Day 3541

I got an e-mail from the electric company today encouraging us to use less electricity because we are under an extreme heat advisory for the next few days. I wonder what makes Thursday and Friday special? As far as I'm concerned, we've been under an extreme heat advisory all Summer. I don't think we're big offenders anyway. Our house is small and I usually keep the temperature around 78 degrees. Anything colder and I feel like I need a sweater.

I sometimes feel a little chilly while I'm having my morning smoothie, but the feeling seldom lasts long. As soon as I take my morning walk, I'm complaining about the heat for the rest of the day. My body must be adjusting to the high temperature. I no longer feel exhausted after my first three miles and have been continuing to keep moving for an additional two miles. So far, a five mile walk is plenty.

Most of the people I see walking are wearing earphones. I prefer visual stimulus. This is why I continue to walk outside despite the unpleasant weather. There are animals to watch and plants to identify. To me, this is much better than listening to music.

Considering that I used to play in a band, I rarely listen to music. Silence is my friend. Today I saw a Great Blue Heron and several Red Eared Slider turtles. Of course, the lone White Pelican remaining in the park was there as well. It will be months before his companions return to join him for the Winter.

We saw our first pictures of the new Dalmatians that recently entered the rescue program. I believe the dogs were obtained by the Texas humane society from an elderly breeder who could no longer care for them. Most of the dogs were underweight and several had bad skin infections. I'm sure a few have heartworms as well. Dalmatian Rescue will return these dogs to good health and find them great homes. Janet and I are looking forward to meeting the newcomers when they finish their initial treatment at our vet. It's sad that these dogs arrived in such bad shape, but it's good that they now have a second chance. By the time I photograph them for the website, they will be looking great.

One of the benefits of taking a single long walk instead of several shorter ones is that I have more time to write. I'm almost halfway finished with my Sky and Telescope article now. I learned a lot from the observatory staff while I was at Mount Locke, but I'm also doing some necessary research to make sure I have my facts straight. Astronomers read this magazine. I doubt that the editors will accept the finished article if I am vague or confusing about how the telescopes work. I'm determined that if I ever return to McDonald Observatory, I will be an expert on the place.

There will be more writing tomorrow and I'm sure there will be more walking as well. It's amazing how quickly the day goes by with these two simple activities. I'm not making money writing ads anymore, but writing is still a useful skill. Each new experience I have can generate a new story. Looking ahead, it's not really a bad way to spend my remaining years.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3540

No long walks today. It was way too hot and we were too busy. After breakfast I tried to get organized so we could spend the afternoon with the Dalmatians. I paid some bills, went to the post office and the bank, and got the car ready to transport Hank. The last time Hank was in the car, he made a mess of things, so I made sure that I added some extra padding this time.

We couldn't pick Hank up at the emergency vet until 3 PM, so we stopped by the boarding kennel and played with the other Dalmatians first. Rolly is in the middle of his heartworm treatment, so he couldn't play, but Treasure and Charlie were eager for some extra attention. Treasure has perfected rolling over for treats and Charlie can catch them in mid air. Dalmatians are very food motivated. The next time we visit, there will be some new dogs. We've picked up two new adults and four puppies. I hope we get to see the puppies before they go to their forever homes. We very rarely get Dalmatian puppies and there is always a waiting list. Puppies are almost always adopted as soon as they become available.

Nothing conclusive was discovered during Hank's diagnostic exam this morning, but the vet is sending some biopsy samples to the lab for further testing. Hopefully, the endoscopy procedure Hank had today will help determine why he continues vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. It is weird that he will be completely normal for weeks at a time and then the bloody stools will return. Diet alone doesn't explain this recurring problem. Something else is going on. I was hoping that they would examine Hank's colon, since the blood is usually bright red, but today's test only examined the stomach and upper GI tract. This is a process of elimination. Hank may need further tests as well.

The traffic was terrible today. The congestion made me miss the empty roads of Jeff Davis County. You can drive for miles without passing a single car. Fort Davis, the county seat and largest city, has a population of around 2,200 people. I think more people than that live in our own little neighborhood near the lake. Despite its small size, Fort Davis has a veterinarian, a good restaurant, and can connect to the Internet. What more do you need? Until we spent some time in the Davis Mountains I don't think I realized the appeal of wide open spaces. I'm not a city person by nature.

