Day 4932

I guess I'd better get used to this heat. It's not going away. Each morning when we take Dawn on her sunrise walk it seems a little warmer than it did the previous day. The low temperature is in the eighties now with the highs in triple digits. That being said, our sunrise walks are still the best part of the day. There is usually a nice breeze and no hot sun beating down on your head. We all enjoy these early morning walks. Until the weather cools down a bit they are the only walks that Dawn gets.

I had my shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast and then foolishly decided to tackle a few outdoor chores. I didn't do much, but it was enough to make me realize that this is not the time to be doing yard work. I'm surprised that the mail still gets delivered. The other day a Dallas mailman died delivering the mail in this heat. I cleaned the spiderwebs off the eaves and living room windows and then watered some plants that were looking really dry. That was enough for one day. Dawn likes to sun herself in the grass but I have to watch her carefully and make sure she doesn't stay out too long. 

We haven't seen any rabbits on our sunrise walks this week and it makes me wonder how the animals in the park are handling this heat. There's lots of underbrush in the prairie areas and I'm sure the smaller animals can use this to hide from the sun. I need to remember to put some water out for the squirrels. Even the birdbath in our back yard has gone dry.

Our air conditioner is working well, but I hate to think what our electric bill is going to be next month. I guess it was a good thing that we added three inches of insulation to our new roof. It's bound to help some, but with so much single pane glass in the house, it's still hard to keep the place cool. Usually I'm glad when the rainy season is over. Not this year. I'm ready for Fall and the worst of summer hasn't even arrived yet.

I got a check in the mail from Wells Fargo today. There was no explanation and I thought it might be part of some kind of scam. I called my broker to see if the check might have been part of some kind of sale on their part. Nope. They had nothing to do with Wells Fargo. My broker reminded me that Wells Fargo had recently settled a huge class action lawsuit and asked if I was ever a customer. Bingo. Jeez. That was twenty years ago though. Just goes to show that you never know what you're going to receive in the mail.

I went back to the gym later this morning. Going to the gym is probably the only way I'm going to get my steps for the rest of the summer. After I walked two miles on the indoor track, I shot free throws on the basketball court for a while and then used some of the machines to work on my upper body strength. I actually had a pretty decent workout today. Going to the gym every day has made me realize that my car gets terrible gas mileage. Probably a big 5.2 liter V-8 is't the best thing for driving around town.

I'm still debating whether to get a new phone. The old phone works fine but I haven't been able up update the operating system in years. Since I can't update the IOS, I can't update my Apple Watch either. I can postpone the inevitable, but eventually I'm going to have to update the phone for security reasons alone. A lot of modern apps won't run on my old phone either. I'm very comfortable with using obsolete software, but this can't go on forever. 

Tomorrow looks like more of the same. We'll get up early and take a sunrise walk with Dawn. I"ll eat my breakfast while becoming disgusted with what's on TV. Then I'll sort through the spam in my e-mail to see if I have any real messages. I'm sure I'll go to the gym. The gym is actually colder than inside our house. It's not a bad place to hang out on days like this.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4894

We have a new roof. We won't be able to tell if this was all worth it until we've had a couple of hard rains, but I'm pretty pleased so far. We've lived here a long time and this is the third roof we've had to put on our house. This crew was by far the most professional I've encountered so far. I guess if you count the condo I owned before I bought our current house, I've been through a total of five roof replacements. Why so many? Well, if you are an architect or live in a house designed by one, chances are it will have a flat roof. I think it's a rule that architects, or former architects like myself, must live in houses with flat roofs.

I hope the new roof holds up well when we get our next big storm. I also hope it drains well. If I never have to climb up on the roof again to sweep away standing water, the cost will be well worth it. We certainly didn't have to wait long for rain. Literally less than an hour after the roofers finished working today it started raining. This was only a light shower. It's going to take a lot more to put the roof to the test.

I thought I'd be packed by now, but of course I haven't even started. I guess I had an excuse since I've been dealing with the roofers most of the day, but I could have been packed if I was more organized. I always seem to wait until the last possible minute to get ready for a trip. I'll probably end up packing first thing tomorrow morning. My flight doesn't leave until the afternoon. I always take the same things with me whenever I go to Florida. I could save time if I just left a suitcase permanently packed.

I got a haircut after breakfast this morning. I almost always get a haircut before I travel anywhere. There was a long list of other things I needed to do, but they will have to wait until I return from the launch. I needed to get home quickly today, so Janet could do her grocery shopping. Dawn doesn't like the noise of the roofers overhead and we didn't want to leave her alone. While I was waiting for Janet to return I decided to do some yard work and take advantage of the big dumpster sitting in our driveway. By the time I finished moving dirt around, I was too tired to take my long walk. Hey, I got my 10,000 steps, so that was enough for me.

I finally enabled e-mail on my phone. The last time I was at Kennedy Space Center I felt kind of helpless sitting in my car during a violent tornado warned thunderstorm without the ability to communicate with anyone locally. I had some of the other rocket photographer's e-mail addresses but I didn't know their phone numbers. Also NASA communicates with everyone using e-mail. I couldn't remember all the passwords and IP addresses for my mail host, so I couldn't set up my e-mail on the spot.  That's all been fixed now. I can't believe that I've been using an iPhone for dozens of years and have never used it to get e-mail before.

I hope that the AX-2 launch doesn't get postponed. I've got a busy week when I return. I've got a doctor's appointment that was scheduled months ago and I need to get my driver's license renewed as well. This is the first time I've had to go down to the DMV in many years. I think I've renewed online for at least ten years, but I guess they want to see you in person every once in a while. I didn't have the option to renew online this time. I hope they don't make me take a driving test again. I was surprised to learn that several people my age had to take a driving test to get their license renewed. My license is more for travel than driving these days. I have to show it everywhere when I'm down at Kennedy Space Center. You need a license to get on a plane as well.

