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

Day 4394

I'm getting used to changing several times a day because of the rapidly changing temperatures. Our early morning walks with Dawn are very cold and I really have to bundle up. The later in the day it gets, the more clothes I can shed. I'm sure that Dawn would prefer to sleep in a little longer, but these early walks are the only times that Janet and I can walk Dawn together. It's too bad that Dawn is still afraid to walk alone with me. If she realized that I am really her friend, we could walk a lot later when it was warmer. She'd be more than welcome to come with me on my long walks as well, but I'm not sure she could walk that far anymore. Truthfully, I'm not sure I can walk that far anymore either. Some of these walks have been brutal on my feet lately.

I decided that I would go looking for some cable adapters so I could experiment with my star tracker some more. Target and Best Buy didn't have what I needed, so that led me to the Apple Store. What a bunch of woke idiots. The mall had just opened, so it was almost empty. That didn't deter Apple in the least. They had the most elaborate and nonsensical Covid protection scheme I've ever seen. Before you could enter the store, an employee standing outside in a red shirt would ask you what you wanted to buy. People looking for a phone were directed to one line. People looking for a computer were sent to a second line. I was directed to a third line because all I wanted were some cable adapters. I think that if you just wanted to look around you were told to go away. There were very few people in each line, because the mall had just opened. Each line had another employee in a red shirt acting as a gatekeeper. The short lines didn't move fast because Apple would only allow ten people in the store at a time. When someone left, a new person could enter. There were a lot more employees in red shirts than there were customers. The store was almost empty. 

When I finally entered the store I was greeted by another employee who asked me again what I wanted to buy. He would look up the item on his phone and then tell a different employee to go look for it. Customers couldn't browse or go look for the item themselves. We had to stay quarantined at the front of the store. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. If you entered the store in the computer line, you couldn't change your mind and go see the guy who was showing people phones. Each section has a pair of people. One would look up your item on his phone and then the second guy would act as a runner to go back in the store and find it. Needless to say, this guy would usually bring back the wrong item and he'd have to make four or five trips to find what the customer actually wanted.

The tag team of inept red shirted employees eventually found what I wanted after bringing me several things that weren't even close. The oddest thing about the whole experience was that the employee trying to help me appeared to be wearing a mask that was crocheted. This mask wouldn't keep a mosquito away. It would do absolutely nothing to ward off a virus. This is what we've become: people wearing masks as fashion statements, blindly following a set of rules that make no sense whatsoever. I'm sure someone in Cupertino had good intentions, but this plan made the folks controlling traffic in grocery stores look like geniuses.

I'm learning a lot more about how cameras can be controlled by computers, or in my case little star trackers. When the computer industry had to deal with connecting their products to printers and external hard drives, they came up with an industry set of standards that made connecting things easy. The camera industry hasn't done this. Each company has it's own proprietary way of connecting to a computer. My cameras just don't want to talk with the star tracker. I'll figure this out eventually, but unfortunately it may involve buying another camera body.

I managed to get 20,000 steps today, but they were slow painful steps. I probably look really awkward when I walk. I've found that a flatfooted walk where my heel touches the ground first and I never walk on my toes is the most comfortable. Bending the toes is what hurts the most. I think I'll keep walking though. I've seen the x-rays. Quitting walking won't bring the cartilage back. All a sedentary life will do is make me fat.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4393

Thankfully it was a little warmer today. The day still started below freezing, but it warmed up quickly. I don't think Dawn likes the cold. She isn't quite as eager to take her walks on cold mornings, even though we got her a nice warm sweater. I guess I feel the same way. I've never been a big fan of Winter.

After breakfast I thought I'd go to Target and the Apple Store to get some additional cables that would allow me to test several more cameras with my new start tracker. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a mask with me. This wouldn't have been a problem last week, but the Omicron variant has thrown everyone into a panic again. When I entered the Target store, there were big "mask required" signs at the entrance and the PA system was even broadcasting that if you didn't feel like wearing a mask inside the store, you should try online shopping instead. I went home. I figured that if Target was being this strict, the Apple Store would be even worse. Maybe I'll just buy the cables I need on Amazon. That would be easier.

