Day 4778

I'm getting apprehensive about the weather again. We're supposed to get a lot of rain and possibly even snow tomorrow. This means that the roof will inevitably start leaking and I'll be back to square one with my cleanup efforts. To say that I'm getting tired of this would be an understatement. At this point I just hope the forecast is wrong. It often is.

Today was a another day of long walks and paying bills. I extended my 20,000 step streak to six days. I think that's a record for me. It's going to be hard to make it a full week though if it rains tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I hate the thought of driving to the gym in the rain tomorrow, but I can't just sit around the house all day. Walking brings a necessary structure to my life. I need to keep walking.

It's time to start working on my taxes again. I had a talk with my accountant today about whether it was time to stop filing as a business. Am I retired or not? I'm certainly busy enough. I still build and maintain animal rescue websites and I regularly write for SpaceFlight Magazine. The British magazine even calls me their U.S. Correspondent now. The only problem is that I'm not making any money. I think a business has to make money at least two years out of five. I need to find a gig with a magazine that actually pays for content. Easier said than done though. Especially when all you want to write about is astronomy and space. The magazine industry is not very healthy. I used to receive a ton of trade magazines at the house. Most of them are out of business now.

All the extra walking I'm doing is killing my feet. I probably need to retire my current pair of Hoka shoes and break out a new pair. I have one fairly new pair of Bondi 7 shoes that I just use when I travel and a brand new pair that I got just before they discontinued this style. My current shoes still feel comfortable but I'm sure they are not providing the support I need. The soles and heal areas are completely worn out. It's too bad that sneakers don't last like boots. I've got twenty year old hiking boots that are in better shape than my two year old Hokas.

Tonight there was a conjunction of Venus and Saturn right after sunset that astronomer friends said was a must see event. It's not happening. It was clear for most of the day, but clouds have rolled in and the skies are overcast now. This is probably the beginning of the bad weather that is supposed to start later tonight. There is also a green comet in the northern skies that people are talking about. I'll probably never find this. I had trouble finding Neowise a few years ago and it was much brighter. Lately my only connection with astronomy is testing the Benro Polaris star tracker every time a new firmware update comes out.

We were thinking about visiting the rescue Dalmatians this Wednesday but we'll wait and see what the weather is like. It's a long drive to this new kennel and it looks like we'll be playing with them outdoors instead of indoors like we did at the old kennel. Weather and rain will be an issue. I have a feeling that we won't end up visiting every week like we used to. We'll figure out something though. Janet and I still think socializing the dogs is important.

There's nothing on the agenda for tomorrow. I'll probably spend most of the day fretting about roof leaks.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4439

Another uneventful day. We're having better luck with Dawn's morning walks when we let her choose which direction she wants to go. Lately she wants to turn right at the back gate, go down the hill and walk along the shoreline. That's OK with me. I don't know why we kept trying to get her to walk up the street for so long. It's still very cold in the morning but it warms up quickly. Dawn doesn't seem to mind the cold. I'd like it a little warmer, although I'm getting used to the thirty degree temperature swings every day.

I keep thinking that I'm going to skip my long walk for a while because my feet are bothering me so much. I keep walking though because I can't think of anything better to do. I waited until several hours after breakfast this morning in hopes that it would warm up. It did warm up a little, but it was still below freezing when boredom set in and I decided to set out on my daily trek anyway. I dress warmly and am always amazed to see runners pass me wearing light shorts and a t-shirt. I look more like I'm headed for the South Pole on days like this. Even though it was chilly this morning, it was a beautiful day. It's always nice to see blue sky. Cloudy skies bring rain and rain brings roof leaks.

I kind of miss seeing the eagles. I was seeing them every day for a while. With the nest gone, there are no longer any gawkers in the park. I guess the birds are still in the area. Some people say they are building a new nest but I don't think anyone really knows for sure. They were certainly nowhere to be seen today. I'm glad I managed to get a few pictures. Now I'll have to go back to snapping shots of more common birds.

I was going to practice using the star tracker again today, but lost interest before I even got the thing out of the box. I think I've already proved that the unit does work. It doesn't work that well though because the current software version is still buggy. I'm waiting for the next software upgrade. One of these days I'll take the tracker out at night and photograph something. I think I'll wait until it is warmer though. I'm kind of a fair weather astronomer.

It's tax season again. What a pain. I haven't even started gathering my tax files together. It seems like I just finished doing this for the previous year. Why do old people even have to pay taxes? It seems like you should be exempt at some point. Oh, well. I'd better start working on this stuff. Every year my accountant seems to want my files a little earlier.

