Day 4883

I got surprised by the weather again today. There was an unexpected thunderstorm on my long walk and I ended up sitting under a picnic shelter in the park for almost an hour waiting for the storm to pass. At least I didn't get wet. You could kind of pick your weather today. It was cool and partly cloudy when we took Dawn on her early walk. For a couple of hours there were dark clouds and lots of rain. Later in the day it cleared off and it was hot and muggy. You never know what to expect at this time of year.

After breakfast this morning I sent my article about the Viasat-3 launch off to SpaceFlight Magazine. I also edited a selection of pictures to accompany the article. My editor responded favorably a few hours later, so this launch visit is officially over. There are several other interesting launches coming up soon, but I don't know when I'll be back at Kennedy Space Center. I'm feeling poor right now.

The roofing company called today to set a date for the roof installation. They want to begin work next week. After making sure we could change the date in case of bad weather, I agreed to the timetable. I'm not looking forward to this and will be glad when the new roof is completed so I can forget about this again. Since the roof hasn't leaked during the past two heavy rains, I'm beginning to wonder whether this is a big waste of money. I guess it is necessary. I've had problems with this roof for a long, long time. I don't think I really have a choice.

I ran into a couple of people I hadn't seen in a long time on my walk today. They told me that a mutual friend had died recently. This seems to happen far too often as I grow older. Sometimes my Facebook timeline seems like an obituary page. I'm still feeling pretty healthy, but it is sobering to realize that quite a few high school classmates and coworkers from the ad agency days are already gone. Not much you can do about growing older, but I'm definitely going to keep walking.

My second Kickstarter project appears to be getting ready to ship. I got a letter today wanting to confirm my shipping address and asking whether I wanted to pay for expedited shipping. This project is a new kind of self leveling camera tripod. In theory it will make it easier to align and use my star tracker. I had an option of getting a small travel version of the tripod or a larger heavy duty model. The smaller tripod would have been more useful since I always carry a tripod with me on launch trips, but of course I got the big heavy duty model that I will probably never use. I'm well prepared for astrophotography now. It's too bad I'm scared to go outside at night in Dallas.

Janet was gone for much of the day and Dawn seemed disgusted that she had to spend the day with me. This dog would be so much happier if she could just come to terms with the fact that she and I are going to be spending a lot of time together. Other than my infrequent launch trips, I just don't have that much desire to leave the house.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3901

Another hot summer day. It got up to 106 degrees this afternoon. This is one reason why we got a really early start this morning. I don't think Dawn likes the idea of walking so early, but we are doing it for her. These pre-dawn walks are the only way to beat the heat.

Even though the skies were clear for most of the day, we've under another thunderstorm watch now. It's hard to keep up with Texas weather. It looks like the storm is starting to dissipate, but I'm going to continue to watch the weather radar until the fast moving front passes over us. I hate the thought of losing power in the summer. It doesn't take long for the house to become impossibly hot and humid.

I managed to find most of the items on my grocery list this morning. Grocery shopping has become like a scavenger hunt. You never know what you are going to find on the shelves.  There seems to be plenty of bottled water and toilet paper now. It's common everyday items that seem to have disappeared. I managed to find peaches by going to a different store, but I still can't find my favorite cheese.

I forgot to update my credit card information on the shopping app I always use to avoid the checkout line and it wouldn't process my transaction. I couldn't seem to enter new information at the store, so I had to start over and go through the checkout line after all. I finally figured out how to empty my shopping cart in the app so I wouldn't be charged twice, but it took a while. Technology is always easy until it isn't. I think I'm better at figuring these things out when I'm at home.

The little red light we clip on Dawn's collar wouldn't work this morning. I thought the batteries might be dead, but the light seemed to work perfectly later this morning when the sun was up and we were back home. It's easy to find a bargain these days, but nothing seems well made anymore. We got some solar powered patio lights for the back yard a few months ago and some of the lights are already starting to fail. I suspect this is because we got the lights at the Dollar Store. What can you expect from a solar powered light that costs a dollar?

The launch I'd been wanting to attend all summer got aborted right when the count reached zero early this morning. Just as the rocket started to fire, everything shut down. Now the launch is delayed at least another week while ULA tried to determine what the problem was. If I had traveled to Florida, I would have incurred three extra days of hotel bills and then had to return to Dallas anyway without seeing anything. I think someone is trying to tell me to just lay low for a while. Travel is complicated and filled with uncertainties. Walking your dog every morning is pretty simple.

I hear thunder but it still hasn't rained yet. As much as I hate the idea of rain, maybe it would cool things down a bit. The temperature is still hovering around 100 degrees.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3898

Sometimes monotony and boredom are good. At time like these I'm glad my life is devoid of drama. I certainly wouldn't want to live in the path of a hurricane. Laura looks pretty bad. It is already a Category 4 storm and growing stronger. I know a couple of people who live in that part of the country and I hope they have evacuated. It's probably too late to leave now.

Living near a beach has a certain appeal, but I think the chance of a hurricane would rule out coastal living for me. I prefer a place with no chance of hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, or earthquakes. Hmm. Where would that be? If you managed to find the perfect place, that's probably where the asteroid would fall.

