd really like to go to bed early and get some sleep tonight.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4159

I'm back in Dallas. It's been a long and interesting day. The weather wasn't very cooperative Thursday evening. Around sunset there were thunderstorms on the southern horizon and a thick blanket of clouds overhead. We kept checking the forecast, but it didn't look promising. While it was still light outside, our group got a sneak preview of a new telescope prototype from Planewave Instruments. The company wanted to test this scope under McDonald Observatory's famous dark skies. Unfortunitely, the fancy computerized telescope wasn't having any better luck than we were. The only telescope that could penetrate the clouds was a nearby radio telescope that would have made a perfect backdrop for the photos I was planning.

We began to see lightning and as the thunderstorm got closer we retreated to the Astronomer's Lodge to learn more about PixInsight and the intricacies of processing astrophotography images. It was still cloudy around midnight and most of the group decided to call it quits and headed back to their hotels, Airbnb rentals, or campsites for the night. I was the lucky one, since I was already home. I walked to my room, set an alarm for 3 AM and tried to get a few hours sleep. The predawn skies cleared a bit yesterday. Maybe they would do the same thing today.

I dozed off for a few hours and when the alarm on my phone rang, I got up and went outside. It was completely clear. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. I dressed quickly and set my cameras up in in a few choice locations. Since I had the luxury of time this morning, I was more methodical than I was yesterday and tried to take my shots properly. I didn't try to photograph any galaxies or nebula, because I knew I would have difficulty finding them without help from my astronomer friends. The Milky Way was still there though and it looked even more spectacular than it did yesterday.

The picture you see here is straight out of the camera and hasn't been processed yet. I'm standing in front of the Astronomer's Lodge and looking up at the 107 inch Harlan J. Smith Telescope. This should make a nice shot when I have finished processing it. I stayed outside until dawn, photographing the sky from a variety of different angles. It is so beautiful on top of Mount Locke when the sky is clear and the Milky Way is rising. I love this place.

There was no point in going back to bed when the stars began to fade. I fixed a pot of coffee and made myself some breakfast. It is so quiet in the morning at the Astronomer's Lodge. The staff doesn't arrive until later in the morning and I essentially had the place to myself. After breakfast, I packed my bags and got ready for the long drive home. I stopped at the observatory fire station to pump up my tire again since it had lost five pounds of pressure overnight. By 8 AM I was on the road.

As I made the 50 mile drive North through the Davis Mountain to head East on I-10 I didn't see a single car. I almost hit a deer though. The deer are everywhere up here. Luckily, even though my rental car had a bad tire, it had good brakes. No deer were harmed. 

It probably wasn't a great idea to make a 550 mile drive with no sleep, but I made it back to Dallas in one piece. I arrived in town during rush hour but the traffic wasn't as bad as I expected. I don't think anyone works on Friday anymore. It was still a shock to see so many cars though. I really prefer the solitude of the Davis Mountains. I'm sure I'll be back again, even though I hate the drive. The Davis Mountains have become my happy place.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4158

Last night didn't go as planned. The fog lifted during the day and by mid-afternoon the sky was completely clear. Everyone was feeling pretty good when we assembled for a lesson on how to properly align our star trackers and telescopes around 5 PM. We ate dinner around 6 PM and almost immediately afterwards a thick bank of low fog rolled in out of nowhere. The weather reports were still saying that we had clear skies, but maybe fog doesn't show up on weather radar. At any rate there was nothing to see. We drove to the top of Mount Locke to see if we could get above the clouds, but the fog was even worse up there. The fog kept getting thicker and just before midnight we gave up and called it a day.

I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge and went to bed. About 4 AM I woke up to go to the bathroom. Since I was up, I decided to go outside and see if the skies had cleared. There were still clouds, but there were patches of clear sky. This looked promising. I quickly got dressed and grabbed a camera and tripod. Whenever I saw a patch of clear sky I took a series of photos. Sometimes a clear patch would last about thirty seconds. Other times the sky was clear for five or ten minutes. As it turned out, 4 AM was the perfect time to see the core of the Milky Way. For a while I was able to see the entire arch of the Milky Way as it crossed the sky. The photos I took weren't as as spectacular as the ones I took last October, but I felt good that the evening wasn't a total disaster. 