I didn't make much progress on my article today, but there's always tomorrow. It's probably best to stay inside anyway. The cooler weather we had when it rained a few days ago is over. We're in the middle of another heat wave. Our August electric bill was horrendous. September won't be much better. I shouldn't complain though. At least we don't have to worry about hurricanes.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3539 - Labor Day

It didn't really seems like a holiday today. It did seem like a Monday though. After a week of eating restaurant meals, I returned to my familiar fruit smoothie. As I sipped my drink, I watched the news about the approaching hurricane. It certainly wasn't approaching very fast. At this rate the storm will still be approaching next week.

After breakfast I attached the 2020 vehicle registration sticker I'd purchased weeks ago to my windshield. I never like to do this because I'm obsessive about getting things positioned correctly and if I put the sticker on crooked, I'm stuck with it all year. I carefully peeled off the old sticker with a razor blade, cleaned the sticky residue away with an alcohol soaked rag, and then attached the new sticker. Now I'm in compliance again. The sticker looks reasonably straight too.

Before I took my morning walk, I sent an e-mail to the roofer asking where the silicon coating he promised was. I don't really expect a reply, but I've got to make the effort. If I don't hear from him soon, I'll be forced to go buy a big drum of this stuff myself. I've done this once before and it was a huge hassle transferring the stuff to smaller buckets that I could lift to the roof. I'm really trying to avoid making a huge mess.

For the past several days I've been combining the morning and afternoon segments of my daily walks into one long walk. This way I don't have to take two showers and change clothes as often. I had hoped to walk early so I could write later in the day, but as usual I got a late start. I remember when I was in college I used to hike all day in the Rockies during the summer. I doubt that I could do that anymore. Five miles seems to be my limit.

Hank has gotten sick again. After seeming perfectly normal for about a month, his bloody stools have returned again. He's on fluids at the emergency vet now and is scheduled to have an ultrasound scan in the morning. Hank has already had extensive x-rays to look for foreign objects in his digestive tract and any obvious tumors or growths. So far we have found nothing abnormal. His blood work looks good too. We all thought a change in diet might solve Hanks problems, but clearly that hasn't worked. Hopefully we will learn something after the ultrasound scan. We've got to get this boy healthy again so he can find his forever home.

I started writing my Sky and Telescope article this afternoon. I didn't make a lot of progress. I am taking a completely different approach than I'd originally planned, so I made several false starts. This would have been a lot easier if the skies were clear last Tuesday. My challenge is to turn a rainy day at the observatory into something compelling. Luckily, this isn't a time sensitive article. I've got time for quite a few false starts.

I'm not sure how long Hank will need to stay at the emergency vet, but we may need to transport him back to the kennel tomorrow. We'll see. Other than that, tomorrow will be very similar to today. I'll take a long walk and probably go to the post office. It's a new month and there are bills to pay.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3538

I walked ten miles today. I walked on the treadmill at the gym for a while. I walked along the lake. And I walked up on the roof clearing away rain water. Needless to say, accumulating my 22,000 steps didn't leave a lot of time for anything else. Sundays have become a time for physical activity. I give my brain a rest.

Of course I give my brain a rest on other days as well. I don't know why I still like to think of myself as a thoughtful person, because I can go for hours without thinking of anything at all. Occasionally at the gym I wonder if the other members know something I don't. Almost everyone else follows a completely different exercise routine. Maybe I should copy them. I'm a creature of habit though and still follow a simple routine a physical therapist recommended years ago when I was being treated for a dislocated shoulder.

I was discouraged to find some new areas than need repair while I was up on the roof today. The roofer still hasn't brought over the silicon material he promised. I could always go buy some of the stuff myself, but I am reluctant to do so. The material is very expensive, only comes in large containers that are too heavy for me to lift to the roof, and it quite messy. I hate to carry this stuff in my car. If the drum tipped over and spilled, my car is ruined.

I took one long walk today instead of the two shorter ones I usually take. There are plusses and minuses to a five mile walk. On the plus side, when I am finished I don't have to go outside again. On the minus side, my feet start to swell after a while and my feet hurt. My shoes fit properly, but I have a really high arch and it's always been hard to find a shoe that will go the distance. I don't remember having these problems when I was younger, but then a lot of things were easier when I was younger.

