Day 4411

I'm getting better at finding the eagles. It helps to look for them late in the day. You almost never see them in the morning. Today I took a little point-and-shoot camers with a zoom lens with me on my walk. The picture still wasn't great, but it was better than yesterday's iPhone attempt. Too bad I didn't have the little camera with me yesterday. I was much closer then. This time the eagle was in a distant tree on the other side of a swampy area. I couldn't get any closer. I have better cameras, but this pocket sized one will have to do for now. The larger cameras are too cumbersome to hike with and driving to the woods where the eagles live isn't practical. Traffic is so bad on our street that I can't even get out of the driveway during the evening rush hour.

The temperature was even colder than yesterday when we woke up this morning. There was no point in making Dawn miserable, so we skipped the sunrise walk and took her on another walk after lunch. I waited until later to take my long walk as well, which is probably why I saw the eagle again. It was a clear day with no wind, so it got warmer fairly quickly. Twenty-three degrees seemed way too cold. Forty-three degrees seemed just about right. 

I didn't do a lot this morning. There was a ULA Space Force launch to watch on my computer that a lot of my Florida friends got to see in person. I got invited, but it's much too expensive to make a trip down to Titusville every time there's a rocket launch. I didn't set up the star tracker today, but I did try to trouble shoot my camera in case there were settings enabled that would cause the camera to shut off automatically when it was under control by the tracker. Another Kickstarter backer suggested that maybe there was an auto shutdown feature enabled on the camera. I actually found several settings that would automatically shut down the camera or put it to sleep if it was idle for a certain amount of time. Maybe this was the problem I was having the other day. I'll test everything again in a few days.

My editor at Sky & Telescope wrote and told me that he didn't think readers of the magazine would be interested in an article about my troubles with the star tracker. He seemed to indicate that they were more interested in products that actually worked. I beg to differ, but what do I know. This strange saga seems much more interesting than an ordinary product review.

I ordered our free Covid test kits from the post office today. Maybe Janet will need them when she goes on a cruise with her sisters later this Spring. It seems a little late for the free test kits and masks. If you haven't caught the virus after all this time, you are probably pretty safe. I still think the simplest and best way to avoid the virus is to stay away from other people. Works for me anyway. I don't want to be smug though. I'm a very superstitious person. If I ever bragged about being immune from the virus, I'd probably catch it the next day.

Dawn is slowly getting friendlier with me. When I returned from my long walk today, she started barking and came out in the back yard to greet me wagging her tail. She also comes out to supervise when I'm making her dinner now. We've still got a ways to go though. She still doesn't like to share the bed with me. If I take a nap during the day, she will usually get up and go to her dog bed in the kitchen. I don't think we're buddies yet, but she has decided that I'm a pretty good kennel attendant.

Is it already time to make a grocery list again? Where did this week go? I think it's supposed to be warmer tomorrow. That's something to look forward to.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4410

I saw both eagles together for the first time today. They were perched high in a tree that was very close to the trail. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. I did have my phone though, so I got as close to the tree as I could and took a fairly terrible picture. One of the eagles flew away as I approached the tree, but you can still see the other if you look carefully. The eagle that flew away had something long and thin in its talons. Maybe it was building material for the nest, or perhaps it was a snake. I'm pretty sure that eagles would eat a snake. They appear to eat just about anything. I know they like fish. That's why they hang out at the lake. Several of the birders have seen them catch fish at Sunset Bay. 

The fact that the eagles were so close to the trail this afternoon makes me want to figure out how to carry a camera with me. I'm bound to see these eagles again. I do have a light weight pocket camera with a telephoto lens that collapses into the camera body when the camera is off. It's not an ideal solution, but it would be a lot better than a phone with no telephoto lens at all. Today's picture is probably the worst that I have ever uploaded to the blog. Hey, maybe it will inspire me to do better.

It was bitterly cold this morning and didn't really warm up much throughout the day. We waited until later to take Dawn on her morning walk, but the wait didn't help much. It was still 25 degrees. I didn't attempt my long walk until after lunch in hopes that things would warm up. Nope. The temperature never got above freezing. The wind wasn't terrible today, but there was enough of a wind chill to make me feel like an arctic explorer again. I didn't get 20,000 steps today, but who's counting. At least my feet didn't hurt much today. It was a pretty good walk and I did see the eagles.

I made some progress with the star tracker this morning. While I was waiting for the temperature to warm up, I upgraded the app on my phone and downloaded the new firmware to the Polaris tracker. The two upgrades made some things better and other things worse. This is still a work in progress. For the first time I was able to calibrate the unit accurately so that when I asked it to go to a star or planet, it was at least pointing in the general direction. The tracking seems to work smoothly now. It's hard to tell how accurate the tracking is since I'm doing all this during the day inside my office. I have Stellarium on my computer and I use this powerful planetarium software to confirm that the Polaris is pointing in the right direction. The tracker actually seems to work as promised. At least it works for a while. Inevitably the Polaris will crash if I use it long enough. Once it starts crashing, I have trouble getting it to work again. As I said, this is still a work in progress.

I'm really glad the gas company was able to get the leak fixed yesterday. It would have been dangerously cold last night without the furnace running. This cold weather makes me wonder if we're going to have another power generation fiasco like we did last winter. There has been a lot of talk, but I don't think the state has actually done much to ensure that an extended freeze won't curtail natural gas deliveries to power plants again. Last winter was a huge mess and some people were without power for days.

It was very cold when I took the trash out to the curb this evening. The freezing weather made me think of one of my favorite stories from childhood. If you've never read "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Lieber you ought to look it up. The story was published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in December 1951 and I still remember it after all these years. It is a young boy's recollection of living on a world that was pulled out of the solar system by a passing dark star and is now lost in deep space with a frozen atmosphere and a small handful of people who survive by melting the frozen oxygen over a constantly burning fire in a small room insulated by many layers of blankets. Not sure how plausible this scenario is, but it made an impression on me.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4409

Yay. We've got heat again. Our gas was shut off for most of the day while a work crew repaired a gas leak in the alley behind our house. I didn't give the outage much thought at first because the repair people had already told me that they would be finished before the end of the day and that service would be restored. As the day progressed and the cold front got closer and closer I started to get nervous. The house was starting to get cold and the two things you need the most during freezing weather are a working furnace and hot water.

