Day 4909

I did my grocery shopping early this morning so we could go to Dawn's dog school party. I think I tried this last week as well, but this week I started even earlier. I finished my shopping and was home again before I typically leave the house. I need to make a habit of this. The stores weren't crowded and there was a better selection of everything.

I thought that Dawn would enjoy the party because she likes going to school. Nope. She was nervous the entire time and was eager to return home. She wasn't interested in playing with any of the other dogs. This was something new and Dawn never reacts well to new things. Janet entered her in several of the competitions and she won fourth place in one. I had a good time and got to chat with several people I hadn't seen since we used to take Dot and Dash to training class. I guess we'll do this again next year.

After we returned home I went on a not so long walk. It was later in the day and too hot outside for my regular route. I knew I couldn't complete six miles today. I only walked three miles this afternoon but that was enough to get my steps and close all three rings on my Apple Watch. I had to soak my hat in water to stay cool this afternoon. I should have gone to the gym, but after grocery shopping this morning I was tired of driving.

We had a very brief power outage this afternoon. The beeping noises from several devices were enough to send Dawn into a panic. Thunder and lightning don't scare Dawn, but electronic beeping noises do. She managed to get stuck behind the bedroom television in a tangle of cords and cables. Why she thought that this was a safe place, I'll never know. It was hard to extricate her from this tiny awkward space and when I got her free, she wasn't comfortable for the rest of the afternoon. I took her outside so she could lay in the grass and that actually calmed her down after a while. She was back to normal in time to start barking at me to fix her dinner.

One of my battery back-up power sources bit the dust today. I don't think I'm going to bother to replace it. There are way too many things in the office that I don't even use anymore. This thing beeps when the power goes out too. We don't need any more beeping things in this house. 

I thought about fixing the screen door this afternoon but it was way too hot. All I really wanted to do was take a nap. At least it didn't rain today. Rain was in the forecast all day, but somehow it never materialized. I actually would have welcomed a little rain on my long walk. Did I mention it was hot. I'm not reacting very well to summer this year. It's hot every summer, but I don't have the patience for it anymore. 

Tomorrow I'll go walking at the mall and then we'll take Dawn on her Sunday outing. Dawn and I both like familiar routines. Dawn and I should be best friends. We're both old and grumpy and don't react well to change. There is still rain in the forecast for tomorrow but there is a good chance we'll never see it. Old habits die hard I guess. We've got a brand new roof and I'm still worried about rain.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4888

Every time I go shopping on Saturday I'm amazed at how much traffic there is. The roads are crowded and the stores are full. The city has changed a lot in ten years. I often fantasize about living in a small town with excellent health care and great veterinarians. Unfortunately, I don't think these places exist. It could be a lot worse though. At least I don't still live in Seattle. That city has really changed a lot. Whenever I visit another large city, Dallas starts looking a whole lot better.

The weather forecast last night said that it would be raining all day. It didn't rain at all. Now the forecast says it will be raining all day tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Whatever happens, it doesn't look good for replacing the roof next week. I'll wait until Monday to call the roofers though. A lot could change over the weekend. I'm torn between wanting to get the roof done immediately and postponing things until the middle of Summer. I know that the roofers will want to go ahead despite the weather and make all kind of promises they can't keep. If they only worked during completely dry weather they wouldn't have much business this Spring. 

The stores seemed unusually crowded today. Maybe it was because it's Mother's Day tomorrow. I might be imagining things, but prices still seem to be going up every single week. It's discouraging. I found what I needed though. I'm glad I only need to do this once a week. I don't even need to get all the groceries either. Janet gets some things and I get other things. I doubt this routine will ever change. It seems to work.

It was nice outside when we took our early walk with Dawn, but by the time I was ready for my long walk, it felt like Summer was already here. I was hot and mildly uncomfortable walking this afternoon. How am I going to make it through July and August?  Today's temperatures were nothing compared to what's coming our way later in the year. I've walked my way through Summer before and I guess I can do it again. I'm not looking forward to July and August though. I guess I can always go to the gym. They keep my gym very cold.

I'm talking myself into going down to Florida for the AX-2 launch. SpaceFlight has already expressed an interest in doing an article and I think I'm going to get credentialed for this one. Even though these trips can get expensive, I'm not spending money on other things these days. When I'm sitting here doing nothing, I can think of all sorts of reasons to go. When I'm paying for these trips, I can think of a lot of reasons to never go again.

If it doesn't rain tomorrow, we'll take Dawn on her Sunday outing. I'll go mall walking either way. One good thing about mall walking is that the weather doesn't matter. It's always exactly the same inside. 

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4885

I spent the day trying to avoid the rain and it never actually rained. I think I pay too much attention to the weather. Its going to do what its going to do anyway. Everything did get done. Dawn got walked and I stayed dry on my daily long walk. It just would have been a little easier if I wasn't constantly checking the weather radar.

I'm starting to see lots of baby ducks in the park. It's that time of year. I rarely see young squirrels although squirrels are everywhere. I sometime hear coyote cubs howling, but I've never seen them. They stay well hidden. Maybe the baby owls near us have grown old enough to fly. I never see photographers around their tree anymore. With all this activity you'd think the resident eagles would be making a nest as well. They abandoned an earlier nest and don't appear to have built another one. I'm curious about these things, but not curious enough to become a birder myself. The animals in the park are just something to occupy my mind during my daily walks.