I'd better call it a day so I can get up early tomorrow and pack for my trip. It was a good day today. I think I made the right decision to get a new roof and even managed to pick a good roofing company. Hopefully, this is the last roof we'll ever need. The roof has a ten year warranty. That's pretty good for a flat roof. I think the warranty on my own body expired years ago.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4862

As soon as we finished walking Dawn this morning, I turned on the computer and watched the Starship orbital launch attempt on the Space X live feed. I wasn't terrible surprised when the launch got scrubbed at the last minute. A lot can go wrong with something this complicated. At any rate, I'm glad I didn't drive down to Boca Chica to see the launch in person. The people who did make the trip are probably wondering now whether to stay for another attempt, or cut their losses and go home. Space X has not scheduled another attempt yet, so waiting is a gamble. Chasing rockets is complicated and can often end up being much more expensive than you'd planned. I guess it's worth it though. I'm still planning on going to Florida for the upcoming Viasat-3 launch. That one got delayed again today as well.

Our nice Spring weather continues. It's always a little chilly on our sunrise walk with Dawn, but the temperature rises quickly. By the time I'm ready for my daily long walk, I can usually change into shorts and a t-shirt. It's weird to see the temperature change so dramatically in just a few hours, but luckily the high temperature for the day is still very pleasant. I could probably put my time to better use, but a long walk seems essential now. Without my daily walk, I would end up spending even more time doing unavoidable chores around the house. 

Today's chores were changing the sheets on the bed and pulling weeds in the yard. I think that bulky trash pick up is tomorrow, so I wanted to get a few more things out to the curb before the trucks arrived. I tried to clean up the front yard today. The yard still doesn't look great, but I can see a definite improvement. When I'm doing yard work I often think about getting a yard service like the other neighbors, but I never do anything. The yard is small and I do need the exercise. 

The roofers want to get started on replacing the roof. I guess we might as well get this over with, but I'm not eager to spend a lot of money on something I can't even see. Getting a new roof is the key to fixing up the house. It makes no sense to repair stained sheetrock or replace carpets and paint until the leaks are eliminated. Sometimes I think it would be easier just to move, but we already live where we want to be. This is definitely the best part of town to have a dog. At any rate, the roof replacement is on my radar now. The work will probably begin within the next several weeks.

It seems like I'm spending more and more time dealing with spam these days. I get multiple spam phone calls, spam text messages, and spam e-mail every day. I never answer the phone anymore unless I recognize the number on the caller ID. When I get spam text messages I immediately block the caller. A lot of these messages get blocked by service providers before I even see them, but quite a few seem to get through. I feel like I am under siege. Who are these people and why are they making such an effort to deceive me? If a message on my caller ID says "suspected spam," why does the phone company even bother to put it through?

Tomorrow will be another day very much like today. Will I do anything different? Probably not. I really should have made plans to go out to the observatory for Dark Sky Week, but it's too late for that now. I'll think of something. Maybe I'll wash the car.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4836

What a weird Spring we've had. It's been hot, it's been cold, it's been all over the place. Today the temperature got up to 81 degrees. If that wasn't enough, the humidity was almost 100% this morning. It was so damp that all the bricks on the back porch were soaking wet. That didn't stop us though. We got up, dressed in summer clothes and took Dawn on her morning walk. Dawn is still taking shorter walks, but she seems to be doing fine.

This was another one of those days where the furnace was on when we first woke up and then the air conditioner kicked in later in the day. Eventually the heavy dew everywhere evaporated, but it was a very muggy day. A quick look at the yard confirmed that my annual Spring chores need to start soon. It's almost time to start mowing the grass again. I need to cut back the dead growth in the Asian Jasmine at the back of the yard as well. It will be time to battle the ants and wasps soon. I'll need to go and get some insecticide for ants and something stronger to kill the wasps. The wasps build their nests everywhere and they are very aggressive. I've been stung many times. I don't want Dawn to get stung by these things.

If I was a sensible person I'd start getting rid of things in the office and storage warehouse. Instead, I keeping wanting to repair things I seldom use. I'd like to repair the big production printer so I could make a few large prints of my best astrophotography. Never mind that I have no place to display the pictures. There's a big Sony TV in the storage warehouse I'd like to get fixed as well. I need to retrieve some of the equipment I still have on consignment at a local music store. If it hasn't sold in two years, it will probably never sell. Where will I put this stuff? The storage warehouse of course.

That's all for another day. Today I just followed my familiar routine. I ate breakfast, checked my messages which were mostly just spam, and then got ready to take my long walk. It was so warm today that I just wore shorts and a t-shirt. Wasn't it just a few days ago that I was decked out in all my winter gear? I can't keep up with this constantly changing weather at all.

I left Dawn alone in the house while I took my walk. As I expected, she didn't move an inch. She was asleep on the bed when I left and still asleep when I returned. She wasn't at all interested in getting up until Janet returned from the gym. Dawn gets excited when Janet comes home but hardly even looks up when I enter the house. She's fine though. As soon as Janet returned, Dawn's tail was wagging and she was ready for lunch.

I vacuumed the carpets this afternoon. The carpets in the bedroom and office need to be replaced, but that will come later after the new roof is installed and the damaged sheetrock in the ceiling has been replaced. For now I just continue to vacuum the old worn out carpet and am still amazed at how much dirt is collected. The carpets don't look any better when I'm finished, but the Dyson canister is filled with dirt and dog hair.

Tomorrow is going to be another unseasonably hot day and Friday it's going to start raining again.  Probably as soon as this weird Spring is over I'll be complaining about the hot Texas summers again. This is supposed to be our nice season, but I think we got cheated this year. 

