Day 4020

I thought I'd go grocery shopping early this morning to let the weather warm up before our second attempt to take Dawn on a normal walk. The store was only open to Plus Card members between 8 and 9 AM. I don't even know what a Plus Card is, but they let me in anyway. It actually was a pretty good time to shop. The store was virtually empty.

After I returned, we had breakfast and then we took Dawn for a walk. Janet and I were both curious to see if Dawn would freeze again. We let her lead the way and things went pretty well for a while. We accidentally crossed one of our old familiar paths and Dawn froze again. She just doesn't want to walk on this road anymore. Luckily, Janet brought some cheese with her and we were able to lure Dawn down to the shoreline where we continued walking. We had to use the cheese again to get Dawn to cross two familiar bridges, but we ended up having a pretty decent walk. We walked through a lot of big open fields and along the edges of wooded areas. As long as there were new and different things to smell, Dawn was fine. At one point Janet got too far ahead and Dawn started walking faster to catch up with her. I can't run anymore. She tried to jump a small ravine and I couldn't keep up with her and fell. I skinned my knee but I didn't let go of the leash. I'm not sure where Dawn would have gone if I did. When we reached the halfway point and turned to return home, I was pretty sure there would be no further problems. Dawn walked on a lot of familiar trails on the return trip and never hesitated at all. Her goal was to get back to the house where she could sit on the bed again.

I was going to clean up the broken glass in the greenhouse today and take it out to the curb for bulky trash day. As luck would have it, the trash trucks came while I was at the grocery store. Why did I think they were going to come on Monday? Oh, well. I cleaned up the glass anyway and put it in a box. Now I just need to remember to set the box out at the curb next month.

It was hard to get motivated today. I didn't feel like starting any new projects or cleaning up the office. I vacuumed the bedrooms, did a load of wash, and that was about it. Maybe yesterday's huge meal made me feel sluggish. All I really wanted to do today was sleep.

We've noticed that there are way more police and fire sirens than there used to be. We hear these sirens every time we walk Dawn. They wake us up when we are sleeping. We hear sirens every few hours now at all times of day and night. I guess this is just part of living in a city these days. It definitely wasn't like this when I first moved to Dallas. It would be nice to live in a place with no sirens and nothing to worry about at night. Lots of luck with that. Such places probably don't exist anymore.

I thought I figured out a way to syndicate the blog to Facebook again, but it didn't work. It's probably not worth the effort to spend much time on this. I've gotten pretty fast at making the JPEG image of my post every night anyway. Syndication services that automatically post the blog to various places used to save me a lot of time. I still syndicate the blog to Twitter, so I never have to visit Twitter myself. I used to do the same thing with Facebook until they banned a lot of the syndication services. I guess I'll continue visiting Facebook for the time being. I like seeing all the dog pictures.

I don't know if Dawn's reluctance to travel down a familiar path is temporary or permanent. It makes life a little difficult though. When we leave the house in the morning we've only got two choices. We can either go left or we can go right.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4019 - Christmas

It turns out it wasn't Dawn, it was us. We tried an experiment this morning. Instead of having Dawn follow us on a walk, we followed her. She led us over the hills and through the woods on a wild walk to parts of the park we had never even visited before. Luckily, it was a beautiful, dry winter day with no poison ivy, no bugs, and most importantly, no snakes. Dawn had a great time. She was happy, energetic, and didn't freeze in place at all. We ended up walking over five miles and probably could have walked longer. If there is a lesson in all this, it might be that Dawn thinks we are boring people and wishes we would do more interesting things with her.

Dawn's triumphant Christmas walk was the beginning of a very pleasant day. The house was filled with the smells of delicious things in the oven. Janet talked with her family on the phone while I finally figured out how to use my new camera. I've barely scratched the surface of what the camera can do, but I did take some pictures and was pleased with the results. I figured out how to install and pair the phone app that lets me operate the camera remotely and I tried out a couple of lenses that I already own. This camera is going to be very good for astrophotography and future Dalmatian Rescue photo shoots.

Even Facebook was better today. Instead of people arguing about politics, there were just lots of happy pictures of dogs dressed up in Christmas outfits. It's too bad we can't act like it's Christmas all year long. For one day a year, humanity doesn't seem so bad after all.

I took another walk later in the day and some of the larger paved trails were filled with children playing with their Christmas toys. The gifts kids get now are much larger and more expensive than what I used to find under the tree. Janet and I were talking recently about how happy we were to get a ViewMaster for Christmas when we were little. Everything runs on batteries now and will probably break fairly quickly. I saw a parade of children riding on fancy motorized toy cars and scooters. There were motorized skateboards as well. A lot of the older kids on motorized scooters were going way too fast. Luckily, I didn't encounter any serious accidents today. It would have spoiled my Christmas mood.

Our Christmas dinner was delicious. Janet baked a Crown Roast surrounded by root vegetables, all covered by a fabulous spicy glaze. When it came out of the oven it looked like something you'd see in a food magazine. Our side dishes were candied sweet potatoes, Italian sausage dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, and a Brussels Sprout salad. We made Mimosas, got out our best champagne glasses and ate way too much.

Dawn got her first taste of Devon's Doggie Delights for Christmas and she loves the Cheese Chompers. I forget when we first discovered Devon's treats, but Dot and Dash loved them. I'm really happy that Dawn had a good day. It was so nice to see her acting normally again. We'll see how long this lasts. Realistically, it will be impossible to let her drag us through the woods every day. The park isn't that big either. There are only so many undiscovered routes left. Maybe we just have a very stubborn dog instead of a dog with mental problems. We forget sometimes that Dawn is a mama dog who has raised many, many puppies. I think this might explain a lot of her behavior.