Toward the end of the day a gas company technician arrived and hooked up our gas meter again. I asked if he could come in the house and start the water heater and furnace again. He said he wasn't allowed to come inside. What? "But that's where the gas appliances are," I said. He said it was gas company policy and he could get fired for violating it. He did call me a plumber though and said I wouldn't be charged. Very weird. Why was it OK for a plumber to come inside, but not a gas company technician. I'm pretty sure that I could have restarted everything myself, but I didn't want to screw up and burn down the house. I've always had a healthy respect for flames. 

Surprisingly, the plumber arrived quickly and restarted the old and cranky water heater. I actually restarted the furnace myself because I was cold and impatient. I was a lot more familiar with the furnace as well. I've had to restart it numerous times to clean the flame sensor. The furnace has sophisticated shut-off features as well. I wasn't so sure about the water heater. Oddly, the water heater flame has never gone out before. The water heater has been one of the few totally reliable things in the house. 

I still don't know what was wrong with the gas line. Whatever they fixed was buried at least four feet underground. How did they even know the pipe was leaking that far underground? I don't know why they replaced my gas meter either. I suspect that the new meter allows them to read the meter remotely and I was due for a replacement anyway. All is well though. We are headed for one of the coldest nights of the year and the house is nice and warm again.

I really didn't get a lot done today. I took my long walk in a light mist, but didn't get very wet. My feet were terrible today, so maybe the foot pain does have something to do with the humidity. The weather is definitely getting nasty. Janet and Dawn didn't even go to training class tonight. I'm tired of winter already although I know that the worst is yet to come. Often February is our coldest month. At least we haven't gotten snow yet. I hope we don't. A winter without snow would be a blessing.

I was going to resume testing the star tracker today since there has been another update to the software. I decided to wait however, because I didn't want to be aggravated by two things at the same time. Dealing with the natural gas outage was enough for one day. I have absolutely no faith that things will go as planned anymore, so I was actually expecting to be sleeping under a big pile of blankets in a very cold house. The gas company actually did pretty well today. Much better than I expected.

I hope tomorrow goes smoothly.  I don't like surprises and I've grown weary of dealing with problems. A boring day is a good day as far as I'm concerned. Dawn is a good role model for me. All she does is eat, sleep and walk. Basically, that's all I do as well.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4408

Today was a mess. I had to go to the bank this morning and on the way home I had a flat tire. Luckily, there was a tire store nearby and they were able to fix the tire. The place only took cash though. Who uses cash anymore? They said I should go across the street and use the ATM machine at the 7-11 store. That didn't work. The machine would only accept debit cards. I've never used a debit card and generally just shred them as soon as a bank sends me one. I asked the tire guys if they'd mind if I drove back to my bank to get some cash. 

The ATM machine at the bank didn't work either. I guess all ATM machines expect a debit card. I didn't think the bank would let me in the lobby because I didn't have a mask with me. The drive-thru teller said they'd give me one and eventually I got the $30 the tire guys wanted for fixing two nails in my rear tire. This seemed a little expensive, but I wasn't in a position to argue. I was actually amazed that the tire guys didn't seem at all concerned that I was wandering around town for forty-five minutes looking for cash. I didn't try to stiff the guys though. I came back and gave them their money. It sure beat trying to change the tire myself.

When I returned to the house, there was a work crew digging up the alley again. They asked if this was my house and told me that there was a gas leak they had to repair. Evidently the faulty pipe was right near where they had discovered a leak at my neighbor's house several months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they had caused this leak when they were trying to repair the other one. At any rate, they told me that they would have to shut off our gas tomorrow. "How long is it going to be off," I asked? Another cold wave is on the way and I wasn't looking forward to spending a night without heat. I'm not even sure I know how to shut off the gas to the house. We've lost electricity many times, but we've never lost natural gas.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. My phone works great with the new battery. It's nice to not have to put the phone on the charger every few hours. I don't think I'd ever get an electric car. I'm plagued with battery problems. Something I own always seems to be having a battery issue. Probably as soon as I figure out how to use the star tracker, I'll start having battery problems with it.

I waited until later in the day to take my long walk. It was cold this morning when we walked with Dawn, but I knew that it would warm up quickly. It would have been an enjoyable walk if it wasn't for my feet. When all this started, I was only having problems with my left foot. Now, both feet hurt. The Hoka shoes help, but I don't know what else I can do. Over-the-counter pain medications do nothing. 

I got the invitation to apply for press credentials for the Artemis 1 launch today. The launch is supposed to take place sometime in March now, although insiders tell me that it probably won't take place until this Summer. I'll go ahead an apply, but it doesn't guarantee that I'll be accepted. We'll see. I'd really like to attend this launch, but the bloom is off the rose as far as travel is concerned. Who knows what new Covid variant will be around when the launch takes place. Covid had made travel such a hassle that I'm tempted to just stay home and do nothing until this whole thing is ancient history.

I hope the gas company people don't throw me any surprises tomorrow. I really don't want to be without heat on Thursday when the cold weather arrives. I'm going to have to be really careful about taking Dawn outside as well. Work crews are notorious about leaving gates open. 

Dovey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4407

It was a busy day. We visited Charlie, Oliver and Jack at the kennel and they were all in a playful mood. Jack doesn't like to play with toys like Charlie and Oliver, but is extremely friendly and seems to have settled in well to kennel life. I think someone will be looking at the dogs soon, so one of them might not be there when we visit next week. The kennel was pretty quiet today since all the holiday boarding dogs have gone back home.

