Day 4558

On days like this I kind of wish that I wrote one post a week instead of one a day. On a hot summer day like today it's hard to even pretend that anything happened. I was still asleep when Janet gave me the ten minute warning that it was time to walk Dawn. I don't have to decide what coat to wear anymore. Even when we walk before sunrise, it's still pretty warm. 

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone works on Friday anymore. The park was filled with cyclists and joggers this morning. The sun rose while we were climbing a small hill on the way home and you could almost instantly feel the temperature rise. They say it's going to be a hot summer this year. I believe it.

I didn't even think about walking in the park today. Why punish myself. As soon as I finished breakfast and checked my e-mail, I headed for the gym. One of the machines at the gym has a metal bar that you pull down while you are sitting on a low bench. I thought I'd use this today to stretch my shoulder muscles. I guess I haven't used this station in a while. My knees are so shaky that when I was holding the bar in both hands, I found that I couldn't lower myself to the bench. Weird. I used to be able to do this easily. I moved on to the rowing machine which somehow is much easier on my aching joints. I still feel like I'm in pretty good shape when I watch what the other people are doing. This is an illusion though. Most of the others are in physical therapy. I probably should be in physical therapy myself.

I shot some hoops on the basketball court for a while, walked two miles on the indoor track, and used the rowing and abdominal crunch machines. That was it for today. I don't think I even raised my heart rate very much, but it was enough for me. Hey, I got my Fitbit steps without having to brave the heat on an outdoor walk. I have a feeling that I'll be doing this a lot this summer.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I did a load of wash and took a couple of short naps. I still can't get Dawn to stay in the room with me while Janet is away. If I come in the bedroom, she leaves. When Janet comes home, everything is fine again. It's definitely going to be an interesting week when Janet is on vacation. We've done this once before and Dawn eventually started to relax about two days before Janet returned. It took a long time though and there were a couple of days when I was afraid she would stop eating. Hopefully we'll do a little better this time.

Tomorrow will be a good practice day. Janet will be at a rescue event for the entire day, so it's just Dawn and me. I need to perfect the morning routine, because I'm usually still asleep when Dawn has her breakfast and goes outside to poop and pee. She follows Janet around like glue, but this isn't the case with me. I have trouble even getting her off the bed in the morning so I can make it. Dogs do get hungry though. When Dawn gets hungry enough, she'll come eat. I don't even think I'll attempt a walk with Dawn while Janet is gone. If Dawn decided to freeze in place in the park while I was alone with her, I would have real trouble getting her home again. She will walk down to the meadow right behind our house with me, but as soon as she's done her business she heads straight for the back door again.

It's time to make a grocery list again. These weeks go by so quickly now. If the weather is like it was today I'll probably go back to the gym after I get my shopping done. Dawn doesn't mind when I'm gone. I think she prefers it. She's a lazy dog and is pretty content just sleeping on our king sized bed. 

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4142

Today was a little different. I took my long walk right after breakfast so I would be back in time to take Janet to the dentist. Yesterday there was a lot of rain in the forecast but today it was just overcast. I was surprised that I made good time today. Often I don't when I walk early.

When I returned home there was a surprise in the mail. My long awaited computer memory chips have arrived. They certainly took the slow route to Dallas, but the package appeared to be in good shape. I'll probably upgrade the computer tomorrow, unless I'm feeling especially clumsy. I'm never wild about making computer modifications. There are a lot of tiny screws and very fine wires inside these things. I try my best to be careful, but the truth is that I am pretty clumsy. I gave up watch repair as a hobby because there are a lot of very tiny parts inside watches as well. I managed to get quite a few watches running again, but I ended up breaking way too many. Luckily, upgrading the laptop's memory is very easy. All I have to do is remove ten screws, take the back off the laptop, disconnect a few wires, and replace the existing memory. This should only take about ten minutes, but it will probably take me an hour.

Janet's dentist was still operating under Covid protocols. They didn't want me to come inside. I dropped her off at the front of the building and then I was supposed to call them from my car when I returned and they would bring her down to me. Her extraction didn't take nearly as long as mine did a few years ago. I was only home a short time before I got a call saying that it was time to pick her up. 

We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up her meds, but they weren't ready yet. I took Janet home, watched Dawn curl up next to her on the bed, and then returned to the pharmacy. Dawn will make a good nurse. She never leaves Janet's side. I walked up to an empty counter and picked up Janet's meds, but when I was leaving two snarky ladies hissed at me and said "guess you didn't see the line" under their breath. I guess not. They were so far away from the counter that I thought they were shopping for something else.

I've either got to start going to the gym or just accept the fact that my body is wearing out. I was watching one of those Life Alert commercials while I was eating breakfast this morning and found myself wondering if I should get one. "I've fallen and I can't get up" is beginning to seem very real. I'm thinking of getting a walking stick for my trip to the observatory. I might take a folding camp chair as well. One of the bad things about astrophotography is that you often have to get down on your knees to point the camera at the proper section of sky. I remember hating getting up and down so often on my last trip. Maybe a walking stick and a folding canvas chair will help. I still refuse to call the walking stick a cane, but you get the idea.

The Artemis-1 SLS booster I saw at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans a few years ago has finally arrived at Kennedy Space Center. Over the next several months it will be assembled into a moon rocket and hopefully launch before the end of the year. This is the one launch I really don't want to miss. Since I can't really count on NASA anymore, I'm going to have to get to know the people in the Air Force media office again. The people I used to know are gone now, but if I did this once I guess I can do it again.  

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day