A very Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your day was as nice as ours was. For a short moment in time, I'm feeling fairly optimistic.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4018

Dawn is still acting weird. We didn't even try to walk early this morning because it was so cold. Later in the day, Dawn seemed eager to go outside. We walked normally for a while. She smelled things and seemed active and engaged. Then after we had gone about a mile, she froze, just like she did the other day. Janet walked ahead to see if she would eventually follow her. Nope. She wouldn't turn around and go back home either. I had a hard time getting her out of the middle of the road where she was in the way of cars and bicycles. As soon as Dawn saw that Janet was turning around and coming back to us, Dawn turned around and headed home. She kept looking back to make sure that Janet was following us, but she seemed active and happy again. When Janet caught up with us, Dawn was wagging her tail and had a "mission accomplished" look on her face. I have no idea what is going on. Taking long walks used to be one of her favorite activities. I could be easily convinced myself that Dawn is having a seizure when she freezes like this, if it weren't for the fact that she instantly returns to normal as soon as Janet and I turn around and head home again. This evening she ate a small round hole in her favorite blanket. What's that all about? We were right next to her having dinner and we never saw or heard anything.

Dawn may have tired of walking, but I'm still moving. It's disappointing that Dawn doesn't want to accompany me anymore, but I still need to get my steps. I took a long walk by myself and thought about the complexities of understand a dog's behavior. It would be so much easier if they could talk and tell us how they were feeling. Dawn's vital sighs and her recent blood work look excellent. Physically, she seems to be in good health. We're guessing that she might have had a traumatic brain injury earlier in her life. This would at least explain the signs of atrophy we see on the top of her head. It might explain her erratic behavior too. It's all just a guess though. 

I did some accounting this afternoon and couldn't get things to balance again. This never used to happen. I went over my entries in Quickbooks three times and couldn't find any mistakes. Why was I $50 off then?  Somewhere there has to be an easy answer to all of this. Why does a healthy, active dog suddenly refuse to walk? Why can't I balance my books anymore? I have a feeling that if I were younger and more on top of my game, things would start to make sense.

I installed Stellarium on my computer this afternoon and played around with it for an hour or two. There is so much I will never see in the night sky. It's hard to even learn the basics, like where all the constellations are, when you can't see anything due to city light pollution. Even if I found a dark spot in the park with a clear view of the sky, the light pollution would still be there. It's a shame. When I'm out in the Davis Mountains, I can tell that my interest in astronomy is real. It's an uphill battle to maintain that interest though when you live in a city where it's almost impossible to see anything.

I need to read my e-mail more carefully. I was getting ready to take the trash out to the curb tonight and started wondering whether anything would be picked up on Christmas Day. Probably not. Maybe the city sent us a message. Sure enough, I found a message from the sanitation department that was sent last week. It said that trash would be picked up on Wednesday this week. Oops. That was yesterday.

It's hard to believe it's Christmas tomorrow. Where has this year gone? I hope that all of you enjoy the holidays. Christmas is still a hopeful time, even for someone like me. Hey, maybe 2021 will be better.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4017

Dawn is still acting weird on her morning walks. She always appears eager to leave the house. We'll walk a little ways and she'll do her business. We'll continue walking and then for no reason, she'll stop and refuse to go any further. She doesn't appear to be in any pain or having a seizure. As soon as we agree to turn around and retrace our steps to the house, she's back to her old self, walking briskly and full of purpose. Is she just being stubborn or is there something wrong? It's hard to tell.

At any rate, Dawn missed out on a nice walk this morning. It was really pretty outside and the weather was just about perfect. Dawn certainly doesn't have any separation anxiety. She could care less if Janet and I go off walking by ourselves. As long as Dawn has our big bed to sleep on, she's a happy camper.

Since it was such a nice day today, Janet and I decided to go to the Dallas Arboretum this afternoon. The arboretum is well endowed and beautifully maintained. We often go during the Christmas season because they have special Christmas displays. I wonder how many gardeners it takes to keep this place looking so nice. This is how probably everyone would want their yard to look if they had an unlimited budget. You can get all sorts of ideas wandering through the acres of perfectly trimmed trees, colorful vegetation, and sparkling water attractions. If we tried to duplicate anything we saw this afternoon it would all probably all die within six months. A garden like this requires constant attention.

At Christmas there are twelve glass gazeboes scattered throughout the park, representing the twelve days of Christmas. There is also a full size Christmas village with little German style buildings, each filled with different types of food or Christmas ornaments you can buy. In a normal year, Christmas at the Arboretum is a very popular attraction. I guess Dallas is back to normal, because the place was packed today. It is very odd to see so many people acting completely normally all over town and then turn on the television and hear that our hospitals are full. Everyone except the small children were wearing masks today, but that was probably just because there were large signs all over the place saying that masks were mandatory. 

When we got home from the arboretum we tried to take Dawn on a walk again. She did much better this time and seemed to be enjoying herself until she abruptly froze and refused to go any further. We had probably gone about a mile when this happened. I would think that she might be having a small seizure if it weren't for the fact that as soon as we turn around, she starts wagging her tail again and begins walking briskly toward the house. 