I woke up again wondering what day it was. When I started this blog, I never dreamed that I'd be writing about a world where nothing happened for months at a time. Sure, things are happening on television. There is social unrest and a huge hurricane is closing in on the Gulf Coast. I try to avoid all that. The essence of social distancing is to put yourself in a little bubble. You start by staying six feet away from other people and pretty soon you want to be six miles away from everything. I still watch the news every morning while I drink my smoothie. So far, I haven't seen any good reason to rejoin the fray.

We had a nice walk this morning. We got started a little later than usual, but the park was still relatively empty. We found two of the three missing Muscovy ducks, but the female is still gone. Where could she be? There are more Great Blue Herons near the shoreline now. These birds are spectacular. I'm waiting for the White Pelicans to return now. It won't be long. I'm never going to be a birder, but these daily walks have taught me a lot about the local wildlife. We share our lake with some pretty interesting critters.

I think we're going to get some heavy rain tonight. I hear thunder in the distance now. We're too far away from the hurricane for tonight's weather to have anything to do with Laura's early rain bands. It's probably just a coincidence that it's raining here too. It's been dry this summer and we need the rain. I just wish I'd been a little more diligent about taking care of the roof. I don't think we're going to have a leak, but I've been surprised before. One thing is certain. It's a lot better to be worrying about a leaky roof than worrying about your house getting blown away in a hurricane.

There's a launch tonight that I really wanted to attend. Oh, well. It wasn't meant to be. Perhaps it is just as well that I haven't been able to work out my media accreditation issues at Kennedy Space Center. The launch is at 2:30 AM this morning and there are tons of mosquitos and bugs this time of year in Florida. 2:30 AM is past my bedtime anyway.

Tomorrow is another day. Or is it? It's hard to tell anymore. Maybe that thunder I heard was a false alarm. We still haven't gotten any rain. Stay safe if you are in the path of the hurricane. Stay safe if you aren't too. It's 2020 and anything might happen.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3888

The last thing I expected was a thunderstorm today, but here we are. The rain is pouring down and the wind is picking up. As always, I'm worried about a power outage. Thunderstorms and power outages go hand-in-hand in our neighborhood. It hasn't rained for so long that I'm not really prepared. The laptop isn't fully charged and the backup batteries aren't either. Oh, well. It is what it is. Actually, we do need the rain.

It certainly wasn't raining when we took our early walk this morning. The skies were clear with a nice view of Venus and a waning crescent moon to the east. The Muscovy ducks were waiting for us at the bridge and we were kind of mad to see a passing skateboarder try to scare them away. Dawn seemed more tired than usual this morning, but was was very humid. Maybe that should have been our first warning that the weather was about to change.

I noticed that I was about out of collagen powder, so I went to get some more after breakfast. I'm not a huge fan of nutritional supplements, but I've been taking this stuff to help with arthritis and aching joints and it seems to work. Too bad that collagen has become popular recently. It sure seems expensive to me. I also looked for rubbing alcohol again. This is another one of those things that has inexplicably disappeared from grocery and drugstore shelves. Who knows. Maybe all the alcohol is being used to make hand sanitizer now. I finally found a small bottle of the stuff but the store said there was a limit of one to a customer. Jeez. It was just a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

I watched the Boca Chica live feed for a while this afternoon. Space X was doing a cryo test of the next Starship prototype. Basically, watching these pressurization tests is like watching nothing at all. Occasionally you will see some white smoke or a little ice forming on the surface of the rocket, but nothing moves. Probably the most interesting thing is reading all the YouTube comments from other people watching. Everyone is speculating about what is going on, but it is clear that nobody knows for sure. These live feeds are just Boca Chica neighbors pointing their cameras over the Space X fence. Nothing is authorized by Space X at all. This is the exact opposite of how NASA would handle something like this. I like it that a small group of South Texas amateurs is providing the most accurate and up to date information about what Space X is doing.

We're getting lots of thunder and lightning now. Dawn doesn't seem to be bothered at all. She is the first dog we've had that isn't scared of storms. Of course, she is scared of everything else, but she's fine in a thunderstorm. I worry a lot more about storms than she does. A tree may fall. The roof may start leaking again. The power may go out. A lot of things can go wrong. Look what happened in Iowa recently. I can't believe there isn't more on the news about this derecho storm. It was devastating. They say over one third of the state's corn crop is gone. Lots of farms have been destroyed. This is all going to show up in grocery stores later. One more legacy of 2020.

I hope the weather improves tomorrow. There are walks to take and so much more. Just kidding. It's just the walks.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3871

We knew it was going to be a hot day so we got an extra early start on this morning's walk. You could still see a few stars and several planets as we left the house. Mars was almost directly overhead, reminding me that the Mars 2020 launch would take place while we were walking. I watched it all on video later after I finished my breakfast. Watching a launch on the computer makes it seem kind of weird that I used to travel so far to see these launches in person. The entire event was over in just a few minutes.

Our timing was good this morning. We reached the halfway point in our walk before the sun rose and there was a nice gentle breeze the entire way. Things heat up quickly once the sun is above the horizon unfortunately. It quickly became warm enough for Dawn to choose the shorter route home.

When I was watching the launch coverage on my computer this morning I looked for familiar faces in my Facebook feed. I recognized a couple of launch photographers I'd met earlier who still seemed to have media credentials. There always seems to be a race to see who can get their pictures on the Internet first. These guys were definitely fast. I wonder who you have to know to maintain media accreditation these days? I'm definitely not in the loop. Oh, well. Maybe some day things will return to normal.