By the time I took my long walk, the weather was actually quite nice. It was still chilly, but it wasn't freezing like yesterday. My only problem today was my feet. It's hard to tell if my feet are actually getting worse or I just need new shoes. Maybe I'm just walking further. It's quite common for me to get 20,000 steps these days. For me, that's about 10 miles. It seems like I used to walk a lot less. At any rate, my feet were quite painful today. I hate to use the Voltaren cream, because of the internal bleeding risk side effects listed on the tube. I've tried Biofreeze too, but that doesn't seems to do anything. I guess I should just go ahead and order some new Hoka shoes while I'm ordering camera connection cables.  Finding the stuff I need locally is proving to be an exercise in frustration.

Getting the Polaris star tracker to work is an even bigger exercise in frustration. Some of the other Kickstarter backers are already out in the field taking pictures and I can't even get my cameras to connect to the tracker. I suspect that I just have the wrong cameras. I've always been a fan of Olympus and Panasonic cameras even though the rest of the photographers are always using Nikon and Canon. Most of the people who are having success with their star trackers appear to be using Canon cameras. When I'm photographing launches down at Kennedy Space Center, I'm almost always the only one not shooting with a Nikon or Canon. Oh, well. I've never followed the crowd.

We didn't visit Charlie and Oliver today because the kennel is still on a holiday schedule. Maybe next week. I guess it's about time to take down the Christmas tree. The Christmas holidays seemed to go by awfully fast this year. Wasn't it just Thanksgiving a few days ago? I still don't have any trips planned for the coming year. Last year I was a lot more industrious. Maybe I just don't care as much about writing articles anymore. It's hard for me to do anything for the pure pleasure of it. Writing for magazines gave me a reason to travel. 

Maybe I'll watch another episode of The Expanse tomorrow. It's time to write another letter to my sister as well. I need to do some touch up painting on the trim around the house, but I hate to paint. I always manage to spill something and make a mess. I'll probably just continue to monkey around with the star tracker and try to get it to work with a camera it wasn't designed for. If I have a choice between a useful activity and a useless one, I'll always choose the most useless activity I can find.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4392

It was 18 degrees when we woke up this morning. There was a strong wind as well. Needless to say, we didn't take a sunrise walk. We ate breakfast and waited for it to warm up a little. I was just glad the house was warm. Right after I posted my worries about the furnace going out yesterday evening, the furnace actually did go out. The temperature was dropping rapidly, so it was important to get it fixed before I went to bed. I suspected a dirty flame sensor, since that's usually the problem when the pilot light won't ignite the burners. Luckily, fixing a dirty flame sensor is fairly easy. You unplug the furnace, unscrew a few metal panels, and then sand the flame sensor with fine grit sandpaper. I used to take the flame sensor out of the furnace to do this, but I've learned that I can contort my hand and reach through a little hole to sand the sensor in place. I can't see what I'm doing, but I've learned to do the cleaning operation by feel. It took about an hour to get the furnace running again, but it sure beats freezing.

It warmed up a little, but it was still below freezing when we took Dawn on her Sunday outing. She wore her sweater this morning, but I think she was still a little cold. I was pretty warm because I was wearing two down jackets and long underwear. The double layer of jackets works great and keeps me much warmer than the heavy winter parka I used to wear on colds day like this. We still got ice cream after our walk today, but we were sitting in a warm car. Dawn would have been really disappointed if we didn't get ice cream.

I made some progress with the star tracker today, but I'm still unable to connect a camera to it. The cables that came with the tracker don't fit any of my current cameras. I did find an older camera that could use one of the supplied connection cables, but it saved pictures in the wrong format. At least the star tracker itself seems to work. I updated the firmware and formatted the internal SD card. I can control the tracker from my phone now. I just can't take pictures yet. I suspect that I will have to go to the Apple Store and buy a few more cable adapters.

I don't know why I bothered to take a long walk today. It was really cold. I should have learned my lesson after our short walk with Dawn, but I was determined to get my steps in. The wind was strong and my feet hurt, but I did complete my route. I still don't understand how northerners put up with the cold. There were joggers passing me today wearing only light jackets. I looked like I was headed for the South Pole.

I hope I can get the star tracker to work with one of my cameras. As usual, I don't have one of the popular cameras this system was apparently designed for. I tend to obsess over things and this whole process of figuring things out with very little documentation will probably just lead to frustration. I'm sure I'll end up buying a bunch of cables that don't work and just end up wasting money. The weird thing is that even if I can get the tracker to work, it will probably just sit in a box for months. Dallas just isn't a good place for astrophotography.