It was my turn to drive to the kennel today and I was amazed at the terrible gas mileage my gas was getting. Maybe it always got terrible gas mileage, but I'm more aware of things since the price of gas has gone up so much. Traffic was terrible today as well. It's a good thing we are always going in the opposite direction of the inevitable rush hour traffic when we visit the kennel.

I replaced the battery in my phone this morning and the phone seems to be working a lot better now. I'm glad I found the little neighborhood phone repair store. The battery replacement only cost about half of what the Apple Store currently charges and was done on less than thirty minutes. The only weird thing was the technician didn't want me in the store while he was working. He seemed unusually worried about Covid and said I was welcome to wait in the car. I went to a nearby CVS and picked up a few things instead. 

The day started out cold but warmed up quickly again. I'm getting used to wearing different clothes depending on the time of day. It was below freezing when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn but when I took my long walk after we returned from the kennel, I didn't even need a jacket. Unfortunately, I think these warm afternoons might be over soon. I think another arctic cold front is headed our way.

I saw the eagle for the second day in a row. Another bird watcher told me that if I had arrived five minutes earlier I would have seen both eagles together. Judging by the bird's behavior, most of the local birders don't think there are any eggs in the nest yet. Apparently, late in the day is the best time to view the birds. I should probably drive over to the area where they are often seen near sunset one of these day and try to get a picture. I've seen people photographing the birds for several months now and I still don't have a single picture. I do have good pictures of owls and hawks though. There are plenty of owls and hawks in the park. There are only two eagles.

I didn't think I'd be walking far today, but my feet held up better than I expected. I ended up getting 23,000 steps. My pace has really slowed unfortunately. If I walk slower my feet don't hurt as much. It's kind of embarrassing though. The other day an old guy walking with a cane passed me on the trail. 

My toilet repair didn't last very long. It's only been a few days and the toilet is already running again. I guess I'm going to have to go to the plumbing supply store and buy the expensive little pneumatic valve after all. The little plastic valve always seen to do the trick. It gets tiring to be constantly fixing things. I wish I lived in a house where nothing broke.

I should have raked leaves this afternoon, but there just wasn't time. I think the bulky trash trucks are coming tomorrow and it would have been a good time to bag up as many leaves as we could. Oh, well. There's always next month. We've got to get rid of the leaves because Dawn is way too interested in something that is hidden underneath. There are lots of feral cats in the neighborhood and that probably means there are a few dead birds and mice in the yard. You can't tell a dog not to eat nasty stuff. I think they live to eat nasty stuff.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4406

It was still really cold this morning, but there was no wind. It made a world of difference. We still had to dress warmly for our sunrise walk with Dawn but as the sun got higher in the sky it gradually turned into a very nice day. It was a good day for walking. Dawn got her Sunday outing and I had enough energy left to take my long walk later in the day.

When we went to the ice cream store today we thought the place was closed. We were about to drive away when one employee finally came to the window. It turned out she was the only employee in the building and had to do double duty as cashier and ice cream maker. I don't know if there was a staff shortage or if the management just thought that no one would want ice cream on such a cold morning. Usually there's a line at this place, but we were the only customers today. The ice cream was good though. It made Dawn very happy.

I saw the eagle again today on my long walk. People have told me that you are more likely to see the eagle in the afternoon. Maybe that's true. I've almost always seen the bird when I end up walking later for some reason. I was really glad that it wasn't windy today. Yesterday was miserable. I had a moderate amount of foot pain, but I still managed to get over 20,000 steps. 10,000 steps used to be my goal. Now I try for 20,000. I don't think I'll ever walk 30,000 steps in a day. My body just isn't up to the challenge. For now, I'm lucky to be able to keep walking at all. One step at a time.

I was finally ready to order the Hoka boots today. I didn't expect to find the boots locally, but I never dreamed that every single web site I visited would be out of stock. These shoes must be made in China or Vietnam. Most places indicated that they didn't expect a new shipment until March. This is bad news for me. My current shoes are wearing out and I wanted to replace them with the boots. I may have to buy another pair of regular Hoka running shoes instead. My feet depend on these things now.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to depend on the Polaris star tracker. The last time I tried it, the thing worked pretty well. Today was a disaster. I can't tell whether the problem is caused by bugs in the software, bad connecting cables, or a fundamental flaw in the tracker itself. Inconsistency is a common theme among members of the Kickstarter user group. The unit will work one day and then go haywire the next. Today when I tried to track something it pointed straight down toward the ground when I told it to go find the sun. If this thing can't even find the sun, it's worthless. I don't think I have the patience to be a Beta tester. Maybe I'll just leave the unit in the box for a while until Benro completes a few more software updates. Another firmware update for the hardware itself might be a good idea as well.

I'm pretty sure now that the new Fitbit wasn't draining my phone's battery. I just have a bad battery on my phone. I guess it's time for a new one. I still am using the original battery that came with my iPhone SE. I don't want to deal with the Apple Store again, but I found a little fix-it shop in the neighborhood that can replace iPhone batteries. I'll try to get a new battery installed tomorrow.

I think it's supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow. A nice day would be welcome. I'm already tired of Winter and we've got several more months to go. At least we aren't getting snow like a lot of the Eastern states. Tomorrow it's time to visit the rescue Dalmatians again. I think we'll go, but I'm never sure anymore. Charlie would certainly be glad to see us. He doesn't get as much attention during the holidays.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4405

It was so cold today. I practically had the park to myself on my long walk. It was just me and a couple of idiots jogging in shorts. I certainly couldn't blame people for staying inside. It was thirty degrees with a forty mile an hour wind. I dressed warmly, but it still felt like I was on an expedition to the South Pole. I don't know why I felt compelled to walk today. A sane person would have just stayed home and watched a movie on Netflix.

Maybe nobody was down at the lake because they were all at the grocery store. The stores were packed when I did my shopping this morning. I think the threat of bad weather brings out an instinct to stock up on food. Prices are still going up, although that wasn't stopping people from filling up their buggies. The weekly price increases aren't dramatic, but they've been going on for a long time. I haven't seen anything come down in price.