I'm enjoying reading about West Texas history. The only thing I knew about Marfa was that Donald Judd lived there. There was an episode of Trackdown about Alpine once. I sometimes watch that show on Saturday mornings. I never knew much about Fort Davis. I wasn't even aware that the confederacy extended that far West. The observatory itself has quite a colorful history. Mount Locke, where the telescopes sits, was initially won in a poker game on a transcontinental train. The Davis Mountain have become one of my new favorite places. I'm definitely going back someday.

Tomorrow is a holiday which means it is exactly like any other day for me. We usually visit the Dalmatians on Monday's, but I think the kennel is closed for the holiday. I won't be going to the post office or the bank either. Even my gym is closed tomorrow. I guess I'll need to continue reading.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3537

As we were driving between Midland and Odessa on Monday, it never crossed my mind that this long, flat stretch of highway would become the site of a mass shooting. What a difference a few days makes. Of course, when I was at Kennedy Space Center earlier this Summer I wasn't thinking about being in the path of a hurricane either. You never know what is going to happen these days. Maybe this is why I seldom listen to the local news. It is just too alarming.

I find enough uncertainty just dealing with the weather. It's a good thing I didn't bother to clear the water off the roof yesterday because we got some more heavy rain this morning. I waited for a break in the rain to do my Saturday grocery shopping and then the rain started again. So much for my forecasting skills. At least the pumps on the roof were working today. I think the water needs to reach a certain depth to prime them.

The good thing about today's rain was that it really cooled things down. When I took my walk after I finished shopping today it was only seventy five degrees. It was still very humid, but I'll take what I can get. Since it was much cooler today, I just kept walking after my first three miles. I wanted to see how far I could go before I got tired. After five miles I wasn't all that tired but I had other things to do. Five miles is plenty for one day.

I had to go to the bank today and ended up standing in line behind an older lady who clearly had no idea what was in her account. She seemed apprehensive and confused despite the teller's best attempts to help her. When she eventually walked away with an envelope full of cash, I hoped she was doing the right thing. Maybe she was just giving money to a granddaughter but maybe she was the victim of a scam. It happened to my Dad. I sincerely hope I never become senile. It's a sad thing when the mind begins to go.

I'm hoping that reading and writing will keep my mind functioning. That's my plan anyway. I bought some books on local history when we were out in West Texas and I started reading one today. It's a sure sign you are getting older when you become interested in history. I was never interested in history when I was younger which might explain why I am interested today. Reading about the past helps me fill in some gaps in my own history. I read a lot about the Apollo program during the Fiftieth Anniversary moon landing celebrations and was surprised at how much I'd forgotten or never knew in the first place. When we were visiting the The National Museum of the Pacific War I realized that I actually knew very few details about World War II. I certainly wasn't thinking about little towns in West Texas when I was younger but their story is fascinating. I guess I'll keep reading.

It's hard to believe that it's almost September. Where has this Summer gone? I'll go to the gym and try to get my 20,000 steps. If I can bring myself to go up on the roof I might get a few more. No wonder reading seems appealing at times. You just lie in bed and take the steps in your mind.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3536

Traveling is always more enjoyable than what comes afterwards. Today we unpacked, did a lot of laundry, and resumed our regular routines. I went to the post office and got mail service restored. There wasn't as much accumulated mail as I expected. What was missing was the junk that the mail carrier just stuffs in every mailbox along with the real mail. I wish you didn't need to go on a trip to avoid this clutter.

It was noticeably cooler today. It felt like we got the benefit of a little cold front that proceeded this afternoon's rain. My morning walk was hot and humid as I expected, but when I walked again after the rain clouds passed through town, it felt like Fall. The temperature was still almost 80 degrees, but when you're used to to 102, 80 degrees feels wonderful. The only downside to the cooling rain was that the pumps on the roof weren't working, so I'm going to have to go up on the roof tomorrow and sweep the standing water away.

I'm going to have to rethink my Sky & Telescope article. This is an astronomy magazine and since I didn't actually look through any telescopes while I was at McDonald Observatory, they might not be as interested in what I have to say. You never know though. Weather is always part of any story about astronomy. Even though it rained, I'm still going to write an article and submit it to the magazine. The trip was still quite interesting to me. Maybe it will be interesting to others as well.

One interesting bit of trivia I learned during our trip was that Hotel Limpia where we stayed in Fort Davis was also home base for the first astronomers while the observatory was being built during the early 1930's. The historic hotel has been refurbished but is essentially unchanged. We might have stayed in the same room as Otto Struve or other early luminaries in the world of astronomy.

