Day 4094

The washing machine is still not working. The technician says that the motor is not communicating with the motor controller logic board. I asked if there might just be a lose wire. Nope. I need a new logic board. Will this solve my problem? Maybe. Once the machine can talk to the motor we'll be able to see if there is anything wrong with the motor itself. Life was a lot simpler when major appliances were simple mechanical beasts. Now, everything is basically a computer. The part is supposed to arrive on Friday and I hope it works. I definitely don't want to go to the laundromat again.

Dawn didn't bark at the repair technician, but I could tell she was scared. She retreated to the bedroom as soon as she heard the knock on the door and didn't come out until long after the technician had left. It doesn't take much to frighten Dawn. I wish I could explain to her that being without a washing machine for an extended length of time is a lot more frightening than having a repair technician in the house.

I learned that there will be another astrophotography workshop out at McDonald Observatory in May. This will be an advanced workshop that picks up where the first one I attended left off. Do I go? I probably will, but it's hard to decide. I love the dark skies of the Davis Mountains, but I hate the long drive out there. Driving is surprisingly tiring when you've got a bad shoulder. Travel can get expensive too. I guess I should continue to do things while I still can though. One of these days in the not too distant future, it will be too late.

It still bothers me that my Fitbit says I'm not as active as I was last year. How can this be? I feel like I'm more active than I ever was. It probably just takes more effort to do things that used to be easy. I've definitely slowed down, but I'm moving as fast as I can. It's discouraging to see overweight people pass me in the park, but what can you do? Arthritis is real and I still don't believe in strong pain medication unless it is absolutely necessary. I'm going to keep moving, but in a few years my nickname will probably be turtle.

Bulky trash pick up is next week, so we've only got a few more days to clean up the yard and get everything out to the curb before the trucks arrive. The freeze really made a mess of things. I haven't seen so much dead vegetation in years. Hopefully a lot of the plants and vegetation will come back when things get warmer. It took years for most of these shrubs to grow and I just don't have the energy to replace them all at this point. We will get new grass though. Dawn loves to lie in the grass and sun herself on nice days. The dog deserves some decent grass.

I hope I have more energy tomorrow. I've felt lethargic all day. It's hard to get motivated when your feet hurt and you are constantly blowing your nose. This is no time to nap though. I need to get familiar with my new camera if I'm going to take it out to the observatory in May. I need to decide whether I can still afford to go to a launch in Florida this Spring. I've applied to go to the Starliner and Crew-2 launches, but haven't heard whether I've been accepted. The yard needs a lot of work and I haven't been up on the roof in weeks. There's an abundance of things to do, but I still just want to take a long nap.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4093

It was not an auspicious day. Right after breakfast I did a load of laundry and halfway through the wash cycle the washing machine broke. The drum was full of soapy water and just quit turning. I watched the timer count down to zero, but nothine else was working at all. I had to fish all the wet clothes out of the water, put them in a big plastic tub and take them to the laundromat. I called an appliance repair shop I've used in the past, but they can't get a technician out until tomorrow. I asked for the same repair guy who had come out to the house before, but he didn't work there anymore. This always happens. It's almost impossible to get the same plumber, HVAC tech, or appliance repairman. These guys move around a lot. I suspect this is because their employers don't pay them enough. At any rate, I'll meet someone new tomorrow. I hope he's good.

Laundromats are strange places. It's easy to forget that lots of people still don't have washer/dryers in their homes. They fill their cars with large piles of laundry and come to the laundromat. I used to use a laundromat when I was young and lived in an apartment building. Often it was just easier to go to a laundromat than to try to use the small and inadequate laundry room provided by the building. Maybe a lot of the people I saw today live in these types of apartments. Maybe they live in rent houses where the landlord doesn't provide washer/dryer hookups. Laundromats are always pretty full and they are universally depressing.

As I was getting ready to put my load of clothes in one of the laundromat dryers, I remembered that there was nothing wrong with our dryer at home. I put the wet clothes back in the plastic tub and returned home.  While the clothes were drying I got the electric lawn mower working and cut back all the dead Asian Jasmine in the back yard. This was a harder job than I anticipated because I haven't trimmed the ground cover for several years and it has become very overgrown. Actually, I think you are supposed to cut back Asian Jasmine at the end of every winter. The landscape people used to do this when they took care of the yard. I think trimming these bushes encourages new growth. There are lots of other decorative plants that look like they got killed by the freeze. I'm going to leave them alone for a while and hope that they start to grow again.

I don't think I'll have long to wait. When I took my long walk today, I noticed that there were Daffodils and Grape Hyacinth blooming in the park. These are usually the first flowers to bloom every Spring, but it won't be long before the fields behind our house are covered in wildflowers. I enjoy photographing wildflowers because they don't move or fly away. At various times I've tried to learn the names of the hundreds of different wildflowers I see in the park. I've probably forgotten more names than I can currently identify.

Today wasn't a good day for my feet. Both feet hurt today. I'm walking slower now, which makes my Fitbit and Apple Watch think that I'm not getting as much exercise as I should. This is frustrating to me because these slow painful walks are much more strenuous and tiring than the old days when I wasn't even aware of my feet. My Fitbit doesn't seem to know what I'm going through. It keeps urging me to go faster.

I hope the repairman can fix the washing machine tomorrow. Sometimes you get lucky and they have the part you need on the truck. Other times they have to order parts from a warehouse and you can end up waiting days or even weeks to get up and running again. I wish major appliances were more reliable. We have a microwave that has worked flawlessly for 30 years. Our television has never broken. I can't say the same for the washing machine. I think this will be the fourth service call for this machine.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4092

I took my tax files over to the accountant today. It's weird walking around in a large office building these days. This building seemed empty as a tomb. A lot of people must still be working from home, because only about one in four offices even seemed open. My accountant's office was open though. This is his busiest time of the year. I'm glad that tax preparation is behind me now. It's never a pleasant task.

