Day 4985

Dawn woke us up early this morning with a rasping cough. We think she has kennel cough, although we have no idea how she caught it. Other than her weekly training class she's not around other dogs. We canceled her dental appointment and will be taking her in Sunday for another exam. The cough could be something else and we definitely don't want to put her under anesthesia for a dental cleaning until we can figure out what is going on.

Since we got up so early, we ended up taking our sunrise walk in the dark. It was the first time we'd gotten out the flashlights and lighted dog collar since last Winter. Even though it was still dark it was already hot. The temperature was in the mid 80's and there wasn't any breeze. We didn't need the sun to tell us that today was going to be a hot one.

When I was fixing breakfast I discovered that the Keurig coffeemaker was broken. How did this happen? It was working fine yesterday. Breakfast without coffee wasn't an auspicious way to start the day, but what could I do. At least I had orange juice. Later in the day I did a Google search and figured out how to fix the coffeemaker, but it didn't help me much at breakfast. 

The thermostat had a message that it was time to change the furnace filter, so I did that after breakfast. I also cleaned the toilets and swept some more spiderwebs off the office windows. I didn't want to go to the gym too early because it's always full early in the mornings. A friend asked if I could make some minor revisions to a website I'd done years ago. Sure. Why not. I think I can still remember how to do these things. I wasn't even sure I could open the site since I built it so long ago, but I managed to find a web development program on the computer that still worked. I'll make the revisions this weekend.

I decided not to apply to attend the Silent Barker Space Force military launch. I was pretty sure I'd be accepted for this ULA launch, but I have a feeling that I'll only be able to afford one more trip to Florida this year and I didn't want to squander the trip on this launch. There will be better things later in the Fall. It's also been very stormy in Titusville lately. I've already made too many launch trips where bad weather spoiled everything.

It got up to 110 degrees today. I thing we set another record high. There is no end in sight either. The weather app on my phone shows sunny skies and triple digit temperatures for the next ten days. Will we ever get any rain? There is a hurricane starting to develop out in the Caribbean and I'm kind of hoping that it will move through the Gulf and eventually bring some rain to Texas. There's only a 40% chance that this storm will even develop though. It may amount to nothing. 

My gym has always been freezing cold, but even the massive air conditioning units can't keep up with this heat. I noticed that the gym felt warmer yesterday and today the temperature crept up a little higher. It's still reasonably cool inside, but I don't think I need to wear a long sleeved shirt anymore. Maybe it's the heat thats slowing me down. I was still slow on the indoor track today. 

Dawn was happy that it was grocery day again. When I do my own grocery shopping tomorrow it will be a non event though. There is a big event tomorrow however. It's Janet's birthday.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4960

My request for credentials was approved with less than two days remaining until the EchoStar Jupiter 3 launch. Jeez. This just isn't going to work. Most flights are already fully booked and the few with remaining seats are ridiculously expensive. I think the weather in Titusville will be OK, but the launch is at night making photography more difficult. All I remember about night launches is getting eaten alive by bugs. Maybe I'm just making excuses. If I really, really wanted to go I'm sure I could make it happen. I'm just not feeling very enthusiastic about anything this summer. Hopefully skipping this launch won't hurt my ability to get credentials in the future.

It's not like I'm doing anything exciting in Dallas on Wednesday. I'm just tired and feeling poor. There have been way too many household expenses this year. Oh, well. There will be other launch opportunities in the Fall. It will be cooler in Florida then and hopefully my enthusiasm will have warmed up a bit.

Today was a typical Monday. We had a very nice sunrise walk with Dawn, but three hours later it was already too hot to spend much time outdoors. The forecast doesn't look very promising. It looks like triple digit temperatures for the next ten days. It's too bad we get most of our rain in early Spring. Summers are often bone dry. We're watering our lawn frequently now, but it is looking pitiful.

Now that the weekend is over, I'm back to eating shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast. I checked my messages after breakfast but my mail is almost entirely spam these days. I didn't get the credential notice from Space X until early this evening. I waited a while before heading to the gym this morning because I've learned that if I go between 11 AM and noon there a much better chance of finding a space in the parking garage.

Today was a little strange. When I went on the court to shoot baskets, one of the trainers seemed to want to shoot with me. He must have been bored or maybe one of his customers didn't show up. I told him I was just shooting free throws, but he kept being encouraging and passing the ball back to me every time I missed a shot. Strangely this made me better. I was eager to get off the court and I made my ten baskets in record time. I'm sure the guy was just trying to be friendly, but he didn't realize what a loner I've become.  At least nobody followed me and encouraged me to walk faster on my three mile excursion around the indoor track.

I tried to stay out of the way this afternoon. Monday is the day Janet cleans the floors and she doesn't like me in the way. Dawn doesn't like me in the bedroom either, so I was stuck in the office for a while. I always feel a bit guilty when Janet cleans. I try to keep the place tidy, but dusting things has never been a priority for me. Cleaning has never been a group activity. I have my household chores and Janet has hers.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. I think this hot weather is going to go on forever. I"ll probably have some regrets tomorrow about skipping the EchoStar Jupiter 3 launch. I'll get over it though. When I finish paying the July bills, I'll realize that I couldn't afford the trip anyway. 

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day