I'm glad I got the new battery for my car a few months ago. It never would have started this morning without it. I vaguely remember living up north, but I don't think I could handle it anymore. I have memories of scraping ice off of windshields and navigating snow covered roads. No thank you. On days like today I'd like to live even further south.

Dawn likes colder weather but I think she draws the line at freezing weather. She was certainly eager to get back in the house on our sunrise walk this morning. She wore her new sweater this morning, but maybe we should have introduced her to the hat. We got a hat for Dash that actually fits a dog pretty well. It kept his ears a lot warmer on days like this.

Whenever the temperature dips below freezing I always think I am experiencing the coldest winter ever. It's easy to forget that it has been much colder in the past. One winter the entire lake froze over. I didn't even see any ice on the lake today. We've had thick snowfalls in the past as well. In recent years it's been rare to get snow at all. I saw a few flakes fall this afternoon, but there was no accumulation.

The furnace is working fine, but it's still cold in the office. Every winter this is always the coldest room in the house. I had to break out the little ceramic heater this afternoon. I'm pretty sure that this house was designed in the summer. It's a lot easier to cool than to heat. The main problem is that there is way too much single pane glass. Insulation doesn't do a lot of good when you have a lot of floor-to-ceiling glass.

I was going to play around with the star tracker this afternoon, but the cold weather put a damper on things. All I really felt like doing after my walk was getting warm again. I probably should have waited until today to watch the last episode of The Expanse. All I did instead was nibble on snacks.

It remains to be seen whether we'll take Dawn on a Sunday outing tomorrow. These little outings are supposed to be fun for her and walking in freezing, windy weather is the exact opposite of fun. I think Dawn's idea of fun would be to share a little bacon with us at our Sunday breakfast. We'll see what happens though. Maybe tomorrow will be warmer.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4404

Dawn got a bath today. I hate to say that this was the big event of the day, but it probably was. None of our dogs have liked getting a bath. They seem so disappointed when we arrive at the self bathing place instead of a park or the ice cream store. Dawn acted like we were torturing her but seemed happy enough as soon as she was dry again. I guess if a bath is the worst thing Dawn has to look forward to, she's doing pretty well.

My long walks keep getting slower and slower. On a good day it takes me about nineteen minutes to walk a mile. Today it took thirty. My feet were terrible today, but I kept plodding along. I just can't bring myself to stop walking. It has become an integral part of my day. If I went to the gym and did other exercises, my shoulders would hurt instead. I'm not even sure these slow walks do me any good. It still beats staying in the house or driving somewhere though.

I think I was wrong about the Fitbit draining my phone's battery. I've disconnected both Fitbit trackers and the battery still doesn't last very long. It's probably time for a new phone, but I like my small iPhone SE. There used to be several nearby stores where I could get the battery replaced, but they have either gone out of business or quit offering the service. I liked it when the local Interstate Battery store used to change phone batteries while you wait. It was quick and much less expensive than the Apple Store. It's too bad I can't change the battery myself but you need special tools to remove the glass. Fixing a computer is much easier. I'm clumsy with small things.

I watched the last episode of The Expanse this afternoon. I never would have guessed that this was the end of the series if I hadn't already read about it online. I'm pretty sure that Amazon is finished with this series, but the final episode was certainly inconclusive. I want to know more about those strange dog like creatures on one of the ring worlds that can bring people back from the dead.

I continued my efforts to fix small things around the house. Today I took apart the shower nozzle and cleaned out all the scale and calcium deposits. Maybe now I can adjust the shower spray again. Our city water leaves a lot to be desired. I wish we could just get distilled water from the tap. I always use distilled water for the coffee maker and I've never had to clean it.

I was going to practice using the star tracker again today but the day got away from me. I really didn't anticipate my walk taking such a long time. Today's walk should have been enjoyable because the weather was so nice. Tomorrow it's supposed to get much colder again. I need to order the Hoka boots even though I suspect they won't make any difference. I suspect that a new battery won't really improve my phone's performance either. Apple doesn't support their old products anymore. Actually nobody supports old products. They just want you to buy new stuff.

I got an invitation to attend an upcoming Space Force launch at Kennedy Space Center at the end of the month. I'm not going though. Covid restrictions have kind of ruined travel for me. I don't feel like going anywhere until this whole mess is over with. If I can't get a handle on my foot pain, I might not feel like going anywhere period. The whole idea of volunteering for a week out at the observatory seems a lot less appealing than it did this time last year.

At least I've got my routine. Tomorrow is grocery day again. Maybe I can finally find my favorite ginger ale. Sunday is Dawn's outing and Monday we visit the rescue Dalmatians. One little event each day is plenty. I just need to stay busy enough to avoid raking leaves.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4403

Today I tried to solve small problems. I fixed the problematic French toilet in one of the bathrooms. This is always a bigger job than you might expect because this toilet doesn't use any of the parts you would normally find inside a standard toilet. Some of these parts are impossible to find, so I have to take everything apart and carefully clean it. I was actually able to salvage the expensive plastic valve, so I didn't have to make a trip to the plumbing supply store. The toilet is still on its last legs, but it doesn't run anymore.

With one loathsome task out of the way, I embarked on an even more loathsome task. I cleaned out the atrium. The atrium is almost impossible to access because the huge sliding glass door that provides entry to this space had been jammed for several years. The original idea was to have a pleasant indoor/outdoor space where the atrium actually becomes part of the living room on nice days. I don't know what the architect was thinking. There aren't many nice days here in Texas.

I'm always apprehensive about trying to pry the jammed door open enough for me to squeeze through a small 12 inch opening. What if the door becomes even more jammed and I can't get it closed again. That would be really bad news. Today I had to open the sliding glass door a little wider than usual because I had to squeeze a ladder through the opening so I could knock down some mud dauber nests. The wasps had made the nests right on the glass during the Summer and they've been an eyesore ever since.