There was another opportunity to attend a NASA event in my inbox this morning. This wasn't a launch. It was a chance to go behind the scenes with NASA at this year's International Astronautical Congress in Washington DC and meet with scientists, experts and astronauts. Sounds interesting, but I can't afford to spend five days attending a high end Washington DC convention. These are the type of things you usually do on an expense account. Retirement is kind of weird. You have all the time in the world, but business travel is a thing of the past. Everything you do is on your own dime. These days I've got to finish paying for one trip before I can start thinking about another.

I'm definitely going to be thinking about other trips. Travel is a lot more interesting than walking around the lake and counting ducks. Don't get me wrong. I like the local ducks, but there are other birds in the sky. I'll leave you with a picture of one of the Fort Davis hummingbirds. Tomorrow it's back to pictures of half dead Texas flowers.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3535

We're home. Texas has a little bit of everything. We traveled from some of the most congested areas of the country to some of the most remote. While we were in Fort Davis I kept wondering why people keep retiring there. The entire population seems to be retirees. As we navigated lunch hour traffic in Austin and a little later the evening rush hour on our return to Dallas, I had my answer. West Texas offers the antithesis of city life. People willingly deal with wells that occasionally run dry, problematic septic tanks, bears, forest fires, 40 mile drives to the supermarket, and a dearth of entertainment just to get some peace and quiet. The Davis Mountains were one of the most peaceful places I've been in my life. I'm sure the people who live there have plenty of problems, but they aren't city problems.

Fredericksburg is charming, but it definitely is not remote. The place is almost a suburb of Austin. We couldn't figure out whether the place was growing or shrinking. A lot of businesses were boarded up and we saw plenty of vacant buildings, but there was also a lot of new construction going on. The place reminded me of Gatlinburg without the Smokey Mountains. The main reason to return would be the museum. If you are a history buff, The National Museum of the Pacific War is like going to The Louvre. Before leaving town this morning, we returned to see some of the areas we failed to see yesterday. Someday we might return to see the rest.

I doubt that we'll return to Luckenbach any time soon. You almost have to go there though. If you live here you've heard the song a million times. It's one of those earworm songs. Willie, Waylon, and Kenny Chesney all sang it. I think Alvin and the Chipmunks did too. We wandered around the general store looking at tourist junk, thought about having a beer, but didn't, and then headed for home. We also stopped in West, Texas to pick up some Kolaches at one of the town's many Czech bakeries. That's also something you do if you live in Texas.

While we were in West, I used my phone to turn on the air conditioning at our house. We usually leave it off while we are away. By the time we got home, the place was nice and cool again. Even though I'm an old school analog kind of guy, I'll be the first to admit that today's technology is kind of amazing. I'm hooked. I would never travel without GPS anymore. I can write the blog from anywhere in the world. Having a watch that can take an electrocardiogram is pretty cool. So is being able to control your appliances from your phone.

Life is complex. Everything involves some sort of a trade off. I'd like to have all my advanced gadgets, but still live in an isolated place like Fort Davis that is so remote that some of these gadgets won't even work. One thing about a long road trip through Texas is that you realize you have a lot of options. Texas is huge and if there is something you like, I suspect you can find it here. I've found my place walking around a little lake in Dallas. I might start spending a little more time seeing other places though. Why not?

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3534

I've decided that I like the hilly parts of Texas a lot more than the flat parts. The Davis Mountains were beautiful. We had breakfast this morning at Indian Lodge. This adobe hotel was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930's in the most scenic part of Davis Mountain State Park. It has been well maintained over the years and has the look and feel of those grand old lodges you see in some western national parks. The Big Bear Restaurant was superb. A hearty breakfast at this place was a great way to start the day.

The Texas Hill Country is pretty nice too. We are in Fredericksburg now. This picturesque little town is noted for it's German heritage and the many wineries that surround it. I hope more people learn about the National Museum of the Pacific War as well. I guess I'd heard of this museum, but I didn't know much about it. Since the museum was near our hotel we decided to visit. Janet and I were blown away. This is a world class museum worthy of anything you'd see at the Smithsonian. Why is it here?. I guess this location was picked because Fredericksburg was the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz. If you are interested in history you've got to put this amazing museum on your bucket list. One of the docents told us that it can take up to six hours to view the entire exhibit, but that we were welcome to come back tomorrow if we ran out of time. Maybe we will go back tomorrow.

