Day 3508

The September issue of Spaceflight Magazine has finally arrived. Since I doubt if many of you subscribe to this British publication, I thought I'd just upload a PDF copy of my article to Facebook. Oops. You can't upload PDF files to Facebook. Weird. Why didn't I know this already? I guess I never tried to post a PDF file. There's always a solution though. I just put the file on my website and made a link. If anyone's interested in reading the article, just click here or on the picture to your left.

The good news about all this is that the magazine is interested in having me cover future launches for them and can even get me a press pass. I might have found my calling. I doubt if I can do this sort of thing all that often because it can get expensive. Nevertheless, the road ahead is something to look forward to.

When I went to the new neighborhood restaurant for breakfast this morning, I was surprised to see that it was completely full. There was even a small line out front. How did this happen? I've been going to this place fairly frequently on Friday mornings and it's never been full before. Oh, well. I'm not big on standing in line, so I got back in my car and drove to the hotel instead. The restaurant at the hotel never seems to be full. I ordered the French Toast like I always do at the hotel and daydreamed about traveling to rocket launches. The hotel reminds me of the old days when I used to do a lot of business travel. How did I transition from a road warrior to a person who rarely leaves the house? Life is strange. I don't even question a lot of things like this. We all go through stages.

I'm starting to see more birds at the lake. I wonder what this means? August doesn't seem like a time for migrations. I've seen a lot of Great Egrets lately as well as a few Great Blue Herons. I've seen smaller Cattle Egrets as well. I need to get some pictures of these birds because I don't know how long they will stay. This might be a project for the weekend. It will probably be easier to find the birds than to carry the camera on hot days like this. I sure wish Apple would invent an iPhone with a telephoto lens. Putting a phone in your pocket is a lot easier than carrying a big camera on long walks.

Janet has convinced me to try wearing ankle socks on my walks. The combination of long shorts and equally long wool socks has given me a very weird tan. Basically, it's just a dark stripe on my legs. I tried the shorter socks that everybody else seems to be wearing but I didn't like them. I came home with a blister on my heel. The Nike Air shoes I'm wearing now are fairly comfortable, but I guess I need the extra cushion of the thick wool socks as well. Who cares if I look ridiculous. Most old men look ridiculous anyway.

The security light in the back yard has started acting up again. It will come on around sunset but will go off again a few hours later. The lamp hasn't burned out or anything, but I have to go behind the greenhouse and flip a switch on the breaker box to get the light to tun on again. This involves walking through spider webs in the dark and getting bitten by chiggers. It's irritating. When this used to happen I had the electrician come out several times and they could never find anything wrong. They replaced the photocell twice and it didn't make any difference. Even though the dogs are gone and we don't really need the light anymore, this flaky fixture still bothers me. Why do things break so often? I want a world where everything is dependable.

One thing I can depend on is more hot weather tomorrow. I'm ready for winter.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3334

I'm still looking for a better way to protect the bed at night, so I stopped at an army surplus store while I was out grocery shopping this morning. I thought they might have a small canvas tarp I could use. I was amazed at how crowded the place was. The store was packed with people wearing camo jackets buying all manner of knives, survival food, and cheap socks. You folks getting all excited about AOC's Green New Deal ought to visit an army surplus store first. Your revolution isn't happening. I have a feeling that there are going to be methane farting cows supplying McDonald's burgers for folks who love their F-250 Super Duty pickups long after your vegan, solar powered future is forgotten.

I found a tarp that was the right size, but I didn't buy it. For starters it was much more expensive than the much lighter tarps at REI. Then there was a big sign that said "For Outdoor Use Only." When I asked what that meant, I was told that the canvas tarp was waterproofed using a wax coating. OK. Was the wax toxic or something? The more I thought about a wax coated tarp on the bed, it didn't sound like such a good idea. I may come back for some of those cheap socks though.

