Day 3960

Another wet day. Today seemed almost identical to yesterday. It was cold and raining when we woke up. We had to delay our morning walk. And it was still cold when things tried off enough to walk later in the day. Damp cold days aren't the same as dry cold days to Dawn. About halfway through our planned five mile walk she stopped in her tracks and wouldn't go any further. She'd had enough of the wet weather and was ready to go home. She was the wise one today. When we arrived home a little earlier than we'd planned, I realized that I didn't want to walk any further either. It was a nasty day and staying at home in a warm house was definitely the smart thing to do.

My senior moments come more frequently now. Last night I discovered that I had completely run out of one of the pills I take every evening. Since most of my meds auto-renew, I don't even think about running out anymore. I was sure I must have a new supply somewhere, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Oops. When I tried to sort things out this morning, I discovered that the annual exam when I usually get this pill renewed for another year was always in September. Why did I think it was in November this year? The doctor never reminded me of the September appointment because I never made an appointment. My bad. I'm so used to doctors and dentists pestering me about upcoming visits that it never occurred to me that scheduling appointments was my responsibility. It's all sorted out now, but I still don't have the pills I need. They were out of stock at my pharmacy and needed to be ordered.

I tried to buy some N-95 masks for my trip to Florida on Amazon this afternoon. The first thing I discovered was that you needed a business account to shop for PPE. No problem. I have a business account on Amazon. I found the masks I needed and put them in my cart. The checkout process seemed normal until I got to the end. Instead of completing my order, I got a message saying that there had been a problem and my order had been canceled. I tried several times to complete the order and finally discovered that Amazon didn't think my company was a proper medical organization. They could have just told me this up front and saved me a lot of time. 

When I was trying to select the mask I wanted, I read a lot of the comments. Evidently most N-95 masks are not made for medical use. They are made for drywall contractors, exterminators, woodworkers, and other trades that do dusty or hazardous work. These people are furious that they can't find the masks they need for their trade anymore. Jeez. It's been over eight months now. Wouldn't you think that someone would have figured out how to make enough of these things? Hardware stores used to be filled with industrial masks. Not anymore. I can't believe there is still a shortage of N-95 masks and Clorox wipes. 

Truthfully, I can't believe a lot of what goes on these days. The world has gone nuts. The European nations who supposedly did everything right about the pandemic are having a huge resurgence of the virus. The Chinese, who started this whole mess, don't appear to be having any problems at all. It doesn't make sense. Two senile old men are running for president and nobody seems to realize that this is a problem. There is no objective news media anymore. Everyone is just pushing an agenda. If you don't like something, you just call it fake news. Social media isn't content with controlling our friendships and buying habits. Now they want to censor us as well. The world is slipping off the rails, but instead of rational, logical solutions, people keep asking for more empathy. 

I'm tired of all this. I wish there was a remote island where I could put up some solar panels and have a helicopter drop me supplies from time to time. I'm a realist though. Little islands routinely get blown away by hurricanes. If the weather stayed nice, I'd probably get eaten by alligators. I guess I've got to make my peace with the world, even if it means wearing my crappy Chinese made KN-95 masks to Florida.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3733

I took a final walk around the mountain early this morning before saying goodby to a place I'd grown to love. Birds were starting to sing. The deer were grazing. The skies were starting to clear after last night's rain. It looked like it was going to be a good day. Too bad I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. It's still hard to believe that the observatory will be closed for 37 days. It seems like overkill to me. Call me a skeptic, but I think a lot of places are closing simply to avoid a lawsuit. If you are closed, nobody can blame you for making them sick.

It's a long drive from the Davis Mountain to Dallas. As I left the solitude of Mount Locke, I expected things to change. Oddly, the quiet seemed to continue. Sometimes the traffic is bad on I-20, but not today. The traffic was surprisingly light. I turned on the radio in the car and discovered that there was no escape from the coronavirus. Sirius XM already has a dedicated coronavirus channel. I turned the radio off. I've already heard enough about washing my hands and hoarding toilet paper.