After breakfast I decided to go up on the roof and remove the standing water from the rain we got a few days ago. It was so hot that I was surprised that the water hadn't evaporated yet. The metal handle of the push broom I keep on the roof was almost too hot to touch. The white surface of the roof itself was hot enough to burn your hands. I had to bring a wet rag with me to place on the edge of the roof that I use to steady myself when I lower myself down after I'm done. There was no rain in the forecast when I cleared the water away this morning, but ironically there is a thunderstorm headed our way right now. This always happens. We'll have rain again before I go to bed tonight.

It doesn't look like I'll be getting a Bronco any time soon. I read an article today that Ford already has well over 200,000 reservations for the new 4x4 and the entire 2021 production run is sold out. Seems weird that so many people would decide to buy a car based entirely on pictures and reviews they see on the Internet. What happened to kicking the tires? It's probably just as well that there will be nothing to tempt me at a dealership for a while. At the rate I'm driving these days, my current car will last forever. Eventually, I'd still like something reliable and easy to service for trips to West Texas. Hey, a guy can dream.

My days are still extremely slow. I've got to think of a project for now instead of for later. Right now I occupy a lot of my time thinking about telescopes I might buy for future dark skies, cars I might buy for future travels, and future launches I'd like to attend when I can get my media credentials restored. Nothing wrong with this of course. I guess it just tells me that there is very little about Dallas that intrigues me anymore.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3847

I should have brought my good camera when we went to the kennel today. We were greeted by a new dog we hadn't met before. Lucky was a foster who returned to the kennel. She initially went to her foster home before I had a chance to photograph her for the website. Fosters are either temporary or they turn into adoptions and Lucky wasn't destined to be a foster fail. She will still need to find her forever home, but she's going to be perfect for somebody. I'll do her portrait next week.

Lucky seemed quiet and reserved compared to Hank and Charlie. The two boys were full of energy today. They both love to play catch but still need to work on releasing the ball so you can throw it again. Charlie will sit, stay, lie down, and come on command. Hank will automatically sit before receiving a treat now. He's been harder to train since he's deaf, but we are making progress.

Dawn didn't get much of a walk this morning. We noticed that a storm was approaching on the weather radar, so we quickly took a short walk and returned home a few minutes before the downpour started. I'm glad we timed things right today, because the rain was quite heavy. At least the pumps are working again. I think I discovered what the problem was yesterday. The two pumps are in different areas on the roof and if one runs dry before the other, it can overheat and trip a breaker. I watched things more carefully today. Actually the rain was so heavy that there was little danger of either pump running dry.

The rain eventually stopped and I took another walk later in the afternoon to get some more steps. The morning's rain had basically turned to steam. It was incredibly humid outside. I don't know why I continue walking. Probably just because I can't think of anything better to do.

I think It's going to rain again tomorrow. The combination of terrible weather and equally terrible news on TV is starting to take its toll. This summer seems like an episode of Black Mirror. There are conflicting reports about absolutely everything. It shouldn't be raining this much in July. The virus shouldn't be getting worse in July when everyone was so good about distancing in March and April. I'm still irritated that Florida has turned into such a mess. Will I ever get back to Kennedy Space Center again? Will I even have the nerve to fly again? I've gotten used to the idea of our old house falling apart. Now it appears like the entire world is falling apart.

I was initially surprised when international travel ground to a halt. Now it appears that state-to-state travel is being restricted as well. At least we live in a big state. There's plenty to do here in Texas. I'd hate to be locked in a little state like Connecticut. I need to reexamine things and find some activities that are satisfying and enjoyable to do while the world crumbles around you. Reading seems an obvious choice. I used to be a voracious reader, but it's hard for me to pick up a book these days. Oddly, I find it easier to write than to read. I seem to have lost my interest in music as well. At least there are dogs. Dogs are always enjoyable.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3846

It was so hot and humid this morning that we had to cut our walk with Dawn in half. Dawn was still tired when we got home and I had to change my clothes. It's definitely going to be a long summer. I thought the day might improve, but it actually got worse. By the time I took my afternoon walk, it was stifling outside. At least I managed to complete my 20,000 steps before the weather changed again. Around mid-afternoon a sudden storm appeared out of nowhere and drenched us with rain.

I turned on the pumps and they worked fine for about an hour and then one of the pumps shorted out. I went up on the roof in the rain to see if any of the electrical connections had become submerged. Yep. I moved an extension cord out of the water, reset the circuit breaker and the pumps started working again. About thirty minutes later the lights in the kitchen went out. The pumps had tripped another circuit breaker. Something is definitely wrong with the pumps. I disconnected the pumps so I wouldn't start a fire and I guess I'll have to deal with this later. It might be quite a while later. There is more rain in the forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday.

I skipped going to the gym for the second Sunday in a row. The way things are trending in Dallas, I wouldn't be surprised if my gym decides to close again. This is the third day in a row we have had more than a thousand new Covid-19 cases a day. When we only had ten or twenty cases a day everyone was staying inside. Now, despite a dramatic resurgence, everyone has gone back to normal mode. Some blame the resurgence on Memorial Day. Others blame the people who don't wear masks or the protests in the streets that were taking place a few weeks ago. Very few people appear to be blaming themselves.