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4712

I think it's Winter now. It felt very cold when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk and then it got even colder as the day progressed. I've got plenty of sweaters and warm coats, but it does take a little longer to get dressed in the morning. At least we don't live up North. I can't believe the amount of snow they are getting in Buffalo.

I don't think I accomplished much today. After walking Dawn, I made the bed, ate my breakfast, and waited around the house for it to get warmer before taking my walk. That never happened. In fact the longer I waited, the colder it got. Eventually I put on two coats, got my warmest hat, and went walking. There aren't nearly as many cyclists and joggers on a cold day. People were still walking dogs though. A change in the weather doesn't stop a dog from needing to pee. The ducks and geese must have been hungry today. The group that stays near Sunset Bay were following people around waiting for a handout. I didn't have anything to give them and the geese weren't very happy about that. 

It's time to set out bulky trash again, so I reluctantly hauled a bunch of branches and logs the tree guy left behind out to the curb. These got left behind because I asked hime to cut down another small tree when he was here. This tree wasn't in his bid, which only included removing the larger tree that had fallen on the roof. He agreed to cut down the little dead tree for free, but refused to haul away the debris. It didn't make sense to me, but I wasn't in the mood to argue. Some of the logs seemed very heavy. I'm definitely not getting any stronger. I got the job done though. Ten years ago this task would have been a lot easier.

The house still feels cold, even though the furnace is running normally. This happens every winter because our house isn't insulated very well. We have way too much single pane glass. On a cold day you don't want to stand too close to the windows. The furnace is doing its best though. I bet the gas bill is going to be high next month.

Returning from a trip is always a bit of a let down. I enjoy being part of the space community when I'm down at Kennedy Space Center. These are good people. I'd probably be out there chasing rockets with them if I lived down there. I enjoy being a temporary part of the astronomy community when I'm out at McDonald Observatory too. Oddly I don't feel part of any community here in Dallas, although it is clearly a large city with plenty to do. Sometimes I wonder why I moved here in the first place, but the answer is very simple. There were and still are plenty of good, high paying jobs.

This week has gone quickly. It's hard to believe that it's already the weekend again. Next week is Thanksgiving and we still can't get reservations at our favorite restaurant. I guess there were no cancelations. I'd better start putting my grocery list together. I hope the car starts tomorrow morning. I forgot to warm it up this evening. I probably need to get the battery replaced while it is still under warranty. 

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4641

It was nice and cool this morning. The days are definitely getting shorter. We leave at the same time on our sunrise walk, but it seems darker now. Pretty soon we'll have to start taking a flashlight with us again. I'm glad that the worst of summer appears to be over. I was getting tired of 100 degree days.

I had nothing planned for today. The temperature was still cool after breakfast, so I decided to take a walk in the park instead of going to the gym. I think I could take this walk blindfolded now. Every step is so familiar. I see the same ducks and geese while I watch the same plants progress through the seasons. Fall isn't that far away. A few leaves are already starting to drop from the trees. There is nothing exciting about this daily walk, but it is still more interesting than walking 28 times around a small indoor track at the gym.

I did a little yard work after I returned home. There were some dead branches that needed to be trimmed from the Photinia bushes. The Asian Jasmine was getting out of control and was covering up the path to the back gate, so I trimmed that up as well. Sometimes Dawn likes to sit outside with me while I work in the yard. Today she had no interest and just wanted to go back inside again. I finished my work and joined her. Pruning trees wasn't that interesting.

I heard today that NASA is now aiming for a September 23 launch date for Artemis. This was a little disappointing, since it is too early for me to return. I was hoping that they would wait until the end of October. Of course the launch could still take place at the end of October or even later. It's hard to say how long it's going to take to iron out all the problems. Will I try to attend the next attempt? It's too early to say at the point.

My article about the launch remains unfinished. It's seems kind of pointless to submit the article if nothing has happened. I probably need to talk to my editor. It would make more sense to extend the story until the launch actually takes place. This kind of reminds me of the first article I wrote about visiting McDonald Observatory. It rained when I got there so no observing actually took place. The magazine thanked me for the article and told me to try again when the weather was better. I probably need to try again on the Artemis article as well. So far, it is not very interesting.

I've finished my dinner and have taken this week's trash out to the curb. There are lots of little things that need attention around the house, but it is hard to get interested. I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, but if something comes up I'll probably try procrastinating.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4617

I finally got the information I've been waiting for from NASA. It doesn't look like I'll have to change any of my travel plans, so all is good. The only thing I didn't like was that they have turned this launch into a two week long media extravaganza. I can't afford to stay that long, so I will miss some of the pre-launch events. Hopefully the Artemis rocket will launch on the first attempt or I will miss the launch as well. I guess the trip is still worthwhile though. I'm sure I'll see something interesting. This is a historic event.

Our Monday morning walks with Dawn are always very quiet. It's a real contrast to all the activity we typically see on the weekend. I don't know if people are busy getting ready for work or sleeping in and trying to avoid the start of another week. I appreciate the solitude though. I wish the park was like this everyday. 

By the time the sun came up I could tell that it was going to be another hot day. It didn't matter though. I was planning to go to the gym anyway. When we started out this morning we caught a glimpse of the conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter before the sky got too bright. It might have been more dramatic if I had stayed up for a look late last night when the Moon was rising, but this was fine.

I went to the post office on my way to the gym this morning. Since I started paying bills online I don't have many reasons to go to the post office anymore. Stamps and envelopes seem to last a lot longer too. I still send a monthly letter to my sister even though we could easily talk on the phone. Letter writing is becoming a lost art. Actually most things I do are becoming a lost art, but I have no desire to change at this point.

