Day 4889 - Mother's Day

Today was mostly a dreary, very wet day. We got lucky and were able to walk Dawn this morning before the rain started. We were even able to give her a very short Sunday outing walk during a short break in the rain later in the day. For the most part, it rained all day though. As you know, I'm not a big fan of rainy days. So far the roof hasn't leaked, but the pumps on the roof have been running all day.

Very little can deter us from our regular schedule, so we had a big family breakfast after we took Dawn on her early walk and then I got ready to go mall walking. It was raining on my way to the mall, but that was a good thing. It washed all the dust and tree pollen off my car. I wouldn't think of mall walking as a Mother's Day event, but there were a surprising number of moms with kids at the mall this morning. There were also quite a few dads taking their kids to the mall alone, presumably to give mom the day off. Maybe I'm imagining things, but the families walking with their kids together all seemed happier than the dads minding the kids by themselves.

Nothing changed at the mall this week. No new stores opened and no existing stores closed. One or two window displays changed, but most of them were exactly the same as well. It seems curious to me that some stores change their window displays every single week, while others haven't changed since I started mall walking. There is nothing new in fashion anymore. Everything in the windows is something I've seen two, ten, or even twenty years ago. I could pick almost any moth eaten old item of clothing out of my closet and I'd be right in style. Maybe I'm being too harsh though. One thing has changed. Shoes. There are a lot of really ugly looking shoes in store windows these days.

When I was driving home there was a show on NPR radio about an explosion of fake scientific papers in the academic world. Up to 20% of scientific papers published these days appear to be fake. Apparently there is great pressure to publish in the academic world and jobs and promotions depend on your publishing history. The people who have nothing to say purchase fake papers. It makes you wonder how much bogus information is floating around out there.

We were planning to skip the Sunday outing walk today and just go for ice cream cones, but Dawn seemed eager to walk. We waited for a break in the rain and took her to a section of the park where there were sidewalks so we wouldn't get muddy. We got lucky with the weather because it didn't start raining again until we were finished walking and back in the car. Dawn seemed happy with her short walk and was even happier when we arrived at the ice cream store. Ice cream cones on Sunday is a nice little ritual that we all seem to like.

I was going to call the roofing company tomorrow morning to postpone next week's roof installation, but the last time I looked at the weather forecast everything has changed and it now looks like the weather will be good next week. I'll check again tomorrow morning and see how things look. I'm beginning to think that the weather forecasts I get on my phone are basically worthless. There are pretty good for telling you what is going to happen five minutes from now, but almost useless for telling you what will happen five days from now. Every time I look at one of these weather apps, the forecast seems to change.

It appears like Axiom is going to wait until the last minute to provide credentialing information for next Sunday's AX-2 launch. I still don't know if I'm going to go. This is frustrating, but almost expected by now. Nobody seems to care that I might have trouble making travel arrangements. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens. Maybe I'll go to next Sunday's launch. Maybe we'll get a new roof next week. At this point your guess is as good as mine.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4737

We woke up this morning under a tornado warning. Several tornados did touch down in the area, but luckily none were near us. We managed to get Dawn walked before the bad weather arrived. Somehow Dawn always seems to get her walks. I watched the storm arriving on the weather radar as I was eating breakfast. Typically bad storms pass to the North or South of us, but this one looked like it was going to pass directly overhead.

The storm didn't last long, but the rain was quite heavy. It wasn't long before the roof started leaking again. I can't seem to catch a break this year. Every time things are starting to dry out it rains again. It's been too wet to rake leaves or mow the grass for weeks. As soon as the leaks in the roof stop dripping, it rains again and the leaks start all over again. I know this is the rainy season, but this year has been over the top. The continual wet weather is wearing me out. I'm ready to move to the desert. Of course I'm kidding. I'm not ready for any type of big life change. I'm tired and those days are behind me.

The rain was over before noon. I paid some bills while I was waiting for the weather to improve and then I took my long walk. We got lucky here in Dallas. Even though high winds were predicted, I saw no downed trees in the park. Everything looked normal. It was actually a nice day for a walk. The temperature was in the low seventies and the fast moving storm had cleared away some of yesterday's humidity.

I saw both bald eagles today along with a gaggle of geese and all three of the Muscovy ducks. The White Pelicans were gone however. Where did they go? The pelicans always seem to do everything together. I'm sure they'll be back. It's not time to migrate North again. Maybe they just needed a break from all the gawkers watching the eagles.