I don't have much of a plan for tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little warmer. It's hard for me to get motivated on warm days. On cold days it's almost impossible. If I can get at least one camera to recognize the star tracker tomorrow, the day will be a win.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4391 - New Years Day

Happy New Year. So far, the year seems to be off to a good start. We got up late, took Dawn on a pleasant walk, had a nice breakfast, and got started on a brand new year. I got an automated call saying that a prescription was ready, but when I went to the pharmacy, it was closed. Since the roads were practically empty, I thought I'd finish some of the errands that seemed like too much trouble yesterday when everything was a madhouse. I got gas and then went back to Central Market to pick up something for a New Years dinner. What a difference a day makes. I should have just stayed home yesterday and done all my shopping today. The store had been completely restocked overnight and everything looked fresh. There weren't many shoppers either. I got some fresh Maryland Crabcakes, Garlic Shrimp, Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, and Potato Salad. I also found a new brand of spicy ginger ale that I thought I'd try.

When I returned home, Janet and I took Dawn on another walk and then I continued walking. The temperature was in the mid seventies, so I just wore a t-shirt and shorts. This was a huge mistake. About halfway through my walk, the cold front everyone has been talking about finally blew through town and the temperature almost instantly dropped twenty degrees. I've never experienced such a sudden temperature change. The wind picked up as well. I was freezing for the remainder of my walk. It felt like a long three miles.

Luckily the most interesting part of the walk occurred before the cold front arrived. I saw the Bald Eagle again. I'm pretty sure you only see the male eagle during these rare sightings. The female eagle is still sitting on her nest, hidden away in the forest somewhere. I don't know if the eggs have hatched yet. I think this makes five times I've seen the eagle since the pair arrived in Dallas. I also saw both Muscovy Ducks. Today there were about a mile apart. I always thought this pair was inseparable, but they haven't been getting along lately. 

I usually have a cold drink when I return from my long walk. Not today. I was freezing. I asked Janet if we had any hot chocolate and it turns out we do. I fixed a big mug of hot chocolate and gradually warmed up. When I saw how cold it is going to get tonight I went outside and set all the faucets on drip. The greenhouse is in such dilapidated shape that when I went inside to adjust the greenhouse faucet, the door fell apart. I had to hammer the thing back together so I could close it again. Janet and I would both like to just tear the greenhouse down and put up a carport there. Our street has gotten so busy in recent years that it's almost impossible to get out of the driveway on a busy day. Moving the cars to the back would be a good idea.

I finally worked up my nerve to begin experimenting with the new star tracker. I read the instructions several times, inserted the Micro SD card in the proper slot, and charged the battery with my new USB-C charger. That's as far as I got. The next step would be to format the SD card and update the firmware. Since it was almost time for dinner at this point, I decided to wait until tomorrow to do anything further. A lot can go wrong when you try to update the firmware on a new device.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. It's supposed to be 22 degrees at sunrise. We've got plenty of warm coats, but I'm not sure Dawn will want to walk with these type of temperatures. Every winter I cross my fingers and hope that the furnace doesn't go out. It's happened before and it can be pretty miserable. A power outage during freezing weather isn't fun either. One Winter we had a four day power outage after an ice storm and it got so cold in the house that we had to go stay in a hotel. Sure hope that never happens again.

Anything could happen in 2022, but I'm going to try and remain optimistic. Everyone seems to be in a panic about the Omicron variant, but few people seem to be getting very sick. A lot of people didn't even know they were infected until they had to take a mandatory Covid test to travel. Maybe if everyone catches Omicron, we will finally reach the herd immunity everyone's been waiting for. I hope so. I'm not sure if we'll be taking Dawn on her Sunday outing tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4390

I'm going to have trouble staying awake until midnight. The older I get, the less of a night owl I become. It's hard to believe that I once played in a band where New Year's Eve always meant loading the bass amp and the PA system back in the car at 2 AM after our gig was over at some hotel. It's hard to understand the desire to party anymore. Why do all those people stand out in the cold in Times Square every year just to watch a big glass ball drop? A glass of champagne while watching the fireworks on TV is festive enough for me.

I did my grocery shopping today because I thought a lot of the stores would be closed tomorrow. I think everyone else must have had the same idea. The stores were packed this morning and the shelves were kind of empty. I think the crowds were worse than just before Christmas. I didn't even bother to get gas because there were long lines at the pumps. Luckily, my shopping list was short, so I didn't have to fight the crowds for long.