The gym is pretty empty on Monday as well. Even the roads seem less crowded. Some of the personal trainers I used to see have disappeared. Maybe they were students who have returned to school. The same people seem to be working out whenever I arrive. Most of them are much more interested in body building than I am. I just want to get my steps and go home.

I did some routine bookkeeping this afternoon and then cleared some brush in the back yard so I could take it out to the curb for bulky trash day. There is more yard work to do, but it was too hot to stay outside for very long. I didn't bother to upgrade the star tracker today either. I'm actually getting tired of messing with this thing. I've lost track of how many upgrades I've installed already. I think the little tracker works pretty well, but I doubt that I'll use it until I get a chance to return to the observatory again. You can't see much of the night sky from our back yard and I don't feel safe going anywhere else at night.

I miss visiting the rescue Dalmatians on Mondays. Maybe we'll be able to work out something with the new kennel in the future, but who knows. At least the dogs have a nice clean place to stay. The old kennel was always where we did our Santa Paws Christmas photos as well. We'll need a new venue for that event.  I should be used to change by now, but I'm not. Change has never been exciting to me. I wish that everything would stay the same.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4539

It was a nice day. It was a little warm this afternoon, but there was a pleasant breeze all day. Dawn was in the mood to walk today which is always a plus. There was no hesitation like there was on previous days and she enjoyed both her sunrise walk and the Sunday outing later in the day. It may seem weird that I measure a day's success by Dawn's reaction to it, but that's just the way it is. Our days go much smoother when Dawn is in a good mood.

Basically all I did today was walk. I did vacuum the house this afternoon, but that doesn't really count. Walking is much more fun. It's amazing how dirty the house gets in a week. We live in a dusty area. Dust blows in from the park and dust blows in from the street. Dawn tracks in a fair amount of dirt as well. At any rate, the house is a bit cleaner now, even though it won't stay that way long.

Our first two walks with Dawn were enjoyable, but my third walk later in the afternoon was just to make sure I got my steps. By mid afternoon it was much hotter outside and my feet were starting to hurt. I would have gone back to the gym, but unfortunately it isn't open on Sunday anymore. Weekday hours aren't as long as they used to be either. A lot of Covid cutbacks have become permanent now in all types of businesses. When companies learn they can get away with giving you less, that's exactly what they tend to do.

I was working outside this afternoon and a spider must have fallen on my head. I didn't notice at the time, but about thirty minutes later when I was back inside and sitting at the computer,  I noticed something on my lip out of the corner of my eye. I thought it was dirt or a small leaf and brushed it off with my hand. I was quite surprised when a small live spider fell on the desk. Have I mentioned that I dislike spiders almost as much as I dislike snakes. I wonder how that spider could have been walking around on my head for half an hour and I never felt a thing.

Dawn continues to leave the room when I come into the bedroom to take a nap. She doesn't go far. She just goes out in the hallway and lays on the bricks in a place where she can peek around the corner into the bedroom door and see if I am still there. As soon as I leave the room, she immediately returns and hops on the bed again. I wish she'd realize that we both like to do basically the same things. We eat and we sleep. If she'd just learn to relax, she will have a lot more fun when Janet goes on vacation. The weird thing is that Dawn is fine with me as long as Janet is in the house.

When we went for ice cream after Dawn's Sunday outing today I asked for a waffle cone instead of the regular cones we usually get. The waffle cones are a little more expensive, but I was curious to see if they would fill these cones to the bottom. Nope. It's still a scoop on top of a basically empty cone. The waffle cones leak too. I guess I'll go back to regular cones next week.

We won't be able to visit the Dalmatians tomorrow since the kennel is closed for Memorial Day. Don't worry. The dogs are still fed and looked after. The place just isn't open to the public tomorrow. I'm going to miss visiting the guys. Visiting the rescue dogs has become a permanent part of our Monday routine.

I hope my gym is open tomorrow. I think it's going to be too hot to take a long walk outside. If Dawn would cooperate, I might just take a long nap inside. 

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4525

The weather was still hot, but it didn't affect our plans. We still had a nice early walk with Dawn and were able to take our Sunday outing a little later in the day after the ice cream store opened. It was getting a little hot by the time we took our second walk, but there was a nice breeze and Dawn did OK. We may have to stop these daytime walks later this summer though. Dawn doesn't do well in the heat.

I tried to be industrious today with mixed results. I really felt my age when I tried to fix the greenhouse door this morning. The door was heavy and I had trouble holding the pieces together without breaking the glass window in the center. I've repaired this door before, but it seemed much easier ten years ago. I thought I might need to go to Home Depot for parts, but I found everything I needed in the tool shed. The amount of stuff in the shed would indicate that I used to spend a lot more time fixing things than I do now. I didn't do a great job, but the old door is back together again. I don't know what the two hours I spent prove. The greenhouse still doesn't have a roof.

Since bulky trash day is this week, I tried to clean out the yard a bit. I noticed a lot of brush and fallen tree branches in the side yard where the air conditioner is the other day. I had to cut a path through the brush so the repairman could get to the compressor. I cleared the mess away today and hauled the brush to the curb. I cut down some giant weeds in the other side yard and hauled them to the curb as well. The yard looks a little better, but most of the time I forget the side yards even exist. Most of what I cleaned up today never gets seen by anybody.

I didn't take a long walk today. It was just too hot. I figured that between Dawn's two walks and my carpentry and clean up tasks that I already had all the exercise I needed. The worst part about being outside today wasn't the heat. It was the bugs. While I was fixing the greenhouse door, I must have been bitten twenty times. I think they were mosquitos, although I never saw any. Chiggers and other tiny critters bite as well, so it could have been anything.

There's an eclipse of the moon later this evening. I can't decide whether it's worth the effort to stay up late and try to watch it. The weather isn't cooperating. It was clear around sunset, but it is partly cloudy now and the weather radar shows a line of thunderstorms headed south toward us from Oklahoma. I'll take a look outside and see how things look after we take Dawn out to pee for the night. No great loss if I can't see the moon. I've seen lunar eclipses many times before. They all look pretty much the same.

