Day 4673

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? To me it's just another day when we don't get any mail. There's growing evidence that the Vikings were the first Europeans to set foot in North America anyway. I wonder why holidays like this even matter to people. Humans have been displacing other humans since the dawn of time. The European colonialists were certainly no saints, but neither were the people who lived here before they arrived. The Aztecs were just as warlike and murderous as the Spaniards who conquered them. I'm surprised that our species has survived as long as it has. We really don't deserve this planet.

We have returned to walking in the dark. I don't know why we still treat Monday thru Friday as work days since we are both retired. Old habits die hard I guess. Dawn has no problem with walking in the dark. I still worry about bumping into a coyote though. A beautiful full Hunter's Moon was low in the Western sky and Mars was directly overhead this morning. Jupiter seems to have disappeared in the pre-dawn sky. It's an evening planet now. I'm not a morning person, but I enjoy our sunrise walks. It's still quiet and peaceful outside. Later in the day all you hear are police sirens and the leaf blowers and mowers of countless lawn care companies. The hustle and bustle of the city makes me nostalgic for the isolation I enjoy during my stays at McDonald Observatory. Silence is my friend.

I took my long walk after breakfast this morning. The temperature warmed up much faster than I expected and I was hot by the time I returned home. I noticed that a female Muscovy Duck has joined the two large males I see every day on my walks. I hope she's careful. These two males killed the last female who joined them. They say Muscovy Ducks are friendly and make good pets. I certainly wouldn't want these two as pets. They are almost as mean as the Canadian Geese.

I kind of miss all the construction that was going on in the park this summer. It gave me something to think about other than counting ducks. There are so many specialized skills in the construction trades. I wonder where you learn these things? I'm old and I still don't have any idea how to lay concrete or frame a house. Truthfully, I can't even fix a running toilet. I guess writing is a skill, but I never trained to be a writer. My professional life has been largely accidental.

I need a plan for the afternoons. I'm usually pretty busy in the mornings, but I typically run out of steam right after lunch. There are so many things that no longer interest me. My storage unit is filled with prior interests and obsessions. When did these interests die? It's been a very gradual process. Oh, well. At least I still like dogs and rocket launches.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3985

Good grief. People have started hoarding toilet paper and water again. Last week there were mountains of toilet paper at the grocery store and this week the shelves were completely empty. The water was almost gone as well. Customers were leaving the store with buggies filled with bottled water. Has anything changed? Nope. Stores and restaurants are still full. Roads are still crowded with cars. Apparently mass panic has returned however. People in Dallas may ignore the virus, but they will not be left without toilet paper.

Before starting on my weekly grocery run, we had a nice walk with Dawn and a leisurely breakfast. Neither of us work anymore, but we still sleep in on Saturday like we did during our working years. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep. There was a light mist when we left the house and I thought it might rain for a while. My jacket felt a little damp when we returned home, but it was just the humidity. I don't think the rain will arrive until tomorrow.

I just noticed that when I get gas now, I get charged an extra dollar on my credit card. When did this start? The mysterious charge isn't added to the gas transaction, it is totally separate. Janet says she gets charged the extra dollar when she gets gas at a grocery store too. I wonder if this has anything to do with using an app to pay for gas? I'll probably never figure out what is going on, but I suspect the charge is here to stay. Somebody in government has decided that they need more money.

I watched the launch of the Sentinel-6 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on NASA TV this morning. I remember going to Vandenberg several years ago for the SMAP launch. It seems so long ago now, but that launch was what got me interested in following launches and becoming a space journalist. Like Sentinel-6, SMAP was also a meteorological satellite designed to learn more about the climate. Vandenberg Air Force is located right near the Pacific Ocean and I recognized a lot of the scenery near the base as I watched this morning's broadcast. Good times, even though I had an accident in my rent car on that trip.

I got Chinese take-out for dinner tonight and when I went to pick up my order I was surprised to see that it was completely dark. It is usually still light outside when I pick up take-out from this restaurant. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I realized that this was the first time we'd had Chinese since the time changed. I can't say that I like the shorter days that come with Winter. It should still be daylight at 6 PM.