The atrium looks great now. I removed all the wasp nests. Swept the flagstone floor. And attached some string hanging from the roof beams to the Japanese Black Bamboo growing in the garden area to train the plants to grow vertical again. I even cleaned the glass windows and removed all the leaves that had gotten inside. I still don't know how leaves get inside this space. There is a roof and all the sides are enclosed.

I unpaired my new Fitbit from my phone to see if that was what was draining the phone's battery. So far, so good. The battery seems to be lasting a lot longer. I'm using the old Fitbit again and starting to wonder why I even bought the new fancier model. The phone's battery had been going dead overnight with the new Fitbit, so we'll see what happens tonight. If the problem has been solved, I may take the new Fitbit back to the store tomorrow and try to get a refund. It seems pretty clear to me that it is defective.

The weather was beautiful today but it was hard to enjoy my walks because of the foot pain. I don't know why I'm even attempting to get steps anymore. My Fitbit doesn't even work. I took my time today and somehow still managed to get 20,000 steps. I didn't see the eagle today, but the park did look pretty. The sky was so clear that I momentarily thought about getting a telescope out and watching the stars tonight. That never materialized. Here I am writing the blog instead. It's a shame the skies aren't darker here. Winter skies are fabulous and there is a wealth of interesting stuff to see just in the constellation Orion. 

The trash has been taken to the curb and I actually feel like I accomplished something today. If I had the energy to do this ten days in a row, the house might actually start looking a little better. 

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4402

I saw the bald eagle again today. I'm always surprised at how large these birds are. Hey, I may become a birder yet. I enjoy watching birds on my walk. I don't see the eagle very often, but looking for it helps to pass the time. I probably shouldn't have walked as far as I did today. My feet were really bothering me. I'd hate to give up walking, but I may have to for a while. The foot pain keeps getting worse.

The weather was really nice today, but I had no desire to rake leaves or clean up the yard. I really had no desire to do anything. I sent out another query letter with vague hopes of getting a writing job. I read some of the new comments about the Polaris star tracker on the user group, but didn't get mine out of the box. My project for today was trying to figure out why my new Fitbit was draining my phone's battery so quickly. Lots of people seem to be having this problem, but it didn't appear that the company has a fix. Maybe I'll just go back to using my old Fitbit. I think it still works.

The problematic French toilet is starting to run again. There is a little plastic valve that I have to replace a lot and I suspect that this is the problem again. Why does this tiny piece of flexible plastic cost over $20 at a plumbing supply store? I should probably just replace the entire toilet with a Toto, which all the plumbers seem to like. I really get tired of fixing things, but stuff always breaks. I would be willing to pay much more for something if it was guaranteed to last forever.

Even on days with nothing to do, there is always vacuuming. I vacuumed the carpets this afternoon and kept wondering why we got the Dyson. These things are so hard to clean properly. I liked our old Hoover better. All the dust just went into a paper bag that you threw away when it got full. I think seeing all the dust spinning around in the Dyson's clear plastic cylinder is just a marketing gimmick to convince you that your house is filthy and needs frequent vacuuming.

I've had a runny nose for so long that I occasionally wonder if I've got Covid. It's easy to forget that I always have seasonal allergies at this time of year with all the hype about Covid. Pretty soon, everything will just turn into Covid. Broken arm? Nope, you've got Covid. Indigestion? That's got to be a new Covid variant. I'm getting tired of the whole thing. 

Janet said that Dawn did well at training class tonight. I don't go to these classes anymore, but I'm glad that Dawn is starting to enjoy them. Inch by inch she is slowly becoming less fearful and starting to act like a normal dog. Give her another year or so and she might even start to like me. Actually, Dawn has warmed up to me quite a bit, but she still doesn't completely trust me. Dawn is a smart dog. Maybe I'm just not trustworthy.

Hopefully, I'll find something interesting to write about tomorrow. Today's post was just a bunch of blather.

Suzie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4401

The days just blur together lately. Is it Sunday or Tuesday? Often it's hard to tell. I get up at the same time and do the same things day after day. I'm not complaining, because nothing is preventing me from doing something different. What would I do differently though? That is the big question.

Today I wrote a letter to my sister and sent a couple of query letters off to editors. I kind of wish my sister would get on the Internet. This is the only physical letter I write anymore and the only reason I have to go to the post office. It does save on stamps though. A roll of stamps lasts me a really long time now.

Now that I've figured out how to use the star tracker, it just sits in the box. I really should take this thing outside and put it to the test. Too bad that West Texas is so far away. I miss my time at the observatory. Astrophotography in Dallas certainly has its limitations. Our back yard is way too bright with streetlights in the alley plus our own bright security lights. Exposures in the front yard would be ruined by the headlights of passing cars on our busy street. 

I always worry that a drunk driver will come crashing through our front yard as well. It has happened before. Would you believe it has happened three times before. If the world was a nicer place the obvious solution would be to just drive to a nice dark area and set everything up. I've lost my nerve for that sort of activity though. The local news provides plenty of valid reasons to just stay home at night.

Luckily, I still feel safe when the sun is up. Long walks give a nice structure to my life. It's hard to fault walking. It's great exercise and provides plenty of time for reflective thinking. I often do my best thinking on my daily walks. Only a small percentage of my ideas ever turn into anything tangible, but I can tell that my mind is still working. It's hard to tell if your mind is working when you're home and the television is on.

I'm thinking that my experiences with the star tracker would make a nice, humorous article for Sky and Telescope. There aren't many humorous articles in the magazine though and anything I'd write would probably just make me look stupid. All I'm saying is that some of the other Kickstarter backers figured this thing out a lot faster than I did. Hey, I gave the idea a try though. We'll see what my editor thinks.