It was a nice day, so we resumed raking leaves. I wish I could convince Janet that the leaves will eventually just blow away, but she likes a nice looking yard. Dawn probably does too. We made good progress today, but there is probably another day of work ahead before the leaves are all gone. The freeze killed more plants than I initially thought. I'm going to have to cut back all of our Asian Jasmine and hope that it starts to grow again in the Spring. For the first time ever, the Live Oak trees in the back yard have lost all their leaves. I'm pretty sure these trees are fine, but it's odd to see a Live Oak without any leaves.

My feet weren't kind to me today. I still can't figure out why some days are worse than others. I started out pretty well, but after the fourth mile I was practically limping. Maybe I should give it a rest, but I don't think it would make any difference. I walk slowly anyway and if I didn't spend so much time walking, I would just be faced with more household chores.

I received a residual value refund for my dehumidifier from the manufacturer today. This was basically a nice way of saying "please don't bother us any more about this thing." The dehumidifier still works. It just doesn't have an automatic shut-off switch. As long as I use it in a small room and remember to turn it off before I go to bed at night, it works fine. It's hard to tell if I came out ahead on this deal or not. I got a refund on a machine that I didn't buy in the first place. The free dehumidifier was a warranty replacement for a dehumidifier that I actually did buy however. I won't purchase this brand again. I've had three identical dehumidifiers now, and two out of three were faulty.

I'm trying to decide whether to apply to attend the Crew-2 launch in late April. This one will probably exactly the same as the Crew-1 launch which I did attend, but I'd like to be doing something. Applying for press credentials for these launches is kind of like buying a lottery ticket. A lot of applications doesn't really improve your chances that much, but you can fool yourself into thinking it does. I'm beginning to wonder why I like watching these launches so much. It takes a lot of planning and then you end up standing in a field and getting eaten alive by mosquitos while the rocket you've been chasing quickly disappears overhead. It's all over in less than five minutes.

We missed seeing Charlie and Cooper today, but I'm sure they are fine. We'll be back as soon as Spring Break is over. The fact that Spring Break trips are still happening at the same time we continue to receive daily warnings about Covid seems very strange to me. There won't be any Spring Break activities out at the observatory this year, so my services might not be needed again until 2022. I don't think cancellations are going to stop people from traveling this Summer though. Everyone seems to have a bad case of cabin fever and there is a lot of pent up demand. This might be a good time to invest in airlines and cruise lines.

I have no idea what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. I hope it isn't raking leaves though.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4091

I'm still fighting these allergies. The Flonase works pretty well at clearing my nasal passages, but I've still got the runny nose. I did sleep better last night because I didn't wake up several times completely congested and breathing through my mouth. I guess this is progress, but I still feel like I've got pepper up my nose.

I vacuumed and did some small chores around the house, but it was hard to get motivated. I successfully repaired Dawn's collar although I still don't know how it became damaged. When a dog gets used to wearing a collar, they become very nervous when you take it off. All our dogs have been this way. Dawn didn't look pleased when I took the collar off to glue it back together and seemed quite relieved when I put it back around her neck a few hours later.

Janet joined me on my long walk today. I've noticed that I walk a little faster when we walk together. Usually each mile I walk is little slower than the last, but we kept a pretty steady pace today. Neither of us is setting the world on fire, but I think we're doing pretty well for 72. We're both in better shape than a lot of 40 year olds.

I never did have any reaction to the Covid shots. Even the minor soreness at the injection site is gone now. It still seems strange that people react so differently to this disease. Some people get infected and die. Other people get infected and aren't even aware they have the disease. So far, I've only known two people who have gotten sick and both recovered quickly. Nobody in my immediate circle of friends has gotten sick. It pays to be careful though. Our house has never been struck by a tornado either, but I know it could happen at any time.

The Starliner launch I've been hoping to go to in Florida has been postponed again. This is probably a good thing. I'm hoping that the closer we get to Summer, the more relaxed that current Covid restrictions are going to get. It's going to be a lot easier for me to get press accreditation for my small, obscure magazine when the world returns to normal. I'm pretty confident that I'll be going somewhere this year. I just don't know when or where.

Maybe by the time I start traveling again my seasonal allergies will be over for the year. That alone would make any trip a lot more enjoyable. Last March when I went out to McDonald Observatory I thought I would leave my allergies behind. Nope. They followed me out there and I ran through two rolls of blue Scott shop towels blowing my nose. Every single year this happens. You can look back through the blog archives and see for yourself.

This weekend really went quickly. We had a wonderful dinner tonight, but tomorrow it's back to fruit smoothies and leftovers. I guess I'll take my tax files over to the accountant tomorrow. You never get a refund when nothing has been withheld, but hopefully I won't get hit too bad this year. I wouldn't mind paying taxes if I could choose where the money went. As it stands now, I'm convinced that anything I give to the government will just be wasted.

We won't be going up to visit the Dalmatians tomorrow because the kennel is too busy with Spring Break boarders. Spring Break is still a mystery to me. I don't ever remember getting off for Spring Break when I was in school.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4090

Was today some sort of a holiday? I couldn't believe all the traffic on the roads this morning. The stores were crowded. There was even a line at the gas station. I still can't figure out why today was so different. Even the park was crowded this afternoon. Crowded stores often mean empty shelves and I had to go to three different grocery stores and three different drug stores to find everything on my list. Is this what happens during Spring Break? And why is Spring Break even a thing this year? Haven't most of the schools been closed? 

I managed to get everything done despite the unusual crowds. A few delays rarely have any impact on me at all. It's not like I'm exactly busy. When I got the groceries put away, the only thing on the agenda was my daily long walk. It was a nice day for walking. I wore a light jacket that I can take off and tie around my waist when I get hot. The jacket goes on when I'm walking along the shoreline and the wind is blowing. The jacket comes off when I'm away from the water and the sun is shining. Usually the trees are starting to bud around this time of year, but our freezing weather a few weeks ago changed all that. I don't see any signs of growth yet. The Live Oak trees in the neighborhood have lost all their leaves. All the Asian Jasmine in our yard looks dead and probably needs to be cut back. I hope everything starts to grow soon. We have enough dead stuff in our yard already.