I think we have given our adversaries a blueprint for taking us out whenever they want. When we stay united, we are a badass country that will nuke you back into the stone age. If you can manage to turn us against ourselves though, you won't have to go to war at all. You can just sit back and watch while we destroy ourselves. Who would have thought that a tiny little virus combined with an avalanche of conspiracy theories could render all our missiles and aircraft carriers useless. I still think the virus was created in China for a specific purpose, but that's just my own conspiracy theory.  Just watch China be the first to come up with a vaccine and we all rush out to take it and die. Relax. That's a  conspiracy theory too.

I have a dental appointment next week. Why are dentist's offices still open? Aren't dental procedures right up near the top of the danger list? I guess I'll go ahead and keep the appointment. My dentist is extremely careful and there is only one patient in the office at a time. I wouldn't want to be a dental hygenist though. They're bound to get coughed on sooner or later.

I guess we'll go visit the Dalmatians tomorrow. It is Monday tomorrow, isn't it? It's getting to be so hard to tell the days apart. Even our walks are starting to seem like Ground Hog Day. We see the same people walking the same dogs or riding the same bicycles over and over again. They probably are saying the same thing about us. Everything is so predictable that Janet and I have started wondering about the "Hello Guy." There is this one cyclist who says Hello very loudly to every single person he passes. We used to see him every morning and he's been gone for several weeks now. I wonder if he got the virus.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3803

Dawn woke us up last night barking at the wind and rain. She's not scared of storms, but definitely doesn't like things that go bump in the night. The power went out just long enough to cause all the backup power supplies to start beeping which got Dawn barking all over again. Eventually things calmed down and we all went back to sleep. I reset the clocks and timers in the morning and wondered why we were having such a rainy Spring.

We walked Dawn as soon as we woke up since it looked like it was going to rain again. Starting early was a good idea. The rain never arrived and it ended up getting quite warm and humid later in the morning. I didn't feel like going up on the roof today, but since the pumps are working I don't think there will be a lot of standing water. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow.

My chore for the day was mowing the grass in the front yard. I think I'm the only one in the neighborhood who still mows my own grass. It's not my favorite chore but it's a small yard and I don't feel like dealing with a lawn care service. Pushing the mower does seen a little harder with each passing year however. Maybe I'm just a creature of habit. I've mowed this yard for as long as I can remember.

I had a lot of things on my grocery list today. I found most of the items we needed fairly easily but I don't think Clorox Wipes are ever going to return to the shelves. Shopping is certainly different now. Although stores are officially open again, it looks like some of the pandemic rules are here to stay. I'm still not a fan of one way aisles.

My e-mail server was down for most of the day. Being without e-mail is no great loss. Most of my messages are spam anyway. I never learned what the problem was but it must have been major. Service wasn't restored until almost supper time.

We haven't had barbecue for a while so I picked up some ribs from one of my favorite barbecue places. The restaurant was open for table service, but there wasn't a single customer inside. All the table were spaced out for social distancing and there was a full staff on duty. I really feel sorry for restaurant owners. They really got hit hard by the pandemic and it still doesn't seems very fair. I hope this place manages to stay in business. They definitely know how to smoke meat.

I keep getting letters from my gym telling me to be patient. They still can't decide when they are going to open again. I'll probably return to the gym as soon as they open. The place was never very crowded to begin with. I'm not so sure about restaurants. Many of the places I like are quite small. I guess we all choose what to believe about this virus. The theory that recirculating air from building air conditioning systems might be a problem sounds reasonable to me. I guess that's the problem in airplanes as well. My plan is to wait a month and let other people try these things first. We'll see how bold I actually am if I manage to get media accreditation for the upcoming Mars 2020 launch this Summer.

I didn't have much to write about today. I may have even less tomorrow. No Sunday plans at all.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3787

Oops. My second computer upgrade didn't go as smoothly as the first. I had to remove the battery to exchange the hard drive in my laptop with a new solid state drive that arrived this morning. When I reassembled everything and put the computer back together, the battery appeared to be dead. The computer wouldn't start at all. I plugged it into an AC power source and got a message saying "replace battery now." WTF? I know the battery is good. After doing some research on Apple forums, I discovered that the battery management system needs to be recalibrated whenever a new battery is installed. I didn't install a new battery, but I did unplug it, so the computer probably thought the battery was new when I plugged the cable into the logic board again. The calibration process seems way more complex than it should be and for all I know, the battery might be bad anyway. What a pain. I wish they had mentioned this little wrinkle when I watched the installation video yesterday.

I thought I might actually have a new website job today, but it wasn't meant to be. A friend of mine recently bought a company which included an existing website and he needed to modify it to reflect new ownership. I gave the guy a call to see if I could help, but didn't have the heart to charge him for something I knew he could do himself. I guided him through the process of transferring domains and making simple website edits over the phone and in less than an hour the problem had been solved. Maybe I have mellowed with age, but I hate it when people try to make something easy appear difficult. This type of thing happens all the time with everything from appliance repairs to high priced consultants. Life is too short to inflate your own worth. I'm lazy. If something is easy, I'll tell you in hopes that you'll leave me alone and do the job yourself. I always hope that others will treat me the same way.

We went back to walking Dawn before breakfast this morning. I like these early morning walks but I'm not as hungry as I usually am when we return. I thought I would have a bigger appetite after a long walk, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to have to figure out how to make a smaller smoothie without changing the taste. It took me a long time to get exactly the right mix of ingredients. It's weird that I'm actually thinking about this. I guess it shows that I'm adverse to changes of any kind. The early walks will probably get even earlier in the months ahead. It's the only way we can give Dawn the exercise she needs without overheating her. The heat isn't kind to Janet and I either. We're still having beautiful Spring weather, but around mid-afternoon I can tell that Summer is on the way.

