Day 4874

Life is back to normal. Dawn seems happy that I am walking her again. Only a dog could appreciate a regular routine more than me. After our early walk with Dawn, we had a big weekend breakfast and then I did my Saturday grocery shopping. I only went to one store today and managed to find everything I needed. I should do this more often. Shopping is a lot easier when you don't have to visit multiple stores. I probably won't be able to do this again next week because I didn't need shop towels, laundry detergent, orange juice or my favorite beer today. Sam's Club still has the best prices on bulk items and Central Market is the only place that sells fresh squeezed, cold press juices. Today I only went to Tom Thumb.

It didn't take long to unpack my bags and put everything away. It pays to travel light. I did all my laundry from the trip and put that away as well. Now I'm ready to go again. The only thing preventing me from taking another trip to Kennedy Space Center is the expense. I'm getting ahead of myself though. I haven't been approved yet for any future launches and I'm too tired to go anywhere anyway. I sleep better and eat a lot healthier when I'm at home. Even though I got to bed late last night, I slept better than I have all week.

The weather was nice today. It was chilly when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk, but it warmed up to the mid 60's later in the day. This is perfect walking weather. I don't need a heavy coat and I don't get hot and sweaty either. The park looks great this Spring. With all the rain we've had lately, there is an abundance of wildflowers and the native prairie grasses in the meadows are lush and green. I need to enjoy this while I can. By July or August all these areas will look parched and dry.

The baby owls must still be in their nest because all the bird photographers were back this morning. The park department has posted signs that say "do not disturb, sensitive nesting area," but nobody reads signs anymore. Photographers still surround the tree with the nest. I wish people would leave the animals alone. They are constantly feeding the ducks bread, which is very bad for them. Today I saw a little kid try to pick up a turtle. Luckily his mother told him to stop. It was a snapping turtle.

I made good time on my long walk today. It aways helps when the weather is nice. It's probably time to retire my current pair of Hoka shoes. They don't provide enough support anymore and are slowly starting to disintegrate. A good pair of hiking boots will last a lifetime. A pair of running shoes is lucky to last a year. I've already got a replacement pair of Hokas, but I'm trying to get as much use out of the old pair as possible.

It looks like the weather will be nice again tomorrow, so Dawn will get her Sunday outing. We've had a lot of rain, so hopefully the park we go to on Sunday won't be muddy. I'll go mall walking again tomorrow as well. The park is great, but it's still nice to have a change of pace every once in a while. The Falcon Heavy launch I went down to Florida to see has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening. I'll watch that on the Space X live feed. The weather down there is still iffy, so we'll see if the launch gets scrubbed again.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4492

We've been under severe storm warnings for most of the day, but once again nothing materialized. When the front passed through our part of town, we hardly even got any rain. For some unknown reason these bad storms usually pass either to the north or the south of us. We seem to be in an odd sweet spot right in the middle. There definitely was some bad weather in the area with multiple reports of tornados on the ground. I hope we can keep avoiding these things. We've been lucky for a long time.

I made rental car reservations for my trip to the observatory. It's a little early, but with rental car shortages everywhere it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm still a little apprehensive about this trip. I don't have the stamina I once had. I'm sure everything will be fine though. I'm definitely not the only old guy out there.

I completed my full six mile route today. Once again, I wasn't terribly fast, but I made it. I got rained on a bit, but luckily I was very near a shelter. This shower only lasted five minutes, so I was quickly on my way again. I've mentioned several times that there weren't any wildflowers this year. I was wrong. The same flowers are blooming that bloom every Spring. They're just later this year. The frequent rain we've been having lately has caused everything to turn green in a hurry. It's too bad we don't get a little rain every month. We seem to get our yearly rainfall all at once. By July the park will be dry and brown again.

I got the star tracker out again this afternoon. There have been several software and firmware updates since I last used this thing and I didn't want to get too far behind. I made the firmware updates successfully, although I never like to update firmware. There are too many tales of people bricking their cameras or computers by inadvertently doing something wrong. My main worry is a power outage during an update. I still haven't mastered the Polaris tracker, but I definitely don't want to brick it before I get a few decent pictures.

I feel sorry for the star tracker employees. I think they live in one of the cities that the Chinese have locked down. I certainly haven't heard much from them lately. I'm really glad they managed to get my tracker in the mail before everything started heading south. Deliveries are months behind schedule now and many people in certain countries still haven't received their orders. Dealing with Chinese companies directly is definitely different. There is a custom camera cage I'd like to order from another Chinese company, but I can't figure out how to use their website. I've seen a lot of websites, but this is definitely something new. Maybe I should ask the star tracker guys how it works.

I wish I had more energy. When Janet was ready to take Dawn on her afternoon walk, I had just returned from my six mile walk and was too tired to come along. If I had joined them, I would have gotten 20,000 steps again. Oh, well. I probably needed a nap more than 20,000 steps. Hopefully, our bad weather is over now. I'm really tired of rain.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4471

It's Winter again. After a few seventy degree days I thought I could finally put my Winter coats away, but apparently not. I was surprised at how cold it was this morning. Wasn't I wearing shorts yesterday? Oh, well. It's bound to get warmer sometime soon.