My feet were bothering me today but I still made pretty good time. All the walking I'm doing is great for my heart but it is doing nothing for building muscle mass. It's a shame because I enjoy walking and don't really enjoy lifting weights at the gym. There's really no substitute for weight training for building muscle mass. I hate that muscle atrophy is a natural part of the aging process. I've been in reasonably good shape my entire life, but age is starting to catch up with me. I've got to work harder now and it's not easy with bad knees and shoulders.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon. I'll take it to the post office tomorrow. I always answer whenever she writes. We've been communicating this way for decades. We never call or visit. We're not a close family and I think we know our limits. 

Dawn was mad that Janet was out doing volunteer work today. My companionship wasn't good enough for her. When I was in the back of the house, she would go out to her dog bed in the kitchen. When I went out to the kitchen to fix myself some lunch, she went back to the bedroom. There are days when I think Dawn is warming up to me. Today wasn't one of them.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow. All this rain is really getting me down. Just a reminder: if you read the real blog at https://john-sealander.blogspot.com instead of the Facebook JPEG facsimile, you can click on the Dalmatian of the Day link and learn more about each dog. You can also click on the picture of the day and enlarge it quite a bit. There is also an index of all the old blog posts. It's a better experience. Oh, well. Just dreaming. If I could train you guys to read the real blog, I wouldn't have to be on Facebook at all.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4736

Today was uneventful. When I woke up this morning there was a new leak in the living room. The leak was small and this area has leaked before. Since the rain is over now I thought I had dodged a bullet. No such luck. Water is slow and relentless. Eventually I will find someeone to fix everything, but it won't be easy. I have no problem finding a good plumber. Finding a good HVAC technician is fairly easy too. Good electricians are a little harder to find, but the most ellusive of all are competent carpenters and roofers. I read an article recently about a nationwide carpenter shortage. I believe it is true. Most roofers can't or don't want to deal with damage to the structure underneath the roof. Many don't even want to deal with a flat roof. It's frustrating. I still want to find a group of people like the oncs I see on that "This Old House" show on PBS. I know they're out there but I haven't found them yet.

Today was mostly just walking. We had a nice early morning walk with Dawn and then I took another walk after I ate breakfast and made the bed. The days keep getting shorter. We had to wear our warning lights again this morning. Other dogs in the neighborhood wear lighted LED collars too. I'm learning to recognize the dogs from the colored lights I see in the distance. So far, Dawn is the only dog that wears a green collar.

I saw one of the bald eagles again on my longer walk this morning. I should start bring a camera with me, but I don't really have that much interest. I already took some good pictures of these eagles last year. I definitely don't have the dedication of the photographers who seemingly sit out and wait for them all day. The eagles are just birds. I've taken hundreds of pictures of birds in the park over the years. Pelicans are the most interesting, but I've grown tired of them as well. These day I'd rather take pictures of rockets.

I'm still having problems with my web hosting account. These guys have the world's worst customer service. I'll spend twenty minutes talking with someone I can barely understand and end up accomplishing nothing. I'd move my websites somewhere else, but it is just too much trouble. I really don't even know why I maintain the company website anymore. I'm retired and all it does is serve as a magnet for people trying to sell me something.

I miss seeing the rescue Dalmatians on Mondays. It was always a nice way to spend the afternoon. The temporary kennel the dogs are in now is too far away and I don't think we'd be welcome anyway. We were just lucky with the last kennel. We knew everybody and they had a nice big empty room where we could play with the dogs. In most kennels if there is a big room it is either filled with dogs or used for training.

I don't have any plans for tomorrow. Actually, I don't have any plans for the rest of the year. When my bank account improves I'll start planning another trip to Kennedy Space Center. For now I'm just hoping that the house doesn't fall down around me.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4636

I feel somewhat vindicated now. Looks like I made the right decision to return home on Wednesday. Artemis scrubbed again this morning with 2 hours and 28 minutes remaining on the countdown clock. They didn't even get as close to launching the rocket as they did on Monday. This time the problem was a hydrogen leak that could not be controlled. They'll have to roll Artemis back to the VAB for repairs and another launch attempt probably won't occur until October. Something just didn't feel right when I made the decision to return home. When you repeat a procedure that failed and expect different results, you usually aren't successful.

