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

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Day 4695

What a weird day. When I left the hotel this morning to go to the launch, it was so foggy outside that I could barely see the car. What a surprise. I kept thinking that the fog would lift quickly, but the closer I got to the ocean, the thicker the fog got. Visability was terrible on the roads and by the time I arrived at the KSC Press Site, you couldn't see anything. Nobody knew where to point their cameras because you couldn't even see the launch pads. Fog was quickly enveloping the 45 story tall Vertical Assembly Building and as it got closer to launch time, you couldn't even see the sun. Instead of burning off as the sun rose, the fog was blowing in from offshore and it just kept getting thicker.

None of this seemed to bother Space X. The countdown proceeded right on schedule and at 9:41 AM the Falcon Heavy lifted off. We could hear the launch, but we couldn't see a thing. This seemed impossible to me. The Falcon Heavy is a huge rocket with 27 Merlin engines. I was expecting an immense flame from this thing. I didn't even see an orange glow through the fog. If it wasn't for the roar the rocket made, you wouldn't have known there was a launch at all. 

Since we couldn't see the launch, we couldn't see the return of the two side boosters either. Once again it was the sound that reminded us that this launch was actually taking place. As the side boosters began their landing burns, we heard a double sonic boom from each booster. The sonic booms were so loud that we also heard a strange high pitched sound as the sonic booms ricocheted off the VAB. The sound pressure levels had caused the entire building to vibrate. As cool as these sounds were, it was still a huge disappointment not to see the launch. 

I initially thought I might have picked the wrong location. I decided to go to the NASA Press Site at the last minute when I remembered that I got eaten alive by mosquitos the last time I was at the ITL Causeway. It wouldn't have made any difference where I went today. The Causeway was completely fogged in as well. Even though they were closer to the landing site, they still couldn't see anything either.

The launch was a success even though it was a total bust for all the launch photographers. I wasn't the only one who'd been waiting a long time to see the Falcon Heavy's twin side boosters return to land at Cape Canaveral. I was lucky to see the Falcon Heavy SPT-2 Mission launch in 2019. It was spectacular and I really wanted to see another one. Oh, well. You win some and you lose some.

Since the launch was over by 10 AM and my flight home didn't leave Orlando until 6 PM, I had a lot of time to kill. I stayed at the hotel until noon and then went into Titusville and had lunch at Sonny's. I didn't get any good pictures today, but I did have some good barbecue. 

Even though I tried my best to kill time in Titusville, I still arrived at the airport hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. This proved to be a good time to get my steps and I walked back and forth on the concourse until I met my goals. 

The flight home was late getting started because people were so slow getting on the plane. The flight was completely full of little kids returning from a trip to Disneyworld, overweight people who were having trouble navigating the narrow aisle, and way too much carry-on luggage. We were so late getting off the ground in Orlando that we lost our gate when we arrived in Dallas. We had to wait on the plane until they found a new gate for us. All in all it was a long and somewhat frustrating day.

Dawn seemed glad to see me when I got home though. At least the day ended well.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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