The cold weather didn't seem to bother Dawn. She was eager to walk again this morning and seems happy that the whole family is back together again. Dogs have simple expectations. I think that all Dawn wants is the confidence that her life won't be disrupted again. 

It was a slow day for me. I paid some bills and wrote a letter to my sister. I never got around to mailing the letter, but I can do that tomorrow. I was finally ready to order the Hoka boots I've been thinking about, but discovered that they were out of stock again. Maybe they've always been out of stock. The website I was ordering from didn't let me know that the boots were not available until I placed the item in my cart and was ready to check out. Seems like they could have let me know when I first started looking.

I think the Axiom-1 launch that I applied to attend has gotten postponed. I haven't heard anything official yet, but I think the schedule has been pushed back at least a week. That's fine by me. I'm not really ready to go anywhere yet. I think the only reason I applied to cover this launch was because I thought it would be easier than usual to get approved. We'll see. I'm feeling ambiguous about everything lately.

I've cut a mile off my daily walk in hopes of preserving my feet. So far it hasn't made much difference. My feet bothered me quite a bit today. Actually the whole walk bothered me. It was way too cold for late March and there was a stiff wind. I make myself keep walking because otherwise I would probably do nothing. I'm getting plenty of rest already although I'm still not sleeping well. I don't think I'm going to sleep well until my nasal congestion is completely gone.

I do feel better today. That's a good sign. I'm not blowing my nose continually like I was on previous days, although  I still have to sleep on my back because of sinus drainage. I don't have Covid or even a bad cold. I've had these exact same seasonal allergy symptoms every Spring for as long as I can remember. Every year they seem to start a little earlier and last a little longer. It's irritating and it's easy to start looking for another explanation, but it's just pollen.

This doesn't look like a good year for wildflowers. The early bloomers like Wild Iris and Grape Hyacinth are looking puny this Spring. There are fields where I typically see thousands of blooms and this year there are only a few scattered flowers. There are lots of other flowers that I haven't seen at all. Several of the resident geese have disappeared as well. I usually see ten on my daily walks and lately I can only find seven. There is an extra Muscovy Duck though. I saw three yesterday. I wonder where the extra one came from. It kind of looked like the smaller duck that flew into our yard last month. I wonder about ducks a lot. I guess it's better than wondering why there are so many grey cars lately. Grey has suddenly become a very popular color.

I'm being bombarded with spam lately. Every single day I receive an avalanche of spam and Phishing attempts on every device I own. I never answer the calls that say "suspected spam" on my caller ID. I don't open suspicious e-mail messages that say my accounts have been compromised. I routinely block all the unfamiliar calls and texts I get on my iPhone. The attempts keep coming though. Janet and everyone I know are dealing with the same thing. It doesn't give you a lot of faith in humanity. 

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4144

It didn't rain as much as expected, but it was still a gray, dismal day. I didn't even want to get out of bed this morning, but I followed my usual routine anyway. After breakfast, I confirmed my reservation at the Astronomer's Lodge and canceled my reservation at Prude Ranch. I'm glad I already reserved a rental car for the trip because I keep reading stories that rental cars are in very short supply now. Everything seems to be in short supply these days. Manufacturers can't get enough computer chips to make their products. I finally got my chips though and the laptop still seems to be working after my memory upgrade yesterday. Knock on wood. I'm hearing that there will be a gas shortage this summer because there aren't enough drivers qualified to drive the tankers that refill the gas stations. Hopefully this won't be a problem when I visit West Texas. It's hard to tell if the problems I keep hearing about are real or imagined because the media loves a crisis. So far, my life still seems pretty normal.

I ordered a used lens today that will be useful at the astrophotography workshop. I rarely buy used photo equipment because there is always something wrong with it. Maybe I'll get burned again, but I hope not. I just didn't want to spend a lot of money on a lens I probably won't use after the workshop is over. I mostly do pet photography these days and I always use fast, quick focusing automatic lenses. Simple, manual lenses are preferred for astrophotography though. 

There were very few people out in the park when I took my long walk. I guess everybody else was afraid of getting wet. I trusted the weather radar on my phone and only got hit with a few brief sprinkles. It was actually a nice, cool day for a walk. I actually prefer overcast days. Shadows are seldom a photographer's friend and photos tend to come out better when clouds soften the light.

The two large Muscovy ducks were reunited today. I'll probably never know what happened yesterday. I saw the mean little female duck that chased all the other ducks off the island for the first time in several months. Watching all the duck activity gives me something to do. Squirrels just aren't that interesting.

The wildflowers are in full bloom now. Somehow, the big freeze this winter didn't seem to hurt them at all.  I really need to spend an afternoon photographing the flowers while they are all still here. The flowers are definitely pretty, but it is hard for me to get excited because I have photographed most of them hundreds of times before. Maybe this is why I'm interested in astrophotography now. It is still completely new to me.

It looks like Dalmatian Rescue is picking up a Dalmatian from a local pound. Maybe Charlie and Cooper will have company soon. The animal control description of the dog called it a Dalmatian Mix, but it sure looked like a pure bred to me. This handsome boy is very young, so he will probably find a home soon. The young ones always seem to get adopted quicker. I'll look forward to seeing this new guy when he arrives at the kennel. A new Dalmatian always makes our Monday a little brighter.

