Day 4965

Another Saturday in the books. We see lots more people on our weekend sunrise walks. The park was full of runners this morning. I guess if you like to run, this would be the time to do it. Since we got up later this morning, it was already a bit warmer outside. We still had an enjoyable walk though because there was a nice breeze.

I'm glad we slept in later because I didn't get much sleep last night. Dawn woke me up several times itching and scratching. We don't know what is bothering her, but she's been itching and licking her belly a lot lately. I think she's itchy from sitting out in the grass, but it could be anything. Since she mostly does this at night, maybe she's allergic to the comforter or blankets on the bed.

After our big weekend breakfast I did my weekly grocery shopping. I had to get gas today and was surprised at how much prices at the pump had gone up in just a week. I don't think there are any gas shortages, but I haven't been keeping up with the news. It's weird how volatile prices are these days. At least eggs are a bit more reasonable now.

Strawberries have been in short supply for several weeks. This week I saw something new called hydroponically grown strawberries. They looked a lot fresher than the regular berries. I thought they might be expensive since there was no price listed on the display, but they turned out to be about the same price as strawberries grown in the ground. We'll see what they taste like when I resume eating shredded wheat and fruit on Monday.

It's kid of irritating that stores have quit selling my favorite beer. Maybe the company doesn't brew it anymore. Probably it just wasn't a big seller. If I like something there's always a good chance that nobody else does. At any rate, I finished my shopping fairly quickly this week. It probably helps that I'm starting earlier now.

After I put the groceries away I went back to the gym. I like going to the gym on weekends because it is virtually empty. It's easy to find a spot in the parking garage and there were only five people on the floor when I arrived. The gym is quite large and five people working out are almost invisible. I felt like I had the place to myself. Even though all the machines were available, I just did my same old routine. I briskly walked three miles on the indoor track and then spent ten or fifteen minutes on the basketball court. All I do is shoot free throws. If I ever get really good at this, I may try something else.

When I returned home I took a shower and did a load of laundry. I got some author copies of SpaceFlight in the mail with my article about the AX-2 launch. All in all it was a pretty good day. Tomorrow I'll go mall walking, but it will probably be too hot for Dawn's Sunday outing. We'll take her to get ice cream cones though. She'd be real disappointed if we forgot the ice cream cones.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4643

Just a normal Saturday doing normal Saturday things. I wished I'd worn a jacket on our sunrise walk with Dawn. It was the first time I've felt chilly outside for a long time. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 60's. When we returned home, we had our weekend breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. I made the bed, checked my messages, and got ready to go grocery shopping again.

I still can't get used to how expensive everything has become. It's not just food either. Even furnace filters have doubled in price. At least gas is more reasonable now. I filled my tank for quite a bit less than what I was paying two months ago. Strawberries are expensive again. The price goes up and down throughout the year depending on where they are imported from. I've got to have strawberries though. They have become an essential part of my morning routine.

It's weird how quickly it heats up during the day. I was thinking of walking in the park today, but by the time I was ready it was already too hot. Mornings feel like Fall has arrived, but by noon it is obvious that Summer is still hanging around. The leaves haven't started to fall yet, but that is coming soon. It's a shame that the yard will be covered in Oak leaves in a month or so. Our yard is finally looking nice for the first time all summer.

I went back to the gym this afternoon since I didn't feel like dealing with the heat. We seem to have a thirty degree temperature swing every day. My gym is always nice and cool. You can have a pretty good workout without even working up a sweat. I completed my usual routine and went home again. I'm still slower walking on the indoor track than I am outdoors. This remains a mystery to me. Logically, I should be faster walking indoors in a nice climate controlled environment.

I hope that my favorite Chinese restaurant hasn't gone out of business. I was going to get take-out tonight, but the website wasn't working and when I called to place an order, no one answered. The last time I picked something up at this restaurant nobody was there. It was sad seeing the place completely empty and I wondered if they were having trouble. I should have driven over to the place to see what was going on, but I just ordered a pizza instead. The pizza place changed their menu and prices have gone up, but the pizza was still good.

There were lots of things on my to-do list that got ignored this afternoon. I just didn't feel like doing anything. The rest of the world was watching shows about the queen, but I watched another Starlink launch on the Space X live stream. Why do I keep watching these things? All these Falcon 9 launches are identical.