My little window of opportunity didn't last long. After I felt comfortable that I had captured something, I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge to change camera lenses. I was only inside a few minutes, but when I returned to my tripod, there were no stars. The fog had become very thick again. I went back to sleep and when I woke up this morning, the mountain was still shrouded in a thick fog. The humidity has been very high for the past few days. This is very rare for West Texas. The humidity was 90% this morning which is almost unheard of at the observatory.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I don't really feel tired. I ate breakfast and then circled the mountain again like I did yesterday. It was interesting to watch the fog slowly lift as I walked. Each time I completed a loop around the mountain I could see a little more of the terrain below. It was actually quite beautiful to watch the fog lift and the sky gradually become blue. 

So far, today looks like an exact repeat of yesterday's weather. The skies are completely clear now and it's easy to feel optimistic about observing conditions tonight. Things can change quickly in the mountains though as we learned last night. If it's clear tonight, we'll probably skip some of the planned classroom time and try to catch up on the observing we missed yesterday. At least I know how to use my star tracker now. If I can see Polaris tonight I"m going to set the thing up and try to step up my game a bit. I feel more confident now. All we need are some clear skies.

I had a bit of a scare yesterday. When I was driving to the top of Mount Locke after dinner, a warning light came on saying that my left front tire was very low and ended to be filled immediately. Not good. I was miles away from a gas station that was probably closed anyway. I had visions of waking up in the morning with a flat tire and no spare. Luckily one of my astronomer friends came to the rescue. He said that the observatory fire station had an air compressor where I could fill the tire 24-hours a day. So far, so good.  I'm going to check all the tires again before I return to Dallas. I don't think anyone even bothers to maintain rent cars anymore. They just fill them with gas and send them out on the road again. The last time I rented a car, a warning light came on saying that I was low on oil. This time one of my tires had only half the air pressure of the other three tires. After all you pay for rent cars these days, you'd think they could do better.

I'm really hoping that we get some better weather tonight. It's going to be a long time before I get to see dark skies like this again. Clouds are easy to see in Dallas. I was looking forward to seeing stars.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4135

I slept well last night and my back is feeling better. This should have been enough to motivate me to get out of the house, but the car never left the driveway. Hey, I can always go vote and run my errands later. Oddly, my daily walks don't seem to count as "getting out of the house" anymore. These walks have become as firmly entrenched in an inflexible daily routine as the morning smoothie and the nightly blog post.

Don't think I wasn't busy however. Today was a day to pay bills. There were lots of them. I paid the bills online and then entered all the information in Quickbooks. Credit card bills take the longest, because I enter all the individual transactions as well. I don't know what it proves, but I think I've always been meticulous about keeping records. The Quickbooks files, the blog, the Fitbit statistics: they are all just records.

I also reserved a rent car for my trip to McDonald Observatory. The trip isn't that soon, but I keep reading articles about how rental cars are in short supply now. Even the rental car website urged me to make my reservation immediately, so I wouldn't be disappointed. I guess new cars at dealerships are in short supply as well. Blame the pandemic. Our supply chain apparently doesn't deal well with disruptions. Toilet paper, computer chips, my favorite cheese, Clorox wipes, and rental cars: it appears we are running out of everything.

I thought I'd take advantage of a free upgrade offer when I was reserving my car. Nope. The car I wanted doesn't qualify for an upgrade. The same thing happened a few weeks ago when I saw my running shoes on sale. Nope again. The brand was on sale, but not the particular shoe I wear for foot pain. This always happens. The things I like are never on sale. There's always some kind of camera equipment on sale, but I think I've paid full price for every lens I own.

Dawn was in a good mood today. We walked her early because Janet had things to do in the afternoon. She took the change of schedule well and didn't balk or freeze at all. I even thought she was going to walk longer for a while, but at the very end of her one mile loop, she turned and headed for home. Later in the day, Dawn sat out in the back yard with me for at least thirty minutes with no fear or hesitation whatsoever. She still won't eat her dinner if I'm out in the kitchen with her, but it's easy enough to go back to the office until she's finished. Whatever works is my motto. We all have issues and I really don't want to make life difficult for Dawn.