The week's trash has been taken to the curb and I'm trying to decide who to write tomorrow. I owe my sister a letter and I'm still trying to figure out what is going on with NASA press accreditations in Florida. My sister will write me back. NASA probably won't.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4126

We took Dawn in the car to another park today. She seems to like these outings. Dawn is still nervous about riding in the car, but now that she knows where we are going, there is visible excitement as well. It was a perfect day for a walk. The temperature was in the low 70's with a clear blue sky and little to no allergies. For some reason Dawn walks faster and eats less grass when we walk her at the alternate park. At any rate, everyone had a good time and we celebrated by having an ice cream cone on the way home. We're not expert dog trainers, but this is our way of introducing Dawn to new experiences. It seems to be working.

I should have mowed the grass today, but maybe it can wait one more week. I still feel compelled to take my daily long walk and this typically doesn't leave me with enough energy to do yard work as well. I'm probably just making excuses. I'll do almost anything to avoid yard work. Usually in the Spring I'm up on the roof every other day, but this year it's been over a month since I've climbed up to inspect things. At some point I'll need to remove the remaining leaves and make sure there will be no leaks over the Summer, but I'm basically done with the roof for a while. My knees are bad, my shoulder is unstable, and I'm getting too old for this kind of foolishness.

The irises in the park are finally blooming. Most of the flowers are late this year, but the big freeze didn't seem to hurt anything. Actually it seems like it is going to be a very good year for wildflowers. The only things the big freeze decimated appear to be Azaleas, Rhododendrons and our Asian Jasmine ground cover. I'm still hoping that the ground cover returns to life, but things don't look good at the moment.

I had a good long walk this afternoon. Counting our earlier short walk with Dawn, I managed to complete over six miles today. I didn't set any records, but my feet didn't give me a lot of problems either. I've found that the best way to alleviate foot pain is to avoid uneven surfaces and never walk on my toes or the balls of my feet. This slow, flat footed walking style probably makes me appear even older than I am, but on a good day it appears to work.

After my walk I resumed my quest to transform my laptop into an astrophotography processing machine. Every time I come up with a plan, there is a snag that renders the plan worthless. Hardware limitations on the 2011 machine make it impossible to run the latest operating systems. I am currently running a 32 bit operating system and almost all modern software is 64 bit. I may be able to run some 64 bit software by installing the last operating system supported by my laptop. Unfortunately, if I attempt the upgrade I may lose all my currently installed software. It's a problem. My latest plan is to add a new partition on my hard drive and create a dual boot system. On one partition I'll keep all my faithful old software and on the new partition I'll install a newer operating system that hopefully will run some of the astrophotography software I need. My laptop doesn't have enough memory to run the newer operating system, but that can be fixed. I really should have replaced the memory when I upgraded the hard drive and installed a new battery several months ago. Oh, well. I probably thought that attempting to upgrade too many things at once was pushing my luck.

Have I turned into a hopeless geek who has lost all contact with thee rest of the world? Maybe. These things need to be done however and I don't think anyone else is going to help me. Eventually I'll get my computer problems solved and move on to other things like fixing the sliding glass door.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3867

I guess I should look out the window more. I kept seeing all these pictures of a large rainbow by the lake on the Internet. I didn't even know it had rained. The rain couldn't have lasted long, but the yard is wet. It's weird. I've been waiting for rain for weeks and I missed it. I doubt that I would have made an effort to take a picture of the rainbow anyway. I hate to get wet.

Without my regular trip to the gym, Sundays are more uneventful than ever. We got another late start on our walk this morning but it was OK. The sky was cloudy and there was a breeze. The ducks and geese have all returned to the water. Why? As recently as a week ago they were all on the shoreline. One thing about ducks and geese, they do everything together.

I thought the wildflower season was over, but I keep finding new ones. The other day I found the Buttonbush flowers. Today it was a Rose Mallow. I think they call these big blooms Hardy Hibiscus as well. Janet and I are trying to identify a tree that looks like it is full of little plumbs. The park does have plumb trees, but this fruit looks a bit too small. I don't understand why so many people seem to spend their entire time in the park looking at their phones. There is so much to see out here.

It was hard to get up this morning. It's difficult to get up early when you go to bed late. It's taking me longer and longer to write the blog in the evening because I have so little to say. I stare at the screen waiting for a thought, but often nothing comes. Sometimes I'll take a break and do laundry, but that's not very inspirational. I need to go back to the observatory. I felt safe up on the mountain and I felt inspired looking at the night sky. The whole experience was the exact opposite of life in the city during a pandemic.

I keep seeing all these amazing pictures of comet Neowise on the Internet. I'm impressed, but lot of these people are just showing off. The images have clearly been manipulated using compositing and other advanced image stacking techniques. Sky replacement seems to be a popular technique these days. I kind of admire the people who just go take a picture of the comet in their back yard with their phone. It doesn't look like much, but for most of us the comet doesn't look like much in real life either.

I'm fascinated by the popularity of manipulated images that are presented as real. Somebody ought to do a serious article about this. Real isn't good enough anymore. People want better than real. Most selfies aren't real. There are so many filters out there that make it easy to bump things up a notch. I've met people at NASA events that I'd only seen on the Internet before. I didn't even recognize many of them. My photos may not be great, but they are definitely real. I'm too damn lazy to manipulate images.

