Day 3958

I almost went to the gym today. Then I remembered that there was still water on the roof. It's going to rain again soon, but I knew that along with the water, there was a ton of leaves, acorns, and pecans that needed to be cleared away. All this debris makes little dams when it rains and turns the roof into a series of duck ponds. I eventually got everything cleared away and ready for the next rain. I'm sure that I burned a lot more calories than I would have if I'd gone to the gym.

We slept in a little late this morning, but it didn't seem to bother Dawn at all. When I finally woke up, she was still curled up under her blanket and in no hurry to get up. We had a nice walk, but nobody set any speed records. By the time we returned home it was almost time for lunch. Since we still hadn't had breakfast yet, we fixed pancakes and sausages instead. 

The whole day was kind of slow. Janet baked an apple pie and I didn't do much of anything. After spending a couple of hours cleaning up the mess on the roof, I didn't have the energy for anything else. I did get 20,000 steps today though. Two long walks and some roof duty. That was about it.

I'm convinced that the virus is spreading through large family gatherings. Every time I walk in the park I see very large family picnics and barbecues. Everybody has learned to be wary of strangers but they are a little too comfortable with people they know. I'm not terribly close to my own family, so it's hard for me to understand why people like to gather together. It's happening though. I have a feeling that weddings, funerals, reunions, and birthday parties are far more dangerous than trips to the grocery store.

I washed my favorite drywall mask in the washing machine today and now it smells like soap instead of sawdust. I don't know what this thing is made of. It's not paper and it's not fabric. I thought it might disintegrate in the wash, but it held up pretty well. The mask looks a lot better now. It suffered a mishap out at the observatory when I forgot I had it on and tried to take a bite of a taco.

I still need to order a replacement for the part that fell off my tripod at the observatory. Luckily, the missing piece is not very expensive. Ordinarily, I would have taken care of this by now but I'm operating on a retiree's clock these days. There is no sense of urgency about anything. One of these days I will need the tripod again, but not this week. It's weird to have lost my desire to continually acquire new and better gear. Since I've become interested in astrophotography, it would be tempting to upgrade my camera gear. There are definitely things I could improve. The existing cameras are more than adequate though. Why bother. I don't really have the money anyway.

I will need the cameras tomorrow. There is a new Dalmatian up at the kennel. He's going through heartworm treatment now, but will be available for adoption as soon as he's healthy again. I'll need to get him up on the website soon. At least Charlie isn't all alone any more.

I wish that NASA would reschedule the Crew-1 launch. I'd like to know what I'm going to be doing in November. The launch was originally scheduled to take place on Halloween. I hope the new schedule doesn't move the launch to Thanksgiving. I'd hate to miss Thanksgiving dinner. We'll see what happens. At least I know what I'll be doing tomorrow. It's going to be another Dalmatian Monday.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3952

No more head in the stars for a while. I have returned to my regular routine. We visited Charlie again today. He's still the only Dalmatian at the kennel. As you can see, he's always happy to see us. Charlie might have to remain the only dog for a while. When Covid took away the rescue group's ability to have in-person events, it also took away our biggest source of revenue. We usually have a golf tournament every Fall as a fundraiser. There won't be one this year and it's going to hurt. Like everything else about the coronavirus, everyone hopes we can return to normal soon. The dogs depend on us.

Janet and I spent quite a while with Charlie this afternoon. Like many rescue dogs, Charlie has a few issues, but he is very smart and loves to play. He probably needs to be the only dog when he finds a home, but he'd be a great companion for the right person. I keep thinking that he'd be fabulous at agility events. He's very athletic, learns commands easily, and loves to play.

Dawn is very quiet and reserved compared to Charlie. She doesn't race around like a maniac or endlessly fetch a ball, but she does love her walks. Since it was cooler again this morning, she was in fine spirits. We had a nice walk before breakfast and took our time so she could smell every rock and tree. Dawn finished all her meds a few days ago and we're hoping that she's back to normal now. Only time will tell, but so far she is doing very well. Hopefully, she won't have another seizure for a very long time.

I still haven't finished unpacking yet. I think I need to catch up on my sleep. I stayed up very late every night at the observatory, but still woke up when I normally do. The lack of sleep catches up with you. Especially at my age. Every time I thought about getting organized today, a little nap seemed a lot more tempting. There's no rush. I've got all the time on the world to put my cameras away, do some laundry, and put my clothes back where they belong.

I looked at the pictures I took at the observatory with a critical eye today and was pleased with the results. I was a little worried that the pictures might not be in sharp focus, since it's always hard to tell with the camera I use. When I looked at the images on a good monitor though, most of them were very sharp. It's hard for me to focus on stars, since they are very dim in the viewfinder. Since the lenses I use are able to focus past infinity and I often shoot with the lens wide open, getting the focus perfect is critical.  There is not much room for error. I've heard that some photographers nail their focus in the daytime and then duct tape the lens in place so the focus point can't move. I might try this next time, although I would never use duct tape on an expensive lens. It seems like you should be able to lock the focus on a lens, so you don't accidentally twist it to a different setting in the dark. Believe me, it is easy to do.

I found the replacement part I need for my Gitzo tripod. I guess I'll order it tomorrow. I probably won't need the tripod again for a while, but I like to have my equipment ready. I'm also kind of obsessive about broken things. It doesn't matter whether it's a car, a musical instrument, or a piece of photo gear, I want my equipment in good condition and ready to go to work. Too bad it's not this easy to replace the worn out things on my own body. I think my cameras are in better condition than I am.