For the past several weeks I've seen lots of birders taking pictures of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. This seems curious to me, since the birds are not rare or hard to photograph. I've taken many pictures of these birds over the years. They often perch on top of yucca flowers and look quite striking. Maybe people are interested now because the birds are migratory and are just now arriving for the summer. Of maybe the birders can't find the eagles and are just looking for something to photograph.

I didn't end up doing much today. After my long walk I was planning on practicing using the star tracker again, but never got around to it. I did do a minor update to the Dalmatian Rescue website because I got one of the dogs names wrong when I was doing updates yesterday. I got an e-mail from Southwest Airlines advertising discount flights to Florida this month. This made me rethink returning to the Space Center this Spring. I haven't heard anything yet, but I think I will end up getting credentialed for the upcoming AX-2 launch. It's always tempting to go back to Florida. Especially when I can't think of anything to do here.

There seem to be a lot of homes for sale in our neighborhood now. I wonder why? When we first moved here people would live in the same homes until they died. There are still a lot of permanent residents, but the neighborhood seems more transient now. People will stay for five or six years and then disappear. Almost all the houses on our street have changed hands since we initially moved here. Things change I guess. In the beginning we were one of the youngest people on the street. Now we're one of the oldest.

Yesterday the weather forecast looked good for next week's roof replacement. Today there's a chance of rain on the day the roofers planned to begin. I definitely don't want the roof being replaced on a rainy day, so we may need to change the schedule. I probably should have just waited until July to do this. We get very little rain in the Summer here. One way or another, this job will get done. I'm just not looking forward to it.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4884

Another slow day. It's a good thing I handle boredom well because every day is virtually the same. We get up and take Dawn on an early walk. I make the bed when we return and then I eat my breakfast. Breakfast is the only time I watch TV and I often wonder why I even bother. We have a new dishwasher but I always wash the breakfast dishes by hand. It's just a habit. I turn on the computer and check my messages after breakfast. They are mostly all spam. If it looks like it's going to be a hot day, I take my long walk right away. If it's cold, I wait for things to warm up. The long walk is completely predictable. I take the same route every day. The park is huge and I could take many different routes, but like I mentioned earlier, I'm a creature of habit.

There seems to be an unusual number of wildflowers this year. This is probably because we had a very wet Spring. I photograph these flowers and have learned to identify most of them, but this isn't really necessary. I've photographed almost every variety of native plants many times over the years. It's actually been quite a while since I've seen anything new in the park. I always look for the Muscovy Ducks and count the small gaggle of geese to see if anyone is missing. I used to see coyotes frequently but I haven't seen any this year. There are also bobcats in the park but I've only seen two in the past ten years. I'm glad these birds and animals are still abundant. When we first moved here the park was wild and largely abandoned. Now it is full of people and has a huge staff of caretakers. The place has become a destination for all forms of outdoor recreation. I can't even remember why we ended up living here, but it ended up being a good choice.

I thought about practicing using the star tracker today, but it was easy to talk myself out of it. I'm never going to spend a lot of time pursuing astrophotography unless I go out to McDonald Observatory again. I think I've already proved that the star tracker works. I just haven't proved that I'm seriously interested in astronomy. I wish the observatory was closer. It is a very peaceful place to visit. It might be a while until I get out there again though. It is much easier to fly to Florida for a launch than to drive to West Texas.

I wonder how Facebook chooses things for me to see? It makes sense that I would see a lot of posts about Dalmatians. It probably makes sense that I see lots of things about guitars and astrophotography as well. Why do I constantly get posts about WWII Battle Tanks though? And why do I need to know about the giant trees of Ohio. I used to get posts about Elvis Presley every day and then they went away. Facebook seems to think I'm real interested in ships at sea and alcoholic beverages. I think they are just grasping at straws. I delete the cookies on my computer every evening and erase my browser history as well. I don't want to make it easy for these guys, but they keep trying. 

The weather forecast says it's going to be raining when we wake up in the morning. I hope the forecast is wrong. Dawn always needs a walk in the morning and I need my long walk as well. I know we need the rain, but the rainy season is always a big nuisance. If it didn't rain so much, we wouldn't need a new roof at all.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4869

I should have been packed by now, but as usual I am way behind. Guess what I'll be doing after I finish this blog post. I'll be fine since I've done this many times before, but I do wish I was a little more organized. So far, the weather doesn't look great for the Wednesday launch attempt. I hate to turn down an opportunity though, especially when I already have press credentials. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll get to see something.

Dawn had a nice early walk this morning. I'm glad she is back to normal again. It's going to be hard to keep her from jumping on and off the bed, but we're working on it. We no longer use a leash around her neck and she doesn't do the jumping exercises at training class anymore, but otherwise her life is just the same as it has always been. 

It took me longer than expected to sync my laptop with this morning. I like everything to be exactly the same when I travel. I meant to only transfer the launch related e-mail messages, but I did something wrong and ended up transferring thousands of unwanted messages instead. Oops. Usually I erase old messages from the server before I sync the two computers, but I guess I forgot today. At any rate, all the batteries on my devices have been charged. Now I just need to throw a few clothes in my suitcase and I'm ready to go.