It's been a nice weekend even though it is way too hot. I think we are setting record temperatures for May. Hopefully it will be cooler tomorrow when we go visit the rescue Dalmatians. I've never met a Dalmatian that enjoys the heat. 

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4499

It was a very busy day. Since our monthly bulky trash pickup is tomorrow, I thought I'd try to remove the remaining leaves from our side yard. There were a ton of leaves and I eventually bagged up most of them and took the bags out to the curb. I should have done this weeks ago, but at least I got it done. Hopefully it will be easier now to get the mower out to the front yard now when it's time to mow.

I got a message from FedEx this morning saying that my camera part from China had been delivered. I went outside to get the package, but there was nothing. I looked everywhere. The FedEx curse had struck again. This package was supposed to arrive by FedEx Express, so I thought they might be a little better than FedEx Ground. Nope. Same terrible service. 

I called the lady at the local Fedex Ground terminal who had helped me find my lost star tracker and asked if she knew anyone locally at FedEx Express who could help me find out what had happened. She didn't know anyone, but was able to look up a local number for me. When I called the number, someone was able to determine what truck my package was on and called the driver. An hour later I got a call back saying that the driver had left the package at my neighbor's house by mistake. Sure enough, that's where the package was, right by the front door. I was nervous to go inside the gate and get the package because this was the same house where the dog bit me years ago. I made sure that the dog was not outside and then quickly retrieved the small package. All is well now, but I still think FedEx could do better.

It's too late to change my mind about going to the observatory now. I'm starting to get work assignments. I need to forget the long drive and remember how much I've enjoyed my trips to the observatory in the past. I've made this trip four time before. Surely I can do it one more time. I kind of feel the same way about the trip to West Texas as I do about my daily walks. The walks are not always fun, but the alternative is even worse. I'm not ready to give up and do nothing. I'll continue trying to keep my mind and body active for as long as I can. There's nothing fancy about this. You've just got to keep moving.

I did pretty well at keeping moving today. In addition to all the exercise I got raking and bagging leaves, I also took an even longer walk than usual. I joined Dawn and Janet on their afternoon walk and then just kept walking. 25,000 steps today. I don't think that this is an all time record, but it's pretty close. My feet hurt, but not nearly as bad as I expected. 

On the way home I passed a guy who has been taking care of one of my neighbor's yards for years. He's a nice guy that I've known for a long time and I asked him if he'd be interested in adding another yard to his lawn care business. I was a bit surprised when he said that he'd be happy to take care of my yard. He said he could go up on the roof and remove the standing water from time to time as well. Maybe it's time to make this transition. When I mowed last week I could tell that my mowing days were numbered.

My new Hoka boots have arrived and I can pick them up at the store tomorrow on my way to get a haircut. Today was good. The weather was nice and it felt like I was making progress. There needs to be more days like this.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4437

I had to scramble to get all the bagged leaves out to the curb for bulky trash day. For weeks I'd been thinking that big trash day was next week, but it turns out it is tomorrow. How is it already the third week in February? It seems like February just started. I guess I could have looked at a calendar. Depending on memory doesn't work so well these days. 

After I moved all the bags of leaves out to the street, I thought I'd start cleaning up the sticks and twigs left behind in the yard by the power company tree trimmers. These guys should have done a much better job of cleaning up. There were twigs and small branches everywhere. I picked up as much as I could before it started to rain and added the growing brush pile to the leaf bags piled on the curb. All this activity was harder than I thought it would be. Old bones aren't meant for bending over and picking up hundreds of twigs and branches. My back hurts now.

Maybe I was just tired because I took my long walk before attempting to clean up the yard. It wasn't as windy as yesterday, but there was still a strong breeze. There was a light mist as well. It didn't really feel like it was raining, but by the time I returned home my jacket was wet. Dawn has done better than I have on walks lately. The weather was fine on her sunrise walk this morning. If I remember, it was pretty good yesterday morning as well. Yesterday the temperature dropped as the day progressed. Today it got wetter as the day progressed. My feet weren't my friends today. Lots of foot pain, but by the time I finished hauling trash out to the curb, I still managed to get 20,000 steps.

We got more rain than I expected this afternoon. I really hope we don't have another roof leak. I have the pumps working and there appears to already be a lot of water on the roof. Hopefully, the pumps will remove enough so a leak doesn't develop. I probably should have waited to start making repairs, but the stains on the ceiling were driving me crazy. Winter just isn't a good time to deal with roof problems. As soon as you start making a little progress, it starts raining again. Needless to say, it's frustrating.

Basically, everything is frustrating these days. I don't get angry, but I'm in a continual state of mild irritation. Do I really need dozens of robocalls and spam messages every single day? Why am I paying AT&T to irritate me using my own phone? Why do all publications have paywalls on the Internet now? I'm never going to subscribe to your online whatever. I know if I wait a few days I'll be able to find the same information for free somewhere else. A pox on your paywalls. Why is every ad on television for some kind of prescription medicine with announcer copy describing side effects that will probably kill you. Can't we just go back to ads about tv-dinners and refrigerators. Social media is insanely irritating. I'm convinced that you can trace back most of today's problems to social media. Society doesn't function well when every problem is instantly broadcast to the entire world. Someone lights a match and all the sudden it's a forest fire. We don't need to know what everyone else is doing in real time. It's not good. We would all be better off if we all just minded our own business.

I need to remember that I have a teleconference with my gastro-intestinal specialist tomorrow. I've never done one of these virtual visits before, but it sure beats driving down to Baylor hospital. When I was given the option of an office visit or a virtual call, it didn't take me long to decide. One of the biggest changes that Covid has made is that you basically don't have to leave your house anymore. There is a virtual option for just about everything.

