Day 4838

What a strange day. We woke up under severe weather warnings with some ominous looking dark clouds overhead. I took a quick look at the weather radar and then we hurridly took Dawn on a quick morning walk. Our timing was next to perfect because as soon as we returned home there was a bright flash of lightning and some very loud thunder. The lightning must have hit something nearby because shortly after this our power went out.

The power came on again within a few minutes, but this was just the first in a series of power outages this morning. Dawn doesn't like power outages and they bother her even more when Janet is gone. The multiple power outages totally freaked Dawn out and she began acting weirdly. She started hiding in corners and trying to get into closets. For some reason our big bed was no longer a safe place and she wanted out of the bedroom. She ended up sitting in a living room chair next to a window which always bothers me because the chair is next to a glass coffee table and Dawn could hurt herself if she didn't get off the chair carefully.

I wasn't able to comfort or reassure Dawn because she is usually scared of me anyway. She seemed to want to go outside, but when I let her out she tried to make a nest in the ground cover. I eventually just let her sit on the living room chair because that's where she wanted to be. She didn't really settle down until hours later when Janet returned with the groceries. I thought Dawn would be fine once the power was restored, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Once Dawn goes into panic mode, it's hard to get her out of it.

Luckily, when Janet came home with the groceries Dawn started returning to normal. She still didn't want to go in the bedroom though, which was very strange. I think battling with fear this morning wore her out. She seemed exhausted this afternoon and is still sleeping on the bed right now. Dawn really doesn't like surprises. I don't like surprises either, but Dawn's reaction is pretty extreme. Hopefully the next few days will be completely uneventful so she can get her confidence back.

I got a real late start on my long walk today because I didn't want to leave Dawn alone while she was in panic mode. I was kind of tired myself by the time I started walking but I managed to finish my route. The weather this afternoon was completely different than it was this morning. The skies were clear and blue with pleasant warm temperatures. We got quite a bit of rain this morning, but by mid-afternoon it was like the storm never even happened. Luckily we didn't get the worst of the storm. The really bad weather went to the south of us.

When I was walking today I gave some thought to what I want to do next. Sadly, my mind was a blank. I don't feel like driving out to the observatory anymore and I'm not even that excited about going down to Florida for launches. I've never liked flying that much and all the current airline problems have caused old fears to return. Maybe Dawn and I aren't all that different. My favorite thing is sleeping now. What was I thinking yesterday? I really don't need another large format printer because I haven't been doing gallery shows for a long time. Most of my unsold art is sitting in the storage warehouse. I definitely don't need all the music gear in the office. I haven't written and recorded my own songs in ages. All these former interests seem curious and strange to me now. How did I get interested in this stuff in the first place? I'm not even sure how I got interested in rockets.

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully it will be a day where Dawn remains calm and happy. For my part I'll make a grocery list and do my weekly shopping. I won't need to get gas because I didn't drive anywhere this week. I'm sure I'll take a long walk. I always take a long walk.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4697

I spent several hours trying to find a better hotel for my next trip to Titusville. No luck at all. Everything is completely booked. Even the place where I'm currently staying is completely booked now. I'll be OK, but I hate it when the reviews start with "smells like pee." I guess I'm a little surprised that the Artemis-1 launch is still such an attraction. After two failures, the chance of a third failure is still fairly high. Maybe others are going back for the same reason I am. If I stayed home this time it would almost guarantee that there would be a flawless, trouble free launch. I guess I still want to see this thing, even if the launch now takes place at midnight.

I don't know why I thought it was Friday for most of the day. I guess I'm just ready for this week to be over. The day started like any other weekday. We walked Dawn in the dark. I ate my breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit, checked my messages, and then contemplated taking another long walk in the park. 

Before leaving on my walk, I made some final edits on my Falcon Heavy article and selected a few pictures to accompany it. I summited the article and a few hours later received a thumbs up from my editor. I'm disappointed that I didn't have better pictures, but the article itself was pretty good. I hope the magazine will be interested in another article about Artemis. I'm not sure though. SpaceFlight devoted much of their November issue to the Artemis-1 mission and the rocket didn't even launch. Hey, I've still got my credentials though. I might as well see this thing through to the end.