Janet picked up the Crown Roast we are going to have for Christmas dinner at the butcher today. It looks amazing. We are going to have a quiet little Christmas, but we will eat well. We got some gifts for Dawn, but we don't need anything for ourselves. There is not much point in decluttering if you keep buying more.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4016

Dawn is still very unpredictable on her walks. She seemed very eager to leave the house this morning. After she pooped, she froze and refused to move for a while. I thought she was done, but suddenly she became playful and started running and jumping around. We continued walking for almost two miles while Dawn smelled trees and bushes and was seemingly in a good mood. Then she abruptly froze again and refused to move forward. We tried to change directions and encourage her with a new path, but she just wanted to go home. She obviously wasn't feeling any discomfort, because she kept up a brisk pace all the way home. Something is wrong, but it all seems to be in her head. We are beginning to wonder if Dawn had a traumatic brain injury at some point in her past.

When we got Dawn home again, Janet went to the gym and I just continued walking. It's a shame that Dawn didn't feel like walking today. It was such a nice day. I didn't set any records, but I got quite a few steps today. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too cold. It was just enjoyable being outdoors.

I'm really making an effort to declutter. It's such a monumental job that I think it's going to take years. Bulky trash day is tomorrow, so I was determined to add a few things to the pile at the curb. I filled several large black trash bags with useless stuff from the office. I finally took the new dehumidifier out of it's shipping container and threw away the box. I threw away a lot of other empty boxes too. It's hard for me to throw away a good box. Shoeboxes always seem useful to me. You can stack them because they're all about the same size. They are well made compared to other boxes and I always seems to have lots of little stuff to fill them with. All the empty boxes got broken down and went to the curb. There were some broken watch winders I threw away. These things were impossible to repair, but they looked nice, so it has always been hard for me to throw them away. I only threw away no-brainer stuff today, but it was surprising how many trash bags I was able to fill. 

The yard got some attention today as well. I threw away some leaky garden hoses and broken hand tools. It was too big of a job to rake all the leaves, but I did manage to sweep them off the front and back porches. I used the leaf blower to blow away a huge pile of leaves that had been blocking the door to the green house and discovered some more broken glass in the process. I guess the last wind storm had knocked out another pane. The greenhouse is a mess. It will be a big job to repair it and an equally big job to tear it down. 

Evidently the whole world watched the conjunction last night. There were a lot of pictures on Facebook. Some were better than mine and others were worse. I felt a little better about my efforts yesterday when I had something to compare my pictures with. Actually, I did quite well considering that I wasn't using a telescope. Almost all the photos that showed more detail than the ones I took were taken with high quality telescopes. Since there won't be another conjunction like this for hundreds of years, I guess it's time to go back to improving my Milky Way pictures.

The Boca Chica livestream was interesting today. Space X was moving the next Starship out to the launch pad. This sixteen story rocket was just traveling down a public highway on a very large truck. The rocket was upright too. It was an amazing sight. I guess Elon doesn't want to spend a lot of money building a special rail line or dedicated road to transport rockets from the factory to the launch pad. A state highway seems to work just fine.

I hope we can get Dawn walking normally again. She's not a playful dog and her walks are about the only exercise she gets. You don't want to let a Dalmatian get fat. It will almost guarantee that the dog will have problems with their rear legs later in life. In dog years Dawn is about the same age as Janet and I. We've all got to work on staying healthy.

Two sisters are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4015 - Winter Solstice

Dawn refused to walk this morning. Did something hurt? Was she too cold? Or was she just being stubborn? Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect that she was just being stubborn and wanted to go back to bed, because when we returned from visiting the Dalmatians at the kennel this afternoon, she walked just fine. Since Dawn didn't want to go anywhere this morning, Janet and I had to walk by ourselves. We completed our five miles a lot sooner without Dawn. She loves to smell things along the way and I find myself stopping to let her investigate a new smell every thirty or forty feet. These slow walks are fine by me. I'm never in a hurry in the morning anyway.

We spent a little extra time with the kennel dogs today because we won't be able to visit them next week. The kennel is typically completely filled with boarding dogs during the week between Christmas and New Year's when their owners are doing their holiday traveling. There aren't any empty open areas to play with the Dalmatians, so we just wait until the holidays are over. I was a little surprised that there were going to be a lot of boarding dogs this year. Apparently, Covid hadn't slowed down holiday travel in Texas at all.

It was perplexing that Dawn walked so normally with us after we returned from the kennel this afternoon. It was chilly this morning, but it was actually warmer than it was yesterday when Dawn was eager to walk. She might have been sore the first day after getting her rabies vaccine, but she's been acting normally ever since. I have no idea what was going through her head this morning.

The sky was clear this evening, so we got to see the conjunction after all. The two planets did appear as one to the naked eye, but they weren't as bright as I expected. Janet and I walked to a place in he park that had a clear view of the Western horizon. Other people must have had the same idea, because there were quite a few folks looking up at the sky. Most of them didn't even know what to look for. This conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has gotten so much media attention lately that some folks appeared to be expecting a spectacular show. Nope. It wasn't like the Fourth of July at all. If you brought a pair of binoculars, it was pretty cool to see that there were actually two planets up there near the western horizon. To the naked eye, it was a little underwhelming. You really had to watch the two planets gradually coming closer and closer together during the past month or so to fully appreciate tonight's conjunction.

I got a couple of good photos tonight, but it was still difficult to focus on these objects with the lens I was using. A lot of modern lenses don't have a focus ring on the lens barrel and I guess it is assumed that you will always use auto-focus. I made a bunch of very small manual focus adjustments and hoped that at least one of the images would be perfect. I did get several images where you could clearly see Saturn's rings, but I wasn't very impressed. I was using a camera lens instead of a telescope and Saturn was still very small. Hey, it's a learning experience. When I eventually do get a proper telescope I'll be much better at this.