Dawn didn't get to go to training class tonight. It's raining outside now. I keep hearing about severe weather warnings, but it's hard to tell what's headed our way. It's pretty calm right now. There are some severe storms out in West Texas this evening that are headed to the Northeast. Hopefully they will pass to the North of us by the time they arrive here tomorrow morning.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4317

What a beautiful sunrise this morning. The days keep getting shorter, so we'll continue to start our walks with Dawn just before dawn, at least until the time changes in early November. I hope this weather continues for a while. It is usually brisk and cool in the morning. I wear a light jacket on our sunrise walks and it is still brisk and cool without the jacket when I take my long walk after breakfast.

I took two Tylenols when I got up this morning because I wanted to have an enjoyable walk. Tylenol actually seems to work better for arthritis pain than for headaches. Who knew? I won't take any tomorrow and we'll see what happens. I do think my foot is gradually getting better, largely because of the new shoes.

I've got to think of something new for breakfast. I don't feel like returning to making smoothies every morning, but I'm getting tired of the shredded wheat. I've eaten just about everything over the years. There was a period where I had a grapefruit every morning. I had yoghurt for a while, although I hate it now. I made pancakes from scratch and went through a period where I fixed myself elaborate omelets. One of my omelet recipes was even featured in a cookbook once. If you've been reading the blog long enough, you may remember the SXSW Cookbook. I started making smoothies when Janet got a Vitamix but never really used it. I thought the Vitamix was magic. I started making delicious soups for dinner and then discovered smoothies for breakfast. Somewhere along the line I started going out to restaurants for breakfast every Friday. Covid ended that activity. I need to make breakfast interesting again. It used to be my favorite time of the day.

I'm a lazy person by nature, but I feel guilty doing nothing on Tuesday because that's when Janet cleans the house. To make myself useful today, I cleared away all the brush that had taken over the narrow side yard on the East side of our house. I almost forget that this small patch of land exists. This is the side of the house where the bedrooms and bathrooms are and the windows are glazed with frosted glass. This lets lots of light in, but blocks the ugly view. You don't need curtains either. I'm still impressed at how clever the architect of this house was in the mid 1950's. It's too bad that seventy years have passed and the house is falling apart.

I cleared away a mountain of brush and small trees and hauled them to the curb just in time for the bulky trash truck which arrived about an hour after I was finished. I had totally forgotten that it was bulky trash day today, but it turned out to be convenient timing. After the side yard had been cleared, I cleaned the windows. They were covered in spiderwebs because spiders seems to love our house. That's one good thing about Winter. The spiders are gone. Everything looks nice now and I hope it stays that way. I don't want to go in that side yard again until next year.

When I was walking this morning, I saw two helicopters in the distance that appeared to be circling my house. This was a little alarming. I worry about fire a lot since I hear so many firetrucks going up and down our street. As I got closer to home, I thought that it must be a bad auto accident instead of a fire. Our street is way too busy for it's size. For a while it was used as a detour when a freeway was under construction and a lot of people kept using the road after the freeway was finished. I started seeing a lot of police cars and wondered how many police cars you really need for a wreck. About three blocks from home a lady walking her dog passed me and said "be careful, they're chasing bad guys." I never did find out what was happening. Just another day in the city I guess.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4304

Not a lot happened today. I slowly and methodically went through my daily routine, but I was still left with a lot of time on my hands. I should use days like these to do something significant, but I seldom do. Sometimes I think of things to do around the house while eating breakfast. If I don't immediately talk myself out of the task because it is too messy or too hard, the desire is usually gone by the time I finish my long walk. Even on a nice day, walking six miles can be a little tiring.

I paid some bills and answered a few e-mails this morning, but that didn't take up as much time as I'd hoped. The weather was nice and I really had no excuse not to finish the weeding I'd started in the backyard. I'm still not finished, but the white gravel pathways are looking much nicer now. Since I'm having trouble with my knees, I did most of the weeding bending over at the waist. I'm sure this wasn't good for my back. From time to time I'd sit down and rest, wondering why I had even started doing something like this. I guess it's better than being up on the roof. The yard does look better now, although you wouldn't notice anything special unless you'd seen how bad it was before.

The November issue of SpaceFlight Magazine must have gone to press because I got a message this morning asking if I wanted author copies. Sure. I always want author copies. Without a physical copy of the magazine to hold in my hands, it's easy to forget that I've written anything. I hope this issue doesn't take eight months to get here like the February issue. It might though. Covid might be waning in the UK, but now nobody seems to be able to get gas for their cars.

I wonder if there is a limit to how many callers I can block on my phone. I seem to add a few more to the blocked list every single day. Don't spammers and telemarketers know that almost nobody answers their phone anymore unless they recognize the number. Somebody is putting a whole lot of energy into this. Why don't they just get a real job? I don't understand people at all. Way too many will put more time and energy into cheating someone than they ever would into doing something decent. People are terrible. I almost feel sorry for Mark Zuckerberg. It's easy to criticize Facebook when the real problem is the people who use it.

If the weather stays nice I really need to get up on the roof and clean away the leaves and debris so I can look for torn spots in the elastomer. I need to do my best to get the roof sealed again before Winter arrives. In the Summer water will evaporate after a rain. In the Winter it just stays there forever. One thing I've learned about water is that if it sits long enough, it will eventually find a way in the house. I wish there was a way to even out the low spots where water collects. In my mind there ought to be a product that you could pour into the low spots where it would harden to level the roof out so it would drain properly. I ask every roofer I talk to about this imaginary product, but it apparently doesn't exist. 