I repeat my routine every Saturday, but usually I succeed. Grocery shopping isn't rocket science. We took Dawn on a nice sunrise walk and then had our weekend breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. I had a longer grocery list this morning, but found everything easily. Prices are still sky high, but I don't think anything was more expensive than last week. Jeez. I could have done all this yesterday when I was at the store. I wonder why I didn't.

When I returned home from grocery shopping, I turned on NASA TV and learned that this morning's launch attempt had been scrubbed. This isn't a good look for the Artemis program. NASA is trying to put a positive spin on things by reminding people how many failed launches there were during the Apollo and Space Shuttle era. I think they are missing the point. People aren't accustomed to failures anymore. Space X launches rockets like clockwork and not only do they not fail, they can be used over and over again. Artemis is 1970's technology, brought back to life. For some reason, NASA is simply unwilling to admit that the entire program is obsolete.

Even though it was nice outside when we took our sunrise walk, the temperature climbed quickly. I wisely decided to go to the gym again. There was nothing new about my exercise routine, but there was a new basketball. I'd never seen a black and green basketball before, so I had to try it. It bounced higher and seemed to go in the basket a little easier. Maybe I was just imagining things though.

There still seems to be a lot of rain in the area, but we didn't get any at our house. I don't think we need any more. I'm still waiting for the grass to dry out so I can mow. It's going to be a few more days. The ground seems saturated now. Strange that I was writing about a drought just a few weeks ago and now everything is soggy and wet. Texas weather again. You can never take Texas weather for granted.

I'll probably go walking at the mall again tomorrow morning. This has turned out to be an enjoyable way to get my steps. Dawn will get her Sunday outing as well. We'll definitely get ice cream, but if the weather stays cool we might try a Sunday walk as well. It's too early to decide whether I'll return to Florida for the next Artemis launch attempt. I'm sure I'll go back sometime. I'm kind of drawn to the space center like a moth to a flame. 

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4543

We had another big thunderstorm last night. The thunder was so loud that it scared Dawn, who typically ignores these things. I woke up when Dawn kept hopping off the bed to go to her "safe" place in the corner of the room and then hopping back on the bed again a few minutes later. It took about fifteen minutes before she decided that it was safe enough to go back to sleep again. I kept getting text messages on my phone from Oncor saying that there was a power outage in our area, but we never lost power. The roof didn't leak either. Luckily, storms with straight line winds move quickly and everything was calm by morning. I'm tired of all this rain, but at least the lawn looks good. Late Spring is usually pretty wet here. By July, I'll be wishing these storms were back again.

It was way too wet to take a sunrise walk with Dawn this morning. She didn't even want to go out in the back yard and pee. We figured that we could walk her later in the day. I ate my breakfast and ran the pumps on the roof. Amazingly, they're still working. Now that Summer is approaching and most of last Fall's leaves are gone, I'm just going to let the residual standing water on the roof evaporate. There's no reason to tempt fate by climbing up there too often.

The accessory I ordered for the star tracker came in today's mail. This will make it easier to attach the camera to the tracker in both landscape and portrait orientations. I've got everything I need now. All that's missing are some dark skies and the will to go outside at night and get bitten by mosquitos and chiggers. I'll keep practicing with the tracker so I can reliably set it up and use it in the dark. One of these days it will go back to McDonald Observatory with me.

I took my long walk early today while the air was still cool from last night's storm. As long as it's not hot and muggy, I still prefer walking in the park to working out at the gym. I was surprised when after a few miles my route was blocked by a construction crew. They were putting in a new bridge over one of the creeks that feeds the lake. It looked like they built the entire bridge offsite and were just lifting it in place with a giant crane. I've been watching crews build the concrete piers for this bridge for weeks. I still didn't expect that this is the way they would finish things though. Since I couldn't walk any further, I turned around and walked the other way. I ended up getting the same amount of steps and saw a part of the lake I haven't visited in months.

Dawn was almost back to normal today, but she's still a little more nervous than usual. She freaked out for a few minutes when she heard the mailman at the front door this morning. Dawn doesn't like surprises. Anything out of the ordinary can startle or scare her. I'm beginning to think that she has PTSD. She seems to behave very similarly to the way many people do with PTSD. Clearly something traumatic happened in her past and she'll probably never forget it.

I saw a rat in the atrium today. We haven't seen rats in the yard for almost five years. There was a guy in the neighborhood who used to take care of a lot of feral cats. I think they kept the rat population down. He found homes for the cats before he moved and I haven't seen cats in the neighborhood for quite a while. Owls used to eat mice and rats in the meadow behind our house as well. I don't even hear the owls anymore. I wonder where they went? 