I wish my Dad had a chance to see this place. He served in the Navy during World War II and was stationed in the Pacific for most of the war. Although he seldom talked about the war,  I'm sure he would have seen this museum as a tribute to the men he served with. The weird thing to me was how much of this history was new to me. Like anyone my age, I took American History and World History classes in school. We knew about Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, and the atom bomb but there was so much we never learned. What an awful, brutal war.

I don't think most of us realize how lucky we are today. I have lived my life in relative peace. My parents didn't have that luxury. World War II was so massive and all encompassing that it affected everyone. It's sad that the history of civilization is basically a history of war. I wonder if we will ever get beyond this?

The trip continues. If you have to drive across Texas I would try to take I-10 instead of I-20. Today's drive was much more peaceful without all the huge oilfield equipment on the road. I still wonder why anyone would want to live in Midland or Odessa. I had reservations about taking a long road trip, but the experience has been a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Even though I rarely travel further than the post office, the drive hasn't been that bad. I'm actually a pretty good long distance driver.

Our only plan for tomorrow is to avoid Austin at all costs. Janet and I have enjoyed the serenity of driving on empty roads. You're not going to find that in Austin. I imagine I'll return to Fort Davis someday. I like wide open spaces. If I return, Indian Lodge seems like a nice place to stay. Especially when the skies are clear.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3533

Tonight was an adventure. We saw lots of Javelina pigs. Some of them were very close but we didn't get attacked. We saw enough deer crossing the road to make us drive very carefully. Before it got dark were saw an enormous number of hummingbirds. When we got to the top of Mount Locke around 9 PM, we were treated to a spectacular lightning show. We saw no stars tonight. An unexpected thunderstorm rolled through the area and we were right in the middle of it.

All was not lost though. Since the astronomers were not able to see anything tonight either, we got a behind the scenes look at some areas at the 107" Harlan J. Smith telescope that are normally off limits on tours. During an earlier daytime tour of this same telescope I was even able to operate the controls that made the telescope move. Getting to experience these huge telescopes up close was pretty amazing, but it would have been nice to see stars. I asked one of the astronomers what was the best time of year to visit and he said you could get bad weather at any time of year. He told me that some visitors were lucky to experience a spectacular night on their first visit, while others had bad weather three or four times in a row. "You just have to get lucky," he said.

At least the skies were clear last night. Before we went to sleep yesterday Janet and I went outside and looked at the sky for a while. The night sky was amazing. I saw more stars than I'd even seen in my life. It's too bad that the Special Observing Night wasn't yesterday. Evidently Sunday night was even better, but we were still in Dallas then. All this just goes to show that nature is full of surprises. The fancy long-term weather forecasting service I subscribed to predicted an 87% chance of clear skies tonight. Unfortunately, tonight was part of that remaining 13%.

As you might imagine, I was disappointed not to see stars. It was a long drive to get caught in a storm. We could have stayed home and had a rainy day. I think it rained in Dallas today too. At least we made it back to the hotel before the severe weather arrived. I wouldn't want to be driving on those mountain roads at night an a bad thunderstorm.

Even though we got rained out tonight, this has still been a very enjoyable trip. The Davis Mountains are beautiful. McDonald Observatory is fascinating even on a cloudy day. The three large telescopes are amazing. The largest, the 433 inch Hobby-Eberly Telescope is still one of the largest in the world. It is currently one of the telescopes being used to find exoplanets around distant stars and is also involved in a study about dark matter.

It's too bad this place is so remote. I'd like to return when the weather is better. Fort Davis is a charming little town. Most of the residents are retired. Evidently local businesses have a hard time finding help because all the young people can't wait to leave the area and go to a city where there is more action. When we returned from the observatory tonight there was not a single car on the city streets. The place looked like a ghost town. Actually the observatory looked pretty ghostly tonight too with the observatory towers bathed in flashes of light from nearby lightning strikes. Janet said it felt like we were watching an old Frankenstein movie.

The rain is pounding outside our hotel window and I hear a lot of thunder at the moment. The weather might clear up tomorrow, or it might continue raining. Weather is unpredictable, Either way we will be leaving town after breakfast in the morning. Maybe I'll come back someday.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3532

We made it to Fort Davis. Texas is a very big state. The drive was a little over seven hours and covered a lot of flat open land. Around Amarillo we started seeing thousands of huge wind generator towers. They stretched from horizon to horizon on both sides of the road. A little later around Midland and Odessa we entered oil country. This must have been the Permian Basin, because there was a lot of fracking going on. The freeway was filled with huge oilfield trucks, but the traffic still wasn't nearly as bad as Dallas. For the first time in a long time I saw speed limit signs that said it was OK to go 80 miles an hour. Most people were going faster.