At the suggestion of a friend, I'm going to try Flonase for my allergies. This stuff seems like a high tech version of the old nasal sprays I used to use as a kid. I had to resist the urge to spray the stuff in my nose every few hours. You are only supposed to use two squirts a day. I put one measured squirt in each nostril when I got home from the drug store and we'll do this again just before bedtime. The spray seemed to have some effect, but I wonder how much of the stuff is still in my nose. I blow my nose so frequently and often violently during allergy season that I imagine that my first dose is largely gone by now. We'll see what happens after I've been taking the spray for a few days. I hope it works.

I keep reading stories about people having terrible problems getting the Covid vaccine. Even here in Texas  a lot of people seem to be having problems. This seems so weird because Janet and I had no problems at all. It was easy to get an appointment. It was easy to find a convenient location near the house. Everything worked smoothly, just like it should. Maybe rural areas are a lot different than a major city like Dallas. That's why I don't live in a rural area. It's nice and peaceful out in the country, but when you get older you need to be surrounded by good doctors.

I think I'm making progress with Dawn. When I take a nap on the bed now, she stays with me. It wasn't that long ago that she would hop off the bed and go to her dog bed in the kitchen every time I came in the bedroom. She also waits for me to make the bed in the morning now. She waits patiently at the foot of the bed while I straighten the covers and then she hop up and reclaims her place. This is an improvement. Dawn and Janet get up earlier than me and often she would already be finished with her breakfast and back in bed by the time I woke up. It's hard to make a bed with a big dog right in the middle of it.

I'm still disappointed that The Texas Star Party has been canceled for 2021. How long is this going to go on? The world seems divided into two camps. One side want to open things up right now and the other side is still terrified that they're going to catch Covid and wants even more restrictions. At some point we're going to have to realize that Covid is going to be with us forever. No society can stay locked down forever, so lets all get vaccinated and move on.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4089

I didn't accomplish much today. I'm still fighting my allergies and blowing my nose constantly. I finished getting my tax materials organized, but wasn't organized enough myself to get them over to the accountant. I wrote Webflow about some issues I've been haveing with their software, but never received an answer. I learned that The Texas Star Party has been canceled for 2021, which is a shame because I was thinking about attending. Nothing seemed quite right today. Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep.

The weather was strange today. It was nice outside when we walked Dawn, but when I continued walking after Janet and Dawn returned home it kept getting colder and colder. I kept going as the temperature dropped and the wind kept increasing. By the time I reached the halfway point I was really wishing I had a hat and a warmer coat. I still don't know what is going on. It was supposed to be nice today.

Janet and I have both been vaccinated, but it is becoming clear that not much is going to change until everyone else gets vaccinated too. Very little has returned to normal so far.  There's a lot of talk and lots of disagreement, but it's still hard to plan ahead. It's too bad that I don't enjoy taking pictures of birds in the backyard, because it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere soon.

It's hard to believe that we adopted Dawn a year ago this March. She still seems like a new dog. It's taken her a lot longer than we expected to adjust to her new life. I can tell she enjoys living here with us, but trust doesn't come easy to her. I guess this is to be expected. Before she became part of our family, she'd spent her entire life as a puppy mill breeding dog. She may never completely trust me because I think I remind her of the men who mistreated her. Dawn definitely prefers women. We continue to make progress, but this is going to take a long time.

I'm beginning to realize that making any sort of progress is going to take a long time. Exercise doesn't produce quick results anymore. Mostly I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. It's going to be a while before I'm published again. A lot of magazines are struggling and it's hard to come up with story ideas that are actually feasible. Maybe some of this will change as the world slowly opens up again. I hope so anyway. I guess I'm glad that I'm retired. It would be really frustrating to look for new clients in today's Covid environment.

The only thing I'm going to look for tomorrow are groceries. I need some more Parmesan cheese. It has to be a good Parmigiano-Reggiano. I'm not particular about a lot of things, but I am particular about cheese. I guess I'll go look for another decongestant too. I'll probably end up with four or five different kinds before I find something I feel comfortable taking. I hate having a runny nose, but I hate the way most decongestants make me feel as well. It's a problem. It's time for a new batch of fresh fruit. I see these commercials on TV for Balance of Nature pills that are supposed to contain all the nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Why wouldn't you just eat the real fruits and vegetables instead? Fresh fruit is delicious.

Excuse me if I'm rambling. I tend to do that on days where nothing happens.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4088

Dawn got a bath today. The fact that this was the big event of the day will tell you how exciting today was. None of our dogs have enjoyed getting a bath, but they put up with it. We abandoned bathing dogs at home years ago and always take them to one of those do it yourself dog bath places that have sprung up all over town. We all got wet. Dawn got clean. And she did very well with the other dogs at the facility.

Today was tax preparation day. I think I've got everything ready to send to the accountant, but I'm never sure. Taxes seem to get more complicated every year. My big problem this year was that I keep accidentally putting things in the wrong category in Quickbooks. It took quite a while to look for missing items and move them to the proper class files. At least I'm pretty good about entering transactions in Quickbooks now. Doing a search in a software program is a lot easier than sifting through mountains of receipts in an accordion folder. I was pleased that I actually made money writing for magazines this year. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was a start.

I never did take the Allegra-D that I bought yesterday. I guess all the dire warnings on the box scared me away. Now I've got to go find something else. I should quit reading the fine print on pill bottles. I shouldn't even watch the TV commercials. Just about every pharmaceutical product on the market warns of some sort of horrible side effect. I seldom have an adverse reaction to medication. My problem is that I often have no reaction at all. A lot of pills just don't seem to work on me. It's just as well. I hate to depend on pills and still think that staying active and eating healthy food is the best way to avoid getting sick.