I made good time on my long walk today. It's a mystery to me why some days are better than others. I didn't feel particularly energetic this morning, but I was definitely faster. I passed a crew pouring concrete for a new sidewalk this morning. The park department seems unusually active this year. I haven't seen this much activity for a long time. Maybe they're trying to use up their budget before the fiscal year is over. It's hard to request an increase when you still have money left over from the previous year.

We don't see photographers around the tree with the baby owls anymore. Have the owls already flown away? They didn't look old enough the last time I looked, but I don't know that much about owls. I need to go down and inspect the tree myself, but that will have to wait until I return from my trip. I'm curious about the baby owls, but not that curious. I still look for the bald eagles whenever I walk, but other than a chance encounter on one of our early walks with Dawn, I haven't seen either of them in ages. I'll probably see eagles in Florida. There are a ton of bald eagles at Kennedy Space Center.

I hope there are no flight delays or heavy rain tomorrow. Driving from Orlando to Titusville at night in heavy rain is not fun. Southwest Airlines has certainly had its share of problems recently, but hopefully tomorrow will be a good day. I really wish I'd gone ahead and filled out my application for TSA Pre. I should have taken care of this by now. Oh, well. All it means is that I'll be standing in a long line again for my return trip.

I guess I'd better post this and go back to packing. I need to remember to pack a small travel umbrella. I know it's going to be raining on Wednesday.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4846 - April Fools Day

Another normal Saturday. We got up about thirty minutes later than we do on weekdays and gave Dawn her morning walk. Dawn is never in a hurry on these walks and loves smelling things. The walk gives me a chance to wake up. I always get to bed late and would welcome a chance to sleep later in the morning. Dawn has her own agenda though. Thankfully, the weather was nice today. I really think Winter is over now. It won't be long before I'm complaining about how hot it is.

I had trouble telling the April Fools posts from the regular posts on Facebook today. The world is so strange these days that almost anything seems plausible. Almost every day I run across something that seems impossibly strange, yet turns out to be true. I guess it doesn't hurt to be skeptical, but life would be a lot easier if you could actually believe what you hear.

My grocery list was small today, but it still took a long time to find everything. The city has definitely changed. The roads never used to be this crowded on weekends. The stores are well stocked, but there doesn't seem to be as much variety. I dutifully pushed my cart around, picked up what I needed, and returned home. I find no joy in shopping anymore, although I did find some Maryland Crab Cakes on sale. I love crab cakes..

I thought about going to the gym this afternoon, but once again it was a lot easier to just walk in the park. The nice weather brought out lots of visitors. I'm still surprised that so many people walk faster than me. I don't think I'm walking slow, but almost everybody passes me. Moms pushing strollers pass me. Old people pass me. Entire families pass me. I'm not really concerned. At least I'm still moving. According to my Fitbit, I'm actually burning quite a few calories.

The new printer keeps getting disconnected from the WiFi network. It probably needs to be moved to a better location, but where would that be? There are no empty spaces left in the house. It wasn't hard to get the printer working again. I just did what I always do. I turned the machine off and then turned it on again.  This seems to fix just about anything.

Dawn seems fine now, although we are still giving her a small amount of Rimadyl. She still seems to favor one paw occasionally, but maybe I'm imagining things. If we can just keep her from jumping on and off the bed I think we'll be OK. We've had so many things go wrong with dogs over the years that it's understandable to worry. They're always getting into trouble.

There's more rain in the forecast tomorrow. I hope that Dawn still gets her Sunday outing, but that depends on the weather. None of us particularly enjoy getting wet.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4802

Dawn got a bath today. That was probably the big event of the day. Dawn, like most dogs, doesn't really like getting a bath, but she tolerates it. We take her to a neighborhood self-bathe place where there are lots of other dogs and she is always well behaved.

Luckily, last night's severe weather alert never materialized. It didn't even rain. I keep looking at the weather forecast with trepidation. I'd really like it to stay dry for a while. So far, there is no rain in the forecast until next Wednesday with a 30% chance of showers. I can live with that.

It was quite cold today. I didn't dress warmly enough when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk, but I didn't make that mistake again when I took my long walk later in the day. Dawn seems to enjoy the cold. She was full of energy this morning. I definitely wasn't full of energy when I took my long walk, but I did manage to complete my six miles. There weren't a lot of people on the trails today for obvious reasons. There are always a few die-hards like me though. I recognize them now but have no idea who they are.

I had several errands I needed to do today but never got around to doing anything. I need to renew a prescription before it runs out and I need to get a new bulb for one of the living room lamps before it burns out. There are other things that can probably wait until this weekend. At the rate I'm going, I suspect that everything will wait until this weekend.

The only real connection I have to the Space Coast is what I see on Facebook. Almost every day I see cool photos of launches that I missed. There's always a lot going on down at Kennedy Space Center but unfortunately I can only afford to travel to Florida several times a year. I kind of envy the photographers who seem to attend every single launch, but I wonder if I would have their stamina if I actually lived there. I tend to get bored quickly. There are a lot of things that have captured my interest in the past. Most of them are just distant memories now. Realistically, going to a few important launches a year is plenty. They are all more of less the same anyway.