I'm pretty sure the dishwasher is leaking. Do we need a new dishwasher, or is there just a loose water line connection somewhere?  I'll have to call the appliance repairman to find out what is going on. He'll probably monkey around for half a day and then tell me that I need to call a plumber. Nothing is easy these days.

At least the week is almost over. I've taken this week's trash out to the curb and the weather looks like it's going to be nice tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be uneventful. I'm kind of like Dawn in may ways. I'm good as long as there are no surprises.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3991

The new dehumidifier arrived today. Amazon Prime is still kind of amazing to me. Things really arrive fast. This new machine looks and feels basically just like the old one. It's the same size. There's an air intake vent, an exhaust vent, and a bucket that fills with water that the compressor extracts from the air. The controls on the top let you control the fan speed and set a target humidity level you'd like to reach. For some reason the instructions said to leave the machine in an upright position for two hours before turning it on. I'd never turn a dehumidifier on its side anyway, but I followed the instructions. The new dehumidifier was pretty noisy when I finally turned it on, but so was the old one. You get used to the noise. Hopefully this new dehumidifier will remove a lot more water from the house than the old machine. I'm hoping to get the old dehumidifier replaced under the warranty program as well. The house is big enough that two dehumidifiers would be useful.

Yesterday was cold. Today was much warmer. Texas weather makes no sense to me. It all seems so random. I always go out in the backyard after I wake up to see what type of jacket I need on our walk. There are days in November when I need two warm coats. There are other days when I can wear a t-shirt. Occasionally, our air conditioner still comes on in November. Some of the Spring flowers seem to re-bloom in the Fall when everything else is dying. That's a little confusing too. When we got the weather and the clothing sorted out, we had a nice walk. Dawn still has lots of energy and seems to feel a lot better than she did in the weeks before her seizure.

I didn't accomplish much today. I did get the new dehumidifier running, but that was about it. I tried to call my HVAC guy to see if he could do the diagnostic report that the manufacturer wanted before they would replace my old dehumidifier. No luck there. The place was closed for the holidays. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about how to set up the menus on my new camera. This camera offer a a lot of flexibility, but that means there are a lot of buttons and menu items to remember. I should probably watch some YouTube videos on my old cameras as well. I still haven't completely mastered any of them.

I'm wondering when I'll hear whether I've been accepted to attend that Artemis-1 static fire test at Stennis Space Center in late December. If I'm going to go I need to start planning. It seems kind of weird to want to go all the way to Mississippi to watch four rocket engines fire for eight minutes when the rocket isn't even going anywhere. This test is important though. The next stop for the rocket after the static fire is the moon. Hopefully Covid outbreaks won't continue to get worse. I think Southwest Airlines is going to start filling center seats again in December.

We had Thanksgiving dinner all over again tonight. Probably everybody else did too. There are always so many leftovers after a big meal like this. The meal was just as good the second time. I imagine there is enough left for a third time as well. I do love a really good smoked ham. I see lots of ham and cheese sandwiches in my future.

It looks like it is going to rain tomorrow. I'm hoping that we can get Dawn walked and I can take care of the grocery shopping before the rain begins. I'm never fond of rain. When it rains the roof may leak. A sudden storm may knock over one of the Oak trees in the back yard. Roads become slippery when it rains and Dallas drivers never slow down. Dawn refuses to go outside and pee when it rains as well. If it absolutely has to rain, I prefer that it happens at night when I can sleep through the whole thing. 

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3413

My old storage warehouse is under new management. When Janet's unit came up for renewal recently, they lowered her rate to encourage her to stay. This was unheard of under the old management. They kept raising my rate year after year until it was more than double what I initially paid. It's too bad this management change didn't happen a few months earlier. I didn't really want to move. If these guys had offered to lower my rent by even a modest amount, they could have saved me a whole lot of trouble. Oh, well. Too late now.

It's counterintuitive, but I've learned the hard way that things tend to last a lot longer if you use them. When you use something you tend to oil it, wash it, paint it, or do whatever is necessary to keep it functional. I used to think that storing things away would keep them in perfect condition indefinitely, but this has not been the case. Today I discovered that some mid-century furniture I'd been keeping in Janet's unit had become badly stained. I thought this stuff would do well at auction, but now it looks like it will need to go to a thrift store. Jeez. I've ruined so many things by storing them away for decades and forgetting about them. Metal gets rusty. Rubber gets brittle and cracks. Fabric gets moth holes. Heat destroys electronic components. Wood warps. These things happen very gradually and you don't notice if you aren't looking. If someone had told me all this years ago I probably wouldn't have listened. It still seems like storage should be a form of suspended animation. Why can't I put something away and then start using it again thirty years later? I guess the world doesn't work that way.