Florida mosquitoes seem a lot nastier than Texas mosquitoes. It's been almost a week and my bites still itch like crazy. I've been to night launches in Florida before and never gotten bitten this bad. Maybe it was the weather. I was wearing a t-shirt on Sunday night and was always wearing a jacket on previous trips. That's one nice thing about staying out at night in the Davis Mountains. No bugs.

I wish my gym would reopen on weekends. Sunday is still the best day for me to go to the gym. I shouldn't be choosy though. If Covid cases continue to spike, gyms might close down completely again. It is almost inevitable that millions of Thanksgiving dinners are going to cause another surge. No problems here. It's just going to be the two of us, plus one dog eagerly looking for table scraps.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3631

I finally got the Christmas tree up today. It doesn't seem possible that the year is almost over again. Where did the time go? Jeez. I still have things on my to-do list from last Summer. I try to keep up, but it's getting harder and harder every year. One of these years the tree is just going to seem like too much trouble. I've already stopped buying a pumpkin for the front porch on Halloween.

All the dog things we brought home for Ginny went back to the storage warehouse this morning. I returned with a big load of photo gear for the upcoming Santa Paws events. I doubt that I retrieved everything I need, but it's a start. We've been doing these holiday photos for so long that we've almost got it down to a science. I still forget things though. At least I've got a few more days to remember. I felt optimistic and didn't bring home any of the old muslin backdrops. I still think the new backdrop we ordered will arrive on time.

It took a lot longer than I thought to add the new petcam we bought to the network. The price was right on this thing, but the instructions were almost nonexistent. I knew the camera would probably work because when I looked at the comments on the website, people either loved it or hated it. Usually when you get such a polarized response it just means the device is difficult to install. I almost gave up, but eventually I did something right and the little camera sprang into life. Hopefully the petcam will keep working until the next time we foster a dog.

The hotel I booked in New Orleans called me this morning and told me that my credit card had been declined. WTF? I know this card is good. After sitting on hold for what seemed like forever, the issue finally got resolved. Apparently, the credit card company didn't think someone like me would really travel to New Orleans and just declined the charges in an abundance of caution. Why didn't they ask me first? Janet says I make my life difficult by still using the land line for contact information. She says credit card companies will send you a text that you can confirm on the spot if they have questions about a purchase. Who knew? I think they called the land line I had on file and nomorobo thought they were a telemarketer and kept hanging up on them. Life is way too complicated these days. The technology we use to make our lives easier often ends up making it harder instead.

By the end of the day, I felt like I finally had my ducks in a row. I added apps for the airline, the hotel, and the rental car company to my phone. I sorted through the photo gear to see if I had forgotten anything. I showed Janet how to use the new petcam, and I made sure the Christmas tree lights worked. Not bad for a Tuesday.

By the time I finished my walk, it was dark again. It really doesn't take much to completely use up my day. I used to accomplish so much more in a day, but for the life of me I don't know how. Even though I didn't accomplish much, I felt really busy today.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3615

A loud crash woke me up last night. Even though I was half asleep, I knew I'd heard this noise before. Either a tree had fallen in the back yard or a drunk driver had driven through our front yard. I looked out the window and all the remaining trees were still standing. As I returned to bed I heard a fire truck approach and stop a few hundred yards past our house. Yep. It was a drunk driver again. This morning I confirmed what I already knew. A car had left the road at high speed, traveled through our neighbor's yard, sailed over our driveway, knocked a big divot out of our yard, bounced into our other neighbor's yard, and the returned to the street where it probably landed on its roof. Believe it or not, this has happened at least six times since we've lived here.

The city has three large strategically placed signs indicating that the road turns to the left but it doesn't seem to make any difference. An hour after the bars close, some people just keep driving straight. These accidents always happen between 2:30 and 3 AM. Luckily our house has escaped damage but the neighbors haven't been so lucky. Once, one of these cars took out the neighbor's fence. Another car knocked over a large Crepe Myrtle tree in the other neighbor's yard. Years ago, a car actually hit this neighbor's house. I wish there was a way to just eliminate drunks and substance abusers. The world would be a better place.