I'm really tired of having a runny nose. I don't do well with decongestants, so I'm blowing my nose constantly. This seems more like seasonal allergies than a cold, but I've had enough. Since this happens every year, you'd think I'd have come up with a solution by now. Nope. So far, I'm just burning through a lot of blue Scott shop towels. At $20 for a six pack, this turns out to be pretty expensive Kleenex.

This week has gone quickly. When I took this week's trash out to the curb this evening, Mars and Jupiter were already low in the Western sky. It seems like they were overhead just a few weeks ago. I wonder what stars will be overhead the next time I'm out at McDonald Observatory. It might be a while.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4792

Where did the day go? I certainly didn't accomplish much today. It was a little chilly outside but there was no rain. It was foggy when we took Dawn on her early morning walk and it was very windy when I took my long walk later in the morning. I was hoping for a warm, clear day, but I'll take what I can get. I'm still dreading the rain that is supposed to start early tomorrow morning.

I didn't realize how addicted I've become to my Fitbit until the app crashed this morning and I couldn't count my steps. I don't know why I even need this thing, especially since I walk the same route every day and know exactly how long it is. The variations in the speed and distance I travel are so small that I can usually guess my pace and the number of steps I've taken at any point in time. All this really proves is that I can take any activity and make it boring.

Against my better judgement I applied for press accreditation to attend the Crew-6 launch. I didn't get accepted as a social media correspondent for this launch, but maybe I'll have better luck as a magazine reporter. The Crew-6 Mission will be exactly like all the other crewed missions I've attended at Kennedy Space Center, but I'd still like to go. Strangely, I feel like I belong when I'm down at a launch. I seldom feel that way in Dallas. It's a shame that Titusville is so far away and travel is so expensive. I'd go to every launch if I could. Kennedy Space Center and McDonald Observatory seem like home to me now. I've published numerous articles about my experiences in both places, but it still seems like a very expensive hobby. Oh, well. There are worse things to waste money on. At least I'm not buying watches or electric trains these days.

I don't know whether I still have seasonal allergies or a persistent cold. I've had a runny nose for weeks now. I don't feel sick, but the constant nasal drip is irritating. I use those heavy duty Scott blue towels as Kleenex now. It's surprising how quickly I can run through a roll. If I forget to put a few Scott towel squares in my pocket when I'm walking, I'm miserable. I wonder how long this is going to last? I'm used to Spring allergies and even Fall allergies, but a runny nose all year long is a little much.

I've noticed that the operating systems I run on my computers are called "antiques" now. Apple stopped updating my version of Safari years ago. This is causing problems since quite a few websites I use have quit working correctly. I can still use the latest version of Firefox for transactions, but Safari is becoming next to useless. I stubbornly refuse to buy a new computer and pay for subscriptions to Photoshop, Microsoft Word and just about anything else that is actually useful. Why can't I keep using Sierra or High Sierra forever? I haven't changed since these operating systems were considered state of the art. If Sierra and earlier Apple operating systems were perfectly good when my business was flourishing, why should I be forced to start over when I'm basically just killing time? This attitude is probably why I no longer have any web development business. I celebrate the old and the obsolete. I like my old computers, my old Nikon film cameras, and I wish I still had my Citroën SM.

I hope that tomorrow's forecast is wrong. Dawn still needs her early walk and I don't relish the idea of driving to the gym in the rain. All the buckets are clean and ready for use, but the thought of dealing with more roof leaks so soon after our last big rain is depressing.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4784

The weather was strange today. When we took our early walk with Dawn this morning the temperature was in the high 50's. That was as high as it got and it continued to get colder for the rest of the day. It's already down to freezing and will probably get even colder overnight. I'm not looking forward to next week at all. The forecast says we are going to have freezing rain and icy roads for most of the week.

Today was mostly walking and football. I woke up with an upset stomach so I just had shredded wheat instead of our normal big weekend breakfast. After breakfast I went to the mall and walked several miles indoors. I enjoy mall walking at Northpark. The temperature is perfect. The air is clean and filtered. There's plenty to see as well. Looking at the window displays in all the stores is much more pleasant than fighting a cold lakeside wind while wondering why I didn't dress warmer. There are a few weeks in the spring and fall when the weather is actually nice. The rest of the time it is either too hot or too cold outside.

There are always several new stores that just opened when I go to the mall. Things always seem to be changing. Today, even the indoor duck pond was closed for some type of refurbishment. I wonder where they are keeping the ducks and turtles while all this construction is going on. When I returned home Dawn and Janet were ready to go on their Sunday outing. This was definitely the coldest walk of the day, but we made it. We walked faster than usual in an attempt to stay warm, but we were all glad to return to the car. It seemed kind of strange to get ice cream on such a cold day, but Dawn loves her ice cream cones. Personally I could have used a cup of hot chocolate.

It was definitely an afternoon to stay inside so I ended up watching both NFL playoff games. The Bengals and Chiefs game was the more interesting game. It was a close contest right down to the final seconds. The Eagles ran all over the 49ers. It was pretty clear that the Eagles were going to win this game early on. Dawn wanted the bed to herself and wasn't happy with me watching the Eagles game. Later, when Janet came home Dawn was much more interested in the cooking that was going on in the kitchen, so I had the bedroom to myself. I don't often spend the afternoon watching football but the Bengals and Chiefs game was definitely worth watching. 