It was overcast and foggy again this morning but still quite warm. I don't think the colder weather is going to arrive until Sunday. I need to remember to set the outdoor faucets to drip so they won't freeze. I was going to do this today, but I forgot. Usually after our first hard freeze the faucets continue dripping for the rest of the Winter. The water bill goes up a bit, but it's hard to remember to turn the faucets off again.

I was going to get my star tracker operating today, but I decided to wait. What's the hurry. The beta software for the iPhone app is still going through almost daily changes. Hopefully each version gets a little better. I still read the support group for the Kickstarter backers. Nobody has really gotten their Polaris to work yet. I think I'll let the brave ones monkey around with this thing and potentially break it. I'll wait. I'm confident that everything will be operating reliably by Spring. Maybe I'll take the sophisticated little tracker with me on my next trip to McDonald Observatory.

2021 has definitely been a weird year. I made one trip out to the observatory in May and another trip to Kennedy Space Center in September, but it still felt like I spent the entire year waiting for something to happen. Basically 2020 and 2021 just blur together in my mind. It just seems like we have been arguing about Covid and what it all means forever. I'm hoping that we can move beyond this in 2022, but then I was hoping exactly the same thing this time last year. We'll see what happens. All I know is that dystopian science fiction is getting closer to reality every day.

I stopped making New Year's resolutions years ago. I'm not even interested in becoming a better person. Good enough is fine. I eat healthy food. I exercise. I stay out of trouble. I try my best to stay curious. What more do you need? I have no big plans for the year ahead. It would be nice if Dawn learned to trust me. I'd like to go see the Artemis 1 launch this Spring. Maybe I'll volunteer at the Dark Sky Festival  next year. The world's not going to end if none of these things happen though. I'll continue writing articles but getting published isn't as much of a priority as it was several years ago. Hey, I can always take a long walk.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. At my age, a Happy New Year just means not getting cancer or having your dog die. Maybe something exciting will happen next year. We can hope. I do have a project now. It's going to take me at least a month to figure out how to use this new star tracker.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4389

I'm struggling with this new piece of machinery I've got. I finally located an English language version of the instruction manual. At least I know what the various buttons and knobs do now. The star tracker operates by using a Bluetooth enabled iPhone app. The app isn't available on the Apple App Store yet, but other people seem to have it. I keep asking dumb questions but I haven't been able to find the download location for the Beta version yet. Until I can get the app running on my phone, the motorized tripod head/star tracker is basically useless. 

I did go buy a Micro SD Card and a charger that uses USB C cables which are both required. The tiny Micro SD cards are more expensive than the cards I use in my cameras. Of course I can't even format these cards until I figure out how to install the Beta version of the Polaris app on my phone. Maybe I ought to just wait until the final version of this app is available on the App Store. I always thought I was good with technical things but I'm way behind some of the other Kickstarter backers. Maybe I'm just getting old. While I was out looking for Micro SD cards, I also looked for my favorite Reed's Extra Ginger Ale. My supply is getting low. The last store I know of that regularly carried this stuff dropped the product. What am I going to do now? Story of my life, I guess. Everything I like is almost impossible to find.

I did find the missing Muscovy Duck on my walk this morning. I don't know where it has been this week, but it definitely isn't dead. It was good to see this odd pair of ducks reunited again. Some of the Pelicans and most of the Double-crested Cormorants are back as well. I don't know where these birds went either. Maybe I should become a birder. Birds are plentiful at the lake and they are a lot easier to photograph than the Milky Way.

I used to always buy something for the business on the last day of the year so I could expense it and reduce my taxes a bit. That seems kind of pointless now. The business hardly even exists anymore and I don't need new gear anyway. I hope my computer doesn't break because I like it a lot better than the new stuff that is available now. I feel the same about cameras. My old cameras work fine. Basically I've really gotten tired of change. I don't view change as progress anymore. Change has just become a nuisance. My Dad was the same way. He was a scientist, but he refused to get a computer. He kept using an old manual typewriter his entire life.

I've taken this week's trash to the curb. I wish I could just take 2021 to the curb as well. This was supposed to be the year we returned to normal but it didn't turn out that way. It would be nice to start fresh next year, but from my vantage point it looks like 2022 will just be more of the same. Can I keep this tired old blog going for another year? We'll see. I guess anything is possible.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4388

We've basically had all four seasons in the span of a week. Today was warm, but it was rainy. I'm not accustomed to these huge day-to-day changes, so I didn't even check the weather before we left on our sunrise walk with Dawn. Big mistake. I thought it was just going to be another cloudy, foggy morning, but as soon as we entered the park, the skies opened up. We all got soaked and Dawn was indignant. She hates getting wet. We turned around and headed for home as soon as the rain started but it didn't help much. All our clothes went in the dryer as soon as we got home and it took several towels to get Dawn dried off.