I just heard thunder off in the distance. I looked at the weather radar and a line of storms are headed our way. We've certainly had a lot of rain this Spring. Every time I manage to get the roof dried out, it rains again. You'd think that with all this rain we'd have lots of lush grass in the back yard. Nope. There are still huge bare spots. I hate to re-sod the yard before the tree guy comes to remove the damaged Oak tree. On the other hand, I hate to call the tree guy because I know he'll knock what remains of the greenhouse over and probably break my new security light as well. It's all a complicated mess. It's easier to do nothing, but that's not a good solution either. Every time I hear thunder I worry that the tree may fall on its own.

It's hard to believe the week is almost over again. The trash has been taken out to the curb and I'm getting ready for another day of pandemic induced boredom. Hopefully, I won't break any more computers. I need to learn to leave things alone.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3779

You know what I said yesterday. Yep. Same thing today. Even by my admittedly low standards, this quarantine life is getting monotonous. The weird thing is that unless you know someone personally who has gotten sick, the danger doesn't seem real. You hear these horrible things on the news, but it all seems distant, like the war in Syria or something.

Nobody I know well has gotten sick. Three people I've met at one point or another have been tested for the virus. One guy tested positive and the other two tested negative. All three showed exactly the same symptoms. To this day, the two people who tested negative remain convinced that they had the virus. They were never tested again though, because they weren't sick enough to be admitted to the ER and test kits were scarce.

Luckily, these three people all recovered without requiring hospitalization. The guy who actually tested positive spent fourteen days confined to his bedroom. The two who tested negative were free to go anywhere they wanted. Each of these experiences make me wonder about testing. Everybody admits that current tests frequently return false results, but still testing appears to be vitally important.

I'm sure that mass testing will greatly improve all the mathematical models and projections I keep seeing, but what does the test do for the individual being tested? If you test negative today, you could still test positive tomorrow. If you've actually had the virus and have acquired antibodies, nobody knows whether this means you are safe to reenter society. Some say that people with antibodies could still get sick again or even continue to infect others. So with this in mind, does a massive testing program remove any uncertainty at all? Not for me. I guess the best a testing program could do is find some of the asymptomatic people who actually have the virus and remove them from circulation.

If we do wind up with a massive tracking/surveillance program, I'd prefer the type of high-tech tracking being proposed by Apple and Google. I'm comfortable with my phone warning me that a sick person is nearby. I'm not very comfortable at all with an army of human trackers going door-to-door. Nobody in their right mind who lives in a city would open their door to a stranger who says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." At best these people are probably Jehovah's Witnesses. At worst, they are planning a home invasion.

It will be interesting to see how all this develops. Right now it feels a lot like the blind leading the blind. When you read about the early day of polio or the Spanish Flu, the same thing happened. People were scared and many of the early remedies did nothing or even made matters worse. If you are unfamiliar with the history of polio, you should read about it. The first documented polio epidemic in the United States occurred in 1894. The disease wasn't eliminated in the Western Hemisphere until 1994. We live in an age of instant gratification. I don't think many of us are ready for a hundred year war on the coronavirus.

It's a safe bet that nobody is going to find a solution tomorrow. I'll continue walking and see how many days I can continue my 20,000 step streak. Last night's violent storms weren't as bad as everyone expected. I removed the water from the roof today and am ready for the next storm. I'm still thinking of upgrading all my computers to solid state drives. If I can't go out for breakfast on Friday morning anymore, it might take a fast computer to keep me happy.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3769

It's bulky trash removal time again. I've never seen such huge piles of trash in front of our neighbor's houses. Everyone appears to be using the lockdown to clean out their garage and tidy up their yards. We added our own pile on the curb today by cleaning out the tool shed next to our carport.

As the pile became larger I kept thinking "What is this stuff and why did I buy it in the first place?" I have a habit of buying supplies for repair projects and then never getting around to doing the project. When I finally get motivated to start working, I can't find the supplies I bought and go to Home Depot and buy them all over again. I found unopened boxes of tile grout that had become solid bricks after years of sitting on a shelf. There were dozens of tubes of caulk, glue, and paint that had turned solid as well. Some sheetrock I'd bought for repairs had turned into a crumbling, soggy mess after sitting in the leaky shed for way too many years. I found four large and very heavy steel bars that I had bought for something but couldn't remember why. Such a lot of unfinished projects! There were rusty tools that had to be thrown away because they simply didn't work anymore. I found two large boxes full of gimme caps with different corporate logos on them. Lord knows where I accumulated those. We made quite a pile for the trash truck to haul away, but we're far from finished. The other half of the tool shed remains untouched. Sorting through thirty years of accumulated junk felt a lot like clearing out my Dad's house after he died. We weren't trying to save this stuff. It just seemed to grow and multiply.

After today's initial cleanup effort, I'm really dreading cleaning out my office. Nothing is rusty or ruined in here, but a lot of things will never be used again. In my line of work, equipment become obsolete fairly quickly. It's hard to throw the stuff away though. I'll remember how something saved the day twenty five years ago and fool myself into thinking that maybe I'll use it again. Truthfully. I'll probably never use a film camera again. Modern digital cameras are so much better. I'll probably never use most of my audio gear either. I don't play in a band or produce commercials anymore and the equipment is woefully out of date anyway. All this stuff is hard to throw away because there are memories attached to everything. Eventually, the stuff in the office will be just like the stuff in the tool shed. I'll forget what it is and then it will be easy to throw away.