These weeks really go quickly. It's already time for Dawn's Sunday outing and another walk at Northpark mall. Didn't I just do this a few days ago? You'd think I'd get bored with such a repetitive, regimented routine, but I find the monotony strangely comforting. Don't expect me to be spontaneous. It's just not going to happen.

Cleo it today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3796

Today was dismal. You know how I feel about an all day rain. We were lucky to be able to take Dawn for a short walk before the rain started in earnest, but even on this little excursion we managed to get wet. Dawn isn't scared of storms, but she definitely doesn't like to get wet. Neither do I. I definitely got wet today. I had to go up on the roof during the rain to restart one of the pumps. Water had caused a short in an extension cord and thrown a circuit breaker. I managed to get everything fixed, but the pumps couldn't keep up with all the water. It was a very heavy rain.

I should have skipped grocery shopping this morning, but I needed more fresh fruit. I had to go to two different stores to find strawberries. All the berries destined for Sam's Club must has been delivered to Kroger instead. There was a huge display and the berries were even on sale. There seems to be an abundance of food, but distribution is all messed up. You never know what you are going to find at a store on any particular day.

The chiggers have arrived. I got my first bites of the season yesterday. I must have gotten bitten when I stepped off the path on our walk the other day to photograph some Texas Thistle for my blog photo. It doesn't take much. Now I am itching like crazy. I'm pretty good at avoiding poison ivy, but I seem unable to escape chiggers and mosquitos. We've got to check Dawn for ticks every day as well. The bugs are back for the Summer.

I'm making progress on my quest to return to Kennedy Space Center. I contacted my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine and the magazine agreed to sponsor me, providing the information I needed to apply for clearance from the military. I'll fill out the government forms over the weekend and send them to the Air Force next week. I don't know how long the approval process takes, but I hope to be able to cover the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover launch later this Summer.

I am completely baffled that so many people want to stay in lockdown mode until a cure for Covid-19 is found. Don't these people read history? There may never be a cure. It took over 100 years to eradicate polio and several early attempts at a vaccine were disastrous. To this day there has never been a successful vaccine for any virus in the coronavirus family. We all get our flu shots, but some years this vaccine is only marginally effective. The common flu keeps mutating and a new vaccine must be developed every year. Remember, vaccines don't actually cure anything. They just accelerate the process of building herd immunity in a population.

There have been other pandemics in my lifetime, but I don't remember a reaction like the one I'm seeing now. This is irrational panic. The Hong Kong flu killed well over a million people in 1969 and few people even remember it. I don't and I was there. The Hong Kong flu was a major global pandemic that caused huge disruptions in Europe, but nothing was shut down anywhere. Corpses were stored in subway tunnels in Berlin. Half the workforce in France was bedridden while the rest of us were preoccupied with Woodstock, Vietnam, and going to the moon. A vaccine was eventually developed but it didn't eradicate the disease. It remains in circulation today as a strain of the seasonal flu. Quick cures for viruses just don't exist.

I hope the rain stops tomorrow. I'm tired of shepherding balky pumps and nervously looking for leaks. The "service required" light came on in my car again. I'm tired of that too. Give me a break. I'm not even driving the car these days.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3643 - Blogiversary

I wonder why strawberry prices have doubled? They look exactly the same and they're still grown somewhere in Mexico. I usually don't even look at the price but a woman near me looked at the berries, told me they were way too expensive and put them back. I looked too. Yup, they actually were too expensive. It used to be that only gasoline changed price regularly. Now everything seems to fluctuate. I went ahead and bought the strawberries because they are an essential ingredient in my morning smoothies. I hope they don't become like peaches and disappear entirely during the winter.

I got most of the photography gear moved back to the storage warehouse this morning. I thought this might make the house look tidy again, but it really didn't change much. At least the house looks better than the storage warehouse. I know I need to do something about all this clutter, but I don't even know where to start. There is a reason why this stuff is being saved, but not a good reason. I still use the photo equipment from time to time, but I never use all the old computers and typewriters I've accumulated. Why is there a windsurfing board in the warehouse? Jeez. I'll never use this. With a bad shoulder, it would be insane to go windsurfing. I doubt that I'll ever use my old band's PA system again either. So much clutter. I just don't have the energy to deal with it.