It only rained hard for about an hour, but I was in no hurry to take my long walk. I didn't want to get caught in the rain again. I vacuumed the house and did a load of laundry while I was waiting for the skies to clear. I thought I'd read the manual for my new star tracker, but when I clicked on the PDF file, it was blank. The short quick start guide that came with the tracker is basically useless. I did a quick Internet search for the Benro Polaris manual, but I kept getting instruction manuals for Polaris ATV's instead. 

We could tell that Dawn felt cheated out of her morning walk, so we regrouped and tried again as soon as the skies cleared. This time Dawn was able to complete her one mile loop with no problems. It was time for my long walk anyway, so I continued walking. I walked a long way today, but I probably shouldn't have. This was a terrible day for foot pain. I was limping home by the time I finished my six miles for the day. I need to see if there is a correlation between humidity and foot pain. I kind of think that my feet hurt more on wet or high humidity days, but I haven't been keeping records. I might just be imagining things.

I only saw one of the Muscovy Ducks today. There might have been only one yesterday as well. When I saw the pair the other day, one of the ducks just seemed like a flat lump. It didn't seem to be sleeping normally. Now I'm thinking that this duck might have been dead. It was gone today, but the other duck hasn't moved. I don't know if a duck can be depressed, but this duck certainly seemed that way. I hope his companion is just off exploring somewhere else. These two Muscovy Ducks have been inseparable for well over five years. There were a bonded pair that did everything together.

I have tons of SD cards lying around the house. All my cameras use them. As luck would have it, my new start tracker requires a Micro SD card to operate. I don't have any of those. It's a shame that Fry's went out of business. There was a large Fry's store near my house and it was always easy to run down there whenever I needed a computer cable, printer ink, a memory card, or a spare battery. Now I have to venture farther away to find these things and there isn't a single store that has everything anymore. Fry's is the latest in a long line of my favorite stores a that seem to disappear as soon as I grow to depend on them. Stores that I hate like Walmart flourish. Stores that I like always go bankrupt and disappear.

My Fall allergies have returned with a vengeance. If these seasonal allergies weren't so predictable, it would be easy to convince myself that I had Covid. I've certainly got the runny nose. My nose runs so bad when I'm out in the park that I have to stuff a bunch of those Scott blue shop towels in my pocket. Regular Kleenex just doesn't do the job anymore. I've lost track of when the Fall allergies end and the Spring allergies begin. There only seems to be about three months out of the year where there isn't a problem. At least the allergies aren't bad indoors. HEPA furnace filters work wonders.

I don't have any plans for tomorrow, but it's supposed to be clear and warm. I ought to try and take advantage of the nice weather while it's here because a cold wave is on the way. They say freezing weather will arrive this weekend. Freezing temperatures aren't the way I'd like to start the new year, but I don't think I've got a choice.

Petey & Greta are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4387

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dot & Petey are today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4386

I finally got my package. It was 16 days late, but who's counting. The box looked a little worse for wear, but the contents didn't appear to be damaged. Truthfully, I never expected to see this thing. The package arrived in Texas on December 11 and has been bouncing around the Fedex system ever since. I don't think I ever would have found my shipment if an offshore call center employee hadn't eventually taken pity on me and gave me the private number of the local Fedex distribution center. I learned a few things during this never ending search. There are still a few good people in this world, but there probably aren't any good global corporations. I got nowhere until I was finally able to talk with a real person who had the ability to walk out to the loading dock and physically look for the package. Fedex did everything it could to keep me from talking to these people. The call center employees I did talk with with were just looking at numbers on a computer screen. 

The lady who handed me the package today said it would probably take all day to explain what had actually happened. She wasn't really sure herself. She did hand me a piece of paper though that showed the package had been scanned forty two times since entering the Fedex system. This thing had been everywhere except where is was actually supposed to go. 