I wish Dawn would warm up to me. She's pretty good most of the time, but I can tell she is still frightened at times when Janet is gone. Dawn tolerates me, but she's clearly Janet's dog. Oh, well. We've got plenty of time to bond and work on things. I'm not going anywhere. This pandemic has ruined most of my plans.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3745

Dawn gave me a scare today. She got spooked by something in the park and pulled out of her collar. It all happened very fast. Luckily, she stayed put when I told her to stay and I was quickly able to put her collar back on. She will be wearing a harness from now on. Dogs are full of surprises. You really can't ever take anything for granted.

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of exponential growth. I'm starting to believe the people who say that eventually we will all get the virus. The number of people who are testing positive in Dallas is certainly increasing at an alarming rate. Interestingly, the wealthiest parts of town are getting sick the fastest. I guess this makes sense because these would be the people who travel the most.

I'm certainly not going anywhere these days. If we use our food wisely, we won't have to go to the grocery store for a long time. I have no desire to go to a grocery store. This is the one place where people still gather in crowds. I still feel good about going on long walks. People are keeping their distance in the park. There were fewer people today as well. There aren't many families walking with kids anymore. I think a lot of folks quickly discovered that it was a lot easier to park the kids in front of the TV or a Playstation.

I watched the Atlas 5 AEHF-6 launch on YouTube this afternoon. Some of my Florida friends were placing remote cameras near the launch pad. I wish I was there. I might not be going back to Florida anytime soon though. Many states including Florida are now starting to restrict incoming travel from other states. Southwest Airlines has already canceled 1500 flights. I saw a picture yesterday of a plane going to Houston with only one passenger. These are definitely strange times.

The Bluebonnets are here. Usually this is a photo opportunity with vast fields of the flowers within an easy drive. I'll have to remain content with the flowers I see in the park this year. The park is filled with wildflowers in the Spring, but Bluebonnets aren't as common as you might think. Spring has definitely arrived. The trees are green now and I'm seeing new varieties of flowers every week. What I'm not seeing anymore is the baby owl. The young owl has definitely flown the nest.

The weather was quite warm today. The air conditioner is coming on more often now. One benefit of warmer weather is that it's easier to remove rain water from the roof. When I went up on the roof this morning to clear away standing water I was surprised at how little water remained from our recent rain. The water evaporates quickly on a hot day. A dry roof is a small thing, but you've got to start somewhere.

Bubba is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3744

Hey, I'm doing my part. My car hasn't left the driveway all week. With the exception of a short trip to the vet yesterday, Janet's car hasn't moved much either. I can't say that my behavior has changed. I've been living this way for years. Janet is the only person I talk to regularly and I frequently drive less than ten miles a week. Isolation isn't all that bad. For many, many years I made a good income writing and designing websites from a computer in our spare bedroom.

It seems strange and somewhat disorienting to see people turning to things I've been doing for decades. Videoconferencing, working from home, ordering supplies online, maintaining a home network, and learning to tolerate long periods of silence and isolation are all skills I mastered years ago. I wonder how many people are going to decide that this is actually a better way to live when the pandemic is over?

I think people are already discovering the benefits of being outdoors. I see more people in the park than I've seen in years. I see them doing yoga, practicing kickboxing, and lifting weights, as well as the usually walking and cycling. Parents are taking their kids on long walks. I suspect that most of them are trying to wear the kids out so they will take a long nap and let the parents get some work done when they get home. Seems like a good plan to me. We all keep our distance in the park and hope nobody tries to force us indoors. There aren't a lot of things you can do proactively to stay healthy. I'm convinced that exercise and getting some good outdoor air into your lungs is a good place to start.

Local grocery stores are starting to limit the number of people inside the stores. In theory this is a good idea, but all it really does is cause people to bunch together at the store entrance waiting to get in. I wonder when the panic buying will stop? Eventually everyone is bound to have enough rice, bread, beans, and toilet paper.

I'm already starting to see used gloves and masks littering parking lots. This is insanity, but I'm really not surprised. For years I've seen people in the park pick up their dog poop in poop bags and then just throw the bags in the woods. What does this prove? There are plenty of trash cans in the park. Leaving a sealed poop bag in the hot sun is worse than doing nothing at all. Dog poop is biodegradable. Poop sealed in a bag and not disposed of properly probably becomes radioactive or something.

I wonder where all these people throwing away used masks and gloves in grocery store parking lots are getting them? You certainly can't find these items in stores yet. We still have lots of purple surgical gloves left over from Dash's chemo treatments. No masks though. When I administered Dash's meds every day, I couldn't touch the Palladia pills. They were very toxic and I had a complicated cleanup procedure to follow. Even Dash's poop was toxic and had to be disposed of properly. Washing my hands frequently seems simple by comparison.

One of the most enjoyable things about Spring is that there are new wildflowers to enjoy every single week. The Prairie Verbena arrived this week. These little purple flowers have always been one of my favorites.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3713

I must have forgotten the letter B at the grocery store yesterday. I had to go back to the store this morning for blueberries and beer. I didn't make this mistake at the gym. My regular routine always includes some time on the basketball court and at least twenty minutes on the arm bicycle.