I hope that Dawn feels like a walk tomorrow morning. We do these walks for her, but Janet and I need our exercise as well. It just works better when all three of us want to go in the same direction.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4014

I promised Janet that I'd throw away at least five things if she'd help me sort through stuff at the storage warehouse. We ended up removing a whole carload of useless stuff. The sad thing was that when we were finished the storage space didn't look any different. It will take quite a few trips like this to remove enough stuff so I can move to a smaller space.

I threw away a lot of empty boxes that I'd saved in case we moved someday. That's probably never going to happen. It never occurred to me that even if we did move, the electronic gear that came in the boxes would be obsolete or broken by then. I finally threw away my first computer, an old Osborne-1 that was completely rusted. I tossed a large rug that had been given to me as a gift. The rug had completely disintegrated and had either rotted of been eaten by moths. There were dozens of computer keyboards that probably didn't work anymore. I found a sales sample case filled with carefully mounted photos that I apparently meant to show to someone. The photos were so old though that they had all faded. The strangest thing I threw away was a white chef's uniform. What was I doing with a chef's uniform? 

I need to find a nearby commercial shredding company so I can get rid of a lot of old financial records. My accountant says to keep three years of documentation. I must have at least thirty years of records. There is some cool mid-century modern stuff that I might lend to a real estate friend for staging in houses he's selling. There's bunch of vinyl records that could go to a vintage record store. I'm willing to get rid of all my old computers now, but it's so much trouble to take them apart and remove the hard drives. Truthfully, most of the stuff in the storage warehouse wound up there because it was too much trouble to deal when I ran out of room in the office. I don't have the temperament to sell things on e-Bay or even do the research to see if anything might be valuable. It's a lot easier to just throw stuff in the storage space and forget about it. 

The sky was clear this evening, so I practiced taking pictures of Jupiter and Saturn. The two planets are already quite close together. Photographing them was a little more difficult than I anticipated though. Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn so it is almost impossible to find the correct exposure for both. Jupiter's four brightest moons are clearly visible with even a modest telephoto lens, but they are quite dim.  You could take three different images for Jupiter, Saturn, and the moons and then composite them together in Photoshop, but the color of the sky would be different in each photo. I learned some things tonight, so maybe my photos of the conjunction tomorrow will be better. If you are reading the blog on Blogger, you can enlarge this picture and see more detail. If you're reading on Facebook, you are out of luck, because you are just looking at a JPEG image of the blog post.

My new shoes are still doing a great job of reducing foot pain. Unfortunately, I forgot that I sometimes wake up with foot pain when I sleep in the wrong position. The shoes don't help much when your foot hurts before you even put a shoe on. Maybe there's some sort of lightweight wrap or brace I could wear at night. It's a nuisance when your body starts falling apart, but I still think I'm doing better than most people my age. 

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Where has this year gone? Janet usually visits her family on Christmas but Covid put an end to that. Hopefully by next Christmas we can all resume our regular routines.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4013

My new shoes are a success. I wore them for the first time on our morning walk with Dawn and experienced considerably less foot pain. There are still a few aches and pains, but what a difference. My late afternoon walk was even better. Usually by this time of day my feet are wrecked, but I was able to walk reasonably normally this afternoon. These shoes weren't cheap, but they are worth every penny. I feel like I have one less problem to worry about.

The broken dehumidifier that Janet dragged out to the curb for bulky trash pickup is already gone. I told Janet that someone would probably take it because it still looks new. Some poor fool probably thinks they scored a real find. It will take weeks for them to discover that the machine is basically worthless. It still turns on and sounds like it is working. All the buttons and displays still function. It just does a terrible job of extracting moisture from the air. Since the machine still extracts a little water from the air every day, the new owner might think that this is the way it is supposed to work. Nope. It's broken. Maybe I'll go get the other broken dehumidifier from the storage warehouse and put it out for big trash day too. Someone will inevitably snag this worthless machine as well. I know how this works because I used to be one of those people who would bring home worthless treasures I found along the side of the road.

Dawn is definitely back to normal. She had lots of energy this morning and we were able to take our full five mile walk. She seemed happy that I was able to walk a little faster as well. Even the dog likes my new shoes. Every morning we see four Muscovy Ducks. These ducks are kind of rare and stand out among the other ducks. Two males and one of the females always hang out together. The other female always seems lost or shy. Sometimes she follows along behind the other Muscovy Ducks. Other times she tries to hang out with the geese. Today we found her with a bunch of little black Coots. I've started to feel sorry for this pitiful little duck. All the other ducks seems to have rejected her. You know you've been walking a long time when the wild animals start to develop personalities. I'd never see all these things if I was just walking on a treadmill at the gym.

It was overcast this morning, but by sunset the sky was completely clear. I was able to see Jupiter and Saturn again. They keep getting closer and closer together. Maybe Monday evening will be clear. There has been such a media buildup about this planetary conjunction that it will be a disappointment if I don't get to see it. My best view tonight came as I was walking from the parking lot to pick up Chinese take out for dinner. I like PF Changs in Northpark, but this was not the best time to visit the mall. The place was packed around dinner time and it was almost impossible to find a parking place. There is such a disconnect between what I see on TV and what I see around town. On television the world is still shut down. In Dallas everything seems normal. Parking lots and restaurants are full. People are going to work and doing lots of shopping. They say hospitals are filling up in Dallas, just like other cities. You'd never know it though. The city seems exactly like it did last Christmas.