It was so warm today that I not only washed the car, I cleaned the dirty wheels as well. Land Rover wheels seem to get coated with oil and dirt unusually quickly. I hate cleaning them because I have to get down on my knees and scrub all the gunk away. The older I get, the harder it is to get back up off the ground. I'm going to need a cane one of these days. I guess the effort was worth it. The car looks great now. I don't drive much, so I probably won't have to do this again for a month or so. Dawn probably hopes she won't need a bath again for another month or so as well.

I talked to my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today. He said he'd leave it up to me what to cover next. This is good and bad. I'm not really sure what I want to do next. It will probably just depend on how hard it is to get clearance and the proper credentials. I think that Kennedy Space Center has discovered that severely restricting access makes life a lot easier. Life will probably never go back to the pre-covid days when NASA created special events for social media influencers and it was easy to get a press pass.

Last year at this time I was getting ready to spend several weeks out at McDonald Observatory. Every March they hosted a special series of Spring Break star parties that would often attract up to 500 people a night. When I became an on-site volunteer I kind of thought that I'd be going back to the observatory every March. Not this year. I have no idea when the observatory is going to open up again, but I don't think it is going to be soon. Hard to believe that it's been a full year since the Covid madness started.

I've learned a lot this year. I'm not a people person and do pretty well on my own. I've discovered that it is very hard to do anything in isolation however. Getting invited to view launches at Kennedy Space Center involves a lot of interaction with other people. So does looking through big telescopes out at the observatory. I'd like to resume these activities but I'm not sure that life will ever go back to the way it was before. I'm just sitting her like everyone else, waiting to see what happens next.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4087

I'm still battling seasonal allergies. I went to the pharmacy this morning for a different kind of allergy medicine. I'd been taking Allegra, but a friend told me that I really needed Allegra-D. What's the difference, I thought. The first kind is available over the counter and the second kind you have to ask the pharmacist for after showing him your driver's license and registering with the DEA. What's the big deal with adding a decongestant to this allergy medicine, I asked the pharmacist? Well, you can use this stuff to make meth, he told me. I guess I've led a sheltered life. This was news to me. Allegra-D was also more expensive than the regular Allegra. We'll see if it works. If this stuff can stop my runny nose, it's worth it.

My feet hurt and my nose is running like a faucet, but I can't even feel my second Covid shot. I've had no reaction to the vaccine at all. This is pretty typical. I don't think I've had much of a reaction to any vaccine I've taken. One thing Janet and I both noticed was that that there didn't seem to be much vaccine in the syringe. The needle was very small and the injection just seemed to take a second or two. This was quite different from the Shingles vaccine we'd taken earlier in the year. The Shingles vaccine syringe was quite large and the injection seemed to take forever. At any rate, I hope this stuff works. I've already written my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine and told him I'm ready to travel again.

Our weather continues to be unseasonably warm. I was able to wear a t-shirt on my long walk again and was actually hot by the time I returned home. Dawn enjoyed her shorter walk but she's started eating grass again. Why do dogs like to eat grass? All our dogs have eaten grass at one point or another. Does this mean they are deficient in some nutrient or do they just like the taste? Dawn will only eat a particular type of grass, but there seems to be a lot of it in the park.

I watched the SN10 Starship test flight this afternoon on the Boca Chica live feed. This time the rocket seemed to work perfectly and was able to make a soft landing on the pad. After sitting on the pad for about five minutes, it inexplicably blew up. What was that all about? Was this something Space X did on purpose to test the flight termination device? Did the rocket make a hard landing and damage an engine? Was it cheaper to blow the rocket up than to disassemble it later? Nobody seems to know, but there is a lot of wild speculation. People who like Space X say the test was 99.9% successful. People who don't like Space X say the test was a failure and that the Starship design is flawed. Why am I not surprised that people can't seem to agree on anything.

I just read the fine print on the Allegra-D box. It says not to take the stuff if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, an enlarged prostate, or have difficulty swallowing. Wouldn't it have been easier to just say not to take the pill if you were old? There is also a warning not to take the pills with fruit juice. Hmm. I wonder if my morning smoothie counts as fruit juice?  Maybe I ought to talk to my doctor before taking this stuff. I've never run into a pill that my doctor didn't like, but there's a first time for everything.

I've really got to get started working on my taxes tomorrow. I've run out of excuses and I'm running out of time. I guess it's either the taxes or raking leaves. I'm running out of excuses to finish with the leaves as well. No wonder I'm so eager to leave town and go to a rocket launch.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4086

I'm done. Janet and I got our second Covid vaccinations today. We got the Pfizer vaccine, which is the one I wanted anyway. In fourteen days we should have immunity to the disease and can resume normal life if such a thing still exists. I continue to be amazed at how organized and efficient the hospital was. Getting the injection couldn't have been easier. Why would you want to go wait in line for hours at a mass vaccination center run by the government when you could go to a well run hospital and be in and out in a matter of minutes?

Getting vaccinated seems to be more popular than I anticipated. I haven't run into anybody who doesn't want to take the vaccine because they're afraid of growing a tail or third eye. Most of the people I know here in Texas have already received at least one shot. This doesn't really say much though, since I only know other old people. I'd like to think that getting vaccinated signals the beginning of the end to this mess, but it probably doesn't. I have a feeling that people will be arguing about masks for years to come.

I got my media access application from the Air Force today. You have to fill this out once a year to keep your press credentials. I'll fill out the forms tomorrow and send them in. I was pleased that I didn't have to ask for the forms this year. They already know me and I'm on the list. The Air Force people are super nice and they have made it possible for me to see some important launches when I couldn't get clearance from NASA. I'm looking forward to returning to Kennedy Space Center again. There aren't a whole lot of things I look forward to, but this is one of them.