Eventually we saw the Davis Mountains on the horizon but it took a long time to reach them. As we got off the freeway and made our way toward Fort Davis, the roads became pretty lonely. I realized that this wouldn't be a great place to break down or have a flat tire. The closer we got to the mountains, the prettier the scenery became. At one point we traveled through a canyon that reminded me of Utah. This was where the cell phone service disappeared.

Janet and I have lived in cities for a long time. We both wondered what we'd do in a place like this. Fort Davis is a very small picturesque western town. Less than 2,000 people live here. The place got its name from a fort that used to be a Confederate outpost during the civil war. Apparently we just missed the annual Hummingbird festival which ended yesterday. We still saw lots of Hummingbirds though. They were everywhere.

The long drive wasn't as bad as I expected. We had a very nice car. The rental car place couldn't find the car I reserved and the guy checking me in didn't want to waste a lot of time looking for something similar. He upgraded me to a Cadillac for the same price as a basic Ford Fusion. This was fine by me. I was surprised that I enjoyed driving this car. It handled well, was very quiet, and we averaged 30 miles a gallon. This is a lot better than I normally get in the Land Rover. I was glad I rented a car. We were under an excessive heat advisory for most of our trip. The temperature was over 114 degrees in some places. I would have spent the whole trip worrying that my car would overheat if I drove the Land Rover.

Fort Davis is very small but it happens to have a wonderful restaurant. We were lucky that it happened to be open this evening. Very few Dallas restaurants could top the meal we had tonight. It was a nice way to end a very long day. I even had wine with my meal which is very rare for me. After dinner we watched the hummingbirds for a while and called it a day. The skies are clear tonight. I hope they stay this way tomorrow. The forecast has deteriorated a little bit but I still think that there a good chance everything will work out fine at the observatory. Before I go to bed, I'm going to go outside and take a look at these fabled dark skies I've been hearing so much about.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3531

I got off to a slow start this morning. I was planning to go to the gym early, but that didn't happen. All my little errands took twice as long as I'd planned. I was lucky that I made it out of the house before noon. Before I even finished my routine this morning, I knew it wasn't going to be a 20,000 step day.

Maybe I was tired because I'm still not sleeping well. I think we need a new mattress. Janet and I both need a very firm mattress and after years of big dogs hopping on the bed, ours has seen better days. Maybe there's another reason why I'm waking up too early, but this is the best I can come up with.

I found out today that one of our friends dogs has cancer. It's sad that so many dogs have to deal with this. It's rare for a dog to reach old age these days without being treated for some form of cancer. Spot, Gretta, Dot, and Dash all had different forms of cancer. It's terrible when the lab results come back and you find out the the growth that was removed by the surgeons a few weeks ago is malignant. You feel helpless. The only silver lining is that treatment options are so much better than they used to be. Spot, Dot and Dash all survived their treatment and went on to lead normal lives. Gretta was the only one that didn't make it.

I've decided that I'm a terrible travel planner. Every day I think of something else I've forgotten. When I went to Florida to view the Falcon Heavy launch I forgot a lot of things. When we go to the observatory, I'm sure I'll forget a lot of things too. I usually remember to bring the right computers, cables, and cameras, but I often forget to bring enough clothes. If I were rich, I'd travel with no luggage whatsoever and just buy what I need when I got there.

I'm trying to decide whether to see if I can interview astronomers at the observatory, or just let my article be a personal recollection of the evening. These are two different types of articles. It's hard to say what the magazine would be looking for. I'm inclined to just tell a personal story. The magazine had probably interviewed hundreds of astronomers over the years. It's unlikely that they've encountered someone like me. I'm likely to submit an article that has more about wild pigs than telescopes.

I didn't get my 20,000 steps today. I did manage to accumulate 17,000 steps with only a single walk. I guess that's good enough. I was tempted to go out after dinner and take a second walk, but it was already getting dark. I don't think I'll be doing much walking after dark in Dallas. All it takes is a couple of days of listening to the local news and it's easy to become convinced that doing anything after dark isn't such a good idea.

We'll see if I can get a good night's sleep this evening. I'm tired and I didn't take any naps today. Maybe that will help.