The storage warehouse raised my rent again. They do this every year. I could probably save money by going back to the old storage warehouse as a new customer. It's so much trouble to move everything though. A better solution would be to just get rid of all the stuff I'm storing. What am I storing it for? At some point "too nice to throw away" doesn't make sense anymore. 80% of the stuff  I'm storing will never be used again. Oh, well. One more thing to worry about in the future. 

I hope that tomorrow is more interesting than today. I guess that's up to me though.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4301

Today was beautiful. It's hard to complain about clear blue skies and cooler temperatures. Dawn was ready for a walk as soon as we woke up this morning. She doesn't really approve of sleeping in on weekends. One of the many nice things about cooler weather is that we don't really need to walk before sunrise anymore. It's cool enough now to walk a dog any time of day.

After a breakfast of pancakes and sausages, I took my long walk. I wanted to be finished in time for Dawn's Sunday outing. The park was full of people this morning and the roads were crowded. I think everyone with a convertible had their top down today. I saw a beautifully restored Porsche 356 Speedster and a Shelby Cobra on my way to the park. There were lots of convertible Mustangs and Cameros as well. I've never understood the appeal of a convertible. I've never even opened the sunroof on my car. I prefer as much insulation from road noise and exhaust fumes as I can get.

I'm surprised that the lake level is still way down after the big rain we got the other day. The little bay where all the ducks and geese used to gather is still mostly dry. I see lots of photographers with long telephoto lenses in the park on weekends. I don't think they were very successful today. There were lots of people taking advantage of the nice day, but the animals were elsewhere.

When we took Dawn on her Sunday outing, there were crews taking down lots of tents. I think there was a big Octoberfest event yesterday. As you might expect, there was trash everywhere. People don't seem to be able to throw their trash in a trash can even if there are receptacles every ten feet. I have no desire to attend festivals like this. I'm not even sure I want to go to the fair. There are way too many people for me. 

Dawn doesn't know how to pace herself. She gets too excited on these Sunday outings and it wasn't long before her tongue was hanging out and we needed to rest under some shade trees. The weather was cool and we weren't walking fast. Dawn couldn't relax though. She seems to really like these outings, but she is still a very anxious dog. The ice cream cone at the end of our walk did calm her down. We all love ice cream.

After three walks I was done for the day. Since the weather was nice I thought I'd try to clear some weeds out of the gravel pathways in the back yard. That didn't last long. My knees are terrible now and weeding is no longer something my body seems to approve of. Never mind. I convinced myself that the weeds were going to die soon anyway and went back into the house.

I can't get the new sleep tracking features on my watch to work, but the watch talks to me now. Who thought that was a good idea? I've got to figure out how to turn this off. There is too much noise in the park already. I don't need to listen to my watch telling me how slow I'm going.

Tomorrow we'll visit the Dalmatian kennels. We always do this on Mondays. I'm not sure if Oliver is back from the vet yet, but Charlie will be there to greet us. 

Hobbs is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4205

Every once in a while I do something unpleasant just because it needs to be done. Today I bought a bunch of St. Augustine sod and covered all the bare areas in the back yard. Today seemed like a good day to put in new sod because the ground was still very wet and made it easier to prepare the soil for the new grass. I haven't put in sod for a while and had forgotten that this is a tiring, messy job. I used to put in a new turf almost every year. Then we started using a landscape company for a while. Lately we have done nothing and I just mow the weeds. Wet, muddy sod is messy stuff to carry around in a car. The old Land Rover Defender was certainly easier to clean up afterwards. It was probably good that the sod was wet though bacause it won't dry out as fast when we are trying to get it established. Wet sod is very heavy. Each square seemed to weigh twice as much as I remember.

I think I did a good job. The yard looks presentable now and Dawn will be a lot less likely to roll around in the dirt. Like other outdoor chores I've attempted recently, installing the sod reminded me that I'm well past my prime. My hands still hurt from carrying each piece or the heavy, slippery sod from the car to the back yard. I thought it would be easy to carry a square of sod in each hand while I was moving the stuff to the back yard. I must have been dreaming. I had to carry one square at a time. I definitely have some arthritis in my fingers now. The old joints don't move like they used to. I got the job done though and now there is one fewer item on my to do list.

By the time I was finished with the yard work it was way too hot to take my long walk in the park. I did a load of laundry, took a short nap, and then went to the gym. I got a notice the other day that my gym no longer has a mask requirement. Nobody was wearing masks today. This was quite a change from a few days ago and seemed to prove that everybody had just been following the rules without any strong feelings about whether masks actually worked. One old fool was wearing a loose fitting cloth bandana while he was running around the track but that was about it. Now that the mask mandate is history, I hope that the gym brings back the basketballs soon. I really used to enjoy shooting baskets on the court. They said I could bring my own basketball, but it would be a lot easier to just use one of theirs.

Dawn had a day of beauty at the vet while I was putting in the new sod this morning. Janet discovered that the price included a nail trim and getting Dawn's anal glands expressed, so the deluxe bath was actually less expensive than taking Dawn to one of those self-bathe places and then having a vet do the nails and anal glands as separate items. We still need to figure out why Dawn is obsessively licking her feet, but that's going to be a lot more complicated than getting a bath.