I really need to order the Hoka boots. They might not cure my foot pain, but they probably won't make it any worse. I've pretty much concluded that these boots aren't going to be available in local stores. I probably haven't done anything yet because I'm irritated at the Hoka company. Now that I've visited their website and looked at shoes they send me mail every day trying to get me to buy something else. Why won't companies just leave you alone?  They are never satisfied and are relentless about trying to sell you more. I get mail from Samsung now after we bought the new TV. Hey guys, I'm never going to buy an Android phone. Every new purchase adds to the continual barrage of promotional mail you get every day. How did we get here? I've spent most of my working life in advertising and I was never this relentless.

I used to look forward to the future, but now I'm nostalgic about the past. I'm convinced that we are headed in the wrong direction. Maybe I should write a book about how civilization is going to end in 300 years. It would never get published though. I'm not a historian. I'm not an economist. I'm not even a pundit. You've got to have credentials these days.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4400

Every 100 days I feel a little closer to my goal. Only 600 days left. As daily blog entries go, today was a good one. We met Jack this afternoon at the Dalmatian kennel. What a wonderful dog. Jack is good looking, has a great personality, and is smart as a whip. Janet and I had fun trying out different commands with him. He knew everything. Jack can sit, stay, lie down, and give you a high five with his paw. He comes to his name when he is called and even heels on a leash remarkably well. We couldn't think of anything he didn't already know. I would have loved to take Jack home myself, but we don't have the energy or the money for more than one dog anymore. Jack is definitely a keeper though. I'm sure he will find a fabulous forever home.

Today was pretty busy. In addition to visiting with Jack, Charlie, and Oliver, I finally took the Christmas stuff back to the storage warehouse and picked up a few things I forgot on Saturday at the grocery store. Dawn got a nice sunrise walk and it wasn't even terribly cold this morning. I should have quit while I was ahead on the walking front, but I stubbornly took my long walk anyway after we returned from the kennel. My feet weren't being cooperative today and it was pretty windy as well. Not a very enjoyable walk, but I did manage to get 20,000 steps.

I did absolutely nothing with the star tracker today. I need a rest. If I was really ambitious I could have taken it outside tonight and tried to actually track something. It was a clear night so it might have worked. I find it difficult to do more than one thing in an evening though, and usually that thing is writing the blog. When I'm out at the observatory it's worth staying up really late to write the blog after my stargazing is finished. Not here in Dallas. The light pollution makes the viewing experience so miserable that it's not even worth the trouble to go outside. I'm sure I'll use the star tracker and eventually take many more pictures of the night sky. There is no hurry though. One thing at a time is my motto.

A guy wrote me out of the blue today and said he'd like to buy our house if we ever decided to sell. Strangely, this happens every five or six years. These people aren't your normal real estate investors. They are architecture buffs who already seem to know a lot about the house and its semi-famous architect. Janet and I have no interest in selling, but it's nice to know that there are people out there who are actually interested in preserving the house instead of scraping it so they could build another ugly McMansion. Dallas as a city had no respect for architecture at all. A lot of really nice examples of mid-fifties houses and commercial buildings have already been torn down.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. If I hadn't already been to the orthopedic surgeon twice about my feet, I'd make an appointment. There really isn't a lot I can do about the foot pain. Bone on bone contact is always going to hurt. I could take steroid shots which a terrible thing to do long term, or I could try a wide variety of pain killers. I'm not a fan of pain killers. Some pills are fine. Taking Benicar to lower your blood pressure is fine. Taking Metformin to lower your A1C is fine. I'm not to sure about pills that just mask a condition rather than actually changing anything. A little pain is useful to show you your limits.

Dawn is back to normal now. We may never know what she ate that gave her diarrhea, but we're going to be watching her more closely now. There's way too much poop from a wide variety of animals to tempt her in the park.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4399

Another cold Winter day. If I could have slept all day, I would have. No rest for the weary though. We got up early, took Dawn on a sunrise walk and were relieved to see that her poop has almost returned to normal. The pills the vet gave her definitely helped. It was very foggy this morning and there was a light mist in the air. Dawn always enjoys smelling things, but I think she was glad to return to a warm house.

On weekends we have a real breakfast. Today we had bacon and eggs with toast. It's a nice change from the shredded wheat I've been eating the rest of the week. After breakfast, I checked my e-mail and read all the new entries on the Polaris forum. I'm glad the other Kickstarter backers seem willing to share what they've learned. I don't think I'd have a clue about how to operate the star tracker if I were on my own. 

Since the weather was dismal and we knew the ground would be wet, we decided to take Dawn to a different park today where we wouldn't get muddy. We walked on paved sidewalks today. Dawn was initially excited at all the new things to smell, but she quickly became worried when she realized that she didn't know where she was. It doesn't take much to get Dawn in a panic. Being lost isn't one of her favorite things. She started to freeze in place like she used to do months ago. The only way we could get her back to the car was for Janet to walk out ahead of Dawn and me. Dawn didn't want to let Janet out of her sight, so she followed her back to the car. Everything ended well though. We still went to Andy's for ice cream and by the time we returned to the house, Dawn was a happy camper again.

I still took my long walk today, but this was not an easy one. The temperature was actually colder than when we walked Dawn at sunrise and the wind had picked up a lot. My feet hurt more today as well. Not surprisingly, there weren't a lot of people out on the trails. Even the ducks looked cold today. I've noticed something new in the park recently. The city has installed placards with a QR code on a lot of the park signage. If you scan this code with your phone it will bring up a map that shows you exactly where you are. I have so many questions. Who gets lost in a city park anyway? I can't imagine anyone really getting lost in this park. Even the wooded areas are fairly close to major roads. Even if you did manage to get lost, why would you need a QR code on a stop sign to give you directions? All you have to do is open Google Maps on your phone and it will tell you exactly where you are anyway. There are a ton of these new QR code signs scattered all over the park. Another example of our tax dollars at work, I guess.

Since I didn't really have any plans for today, I watched the latest episode of The Expanse this afternoon. This series certainly doesn't appear to be coming to any conclusion. Maybe they want to keep their options open in case someone wants to continue the series with a Season 7. Everyone says this will be the last season though. We'll see.