The weather has been so warm this week that I'm beginning to think that last month's big freeze was just a bad dream. When we took our walks today, I didn't need a jacket at all. A t-shirt and shorts were fine. Dawn enjoyed the nice weather, but only wanted to walk a mile today. She's full of surprises and we are always wondering what she'll do next. 

My feet held up pretty well today. I still have no idea why some days are worse than others. While I was taking my long walk, I noticed that our three resident Muscovy Ducks were sitting under a picnic table. When I returned, a family was having a picnic at this table, but the ducks hadn't moved. They were still sitting directly under the same table. Were the ducks waiting to be fed or were they just being stubborn? I've seen these ducks be very aggressive, but the family seemed to be treating them like a pet dog. There must be a story here. 

The sky was very clear today. I should go out and look at the stars this evening, but I probably won't. Usually when I finish writing the blog, all I want to do is go straight to bed. I'm spoiled by West Texas dark skies too. When I look up in the back yard at night all I see is a light grey sky dotted with a few of the brightest stars. There's really nothing to see unless you like looking at the moon. Getting back to the dark skies of West Texas is almost as high on my wish list as returning to Kennedy Space Center. Hey, it's only March. There's a lot of 2021 left. Getting vaccinated does make you a bit more optimistic. Maybe normal life is just around the corner.

I doubt that much is going to change tomorrow. I just hope I don't wake up with some of the severe reactions that others have reported after getting their second shot. So far, so good. I don't feel a thing yet. 

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4085

Charlie and Cooper were really playful today. They had a lot more energy than we did and could have played all afternoon. Charlie is nimble and can easily catch things in midair. Cooper is kind of clumsy but still has fun chasing after things he can never seem to catch. The dogs have plenty of toys at the kennel, but are always most interested in the new toys we bring with us. Both dogs are very motivated by food and will do almost anything for a treat. We spent some extra time with them today because next Monday the kennel will be full with Spring Break visitors. 

It kind of surprised me that people are even traveling on Spring Break this year. Have schools even been open long enough to have a break? Is there even anyplace to go? So many questions. I don't think McDonald Observatory is having any special Spring Break activities this year. Traditionally, this used to be their busiest time of the year and it was always the time when they called on volunteers like me to come out and help them with tours and star parties. I won't be making the trip this year. People are getting vaccinated, but restrictions are still in place almost everywhere. I wonder how long it will be before people start filling stadiums and going to concerts again? I have a feeling that it's going to take at least another year.

Dawn is full of surprises. She decided to take a longer walk today. The new route she picked wasn't a lot longer, but it probably added at least ten minutes to her walk. It was encouraging to see her try something new. We tried a second walk when we returned from visiting the rescue Dalmatians and she picked the longer route again. Who knows. Maybe she will decide to join us on longer walks later this Spring. We're not going to force her to walk longer than she wants. Walks should be fun for a dog. She's going to enjoy walking a lot more if it is something she looks forward to. At any rate, Dawn had a good day today. So did Charlie and Cooper.

I can't say that I did that well myself. I walked seven miles today, but my foot was bothering me for much of the way. Often my foot doesn't start bothering me until I've walked quite a way. By then it's too late. I still have to walk home. Today's return journey was slow and somewhat uncomfortable, but I did get 21,000 steps.

Our nasty weather appears to be over. We should have clear skies for the rest of the week and afternoon temperatures will be in the 70's. Maybe we've got a few more winter days left, but I doubt it. It's already March. It won't be long before the trees start budding and things get green again. I certainly hope they get green anyway. A lot of plants froze in our yard during the cold spell and it is unclear if they are going to come back again. 

Tomorrow, Janet and I get our second Covid vaccinations. I don't anticipate any problems, but they do say that the second shot is harder on you than the first. In two weeks from now we should have immunity and be good to go. Where do you go though? It's really hard to plan ahead. What if there's another surge in infections? What if the places we like don't open up again? Everyone wants to get back to normal, but what is normal now? Maybe all this uncertainty has become normal.

We'll see what happens. You've kind of got to take things one day at a time. Maybe Dawn will like walking again. Maybe NASA will invite me down for the Starliner launch. Maybe my allergies will go away. One can always hope.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4084

My allergies are driving me crazy this year. Every Spring my seasonal allergies seem to get worse and there doesn't seem to be much I can do. Antihistamines seem to be what most people recommend for allergies and they do nothing to stop my continual runny nose and itching eyes. Even so called modern antihistamines like Allegra don't deliver any relief. I'm sick of this. My nose is red and raw and I rub my eyes so often that Dr. Fauci would be appalled. This eventually goes away, but if experience is any guide, I  think I've got another month of misery.

I've been getting unexplained bug bites and I think I now know the cause. Ants. Little sweet ants invade the house every Spring and I think they're getting into my clothes. I was watching TV this afternoon and I watches an ant crawl out of my pants pocket and continue walking down my pants leg. The ants are just as hard to get rid of as the seasonal allergies. You can spray, but they always seem to find a new way to get inside. The ants disappear after a while too, but right now they're everywhere.

The temperature continues to fluctuate wildly. Yesterday it got up to 80 degrees, but today was much cooler. Yesterday I wore shorts and a t-shirt. Today, I had to wear a jacket again. I was actually glad to see the cooler weather. 80 degrees in February is a bit much. It's hard to believe that the temperature two weeks ago was near zero. To say the weather has been strange this year would be an understatement.

The rain was always nearby today, but we never got wet. Actually I hear thunder right now, but I think the rain is to the north of us. Janet and I must have been confident that it was going to stay dry for a while because we both washed our cars today.

I managed to get a lot of walking in today. I was lucky that my foot didn't hurt much. It's rare that I can have a 20,000 step day without a lot of foot pain. I wish I could pin down the cause for all these things that are bothering me. I've done everything my doctors have recommended for allergies and foot pain and nothing fundamentally seems to change. Things just seem to ebb and flow. I haven't even asked my doctor about the ants. He would just laugh.

