Day 4856

Another slow day. At least the weather was nice. Dawn enjoyed her early walk this morning and still seems fine after we discontinued her pain medication. I'm glad she's feeling better. I still see people photographing the baby owls when take our walk. Those little owls are getting a lot of exposure.

I still haven't heard anything about the Falcon Heavy launch next week and am beginning to wonder if I've been forgotten. Usually I get some sort of notification even if my application for credentials has been rejected. There's still time, but the launch is getting pretty close. Is chasing rockets even worth it? I wonder. I probably should be planning a trip to Brownsville for the first Starship orbital launch next week, but I have little interest in going to South Texas. I guess I'll just wait and see if I hear anything from NASA later this week.

You'd think I'd find something new to occupy my time, but I keep following the same routine day after day. My long walk has become extremely predictable. So many things are the same that I keep an eye out for little differences. There's always something new. Sometimes the air smells different. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of illusive park animals. Occasionally I see rare or strange cars. Park department workers are always doing something different. This week they are making large piles of brush along the shoreline that will get hauled away later by other park workers. They always seem to be mowing the grass.  I'll be glad when the mowers make it around to our side of the park again. The grass in the meadow behind our house grows fast.

Since it was a nice day, Janet and I tried to rake up the remainder of the leaves in the back yard. Since a lot of the remaining leaves were in the Asian Jasmine ground cover, it was hard to remove them without ripping up the ground cover. We did our best. The yard does look better now. Dawn watched us while we worked and ended up completely flattening a small patch of Monkey Grass that was just starting to grow. She loves to roll in the grass, which I guess is better than rolling in the dirt.

I have little interest in yard work or home repairs anymore. You can't ignore these things though. I wish it were easier to find people I trust to do these things for me. My problem is that I don't really trust anyone. The office is filled with things to occupy my time, but I've lost interest in most of them as well. It's been ages since I've picked up my guitar. I can't even remember how to use some of my recording gear. I still have a passing interest in photography, but that's fading as well. I guess it's a good thing that I still enjoy chasing rockets. Everybody needs something they enjoy.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4577

Another really hot day. Our air conditioner is running constantly and is having trouble keeping up with the heat. The temperature is already in the mid 80's when we take Dawn on her sunrise walk now. This is OK, but by mid-morning it is already too hot to do much outside. Sadly, there is no relief in sight. The forecast shows that the next nine days will be pretty much the same. It's a triple digit month.

I must have gotten stung by one of those hornets when I was cleaning the windows the other day. I didn't notice anything at the time, but now I've got a big welt on my leg. It looks and feels just like a bee sting, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I'm not allergic to bee stings, but this is irritating. The swelling is much worse than your usual mosquito or chigger bites.

I didn't even think about taking a walk in the park today. After I checked my messages and did the breakfast dishes I headed straight for the gym. The place wasn't very crowded today. Probably because I was earlier. Since this gym is run by a major hospital, there are always a lot of physical therapy patients. I always feel like I'm falling apart until I see what these people have to go through. Considering my age, I'm pretty lucky to still be relatively healthy. I'm glad they keep my gym super cold. It may be boring walking around the small indoor track, but it certainly beats getting sunburned while being drenched in sweat. I shot baskets for a while, walked several miles on the indoor track, and used several machines that will help my upper body strength. I have a feeling that I may be back tomorrow. I just can't handle a walk in the park in this heat.

I'm finding ants all over the place in the house now. Most of them appear near doors and windows and almost all are dead. I have no idea where they came from. Maybe they were part of the ant invasion that appeared on our front porch last month. After I vacuum the dead ants up, they don't tend to reappear. Maybe this was a one time event. I certainly hope so. One of the downsides of living near the park is that there are critters everywhere. We have to watch out for possums and raccoons when we let Dawn out at night and squirrels are everywhere. Luckily, we seldom see snakes. Our main battles are with the spiders who relentlessly built huge webs near our windows. Most of the spiders are harmless and help control other insects, but the webs are a huge nuisance. 

I'm still having trouble staying occupied during the day. Now that I'm no longer working and have stopped collecting things, the only things that seem to interest me are rocket launches and observing the night sky at McDonald Observatory. Where did all the other interests go? I used to write songs and play in a rock band. I spent several years as a fashion photographer. At one point I considered myself an art collector and never missed a gallery opening. None of these things interest me anymore. I guess it's OK for interests to ebb and flow, but it does seem a bit strange. Most people seem to keep their interests and obsessions for much longer.

Dawn won another ribbon at training class tonight. I was surprised that they even had the class since it was so hot, but Janet said there was a nice breeze and the dogs were all OK. Dawn really likes going to this class now. Like the Sunday outing and her early morning walks, it has become part of her routine. My own routine is almost as simple as Dawn's, but I don't win many ribbons.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4040

I went along on Dawn's walk today. She seemed confident and happy. She trusts Janet and she seems to know that she doesn't have to walk too far anymore. We took turns holding the leash and it didn't seem to matter as long as Dawn was leading the way and could go wherever she wanted. One mile seems her limit now and she definitely knows the way home. Is there a lesson in this? I'm not sure, but it's clear that our fitness goals are not the same as Dawn's.

Maybe something happened after Dawn had the seizure. Maybe she's finally become confident enough to let us know what she really thinks. Either way, it's fine. Dawn is not a young dog and if she only wants to walk a mile, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll continue taking long walks, mostly because I can't think of anything better to do. Walking is a great way to daydream and think. I find myself thinking about cars and astronomy a lot. When Covid fades from the scene, there are a lot of dark sky sites I'd like to visit. I almost never find myself thinking about politics and current events. I don't even care. My little world has always been a private one. Walking in the woods and watching ducks suits me just fine.

Today's walk was incredibly windy. The wind almost blew me over when I was walking by the shoreline. I always worry that another tree is going to blow over in the yard when we have strong winds. This is always when it seems to happen. Luckily, everything was still standing when I returned home. Today I saw three vultures eating a dead possum by the side of the road. They would take turns with one vulture tearing into the carcass at a time. There are three Muscovy ducks that I see almost every day. A small female joined the two males several months ago and now appears to be the leader of the group. She swims ahead of the two males and leads the way when they are on land as well. Ducks and geese always seem to have a leader. I wonder who gets to be the leader in those giant v-shaped formations I often see flying overhead?

I need to find a new way to occupy my time. Following rocket launches is getting harder and harder because of Covid restrictions. McDonald Observatory has closed again too. I doubt that they are going to be needing volunteer help for quite a while. I don't write songs anymore and I can't imagine building a website just for fun. So many things I used to enjoy just seem stupid now. It's probably not a good sign that my favorite activity now is taking long naps.

It's time to make a grocery list again. These weeks go by incredibly quickly. It seems like I was just making a list yesterday. The last time I went to the store, a lot of shelves were empty again. I hope people haven't resumed hoarding stuff. When other people start hoarding, you start hoarding as well and it quickly gets out of hand. It took us months to use up all the stuff we got last April.

I wish Dawn would start trusting me. Maybe that's too much to ask. There are people I know who still don't trust me.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day