I'm glad that Dash felt like walking earlier today. By the time we returned and finished eating breakfast, it was already raining. The cold rain continued throughout the day. The roof still isn't leaking, so I'm cautiously optimistic that the roofing crew found the problem. As much as I hate rain, I guess I still prefer it to snow. I can't believe all the snow they are getting in Seattle right now. I used to live in Seattle when I was younger and it never snowed.

Dash continues to amaze me. He's like the Energizer Bunny of old sick dogs. Even though he poops on the bed, has weird shaking and shivering spells, and can barely stand up at times, he still manages to save enough energy for his daily walk and is always nearby to beg for treats at dinnertime. Dash has adapted fairly well to using the Help 'Em Up Harness and lets us use it to help him on the bed at night and steady him while he is eating or drinking water. He needs a lot more rest now, but so do I. We're all getting older.

The Double-Crested Cormorants in the park seem to love terrible weather. We see them every Winter, but when nice weather returns, the birds are gone. I just wish the rain was gone. Unless things dry out a bit, I may not go to the gym tomorrow. I wish I enjoyed binge watching movies more, because Sunday looks like a good day for it. We'll see what tomorrow looks like. Sometimes cabin fever overcomes by distain for rain. I may be forced to go to the gym.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3251

Today was a catch up day. I didn't accomplish much, but I did finish the things I was supposed to do yesterday. There were no peaches when I went to the grocery store after breakfast. Unlike strawberries and blueberries, peaches seem to disappear when the season is over. I like peaches and when I can't find them in the store anymore it is officially Winter.

A lack of peaches wasn't the only sign of Winter today. It was very cold. Strong winds made it feel a lot colder than it really was. Despite the chilly weather, Dash was still eager to walk this morning. We bundled up and off we went. Dash now seems to understand the importance of protecting his feet and has finally learned to stand still while we fit his leg brace and put on his shoes and socks.

Dash an I are both hard on socks. I bought some more today on my way to the gym. My socks would probably last a lot longer if I didn't wear them as shoes around the house. Why would anyone wear shoes inside?  Spending the day in your socks is much more comfortable.

My routine never varies at the gym. Unlike people who try to push themselves, I'm just looking for consistency. I'd like to sink every shot on the basketball court. If only my hand eye coordination were more consistent.  I try to complete a mile on the treadmill in exactly the same amount of time it took the previous week. Usually I'm only off by a few seconds. I can guess my heart rate pretty accurately now as well. Consistency makes me feel like I accomplished something. Overachieving seldom does.

We're keeping socks on Dash in the house now. It seems to help. His paws need time to heal and he's constantly scraping them on something. We bought some medicine that will help the cuts heal, but he's got to stop opening old wounds. If these small cuts were on his back, everything would be better by now. The paws are always problematic. When Dash tore out a dew claw, it seemed to take forever before he was back to normal. I'm sure glad that accident happened before he was taking blood thinners.

Since yard work was out of the question on a cold day like this, I watched another episode of the National Geographic show about Mars. This kind of seems to be a show about what happens if Elon Musk succeeds. I keep wondering if the guy in charge of the Mars program in the show is supposed to represent an older Elon Musk. I wonder if I'll be alive when humans finally set foot on Mars. Probably not. It's still hard to believe that 50 years have passed since we went to the moon. This means 50 years since I was in college as well. Time flies. Back then I thought the world would have been a lot different by now.

Another weeks begins tomorrow. I'm looking forward to overeating on Thanksgiving. My appointment with the eye doctor, not so much.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3083

When I was at the gym today, one of the staff members came out on the court and started blocking my shots. It slowed me down a bit, but it was a nice gesture. Maybe after five years of spotty attendance, I'm finally a regular. I had a good workout today. On days like this, I always think that if I exercised more often, I'd really start making some progress.

The landscapers didn't come back today. I didn't really think they would. Who wants to work on Sunday? I doubt they could find St. Augustine grass today anyway. The yard will probably be finished tomorrow. The good news is that everything will look green again. The bad news is that my water bill will triple.