We miscalculated on our walk this morning and ended up getting caught in a thunderstorm. Luckily, we were close to a picnic pavilion when the heavy rain started so we didn't get very wet. It was nice to discover that Dawn wasn't scared of storms at all. She just sat calmly at our side until the storm passed. It's amazing what a calm, well behaved dog Dawn is. She still doesn't like to ride in a car, but other than that, very few things seem to bother her.

We got a lot of rain today but the roof still hasn't leaked. I'm not about to declare victory yet, but things are looking good. When normalcy returns to the world it might be time to make some serious improvements to the house. We need a lot more than a new roof. I think it's time to find a good general contractor who can fix everything. It's probably better to spend the money and have a nice place to live rather than watch it disappear in an investment account when the next pandemic arrives.

One hidden benefit of these crazy times is that we are eating very well. Janet is quite a good cook. I imagine we'll go back to take out meals when things get busy again, but for now life is good. Long walks and great meals are hard to beat.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3763

Dash died one year ago today. Janet and I were devastated. We were also very tired after tending to sick dogs for almost five years. Neither of us thought we would ever have a dog again. Here we are one year later with another Dalmatian sleeping in our bed. Life is full of surprises and Dawn was one of the good ones. It just goes to show that it doesn't pay to predict the future.

I don't think any one of us could have predicted that we would be living in Chapter Two of a Steven King novel right now. I certainly wasn't thinking that a plague was coming on the day Dash died. Sure there were those who told us that a pandemic was likely many years ago. They wrote books about the coming storm. There were also people telling us that aliens were living among us and that the Illuminati were secretly controlling the world. We ignored the threat of a pandemic the same way we've been ignoring the threat of nuclear war. If you want to lead a normal life, you tend to believe things that let you continue living normally.

I have a friend who has recovered from the coronavirus. He said that fighting the disease was horrible but that when he came out the other end, he felt like he had acquired a superpower. I found this interesting and somewhat prophetic. Universal testing is coming. It will take a while, but it is the only way for society to get a handle on the pandemic. Eventually we will know who is safe and who is a carrier. The people who have developed an immunity and are safe will have a superpower. They can resume normal life. The carriers who can still transmit the disease may not be sick themselves, but nobody will want to get anywhere near them. They will become social pariahs. Nobody will be able to hide because when this day arrives, the detection software Apple and Google are developing now will have been perfected and built into the operating systems of our phones. You know how addicted we are to are to our phones. When your phone starts to beep you will run the other way.

I find myself thinking more about the societal changes to come in the days ahead than about the people dying today. Maybe I'm not compassionate enough. People die everyday, but society only dies once. I don't want to go back to the Stone Age or live in a world that resembles a Bladerunner movie. I don't particularly want to die either. This is the Sophie's choice we are facing as a society.

I called a repair shop about fixing my computer and found myself wishing that my nonchalent electricians could fix computers. These computer repair guys seemed freaked out about seeing me in person and had a complex procedure that involved filling out a bunch on Internet forms and leaving the damaged computer on their front door step. They definitely didn't want me inside their store. Maybe I'll watch a few more YouTube videos and work up my nerve to fix the computer myself. How hard could it be to replace an iMac hard drive?

Today was beautiful and we decided to walk in a more remote section of the park. Dawn loved the new smells and the longer walk certainly didn't interrupt any plans. Who has plans anymore? I did have to remove the water from the roof all over again later in the day. I miscalculated yesterday and should have waited a while before removing the standing water. We ended up getting a lot more rain. At least we didn't get a tornado. You've got to be thankful for things like that.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3734

I'm glad my gym was still open this morning. There were a few additional signs about wiping down the machines after use, but just about everyone did that anyway. The only changes I noticed were that the water bottle and paper cups had been removed from the water dispenser and all the magazines had been removed from the magazine rack. All the gym rats were still there. I don't think anything would deter these people from exercising.

The gym seemed comforting and familiar, but the grocery store certainly didn't. I've never seen the shelves so empty. Bottled water, toilet paper, cleaning products, diapers, and many other items were completely gone. There was a long line of people waiting for something at the back of the store. I don't know what they were waiting for. When I got my items and left the store, the line was still there and nobody had moved.

When I went to pick up a prescription at a pharmacy located inside a different grocery store, the situation was the same. Empty shelves everywhere. Conditions like these are what causes panic buying. You can't help but thinking that all the other people must know something you don't.

Before I headed home again, I went to Home Depot to look for an in-line dimmer switch for a floor lamp in the living room that had broken. Apparently they don't make these things anymore. I needed to find something to turn the lamp on and off and ended up buying a WiFi plug that claimed it would let me switch things on and off with my phone. The high tech switch turned out to be even harder to connect to the network than our new petcam, but I ultimately got it to work.

It's raining pretty hard now, so the time I spent on the roof removing all the standing water this afternoon was a totally wasted effort. Janet said the pumps on the roof were working while I was gone, but they must not have been working well. There was a lot of water on the roof. This roof is almost as frustrating as the virus. The problems never seem to end.