It's time to make a grocery list again. Janet says gas prices have gone up. Probably everything has gone up. I'm glad I'm retired. If I was still working full time I think today's economy would make me a little nervous. The 70's and 80's were a good time to be an ad guy. The 90's were actually a good time to start a business. Today I'm not so sure. What would I do today? Maybe I just don't know where to look for opportunities anymore. 

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4067

What a nasty day. There was black ice on the roads that caused a 100 car pile up in Fort Worth and the temperature never got above freezing all day. Janet postponed going to the gym this morning and needless to say, I certainly didn't need to go anywhere. As I slowly drank my morning smoothie, it was clear that this was going to be a very cold and uneventful day.

It doesn't take much to shut us down in Dallas. This would be a normal winter day in much of the country, but here the mail didn't get delivered and I got an e-mail from the city saying not to expect normal trash pickup tomorrow. Oddly, the message said to put your trash out tonight anyway and they would just come when they can. I feel sorry for those who had their vaccine appointments today. That's not something you would want to postpone.

Dawn is no fan of winter weather. She was a little reluctant to walk this afternoon, but completed her short one mile walk anyway. I dressed in my warmest clothes so I could keep on walking. The trails were virtually empty. I only encountered a single runner today. There were no bicycles at all. For the most part, the roads and trails were clear, but I had to cross two bridges that were still completely iced over. I walked slowly and carefully across each bridge because at my age falling is definitely not a good idea.

You could tell that the birds and other animals knew that something was up with the weather. The resident geese had moved to the opposite side of the lake and the Muscovy Ducks were more than a mile away from their usual habitat. There were some visiting Canadian Geese where the local geese usually live. I hardly saw any squirrels at all. Most of them probably had a nest to take cover in.

On bad thing about taking my long walk right after I finish my morning smoothie is that I have to take bathroom breaks. I didn't have to do this when I was younger, but I didn't drink several quarts of liquid every morning then either. These days I need to plan my route between strategically place porta-potties in the park. It's a nuisance but it's also a necessity.

While I was walking, I heard a bunch of fire truck sirens that appeared to be headed in the direction of my house. This is always a little alarming when you are on foot and miles away. I got out my phone and checked the petcam. Dawn was sleeping on the bed and everything was fine. I like the petcam. Who knows. Maybe the Chinese are spying on us, but the little camera does provide some reassurance that Dawn is safe when we are away.

I got a reminder from my accountant that my tax information is due soon. I haven't even started yet. One more unpleasant task in my immediate future. I wish seniors were exempt from dealing with taxes. Hey, if you can be exempt from jury duty, why not taxes as well? 

It's hard to believe but they say the temperatures will be in the single digits next week with a good chance of snow accumulations of up to a foot. Yikes. I really hope this isn't true. Spring can't come soon enough for this Southern boy.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4030

I don't think anyone is going back to work after the holidays. Things are usually quiet on a Tuesday, but the roads were crowded, the stores seemed full, and the park looked like it was Sunday afternoon. Granted, it was a nice day, but I've never seen so many people in the park on a Tuesday. 

We're still trying to figure out why Dawn has lost interest in walking. Today we drove her to a new section of the park and started walking on unfamiliar trails. Dawn seemed very excited for a while. She was walking briskly and smelling everything. Then we inadvertently crossed a trail she knew and everything changed. She didn't want to explore anymore. She let us know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to follow the old trail back home.

Oh, well. We tried. We walked back to the house along the familiar trail and Dawn was happy again sitting on the bed. Unfortunately, we then had to walk back to the park to get the car. So much for this new plan. At least the car was only several miles away. Janet got in the car to run some errands and I continued walking. I got plenty of exercise today. This is one good thing about being retired. You don't really need a plan for anything. The goal is usually just to get from sunrise to sunset.

The Christmas tree comes down tomorrow. We left it up a little longer than usual this year, but why not. The tree looks nice and there is nothing else festive on the horizon. With Christmas in the rear view mirror, all we've got to look forward to in January is raking the leaves. We used to hire a lawn service to do this, but they've become very expensive. I think everyone becomes more frugal when they retire. My parents were and so were my grandparents. Living in retirement is like having a full tank of gas, but no gas stations. You really don't want to run out of gas.