I wonder if I'll be able to put the star tracker to good use after I figure it out? There are so many streetlights in our neighborhood that the sky never gets very dark. Our yard has a bright security light as well that is very difficult to shut off since there is no light switch. A sensor on the light automatically turns it on at sunset and off again the next morning. There are a few darker places down in the park, but crime has gotten so bad in the city that I'm definitely not venturing out to a dark and lonely place after sunset with a lot of expensive equipment. I hate reading the local news because it seems like someone gets shot every single day. It almost always happens at night and often involves an unlucky random stranger. No wonder I miss the solitude of the Davis Mountains so much.

Depending on the weather, we'll probably visit the rescue Dalmatians tomorrow. I hear there's a new dog in the program now, so I'd better take my camera. I wish astrophotography was as easy as taking pictures of dogs. I've gotten pretty good at taking pictures of dogs.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4398

Success. I finally got the star tracker to work. The problem wasn't really buggy software or bad cables. The problem was me. After all these years I still haven't learned to use my iPhone. I was expecting buttons to control the software app. The developers chose to use gestures instead. Who uses gestures? Apparently everyone except me. I still haven't taken the Polaris outside at night to attempt star pictures, but I think it's going to work. This is an incredible little piece of machinery. That's more than I can say for my own brain at the moment.

We took a fecal sample to the vet this morning and were happy to learn that Dawn doesn't have giardia. The vet gave us some pills to control diarrhea and hopefully Dawn will be back to normal soon. Her poop is still very soft, but she's definitely getting better. Last night she slept through the night, so neither of us had to sleep with one eye open in case Dawn needed to make a quick trip outside at 3 AM. We're going to have to rake leaves soon. There was probably something nasty under the leaves that she ate. I don't think she ate anything on her walks. We watch her too carefully.

I doubt that we'll be raking leaves tomorrow or even the next day. It's still too wet. It rained again last night and was misty and foggy all day today. It was really kind of a dismal day. It never got warm and it never got dry. I still took my long walk though. It's got to be pretty bad before I stop walking.

I forgot to take the Christmas stuff back to the storage warehouse while I was out grocery shopping this morning. I seem to forget something almost every day now. Usually the memory lapses are minor, but occasionally they are major. I've started leaving notes around the house for myself now with messages like "remember to feed the dog."

Prices are still going up at the grocery store. The weekly changes are small, but they add up over time. If this continues I may have to start looking for bargains. Janet is a savvy shopper, but I just buy the same things over and over again. I typically don't even look at the price. It's really only recently that I've become aware that something has changed. Some items have gotten expensive a lot more quickly than others. It probably has something to do with transportation and the current lack of truckers. I'm glad I'm not looking for a car right now. Car prices are even worse than food prices. Even used car prices are out of sight.

It's hard to say whether Dawn is going to get a Sunday outing tomorrow. The weather still looks marginal and Dawn hates to get wet. We'll see what happens. I really don't trust the weather apps on my phone anymore. They've been wrong more than they've been right lately. I need to find a new project now that my month long Odyssey with the star tracker is coming to a close. Learning to use the Polaris was actually kind of interesting. Now it's on to more mundane things like fixing a running toilet.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4397

Another day, another problem. This Polaris star tracker is driving me nuts. I don't think I'm cut out to be a Beta tester. The Polaris unit itself seems very well made. It's the software app on my phone that controls the thing that's full of bugs. I think I may have defective connecting cables as well. Everything works well for a little while and then the app freezes and I have to restart everything and try again. I really got nowhere today. The app kept saying that I didn't have a memory card inserted in my camera. The card was there however and it actually was recording pictures for a while. 

It's very hard to communicate with the Chinese manufacturer and the other Kickstarter backers in the Facebook support group are just as lost as I am. A few seem to be able to track stars and are getting some amazing pictures. I suspect that they are all using the one camera that magically seems to work. I imagine that it is very hard, or almost impossible for the Polaris unit to support hundreds of different cameras.

Dawn seems better today. Her poop is still soft, but it is not a runny liquid anymore. Hopefully, this will clear up soon. Dawn definitely doesn't seem sick and her appetite is still good. She is mad at us now because we are feeding her less until her GI tract seems stable again. She had to go outside several times last night and it was very cold. Luckily, Janet is a light sleeper so she was able to let Dawn outside when she appeared restless. We think Dawn is getting better, but if the diarrhea persists we'll take a fecal sample to the vet to be tested. There's always a chance that she might have giardia.

I stubbornly continue to walk, although I'm beginning to question my own sanity. It just isn't very pleasant to walk on a cold windy day. The wind is worse than the temperature for me. A lot of my route is along the shoreline of the lake and on days like today, the lake effect wind can be pretty bad. It's really hard to dress properly. When the wind stops and the sun comes out, I am hot. When the sun goes behind a cloud and the wind start blowing, I'm freezing. The foot pain is always lurking in the background as well. The pain wasn't bad today. Maybe it was just so cold that my feet went numb.

Janet does her grocery shopping on Friday and she said the store shelves are starting to get empty again. I hope we're not headed back to the dark days of 2020. It seems that way sometimes. I'm tired of panic buying. I'm tired of mandates that create more problems than they solve. If the past two years have proved anything it is that the government is fairly inept at solving these type of problems and that everything in today's society gets so politicized that we lose focus of the real problem. Hey, at least we aren't Australia. Those poor Australians are fucked. What ever happened to Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max? I'm amazed that the Australians don't rebel against their repressive government. Maybe they've looked around at other countries and realize what will happen if they do. Sadly, we've living in an increasingly totalitarian world.

We took the Christmas tree down today. I'll take some of the decorations back to the storage warehouse tomorrow and that will be the end of the holiday season. I kind of liked looking at the Christmas tree in the evenings. The lights were pretty and strangely optimistic. I'm not really a very festive person, but holidays are certainly better than nothing. It's fun to watch dogs open their Christmas gifts too.