The house feels cold even though the temperature inside is the same as it's always been. I've had to bring out the little ceramic space heater and put it under my desk. No shorts today either. I'm wearing heavy pants and a sweater. I'm not sure what to expect with the roof next week. We haven't had sustained freezing rain for quite a while. If memory serves, sometimes the leaks are worse when heat from inside the house melts the bottom layer of ice on the roof. We'll just have to see what happens. There's not much I can do about the weather.

I might not be able to get my steps next week. That would be a shame. It's probably going to be too cold and wet to walk in the park and too icy on the roads to drive to the gym or mall. I'll never get 10,000 steps pacing around the house. The house is just too little. Hopefully, we'll be able to give Dawn her morning walk before the rain and sleet starts.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4742

I didn't do much today. I should feel guilty for being so lethargic, but it doesn't seem to bother me. We took our morning walk a little later this morning. After all these years we still have a weekend schedule even though we are both retired. I'd probably sleep in late every day, but Janet and Dawn have other ideas. It's probably good that they get me up. I'm lazy enough already.

After breakfast I went mall walking again. I thought the mall would be packed this morning, but it was strangely empty. I'm sure the place was busy after the stores opened, but there were definitely fewer walkers today. I still can't figure out why I walk slower indoors. It seems counterintuitive. The terrain is flat, The temperature is comfortable. I don't have to worry about tripping over anything. You'd think I'd be really fast in this type of environment.

I'm probably slower because I glance at all the store windows. I don't linger, but I'm definitely aware of what's on display. I wonder who buys this stuff. These clothes don't look anything like what I see at the grocery store or walking in the park. I guess people still go to parties. There are a lot of party clothes on display. There are a lot of Winter coats on display as well. Some of these coats will probably get sold next week when we are expecting a record cold spell. The mall does feel festive at this time of year. I'm not a very festive person, but I do enjoy the Christmas season. I may be imagining things, but people seem a little nicer in December.

Every time I go mall walking I notice that a new store has opened and another one has closed. I didn't realize that things were so fluid in the world of retail. You wouldn't think anyone would have the nerve to open a new store in an environment where people buy everything on Amazon, but I guess hope springs eternal. Since Northpark is a very high-end mall, I'm probably getting a distorted view of reality. It suits me though. I'd never go walking at a Walmart Supercenter.

As soon as I returned home Dawn was ready to go on her Sunday outing. She always seems super excited to go on these little Sunday road trips, but instantly reverts to panic mode as soon as Janet starts the car. She walks fairly normally when we arrive at our destination, but is always a little wilder than she is at the park near our house. Since we do this every Sunday, you'd think this would all be routine by now. I'm not a dog though. I really have no idea what is going through her mind.

Ice cream definitely calms Dawn down. I think she enjoys the ice cream even more than we do. We order the same thing every week, but sometimes the cones are larger and other times they are smaller. It just depends on who is serving that day. There is always a help wanted sign at the ice cream store. It's probably not a hard job but I don't think I'd want to work there. I don't think I'd want to work at a restaurant either. OK, if I'm being honest, I don't really want to work at all. 

I'm a little apprehensive about next week's weather. Single digit temperatures are rare in Dallas. I'm always worried that the pipes will freeze or the car won't start. Hopefully the furnace is in good shape. It just got repaired a few weeks ago. I'm sure we'll be just fine but Florida is looking better and better.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4733 - Dawn's Birthday

Good grief. I forgot my appointment with the eye doctor today. It wasn't their fault. They've been sending me reminders for the past two weeks. I got distracted by a roof leak this morning and just forgot. I remember thinking yesterday that maybe I ought to leave a note out on the kitchen table to remind me while I was eating breakfast. No, I'll remember I thought. I rescheduled the appointment, but I feel kind of foolish. I can't remember anything anymore.

Today's roof leak was minor, but it was annoying. This is what happens in the Winter. It never gets hot enough for the water to evaporate, so it just sits up there. I used to get on the roof and sweep the water away after every rain, but I try to avoid that now. I'm getting clumsy and I don't want to fall off the roof.

The park was empty when we walked Dawn this morning. You don't see many bicycles or runners on days like this. People still walk their dogs though. No matter what the weather looks like, we always see several other people walking their dogs. 

I keep telling myself that I don't feel like walking in the park, but somehow I end up doing it anyway. It's just easier to go out the back door and start walking than it is to go to the gym. I completed my entire walk this morning without thinking that I should have been at the eye doctor instead. It never even occurred to me that I'd missed my appointment until later this afternoon. Next time I will make myself a note and place it on the kitchen table. 

I upgraded the star tracker this afternoon. I don't know why I bothered because it doesn't seem any different than the last version. The unit still works, but it takes me a while to get it going. There is a specific start-up sequence that needs to be followed and I never remember to do everything in the right order. I wouldn't be surprised if I wear the star tracker out testing it and never get around to doing any actual astrophotography.