Amazingly, I managed to get everything done today. I returned some of the items we used at the adoption event yesterday to the storage warehouse, filled the car with gas, and did all my grocery shopping with time to spare. There was still plenty of time to go to the gym. After my workout, I decided that it was warm enough to go up on the roof and make a few more repairs.

The big bucket of liquid silicon is finally light enough that I could lift the entire the entire thing to the roof. This made the job a little easier and a lot less messy. There is no need to transfer the silicon to a smaller bucket anymore. I swept a thick blanket of pecan leaves off the roof before I started my repairs and then applied about a gallon of the material. We'll see if this helps. I can't see any bad spots, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.

The sun was already low in the sky before I started my walk. I wondered if I'd be able to make it home before sunset. I wish we hadn't bothered with the time change. I don't really care when the sun comes up in the morning but I do enjoy a little daylight in the afternoon. I had to cut my walk a little short today because I didn't feel like walking in the dark.

I hate the thought of fixing the front yard again. I can fill the big hole with dirt and put in some new St. Augustine sod, but it will just get destroyed again. It might be next month or it might be five years from now, but this won't be the last time that someone driving home after the bars close fails to notice  that the road is no longer straight.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2473

The trouble with credit cards is that a month or so after you buy something, you actually have to pay for it. I feel poor today, because in addition to the usual charges for gasoline, groceries, prescription medicine, and miscellaneous junk I thought I needed at Home Depot, there was the humongous yearly rent for my storage warehouse on the latest credit card bill. So why didn't I write a check for the rent when it was due? Well, it was just easier to postpone the pain until next month. It can be confusing paying for things that you've already forgotten about buying using money that you've already forgotten about earning. I delay paying my bills as long as I can and my clients delay paying me as long as they can. The net result is that there is no cause and effect anymore. It just feels like I'm broke all the time.

I watched a crew pouring concrete in the park while I was walking Dash this morning. I've been watching this sidewalk being constructed for three months now. The crew would grade a path with a bulldozer and then put wooden forms and re-bar in place so the concrete could be poured. They did this three separate times this Summer until they were apparently satisfied with their work this morning. I asked one of the guys whey they kept tearing up their work and starting over? They said their previous efforts weren't up to code because the grade was too steep. This was a bike path, mind you. The city could have saved a ton of money if they just let the cyclists pedal a little harder. The city probably had some rule that said that no bike path could have more than a ten percent grade. If someone created a path with a twelve percent grade, they had to start over. It all seems silly to me.

I finished writing my latest article and once again had difficulty sending it to my client. It appears that their IT department wasn't able to Whitelist me after all. I keep getting identified as a spammer, even though I've never sent spam in my life. These difficulties make me wish I had my old private ISP back. I never used to have these problems until I moved to a large ISP with thousands of servers. My little local ISP stayed under the radar until the owner retired and shut down the company, forcing me to go somewhere else. Once again, the old days were better.

My bananas were still green this morning, so I went to the store and got some ripe ones. I never realized that bananas were so cheap, since Janet usually picks them up. I got a pound of bananas for fifty cents. On the way home I stopped to pick up some Chinese take-out for dinner and they said they were out of the Thai noodle dish I had ordered online. I'm easy. I just asked what they had that was real spicy and substituted something else. Anything to avoid cooking is fine by me.

Dot seemed to enjoy not having to go to physical therapy. Her limp is a little better, but she is still pretty shaky. For the second day in a row, she made a mess and pooped all over her special harness. We have a spare harness now for these occasions. I felt like taking her outside and cleaning her with the garden hose, but she hates this, so I cleaned her up with warm wet towels instead. Dot is as sweet as she can be, but she wears me out.