I barely had the energy to take my walk today. Truthfully, going to the gym was plenty of exercise for one day, but I'm addicted to those steps. I wanted my 20,000 Fitbit steps and the only way to get them was to keep walking. At least it was a nice day. It was warm enough that I could wear shorts again. This won't last long unfortunately. Another cold front is on the way. They say temperatures could get down to freezing by tomorrow night.

McDonald Observatory just announced a new batch of Special Viewing Nights for the winter months. They say the chances of clear skies are higher in the winter, but I don't think I have the nerve to drive to West Texas when the weather could change for the worse overnight. I've seen too many videos of nasty snow storms that sweep across the plains and bring traffic to a crawl. I definitely don't want to find myself on an icy freeway surrounded by eighteen wheelers sliding off the road.

I heard that Hank got adopted this weekend. I'm glad I got a chance to see him again at one of the Santa Paws events. Janet and I will be visiting the dogs tomorrow, but I think Hank has already gone to his forever home. I'm hoping a few more dogs might find a home before Christmas as well. You never know. There are five new dogs in the program now, but they will be spending the holidays at the vet. It's quieter there. A boarding kennel can be pretty hectic during the holiday rush, so we'll get to know the new guys a little better after the first of the year.

I'm going to try to get started on my new article about the Artemis program tomorrow. It all depends on how much time we spend tish the dogs.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3579

When I was buying groceries this morning, the produce guy was putting out new strawberries. "These look terrible," I said. "Are you going to sell these?" The guy laughed. "They come from the grower like this," he told me. "Sometimes they're so bad we throw them away. Sometimes we use them for pies. People still buy these things though." At least the guy was honest. He helped me find a few good packages of berries and I continued my shopping.

You've got to be careful what you buy these days. Janet has taught me to always look at the expiration date. The freshest milk is often at the back of the display. I often buy stuff from the deli case because I don't like to cook. A lot of these easy to prepare items are made from things near their expiration date. Supermarkets hate to waste food.

It was a beautiful day but the roof still isn't dry enough to apply the coating that the roofers left me. I guess there's no hurry. I still can't figure out how to transfer the silicon from the big drum to small containers that I can carry to the roof. They make pump lids for five gallon containers, but these things are meant to pump liquids like motor oil and paint. The silicon liquid is so thick that it would quickly clog most of these pumps. I've started reading roofers forums on the Internet, hoping to get a few pointers. When roofers talk to other roofers most of them say that working with silicon is a disaster. Silicon is a natural release agent and won't adhere to anything except silicon. This is the problem I've been having since the beginning. The silicon won't stick to the roof.

It was cold last night. I slept under a blanket for the first time since last winter. Surprisingly, I slept very well. Maybe having the extra weight of a cover over you helps you sleep. Who knows. Cold weather changes a lot of things. The security light in the back yard stays on all night now. Apparently the light sensor doesn't work when temperatures are really high. It's weird hearing the furnace come on at night. It's also weird wearing a coat on my morning walks. I definitely need a coat when I left the house this morning, but after a few miles I felt warmer and tied the coat around my waist.

I've had my new storage warehouse almost a year now. The annual rent is due again in November. My plan was to get rid of a lot of stuff during the year so I could get a smaller space when it was time to renew. That didn't happen. My room is full and I really need a larger space. None of this stuff is all that important. I wish storage warehouses provide easy assess to a large dumpster. None of them do. They don't even let you use a trash can these days. It makes it hard to get rid of stuff.

I've looked at enough motorhome websites to realize that it will always be less expensive to just rent these things when I need them. Actually, I'd save money by renting everything. I just don't do that much. I'd even save money renting things I consider tools of the trade. How often do I actually use my cameras these days? Not that much. How often do I use my recording gear. Never. I just like gadgets. I like the idea of having something when I need it. Most stuff just gathers dust though. I do need a computer. That's something I use everyday. I'm using it right now.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3516

I just noticed that the cicadas are gone. I don't hear them anymore on my daily walks. When did this happen? I'm trying to be more observant, but there are so many things to notice in our daily lives that a lot of things fall under the radar. I heard a few individual bugs chirping when I took out the trash this evening but the constant buzz appears to be over. I wonder why these bugs do everything together. It's all or nothing with them. I doubt that the cicadas stopped singing today. I have been hearing a lot of other birds lately, but I failed to notice that this was because it was quieter outside. It's interesting how the brain works. I'm finally starting to notice things that I've actually been seeing for years. When I was walking dogs, I was always focused on them. I was looking ahead for other dogs. Especially loose ones. I kept an eye out for critters the dogs might go after. Was someone limping? Were the dogs too hot? I was busy and totally ignored a lot of other things in the park. The only time I noticed cicadas when I was walking Dot and Dash was when one of the dogs was trying to eat them.