Today is Dawn's birthday. She is now ten years old. Coincidentally, December 9th is also my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 102 year old if he hadn't died 19 years ago. Dawn is getting older, but she still seems very healthy. I think she enjoys her life with us and is finally starting to relax. I took a short nap on the bed earlier this evening and she didn't leave. She actually seemed fairly content. One of these days she's going to realize that I mean no harm and we'll be buddies. We'll have a little birthday party for Dawn when Janet gets home this evening. We don't make elaborate dog cakes anymore, but we do get pupcakes from Sprinkles. Janet and I will have a little champagne as well. It's just a birthday tradition.

There's more rain in the forecast for tomorrow. I wish the rain would wait until I finish my grocery shopping, but it probably won't. I'm resigned to getting wet tomorrow. Dawn might get a morning walk though. I don't think the rain is supposed to start until around 10 AM. If it keeps raining I'll go to the gym in the afternoon. It's time for me to go back to the gym anyway.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4730

Today was busy. We got up early and gave Dawn her morning walk before I took Janet to the dentist for dental surgery. I took my own long walk right after breakfast so I would be home in time to pick Janet up again after she was finished with her procedure. I was pretty fast this morning. This was the first time I finished a mile in less than 20 minutes in quite a while. While I was out walking I passed an older gentleman who I frequently see on the trails. I told him that he was doing a better job of staying in shape than I was. The guy smiled and said "I'm 85 years old. I'm just trying to stay alive." I found this strangely encouraging. The guy was ten years older than me and still going strong.

I went to pick Janet up around noon. The traffic was much lighter than it was at 8:30 AM. I don't experience morning rush hour very often anymore. I don't know how people can stand to do this day after day. It would drive me nuts. I started my own company in 1990 and have worked out of my house ever since. It's definitely a different world than when I used to drive to work everyday. Life was a lot less hectic in the 1980's.

Janet and I have been inundated with e-mail spam lately. She changed all her passwords recently and I decided to do the same today. When I logged into my web hosting account it didn't look familiar. Now that I don't build websites for a living anymore, I don't have a need to visit this place very often. I wondered if the company had been sold. I eventually found the spam filter section of the site and much to my chagrin, all my filters were turned off by default. This would explain the surge in spam I've been receiving lately. The spam filter tool used by the hosting company was different than the one they used before. It would have been nice if my web host had told me about this. In fairness, maybe they did tell me and the message went to my own e-mail spam filter. At any rate, I configured the site-wide spam filter and turned it on. We'll see if it makes any difference.

Next, I changed a bunch of old passwords to modern more secure versions. I should have done this long ago, but spam and hacking attempts haven't been a problem for me until recently. In the process of changing passwords, I inadvertently locked myself out of my e-mail account. I called tech support and was connected to a call center in India. Does everybody outsource their tech support these days? It certainly appears that way. The guy I was talking to had trouble understanding my problem and I had trouble understanding his English. Calling tech support is an exercise in frustration these days. Eventually, I figured out what I was doing wrong on my own and reconnected to my e-mail account. I thanked the guy for his help, even though he hadn't helped me at all.

I took a shower and was grateful that I didn't have to used the wet-dry vac to suck the water out from under the shower tiles today. The vacuum is noisy and I didn't want to wake Janet up. If it's not one kind of water problem in this house it's another. There is rain in the forecast for the rest of the week and I'm worried that the roof leaks will start again. There aren't any leaks currently, but I know that the roof hasn't had enough time to completely dry out after our last heavy rains. I guess we'll see what happens. The rain is supposed to start later tonight.

I'm not sure what is on the schedule for tomorrow. The next thing on my calendar is an appointment with the eye doctor on Friday. I hope the weather allows us to give Dawn her walks. Dogs definitely need a daily walk. So do people.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4690

The dryer is fixed. Now it's on to solving other problems. The repair took longer and was more expensive than I expected because the broken exhaust fan was permanently attached to the motor that turned the drum. This was frustrating. I ended up having to get a new motor, even though there was nothing wrong with the old one. After also replacing the roller bearings and dryer belt, I could have bought a new dryer for less than the cost of these repairs. It would have been an inferior bottom of the barrel dryer though. Oh, well. I like our dryer and now it works again.

Dawn is totally indifferent to having repairmen in the house. Our other dogs would have been barking nonstop, but Dawn just ignores these people. She also ignores the vacuum cleaner, which is definitely unusual with any dog. I vacuumed the bedroom today and Dawn just sat on the bed watching me. Some things do bother Dawn though. I could tell that she was upset that Janet was out of the house too long today. Hey girl, I'm still here.

I didn't take a long walk today. Dealing with the dryer repairs took too much time. I did get outside for long enough to get my 10,000 steps. That was enough. My feet hurt and I was unusually tired. I'll try to take a decent walk tomorrow, unless by some miracle the tree guy decides to show up and remove the tree from my roof. He's never called me back with a schedule yet. I wish it wasn't so difficult to get things done. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.

I got credentialed for the Falcon Heavy USSF-44 Mission. Now I've got to decide whether to go to this launch instead of the Artemis launch later in November. I guess I could splurge and go to both, but that's getting really expensive. I still don't know how much it is going to cost to remove the tree on the roof. I'll think about this tomorrow. I'm not sure I could find a hotel for the Falcon Heavy launch anyway.