I try to keep moving on Sunday. A good workout is just the start. When I returned from the gym, Janet and I took Dawn on a walk. Today, I tried to teach her to sit whenever we come to a street or crosswalk. She actually did pretty well. She doesn't sit automatically yet, but it only took a small correction for her to get the idea. Teaching her to heal might be a little harder. She still likes to follow her nose wherever an appealing smell takes her. I'm glad Dawn enjoys walking. The exercise is just as important for her as it is for me.

Our early Spring has disappeared again. Every nice day seems to be followed by a dismal, rainy day. We didn't get a lot of rain today. Just enough to be irritating. It stayed dry while we walked Dawn, but a little later when I went out to walk again, I got wet. I thought the light sprinkle would stop, since there was nothing on the radar, but I was wrong. The light showers continued and by the time I returned home I was very wet. I got my steps though. It was a 24,000 step day.

Spring is getting closer. I'm starting to see lots of Daffodils in the park. These usually appear right after the Grape Hyacinths bloom. I think the Wild Iris blooms next. After that, all bets are off. There are over 5,000 different flowering plants in Texas. It looks like we're going to have a good wildflower season this year. It's amazing that these flowers continue to appear year after year. I used to think that all wildflowers were perennials, but many of the most popular Texas wildflowers are actually annuals. Both can come back year after year, but annual wildflowers are a brand new plant that grows from the seed of a plant that died. Perennials don't die. The roots stay alive over the Winter and begins growing again the next Spring.

I think I will buy that wide angle lens. I guess I really do want to take spectacular night sky pictures. It would be a shame to go to a place that has some of the darkest night skies in America and not take pictures. It's probably a little late to become a world class astrophotographer, but I can certainly learn to take better night sky pictures than I have in the past. Occasionally, I try this in Dallas, but the light pollution is so bad that the pictures are pitiful.

I started the pumps after dinner tonight, but no water came out. Hopefully, this means there isn't much water on the roof. It also might mean that the pumps aren't working correctly. I'll probably find out tomorrow morning. There is no roof leak now, but it would probably be smart to put a bucket under the suspicious spot before I go to bed.

It's supposed to be clear tomorrow. I hope the forecast is right. On a nice day I get a lot more done.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3709

Another rainy day. I kept the pumps running and for most of the day I thought my repairs were working. Late in the day the leak returned unfortunately. I'm back to square one. This is not a good situation since we're right in the middle of the rainy season. The roofer who is experienced with the silicon material is still not responding and the other roofers just want to start over and put on a new roof. For now, all I can do is put a big bucket under the leak and wait for the rain to stop.

At least I stayed busy today. I edited the pictures I took at the Solar Orbiter launch and sent the best ones to the magazine. A few hours later the editor wrote me back and said he might be interested in my story after all. This was a surprise. They already had another correspondent writing about the launch, but it was nice that they wanted to take a look at my article. I kind of doubt that they will run two articles about the same launch, but who knows. They did like my pictures though.

Although it was a dismal, wet day, it didn't rain for the entire day. There was a dry enough period around mid-day that we were able to give Dawn another walk in the park. She seems to love walking, so we took her on a longer walk this time. It's been so long since I've walked a young, healthy Dalmatian that I've forgotten how fast and strong they are. Dawn walks well on a leash, but she definitely wanted me to pick up the pace.

Although it is definitely still Winter, I'm starting to see the first signs of Spring. There are Grape Hyacinths blooming in the meadow behind our house now. There are only a few now, but in a few weeks the meadow will be a sea of purple. Grape Hyacinths are usually the very first of the Spring wildflowers. Daffodils come next, followed in late March and early April by an avalanche of colorful blooms. Spring can't come soon enough. I'm tired of this dreary weather and I've got to do something about this roof leak.

It looks like this dismal weather is going to continue tomorrow. It's actually raining harder now. Dawn is curled up on the bed watching TV with Janet. I'm listening to the drip, drip, drip of water hitting the bucket in the kitchen. It's discouraging that my repairs didn't work. I have no idea where this leak is coming from. Eventually, this rain will stop. Maybe someday I'll even get this problem under control.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. It seems like I've been dealing with a leaking roof forever. Tomorrow morning I'll make my smoothie and try to think of something useful to do until the rain stops. Right now taking a long nap with Dawn sounds pretty good.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3611

It was a little warmer today, but apparently not warm enough to get me motivated. I certainly didn't accomplish much. While I was waiting for the temperature to rise, I wrote a letter to my sister and paid a few bills. I'm in no hurry to take an early walk anymore. I debated whether to call McDonald Observatory again or apply for a second NASA event in December and eventually decided to do neither. Maybe I felt that appearing over eager could jinx things.

When I did get around to taking my walk I was surprised when someone stopped me to ask about Dot and Dash. How could anyone even recognize me when I was bundled up like this? Although it was warmer than yesterday, it was still cold enough to warrant wearing my down coat and heavy boots. I looked like the Michelin Man again. I realized later that I was wearing the same winter outfit I've worn outside for many years. These were my dog walking clothes. I was probably instantly recognizable as soon as someone saw the puffy blue coat and wool hat.

