Day 3922

The sky was exceptionally hazy today. When the sun rose on our morning walk, it was just a dull orange ball in the Eastern sky. Oddly, the air quality was good. The smoke from the Western wildfires must have been high in the atmosphere. We have seen these smokey skies frequently lately. They need to add a new category to my weather app. Clear, partly cloudy, and overcast isn't descriptive enough anymore.

I found everything on my shopping list today, although I has to go to two different stores to find peaches. There were still several things Janet couldn't find on her list. I wonder how long these disruptions in the supply chain are going to last? It's been a long time and quite a few very ordinary things are still hard to find.

We got a late start on our walk this morning and the park was already crowded. The people who go to the park in the morning are completely different from the ones who go in the afternoon. The morning people seem very energetic and productive. They are all cycling, jogging, or walking their dogs. If someone has a camera they are usually taking pictures of wildlife.

Afternoon people are different. Most of them are sitting in hammocks looking at their phones. The cameras are used for taking selfies. There are often large family picnics and the occasional energetic folks are usually riding skateboards. I guess I identify more with the morning people. It's easy for me to imagine that they are the ones designing the phones and selling the hammocks that the afternoon people use.

Dawn was reluctant to come out of the bedroom today and eat her dinner because Janet was gone. I knew she was hungry, but she just wouldn't move. I even went out in the back yard for a while to see if she would come out to her bowl when I wasn't around. Nope. As soon as Janet returned home, Dawn went straight to her bowl and immediately ate all her dinner. This is going to be a problem if Janet ever decides to travel.

Dawn will be just fine if I decide to travel. I just can't decide if I'm ready to go anywhere. I still haven't heard if I am cleared to attend the Delta IV Heavy launch in Florida next week. Would I go if I get the OK? I'm not sure. I still don't feel comfortable sitting on an airliner for three hours with a bunch of strangers. There is so much unrest in the world that I would worry about getting caught up in a demonstration in the wee hours of the morning while returning to my hotel from a launch. Maybe I'm overreacting, but this is the world I'm shown on the news every single day.

I was just getting used to living without seasonal allergies when the Fall allergies arrived. Janet and I are both having problems. It seems like the Spring allergy seasons extends all the way into the Fall allergy season these days. I had a month or so with no problems at all, but unfortunately those were the days when it was over 100 degrees.

I'm thinking about joining a Zoom meeting tomorrow with some of my NASA friends. I'm not all that eager to talk with anyone, but I'm curious how the software works and whether I've actually learned how to use it. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. The meeting is around dinner time. That could be a factor. I hate to miss a meal.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3916

Busy day. Any day with over 24,000 steps is a busy day in my book. I finally got caught up on a number of chores I've been trying to avoid. I started by removing the standing water from the roof. A lot of the water had already evaporated because it hasn't rained for several days, but there was still plenty of water that needed to be removed. If I leave the water too long, algae starts to grow. It's a mess.

While I was up on the roof, I noticed that some scrub bushes on the Western side of the carport had been cut. I didn't do this, although I'd been meaning to remove the bushes for months. I asked Janet and she didn't remove the bushes either. It must have been my neighbor. Weird. Why would anyone come on my property and remove these bushes? Sure they were ugly, but they weren't hurting anything. I wonder when this happened? It could have been months ago. I never go on that side of the house.

While I was waiting for the electric mower to get charged, I removed some vines that were taking over a Hackberry tree in the front yard. These troublesome vines seem to come back every year and if I don't remove them, they will kill the tree. My ongoing battle with nature is never ending. Fire ants and weeds keep trying to overtake the front yard. Dead limbs from the large Oak trees periodically fall in the back yard. Water is always trying to penetrate the roof. I get tired of fighting these battles, but what is the alternative? Living in a downtown high-rise certainly isn't the answer. I'll take weeds and ants over noisy neighbors and a homeowners association any day.

After I finished mowing the grass, the yard looked a lot better. Around this time of year I start thinking that I might not have to mow any more, but I'm usually wrong. If we have a mild Winter, I often have to mow in December. We live so near the park that all kinds of seeds blow into the yard and weeds of all kinds proliferate. Sometimes I try to pretend that the weeds are grass. I mowed a little patch of them in the back yard today and they don't look half bad.

We had a nice walk this morning. Maybe the cooler weather really is here for good. The leaves haven't started to turn yet, but it is definitely starting to feel like Fall. The sky looked a little odd today. It was a clear day, but the normal blue color wasn't there. I wonder if some of the smoke from the West Coast fires has reached as far as Texas? From the pictures you see, it seems like the prevailing winds are blowing most of the smoke out to sea. If some of the ash reaches a high enough altitude though, it could be carried eastward by the jet stream.

I've spent a lot of time in some of the areas where they are having wildfires in Oregon and Northern California. It's very sad to see these areas burn. The wildfires appear every year. I always keep wondering why they don't remove the underbrush and dead trees that provide kindling for these fires? Surely this would be less expensive than repairing the damage caused by the fires. There used to be a lot of logging in this part of the country but there weren't nearly as many fires. Could it be that the loggers weren't as bad as people thought? They certainly planted tons of new trees to replace the one they cut.

I'm glad I had an opportunity to see the country before everything started falling apart. The United States was such a beautiful place when I was growing up. I miss those days.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3247

I closed out my account at the old storage warehouse and said goodbye to the place. I never would have made the deadline without the movers help. I don't know why I thought I could make the move on my own. I didn't even come close. The deed is done though. I hope I won't need to move anything else for a long, long time.

I also hope this cold wave we've been having is over soon. It makes life difficult. It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning. Dash still needs to go out at night, but he doesn't like the cold. After I let him out to pee last night, he started shivering violently. We went back to bed, but he continued shivering even after I wrapped him in a blanket. It was almost an hour before he was calm again. Tomorrow Dash has another big exam at the cancer center. Hopefully they can tell us what these night tremors are all about. The shivering is almost a nightly occurrence now and it seems to be getting worse.

I'm amazed that Dash still enjoys walking. He does OK if he keeps moving forward, but he stumbles a lot at home and is having trouble getting up on the bed. I wish I could convince Dash to sleep on the floor, but he is very stubborn. It's sad seeing him going downhill like this. He definitely doesn't want to give up, but with each passing day he seems a little slower and weaker.

I got my first payment from an auction house today. This was reassuring. Maybe this whole process is going to work after all. You have to be patient when you are consigning things. I started this journey last June and the final auction won't take place until next June.

I watched another episode of Mars on the National Geographic Channel this afternoon. I wonder who's idea it was to combine a science fiction story with a lot of present day interviews with people like Neil deGrasse Tyson and NASA astronauts? I find the back and forth structure distracting and wish I could watch the story about the 2033 Mars landing all by itself. I've never liked multi-tasking, even if it's just watching a TV show. A simple little adventure is all I want at this point.

The sky was clear today, but there is still rain in the forecast. It's strange that Texas gets all the rain these days and California is in the middle of a multi-year drought. The wildfires in California keep getting worse and worse. The last time I spent time in Northern California I never would have dreamed that one day entire towns like Paradise would end up burning to the ground. I used to live on the West Coast and always thought that Texas was the place with terrible weather. I know I complain a lot, but with every passing year Texas is looking better and better.

The only thing I've got to complain about today is a paper cut on my left index finger. It's hard to type. Otherwise, things are looking good. Dash did well today. My back is feeling better. The roof is drying out. I was even able to get back to sleep after taking Dash outside last night. A few more days like this would be welcome.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day