The shopping app on my phone didn't work today and I had to check out with a cashier. How old fashioned. I've totally adopted the new normal. I like contactless shopping and online pill payment. The fewer people I need to interact with the better. I don't miss holiday family gatherings at all. I never got along with my own family anyway. I don't really like wearing masks, but I find myself turning into a mask snob. I bite my tongue, wanting to tell other people that their cloth mask is worthless or that they are wearing it wrong. Maybe I'm wearing mine wrong as well. I don't think anyone has really mastered pandemic etiquette yet.

I'm going to try to throw some stuff away at the storage warehouse tomorrow. I'd better take Janet with me or I will just start labeling things and leave all the junk there. There has got to be an easier way to declutter. Getting rid of things still seems foreign to me.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4012

Dawn seems to be feeling better. We had a nice walk this morning and Dawn showed no signs of discomfort. We thought it would encourage her to walk if we let her choose the way. Luckily it was dry outside because Dawn quickly left the trail and went down by the shoreline. There's lots to smell down there. The uneven ground was a little harder on my foot, but Dawn had fun.

I followed my orthopedic surgeon's suggestions and got the running shoes he recommended. They definitely felt different in the store, but it remains to be seen whether they will cure my foot pain. I mostly buy shoes in self-serve discount stores, so it's been a while since I've had anyone fit me for a shoe. It appears that shoe shopping has gone high-tech. I stood on a special machine that displayed pressure points in your step as different colors. Even when I was standing relaxed with my weight equally distributed on both feet, it looked like I was placing more weight on my left foot. Interesting. Apparently I was compensating for something. Maybe it was the old knee injury in my right knee. I'm not expecting miracles, but I hope these new shoes help. I do like to walk. It's about the only form of exercise that I actually enjoy.

I'm glad I made an effort to look at Jupiter and Saturn the other day. It was overcast today and it occurs to me that I may not get a chance to see the planets again before the conjunction. The weather might be beautiful on Monday, but you never know here in Texas. If it is clear on Monday evening I'm going to attempt to photograph the planets through the biggest telephoto lens I've got. It's not a telescope, but it will have to do. I don't have the right adaptors to attach my camera to the one telescope I do own. I doubt that the photos will be spectacular, but taking pictures helps me remember things. I definitely won't have the opportunity to observe something like this again.

It's weird that after seeing two highly regarded medical specialists this week that their recommendations were just to change the shoes I was wearing and starting taking more Pepcid AC.  Somehow I was expecting much more complicated remedies. I sure would be nice if I could eliminate the foot pain, coughing, and heartburn with such a simple solution. One added benefit of taking Pepcid is that a recent research study showed that Covid patients taking Pepcid were 45% less likely to die in the hospital. I don't think the new shoes will have any effect on the virus.

I paid my property taxes today. Somehow, I was under the impression that property taxes were capped for senior citizens and wouldn't go up any more after you turned sixty-five. That was clearly wrong. They went up quite a bit this year. I'm sure this is a sign of things to come. Municipalities are losing a lot of sales tax revenue because of virus restriction and online shopping. They're going to get the money wherever they can find it. Oh, well. At least I won't have to worry about this bill for another year.

Where did this week go? It's already time to make a grocery list again. If it's not raining tomorrow morning I'll wear my new shoes on our walk with Dawn. I'll add a Pepcid to my list of evening meds as well. 

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4011

My swallow test was inconclusive. I thought this might happen. I ate or drank a variety of substances, all mixed with barium so they would show up on the x-ray video. It doesn't appear that I have any problems with pulmonary aspiration or dysphagia. The doctor said that my swallowing actually appeared fairly normal. She suspected that the coughing was associated with my ongoing heartburn problems. I used to take Protonix, a proton pump inhibitor that effectively eliminated the heartburn. As I grew older doctors said I should quit using this because it has been known to cause bone density to decrease. The older you get, the more your doctor tends to worry about weak, brittle bones. Gradually the acid reflux returned and now I just take a Pepsid AC whern I have a problem. "Why don't you just start taking these every day," my doctor suggested. Famotidine seems to work and there are few known side effects. We'll try this. It sure seems a lot easier than more aggressive treatments. While I was getting my tests done in the Baylor radiology department, I was afraid that I was just going to be referred to another specialist. Perhaps I would need to see a gastroenterologist or an esophageal specialist. Nope. We're just going to try the Pepsid for a while. Sounds good to me.

My medical exam ate up a lot of time today, so there wasn't much else on the agenda. Just finding a parking place in a hospital parking garage can take forever. By the time I returned home, there was time for an afternoon walk and not much else. Janet walked Dawn while I was gone. They went further than we did yesterday, but Janet said that Dawn still seemed uncomfortable. I still think she is just sore from the injections she got at the vet. My arm often feels sore for several days after an injection myself. Hopefully Dawn will be back to normal by this weekend.

I used to be so good at bookkeeping when I was working full-time. Now, I hate to even open Quickbooks. I finally got around to entering October credit card charges today but I'm still way behind. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just quit keeping track of things, but I'm way too disciplined to go that far. I guess I'll continue methodically keeping track of everything while gradually getting further and further behind.

My editor at Sky & Telescope gave me the go ahead to start on a new article. He wants an outline this time before I submit a finished draft. That's OK, even though I'm not much of an outline guy. When advertising clients wanted an outline, I often complete the assignment first and then write an outline afterwards based on what I'd already written. I've got a good relationship with SpaceFlight Magazine now. I hope I can build one with Sky and Telescope as well.