I'm making my grocery list for tomorrow. Hopefully, I won't run into the same empty shelves that Janet encountered today. I'm almost certain that prices will be higher. Inflation is not only real, it can be quite dramatic. Janet and I have different items on our respective grocery lists, but the things I buy have gone up in price every single week for several months now. The price of gas keeps getting higher as well. You really have to wonder where this is all going to end?

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4396

I now have a camera that connects to the star tracker. It's almost identical to a camera I already have, but for some reason this one works. I'm not home free yet, but I'm getting closer. The software for the phone app that controls the camera and tracker is still a little wonky. I don't think this will be a problem. I'm sure the app will have been updated at least five times before I get a chance to use this combo under dark skies. 

I went down to a local camera store after breakfast this morning and tried cameras until I found one that worked. I went through a period when I ordered almost everything online. That's over. Real stores have their advantages. If I ordered online, there's a good chance I would have bought the wrong camera and would have had to send it back. Seeing and touching things before you buy definitely beats reading a bunch of bullet points on a web page. More importantly, after my recent experiences with Fedex I'm not sure I ever want to deal with delivery services again.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can conquer some of the software issues that still remain with the iPhone app. There is already new firmware to install. Maybe that will fix some of the problems I had today. This is still a work in progress, but it definitely gives me something to do. Luckily, I was able to find the camera I needed used. It looks new and has seen very little use, but I was able to get it for basically half price. Hey, it doesn't hurt anything to have one more camera.

I wasn't very surprised that it was cold this morning. The surprising thing was that it never warmed up. I waited until almost noon to take my long walk and it was still only a few degrees above freezing. I worry that Dawn is getting cold. Some dogs love the cold weather but Dawn isn't one of them. I'm with her. I don't like cold weather either. At least I have plenty of warm coats. I still need to order some waterproof Hoka boots. The boots should have really been a higher priority than the camera, but it's always been hard for me to make clothing a priority.

My foot pain was worse today. The humidity was still low, so there goes my humidity theory. It still baffles me why my feet feel different from one day to the next. Logically, things should be a lot more constant. I wear the same shoes and basically walk the same distance every day. My comfort level varies wildly though. I guess I should just be glad for the good days. I'm well aware that this could be a lot worse.

Dawn had diarrhea today. She must have eaten something bad in the yard because she doesn't seem sick and still has a good appetite. We always watch carefully to make sure she doesn't get into anything in the park. Dogs are sneaky though. You think they are just smelling something and then all of the sudden they snarf something down. All of our dogs have had diarrhea at one time of another. Mostly it was because they ate something bad. We'll keep an eye on Dawn. I have a feeling that we might need to take her outside in the middle of the night as well. Brrr. It's going to be very cold tonight.

I'm glad I did a good job of fixing the furnace the other day. This is no time to have a cold house. No time for a cold car either. It was nice to have heated seats and a heated steering wheel while I was driving down to the camera store this morning. I don't think I'll ever really get used to Winter. At least the days are starting to get longer though.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4395

I didn't accomplish much today. The weather was warmer, but it still felt really cold on our morning walk with Dawn. Without a plan for the day, I just followed my regular routine. I make the bed. Get dressed. Walk Dawn. Eat breakfast. Check my e-mail. Take my long walk. And then try to find some project to eat up the rest of the day.

This week my project has been trying to get the star tracker to work. Still trying. The new cable I bought at the Apple Store yesterday did nothing. I guess the cable did work, but the camera it was attached to still refused to connect to the tracker. The tracker itself works fine. I just can't attach any of my cameras to it. It's looking like I might have to buy a new camera body that's on the approved list. Lots of cameras are on this list. Just not mine. Maybe I can find a used camera that's on the list. I just want to get this thing working. It's not like I'll be using it all the time. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the approved list before I bought this thing. 

My feet didn't hurt as much today on my long walk. Maybe the discomfort does have something to do with the weather. Today was a low humidity day. It seems like things are worse on high humidity days, but I haven't really been keeping track. I don't know if keeping track of the weather would make much of a difference. I still need to keep walking and I think I'm already wearing the best shoes I can find. Maybe I just complain too much. The fact that I'm able to keep walking probably indicates that the pain isn't quite as bad as I think.

When my efforts to get the star tracker working proved futile, I watched the latest episode of The Expanse. Basically the show is just a Western in space. Now that I think of it, most science fiction series are just Westerns in space. I still like the show, even though I've forgotten how it all began. I guess all the loose ends will be pulled together soon. After a few more episodes, the series will be over for good.

I'm starting to have second thoughts about going back to the observatory. I almost fell the last time I was out there and my sense of balance seems to be getting worse. I'd really hate to take a bad fall out there. There are no good medical facilities in the area. I should probably take one of those balance classes for seniors at my gym. Balance is definitely something you can work on. I've always been reluctant to take a seniors class. At least when I'm walking alone in the park I can still feel young in my own mind.

Maybe I'll take the star tracker down to a local camera store tomorrow and try it out with some different cameras. Something is bound to work. Some of the cameras on the approved list are older, so maybe I could find a used approved camera fairly cheap.  I don't know why I've become so obsessed with this thing. I've already got another star tracker. The Polaris is completely automated though and is supposed to be able to find celestial objects on its own and automatically track them using an app on your phone. You can also us it to create panoramas, time-lapse shots, and many other things. I think you can also set it to automatically follow a person in the frame while you are making movies. This would be a pretty cool gizmo if it worked.

I haven't heard much about Artemis 1 lately. I kind of hope the launch keeps getting postponed until Covid is over. Covid restrictions have really taken the fun out of travel. There is a big star party in West Texas later this Spring, but after reading the multi-page list of new Covid rules I immediately said never mind. Maybe next year. I think people overestimate their ability to stop a virus. It's a virus. We haven't even figured out how to stop the common cold yet. 

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day