There was no blood in Hank's stools today. We've changed his diet and this seems to be helping. It would be convenient if all the dogs in the rescue program could eat the same thing, but they can't. Some Dalmatians tend to develop crystals in their urine and there is a special diet for that. There are diets for kidney problems and even diets for cancer patients. Dot could eat anything, but Dash was on a special diet for most of his life. Hopefully adjusting Hank's diet will prevent the bloody diarrhea from reappearing.

The grocery store is playing hide and seek with the strawberries again. They hide the boxes of good berries underneath boxes of berries approaching their expiration date in hopes that people will buy the bad berries first. I had to sort through a lot of berries this morning to find two boxes of fresh, bright red strawberries. Who is the produce manager trying to fool? Everybody knows the good berries are on the bottom. I always see other people doing the same thing I am. They ought to sell the older berries separately at a lower price? People always buy cheap stuff. They could even make juice out of the darker berries. You'd never know the difference if you were looking at a bottle of juice.

I stopped at a rental car place on the way to the grocery store to ask about renting a car for our trip to McDonald Observatory. I thought all locations for a particular brand would be the same, but they're not. You can get a lot better selection of cars at the airport than you can in town. The lady I talked to basically encouraged me to just go to the airport. She said that they would probably never have the car I wanted. "Couldn't you just get the airport location to sent one over," I asked. "That's not the way it works," she told me. Apparently very few things work the way they should.

It keeps getting hotter. We're supposed to have triple digit temperatures for another week. When cooler weather returns it will still be in the nineties. Personally, I'm ready for sweater weather. I've got lots of sweaters but only one skin. Sweating might be good for you but I doubt that tanning has the same benefits.

It's funny that absolutely nobody seems to believe that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. Some people even think he faked his own death and is already in the witness protection program. The rest seem to think Hillary did it. This is the world we live in. When the conspiracy theories start to seem more plausible than the "factual" information, you are already living in the Twilight Zone.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3510

24,000 steps today. Part of this total was spent up on the roof unclogging the pumps and clearing the water away. July was dry, but so far August has been pretty wet. I was surprised at how much higher the lake was this morning. Just two decent rains and the water level had risen over a foot. As always, the rain is a giant nuisance for me, but we certainly needed it. The grass in the back yard is already looking greener.

After all this activity I am pretty tired. I don't think I could have done this two months ago though. Walking is good for you. I'm starting to feel stronger and my legs definitely feel firmer. My average resting heart rate has decreased as well. I wish I enjoyed exercising since it occupies a lot of my day now. Walking is not really a joyful experience but it's not depressing either. All in all, it's probably a much better way to spend time than sitting at the computer.

I went back and got strawberries today. A shipment must have just arrived because the berries looked really fresh. The fruit always seems to look better on Sunday. Of course if I switched shopping days, the fruit would look better on Saturday. At any rate, I'm all set for another week of smoothies.

AT&T was supposed to come out and bury the new fiber optic cable this morning, but nobody showed up. Am I surprised? Not really. Since there is no easy way to check on scheduling, I will have to call the irritating offshore customer service line again and spend a long time on the phone with someone who doesn't have a clue about what is going on. Maybe I'll just do nothing. Everything works fine with the cable laying on top of the ground.

I'm starting to think about renting a car for the trip to McDonald Observatory. This isn't really rational thinking because I've already got a perfectly nice car that has just been serviced. I just got new tires too. The problem is that I don't really trust the car. Things have gone wrong for no reason at all when I least expected it. I hate surprises. Memories never fade either. Once on a road trip I threw a rod in rural Oklahoma and had to have an earlier car towed all the way back to Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was there over a month getting the engine completely rebuilt. When the repairs were finally finished I had to drive up from Dallas during an ice storm to retrieve it. Of course rental cars aren't free from problems. When I went out to Vandenberg Air Force Base to watch a launch a few years ago somebody hit the rental car and it took months to get all the insurance issues resolved.