Janet and I both thought we had plenty of food on hand, but rumors are swirling now about a 14-day lockdown. We both made a list of things we might need if the grocery stores and restaurants were closed and will go shopping again tomorrow. Most of the things we like to eat are only available fresh, but a lot of fresh meat and vegetables can be frozen. We'll try to be creative. Neither of us plan on eating canned beans for the next month.

Dawn doesn't appear to be afraid of storms at all. There is lots of thunder and lightning right now and she is snoozing calmly on the bed. Dawn has seen some hard times in her life, but she seems to have learned to handle almost anything. She is one of the most calm and well adjusted Dalmatians I've ever seen. If the world continues to go to hell in a handbasket, she'll be good to have around.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you already know that I'm not a big fan of globalism. I wonder if people will start listening to me now? We need to start making the things we need ourselves again and quit being so dependent on China. What we are seeing now is what happens when you outsource everything just to save a few bucks. It is unbelievably that we get most of our medicine from China. Who let this happen? We need to rethink a lot of things as a country. I hope we can finally put and end to all our political bickering and get to work.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3675

What a difference a day makes. It was 85 degrees yesterday and 45 with rain and wind today. A line of thunderstorms rolled through town and woke me up around 5 AM. The rain slowed to a drizzle at times, but it was basically a very cold, wet day.

So much for raking more leaves before bulky trash pickup day. The remaining leaves are all wet and soggy now. I did get the pumps running when I got up this morning, but one of them doesn't seem to be pumping well. It's probably clogged again. At least the leak hasn't returned. I think we're doing a lot better than we were this time last year.

I took my walk after breakfast when I saw a break between the moving line of showers on the weather radar. I got a little wet, but it was a lot better than sitting in the house doing nothing. Yesterday, the park was full of people. Today it was just me. Spontaneous people will go to the park on a nice day. People like me who depend on a regular routine go everyday. The only people I ever see in the park on nasty days like today are really disciplined joggers and people who know their dog will poop in the house if they don't take them on their daily walk. Dogs like a routine. I'm sure this is one of the reasons I like dogs so much. We think alike.

I don't know whether I have allergies or a low grade cold. I've had a runny nose for the past two days and am sneezing a lot. The constantly changing weather probably has something to do with this. I wish the runny nose would stop. I don't like to take antihistamines but I don't like to pack my pockets with paper towels before I go anywhere either. Being outside in the damp weather seems to make things worse. I ran through quite a few paper towels on my walk today. I hope this clears up quickly. I read an article recently that if you cough or sneeze on a plane, the whole plane instantly hates you.

I need to quit fretting about my upcoming trips. There are still a lot of little details to work out, but I've got plenty of time. I hate surprises and try to avoid them whenever I can. The problem is that any type of travel is full of unknowns and surprises. Some people find this exhilarating. Not me. I like to know the outcome ahead of time. Sadly, you can't avoid surprises even if you stay home and do nothing. The roof could start leaking five minutes from now.

I've taken this week's trash out to the curb, which is always the symbolic end of the week for me. Now I've got to decide whether to go out for breakfast tomorrow. I guess it depends on the weather. There isn't a lot of food in the refrigerator, but there is always a box of cold cereal for emergencies. Rain or shine, there's still stuff I need to do tomorrow. I need to reschedule with the tree guy. Who knows when it will be dry enough to cut down a tree though? I'm also waiting on my final paperwork from NASA. Hope they don't wait until the last minute again. It always makes me nervous.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3673

I got a notice today that a few more of my trains have sold. It seems so long ago that I decided to sell my collections. The guitars have been sold. Most of the art has been sold. The train collection still lingers however. I guess this makes sense. Younger people have no interest in model trains. When Janet and I traveled to Palestine, Texas recently to see the Union Pacific Big Boy steam through town, most of the onlookers were even older than we were. The only young people in the crowd were people's grandchildren.

I still like trains. I haven't traveled on one in years though. Who has the time to take a train anymore? We briefly thought about taking Amtrak to McDonald Observatory last Fall since there is still a stop in Alpine, but the trains frequently run late and are quite expensive. It made more sense to rent a car.

Today was slow. I paid a few bills and took them to the post office, but that was about it. I wish the weather would make up its mind. It was so warm today that I didn't even need a jacket on my walk. The temperature actually got up to 75 degrees this afternoon. It's weird to be thinking about wearing shorts and a t-shirt for a walk in the park at the same time I'm thinking that I need a warmer winter coat for my trip to the observatory.

I still haven't made any reservations for my trip to Florida. Airlines, rental car companies, and hotels all have these loyalty programs that promise big savings if you book now. When you read the fine print, you discover that the only way you get the savings is to make a non-refundable payment in advance. Never mind. I don't think I'm ever going to save a dime because launch schedules frequently change at the last minute and you have to stay flexible. I thought I was going to save 25% on my hotel in Florida until I read that fine print.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. At my age, I'm glad I still have hair, but I wish it didn't grow so fast. Thinning hair that grows quickly doesn't look nice for very long. It doesn't seem like I should need a haircut this often. I don't understand hair styles at all. Old guys are looking like Willie Nelson and young guys are shaving their heads. I'm just starting to look like my Dad.

