Day 4489

Life has returned to normal. I unpacked my bags, put everything back in its proper place, and did my laundry from the trip. Other than that, today was just like any other Saturday. I got to sleep in a little late this morning, but when I woke up, Dawn was ready to walk. It was a very nice day, but the air feels different here. My allergies typically go away when I'm in Florida and come back as soon as I return. I'm sure it has something to do with the different vegetation we have here, although I'm still not certain what causes these lengthy seasonal allergies. At least the differences in the two states pretty much confirms that that I do have allergies and am not in denial about having a persistent cold or Covid.

I didn't have a big grocery list today, but I did need to get gas for my car. You may wonder why I get gas so frequently if I don't drive much. Just another compulsion. I always like the gas gauge to be on full. Gas seems to have come down in price a little and fresh fruit seemed reasonable as well. I think the strawberries and blueberries are just cheaper because they are back in season though. The price of fruit might not have anything to do with inflation.

I continued writing my article for SpaceFlight Magazine today and am making good progress. If I keep working tomorrow, I should be able to submit everything to the magazine on Monday. It will probably take me longer to edit the pictures than to write the article. I took a lot more pictures than usual this time. When I am taking launch pictures, I'll take a continuous rapid burst of images until the camera image buffer runs out. Somehow I forgot to turn off the burst setting while I was setting up my gear, so every time I took a test picture I ended up taking a dozen pictures instead. At any rate, there is a lot of stuff on the SD card to sort through.

I didn't feel like taking a long walk today. Maybe I overdid it yesterday. My feet were bothering me and it was kind of hot in the afternoon anyway. I just took a short walk around the neighborhood to make sure I got my daily minimum of 10,000 steps. The walk with Dawn this morning was pleasant. By mid-afternoon it was already way too hot.

I still haven't heard anything from the new manager at the Astronomer's Lodge. I wrote about reservations over a week ago and still haven't received a reply. Maybe this is an omen. I still have mixed feelings about making this trip. Driving around in Florida certainly didn't make me eager to take a long road trip. Even though I only drove several hundred miles the entire time I was away, but my shoulders hurt from holding the steering wheel, my but hurt sitting down for long periods of time, and my fingers would go numb if I gripped the steering wheel too tight.  Maybe it was just the car. I think this Chevy Malibu was the worst car I have even rented.

I got take out for dinner this evening and when I got home I discovered that they gave me someone else's meal. You'd think I would have noticed at the restaurant, but I never check to see what is in the bag and seldom even look at my receipt. I just sign the piece of paper and go. When I did look, it turns out that I did pay for what was in the bag. My bill was almost double what it should have been. I guess it was all an honest mistake. The name on the bag did say John. I called the restaurant to let them know that the other John might be angry when he discovered he got my much smaller order. The restaurant offered to refund the difference, but I told them that I was fine with what I got. My mystery meal was much more interesting than what I actually ordered. Maybe I should quit ordering take out and just go to the restaurant and ask if they have anything for John. Janet liked the surprise dinner too. I got the impression that this was the most adventurous thing I'd done in a while.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4270

I went back to the gym today. All I did was walk around and around the indoor track, but it's a start. I'm still tired, but I didn't feel bad today. I actually think I look worse than I feel. I've got some nasty looking black and blue blotches on my stomach, but the pain is minimal now.

I called the surgical team this morning to schedule my post-op follow up visit and they told me that after reviewing all my lab reports, they didn't need to see me. Evidently, all my blood work is returning to normal and the cultured samples they took showed no growth after five days. This is all good. It appears that I am a routine case with no abnormalities at all. 

I'm glad I'm finished with the Cipro. I feel a little better already. The peripheral neuropathy I'd been feeling is much less evident today. The doctor I talked with this morning said that tendonitis wasn't much of a worry either. Evidently, a five day course of Cipro is very short. Problems with this drug are much more common when you have to take it for long periods of time.

It never got cool today. Even our sunrise walk was pretty warm. It was definitely too hot to take a sunset walk with Dawn. She doesn't seem to mind. As long as she has her spot on the bed, she's a happy dog. The heat was the main reason that I decided to return to the gym. I'm starting to get cabin fever and it's hard to stay active inside the house. I'll probably go back to the gym tomorrow. Walking around the indoor track is boring, but all my doctors says that walking is good.

Dawn seems to feel so much better now that her bladder stones are gone. I think the new allergy medicine she'd taking is helping as well. The paw licking has largely stopped and she has more energy on her walks. I wonder how long she had the stones? It could have been a long time. I've noticed that she's even been a little friendlier toward me lately. Maybe now that we are both free of stones, life will take a turn for the better.

It's weird not to have any travel plans whatsoever. Launches are still taking place at Kennedy Space Center, but Florida is such a mess that it's going to be a while before I get press credentials again. I have no desire to travel to Florida anyway. Truthfully, I don't have much of a desire to travel anywhere. There's no rush. Covid will eventually run its course and life will return to normal. In theory I'll be returning to the observatory in late October, but I suspect that this will change. With hospital admissions rising all over the state, I doubt that that they'd want to take chances with large crowds.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. Janet took the trash out to the curb this evening because I'm still not supposed to lift anything. I wonder if I'll ever feel like having a smoothie again. I've completely lost my taste for these things. This is very strange, since I've enjoyed my morning smoothies for years. I don't like change, but I think I've dealt with last week's changes fairly well. I'm very glad that I'm a reasonably healthy person. Illness of any sort is for the birds.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day