There's a new Dalmatian up at the boarding kennels so Janet and I are going up for a visit tomorrow. I'll take some pictures of this liver spotted boy for the website and we'll spend time playing with all the dogs. Visiting the dogs on Mondays has become a regular part of our week. Truthfully, these visits are just as important as my daily walks.

I can't figure out what is wrong with the security light. It comes on every evening around sunset, but shuts off again around 10 PM. This doesn't make sense because the photo cell is obviously working. The light will come back on again tomorrow evening. The bulb is fine too. I could turn it on again right now by going out and flipping the breaker switch. It isn't worth the trouble to go outside and do this but I'm still wondering about this very odd behavior.

It looks like another hot and humid day tomorrow. At least the rain is over for a while. I'm done with Summer. Bring on the cooler weather.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3509

I predicted this would happen. We had a brief heavy rain this morning and the roof is wet again. After weeks of pleading, the roofer still hasn't brought over the special silicon product I need to make repairs. It's been so dry in July that almost any day would have been a good time to patch the tears in the elastomer material. Now I need to clear the water off the roof, dry everything off and start all over again. The main problem is that commonly available patch materials available at Home Depot and Lowes won't stick to the silicon that's already on the roof and the commercial product I need is only available to the trade in very large drums. It's quite expensive too. Jeez. I don't need much of this stuff. I'm sure the roofer is waiting till he has a small amount of silicon left over from another job, but this isn't helping me any.

The rain cooled the temperature a bit, but it's still as muggy as ever outside. I thought I'd have a pleasant walk this morning, but I might as well have just walked the rain. I was still drenched in sweat by the time I returned. While I was in the park, I saw a guy pick one of the yellow berries on a Horse Nettle plant and eat it. Dude, don't you know these plants are poisonous? Apparently he thought it was a wild cherry tomato. Close but not close enough. Horse Nettle and Tomatoes are both members of the Nightshade family. Tomatoes happen to be one of a very few Nightshade varieties that are edible. I don't think Horse Nettle is nearly as dangerous as Belladonna, commonly called the Deadly Nightshade, but I'm not going to try eating any Nightshade berries. I don't even like tomatoes that much.

There are still a lot of Herons and Egrets at the lake. I finally got close enough to photograph one of the Great Egrets today. What a strange looking bird. With a long yellow bill and an even longer neck, you'd think this bird would have trouble eating. Nope. They seem to be designed to catch small fish. I see Egrets catching and eating fish all the time.

The security light in the back yard came on normally this evening. Maybe the problem was temperature related. It is cooler today. Maybe the rain washed spider webs off the light sensor. Actually, I have no idea what is going on. I suspect that just when I begin to think that the problem has fixed itself, the light will go dark again. I spend way too much time thinking about obscure problems like this and not enough time dealing with problems I can actually solve.

There were no strawberries at the store today. I asked the produce guy when a new shipment would arrive. "Maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday, or maybe Tuesday," he said. I guess that means he didn't know. I'll go check again on my way home from the gym tomorrow. I need strawberries for my smoothie.

Am I ready for another 20,000 step day tomorrow? I'm not sure. Surely there is a better way to spend my time. I keep thinking that all this activity is keeping me healthy, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm wrong about a lot of things.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3488

It's been three months since Dash died. There are new routines now. I can't say that life has returned to normal because it still seems normal to have dogs in the house. There was at least one Dalmatian in our home for over 30 years. Dogs still matter to us but I have to admit that it's nice to not have huge vet bills or the responsibility of deciding what is right for your best friend when the end is approaching. Janet volunteers with a local rescue group now. We both enjoy visiting the Dalmatians once a week. For now this is enough. We're traveling more now and doing things that weren't possible when caring for sick dogs was a 24/7 responsibility. Although it is sometimes tempting to take a dog home with us when we visit the Dalmatians at the boarding kennel, I realize that these dogs are finding fabulous homes. That's all that matters. If and when we're ready for a dog again, I'm sure there will be a dog that's ready for us.

