Day 3501

Maybe I'm getting too much sleep. I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. Since I wasn't tired, I took this as a sign that I should walk early. Not that it made any difference but it was surprisingly cool outside. The air quality was terrible though. My new watch told me so.

I had thought the water level at the lake was so low because of the Summer heat. I guess I was wrong. I saw something on the news today that said a piece of the dam that regulated water level had broken. The dam had sprung a leak. This wasn't a piece of high-tech equipment that broke. It was just a big piece of wood. That doesn't seem hard to replace. Maybe I'll see the water level rising again soon.

I didn't see much on my walk today. I took a better camera with me to photograph Egrets but they were too far away. Yesterday they were close to shore. Birds are unpredictable. Today the only thing I could find to photograph was a small lizard.

Instead of going out for breakfast this morning I stayed home and finished off the fresh fruit. I should have gone out. I think the breakfast restaurant tradition started in the first place because four smoothies in a row was all I could handle. While I was eating I tried to figure out some of the new functions of my watch. In addition to providing air quality warnings and electrocardiograms, it also did a lot of other cool stuff. Maybe it wasn't such a bad purchase after all.

I noticed that some new viewing dates have opened up at McDonald Observatory, so I started investigating a trip out there in more detail. Planning a trip was more complicated than I anticipated. Special viewing nights at the big telescopes are limited to eight people and even thought viewing dates for the Fall were just announced a few days ago, they were already filling up fast. Since astronomy trips are fairly worthless unless you have clear skies, I tried to see if there were special long range weather forecasts for astronomers. Surprise. Actually there are. I looked at several potential observing dates in September at the 82" telescope and there was a high probability of thunderstorms. Not good. It looked like there was going to be a clear day in August when there was an opportunity to visit the smaller 36" telescope, but there was only one opening left. I think Janet wants to go on this trip, so that wasn't good.

Were all these forecasts event even remotely realistic? Usually the weather forecasts for tomorrow are wrong in Dallas. How can you accurately predict the weather for September? It's a mystery to me. Every day in September had a specific prediction though. Forecasts for August were even more specific. Can I trust these forecasts? I'd hate to drive all the way out to Alpine, Texas and have it rain on my viewing night.

Planing the trip was so complicated that I decided to think about it for a while. Do I drive or take Amtrak? Oddly, you can take the train to this small Texas town. Which telescope is the best? There are three to choose from: the 102", the 82", and the 36". At first glance you'd think that the biggest one would be the best, but that isn't always the case. Viewing nights for the 102" inch telescope are only offered when there is a full moon. The smaller 36" telescope is available on a few select nights where there are dark skies. Also, tickets are not refundable if it rains at the last minute. You just go listen to an astronomer talk instead of looking through the telescope. It's all kind of a crap shoot. You just have to pick a day and hope you get lucky.

So far, I haven't been very lucky with my U-Verse service. The fiber optic line still goes down periodically throughout the day. A technician is coming over on Sunday, but I bet he isn't going to have the patience to diagnose an intermittent problem like this. I bet he just replaces all the equipment instead.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3499

It's weird to go this long without talking to anyone. I don't spend a huge amount of time talking with Janet but I rarely talk to anyone else. Usually there isn't a need. After I finish the blog each evening there is nothing more to say. I guess I must have talked to the dogs in the past when Janet was traveling. The house is strangely silent now.

It is particularly quiet right now because U-Verse is down again. Usually this is our most expensive utility bill but the service is not particularly reliable. I'd switch to another provider, but Spectrum is even worse. The worst thing about U-Verse is that when you do have a problem you have to talk with an offshore customer service representative who can barely speak English. It's very frustrating to talk with someone on the other side of the world when you know there's probably just a problem with the line a few blocks away. I try to avoid calling these people because the problem sometimes fixes itself in a couple of hours. I always have an alternate way to get on the Internet. AT&T disappoints me frequently but my trusty little T-Mobile WiFi hotspot hasn't failed me yet.

The water level in the lake has been slowly dropping all month. It's been very dry. Today I noticed that one of the shallow bays had completely dried up. Like the age spot on my arm, this also seemed to happen overnight. I haven't seen the water level this low in many years. I guess we need some rain.  The odd thing was that it wasn't particularly hot today. On the news they even said we were having a cold wave. It's strange to think of 80 degree temperatures as a cold wave, but this is Texas.

I was happy to see the cooler temperatures. I knew they wouldn't last long so I made a point to mow the grass this afternoon. There is still a big dead spot where the huge pile of brush used to be but maybe it will fill in if we ever get some rain. This is the perfect time to make repairs to the roof, but I haven't received any of the silicon coating the roofer promised yet. Probably there will be a can of the stuff on my doorstep on the day it rains.

It's hard to find anything to photograph in the middle of July. The meadows in the park are becoming brown and dry. Most of the wildflowers are gone now except for the Firewheel plants and a few Morning Glories. I did find a Buttonbush that had seen better days. The spherical flowers would have been much more impressive if I'd found them a month ago.

I hate how clumsy I've become. I cut my finger with a kitchen knife while I was slicing a watermelon this afternoon. I rarely even eat watermelon but I had to go slicing one today. I guess I learned my lesson. This wasn't a bad cut but it feels like a paper cut right on the tip of my index finger. Irritating. I'm feeling this thing every time I type.

Every year I get this small gift card from the electric company. It's some kind of rebate for being a good customer. I wish they would just lower my bill a little instead. I almost always buy stuff online now, so I never know what to do with this card. To make matters worse, the card always expires a few months after the electric company sends it out. It's about to expire now so I need to go out and buy something I don't need before it becomes useless like it did last year. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow. Hey, I already mowed the grass. I need something to do.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day