Day 3811

I watched the astronauts arrive at the International Space Station this morning. It must have taken them two hours to open the door to their spacecraft. These guys had a checklist for everything. Even the most minute proceedure was followed to the letter. I'm a methodical person, but this blew me away. I kept thinking that we should all be a bit more like this. If we had an exhaustive checklist for our daily activities and actually followed it, we could avoid so much trouble.

My checklist would be pretty basic. Make your bed every morning. Brush your teeth. Eat a decent breakfast. If you have a dog or a child, take care of their needs before your own. Don't be in a hurry. And never skip an item on your list. You get the idea. I'm a big believer in leading a disciplined life. I've always been suspicious of people who let their emotions get the best of them. Emotions aren't to be trusted. I'm much more comfortable when someone acts like Spock on those old Star Trek shows.

I think the past three months have been defined by strong emotions. First there was the fear caused by the coronavirus followed almost immediately by the anger caused by the death of George Floyd. I guess fear and anger are pretty basic. I get scared and angry too. I don't really think these emotions solve anything though. There's got to be a better way.

I cringe whenever I hear someone say "we're all in this together." Jeez. "Don't drag me into this," I think. I prefer to solve problems by withdrawing and thinking through things on my own. Of course, this kind of attitude will never solve the problems of society. At best it will only allow you to live outside of society. Is that so bad though? I felt happy when I was the only person inside the huge dome of the 107" telescope at the top of a lonely mountain in West Texas. I could live this way. Maybe I should have been a forest ranger. Is it really that hard to learn to love the sound of silence? Is it that hard to just mind your own business while you follow your own personal checklist?

Today's checklist started with a walk with Dawn. The walk even comes before making the bed these days. The warmer the weather gets, the earlier we need to start. The weather is wonderful before the sun gets too high. I just need to figure out how to get more sleep. I've been going to bed late because I'm having trouble writing the blog. The blog is always the last thing on the checklist and I still want to get to Day 5000. It's not really enjoyable writing about a world falling apart though. I'd much rather write about visits to observatories and the joys of getting published in obscure little magazines.

I washed the car today. I'm not going anywhere, but I do like a clean car. We'll take Dawn on another long walk tomorrow morning. I like a happy dog too. Janet made pulled pork in the slow cooker, so there's tasty food for the rest of the week. Who knows. Maybe I'll even hear something from the Air Force about getting media accreditation. All in all, life is good.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3499

It's weird to go this long without talking to anyone. I don't spend a huge amount of time talking with Janet but I rarely talk to anyone else. Usually there isn't a need. After I finish the blog each evening there is nothing more to say. I guess I must have talked to the dogs in the past when Janet was traveling. The house is strangely silent now.

It is particularly quiet right now because U-Verse is down again. Usually this is our most expensive utility bill but the service is not particularly reliable. I'd switch to another provider, but Spectrum is even worse. The worst thing about U-Verse is that when you do have a problem you have to talk with an offshore customer service representative who can barely speak English. It's very frustrating to talk with someone on the other side of the world when you know there's probably just a problem with the line a few blocks away. I try to avoid calling these people because the problem sometimes fixes itself in a couple of hours. I always have an alternate way to get on the Internet. AT&T disappoints me frequently but my trusty little T-Mobile WiFi hotspot hasn't failed me yet.

The water level in the lake has been slowly dropping all month. It's been very dry. Today I noticed that one of the shallow bays had completely dried up. Like the age spot on my arm, this also seemed to happen overnight. I haven't seen the water level this low in many years. I guess we need some rain.  The odd thing was that it wasn't particularly hot today. On the news they even said we were having a cold wave. It's strange to think of 80 degree temperatures as a cold wave, but this is Texas.