When I wasn't walking today, I watched several videos about my new camera. There are some advanced features I'd like to use, but they aren't intuitive at all. It's much easier to watch someone explain them in a video than to read the instruction manual. YouTube videos have changed the whole world of do-it-yourself. I've learned how to repair appliances and upgrade computers watching YouTube videos. It looks like this will be how I master this complicated new camera as well.

We visit the rescue Dalmatians again tomorrow. It seems like a long drive to see two dogs, but Charlie and Cooper enjoy the visit and so do we. I really need to start working on my taxes tomorrow.  That's not something I enjoy, but I'm running out of time. I think there are all kinds of extensions available this year because of Covid, but I'm still going to file at the regular time. Why change now? I always file on April 15. What I'm really wondering is whether I'll be attending the Boeing Starliner launch on April 2.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4083

I woke up early this morning, which meant I got even less sleep than usual. It was damp and foggy outside and I was convinced that it would start raining any minute. As soon as we finished breakfast we took Dawn on her short walk and then I went and got my grocery shopping done. There wasn't much on my list this week and I was home before I typically even start my Saturday errands.

It still looked like the rain would start any minute, so I thought I'd see how far I could get on my long walk. I knew I'd probably get wet, but it didn't really matter. I needed those steps and I wasn't going to get them staring at this computer. I did get a little wet, but the rain mostly bypassed us today. This happens surprisingly often. People living to the North and South of us seem to get a lot more rain than we do.

The afternoon was uneventful. I practiced processing some pictures of the Andromeda galaxy that I'd taken last October out at McDonald Observatory. The pictures weren't that good and I've been looking forward to returning to the observatory to improve on my technique. Sadly, that's not going to happen this Spring. A lot has changed in a year, and I doubt that they'll be needing volunteers for quite a while.

One year ago today, I was visiting a small private observatory north of Dallas to prepare myself to a two week stay out at the observatory. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the beginning of a year long adventure that resulted in a growing interest in astrophotography and a cover story in Sky & Telescope. I'm having trouble planning future adventures now. Covid has taken the wind out of my sails. Maybe after Janet and I complete our second vaccinations next week, I'll feel confident enough to start making plans again.

There are certainly some things worth exploring. I'd like to go down to Boca Chica and do a story on Starship and all the Space X activities there. I have to figure out how to get myself invited though. That might take a while. I definitely want to be down at Kennedy Space Center for the Artemis 1 launch. The launch is still supposed to happen this year, but I have a feeling it will be postponed. I've heard rumors that there will be a follow up to the astrophotography workshop I took last October. That sounds interesting as well. I need to remember that there are always things to do, but nothing is going to happen if I just sit here.

I went out and picked up a pizza for dinner tonight and almost immediately got a bad case of heartburn. It's a shame that many of my favorite foods give me heartburn. I love spaghetti, chili, ribs, fried chicken, and pizza. They all give me heartburn. It's kind of a shame that most of my favorite activities all involve trips to places thousands of miles away as well. Wouldn't it be easier if I enjoyed bland foods and doing things right here in Dallas? Maybe that's not the point though. At least I have interests.

I hope the weather is better tomorrow. A gloomy day usually results in a gloomy me. The forecast says it will be raining in the morning, but it might be clear. Texas weather is full of surprises.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4082

I got a haircut today. Haircuts have been few and far between since Covid arrived on the scene, but eventually you look in the mirror and realize it's time. I never really thought that getting a haircut was dangerous. With little to do and no place to go, it just doesn't seem worth the trouble. I look more presentable now, but there's still little to do and no place to go. Hopefully, that will change in the near future. Whenever I've been out in public lately, the topic of conversation seems to be the vaccine. Everyone asks whether you've gotten your shot yet. A surprising number of people have. I know quite a few people who have already finished with their second vaccination. My stylist and I compared notes about getting vaccinated. I had no reaction whatsoever and she felt sick for a day. Both of us hoped that after our second shot that we could begin to return to a more normal life.

It must have rained a lot last night because the water level in the lake appeared to be almost a foot higher than it was yesterday. The rain was largely over by the time we got up this morning, so we were able to take our walks as usual. I got the pumps running before breakfast and was glad I had removed all those leaves yesterday. Dawn was eager for her walk, but didn't feel like going the extra mile today. I didn't really feel like going the extra mile either, but I continued walking. Walking eats up a lot of time and that's good.

When I was driving home from my hair appointment today I noticed a mobile document shredding truck next to me at a stop light. This reminded me that I really need to get serious about getting rid of old documents at my storage warehouse. I should have taken a picture of the truck with my phone, because I've already forgotten the name of the company. If I could get rid of all the useless documents I've saved, I could probably get by with a storage warehouse half the size of my current one. I need to do this because the storage warehouse keeps raising my rates every year. If it wasn't so much trouble, I could probably go back to my old storage warehouse as a new customer and get a great rate again. That's how storage warehouses work. You start out with a decent rate and then it goes up dramatically year after year. 

I can't believe there are still people in the Dallas area without running water. Evidently there were so many  broken pipes during the big freeze that plumbers haven't been able to catch up yet. Apparently apartment buildings fared worse than single family homes. I'm so glad that we didn't have water problems during the storm. We've had serious water problems before and they are the worst. You really feel helpless when water is seeping out of a wall and you're not even sure what is behind the sheetrock. Let's hope that Spring is just around the corner. I think everyone in town is tired of Winter by now.

Janet and I got a reminder that our second Covid shots are next week. I'll be glad when I can put this all behind me. Somehow, I have a feeling that we'll be taking Covid shots every year for the rest of our lives. That's OK if everything just opens up again. I haven't really minded the isolation, but I would like to travel. When you travel, you don't have to think about storage warehouses and water leaks. I'm hoping that by late April I'll be able to start attending launches again.