I went out after dinner and looked at Jupiter and Saturn again. The two planets are getting closer and closer together every day. I hope it stays clear for the conjunction next Monday. I'm going to try to photograph the two planets together, but since Jupiter is so much brighter than Saturn, getting the right exposure might be challenging. The fact that I'm even thinking about photographing the conjunction here in Dallas is a good sign that my interest in astronomy is real. I seldom even leave the house after dark in Dallas.

Tomorrow I'll go looking for the shoes that the foot surgeon recommended. I doubt that new shoes will eliminate the foot pain, but maybe it will help. I can live with the aches and pains I have now. I just don't want them to get worse.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4010

I think I finally know what is wrong with my foot. The cartilage between the metatarsal and cuneiform bones in the middle of my left foot has worn away, allowing bone to bone contact. This is basically the definition of arthritis. I also have a partially collapsed arch on this same foot caused by these bones not being aligned correctly. When I saw the x-rays and listened to the doctor, it all started to make sense. The doctor seemed surprised that I routinely walk as far as I do, but he said that if I want to stabilize the situation, I needed to wear a shoe with a very stiff sole to prevent the arthritic bones from flexing as much. This need for stiffness even explained why it was sometimes more comfortable when I walked with a limp. The doctor recommended two brands of running shoes that would provide the support I need and suggested that I wear them with arch support orthotics. He wants to see me again in six weeks wearing the shoes I selected.

I liked this doctor. He was able to explain exactly what was happening in a way I could easily understand. He also didn't recommend surgery, even though he was an orthopedic surgeon. He said in severe cases you could fuse the metatarsal and cuneiform bones to eliminate the flexing that was causing me pain, but that recovery was slow from this type of surgery and he seldom recommended it. You can't put any weight on the foot for a full six weeks after surgery. No thank you. I think I'd rather try some new shoes.

Dawn really didn't want to walk this morning. We only made it to the end of the block and then she refused to go any further. It was very cold this morning and she had to wear a sweater along with her outer coat, but I don't think that was the problem. Dawn had a rabies vaccination at her exam yesterday and I think she is feeling some soreness at the injection site. She also had another vaccination for leptospirosis. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow, but the soreness could last for several days.

Although it was overcast this morning, the skies had completely cleared by sunset. This looked like a good time to find a site to view the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21. It turns out that there is a a great place to view the conjunction very near the house. It's actually exactly where Dawn decided she'd had enough this morning and turned around to go home. I won't need to drive anywhere, and can just walk down the street a few blocks instead. Jupiter and Saturn are already very close together, but they don't look as dramatic as I expected. Saturn is pretty dim compared to Jupiter, but both planets are clearly visible.

I have one more trip to Baylor tomorrow and then my doctor's appointment marathon will be over. I learned a lot more than I expected today, so maybe I will learn something tomorrow as well. I've never had a swallow test before and I don't look forward to drinking the barium liquid they use to provide contrast for the x-rays they'll be taking. The whole procedure is painless and doesn't take long though. I'd like to know what is causing my periodic coughing spasms, but I'm a little apprehensive about what these doctors are going to recommend. I don't want any surgery on my esophagus and I definitely don't want to hear anyone say the word cancer.

I wish that dogs could talk. I feel bad that we tried to get Dawn to take a walk when she was feeling uncomfortable. It makes sense that Dawn was feeling painful from her rabies shot, but she could have just wanted to go back to bed. Dawn is a very stubborn dog.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4009

Dawn did very well at the vet today. There was a lot of shivering and shaking while we were waiting in the lobby, but when the vet took her back to the exam room, she told us that Dawn almost immediatelly calmed down and was well behaved during her entire exam. Maybe we are being played. We still can't join Dawn in the exam room due to Covid restrictions, but maybe that is for the best. It's nice to know how she reacts when we are out of sight.

There is still no clear consensus about what caused Dawn's seizure and high fever earlier this year, but she certainly appears to be in good health now. Our vet says she is less inclined to think that the seizure had anything to do with brain cancer because the type of cancer associated with the symptoms Dawn showed during her seizure progresses rapidly and Dawn actually seems much better now than she did at the time. I guess we'll just keep monitoring her health and hope for the best. Everyone seems to think that the seizure will appear again at some point in the future. We are not inclined to do an MRI or elaborate imaging at this point. If there is a tumor or lesion in her brain it is likely to be inoperable anyway.

There were no doubts that it was Winter today. It felt like it was about to snow for most of the day. We waited until early afternoon to walk Dawn in hopes that it would warm up a bit. It didn't. The house thermometer said it was 40 degrees, but it felt like it was below freezing. This didn't stop us of course. We added a sweater under Dawn's Winter coat, dressed warmly ourselves, and off we went.

After our walk, all I wanted to do was stay in the house and keep warm. I made a quick trip to the bank at some point but that was about it. It's hard to get motivated on a cold, grey day. It's not surprising that I remembered these lyrics today. "All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey. I'd been for a walk, on a winter's day." I don't spend a lot of time California Dreaming, but it would be nice if it was a little warmer.

Tomorrow I go to the foot doctor. I hope he can come up with a solution for me that doesn't involve surgery. I can't imagine that surgery would be involved, but the guy is a surgeon. For some reason, my regular doctor didn't really want to refer me to a podiatrist. I imagine the guy will take an x-ray, tell me that nothing is really wrong, and prescribe some sort of expensive orthotic. That's what's always happened in the past anyway.