I approached Abilene in heavy fog. The thousands of wind generators that dot the landscape in this part of the country all seemed to disappear into the sky. You'd see part of a blade descend out of the clouds and then disappear again as it continued to rotate. Hundreds of wind generators obscured by fog would have made a great picture, but there are few places to stop on the freeway. I continued to drive. I'll just have to remember this picture in my head. I just wasn't in the mood to look for an exit and search for backroads, just so I could capture a moody shot of some windmills.

I didn't see a single Land Rover on the road until I was approaching Fort Worth. It still seems ironic to me that this go anywhere vehicle is only seen in upscale, urban parts of Texas. When farmers and ranchers need to leave the highway, they take their truck. The absence of imported cars in remote parts of West Texas is making me rethink my affection for Citroën and Land Rover vehicles. Maybe it would be better to just buy a normal American car next time. The last time I traveled to the Davis Mountains I rented a Cadillac. This time I rented a Chevrolet Impala. Both cars were just fine.

When I turned off the alarm on my phone this morning I noticed a message saying that I had a dental appointment. I immediately called the dentist and left a message that I was out of town and would need to reschedule. It was only later that it occurred to me that the dentist never works on Saturday and that Apple phones always list your next appointment, no matter when it happens to be. It was a little embarrassing to realize that my next appointment of any kind was April 7. Such a busy guy I am these days. Oh, well. I'm sure my dentist is used to dealing with old people by now.

I'm not sure that Dawn initially recognized me when I returned home late this afternoon. She gave me a big nervous smile and looked at Janet as if to warn her there was a stranger in the house. She warmed up quickly though after I gave her a few treats. We're buddy's again now.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1492

When Dot was in the water treadmill this afternoon, she momentarily seemed to become disoriented and forgot where she was. Even though the water level was not very high, she seemed to panic and started swimming instead of walking normally on the treadmill. We stopped the treadmill and let her calm down as I told her that everything was OK. After a few minutes, we slowly started the treadmill again and everything was completely normal. Dot seemed to forget the whole episode. Although I'm not really sure what happened, I can certainly relate to losing your bearings. Sometimes I'll be driving along and realize that I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. Usually, these moments pass very quickly and by the time I arrive at the next stoplight, I'm back on track again. Maybe this is what happen to Dot today. I think for a brief moment, she forgot where she was and thought the rising water in the tank was going to drown her.

I inadvertently ended up being the Debbie Downer of the lightning round session at this morning's networking breakfast. Instead of brashly proclaiming that my business was going to double in 2014, as the others all appeared to be doing, I patiently explained why my entire industry is fucked and told the group that my goal for the year was just to get back to billing out what I was ten years ago. Although everything I said about the current state of the ad industry is true, I don't think it was what these folks wanted to hear. I should have known better than to share breakfast with a group of people who are always convinced that the glass is half full. Sorry guys, I seem to have lost my rose colored glasses. I think the glass is empty. I'll probably keep going to this group though, because I do love bacon.

I think I've lost the battle with the bird who poops on my car every morning. I've placed little paper hats and other wobbly things on my mirrors to deter the bird, but it seems to know how to remove them. For reasons that other birds will only know, this bird loves to sit on my rear view mirrors and drop a load. Even though Janet's car is only twelve feet away, the bird only shits on mine. It leaves her car untouched. I hope the bird doesn't start building a nest. Once a bird actually built a nest in my mailbox and I had to ask the mailman to leave my mail somewhere else for a while so magazines or packages dropped in the box wouldn't kill the baby birds. The mailman and I became quite interested in the birds progress. We watched them grow, until one day they just disappeared. I still don't know whether they learned to fly, or whether a cat got them all.

I hope my financial adviser has some good ideas for me at our meeting tomorrow. 3-D Printing turned out to be a great idea last year. Gold? Well, gold wasn't so good. That's the trouble with investing. It's hard to be right all the time.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day