That's all in the future though. Tomorrow is just another grocery day. The stores are well stocked now, but I need to stop thinking about food. Even with my long walks I'm starting to gain weight.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4081

I managed to get most of the leaves bagged and out of the yard before it started raining. This was quite an accomplishment, since there were a lot of leaves. I'm starting to understand why there are so many ads on TV for products claiming to reduce arthritis pain. You've seen the ads: Voltaren, Australian Dream, Blue-Emu, Capsaicin, Infrared light therapy, Salonpas, the list goes on and on. The sad fact is that at a certain age, your joints start acting like a rusty hinge. I can't recall raking and bagging leaves ever being this troublesome before. My shoulder bothered me. My wrists bothered me. My knees bothered me. Of course, my foot wasn't going to get left out of the pain parade either. Maybe that lawn care service actually was worth the money.

I was pleased to see a package from England in this morning's mail. Inside were two copies of the October 2020 issue of SpaceFlight with my article about the Artemis program. It's been a long wait. I wrote the article a year ago last February after a visit to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. My joy was short lived unfortunately. Where was the February 2021 issue with my article about the Space X Crew 1 mission? The magazine forgot to send the second article. This means that I'm going to have to ask them again, which I hate to do since everyone at the magazine is working from home and dealing with all sorts of Covid problems. I'm determined to get a copy of the Crew 1 article though, even if it takes me another year to do it.

Dawn really surprised us today. When she finished her one mile loop, she just kept walking. She wasn't reluctant at all and seemed to be really enjoying herself. Maybe it was the weather. It was a lot cooler this morning, but the rain hadn't arrived yet and it was still dry. There were lots of new smells as well, because the city workers had just mowed the grass along our trail. By the time Dawn decided that she'd had enough and headed for home, she'd walked over two miles.

By the time I'd finished my longer walk, I'd gone over five miles. I wasn't trying for distance today. I was just trying to beat the rain without destroying my feet. I've developed a peculiar flat footed style of walking that seems to work. Flexing the foot causes the most discomfort. If I can just lift the left foot up and down without a lot of heal and toe flex, I'm usually OK. Janet says I should go back to the gym and try exercises that don't involve walking. She's probably right.

My seasonal allergies started early this year. I've had a runny nose for weeks now. It got so bad today that I took an Allegra. Of course this pill did nothing. It never does. I hate adding a mask to seasonal allergies. Sneezing and blowing your nose constantly just doesn't work very well. I've ruined more than one mask by sneezing into it. I can't really recall when the seasonal allergies go away, but May comes to mind. It's going to be a long Spring.

I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow morning. I won't have time for my regular huge smoothie, so I'll just have a bagel and a cup of coffee instead. I'm sure it will still be raining in the morning. It's supposed to rain all the way through the weekend. I'm glad I took care of the leaves before the rain started. I'll be glad to get a haircut too. I'm long overdue.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4080

I had a rare Zoom meeting today. I still don't understand people's fascination with Zoom. In most cases, a simple phone call would suffice. I've participated in a multitude of conference calls during my working years and I can't ever remember a need to actually see the other people. I somehow lost the shared screen during today's call, but I pretended to follow along. I guess my main problem with Zoom is that I can't slouch and stare off into space. I have to look at the camera and appear interested. I guess this is kind of like a real meeting around a conference table. I didn't like those either.

Since rain is in the forecast for tomorrow,  I reluctantly started raking leaves today. I didn't actually spend a lot of time raking. Most of my time was spent with the leaf blower, trying to get all the leaves out of the Liriope and Asian Jasmine ground cover. I thought all the leaves were dry, but there were many layers and the bottom layers were still soggy and wet. When we were younger, cleaning up the yard in the Spring was a routine event. Then for a while, we had a lawn care service do this chore for us. After we retired, we started pinching pennies and returned to doing the annual cleanup ourselves.  I doubt that all the leaves will be gone before it rains again, but at least we've started. For me at least, starting a chore is always the hardest part.

I'm still wondering what has happened to our mail. Deliveries have resumed, but we certainly haven't received a week's worth of accumulated mail. I have a feeling that some of this mail is gone forever. Most of the junk we get I would never miss, but I do hope that my copies of SpaceFlight Magazine turn up eventually. I'm old school. It doesn't really feel like I've been published unless I can hold the magazine in my hand.

I received a message from my new Air Force contact saying that I would soon be receiving instructions on the re-credentialing process and that I should be good to go well before the upcoming Starliner launch. I took this as a good sign that life will eventually return to normal. It's important to me to start covering launches again. In the grand scheme of things, whatever I write is not very important, but it does make me feel like I've got a job. I'd like to feel like I'm entirely self-motivated, but having deadlines and an editor does make me a lot more productive.

Janet was gone this afternoon, so I tried to see if Dawn would do some simple things with me. She likes to lie in the sun on nice days, but she wouldn't leave the bedroom on her own. Oddly, she's happy to follow me outdoors on a leash. When I take the leash off, she will go lie in the grass like she normally does. We did this several times this afternoon. She didn't appear scared when I led her outside on a leash. She just wouldn't leave the bedroom on her own. It's all very weird. Maybe Dawn thinks I'm a kennel attendant.

My foot hurt again today on my long walk. It's baffling why this varies from day to day. Actually, my foot hurt when I woke up this morning, so maybe I'm doing something wrong when I sleep. I'm tired of seeing doctors. I've seen four doctors about this over the years and nothing has changed. There are no fractures or bone damage. Other than some obvious arthritis, the foot is fine. I don't want to take strong pain medication, so I guess I'm stuck. I've seen people get addicted to pain pills and it's not a pretty sight. I'm a born complainer, so I'll live with the discomfort and just complain a lot.