I"m trying to organize my thoughts about a second Sky & telescope article. I've got several ideas, but am not sure whether any of them would be all that interesting. I'm not really an academic writer or a teacher. I think I'm more of a travel writer who just happens to be interested in rockets and space. Since I don't have clear skies, a good telescope, or an extensive knowledge of astronomy, I'll have to think of something else. 

I hope it warms up a bit. Janet says we need to walk early tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Dawn and I might just want to stay under the covers. 

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4008

With temperatures hovering around 32 degrees when we woke up this morning, we decided that it was too cold for an early walk. I ate my breakfast and waited for the sun to warm things up. It didn't take long. By the time Janet returned from the gym, it was pretty nice outside. Dawn was eager to walk and I had trouble keeping up with her. My feet were bothering me this morning and I eventually handed the leash to Janet. I think they arrived home a good fifteen minutes ahead of me. Oh, well. I see the foot doctor on Wednesday. We'll see what he has to say.

Since it was Monday, we spent the afternoon visiting Charlie and a new dog named Clyde at the Dalmatian Rescue kennel. I think Charlie expects to see us on Monday's now. When we arrive he races around like a maniac tossing toys in the air and catching them. We throw balls for him and play for a while and then take him outside to pee. After he has calmed down a bit we sit on a bench with him while he chews on a red Kong. Charlie is always chewing on something. Eventually Charlie gets tired and we bring out the treats. This dog will do anything for a treat and we've managed to teach him quite a few tricks.

Charlie and Clyde have completely different personalities. Clyde is kind of shy and seemed a little nervous around us today. He really likes one of the kennel attendants though so she stayed with us while we visited. I have a feeling that Clyde will be more relaxed the next time we visit. The kennel is still very new to him.

I got a check from Sky & Telescope today. The adventure that started well over a year ago has finally come full circle. I have been to the observatory three times since my initial visit in August of 2019. I have made some lasting friends. And I have gotten published in a magazine I have enjoyed since childhood. It's a good start. I'm already thinking of a second article to submit to the magazine.

Tomorrow Dot goes to the vet for her annual physical. She has recovered so well from her seizure incident that it's hard to believe the event even happened. We've got a list of questions for the vet, but there is nothing alarming at the moment. Dawn seems pretty healthy. She is going to need her teeth cleaned pretty soon, but hopefully there is nothing else on the horizon that would require her to be anesthetized. I hope that Dawn stays healthy for a long. long time. I have too many memories of serious illnesses with earlier dogs.

I don't know why it is so hard for me to throw away the two damaged dehumidifiers. My HVAC guy has explained to me how expensive is would be to get these things fixed. I have two perfectly good working dehumidifiers, including one that is still in the box. In my head I still think these things should be easy to fix. I guess that's why my storage warehouse is filled with junk. My large production printer is nonfunctional now, but I still remember the beautiful prints I used to make. I can't seem to throw this away either. I went to great lengths to fix three vintage synthesizers last year and I still haven't bothered to play any of them. It's a sickness.

Hopefully Dawn will get a clean bill of health from the vet tomorrow. Then it's my turn to go to the doctor on Wednesday and Thursday.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4007

Today was dismal. I woke up to the sounds of thunder and rain pounding on the roof. The temperature was only 39 degrees. Clearly we weren't going on a walk with Dawn this morning. This wasn't a case of waiting an hour for the skies to clear. It looked like it was going to be an all day rain. Dawn didn't want to go outside anyway. We couldn't even get her to go out in the back yard and pee.

I turned on the pumps, which actually worked for a change, and we ate breakfast. There were all sorts of things I could have done today, but it was hard to get motivated. I could have gotten more familiar with my new camera. I could have installed the new electrical wiring monitoring device. I could have explored a new article idea I have for Sky & Telescope. I did none of these things. I decide to stop a toilet from running instead.

I should have known from the start that this would be a thankless experience. I can no longer get the parts I need for the aging French toilet and have been forced to clean and repair the existing parts in the flush mechanism instead. Unlike American toilets that use a simple float mechanism to stop the flow of water when the tank is full, this Rube Goldberg device uses a complex system of tiny rubber membranes to accomplish the same thing. When the membranes being to leak, the toilet runs. I've cleaned and reassembled these part so many times, but each time it gets a little harder to achieve a perfect seal. I think I made things a little better today, but I still hear an annoying drip, drip, drip sound. I get so tired of fixing broken things, but there is really no alternative.

The rain started to subside around mid-afternoon and I was getting cabin fever, so I decided to take a walk. I dressed warmly because it was still very cold. I should have worn a raincoat. Although the weather radar showed that the rain was moving away from us, there was still a fine, wind driven mist down by the lake. Even though it wasn't raining hard, it didn't take long to get wet. I just kept walking. I was wearing two warm coats and the inner coat didn't appear to be getting wet. Needless to say, I didn't encounter many other people on my walk. It was cold and nasty outside but I enjoyed the solitude. Long, quiet walks are a good time to think. By the time I returned home I had walked over five miles. 

I've got an idea for a second Sky & Telescope article and I'm going to start writing an initial draft tomorrow. What have I got to lose? If the rain clears up, I'll definitely have to go up on the roof. We got a lot of rain today and even with the pumps running most of the day, there will still be a lot of standing water. I might write my one contact at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well to see if I can get myself invited to the Perseverance rover landing in February.

It was a miserable day, but oddly a cold walk in the rain helped to get me motivated. Who knows how long this will last. I might not even want to get out of bed in the morning. I noticed today that some of my very old blog posts have reappeared on Facebook. When were these posts reinstated and why is everything earlier than 2015 OK now? The newer blog posts are still gone. I've given up trying to figure Facebook out. My blog should never have been banned for violating community standards in the first place. Oh, well. I think robot algorithms control the whole thing anyway. 