I watched the Space X Transporter 2 launch this afternoon on the streaming channel. The launch got scrubbed with ten seconds on the clock. There was a range violation and apparently there was a boat or an airplane in the restricted zone. Every time a launch is scrubbed it reminds me that a trip to Florida is never a sure thing. When a launch gets delayed, suddenly your trip becomes much more expensive. This has happened to me several times already and I haven't even been to that many launches. I guess nothing is a sure thing. There's been a lot of rain out at McDonald Observatory recently, so this wouldn't have been a good time for a visit out there either. The Davis Mountains really needed the rain though. It has been very dry this year.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm definitely not going to do any more yard work. Hopefully I won't be dealing with roof leaks either. A day with absolutely nothing on the agenda is perfectly fine with me.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4201

I knew it was going to be a hot day when we walked Dawn this morning. I also knew that if I used this as an excuse, I wouldn't get anything done for the rest of the summer. As soon as I finished breakfast, I reluctantly mowed the grass. We have a small yard, but this still seems like a big job. Things have changed a lot over the years. There's a tree in the front yard that seems to have doubled in size. The street is much busier now. I hate mowing down by the curb because cars are wizzing by me at 40 miles an hour. I got the job done though. Both the front and back yard look a lot better now. I even weeded a little garden area near the front porch. I guess I could have done more, but I was hot and tired. I came inside, changed my clothes, and took a nap while I tried to decide what to do next.

By the time I finished the yard it was way too hot to go up on the roof. It's still supposed to rain on Monday, so if I'm going to find what is causing the current leak, I've got to do it this weekend. Maybe the weather will be a little cooler tomorrow. I wish I could think of some more interesting magazine ideas, but I'm coming up with nothing. It's becoming clear that I'm more of a travel writer than a science writer. That's OK, but it's not a good time to go to Florida and I doubt I'll be returning to the observatory until at least October. I did propose a few astrophotography ideas to Sky & Telescope recently, but all I did was embarrass myself. I still know next to nothing about the subject.

Since I didn't feel like cleaning the house, this left me with another trip to the gym. You'd think a gym would be filled with young athletic people, but mine is filled with people even older than me. I guess it's encouraging to see these people still moving around, but it's discouraging to realize that I'm going to become even slower than I already am in the years ahead. I like my gym though. It's large, well equipped, and very cold. You have to work really hard to break into a sweat at this place. I'm more likely to feel like I need a jacket. I'll be glad when cooler weather returns. It's much more enjoyable to walk outdoors than to  work on resistance training and endlessly travel in circles around a small oval running track. 

I'm getting a "service required" message in my car again. It's irritating because I know nothing is wrong. This happens every year around this time if I haven't made an appointment for scheduled maintenance. Last year I convinced the dealership to turn the warning off if I came in for an oil and filter change. I don't think I'll get away with that this year. After two years they're going to want an opportunity to charge me thousands of dollars for things that probably aren't that bad to begin with. If I drove more, I'd make maintenance a higher priority. I don't drive much at all these days and if I am taking a trip I'll almost always rent a car. 

It's time to make a grocery list again. Now, a bag of ice is regularly on my Saturday list. I just can't bring myself to call the appliance repairman yet. Ice is cheap and refrigerator repairs are expensive. We don't use much ice, so a bag of party ice will usually last me two or three weeks. I didn't used to be such a cheapskate, but retirement and living on a fixed income will do that to you.

A friend proposed that I extend my 5000 post goal to 7500 days. Nope. Not going to happen. I'm running out of things to say already.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4196 - Summer Solstice

It's the first day of Summer, the longest day of the year, and also Father's Day. Occasionally my birthday falls on one of these days as well. I'm going to skip the Father's Day remembrances this year. A lot of what happened during the early years have been lost to the mists of time. I do remember the latter years when I had to take over my Dad's affairs after he could no longer handle things himself. Not a lot of good memories there. Truthfully, I've never had strong family ties and don't spend a lot of time thinking about family. I jokingly tell people that I was raised by wolves, but I suspect that my parents did a pretty good job raising me. I've always been able to cope and have succeeded at just about everything I've tried. I'm sure my Dad had a lot to do with that, whether I was aware of it or not.

I thought I'd try to outwit the weather and take my long walk right after breakfast this morning. I don't drink my morning smoothie during the weekend, so I was able to get an early start. Janet volunteered at a dog event again today, so Dawn had no interest in walking with me. If she could have overcome her fears, she would have enjoyed the walk. It was still pretty cool outside at 7:30 AM. Keep in mind that this is Texas in the Summer, so 'pretty cool' means 80 degrees.

I was easily able to complete six miles this morning. I should do this more often. The problem is that it takes so long to drink a half-gallon fruit smoothie that I don't know where I'd find the time. If I drink the smoothie first, it's already gotten too hot outside for a pleasant walk by the time I'm finished. If I walk first, I don't feel like eating or drinking anything when I return. Today was easy. I just had a quick bowl of cold cereal before leaving the house. I won't abandon the smoothie though. I've convinced myself that it is extremely healthy.

I was a little tired when I returned from my walk, but a short nap took care of that. I realized that it was now or never for removing the rest of the dead Photinia trees, so I got out my heavy reciprocating saw and went to work. I must have saved the hardest trees for last, because it required quite an effort to cut them down. The trouble with this type of saw is that the blades are relatively short, making it almost impossible to cut through a thick stump. It is also impossible to cut the trees down flush to the ground. At some point I'm going to have to hire someone to dig up the roots of these trees. The exposed stumps don't look all that great. All that being said, the yard does look a lot better now. I don't look better unfortunately. I always manage to cut myself when I am doing yard work. One of the hazards of taking blood thinners I guess. The slightest scratch results in a cut.

It's time to start watering the grass again, but I couldn't find a sprinkler that worked. All three were broken. I guess it's time for another trip to Home Depot. I'll need to buy a hose as well. The one hose long enough to reach all parts of the yard has a big leak in it. Whatever I buy probably won't last any longer than the worthless tools I threw away today. I think all this stuff is made in China out of recycled tin foil.

Dawn had no interest in staying outside with me while I worked in the yard today. Every time I took her out to pee, she immediately went to the back door and wanted to go inside as soon as she had done her business. The little diva spent her day sitting in the middle of our king sized bed while I was sweating outside. Whoever coined the phrase 'it's a dog's life' never met our dogs.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day