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. It certainly doesn't feel like Fall yet. It has been unseasonably hot all week. I can tell the seasons are changing though, because the days are getting shorter. I saw Orion in the pre-dawn sky as we walked Dot and Dash around the block this morning. Pretty soon it will be even darker. I won't miss the hot weather as Winter approaches, but I will miss the sunlight. I do better with lots of sunlight.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2446

I ran a bunch of small errands today. Nothing I did was absolutely necessary, but it gave me something to do. I got some astringent at the pharmacy, because after all these years, I still have oily skin. I stopped by the storage warehouse to see when my yearly rent was actually due. I got gas for the car, even though it only needed a few gallons. I picked up some more CoQ10 because my doctor thinks I need to take it. I stopped by the vegan take out place to see if the menu had changed yet. It hadn't. Basically, I was just kind of bored.

The weather has gotten really hot again. The cool, rainy days we had a few weeks ago seem like a fluke now. I wonder if I just imagined them. It's weird how the days seem to suddenly get shorter around this time of year. We're taking our early morning walk in the dark again now. Last year at this time, the walks were kind of interesting because there were lots of planets in the pre-dawn sky. Now, there appears to be nothing. I'll have to check a star atlas to see if there's anything to keep my eye on. I wonder why Daylight Saving Time doesn't end until November 6? This seems later than usual. Morning sunlight will return for a while after the time changes, but then it will be dark on our evening walks. You can't win.

Dash had a burst of energy this morning, so his walk was twice as long as it normally is. I watched him, looking for any signs of stumbling and didn't see any. Everything seemed fine. This was so different from yesterday that it seemed puzzling. Something is wrong with Dash, but I just can't figure out what it is. I did make an appointment for his neurological exam, so maybe I'll find some answers then. For the moment, it was nice to take a long walk again. It gave me a chance to see if anything had changed in the neighborhood. There were a few houses up for sale and a few more under construction. Dash was relaxed today because we didn't encounter many other dogs. We basically had the park to ourselves.

I keep getting e-mail messages from one of my doctors, urging me to sign up for their Patient Portal. I dutifully followed their instructions today and created an account. These electronic records systems are touted as being great for patients, but I'd really rather just have a piece of paper that I could put in a ring binder. A ring binder lets you keep all the information in one place and you don't need to remember any passwords. When I went to my new Patient Portal page, I was surprised to see that there was absolutely nothing in my file. What is the point of a record keeping system with no records?  I have three or four of these Patient Portal accounts with different doctors. I can't remember the password to most of them. Technology marches on, I guess.

I can't decide where to eat breakfast tomorrow. Sometimes when I'm in an indecisive mood, I check the Yelp reviews for restaurants in the neighborhood. I've noticed a general trend. It doesn't matter which restaurant you pick. The majority of the reviews tend to say things like "This place used to be a favorite of mine, but it has really declined lately." That's the way I feel and I'm surprised that so many other people tend to feel the same way. Has quality universally declined, or has everybody just gotten picky and judgemental? I don't know. I think the quality of life in general has gone downhill. Restaurants are just a small part of the problem.

Pinky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1069

Since yesterday was largely a photography day, I had a lot of errands to run today. When I was out and about, I noticed that the Christmas shopping season is already in full swing. Nobody even waited until Black Friday this year. The stores are filled to overflowing with Christmas merchandise and vacant lots all over town are being turned into tented Christmas tree emporiums.

Christmas always brings a lot of useless things I've never seen before to the stores. Today I saw a tiny GPS receiver that you could place on your dog's collar. It not only showed where your dog was at all times, it also told you how many calories the dog burned up during the day. I don't think I really need one of these things. If I'm not out walking the dogs myself, they're usually sleeping right under my desk. I also saw a bunch of potted household herbs like Rosemary and Thyme shaped just like tiny Christmas trees. Did the herbs grow this way naturally, or did someone carefully trim each of the plants to look like a Christmas tree? I don't know.