I need to find time to go vote soon. I used to vote on election day, but early voting seems so much easier these days. Our polling place is right across the street from Home Depot. Maybe I need something from Home Depot as well. I always seem to need something from Home Depot.

Our Fall weather is still quite pleasant, but there is rain in the forecast again. Boo. Unless we get up really early, we might not even be able to take Dawn on her sunrise walk. If we get a lot of rain, I'll have to rethink my plans. I hate driving in the rain.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4678

We got a late start this morning. The sun was already up when we took our sunrise walk. There's a lot of Fall color in the trees now. It won't be long before I'll be raking leaves again. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but it was certainly nice today. I wish our Fall weather lasted a little longer. It's my favorite time of year.  

After our regular Saturday breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast I did my grocery shopping. I continue to be amazed by current prices. Many items are literally double what they cost several years ago. You wonder how long this can continue? I'll have to admit that I've never really understood the wage/price spiral. Prices go up and then wages go up to compensate, so you are always more or less in the same place. What is the point? I do understand that if something is genuinely rare or scarce, the price would realistically be higher, but we have an abundance of most things. Life would certainly be easier if everything had an intrinsic value that stayed the same.

After I completed my shopping, I came home and checked my messages before heading for the gym. Nothing from NASA or the Space Force. There is still no firm schedule for the Falcon Heavy launch. It doesn't really matter, since I can't afford to go to two launches in a single month anyway. There are never many people at the gym on Saturday. There were only three other people on the floor when I arrived. I like a huge, empty gym. I can't imagine going someplace that it crowded all the time. I still shot free throws on the basketball court and walked two miles on the indoor track, but I've added the vibration plate to my routine as well. I've convinced myself that this thing will improve bone density.

I had to go back to one of the stores I was at earlier this morning because I forgot something. This happens more than I'd like to admit. Luckily the store was on the way home from the gym, so the extra trip was no trouble. We got such a late start today that I didn't even attempt to do anything else when I returned from the gym. I took a nap and as always, Dawn immediately left the room and went to her dog bed in the kitchen. I wish I could ask this dog what she was thinking. This behavior still seems very strange to me.

I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. We could use the rain but it is inconvenient. We wouldn't be able to take Dawn on her Sunday outing and it will be more trouble for me to take a long walk as well. I can always go mall walking at Northpark, but I don't even like to drive in the rain. Such trivial problems I have. 

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4619

I got as message today that NASA was providing a wide variety of one-on-one interview opportunities with people connected with the Artemis program. This sounded interesting, so I went to their website link and looked for someone to interview. Every time I found someone interesting and selected them I received a message saying that another person had picked the same person at almost the same time and they were no longer available. I tried again and again and every single time someone else had grabbed my time slot first. After seven of eight tries I just gave up. 

It probably would have been easier to interview some obscure technical person, but I wanted to interview an astronaut. The astronauts available for interviews were by far the most popular. Most of the available time slots were snapped up in just a few minutes. The feeding frenzy for interviews was one more sign that this launch is going to be a three ring circus. I've heard that 700 journalists will be covering the launch. I guess it's an honor to be included in this group, but I still wonder if I made the right decision. I really hate crowds.

There was rain in the forecast for today, but true to form we never got any. Our sunrise walk was pleasant, but it got hot pretty quickly. By the time I finished breakfast the temperature was already too high for another walk in the park. Oh, well. I guess I was planning on going to the gym anyway. I got a late start because I wasted a lot of time trying to snag an interview on the NASA website. When that failed I paid some August bills. Actually it was a good thing that I got a late start at the gym. I didn't have to spend the entire afternoon looking for something to do.

I'm eating lunch again, which I haven't done in a long time. This means that I am probably gaining weight as well. After lunch I installed the new firmware in the star tracker and gave it a spin.  This update was major. So many things had changed that it was disorienting at first. I had a lot of trouble getting the camera to connect, but eventually I succeeded. Since the tracker worked fine once I managed to get the camera connected, I suspect that I may have installed one of the cables improperly. The cables are definitely a weak link on this thing. They are very finicky.

After I put the tracker away I looked at the NASA interview website again and discovered that a retired European astronaut was available. I hope he speaks English. This guy is German and I've totally forgotten the German I learned when I was working in Europe on the Siemens account. I never was very fluent but at least I made an effort. German is not an easy language to learn. I'm glad I was finally able to secure some sort of interview with an astronaut. It makes me feel a little more legitimate as a journalist.

I thought it was going to be too hot for Dawn's training class tonight, but it quickly became obvious that Dawn really wanted to go. Dawn loves that class. Janet said the weather was fine once the sun went down. The weather certainly didn't bother Dawn. She did great tonight and came home with a blue ribbon. She's got quite a collection of ribbons now. Dawn is full of surprises. I never expected her to be a star at class.

Looks like we may still get some rain later tonight. I'm not counting on anything though. Somehow the rain always seems to miss us.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4610

Well, the rain disappeared from the forecast overnight and now it shows no chance of rain for the next week. The yard is looking pretty dry right now. We still take our sunrise walks with Dawn, but they are only nice when there is a breeze. Maybe I got spoiled by last summer's cooler than normal temperatures, but I'm really getting tired of this.