I was happy to see the cooler temperatures. I knew they wouldn't last long so I made a point to mow the grass this afternoon. There is still a big dead spot where the huge pile of brush used to be but maybe it will fill in if we ever get some rain. This is the perfect time to make repairs to the roof, but I haven't received any of the silicon coating the roofer promised yet. Probably there will be a can of the stuff on my doorstep on the day it rains.

It's hard to find anything to photograph in the middle of July. The meadows in the park are becoming brown and dry. Most of the wildflowers are gone now except for the Firewheel plants and a few Morning Glories. I did find a Buttonbush that had seen better days. The spherical flowers would have been much more impressive if I'd found them a month ago.

I hate how clumsy I've become. I cut my finger with a kitchen knife while I was slicing a watermelon this afternoon. I rarely even eat watermelon but I had to go slicing one today. I guess I learned my lesson. This wasn't a bad cut but it feels like a paper cut right on the tip of my index finger. Irritating. I'm feeling this thing every time I type.

Every year I get this small gift card from the electric company. It's some kind of rebate for being a good customer. I wish they would just lower my bill a little instead. I almost always buy stuff online now, so I never know what to do with this card. To make matters worse, the card always expires a few months after the electric company sends it out. It's about to expire now so I need to go out and buy something I don't need before it becomes useless like it did last year. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow. Hey, I already mowed the grass. I need something to do.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2374

Is it even possible to find a simple answer to a simple question anymore? I wanted to find out whether a nearby Apple Store could put a new battery in an iPhone while I waited. I found the number of the retail store, hoping to avoid Apple's automated phone system. It didn't work. After a brief message thanking me for calling the store, I was right back in the automated system. I hate these systems. Press 1 if you want to do this. Press 2 if you want to do that. You can spend hours navigating these systems and wind up no closer to the answer of your question than when you started. I eventually ended up talking to a real person in California who had no idea whether the local store could put in a battery for me. There is a whole generation of people who have never experienced the simplicity of asking a question and getting a quick answer. They don't even know what they're missing.

I got a letter from Panasonic the other day saying that they'd extend the warranty on one of my cameras for free if I'd fill out a bunch of forms, send them a purchase receipt, and cut the UPC code off the box the camera came in and send that as well. It sounded complicated, but what the hell. Like I said, I'm not very busy. They were quite explicit that if I didn't sent the box label from the product carton, which they said included the UPC code, model number and serial number, my warranty would not be extended. There was only one problem. The box the camera came in didn't have a label like this. I looked and looked, but it wasn't there. Of course there was no way to contact these people by phone either. That would be too easy.

I'm starting to dread days when nothing happens. The monotony starts to wear you down after a while. When the dogs are finished eating and taking their walks, they sleep so soundly that I occasionally wonder if they're still alive. I don't watch TV during the day anymore, because it is so universally terrible. The only phone calls are from telemarketers and the only thing I get in the mail are bills. The isolation is like a thick blanket and the silence can be deafening. There are occasional moments of panic where I worry that something might be wrong with Dot. There are occasional deadlines where I've got to concentrate on work for a few hours. Mostly there is just nothing though. I don't feel like engaging with anyone and I don't feel like starting any ambitious projects. I think the jury is still out on whether I will become an expert on doing nothing or whether it will drive me crazy.

Dot pooped in the house so much today that I'm dreading taking her in the car to physical therapy tomorrow. I don't think she even realizes what she's doing anymore. This afternoon she woke up from a nap and came out to the kitchen to say hello, leaving a long trail of poop all the way down the hallway. I can't be upset with her though. Actually, I was pleased that she managed to stand up and start walking on her own.