While I was picking up the mid-century furniture today we found some brand new Kuranda dog beds that were still in the shipping carton. We used to buy these beds by the dozen for the Dalmatians in the rescue program. I forgot that we even had some leftover beds. We don't need them anymore because our current kennel for the rescue dogs already provides very nice beds. The Kuranda beds didn't go to waste. We gave them to a local rescue group we like. I didn't open the box, but I doubt that storage hurt these things. Kuranda beds are virtually indestructible.

I wish I was indestructible. It is a bit disconcerting that a brisk three mile walk leaves me winded. Three miles used to be nothing. I see people every day who run this distance and probably much longer. Dot and Dash had been sick for so long that I guess I didn't realize that our walks were gradually becoming slower and slower. I'm going to continue walking. Activity is good. Walking in the park certainly beats mowing the grass. Maybe if I keep at this, I can pick up the pace a bit.

The weather forecast still looks dismal. It's supposed to start raining at 4 AM this morning and continue for the rest of the week. There's always a chance that the forecast is wrong. Weather forecasts are often wrong in Texas. Also, it could be raining in one part of the city and dry where we live. There's a pretty good chance that we'll get some rain though. We'll see what happens. The pumps and the buckets are ready.

I have no plans for tomorrow. I guess that's not surprising. I had no plans for today either.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3342

Apparently, there are younger people who belong to my gym after all. When I arrived this morning, there were about fifty people I'd never seen before participating in some kind of fitness event. It looked like some sort of an indoor triathlon. I couldn't shoot baskets because the court was filled with stationary bicycles. They were actually real bicycles with their rear wheels raised off the ground. It looked like participants started in the gym's pool, then went to the bicycles, and then finished on the running track. I don't know how you could determine a winner because the bicycles definitely weren't going anywhere. Maybe it wasn't a race. There was a guy wearing a wireless microphone delivering some sort of motivational message as the crowd peddled away on the bicycles. Maybe this was a class. It all seemed pretty strange to me. I'll have to check and see if this is going to be a regular thing now. If it is, I might need to change the day I exercise.

Somehow, Dash slipped off his puppy training pad last night and I woke up to a larger than expected mess. I thought I had this incontinence down to a science, but life is full of surprises. So much for sleeping in this morning. I hosed off the soiled bedding, started a load of wash and got ready for our morning walk. Dash and I have been walking on our own this week, but this morning he wouldn't leave the house without Janet leading the way. We waited for her to get dressed and get the walk started. Then, just like that, everything was back to normal again. I often wonder what Dash is thinking. He seems to have a plan, but he rarely shares it with me. Every day is full of surprises.

It must have rained last night, since the ground was wet and muddy. Dash doesn't seem to mind the damp weather, but it's hard on his protective boots. You'd think that since the outer layer is rubber, the inner layers would stay dry. Nope. The special fitted bandage and cotton sock he wears under the rubber outer boot are always soaking wet on damp days. The lightweight outer boots we are using now tear easily too. The system we have devised is far from perfect, but at least his paws aren't getting bloody anymore. Maybe this is as good as it's going to get. Heavier, more durable boots make it difficult for Dash to walk and anything lighter would provide no protection at all.

I should have done some cleaning this afternoon, but I was too tired. After I got home from the gym, I took a shower and then I took a nap. When Dash is restless, a nap is always the best way to calm him down. Dash gets tired easily, but he doesn't like to be alone. Janet often watches Netflix movies with him, while I prefer to just curl up and do nothing. My theory is that lots of naps will eventually add up to a good night's sleep.

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of February already. I wish it were the middle of April. The days are getting longer now, but it's still wet and cold. There's still a lot of Winter ahead of us. The good news is that I've seen no signs of a roof leak after several heavy rains. There are no signs that my allergies are going away either. I'm still taking the antihistamines. The only place I can breathe freely is in the car. I've always wondered why the cabin air filter was so expensive to replace. Now I know. This filter is really good. When I drive somewhere, I'm in a hermetically sealed little capsule.

I wonder why Monday still feels like a work day? I haven't done any real work in months, but I still dread Monday mornings.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day