There isn't a lot to write about lately. I don't like talking about politics or current events and I don't have many irons in the fire myself. Every day is so similar to the previous day that I could save a lot of time and just write one post for the entire summer. Maybe this monotony will eventually force me into doing something more substantial. Time will tell. For now I'm just treading water.

We didn't visit the rescue Dalmatians today. The new kennel doesn't have a space for us to play with the dogs and they are very busy. The dogs are well cared for, but it is very different from the previous kennel. Things may change in the future, but for now we just hope that they all get adopted soon. Janet and I are meeting someone who wants to look at one of the dogs later this week. Maybe someone will get lucky and find their forever home.

I went back to the gym after breakfast this morning. I still think it's strange that the same people are always there doing the same things day after day. They probably think it's strange that I'm doing the same things day after day as well. Who knows. Maybe it's Groundhog Day for all of us. 

I'm wishing now that I'd snapped up one of those Special Viewing Nights on the Otto Struve telescope. I'm so bored this summer that the long drive out to West Texas doesn't seem quite so bad anymore. There's still the Artemis-1 launch at the end of the month, but I have a strong feeling that this launch will be delayed or postponed again. The program is already years behind schedule. What's a few more months at this point. I just hope they decide what they are going to do before I get on the plane. There have been a lot of big bills this summer and I can't really afford a trip to Florida for nothing.

Janet cleans the house on Monday. Cleaning makes me uneasy because I feel like I'm probably the one who made the place dirty in the first place. We each have our chores around the house, but I'm probably a little behind on mine. I have a feeling that I should get out the vacuum cleaner tomorrow. Vacuuming the rugs is easy. The other things that need attention are a lot more difficult. I need to repair the trim around the windows. Paint is starting to peel away in places but to get a smooth finish I would need to sand all the trim down to the bare wood and start over. Since the trim moulding is a bit ornate, it is a lot of work. There are cracks in the sheetrock that need to be spackled and patched. Once I did that I would need to paint though. Painting is such a mess. The dryer hose needs to be cleaned but it's hard for me to get behind the dryer now and remove it. I could go on and on. Basically, I'm just tired of fixing things. We've lived in this house too long.

Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow. I wouldn't count on it though. These are the dog days of summer.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4420

We tried to enjoy the nice weather today, because it looks like we've got snow and ice to look forward to later in the week. The forecast looks dismal and I'm dreading the thought of freezing rain. Freezing rain means icy roads and power outages. Winter can't be over soon enough for me.

It's hard to believe that things will change this quickly when the temperature is over 70 degrees. I didn't even need a jacket on my walks today. Actually, I did wear a jacket on our sunrise walk with Dawn, but even then you could tell the day was going to be a good one. We changed our schedule a bit because Janet had plans this morning. I took my long walk after a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and ended up seeing both eagles again. I should have brought a camera since one of the eagles was fairly close. It was still a nice walk though. Foot pain wasn't too bad today and the weather was perfect.

Dawn got a rare afternoon Sunday outing and she had a good time. She still isn't comfortable riding in the car though. That's probably not going to change. We usually walk around the perimeter of the Sunday park and one leg of the journey always makes Dawn a little nervous. She does fine until we turn the first corner and then she balks and has to make sure that I am walking nearby. None of this makes any sense. As soon as we make the second turn she is fine again and Dawn and Janet begin pulling ahead of me. It's OK. I just can't keep up with the way my feet are acting. I usually see them making the final turn off in the distance and start heading back to the car as I slowly trudge along. I keep walking though and completed 20,000 steps again today.

We've never been to the ice cream place in the afternoon before. What a difference. Ice cream must be a lot more popular in the afternoon. The nice weather probably helped business as well. At any rate, this was the first time we had to wait in a long line to get to the drive through window. The line moved quickly though. An employee with a laptop walked down the line of cars and took people's orders so that when you arrived at the window, your order was ready. Dawn loves ice cream. I think we do these Sunday outings just to see how happy she gets.

When we got home I upgraded the firmware on the star tracker and gave it a try again. The tracker would still connect to the camera and take pictures, but the calibration was way off. The tracker couldn't even find the sun today. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Other Kickstarter backers seem to be having success with their trackers, but most of them are using Canon cameras. I don't think the calibration problems I was having today have anything to do with the camera though. When I use the compass on my phone, it finds North pretty accurately. When I use the calibration function on the Polaris app, I get a completely different compass reading. This is still a frustrating work in progress.

The house smelled great today. Janet fixed a pot roast for dinner in the slow cooker and the smell permeated the house for hours. Crock pot meals are easy and almost always delicious. Dawn enjoyed dinner almost as much as we did, because she loves carrots. The pot roast contained lots of carrots and we made sure that Dawn got some. 

We plan to visit Charlie and Oliver at the kennel tomorrow and then pick up a new cold weather sweater we ordered for Dawn on the way home. I hope the bad weather doesn't materialize. Ice storms are the worst. We'll see what happens. When storms approach I always wish we had a whole house generator. We do have a small generator, but it definitely won't heat the house. I guess it makes no sense to worry. I can't change the weather.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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