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4006

It's weird how quickly the weather changes around here. The sky was completely clear when we started our walk this morning, but became overcast by the time we returned home. I thought it would warm up quickly because that's what happened yesterday, but it seemed to actually become colder as the day progressed. For the first time in quite a while I skipped my afternoon walk because I just didn't feel like dressing up in warm clothes again.

I received my author copies of Sky & Telescope in the mail today. I'd already received a PDF file of my article in the February issue, but I'm old school and like to hold a magazine in my hand. I've read this well known astronomy magazine off and on since I was in high school and it felt good to be included as one of the magazine's contributors. It felt even better to be the February issue's featured cover story. I think I'm on my way. I don't know what I'll write about in the future, but I definitely feel that there is a future.

Janet was gone this afternoon and when it was time for her dinner, Dawn followed me right out to the kitchen and watched as I prepared her evening meal. You'd think that any dog would do this naturally, but with Dawn this was progress. Inch by inch, she is slowly learning to trust me. I can join her on the bed now and she doesn't run away. I've learned to never make sudden movements and not to expect too much, but things are definitely changing for the better. Hopefully, by the time Covid restrictions are over and Janet starts to travel again, Dawn and I will be best buddies.

I need to find a place to observe the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21st. Both planets will be low in the Western sky and I don't have a good view of the Western horizon. I had the same problem when I was searching for comet Neowise earlier this year. Neowise was a little higher in the sky though. Hopefully, I'll find a good place close to home. I really don't like driving around in Dallas after dark anymore. It's a shame that cities don't feel safe these days. When I was younger I thought nothing of packing up my gear in front of a club at 2 AM after our band had finished a gig. Not anymore. Even an astronomical event that happens only once every 800 years, leaves me a little apprehensive. I'll find a good location, but this would be so much easier if I were out in the Davis Mountains.

I signed up for this pilot program with my insurance company to use a special device to continuously monitor my electrical wiring for signs that could potentially cause a fire. Since we live in an old house with dubious wiring, this sounds like a good idea. On the other hand since we live in an old house, the device will probably find problems and cause our insurance rates to increase. There's always a catch to everything. I've always been worried about electrical fires though, so on balance this still seems like a good idea. I just hope that every time it rains and the pump on the roof shorts out, the device doesn't send a warning to the monitoring company. This is going to happen and the outdoor outlet that the pump is plugged into is already protected by a breaker that I reset frequently. I guess we'll see what happens.

The weather forecast says that there's a 100% chance of rain tomorrow morning. What are the chances that we'll go on our morning walk anyway. Apple needs to do some work on it's iPhone weather app. It's almost always wrong.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4005

The rain arrived later than expected this morning, so we had time to walk Dawn after all. Our timing was pretty good because we were able to complete four miles and were almost home again before the first drops began to fall. It didn't take long to realize that the pumps weren't working correctly. I had to climb up on the roof and unclog one of them before I could eat my breakfast.

Rainy days are usually uneventful. I seldom leave the house and have no desire to start any major projects.  I puttered around the house and forgot what day it was several times. I still haven't taken the new dehumidifier out of the box but I did finally do a basic setup on my new camera. I wonder how long it will take me to start taking some pictures?

Janet was gone a lot today, so I worked on getting Dawn to learn how to do some basic things with me. The bedroom is her safe space and when Janet is gone, that's where she wants to stay. I had to put her on a leash to get her to go out in the back yard to pee. As soon as she was finished she ran to the back door and waited until I let her in so she could run to the bedroom again. She didn't even want to come out to the kitchen for lunch even though this is one of her favorite things when Janet is home. I do think we are making progress, but it is going very slowly.

The light rain stopped around mid-afternoon and I took my afternoon walk. Basically all I did today was walk. There were a few light sprinkles and I got a little wet, but it was fine. I enjoy watching the weather as long as there is not thunder and lightning. The clouds were moving swiftly today. By the time I returned home, the sky was starting to clear and I saw several large patches of blue among the clouds.

I got my editor's permission to share my new SpaceFlight Magazine article with my contacts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. I'm going to try to get myself invited out there to attend the Perseverance Rover Landing in February. I have no idea if they are even interested in having a little British magazine do an article about them, but it's worth a try. I have no idea what the Covid situation will be in February either. If things get worse, I might not even be allowed to travel to California.

A year ago at this time I was in New Orleans visiting the Michoud Assembly Facility. The first Artemis rocket had just been completed and would soon be on its way to the Stennis Space Center for testing. It was supposed to be on its way to the moon by now, but it is still sitting at Stennis. People in the space business must have a lot of patience. Delays and setbacks seem inevitable. Down in Boca Chica the next Starship prototype Space X was planning to test fell over inside the assembly building today. I don't think they were expecting that. I guess there is still plenty of time to see both of these rockets get off the ground. They're not going anywhere soon.

I doubt that I'll be going anywhere soon either. It's frustrating that Covid is still such a problem. You have to wonder how long it is going to take for this thing to die out and disappear. Even countries that were being held up as examples of how to do things right are having huge virus surges now. So far, the virus seems to be winning. We're definitely not going anywhere for Christmas. Janet ordered a Crown Roast from the butcher and we'll just have a nice Christmas dinner right here at home.

It's time to make my grocery list again. This week has gone quickly even though nothing happened. Next week I have two doctor's appointments and Dawn has a checkup at the vet. Such excitement on a wet December day.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day