I had a nice walk this morning even though I got rained on a bit. The weather will be much worse tomorrow. There are tornado warnings with a chance of quarter sized hail. There's only a 10% chance of a tornado in our location, but any chance at all is always unsettling. I'm really glad I got the tree removed from the roof before the bad weather starts. Any significant wind could have caused the large branch to fall and break something. I don't think any rain is expected until tomorrow afternoon, so we'll still be able to take Dawn on her early morning walk.

I finally found a carpenter to fix the rotted fascia on the side of our house. I found the guy on the Internet. I guess that's just how you do things these days. This guy had good reviews, but I still prefer a recommendation from friends. Since most of my friends are closer to going into assisted living than they are to remodeling their houses these days, we don't trade home improvement recommendations very often. I certainly don't know who to recommend anymore. Most of the people I've used in the past have either retired or died.

My Fitbit isn't recording my steps correctly anymore. This is irritating since I've become addicted to counting steps. I checked on the user group and saw that several other people were having the same problem. I suspect that my iPhone has become too old for Fitbit to bother with. This has happened to me before with other apps and software. When companies update software and apps so they are compatible with new hardware, older stuff like I use often gets left in the dust. One more reason to get a new phone I guess.

I hope the weather reports are wrong about tomorrow's storms. I really hate dealing with bad weather.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4442

We met Willie today. This delightful three year old male came to Dalmatian Rescue from animal control in a nearby city. It always seems strange to me that such a nice dog could wind up abandoned or stray but it happens a lot. I don't know a lot about Willie's history, but I think it's safe to say that his future will be a lot better than his past.

With four Dalmatians at the kennel now, we're spending more time playing with the dogs. Jo Jo has adjusted to his new surroundings well. Oliver is recovering from an eye infection. We helped the kennel staff give him eye drops which was a lot harder than I thought. Oliver wouldn't stay still and had no interest in the drops. Charlie continues to amaze me at how well trained he's become. This is a good group of dogs and we enjoy spending time with them.

It was so warm today that the air conditioner came on for a while. It's almost impossible to plan for this weather. Every day is something new. There was a light mist when we took our sunrise walk this morning, but the sun came out later in the day. Amazingly, the temperature topped 80 degrees this afternoon. Apparently there are still more surprises to come. We are under a severe thunderstorm alert now with storms arriving in the area later tonight. I'm really getting tired of this schizophrenic weather.

I'm also getting tired of my foot problems. I investigated some alternative treatments offered by sports medicine specialists this afternoon. One involved injections of bone marrow concentrate and the other treated you using stem cells. Both procedures looked a little sketchy to me, but what do I know. I'm in no hurry to do something stupid. I'll ask my doctor about these alternative treatments the next time I see him.

The foot pain has definitely put a damper on my long walks. I didn't even get close to 20,000 steps today. We typically walk about a mile and a half with Dawn in the morning and I walked another two miles after we returned from the kennel. That was plenty. I don't think new shoes are going to be a magic bullet at this point. The cartilage between the bones in my feet is wearing out and I haven't heard of many effective ways to replace it.

Traffic has gotten so bad in the city now. When we are driving back and forth to the kennel it seems like a completely different place than it used to. Rush hour seems permanent now. Where are all these new people coming from? I guess there are still a lot of job opportunities in Dallas. I've never seen so many out of state plates.

My repairs to the problematic French toilet didn't go so well. I'm already hearing a drip again. I wish things would stay fixed. Every time I hear a strange noise in the kitchen or utility room I think I'm going to have to make another call to the appliance repairman. I'm nervous about finishing repairs to the living room ceiling as well. I know that as soon as I get things looking nice again, the roof leak will reappear.

I'm continuing to watch the weather radar. The storm is closer to us now. It looks like the worst weather will be to the north of us, but we're definitely going to get some rain. Let's just hope the roof doesn't start leaking while we're asleep.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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