There is a big patch of purple asters I pass every day on my walk. These Fall perennials always seem to be the last wildflowers to bloom. I doubt that they'll last much longer in this cold. The butterflies that congregate around these flowers are already gone. They're probably in Mexico by now. Pretty soon the trees will be bare and I won't see any more wildflowers until Spring. I was never very concerned about what to look at in the park in prior years. I was way too busy walking the dogs.

We've got ants in the kitchen again. I think this happens every winter. These are tiny little sweet ants and they seem to be everywhere. We spray and it doesn't do much good, but eventually the ants disappear. One of the many downsides to winter is that the bugs like to come indoors.

I've been a little concerned that my resting heart rate has been higher lately. Why should this change since I do the same things everyday? I did a Google search and learned that your resting heart rate increases when you are warmer and if you are dehydrated. Maybe this explains it. I'm sleeping under a blanket now and wearing much warmer clothes, which I never used to do during the summer. I'm also not drinking as much water. I drank a ton of water when I took hot summer walks. I also learned that my normal resting heart rate in the low 50's is considered very low unless you are an athlete and that my 'elevated' rate in the low 60's is considered normal. Maybe the only thing I really learned today is that I am still a hypochondriac who hates to see anything change.

I need to remember to buy some spare quartz modeling lights and an extra strobe tube for my strobe lights. The SantaPaws season is rapidly approaching and every year I worry that my aging Norman strobes are going to break. I definitely don't want to buy any more studio lights at this point in my life. Good studio strobes have gotten very expensive. I'm hoping that since I basically just use this equipment to shoot Santa photos once a year now, that it will last as long as I do.

The refrigerator was looking empty so I bought some more Cadence Kitchen dinners. I had the Mexican Style Pulled Pork with pineapple and achiote sauce tonight over rice. So good, but they use too much salt. As always, the best tasting things seem to inevitably be bad for you.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3450

I didn't plan well today. I knew that there was rain in the forecast, but thought I'd go from gazebo to gazebo on my morning walk like I had done on earlier rainy days. It didn't work. When I arrived at the shelters it wasn't raining. I impatiently thought I could make it to the next shelter before the rain started again, but I almost always got wet. Strangely, it didn't even seem to matter. It was a gentle rain and being wet seemed better than being hot and sweaty.

I tried to make an appointment to take my car in for service when I got home, but my service adviser said I'd driven the car so little since my last service that it was unnecessary. I should have been glad to hear this, but it left me a little uneasy. I basically wanted the guy to bless the car and promise that nothing expensive would fall off or break during a trip to Florida. No Land Rover dealer in their right mind would ever promise anything like that. Stuff always breaks on these cars. "Don't I even need an oil change," I asked? The guy basically said that I could bring the car in if it made me feel better. I still can't get used to the longer oil change intervals with modern synthetic engine oil. I'm still used to getting the oil changed every 3,000 miles. I always did this with the Defender. Apparently nobody does this with modern cars.

I finally got in touch with my contact at the auction house and made arrangements to re-offer my last piece of unsold art at a lower price. At this point I just want all the things I've consigned to sell. If this stuff comes back to me, I'll have to get a bigger storage warehouse. That would defeat the whole purpose of moving to a smaller storage warehouse. I guess I'm in no hurry, but it would be nice to put this chapter behind me. The guitars still haven't sold and I haven't sold anything from the model train collection in several months. Maybe things will pick up this summer.

I noticed a new flower this morning. I've seen this one before, but I don't see it every year. I'm having trouble identifying this one. It kind of looks like a Blazing Star, but I'm not sure. Ironweed looks a bit like this as well. The weird looking plant seems like a cross between a Dahlia and a Texas Thistle. I'll figure out what it is eventually.

Space X still hasn't finalized a launch date for the Falcon Heavy rocket. I knew this would happen, but I still wish I could start making travel plans. Basically at this point, the launch could be any time this summer. I guess I've just got to be patient. Alternately, I could get so involved with something else that I forget about the launch. That's not going to happen. I'll just be patient.

It looks like there is no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. I may be forced to mow the grass after all. As the weather grows warmer, I prefer little tasks I can do indoors. I took some satisfaction that the repairs I made to my boots worked. I wore them this morning and the soles are still firmly attached. Maybe I can find something equally insignificant to do tomorrow.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3445

I voted today in a local run-off election. The candidates in the run-off weren't the ones I voted for in the general election, but I cast my vote anyway. After years of not voting at all, I've finally become a responsible citizen. My candidates seldom win. Voting these days is mostly about picking the lesser of two evils. Whoever wins, I hope our new mayor is better than the old mayor. I've been saying this for a long time. They all sound pretty good in the campaign brochures, but after several years on the job even people I've voted for usually seem worthless.

I tried somebody else's French Toast this morning. What was I thinking? It wasn't nearly as good as the French Toast I get at my favorite hotel. I don't know why I feel compelled to experiment. I should enjoy the things I like while I can. Sooner or later every restaurant will go either out of business or the chef will move on to greener pastures. I've seen menus go downhill almost overnight. The absolute limit for consistency appears to be around two years. I don't know how much time I've got left, but for now I already know where to find perfect French Toast. I've got Shrimp and Grits covered too. All I need now are some fabulous Eggs Benedict.  I'm never going to find the kind of Migas I like. That ship has already sailed.