I still think it is ironic that Fedex stock actually went up while I was looking for my lost package. The investment community apparently likes the fact that the company is investing heavily in artificial intelligence software. It was this same software that was causing all my problems. Nobody was actually looking for my package for a very long time. They were just depending on the software to get it to the right place. Eventually someone discovered that the bar code on my package had gotten damaged and wasn't giving the right results. I probably never should have requested to have my package held at a Fedex Office facility either. This particular facility had huge amounts of outgoing traffic and very little incoming. I think my package actually was delivered to this location at some point, but it just got lost in the Christmas rush and was returned to the distribution center. I don't know why I was in such a hurry to get this little star tracker. Light pollution is so bad in Dallas that I probably won't be able to use it until I get a chance to go back to McDonald Observatory again.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of walking and had another 24,000 step day. I don't think the long walks really prove anything. They take my mind off the worries of the world though. If my feet didn't hurt, I would probably walk a lot further. I was surprised when I noticed that all the Pelicans had disappeared today. Where did they go? There are hundreds of White Pelicans that spend the Winter on our lake, but they were nowhere to be found. One more animal mystery. 

Someone in one of the astrophotography groups I subscribe to wanted to start a discussion about self defense and personal safety. A lot of people got angry and told the guy that this was off topic because this was a group about astronomy. A lively back and forth ensued and I was a bit surprised to learn that I wasn't the only one who didn't feel safe taking a telescope outside at night in a city. Several people in other countries said that their equipment would immediately be stolen if they tried to set it up in a public park. It's a shame we've come to this. We really aren't that far away from Mad Max at Thunderdome.

The year is swiftly drawing to a close. I really hope that next year will be an improvement. Even a small improvement would be welcome. Any way you look at it, 2020 and 2021 sucked.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4385

I wasn't expecting it to be cold and foggy this morning since yesterday was the hottest Christmas on record. The weather has been hard to predict lately. Every day is something new. The dense fog didn't last long, but it was very pretty. Since it was Sunday, I did a lot of walking again. After our early foggy walk with Dawn, I ate breakfast and then hit the trails again. I tried to use Voltaren today to ease the inevitable foot pain, but it didn't seem to work very well. I'm not sure that any of these over the counter pain remedies actually do anything.

The weather warmed up rapidly today. It wasn't as hot as yesterday, but the only time I needed a jacket was on our early walk with Dawn. There were still plenty of people in the park. Kids must have not wanted scooters for Christmas this year, because I didn't see any. On the day after Christmas in previous year you'd see lots of new kids scooters in the park. I did see several guys trying out their new drones. You can always tell when someone has just gotten a drone because they crash them a lot. 

When I returned from my long walk, I could tell that Dawn was ready to go on her outing. She's got a good sense of time and she thought I was late. We almost immediately got in the car and headed for Dawn's Sunday park. Dawn gets so excited to go on her outing, but as soon as she gets in the car, she becomes apprehensive again. It's a good thing that it isn't a long drive. We all had a very nice walk even though the ground was damp and our shoes got wet. I really need to buy some of the waterproof Hoka hiking boots because I'm getting tired of wet feet.

We always enjoy getting ice cream on the way home. The ice cream place still has a help wanted sign out front. Actually every restaurant in town has a help wanted sign out front. I can understand why restaurant jobs might not seem as desirable anymore, but why is there a shortage of truck drivers? A lot of truck driving jobs pay very well. The work ethic that my parents had just isn't there any more. I certainly have no desire to return to the work force, even though I could probably get a shitty job tomorrow since everyone is short on staff. Maybe that's the point. Nobody wants a terrible job anymore and most low level jobs are still terrible.

After we returned from Dawn's outing, my feet were telling me that they'd had enough for today. I've become hooked on getting 20,000 steps a day, so after a short rest, I went out again. For my last walk of the day I've been choosing an old path I used to use a lot when I walked Dot and Dash. I used to have specific things I looked for on this path that I used as memory builders. It became a game for me to find every single item on my list. I've started doing this again, but my mind seems to wander. The game is much harder ten years later.

We had leftover Christmas dinner tonight. It was just as good as it was yesterday. It's hard to cook a small Christmas dinner, so it looks like we will be eating very well this week. I'm a bit apprehensive about tomorrow. I guess I'm optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. The last time I talked with someone at the local Fedex distribution center on Friday, he practically promised me that my missing package would be located and ready for me to pick up on Monday. These people have been wrong so many times before though. I guess it doesn't hurt to remain optimistic until I makes that initial phone call right after breakfast tomorrow morning. 

