Day 4387

I paid my property taxes today. I think that pretty much takes care of 2021 for me. I'm done. Maybe we'll stay up on Friday night and welcome the new year with a glass of champagne. Maybe not though. Lately, we've both been falling asleep before midnight. I hope there are still things to look forward to in the year ahead. I'm having trouble getting excited about anything these days. I'll try to rekindle my interest in rockets and astronomy, but that's going to require travel. Traveling in a world filled with Covid restrictions has lost a lot of its luster. 

Until then I'll just keep walking. I'm lucky to live by a beautiful lake. I don't feel like walking anywhere new. The old familiar trails seem fine to me. I've been walking around this lake for thirty years. I find it interesting to watch how things change slowly over time. Flowing water carves gullies into the earth. Old trees die and eventually start to rot. Animal habitats change. I wish the park were quieter. The place seemed a lot more silent years ago. Now it's hard to escape the sound of leaf blowers and police sirens. At least there are no outboard motors. Only sailboats are allowed on this lake.

I saw two White Pelicans today. I have no idea where the rest of them went. It's hard to hide a hundred Pelicans. All the Double Crested Cormorants are gone as well. I hear the Monk Parakeets occasionally, but I haven't seen them in weeks. I have no idea where the two Bald Eagles are hiding. They are supposed to be nesting nearby, but they remain illusive. The most reliable birds on my walk are two large Muscovy Ducks who seem to have established a permanent residence under a picnic table. I see these two every day.

I still haven't used the new star tracker that I spent most of December waiting for. It remains sitting in the box. The software that controls this thing is evidently still going through a lot of changes, so maybe it would be wise to wait. Kickstarter backers got this product first, before it goes on the market. I think we are the beta testers. I read the support group for the product regularly and people much smarter than me are still having problems getting their units to work. I'm in no hurry. Maybe I'll see if I can get Sky & Telescope interested in an article about backing a new astronomy product. It's an interesting story and it definitely isn't over yet.

I'm still making progress with Dawn. The progress is slow but I can feel a difference. She comes when I call occasionally now. I used to have to put her on a leash to take her outside to pee, but typically all I have to do now is say "Dawn, let's go outside." She's very friendly with me early in the mornings. Later in the day, not so much. Janet is going on a cruise with her family next year, so we've still got a lot of work to do. Dawn needs to trust me if I'm going to be taking care of her myself. It's still a work in progress, but things are improving. Maybe some day we will be best buddies.

It's strange to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt in late December, but I'm happy for the warmer weather. I know it won't last. A heat wave in December is much nicer than a heat wave in July. Temperatures are supposed to drop below freezing again this weekend unfortunately. At least there is no snow in the forecast. I'm never happy with the weather. When it's cold I wish it were warmer. When it's hot I wish it were cooler.

I have no plans for tomorrow. I didn't have much of a plan for today. I think you'll agree that blog posts are more interesting when I have a plan.

Dot & Petey are today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4103

Today I found out that the electrician I've used for many years has died. I'm getting older. Many of the best service people I've used over the years have passed away. Nobody seems to replace these people. Their skills and expertise just seems to disappear forever. It's kind of sad to see a generation of people who could fix everything be replaced by a new crop of folks who can only replace disposable components. Looks like I'm going to have to find a new electrician. I just hope that nothing breaks for a while.

I have so many unanswered questions that I'm beginning to feel like I'm invisible. I write people, fully expecting a prompt reply and then I never hear anything back. I still don't know whether my press credentials have been approved by the Air Force. I never received a confirmation about my stay in West Texas in May. I've been waiting for months for author copies of some of my articles. Questions about my new camera have gone unanswered and the dehumidifier company hated my continual questions so much that they wrote me a check for the machine instead of fixing it and told me to throw it away.

I got Dawn to go down to the park with me this morning while Janet was away. We didn't go very far, but it was a start. After she peed in a field immediately behind our house, she quickly turned and immediately headed for home. I didn't try to make her walk further. I want her to learn to trust me, so this will be a very slow process. Janet wants me to work with her every day, even if I don't make much progress. Right now, Dawn won't even eat when Janet is away. This makes it very hard for Janet to make any travel plans. It's all very weird. I'm used to being the one who takes care of the dogs during the day because I'm always here. If Dawn could just learn to trust me, she would have so much more fun.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. It's certainly starting to look like Spring has arrived. Wildflower season is still a few weeks away, but I see a few new blooms every day. The trees are definitely looking greener. I've even started seeing turtles sunning themselves on logs at the lake. Pretty soon I'll start seeing baby ducks again. I enjoy seeing this seasonal rebirth. It's especially nice this year after the big freeze where everything appeared to have died. It's amazing how predictable this cycle of life is. I've seen wildflowers reappear in exactly the same spot year after year. There are winter animals and summer animals and they never seem to get the seasons mixed up. I guess there is that one Pelican that always refused to fly north with the others in the Spring. I wonder what the Pelican will do this year?

My foot still hurts when I walk, but there are plenty of reasons to keep walking. I don't want to wind up like my electrician. He was younger than I am when he died. I really should start going back to the gym. I'm fully vaccinated now, but I'm still a bit reluctant to spend time around a bunch of sweaty people. My gym reopened their pool recently, so they're clearly not worried about much anymore. I don't know why they're still closed on Sundays though. Janet has been going to her gym for weeks now. Maybe I'm just lazy.

It's time to make a grocery list again. It's amazing how quickly these weeks go by. It will be Summer soon and I will be wishing for cooler weather again. Hopefully 2021 will be a little more interesting than 2020. I applied with NASA to attend the Space X Crew-2 launch today. Who knows if I'll get approved, but eventually things will start clicking together.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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