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 3336

Dash had no desire to get up this morning. Neither did I, but I knew I had a limited time to get him outside to pee before he wet the bed. I finally managed to get him out of bed, but as soon as he went outside and did his business, he headed straight back to the bedroom. He knew it was a rainy day and he wasn't going anywhere. Since I couldn't make the bed with Dash in it, I went to the kitchen and fixed my smoothie instead. I thought Dash would follow me to the kitchen, since he's always interested in food. He didn't budge. He has to take his morning meds on a regular schedule, so I took the pills and some sliced ham back to the bedroom with me. I rolled each pill in a small slice of ham and fed them to him one by one while he was lying in bed. The fact that he took the pills let me know that he was just being lazy. I suspect that he knew that Janet had already left for the morning and he could get away with anything with me.

Usually Dash poops right after he's taken his morning pills, so I was reluctant to leave him unattended for very long. I kept checking on him every few minutes as I was having my own breakfast and luckily I managed to catch him just as he was getting ready to poop. I quickly slid a puppy pad under him and made the save. No mess this time.

When I finished my smoothie, I went up on the roof and made sure the pumps were working before the heavy rain I saw on the radar arrived. These pumps help keep the water level on the roof from getting too high when it rains, but they are finicky and always seem to get clogged at the worst possible time. Luckily, I was able to get both pumps working today.

Dash's morning walk didn't take place until noon today, but at least he still got one. There was a light drizzle, but we didn't get too wet. After Dash's exceedingly lethargic morning, I thought that he wouldn't even want a walk. I was wrong. These slow, stumbling, and often aimless walks are the high point of his day.

Janet added me to her Costco membership last month, so we went to the store after lunch so I could get my membership card. Their card printer was broken, so I'll have to go back later. I'd never been to a Costco before. This one seemed like a giant Sam's Club with a more upscale suburban customer base. It was a little bit overwhelming. I'll probably continue going to Sam's.

Today's rain was strong enough to be a legitimate test of the roof repairs. Fingers crossed. I will be watching the ceiling very carefully for the next few days looking for signs of moisture. I've learned that the water doesn't always appear immediately. Sometimes it can take quite a while to find it's way inside.

I actually got a decent amount of sleep last night. Hey, lets go for two day in a row. There's still a lot of catching up to do. All I seem to think about these days is sleep and food. Of course I think about water on the roof and dog poop too, but you get my point. Life has become very simple. I suspect that life was always pretty simple. I just didn't realize it when I was younger.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day