I got a letter from my accountant saying that it was time to start gathering my tax materials together. How did this happen? It seems like I just finished last year's taxes. At least I made a little money writing for magazines last year so I can deduct my travel expenses. I thought I'd be traveling a lot this year writing about astronomy and space, but Covid has thrown a wet blanket over my plans. Basically, I'm superstitious. I've managed to stay healthy so far, but I don't want to push my luck. I wanted to go out to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Perseverance landing in February and I've been thinking about visiting Mount Wilson as well. That's not going to happen. California has become a Covid disaster area. You'd have to be crazy to want to travel to Los Angeles right now.

I guess I should start writing my next astronomy article before I forget everything I learned at the astrophotography workshop. My editor at Sky & Telescope said to send an outline first. I can do that. Actually, writing an outline is a good way to procrastinate. Usually, I just start writing and make a lot of revisions, but outlines are OK too. Occasionally, advertising clients would want an outline first. I definitely know how to do them. I just don't know how to follow them.

I still haven't heard from my contact at the dehumidifier company. Maybe they fired him for giving away too many dehumidifiers. I'd really like to know how to stop the rattling noise. I've got the unit placed in a bathroom next to the office and the noise is driving me nuts. It's too bad I threw away the the old dehumidifier on last month's bulky trash day. It didn't work well, but it was very quiet.

Will Dawn walk tomorrow? That seems to be the question of the day lately. We've been trying to build Dawn's confidence ever since she joined our family. I think she's finally confident enough now to let us know she's a very lazy dog.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3686

It's easy to spend the entire afternoon with the Dalmatians. They enjoy the attention and we enjoy having the opportunity to get to know them better. Everyone has their own personality. Some like to race around and chase after red rubber Kongs. Others like to play with soft plush toys. Sock and Lord like to stay together, while Charlie and Hank seem to do better on their own. Dawn always gives us one of those big Dalmatian smiles when we arrive. She isn't very playful but is probably the most relaxed of the bunch. She was content to just sit quietly with us today.

Something bit me last night. I woke up with a big welt on my back and have no idea how it got there. It's not the season for mosquitos and chiggers, so maybe it was a spider. There are tons of spiders in our yard, but luckily most of them are outside. There definitely shouldn't be spiders in the bed, but you never know. I'd probably hate to know how many critters come out of the woodwork after the lights go out.

Tax documents are starting to arrive in the mail. Jeez. Is it already that time of the year again? Time passes so quickly now. I feel like I just finished with last year's taxes. It doesn't seem fair that Social Security is taxed. This doesn't really feel like income. It doesn't seem like those mandatory IRA distributions should be taxed as income either. Oh, well. Those are the rules. I just collect all the documents and give them to my accountant.

Since we're spending more time with the dogs now. I'm getting a really late start on my Monday walk. I started well before sunset, but arrived home in the dark again. As the sky grew darker I looked for familiar stars. All I really saw was Venus next to a thin crescent moon. I should have been able to see Mercury on the Western horizon about thirty minutes after sunset, but there were too many clouds. It's too bad I'm a little nervous about being in the park after dark. You get a lot better view of the sky away from all the city lights.

The toilet in the bathroom is running again so I spent some time cleaning the complex mechanical parts. Plumbers won't even fix this weird French toilet anymore. They just tell me to get a Toto. I was convinced that the toilet would work perfectly after I put everything back together. Cleaning the little hydraulic parts inside the tank usually works. This time it didn't. The toilet still runs. All of today's efforts were for nothing.

One of these days I'm going to have to try to clean the large format printer again. This probably won't work either. I have waited too long. I just got tired of spending hundreds of dollars on ink cartridges when I didn't really have anything to print. Epson is really just an ink company. The printer is just there to make you buy ink. I have no desire to make large Giclée prints anymore. A rational person would just throw this printer away. I never claimed to be a rational person though.

I hope this coronavirus scare doesn't get worse. I'm going to get nervous about airports soon if they don't stop flights to and from China. Right now there are still daily flights to and from major Chinese cities. I guess I could drive to Florida for the Solar Orbiter launch, but it would take a full scale plague to make me drive that far. Lets hope it doesn't come to that.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2956

Dash looked so sleepy last night that I didn't bother to wake him up to go pee before I went to bed. Big mistake. He woke me up three times during the night needing to go outside. Since it started raining during the night, I had to clean him off each time so he wouldn't get the bed muddy when we went back to sleep. Dash is no quicker doing his business in the rain than when it is dry. It was a long night, but at least he didn't throw up.

I was tired this morning, but as soon as we started our morning walk I wished we'd gotten up earlier. There was a heavy fog that was lifting rapidly. I took a few pictures as we walked, realizing that the fog was probably much more dramatic an hour earlier while I was still asleep. I love walking through fog. I guess this is the way I like to see the world.