I looked at the blog stats the other day and wasn't really surprised to see that there aren't as many readers anymore. Maybe people are getting tired of hearing about dog poop. Sorry. That's life. It's just what's happening right now. Cleaning up after Dot means that my loyal friend of so many years is still with me. I'd much rather have the mess than the empty void she'd leave behind.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1543

I love my breakfast restaurant. It was crowded this morning and the barista brought me my coffee while I was standing in line to order. As two women swooped in to grab the last available table, the waiter shooed them away, pointing at me and saying that the table was mine. I paid for my meal and sat down at the table, all without saying a single word. Everyone already knows what I want, so no words are necessary. If only the rest of my day was this way. I have a couple of clients who trust me enough to forgo the usual talk and meetings. We've worked together for a long time and they've learned that they get more for their money when they leave me largely unsupervised. I'm consistent, I'm dependable, and I abhor the whole idea of collaboration. Leave me alone and I'm a pleasantly productive guy. Bother me and I'm a grumpy troublemaker. If the restaurant people have figured this out, why is it so hard for everyone else?

I have been researching dog harnesses and have discovered that several companies make what is called a "full body" harness. These harness are often used by avalanche rescue teams and other service dogs. They also seem to be favored by people like us who have a Houdini dog who can escape from normal harnesses. I think we'll get one of these and give it a try. Walking a dog using two leashes is just a stop-gap solution at best. It's amazing how quick and easy it is to find offbeat things like this on Google. What did we do before Google? The next thing I'm going to look for is a life size rubber bird to sit on my driver's side mirror while my car is in the driveway. I'll bet that troublesome bird won't poop on my car if another bird has already claimed it. Worth a try anyway.

Maybe I'll start on my taxes this weekend. I really can't put this task off too much longer. It's either taxes or painting more water damaged window trim. I don't know which is worse at this point. At least I've got a few more weeks before I'll have to start mowing the grass again. The thought of mowing grass reminds me that I still need to call the landscaping guy and get an estimate for putting new St. Augustine turf in the back yard. All the grass he put in last year is dead. As things stand now, there is nothing to mow.

I have this long list of things I need to do when "things get back to normal." Things are never going to get back to normal though, are they?  As soon as one crisis is averted, another one seems to creep up out of nowhere to take it's place. Maybe that's just the nature of life. I know people who find this constant chaos exhilarating. Personally, I prefer calm. Here's hoping for a calm, uneventful weekend.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 903

It was unnaturally quiet this morning. Dash was at the vet, getting his teeth cleaned. The television and the Internet were silent, because my U-verse account was still offline. Breakfast went quickly because there wasn't an old episode of Top Gear or Dr. Who to watch on TV. Even Dot went back to sleep, because there was no Dash for her to boss around. I thought I'd get a lot done with no distractions, but I was wrong. It was too quiet.

The unusual silence didn't last long. Around 10:30 AM, there was a knock on the door that got Dot barking again. It was the U-verse technician. He didn't think the problem was in the house, but he wanted to check anyway. Dot definitely did think there was a problem in the house. There was a stranger inside. I kept telling the technician that she wouldn't bite, but I don't think he believed me. As expected, the problem wasn't in the house, so the technician packed up his tools and left to trace the problem to its source. About two hours later he returned. He said somebody had disconnected my line at a junction box while they were connecting another customer. Some things never change I guess. This used to happen frequently when I had my plain old twisted pair phone line.

Like most problems, the U-verse outage turned out to be simple human error. I don't think my car problems are caused by human error, however. Things break on this car even when it's sitting in the driveway. Granted, the Defender is old and has quite a few miles on it, but I still wish it were more reliable. Once, I looked at a printout of all the things that had gone wrong with the car at the dealership and the document looked like a book. There were literally hundreds of things that had broken of gone wrong over the years. I'm still loyal to the Defender though. Parts are easy to obtain. The car is fun to drive. Best of all, I can fit a large dog crate in the back.

When I went to pick up Dash around 4 PM, I noticed he was walking a bit funny. I asked the vet what was wrong, and she said he was probably a little sore. Since he went in for a dental procedure, I was wondering why he was sore at the other end. The vet said they put the anesthesia and heartbeat monitors up his butt, so that his mouth would be unobstructed. Whoa!  I sure hope they don't start doing that when I go to the dentist.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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