There's a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. Didn't we already have thunderstorms? Since I've already committed to leaving the house, it's almost guaranteed to rain. Rain shouldn't bother me so much, but it does. You could pick a random blog post from almost any year and chances are it would mention rain. We'll see what tomorrow brings. One way or another, I'm sure I'll survive.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3578

We literally went from ninety degrees to sweater weather overnight. It was cold when I woke up this morning. The furnace was running and it was still raining outside. We must have got a lot of rain last night. Thunder and lightning woke me up several times during the night. I turned on the two pumps on the roof and fixed myself a bowl of cereal. It definitely wasn't worth going out for breakfast on a nasty day like this.

Eventually, the rain stopped and I got ready to take my walk. For the first time in months I wore long pants and a jacket. I guess this is a preview of what it's going to be like this winter. It's hard to say which is worse: heat and humidity, or a biting cold wind. I was cold this morning. My knees and shoulder felt even worse than usual. After the first mile, my body started to warm up and I began noticing all the changes at the lake.

The Egrets and Herons have been replaced by Double-Crested Cormorants. The Cormorant population seems to have tripled overnight. The Raptors have returned as well. I saw three large hawks this morning. I think these birds were Red-tailed Hawks but at least one of them could have been a Red-shouldered Hawk. I haven't seen any Kestrels yet, but as the weather gets colder they become plentiful. It's amazing howe quickly birds adapt to changing weather. I wish I adapted as quickly. I'm still wondering where yesterday's warm weather went.

I was disappointed to see how much water was on the roof. Even with the pumps running, it took me over an hour to sweep it away. This is probably why my shoulder hurts. If only the roofers had been able to bring me the silicon material a week earlier. There was so much rain last night that some of the water managed to get under the elastomer coating again. This is going to make my repair job a lot more difficult. It's frustrating. You can't apply the coating unless the roof is completely dry. Now that the weather has turned colder this drying process is going to take longer. Since there is already rain in the forecast for next Monday and Tuesday, this doesn't look good.

I kept wondering why the roads seemed so crowded today The stores were crowded too. When I went to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner, I had trouble even finding a parking place. Then I remembered that it was Texas OU Weekend. This annual football rivalry between the University of Texas and Oklahoma is hugely popular in Dallas. Personally, I don't think tomorrow would be a good day to go to the state fair since the game is at the Cotton Bowl. Probably not the best time to go out to dinner or a bar either. I had enough trouble buying groceries today. I'm just going to lay low until the crowds subside.

I felt unusually tired today. Somehow the thought of traveling around the country attending rocket launches and visiting observatories seemed exhausting. Maybe I'm just getting used to the changing weather, but all I really wanted to do today was take a long nap. I'll try to get a good night's sleep tonight. I can't be tired. There's a lot I need to do this weekend.

Katuy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3533

Tonight was an adventure. We saw lots of Javelina pigs. Some of them were very close but we didn't get attacked. We saw enough deer crossing the road to make us drive very carefully. Before it got dark were saw an enormous number of hummingbirds. When we got to the top of Mount Locke around 9 PM, we were treated to a spectacular lightning show. We saw no stars tonight. An unexpected thunderstorm rolled through the area and we were right in the middle of it.

All was not lost though. Since the astronomers were not able to see anything tonight either, we got a behind the scenes look at some areas at the 107" Harlan J. Smith telescope that are normally off limits on tours. During an earlier daytime tour of this same telescope I was even able to operate the controls that made the telescope move. Getting to experience these huge telescopes up close was pretty amazing, but it would have been nice to see stars. I asked one of the astronomers what was the best time of year to visit and he said you could get bad weather at any time of year. He told me that some visitors were lucky to experience a spectacular night on their first visit, while others had bad weather three or four times in a row. "You just have to get lucky," he said.

At least the skies were clear last night. Before we went to sleep yesterday Janet and I went outside and looked at the sky for a while. The night sky was amazing. I saw more stars than I'd even seen in my life. It's too bad that the Special Observing Night wasn't yesterday. Evidently Sunday night was even better, but we were still in Dallas then. All this just goes to show that nature is full of surprises. The fancy long-term weather forecasting service I subscribed to predicted an 87% chance of clear skies tonight. Unfortunately, tonight was part of that remaining 13%.

As you might imagine, I was disappointed not to see stars. It was a long drive to get caught in a storm. We could have stayed home and had a rainy day. I think it rained in Dallas today too. At least we made it back to the hotel before the severe weather arrived. I wouldn't want to be driving on those mountain roads at night an a bad thunderstorm.

Even though we got rained out tonight, this has still been a very enjoyable trip. The Davis Mountains are beautiful. McDonald Observatory is fascinating even on a cloudy day. The three large telescopes are amazing. The largest, the 433 inch Hobby-Eberly Telescope is still one of the largest in the world. It is currently one of the telescopes being used to find exoplanets around distant stars and is also involved in a study about dark matter.

It's too bad this place is so remote. I'd like to return when the weather is better. Fort Davis is a charming little town. Most of the residents are retired. Evidently local businesses have a hard time finding help because all the young people can't wait to leave the area and go to a city where there is more action. When we returned from the observatory tonight there was not a single car on the city streets. The place looked like a ghost town. Actually the observatory looked pretty ghostly tonight too with the observatory towers bathed in flashes of light from nearby lightning strikes. Janet said it felt like we were watching an old Frankenstein movie.

The rain is pounding outside our hotel window and I hear a lot of thunder at the moment. The weather might clear up tomorrow, or it might continue raining. Weather is unpredictable, Either way we will be leaving town after breakfast in the morning. Maybe I'll come back someday.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day