I had to wait a while to walk today. It rained off and on all morning. It was too complicated to walk between covered gazebos this time. I just stayed home and balanced my checkbook until the rain was over. Our wet Spring has been good for wildflowers. I'm starting to see late blooming flowers like Purple Horsemint now. This unusual plant has several names as well. Some people call it Beebalm. I'm lucky to remember either of these names.

I do remember that some of the open meadows in the park used to be a sea of reds and yellows at this time of year. Now the fields are mostly white. Invasive species like Queen Anne's Lace have crowded all the other flowers out. The city doesn't mow these native prairie areas anymore. This was supposed to keep the meadows as pristine and beautiful as they were 100 years ago. Somehow I don't think these fields were filled with Johnson Grass and invasive weeds back then. Plenty of beauty remains. You just have to look a little harder. I guess you could say the same thing for life in general.

After I cast my vote for mayor today, I went across the street and bought a new leaf rake at Home Depot. I guess this means that Janet and I are going to clean up the yard ourselves this year. I keep hoping that the leaves will just blow away on their own but they stubbornly persist. We'll see how long it takes before the rake actually gets used.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3432

It doesn't seem to take much to knock out our power. Lately, every time a big storm passes through, the electricity goes out. We definitely got a lot of rain today. At least the tornadoes we were warned about never materialized. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get both the fiber optic network and the pumps on the roof running again using various backup power supplies. A small gasoline generator powered the pumps and a solar powered generator took care of the WiFi and computers. When the power eventually returned, nothing important was disrupted at all.

Even though we had quite a storm today, I was still able to take both my walks and do the Saturday grocery shopping without getting wet. Accuweather's Minute-by-Minute  weather forecasting service is pretty amazing. Type in your street and zip code and you know exactly when the rain is going to start and stop within a two hour window. I knew how long it takes to walk three miles and the forecast said I was OK, so off I went. The sky looked a little menacing and I heard thunder off in the distance but the rain didn't start until five minutes after I returned. I love when technology works.

The storm had already passed when it was time for my evening walk. There must have been some high winds. Several large trees were down in the park and smaller limbs were scattered everywhere. One of the creeks feeding the lake was a rushing torrent. Even though the rain had subsided, the water level was still rising. Several piers along the shoreline were under water and the dock for a local rowing club seemed to have floated away. None of this deterred the fishermen. After a big rain fishermen are always attracted to the lake. I saw ten this evening. Are fish more likely to bite after a rain? There must be a reason for this.

There seems to be a reason for everything. I've been noticing that the wildflowers always bloom in a very specific order. The grape hyacinths seem to bloom first followed by lots of showy and evening primrose flowers. Next I'll start to see the bluebonnets. Next a variety of different daisies arrive. I see lots of cowpen daisies, shasta daisies, engelmann daisies, and blackfoot daisies on my walks. The firewheels are blooming now and I'm starting to see milkweed, coneflowers and mexican hat. There are always lots of tiny flowers like crow poison and blue eyed grass. I like to learn to identify the plants and animals I see. Jimson weed is blooming now. I learned to identify this poisonous plant a long time ago because I didn't want the dogs eating it. I learned to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac a long time ago too.

It's still raining, but it's just a gentle shower and both pumps are working. All is well. Janet fixed chili tonight which is the perfect antidote to a dismal day. I'm recharging all my backup batteries and looking at dog pictures on my Facebook feed. I think I am ready for tomorrow.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3426 - Mother's Day

20,000 steps today. I'm doing a pretty good job of staying active although I'm not sure what it all means. I'm going to the gym earlier now, so I have plenty of time to walk. I need to take advantage of days like these because they won't last long. The air seemed free of pollen and the temperature was perfect. The wildflowers are at their peak right now as well. It was a good day to be outside. These long walks give me plenty of time to think, but my mind is usually blank. It's relaxing to turn your mind off and just observe. I count birds. I try to remember the names of flowers. When I hear footsteps behind me, I try to guess whether the person is male or female by the sound of their steps. I'm right about 80% of the time. The landscape changes rapidly in the Spring. Almost every day I see a new variety of flower. Some of the early bloomers are already gone.

There were lots of family gatherings in the park today. I'm sure this was because it was Mother's Day. It's hard to believe that it's been almost thirty years since my Mom passed away. She was younger than I am now. My family memories are really starting to fade. Truthfully, they were never that good to begin with. I remember we had a Boxer named Pepper. We used to take trips to visit national parks in the Summer. I read a lot of books and wanted to be a physicist until I realized there was math involved. I always thought that I had a completely normal childhood until I learned later in life that Mom was manic depressive and had been going though some really rough times while we were growing up. Either my Mom was exceptionally good at hiding things or I was completely oblivious to what was going on around me. I suspect it's the latter. It's probably a good thing that I didn't have a clue back then. If you think you're normal when you are small, you probably wind up normal as an adult.

I experimented with shoes today. I wore one pair of shoes to the gym. Another pair on my first walk. And a third pair on my evening walk. The third pair was surprisingly comfortable. I'd never worn them before. I bought these boots two or three years ago and was planning to use them as dog walking shoes. Then I completely forgot about them. They've just been sitting in a box all this time. The shoes were a little snug, but I think I wore thinner socks back then. All I need to do is buy some thinner hiking socks and I'll be back in business.