Dash cut his lip today while he was nosing around smelling things. It was a very small cut, but it bled a lot. Dash bleeds incredibly easily now that he's taking Plavix. We are as careful as we can be with him, but you can't stop a dog from smelling things. I wish I could convince Dash not to spend so much time investigating what the other animals in the park are doing. Our walks would be quicker and he probably never would have gotten that infection in his mouth. At least the bleeding has stopped now. Like I said, we do the best we can.

When Dash woke me up to go outside last night, I noticed that Mars was right next to the moon. I also noticed that Dash took an incredibly long time to poop. I was wide awake by the time we went inside again and had trouble getting back to sleep. Nothing is consistent about Dash anymore. Last week he was sleeping all the way through the night and now he's back to waking me up at 3 AM again. He's still eating well and doesn't appear to be in any pain. I guess that's all that counts.  Next week he's scheduled for another big exam at the cancer center. Hopefully, we'll find out a little more about his current condition.

I got my lab results back and I finally know my blood type. I'm an O+. This is the most common blood type, but I don't know if that's good or bad. Have you ever heard of the Blood Type Diet? It sounds kind of wacky to me, but supposedly your blood type is determined by your ancient ancestors and you'll do best if you continue to eat what they did. According to this unsubstantiated theory, people with Type O blood were originally hunter/gathers and need a high protein diet with lots of lean meat and very little grain. Sounds good to me. People with Type A blood are supposed to be vegetarians.

I had to take back the socks I got last week and exchange them for a larger size. Why are clothes so hard to fit these days. Small, medium, and large mean nothing. Sometimes a medium fits perfectly and other times it is too small. Stores don't like you to try on socks anyway. Usually they are stapled together in some sort of packaging that makes this impossible. At any rate, now I have large socks. These will probably be too big.

I'm going to submit some more art to the auction houses next week. Who knows where this will end?  Maybe Janet is right. Could it be that less actually is more?

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3076

Maybe it's just the nice weather, but we are encountering an increasing number of aggressive dogs in the park. These dogs are on a leash, but just barely. I still don't understand why people insist on walking their dogs in a public place when they can't control them. The woman we encountered today kept apologizing for her dog's bad behavior but couldn't seem to stop it. We watched as several other dogs narrowly avoided disaster and kept far, far away.

It's hard to blame the dog for bad behavior. Usually the owner has made no effort to properly socialize and train their pet. A well socialized puppy seldom becomes a bad dog. I've learned to keep my distance when I see a dog on one of those long flexi-leashes that won't come when it's called. When another dog approaches, the owner struggles to retract the leash like they are reeling in a fish. Jeez. A sturdy leather leash and a little training goes a long way. We safely completed another walk, but it would be nice if we could relax and enjoy the outdoors without constantly looking ahead for danger.

I may need to find a new time to go to the gym. For the second week in a row, I haven't been able to use the basketball court because a game was in progress. These impromptu pick-up games come and go, but I'm never very good at predicting when the court will be in use. I'm always a little disappointed when I can't shoot baskets. It seems like a small reward for the twenty minutes I spend on the hand bicycle.

I needed to buy a new nozzle for the garden hose in the back yard today. I've bought a new nozzle every year for the past three years. Why don't these things last? I'd much rather spend $25 for a sturdy nozzle that would last a lifetime than pay $7 for a new nozzle every year. Sprinklers are even worse. Most oscillating sprinklers won't even make it through a single season.

Although I'm willing to pay more for garden equipment, I'd like to pay less for socks. Why are socks so expensive? Maybe I'm hard on socks, but I'm always needing to replace them. It doesn't take me long at all to get a hole in the heel. I went looking for socks on my way home from the gym today and a lot of them were over $20 a pair. That's ridiculous for something that won't last six months.