The forecast says that it should start raining tomorrow afternoon. It looks like I'll be bagging leaves as fast as I can tomorrow morning.

Nora is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4079

I tried to get organized today. I applied for press credentials to attend the Boeing Starliner launch in April. I made an appointment to get a haircut. I wrote the Air Force, asking how to renew my 45th Space Wing credentials when they expire in March. Amazingly, I was finally able to reach a real person at the dehumidifier company and asked if they could send me the part I need to get my replacement machine working properly. I thought this would be easy since I was talking directely to the manufacturer. Apparently, nothing is easy. 

I learned that I had reached the corporate headquarters here in the United States, but that the dehumidifiers were actually made in Mexico and that it was impossible to get the part I needed. "We can prorate your machine based on use and give you a refund," the technical support guy told me. This made no sense to me because the machine was brand new and I had paid nothing for it in the first place. "Wouldn't it be easier to just send me the inexpensive part I need," I asked? Nope. I guess if they want to send me money for a machine they just gave me, I'll take their money. I just need to remember to empty the collection bucket more often because this dehumidifier will overflow if it gets too full.

I hope that I haven't fallen out of the loop with NASA and the Air Force. It wasn't easy to get credentials to cover launches in the first place, and now it appears I will have to start all over again. Covid changed everything and there are new rules and restrictions now. Oh, well. It will give me something to do this Spring. It is frustrating how rare it is to be able to do something once and be done with it. People change jobs frequently. Rules change. I guess it has always been this way. I had to make new contacts frequently during my working days, but I was younger then and had more patience for this sort of thing.

Dawn is eager to go on her walks again. She seemed so happy to be outside this morning that we thought we'd see if she'd walk in a different direction. Nope. Every time we tried to get her to turn left, she insisted on turning right. The one mile loop she has chosen as her daily walk consists of a series of right turns. Dawn knows exactly where she wants to go and won't turn left at all. While I took my longer walk, Janet took Dawn in the car to a different park to get her used to different surroundings. As usual, she hated the car ride but was happy enough to walk around and smell things at the new location. I don't think we will ever know what is going through Dawn's head. She's made it pretty clear what she wants though, so we'll just go with that.

My feet didn't hurt as much today on my long walk. I walked the same distance at my usual pace, but it wasn't nearly as much of a struggle today. I didn't use any of the anti-inflammatory gel on my foot either. One more mystery to think about. I have no idea why the foot pain varies from day to day. I am very consistent about my activities. The weather has been pretty consistent for the past several days as well.

The weather has definitely not been consistent for the past several weeks. The temperature got up to 80 degrees this afternoon. At some point during the day, our air conditioner came on. It's pretty weird to go from -2 degrees to 80 degrees in less than a week, but that's what happened today. Texas weather is full of surprises. I guess I should have learned that by now.

I need to start raking leaves tomorrow. The leaves are dry again and we've got plenty of large leaf bags to put them in. Since we're looking at a solid week of rain on the horizon, tomorrow might be the best day to start this odious chore. I wish the leaves would just disappear on their own, but that's not going to happen.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4078

Clyde got adopted this week, so only Cooper and Charlie remain at the kennel. We weren't able to visit the dogs last week because of the snow and ice, but they survived the cold pretty well. The kennel never lost power, but they were well prepared in case they did. One of the kennel managers stayed overnight with the dogs on the coldest days to make sure they were OK and plenty of water was set aside in case the kennel lost running water. There still seems to be no rhyme or reason to who had electricity during the storm and who didn't. There were people near us who lost power and there were people near the kennel who lost power. I guess the Dalmatians got lucky, just like we did.

The temperature got up to seventy degrees again today. If you didn't have a plumbing problem, there is very little evidence that the storm even existed. The snow and ice are completely gone and it feels like Spring is around the corner. I hope that last week was our Winter. Enough is enough. We really don't need any more cold weather this year.

I went up to the post office to see if I could pick up our accumulated mail this morning and the postmaster said that most of the mail for our area hadn't even arrived yet. Evidently, many post offices in the vicinity were without power during the storm, including the main Dallas sorting facility. Mail is still scattered all over the place and could take up to a week to arrive. We did get a little mail today at the house, but it was all junk.

I looked up what bills usually arrive around this time of the month and paid them online. I think we're good, although I do hope that my copies of SpaceFlight Magazine don't get lost. Trash service has resumed in our neighborhood and hopefully vaccine distribution will get back on schedule as well. We've got another week before we're due for our second shot, so everything should be back to normal by then.

I don't know what I'm going to do about my foot. I used the Voltaren gel today, but my foot was still very painful after about four miles. I'm probably not using enough of the gel to be effective, but I've always been a little suspicious of NSAID anti-inflammatory medicine. This stuff is probably safer than Ibuprofen, but long term use of any NSAID is not recommended. I wonder why the shoes don't work anymore. They really helped a lot for the first three weeks.

I'm thinking about applying for press credentials to attend the Boeing Starliner launch in April. This launch takes place almost a month after my second Covid vaccination, so I should have as much immunity as I'm going to get. At some point we all need to pick up where we left off in life last March. Lockdowns weren't meant to become a way of life or a permanent condition. I"m not even sure I can get NASA accreditation again. Somehow, I got lucky with the Crew 1 launch, but I have a feeling that I have fallen to the back of the line again. It's really hard to get established when your magazine isn't widely known and you can only afford several trips a year.

Dawn took two walks again today, but she is still nervous around me when Janet is away from the house. I don't know if this is ever going to change. Dawn is nervous about many things. I'm just one of a long list of phobias she has. Hopefully, we can work this out in the next several months, because Janet is even more eager to travel than I am.

The weather has been so nice for the past two days that I almost failed to notice that there is an entire week of rain in the forecast starting this Thursday. Oh, well. Rain isn't great, but it's a lot better than ice. Maybe if it rains a lot, I will be forced to stay inside and my foot will finally heal.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day