I'm trying to do everything earlier now since it is so hot. I thought I'd find fresher fruit at the grocery store if I shopped early, but it doesn't seem to matter. Often stores get fresh deliveries daily, but you can't depend on it. I've noticed that the best strawberries are usually in the bottom boxes. Produce managers put the older fruit on top, hoping that people will buy it first. I sort through all the boxes, trying to find the best. Peaches are weird. Specific varieties are usually in the store for only a month and then you'll find a new variety. Not that it matters, but I'm gradually learning which varieties I like best. I eat a lot of peaches in the summer because they aren't even available in the winter. Most of you know that a fungal disease is gradually destroying the Cavendish banana around the world and this fruit might not be available soon. What am I going to do without my favorite bananas? You'd think that someone who was so interested in fruit would be equally interested in vegetables. Nope. I usually skip the vegetable aisle.

I'm conflicted about food. I really like pork, but feel guilty eating it since pigs are nice, exceptionally smart animals. I'm not sure that vegans are doing themselves any favors. I've known some very unhealthy vegans. I've known some very healthy vegans too, but I do believe that humans are basically carnivorous animals. So are dogs. Dogs seem to thrive on a raw diet. I've often wondered if the high incidence of cancer in dogs is because of the heavily processed food most of them eat.

I was amused to learn that the basic ingredients used to make Beyond Meat and those Impossible Burgers is very similar to the ingredients found in high end dog food. The only real difference is the spices used to make these products taste like meat. These meat substitutes have become very popular recently but they're basically just dog food. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I always thought our dogs ate better than we did.

When I was growing up in Alaska, everybody hunted. People has big freezers in their garages and neighbors traded game with each other. Dad was more of a fisherman, but he often traded salmon and trout he'd caught for Moose steaks or ducks. There was an honest simplicity to all this. It was the complete opposite of factory farming. We try to buy cage free eggs and grass fed beef but it's probably just a token gesture. The world has changed. We're not that far away from Soylent Green.

If you're wondering why I'm talking about food today it is because I didn't really do anything. I could have summed up today in a single sentence: Ate breakfast, bought groceries, walked, and blogged.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3447

Weird. I didn't realize it at the time, but at exactly the same time I was walking around one end of the lake yesterday evening, police were fishing a body out of the other end. Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Most of the deaths are by drowning. People go boating without wearing a life jacket. They even go boating when they are unable to swim. Accidents happen.

I haven't been boating in the lake in a long time. It used to be fairly easy to take my kayak down a little hill from the backyard to the lake. I attached a pair of wheels to one end and pulled the boat behind me. Unfortunately, the path I used to take has become overgrown with brush and it is virtually impassible now. The small sandy beach where I used to launch the kayak has eroded, making it difficult to get the boat in and out of the water. I'm so close, but I'd need to put the kayak in the car now and drive to a public boat dock. I'm not even sure that the kayak would fit in the car. I no longer own the Defender with its convenient roof rack. I doubt that any of this even matters. The last time I went kayaking I saw a huge water moccasin swimming along beside me. Kayaking has never seemed the same since then.

Kayaking provides a great upper body workout, but I get my exercise by walking now. I had another 20,000 step day today. I hope all this additional activity makes a difference. I don't feel that much stronger but I am able to go the distance. I've started wearing a hat now and hopefully sunburn will no longer be a problem as the days grow warmer. I don't know what to do about the chiggers though. There seem to be a lot of them this year. People say to dust your clothes with sulfur or spray them with distilled vinegar. Others believe that eating a glove of garlic a day will do the trick. None of these methods seems very appealing to me.

I've started going to the gym earlier on Sundays. This leaves more of the day for other things. Today, I went back to the store and got strawberries for my smoothie. There were none yesterday and a huge supply today. I guess I need to find out when the produce truck arrives. I need to mow the grass again but it's still too damp. Grass is much easier to mow when it's dry. Actually, I didn't feel like mowing anyway. I'm not even sure how much time I have left for household chores. Several walks a day takes a long time.

If I drive to Florida for the Space X launch, I noticed that the route I was planning to take passes right through several flooded areas. There is some major flooding along the Mississippi River right now. I wonder if any of the roads are under water. I probably should check this out. I imagine that the water will recede before it's time for me to go, but you never know. Weather is so weird now. Maybe when all the flood water from the Arkansas River joins the Mississippi, the flooding will actually get worse.

I doubt that there will be many surprises tomorrow. If the weather is nice, Janet and I may go up and visit the Dalmatians again. Visiting the rescue dogs is always enjoyable.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3236

Nothing unusual happened today. That's always a good thing. Dash slept well and there were no further seizures. He got me up once during the night, but we were all able to get back to sleep. No rain either. I really can't complain.