By the time we returned home, the sky was already clearing. I had missed my chance to photograph ghostly sailboats again. I would have preferred to miss my chance to run Saturday errands, but no such luck. Saturday has always been a day to run errands.

I needed to pick up some bulbs for the sconce lamps in the living room. These are the only lamps in the house that still use incandescent bulbs. For several years I have been watching the price of these halogen bulbs gradually increasing as the price of LED bulbs continued to decrease. LED bulbs used to be super expensive and now they are quite reasonable. Today for the first time, the the price of the incandescent bulbs was actually higher than the LED bulbs. Sign of the times, I guess. In a few years, I probably won't even be able to find these bulbs at all.

It's hard to believe tax season is already here again. I'm already starting to receive tax documents in the mail. I have to be careful not to throw these things away. Most of them look exactly like junk mail. I almost threw some documents away this morning. They need to stamp "important tax document" on every envelope for people like me. I get so much junk mail that I don't even open most of it anymore. The chances are pretty high that I occasionally throw away something important.

I wish there was something interesting to watch on TV while I was doing chores around the house. The cable news stations just talk about politics. The local news just talks about overnight crime. I can't stand daytime talk shows like Ellen or Steve Harvey. I'd like a channel that just showed TED talks. They have something like this on the radio. Why not on TV?

It's alarming how little interests me these days. I guess the flame is still flickering though. I can't wait to watch the Falcon Heavy launch on February 6. I'd love to see this thing in person, but watching on my computer will have to do. There is something really appealing about sending a red Tesla Roadster to Mars. If the weather is clear next Wednesday I'll get up early to watch the lunar eclipse. The whole thing won't be visible in Dallas, but I should be able to see something before the moon sets around sunrise. Maybe there are other interesting things in February as well. Right now, I'd settle for another foggy day.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2601

I was seated near a couple of writers at breakfast this morning. It appeared that these guys had agents and publishers and had written several books each. They weren't happy though. As I ate, I listened to them loudly complain about how they were being ignored by their publishers, weren't receiving their royalties, and were being plagiarized by their peers. I felt like asking them why they didn't just go into advertising if they felt so miserable about their profession. I kept my mouth shut though, because I knew this idea would have been met with disdain. You could tell these guys both thought they were "real" writers. I guess everyone who has a way with words thinks about writing a novel, but I have few regrets about choosing to write jingles for commercials when I was the age of the two complainers sitting next to me. Writing advertising has actually been fun. Writing a novel that nobody wanted to publish probably wouldn't have been fun at all.

Dot has started peeing in her sleep again. We lowered her Incurin dose last week like we were told to do, but apparently only the highest dose has any effect on her. This isn't good. I'm going to call Dot's vet and see what she thinks, but I can't imagine keeping her on the initial loading dose forever would be a good idea. It's sad to watch Dot deteriorate. It was sad to watch my Mom and Dad deteriorate too. Aging is relentless and more than a bit cruel. I'm amazed that Dot still seems happy, but it sure would be nice if her body would cooperate a little more.

I had to re-do parts of the website I updated yesterday because I didn't do a good enough job proofreading. It's weird. These days I have all the time in the world to do a job properly and I still make mistakes. I often don't see my own mistakes until somebody else points them out to me, and then they're embarrassingly obvious. I'd like to think I'm still as sharp as I was in my 30's, but the truth is that I'm operating with a few less brain cells. Familiar problems are still easy to deal with, but don't ask me to solve a calculus problem or learn a new language. Those days are over.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. Probably nobody would care if I just let it grow, but long, wispy white hair doesn't look good on anyone. I tried to make the appointment during a time when Dot is usually asleep, but it would be just like her to surprise me. Oh, well. I won't be gone that long. The need to get back home in a hurry will keep me from visiting the Apple store and spending money on something I don't need. The Apple store is near where I get my hair cut and it is always tempting.

I'm already starting to get mail with "important tax information" stamped on the envelope. It's hard to believe that tax season is just around the corner. I save all these letters in a big manila envelope but I seldom read them. Taxes have become so complicated that I don't even attempt to understand them anymore. I just hand the envelope to my accountant in early April and hope for the best.

It's time to buy more puppy training pads for Dot. I buy these things by the case at Sam's Club now. Five years ago I never would have dreamed that there would come a time when my life would be centered around pee and poop, but life is full of surprises. I think we've all seen that lately.
 

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day