I'm not sure if we'll be visiting Charlie and Oliver at the kennel tomorrow. The Christmas rush might not be over yet, since some people board their dogs while they are away between Christmas and New Years. One way or another, it should be an interesting day.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4384 - Christmas

We had a nice day. We got up late and then took Dawn on a morning walk before breakfast. After our bacon and eggs, I watched the James Webb Space Telescope launch on the NASA livestream before starting my second walk of the day. The launch went perfectly, but it's going to be a long six months before the telescope arrives at its destination and begins exploring the universe.

Dallas set a new temperature record today. 81 degrees is warm for December, but it was just about perfect as far as I was concerned. I had a very enjoyable walk in the park. Everyone I passed seemed a little friendlier today. I saw a lot of joggers wearing Santa hats and I passed one guy loudly singing Christmas carols in his car. I don't have many Christmas traditions, but we did dress Dawn up in a pretty Christmas scarf on her walk today.

For most of the day the smells of cooking permeated the house. Janet cooked a delicious meal featuring a crown roast, root vegetables, candied sweet potatoes, green beans with bacon, and cranberries. The root vegetables were cooked with the crown roast, so the juice from the meat permeated the vegetables and gave everything a delicious flavor. It was really a perfect Christmas dinner.

This afternoon I watched a new episode of The Expanse. This is the sixth and final season of this show and everything is starting to run together. I can't even remember how the series began. It's basically a lot of space battles without much of a plot. It's still an excellent show as far as TV science fiction goes. You could probably mix in a few shows from season two or three in this final season and I wouldn't even know the difference. I've watched a lot of science fiction. I was never a fan of Star Trek, but I've seen every episode of Farscape, Lexx, Babylon 5, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Red Dwarf. I guess this is what happens when you get hooked on the Twilight Zone as a kid. I also read a lot of books from everyone from Robert Heinlein to Philip K Dick, but my favorite author is still John Fowles who is about as far away from science fiction as you can get.

It's hard to believe that 2021 is almost over. 2020 and 2021 just run together in my mind. It seems like 2019 was the last real year. Will we finally get back to normal in 2022? It seems doubtful at this point. I think it's time to stop panicking about each new variant and realize that this virus is probably going to be with us forever. All the lockdowns didn't stop the virus and seem to have created a dysfunctional society instead. Was it worth it? Only time will tell. I kind of think this is nature's way of telling us that there are too many people on the planet and the way we are currently living just isn't sustainable.

Dawn seemed to enjoy her first Christmas with us. Oops. I was wrong. It turns out that this was Dawn's second Christmas with us. I went back and read last year's blog post and was a bit chagrined to realize that last year was almost identical to this year. We did exactly the same things, including our walks with Dawn. We even had the same menu for Christmas dinner. That's OK. Christmas was nice last year and it was nice again this year. I can't help it if my memories are getting fuzzy.

The weather is still going to be nice tomorrow, so we'll take Dawn on another Sunday outing. We'll stop for ice cream on the way home, but I'm not even sure the ice cream place is open. A lot of smaller businesses are closed for the holidays. I should do some yard work tomorrow afternoon, but I probably won't. I'll probably just take a long walk followed by a long nap.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4383

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. There were lots of people walking in the park today and many of them wished me a Merry Christmas. Traffic was lighter as well. If you haven't finished shopping for gifts by now, you're probably too late. There were even fewer people in the grocery stores. I did my weekly shopping today because most stores will be closed tomorrow.

I continued the search for my lost package and thought I got lucky for a minute when one of the Fedex call center representatives gave me the private phone number of the local distribution center. When I called the number, the people I talked to were friendly and actually tried to help me find my package. I was amazed. I thought I hit pay dirt when one lady told me that she had tracked the package down to a trailer on the dock waiting to be unloaded. She said her shift would be over before the trailer could be unloaded, but that I should call back later and someone else would help me. The trailer eventually did get unloaded but the contents were immediately loaded on another truck that was headed out to make deliveries. Needless to say, the package didn't get delivered. My package is still lost. I do think I'm getting closer now, but nobody I've talked to has seen or physically touched the illusive package yet.

I'm going to have to wait until Monday to resume my search because the Fedex distribution center and the Fedex Office Center that was supposed to hold the package for me are both closed for the holidays now. The last person I talked with at the distribution center told me that he would put a "trap" on the package so that it couldn't leave the distribution center again. He was optimistic that I could pick it up on Monday. Ironically, the distribution center is fairly close to my house. I could have easily driven there in twelve minutes and picked up the package earlier in the week if anyone had told me it was there. I wish I had discovered this local phone number earlier. I'm going to chalk this whole episode up to another lesson in patience. I'm not a very patient person. Maybe I need to be.