Now that the days are getting shorter, I've started seeing a ton of portrait and wedding photographers taking pictures of their clients in the park around sunset. While I was taking Dot and Dash on their evening walk this evening I counted seven of these groups. There were two wedding parties, two were couples having engagement pictures done, and three were families with children. I see groups like these almost every day during the Fall. You'd think that brides wouldn't want exactly the same wedding pictures as dozens of other people, but maybe that's exactly what people do want these days. I certainly haven't had many clients ask me to do something original and different lately. It's so much easier to do something that's already been done. I bet a lot of the people I see in the park noticed a friend's wedding pictures and decided to do exactly the same thing.

The dogs had a great time in the dog park today. Dash enjoyed racing full speed around the park, showing the other dogs how fast he was, while Dot seemed content to sniff trees and bushes at a much more leisurely pace. After a while, they were both ready to come home and that's exactly what we did. It's going to be a short week. The three day Thanksgiving holiday week probably won't be good for my business, but it will be nice to have a break.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 713

Winter is definitely on its way. It almost got down to freezing last night and this morning the dogs needed to wear their cold weather coats for the first time this year. Dot and Dash are never eager to put the coats on, but always seem glad to have them once they're outside with a cold wind blowing at their back.

The cold wasn't the only peril we faced today. On our evening walk, we came face-to-face with a coyote. As the days grow shorter, I see coyotes frequently in the evening. Few of them ever get as close as the one we saw this evening though. We were within ten feet of the coyote when I initially noticed it at the edge of a clump of bushes. Dot and Dash immediately started growling and I quickly changed course and led the dogs down to the shoreline where it was less wooded.

I wish the dogs would simply ignore wild critters, but they seldom do. If they want to get excited about seeing a bunny or a squirrel, that's fine. I think they should just keep their mouths shut when we see a coyote however. Leave the coyotes alone and they'll leave you alone I tell them, but I don't think they get it. I guess I'll just have to walk Dot and Dash a little earlier in the evening. You seldom see coyotes until right around sunset. I've already been bitten by domestic dogs. I certainly don't want to find myself in the middle of a scrap between my dogs and a pack of coyotes.

In between our morning and evening walks, I sat at my computer and wrote. I managed to finish several articles and worked on making arrangements for an upcoming business trip to Houston. It looks like I'm going to be busy through the end of the year. That's good! With any luck, the company may even make a profit this year. You'd think that the company would make a profit every year, but any money that comes in usually disappears very quickly in the form of health insurance premiums, utility bills, and equipment purchases. I envy the dogs sometimes. I don't think they realize how effortless their lives really are.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 686

The days are getting visibly shorter. I wish this meant something philosophically, but I think it just means I will be walking the dogs in the dark soon. I'm not looking forward to Winter. I don't mind the cold, because I have lots of warm jackets. I do mind the darkness though. Darkness usually makes me feel even more melancholy than usual.

The new muslin backdrop for the Dalmatian Rescue Christmas photos arrived today. We must have a new FedEx delivery guy in the neighborhood, because for the past few weeks I've been playing a game of "find the package" every time a shipment arrives. Today's parcel was left at the side of the house, instead of near the front door where the regular Fedex guy leaves things. I probably never would have found the box if I hadn't stumbled over it while taking the dogs on their evening walk. Front door next time guys!

In hopes that their inventory might have improved, I went to Home Depot this afternoon looking for a new utility pump for the roof. They still had the same inferior pumps they had last year. The service guy working the plumbing aisle confirmed that these pumps were junk, and then told that he once owned a real good pump himself. He said it was blue and made of metal, unlike the plastic pumps on the shelves. I asked where I could get this pump, because this was exactly what I wanted. I had one like this myself once. It was made in the USA and it lasted ten years. The company that made it probably doesn't even exist anymore.

Last week I got a frantic note asking me to add some information to a client's website. Oops! Somehow, I never got around to this task. This morning I got an equally frantic note asking me to take the information down again. Wow! That was an easy job. I just sent a quick e-mail that said "done." Sometimes procrastination works in your favor.

Did I tell you that I was disgusted with the stock market? Oh that's right, I did that yesterday.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day