Pinkey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3530

I was looking for a key this afternoon and realized that I didn't know what half the keys on my key ring even went to anymore. These keys were just the tip of the iceberg. My search uncovered keys to cars I no longer owned, keys to rental property I sold years ago, and a lot of mystery keys that didn't seem to unlock anything. How did I accumulate all these keys? I hate to throw them away because they must have a purpose. I'm sure this is why my office is so cluttered. Everything in here must have a purpose. I did eventually find the key I needed. I'm glad I never threw it away. Now I have an excuse to hang on to other old things of dubious value.

Janet and I went to the Rich-Tones concert tonight. Janet knows some of the singers in this chorus and we have been going to their Fall concerts for many years. I was completely unfamiliar with a cappella barbershop harmony before we started going to these concerts, but I've grown to like the music. This group competes all over the world and have been international champions several times. A hundred people singing four part harmony can sound pretty amazing. I can't handle rock concerts anymore, but the audiences for these events are more my speed. Lots of old people and families. I enjoyed the evening.

I can't say I enjoyed the weather today. It was a little cooler, but the temperature and humidity were still well outside the comfort zone. I only took one walk today, but that was plenty. I hope this outdoor activity is doing me some good. I'd hate to think I was doing all this for nothing. At least the day are getting shorter now. These walks will be a lot more enjoyable this Fall.

I watched a couple of episodes of Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick while we were eating breakfast this morning. I like these old TV westerns. Most of these shows aren't remotely politically correct by today's standards, but the scripts are surprisingly good. I think I like old Hollywood better than new Hollywood. You can have the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino and Black Mirror. I'll take the simple  black and white morality of Have Gun Will Travel and The Twilight Zone.

I'll definitely go to the gym tomorrow, but maybe I don't need a 20,000 step day. I've got some other stuff to do and it just takes too long to take all these steps. If I'm ambitious I'll just walk a little longer while I'm at the gym. If I'm not feeling ambitious I might do nothing. We'll just see how the day goes.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3529

Every time I go to the bank I wonder what has happened to jobs in this country. There are lots of empty offices and very few employees. All I needed this morning was to go to my safe deposit box, but I had to wait forever because there was only a single banker helping everyone. Next to his office were six identical vacant offices. The tellers cages were equally empty. There was only a single teller on duty.

This is happening everywhere. There are fewer cashiers at the grocery store. There are fewer employees selling stamps at the post office. Even my new breakfast restaurant seems to be doing more with less. I noticed this morning that there is no full time cashier. When you are ready to pay your bill you walk over to the empty cash register stand and after a while a waiter will notice you and come over to take your money. Unemployment is supposed to be at an all time low. I wonder where everyone is working? I don't think they are working at ad agencies. There are significantly fewer agencies in Dallas than there were when I moved here in the 1970's.

I thought it was going to rain for a while this afternoon, but all we got were a few ominous looking clouds. No rain hit the ground. The clouds didn't even cool things down very much. It was still a hot and very humid day. When I start hoping for rain you know something is wrong. It has been dry way too long and the grass in the front yard is looking pitiful. I'll take my chances with the roof. We need some rain.

I lost another friend to cancer today. The list keeps growing. It's amazing to me how many former classmates and coworkers are gone. It's alarming how many of these people were actually younger than I am. I guess I should focus on the equally amazing number of people I know who have survived something serious. Life is never entirely fair, but I try to remember to enjoy the time I have left on this earth. It's not going to last forever.

I wonder why there's not more concern about all the fires in the Amazon rain forests? Jeez. This is where our oxygen comes from. You can't get more basic than that. The sad thing is that these fires weren't caused by drought or lightning strikes. They were set by humans who want more farmland and cattle ranches. With all the talk about climate change these days you still don't hear much serious discussion about the real cause of all our problems. The problem is overpopulation. There are simply too many people on this planet. It is not sustainable. We have become an invasive species who are rapidly destroying everything. We all need to quit having babies for a while.