I have no real plans for tomorrow. I guess it would be a good time to unpack. There's no need for suitcases cluttering up the office. There's way to much clutter here already.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2853

It was a beautiful morning, but Dash refused to walk again. Does his leg hurt? Is he feeling dizzy or nauseous? Is he just being stubborn? It's hard to tell. I don't want to push him too hard, but he still needs a certain amount of activity. When he first wakes up, he does exhibit some telltale signs of vestibular disease. Maybe he doesn't feel steady on his feet. All I know is that he used to love to walk. This evening, he seemed eager to go outside when Janet returned from work, but the sun had already set. Our evening walk was very short. It's a shame that I've got all the time in the world and Dash doesn't want to do anything unless the entire family is nearby.

The refrigerator part didn't arrive today. This was the second time this part hasn't arrived on the date that was promised. I asked the company today when the part was really going to arrive, so I could plan accordingly and they just told me that they would call me when it got here. This is really frustrating, since I know how to get the part overnight. The appliance repair company refuses to work with anyone other than their own parts supplier. I suspect this is because their very slow supplier doesn't require them to pay immediately. I think I would have been happier if I'd just bought the parts myself and learned how to install them by watching readily available YouTube videos. I'm gradually learning exactly how the refrigerator works, but there is no joy in this learning process. I hate dealing with repair companies in a world where nobody keeps a parts inventory. Plumbers, HVAC repairmen, and electricians are all the same. There are no parts on the truck anymore. They diagnose your problem and then they order the parts.

I sent out my October invoices this afternoon. My monthly billing was so small that it probably wouldn't even pay the electric bill. It's hard to justify continuing the business. I did get a new writing job today and there's a potential new website job as well, but this isn't a profitable endeavor anymore. When I was eating breakfast this morning, I watched a GoDaddy commercial bragging about how anyone could build a sophisticated business website in less than an hour using one of their super cheap website builder widgets. How do you compete with that?

I had to pick up more phenobarbital for Dash today. Maybe the increased dose he is taking now is causing some of his problems. I'll never know for sure, because all the vets tell me that going without phenobarbital isn't an option for Dash. Maybe they are right. Once we took Dash off phenobarbital about five years ago when we were convinced he was cured. About a month later he had one of the most violent seizures he's ever had. There really aren't a lot of easy answers with this dog. We've got to deal with thyroid cancer, vestibular disease, epilepsy, a partial cruciate tear, and blood clots in the heart, all at the same time.

If I get up really early tomorrow morning, I should be able to see a very thin waning crescent moon centered between Mars and Venus. Is this worth setting an alarm clock for? It probably depends on how late I go to bed tonight. I still like astronomy, but like everything else, enjoying this hobby seems a bit of a hassle.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2052

I renewed my storage warehouse lease for another year. I always rent the storage unit for a year at a time, because I get thirteen months for the price of twelve this way. I've had the storage space for so long that I think I've received an entire year in free rent by now. When I first got the storage space, it was just a convenient place to store amplifiers and guitars between gigs and bulky lighting equipment between photo shoots. Now, it has become a repository of memories. The remains from just about everything I've ever enjoyed doing in my life is sitting on a shelf somewhere. There are wind surfing boards, electric trains, framed pictures from old gallery shows, obsolete computers, old guitar amps, and much more. I wish I didn't need a storage warehouse at all, but I get very attached to things. Even broken things are hard for me to throw away.

The latest thing I'm trying to resurrect is the old Sony laptop I told you about yesterday. I asked the guy in the repair shop at Fry's if he could install a new hard drive for this 1997 machine and he told that I could get a brand new laptop for less than the cost of repairs. When I explained that I didn't actually need the computer and that it was just something I wanted to fix, he gave me a blank look like he didn't understand. Maybe the guy had a point. Why would anyone want a computer that only ran Windows 98 and had a hard drive that with less capacity than the memory sticks I use with my cameras. I did a little research on Google and discovered that nobody even makes IDE hard drives any more. All the replacement hard drives are SATA. I found a website that showed how to disassemble the computer, but it looked a little tricky. The article with the hard drive upgrade instructions was dated 2008 and the author considered this particular computer to be ancient even back then. It might be harder than I thought to bring this thing back to life. Jeez, if it's this hard to bring a modern looking little Sony laptop back to life, I wonder how hard it would be to get my old Osborne-1 running again?

Dot had kind of a rough day today. She was a bit shaky on her morning walk and walked with a limp around the house. I still can't figure out what makes some days good and other days bad. I may be wrong, but I think it has a lot to do with how she sleeps at night. If she goes to sleep with her bad leg tucked under her, she always seems to have a limp the next day. I always try to make sure she is sleeping on her side with the bad leg on top, but it doesn't really help. She always wakes up two or three times a night to circle around and reposition herself. Usually when I wake up the next morning, she has managed to get the bad leg tucked up under her.

I managed to find a replacement the tiny watch part I destroyed yesterday. The little screw cost me $5.00 but I considered that a bargain. I'll try to be more careful when I try to reassemble the watch this time. I received another writing assignment toward the end of the day, so maybe doing this new article will keep me busy enough so I won't be tempted to fix anything else this week. I've broken enough things for one week.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day