Dash had a good day. He's seemed a little more sure footed on his walks lately. I can tell by the sound his protective boots make on the pavement that he's not dragging his feet so much. This could all change tomorrow, but I'm always happy when Dash has a good day. I'm still confused about his changing eating habits. Dash prefers to eat later in the day now. There's no more barking for breakfast right after he wakes up. Lately, he's been sleeping through the night too. I need to stay flexible, which isn't always easy. I'm not a very flexible person.

I watched the last episode of Detectorists last night. Now what? There just aren't many shows that I like. Maybe I should start reading again. My standards are pretty high. I'm looking for books like The Milagro Beanfield War, A Confederacy of Dunces, Geek Love, Danial Martin, Sometimes a Great Notion, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Truthfully, I don't think they make authors like Ken Kesey, Tom Wolfe, and John Fowles anymore.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1967

The two Live Oak trees in our back yard are destroyed. The power company tree trimmers arrived early this morning and began butchering the trees. By noon, they both looked like stumps. If the tree crews came every year, they could trim the trees just enough so that the power lines running down the alley would be completely safe without destroying the trees. These guys only want to come every five or six years though and they always cut the trees back way more than necessary, so they won't have to return the following year. I assume that this saves money, but it makes a mess of the trees. I think they require a clear area of at least twelve feet around the each power line. Three or four feet would easily keep branches from touching the wires even on the windiest day, but of course, I have no say in the matter.

I am so sick of trying to clean food particles out of my mouth after meals without touching the hole where my wisdom tooth used to be that I almost feel like quitting eating. Eating has always been one of my few real pleasures and now it is a total nuisance. Hard crunchy things are difficult to chew and soft things get stuck in my teeth. Nothing seems to work. My teeth have become so sensitive to cold beverages that I almost welcome the warm salt water rinse I have to swish around in my mouth three or four times a day. Apparently, going to the dentist is like opening a Pandora's Box. One of my other dentists called today and wanted to set up an appointment to fix tooth number 31. The oral surgeon has already told all the referring dentists that he'd done his part. Now I need to repair the tooth next to the wisdom tooth that was removed. After that, I probably need a new crown on tooth number 30 as well.

Dot must be almost deaf by now. She slept completely through all the noisy chain saws and loud voices of the crew in the back yard this morning. It's a bit sad to see her growing deaf, but it's a blessing in a way. She's a lot calmer when she doesn't hear all the odd noises that used to upset her. When she finally woke up for a late lunch, the tree crews had gone. When she went out in the yard to investigate, she knew something had happened, but she wasn't sure what. I hate seeing the Live Oak trees chopped up like this, but maybe the St. Augustine grass will finally start growing. There's certainly a lot more light in the yard now.

I paid a few bills today and tried to resolve a doctor bill that slipped through the cracks two years ago and never got paid by insurance. I think I got things cleared up, but you never know with this type of thing. The sign company called and said the banner I ordered yesterday was ready, so I picked that up on my way home from the post office. By the time I got home, it was time to feed the dogs again. Dash lost one of his protective socks yesterday, so we tried to find it on our walk this evening. It was a futile effort, since Dash never likes to go the same way twice. We almost lost another sock this afternoon, but luckily I noticed it was gone just a few feet after he kicked it off. That's it. It wasn't a very exciting day, but hey, that's how I roll.

Bunny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1955

I had lots of small problems to resolve today. Individually, they were trivial, but together they wore me out. I was jumping back and forth between Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver all day. As many of you know, I don't multitask well. I would always rather have one complex project than a bunch of little easy projects that share the same deadline. Although some of today's projects seemed meaningless, they were all important to my clients, so I jumped back and forth until it was time to take Dot for her weekly physical therapy session.