I should have mowed the grass and cleared the remaining water off the roof this afternoon. I just didn't feel like it. I spend way too much time fighting a losing battle with this house. Sometimes it's more satisfying to just let your mind wander and count ducks. I'll still have to go up on the roof and mow the grass eventually. Like it or not, my Mom did teach me to be responsible.

This weekend has gone quickly. Janet and I may go visit the rescue dogs again tomorrow. We seem to be welcome at the kennel and the dogs definitely enjoy the attention. In lieu of long range plans, I guess we'll just stick with short range plans for the moment.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3409

I overthink things. For almost a week I've been debating about whether to go to an afternoon movie. I've looked up theaters on Google. I've read reviews for the film I was planning to see. I've fretted about the traffic. The reviews were mostly bad and I'd just about convinced myself that going out wasn't worth the effort. Unfortunately, I had way too much time on my hands today, so at the last minute I decided to go see the movie anyway. I usually like science fiction, but I should have listened to the reviewer who said that this was basically just a prison movie in space. I wasn't fond of this movie at all.

Evidently 2 PM on a Thursday isn't when people go to the movies. When I entered the theater, I quickly understood why the guy at the ticket counter told me I could sit anywhere I wanted. I was the only one in the theater. It wasn't a huge theater, but it wasn't small either. It was weird to be the only person in the entire theater.

I'm finishing breakfast earlier now. I made my morning coffee, fixed my fruit smoothie, ate breakfast, and washed the breakfast dishes before 9 AM today. When I was tending to Dash, it was usually after 11 AM before I was finished with breakfast. I guess it's good that I'm getting an earlier start. As Summer approaches I'm going to want to take my morning walk before the day gets too hot.

It didn't get too hot today. The weather was beautiful and a three mile walk seemed like a much better alternative to staring at the computer. I've finally started seeing nesting ducks. Maybe they just got a late start this year. There were lots of recumbent bikes on the bike path today. I wonder why the riders of these bikes are always older men with short white beards? I very rarely see younger men riding recumbent bikes and I've never seen a woman on one of these things.

Prairie Verbena seems to be the wildflower of the week. These little purple flowers are everywhere now. Next week a new wildflower will take the stage. Most of the wildflowers in the park are perennials. They keep coming back in the same places year after year. I've photographed all these plants before but I still enjoy seeing them. They've become familiar friends. Unlike Texas weather, the flowers are reliable and consistent.

The week has gone quickly. I've already taken the trash out to the curb and am thinking about having shrimp grits for breakfast tomorrow. I hope this nice weather continues. I didn't even have allergy problems today. Sooner or later the rain will return and so will the 100 degree days. For now I'm going to enjoy the blue skies and mild temperatures.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3357

It was 23 degrees and very windy when we woke up this morning. That added up to a wind chill of 9 degrees. Brr. Dash thought he wanted a walk, but I don't think he realized what he was up against. We dressed him up as warmly as we could this morning, but he didn't even make to the back gate. When he felt how cold it really was, he wisely turned around and returned quickly to the house.

We spent the rest of the day indoors. Dash ventured outside to pee occasionally and I made one brief trip to the post office to pay some bills, but that was it. Today's goal was to stay warm. Even Dash understood that it wasn't a day for walking.

I'm glad I got the water off the roof yesterday. Ice on the roof causes some peculiar problems. When the ice starts to melt, the heat from the house causes it to melt from the bottom up. This creates a layer of water covered by a layer of ice, making it impossible to remove the standing water under under the ice. These conditions are a recipe for leaks because if the weather is cold enough, the ice on top can last for weeks.

I canceled today's plumbing appointment because it seemed like a terrible day to dig a big hole in the ground. The ground looked frozen anyway and I had trouble seeing where the leak was. I have a feeling that the cold, hard ground partially sealed the leak. I certainly wasn't seeing any evidence of it anyway. I hope the plumber appreciated what I did. I definitely wouldn't want to be a plumber working outside today.

I sold a few trains in February. I'm glad the collection is getting some interest again. I thought there would be a lot of sales over the Christmas holidays, but I was wrong. Nobody bought any trains for Christmas. Zero holiday sales. Did somebody get a model train for Valentine's Day? Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

I updated the Dalmatian Rescue website today. It seemed like a good thing to do on a cold, housebound day. I do so little website design these days that I'm slowly losing my skills. I occasionally have to look up things that I used to know by heart. It's only going to get worse. Use it or lose it, they always say. I guess I could revamp my own websites to keep my chops up, but I just don't have the interest anymore. Hard to believe that I used to have dozens of active clients that required hours of work every single day. How did I ever find the time? Of course the dogs were young and healthy then. So was I.

I hope that tomorrow is warmer. Two days like this and Dash and I will both have some serious cabin fever. There's nothing all that exciting about a walk in the park, but it's good to get outside. These walks are physical therapy for Dash and mental therapy for me. I hope all the early wildflowers don't die. I'm starting to see Grape Hyacinth all over the place. Based on today's weather, I think these flowers may have jumped the gun.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day