Dash was very slow on his walk this morning, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong. He was just slow. I was slow too. There was no reason to hurry. After breakfast, I ran my usual Saturday errands. When I went to the vet to pick up meds for Dash, a family was surrendering their dog. It was sad. The kids wanted to keep the dog, but the Mom didn't. I got the impression that a divorce was involved. Dogs get caught in the middle of a lot of bad situations. I hope this one does better next time.

There were no strawberries at the grocery store this week. This wasn't good. Strawberries are a major ingredient in my morning smoothies. Situations like these are the only times I send text messages. I asked Janet to see if she could find some.

I'm determined to go to the storage warehouse at least once a day. If I don't, I'll never be able to complete my move before the middle of the month when my lease runs out. I was planning to see how long it would take me to disassemble one of the metal shelves today, but when I was actually standing in front of the shelf, it seemed like way too much effort. I just moved a few more things instead. In today's load was an old Singer sewing machine that I repaired at considerable expense instead of throwing it away the last time it broke. Janet has a much better machine now, but I still like this simple one. There was an old lie detector machine that I picked up at an estate sale once. The machine actually worked ten or fifteen years ago. Lord knows if it works anymore. I lost the instructions years ago. There were some die cast model cars that should have gone with the model trains, but the train guy didn't know what to do with them. He said his customers only bought trains. There was a down sleeping bag that I actually sewed myself from a Frostline Kit back in college. Amazingly, the bag is still in good shape. I didn't attempt to lift anything heavy today. I'm not ready for heavy yet.

Janet brought home take out from one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. We don't cook much anymore. Cooking these days is mostly just heating things up in the microwave. I don't think anybody cooks as much as they used to. Fixing food has become more of a hobby than a necessity. Nobody becomes a foodie out of necessity. I have vague, somewhat fuzzy memories of my grandmother's kitchen. She was always baking something. I just go to Panera Bread.

I bought Dash a new pair of boots yesterday and all it took was a single walk to tear a hole in the nylon top. I think these boots are designed for healthy dogs who don't turn their paws under with every step they take. I went back to the hardware store to buy some more Shoe Goo. I wasn't expecting to be repairing these boots for a while, but Dash is full of surprises.

I tried to balance my checkbook this afternoon, but I couldn't get the figures to match the bank statement. Every once in a while this happens. Did I forget something last week or six months ago? Who knows. After a while I just gave up and made an entry that just said "reconcile with bank"

Time to go to the gym again. Wish there was something I could do to strengthen my shoulders and knees. This storage warehouse move is killing me.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2644

Weekends are when I realize that I've lost control of the house and yard. I start with a long list of little things I need to improve or repair and when I'm finished, nothing has changed. I was certainly busy today, but it's not clear how much I accomplished. Dot has been peeing on the porch a lot and the garden hose isn't long enough to clean it off properly. I looked in the greenhouse and found several sections of old hose and strung them together to create a single long one. The only problem was that all the rubber gaskets had gone bad and my new hose leaked like a sieve where each connection joined. I would have saved a lot of time if I'd just gone to Home Depot and bought a new longer hose.

Next, I got some bleach and tried to remove some ugly rust stains in the ceiling. The stains are gone, but so is a lot of the old dry paint. I had to get the vacuum out and spend a lot of time cleaning up all the paint chips that had fallen on the floor. Since I had the vacuum cleaner out, I thought I'd clean all the leaves and debris out of the air conditioner floor vents. Leaves blow in the house every time I leave the back door open to take Dot out to pee and they all seem to wind up in the floor vents. Cleaning these vents seemed like it would be an easy job, but the vent covers are sticky and most of them have to be pried off with a screwdriver. Eventually, I got all the vents in the living room and kitchen clean and decided I'd done enough for the day. I spent a lot of time working, but nothing really seems to be improved. It's still the same old house.

I can't figure out the produce section at the grocery store. I love strawberries, but the produce manager has a habit of mixing bad batches of strawberries in with the good ones. I guess he thinks people will be stupid enough to buy the strawberries on the verge of rotting, but I haven't seen anyone buying them yet. Everyone searches through the entire display case, looking for the freshest looking package. I've seen people spend ten minutes picking over these berries. I spend a lot of time too. I usually wind up with a good package of berries, but sometimes I get fooled. I think they pack rotten berries in the middle on purpose where nobody can see them.