I've got to come up with a better way to transport Dot to the vet. Traffic was bad today and twice I had to put on my brakes hard enough to cause Dot to slide forward in her hammock and get stuck in the foot-well between the rear seats and the back of the front seats. The hammock keeps her from actually falling into this hole, but she can still get stuck if her weight pulls her forward and the hammock dips into the foot-well. She got stuck at a busy intersection today and I had trouble crossing three lanes of traffic so I could pull over and move her out of the foot-well and back to her seat. Dot was squealing and whining the whole time I was stuck in traffic. It was stressful for both of us. I'm thinking of abandoning the hammock and just putting the rear seats down again and having a large flat surface in the back of the car. She's getting strong enough now that I think she's just about ready to start riding in the car again the way she used to.

I've got to find time to go to a Babies R Us store and get some of those baby tube socks with rubberized feet that Dash can wear on his walks. The torn paw pad is still tender and he walks a lot better when I put a sock on the injured foot. The problem is that the short dog socks we got at a pet store don't work very well. Every time Dash scratches the earth with his rear feet, the sock falls off. Longer socks would definitely stay on better. One more thing to add to my "to do" list.

This has been a long week. I'm beginning to understand responsive website design. Dot is beginning to regain her independence. It's still tiring though. All the new knowledge in my head is starting to give me a headache and even though Dot is able to walk around the house without her harness, I've still got to watch her like a hawk. Dash is still limping too. There's more rainwater to remove from the roof, but I'm not even going to bother with that until this weekend. What's the point? It might rain again tomorrow anyway. Our excessive amounts of rain this Spring has caused me a lot of trouble, but the wet, muddy weather definitely has a silver lining. The new landscaping in the back yard looks great and I haven't had to use the sprinklers very much.

I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. It's nice to have a little quiet time with no barking dogs, irritating telemarketing calls, or dishes to wash. It's amazing how that little hour and a half of tasty tranquility can make the entire day seem better.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1296

There was a package of socks on my front porch this morning. It says a lot that I'd rather buy something as utilitarian and easy to find as socks online instead of going to a store. I don't know how local merchants survive when everything from digital cameras to dog food is easy to find online. It's so painless to buy things this way. A few mouse clicks and the FedEx guy brings it to your door a few days later. The allure of online shopping is even stronger in the Summer. Who wants to park your car at the mall and return an hour later to find your steering wheel too hot to touch? People don't seem as patient in the Summer either. More cars cut you off on the highway and you'll get honked at or worse if you don't make those left turns at stoplights quickly enough. I think the entire city is in a bad mood on hot days like today.

I probably notice the traffic more on Wednesdays, because that's when Dot has her acupuncture appointment. Traffic slowed to a crawl on Central Expressway this afternoon when a wreck blocked traffic. As we inched along toward the vet, I kept wondering what would happen if our own car stalled out. I try to stay in the right lane, so at least I could get off the road if I had car trouble, but sometime that's impossible. Maybe I worry too much about driving around in the Summer with a dog in the dog, but there's so much that could go wrong when you're driving an eighteen year old Defender 90. If I had to get a tow, I'm not even sure the tow truck driver would let Dot ride in the truck with him.

Luckily, we made it to and from our acupuncture appointment without a hitch. Dot seems to like her treatments now. Even though her legs still seem weaker than they should be, I have to assume that the treatments are doing her some good. I wish I could say the same for myself. I got the results from last Saturday's blood tests back today and my liver enzymes are elevated again. I'm not sure what to do now. I'm already taking the recommend medications, eating the recommended food, and doing the recommended exercise.

Although tomorrow is a holiday, it's going to seem pretty much like a regular Thursday around our house. Janet has to work tomorrow and if the weather remains as hot as it was today, the dogs aren't going to want to go out of the house anyway. I'm pretty much caught up on my writing work. If nothing new comes in tomorrow, it might be time to watch another movie on Hulu.

Dash didn't do well in training class tonight. Actually, none of the dogs did. There was something smelly in the grass that the dogs wanted to eat. I couldn't tell what they were interested in, but there must have been something. Every ten feet or so, Dash had his nose in the grass, looking for some illusive treasure. No illusive treasures for me today. The high point of my day was getting a package of socks.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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