I spend enough time making life difficult for myself. Lately, I've been bothered that nobody is replying to my e-mails. NASA has never responded to my questions about accreditation. The magazines I write for haven't responded to queries about new articles. I haven't heard from my sister in several months. The computer memory I ordered is still lost as well. I probably just have too much time on my hands. Busy people don't spend nearly as much time writing as I do.

I'm glad I fixed the furnace. It's supposed to get down to near freezing tonight. What's that all about? All the plants that have been trying to recover from our big Winter freeze are now going to be hit with a late Spring frost. I could tell that a front was moving in when I took my long walk this afternoon. It was chilly, even thought the sky was clear and blue. With a light jacket, it was still an enjoyable walk. I picked up the pace quite a bit today and had very little foot pain. Not a bad day. Theres nothing big going on at the moment, but sometimes the little things are enough.

Wilson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3947

It's time to get serious about packing. I really haven't started yet. I'm the absolute worst about travel planning. I wait till the last possible minute. I forget things. I can't even decide what to take. I'm still undecided about which cameras to bring with me and I have no idea where I'm going to eat breakfast. There were several restaurants that I tried to call, but nobody answers their phone anymore. I can't even get the ranch where I'm staying to answer their phone. They did send me a confirmation letter a few days ago, but I still have fears of arriving late and finding the entire place dark and locked up.

I did pick up my rental car, but even that was a little weird. When Janet dropped me off at the Enterprise office, I quickly discovered that the place was empty and locked up. What now? I wandered around aimlessly for a while, looking for an entrance and finally a maintenance guy pointed to the nearby Alamo office and told me, "You have to go in there." For reasons that were never explained to me, Alamo was renting cars for National and Enterprise too. There was a small staff that didn't know the available cars very well, but eventually I found something with in-dash GPS and blind spot warning lights on the mirrors. I never care what kind of car I get, but I always make sure it has GPS and blind spot indicators. Hopefully, this car has cruise control as well. There are very long stretches of flat uneventful roads in Texas.

We had another nice walk this morning. Dawn loves these cool Fall mornings. The temperature was in the high 50's when we left the house and didn't climb past the mid 60's for the rest of the morning. When the temperature remains low, Dawn is back to her old self. She didn't even seem that tired when we returned to the house. 

I wish ground fog was easier to photograph. There was lots of fog early this morning. It's very pretty visually, but it often seems to disappear in the camera. I did notice that all the Pelicans were back this morning. We haven't seen the female Muscovy duck in over a week though. Hopefully, we will never see the coyotes when Dawn is with us. I don't want to tangle with a pack of coyotes.

Now that I'm on the press list for both ULA and Space X, I'm starting to get lots of notices about upcoming launches. It's kind of an abundance of riches. I could never afford to go to all these launches, but it's nice to know I'm invited. I still plan to attend the Space X Crew 1 launch, but it hasn't been rescheduled yet. It was scheduled to launch on Halloween at one point. I hope the launch isn't pushed back to Thanksgiving now. Janet an I would still like to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. It's a shame that buffets have probably disappeared forever. A lavish buffet brunch on Thanksgiving is the best.

I might not have WiFi on my trip. Yikes. The observatory is still officially closed and the astrophotography workshop is being held outdoors. There will be no fast Internet at the Astronomer's Lodge this time. The remote ranch cabin where I'll be staying probably doesn't have WiFi either. This presents a real problem for a daily blogger like me. What do I do if I can't upload a post each evening? I might have to write my entries offline and then post them retroactively to the correct day when I return. I hope it doesn't come to this. I've gone a long, long time without missing a day.

We'll see what happens. I wish I was more of a free spirit and wasn't so apprehensive about travel. I usually enjoy myself after I have arrived at my destination, but getting there can be a bitch. Hopefully, this trip will go smoothly.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day