While I was getting gas this afternoon, someone came up to me and asked if they could inspect my windshield for rock chips and repair it on the spot. I resisted the urge to scream "this is a scam, get out of this parking lot immediately." Instead I just politely said "no thank you" and the person moved on to another car. I hate random people approaching me. Maybe they're crazy or won't take no for an answer. There are far to many people asking for money these days. I can never figure out whether all the people asking for donations in front of the grocery store are legit. Sure, the girl scouts selling cookies are real, but what about all the others? I have a feeling that some of these people have no connection with a charity at all.

The weather has changed again. This morning it was warm and muggy, but by the time I took Dash on his afternoon walk it had become quite cold. It feels like a storm is on the way, but the weather app on my phone still says that it will be 72 and partly cloudy tomorrow. Have I mentioned that the weather app on my phone is basically worthless.

The time changes tonight. This means that when we wake up at 7 AM tomorrow, it will already be 8 AM and I'll spend the rest of the day trying to catch up on things. Why do we even have Daylight Saving Time? I don't know anybody who likes it. Maybe it served some purpose a hundred years ago, but I don't think artificially shifting the time around makes much sense now. Trump seems to like abolishing things. Maybe he could just abolish Daylight Savings Time. That would probably get some bipartisan support.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2378

According to the news, we're having a heat wave. It kind of seems like a normal June to me, but I'll be the first to admit that it's pretty darn hot. I mowed the grass early this morning in attempt to avoid the worst of the heat, but I wasn't very successful. If I was looking for comfortable temperatures, I would have had to mow in the middle of the night. I don't know how long I can continue to mow my own grass. Pushing the lawnmower gets more exhausting with each passing year. Most of my neighbors have a yard service by now, but I stubbornly continue to do things the old fashioned way. When the temperatures start to approach 100 degrees, I begin to question my own sanity.

The dogs don't like the Summer heat any more than I do. Sometimes there's a breeze on our early morning walk. Today the air was still and it made the heat seem even more oppressive. We should have gotten an earlier start this morning, but it was Saturday and everyone was sleeping peacefully. I hated to wake Janet and the dogs up. There was telltale evidence that Dot had pooped during the night when I woke up this morning, but I don't remember getting up during the night. It turned out that Janet woke up and cleaned things up. Sometimes I wake up and sometimes she does. All this proves I guess is that we both sleep erratically.

Mowing the grass wore me out, so I wisely decided to curtail any further yard work. Since it was nice and cool inside, I thought I'd finish a few writing assignments. I completed a press release that had an impending deadline and sent it off to the client. I tried to get some clarification on a website issue I'm working on and eventually remembered that the client wasn't in the office on Saturday. Hopefully, I'll be able to remember my question until Monday.

When I went to the store, I was disappointed to see that they no longer carried the hot and spicy Cheetos I like. This is probably for the best, since there were so many artificial ingredients in the things that they were sure to give me cancer. I struck out buying healthier items too. The peaches were soft and looked like they'd go bad in a day or two. I didn't buy them. It floors me that stores continue to sell bad produce, but maybe everyone isn't as picky as me. I saw other people buying the peaches. Strawberries are the worst. They must train the produce guys to hide bad strawberries inside the clear plastic containers. The strawberries always look great on the top and bottom of the packaging, but there are always some bad ones hidden away in the middle where you can't see them. I can't really blame the stores for doing things this way. If they sold strawberries loose, customers would rummage around and pick only the very best ones, leaving all the rest behind.

I think the mosquito treatment is working. I still got bitten when I was cleaning my boots on the porch after our morning walk but the bites were definitely less frequent. The next test will be to see whether the treatment still works after I resume watering the grass. I'm surprised that the city hasn't started spraying yet. Usually they are spraying for mosquitoes at night by now. Maybe people are protesting the spraying program again. The city can't win on issues like this. Whatever they do, somebody is going to complain.

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. There won't be any big celebrations tomorrow, but I'm glad the journey has lasted as long as it has. With luck, there will be many more birthdays to celebrate, but I'm beginning to wonder whether my goal of posting for 5000 consecutive days was a bit too ambitious. I'm not even halfway there yet.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day