The weatherman was right about our Christmas heat wave. Today was pleasant, but much warmer than you'd expect for Christmas Eve. I didn't need a jacket today at all and took my walks wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It is supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and might set a new record for Christmas Day. Dawn certainly enjoyed the weather. She lounged on her rug in the back yard for a while and took two walks with Janet and I. With the exception of my Fedex frustrations, it was a pretty nice day.

We're getting older so there aren't a ton of presents under the tree, but we are planning a delicious Christmas dinner. Janet has a great recipe for Crown Roast which has always been one of our favorites. Dawn gets a special treat as well. There's a package from Devon under the tree. Devon's Doggie Delights are the world's best dog treats and they've become a tradition in many Dalmatian households. Dot and Dash loved these things. I'm sure Dawn will as well.

I need to quit fretting about my missing star tracker and just enjoy a relaxing Christmas. The weather looks like it is going to be great. We'll take a Christmas walk with Dawn, enjoy a delicious meal, and maybe watch a movie. The James Webb Space Telescope is supposed to launch from French Guiana tomorrow and I think there's a new episode of The Expanse to watch as well if I run out of things to do. It should be a nice Christmas.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4382

Thanks for nothing Fedex. My package still hasn't been delivered. When I didn't receive a message this morning saying that the package was on the truck for delivery, I called Fedex again to see what was going on. Jeez. Just yesterday the Fedex guy who called me promised that the lost package had been found and that it would be delivered to me today. The representative I talked to today told me that yes, the package had been found, but that it was still in Oklahoma City. The agent I talked with yesterday had been overly optimistic about getting it the rest of the way to Dallas. 

What? How could this even be possible? Contrary to what every other Fedex customer service representative has been telling me for the past two weeks, my package apparently never even reached Dallas. This seemed hard to believe, especially since I've been hearing stories about exactly where the package was for over a week. Apparently, everything I've been seeing on my Fedex account was a lie. The lady I talked with today said that Fedex doesn't even bother with scanning individual packages while they are in route. All packages headed to the same destination are put in a large container together and only the container is scanned. If your package wound up in the wrong container for some reason, all the subsequent information generated by the system would be wrong.

This far fetched story may be true or it may be one more in a long list of fabrications created by people who know nothing more than what they are seeing on their computer screen. All I know is that the last time I looked at my Fedex account all references to the delivery date had been erased and it just said "Delayed, no delivery scheduled." This is beyond frustrating. It is madness. I'm beginning to think that the only people who work for Fedex are drivers, people with bar code scanners, and offshore customer service agents who just make up answers to customer questions. Absolutely nobody seems to know what is really going on.

I didn't get my package today, but I did get my tooth filled. I knew I was in for trouble when I overheard the dentist tell his assistant, "Hmm, this cavity is interesting. It's not what I expected." Thats when I knew my bill was going to be higher than expected as well. I sat in the chair for a long time and although I couldn't see what the dentist was doing, it felt like I was getting three fillings instead of one. When the dentist was finished, he told me that the cavity was much deeper than it looked on the x-ray. The cavity traveled all the way down the root almost to the bone. "So, I guess if you hadn't caught this now, I would have had to have a root canal," I said to the dentist. "No," he replied, "you would have had to have an implant." The dentist assured me that the tooth was stable now, but my mouth still hurts for some reason. I've had enough dental problems for one year. 

Even though my trip to the dentist and an extended conversation with the Fedex agent took a lot of time, I still managed to get a lot of walking in. Dawn got her sunrise walk. I took another short walk after breakfast, and then two more walks after I returned from the dentist. It wasn't my best day, but I did get 20,000 steps. The temperature was pretty warm today. I was able to wear shorts on both of my afternoon walks.

The traffic was terrible today. I thought everyone would be on their way to grandma's house by now but apparently not. My drive to the dentist's office took almost twice as long as it usually does. Hopefully things will be a little calmer tomorrow. I'm going to do my grocery shopping on Friday, since Saturday is Christmas Day. I don't expect to see my package tomorrow and I can't imagine that it will arrive on Christmas Day. Was today's Fedex customer service story true or just another fabrication? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day