I'm still concerned about the weather in West Texas. Two of the three long range forecasts I'm following predict clear skies. Unfortunately the third says there's a 50% chance of rain. Why can't you weather experts agree on these things? I want clear skies when I go to the observatory. I should be concerned about the wild gyrations in the stock market, but I've given up on stability in the market. The market overreacts to everything these days. I try not to overreact to anything, but it's getting harder.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3528

Sometimes simple things can take forever. I was trying to add some software to my laptop that was already on my desktop computer. I've had the software for a while so it was hard to find the disk image I'd downloaded years ago. When I eventually found this, I discovered I needed the authorization code that came with it as well. Where was that? I still prefer the old days when your software was on a CD. The codes you needed were usually printed right on the box. Downloaded software and more complex licenses are a pain. I finally had to call customer support and sit on hold for quite a while to get the information I needed. Everything works now, but something that should have taken ten minutes ended up taking two hours instead.

I was planning to take some pictures of the Milky Way while we are out in West Texas but it has been so long since I've attempted night sky photos that I'd forgotten the procedure. There's no point to doing this in Dallas. You can't see many stars at night anyway due to light pollution. I see these spectacular night sky pictures on the Internet and wonder how they're done. Basically you need a fast wide angle lens, a tripod, and a fifteen to thirty second exposure using a self timer. I imagine you need a certain amount of luck as well. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

The Sweet Autumn Clematis has started to bloom along the shoreline. I always thought these vines were a wetland weed, but apparently they originated in Japan and escaped into the wild a long time ago. They are more or less a native plant now. At this time of year I see them everywhere near the lake. Hey, something new to photograph. Even the hardy Texas Thistle flowers have gone to seed by now.

The only useful thing I did today was cut apart the big cardboard boxes for the toaster oven and dehumidifier that have been sitting on the back porch for over a week. After the boxes were broken down, I added them to the trash and took the can out to the curb for tomorrow's trash pickup. I don't save boxes anymore after finally realizing how much space they were taking up in the storage warehouse. I used to save boxes in case we moved. I doubt that this is going to happen anymore. Moving is way too much trouble and Texas is a good place to live anyway.

This heat is relentless. It's hard to believe that the observatory told us to bring some light jackets for our visit. I can't imagine wearing a jacket in August in Texas, but apparently the weather is much cooler in the Davis Mountains. The thought of temperatures in the 70's in the evening sounds very appealing right now.

A good night's sleep sounds appealing too. I still wish I was sleeping longer at night. Maybe I shouldn't take so many naps during the day.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3527

I got a letter from the Editor at Sky & Telescope today saying that the magazine was interested in my proposal for an article about the McDonald Observatory Special Viewing Night program. The Editor didn't promise to publish anything, but did encourage me to write an article about my trip to the observatory and submit it to the magazine on completion. This was encouraging. A personal letter from the Editor saying "your proposed article sounds interesting" is definitely a step above those little "thank you for your submission" postcards I used to get from magazines when my articles were rejected.

It was another slow, very hot Summer day. I only took one walk today, but that was enough. Instead of an afternoon walk, I went to Northpark and got a haircut. The mall was having their annual auto show and it was amazing how many cars on display were over $100K. I wasn't surprised that prices for the Rolls Royce Wraith and the McLaren 720S Spider were in the stratosphere, but a lot of ordinary cars were out of reach as well. When I bought my first car, you could get a nice Ford Mustang for under $2500 and a VW Beetle for $1800. Jeez, a new Porsche 911 only cost around $6000. This would be one of those out of reach 100K+ cars today. And they say inflation isn't a problem.

Of course haircuts, food, clothing, and just about everything else are more expensive as well. You notice these things when you're living on a fixed income. Hopefully the economy stays strong. I'm too old for another financial crisis like we had in 2008.

My stylist asked me about the new breakfast restaurant I've been going to lately. Several other people have asked me about this place as well. Probably as soon as I tell everyone how much I like this place, they'll get a new chef and everything will fall apart. Nothing seems to last very long in the restaurant business. Hopefully this restaurant will continue to do well. I like having good food in the neighborhood.

I always feel better after a good haircut. Anything that makes you think you've got your act together is a plus. I didn't feel like shopping after my haircut was finished. I just returned home and did nothing. Apparently I don't have my act together after all. Basically it's too hot to embark on any sort of a major project. Sometimes just getting through these hot days is a major project in itself.

I don't think there'll be any major projects tomorrow. I need to clean out the greenhouse before repairs can start, but I think I've already missed this month's big trash day. I guess this task can wait another month. I don't want to attempt to take the old dehumidifier apart unless I've got a lot of time. I'm bound to encounter some surprises and the job will probably take three times as long as I expected. I can always think about what type of article I'm going to write. That's something I can do indoors. I can even think about writing lying on the bed. I might fall asleep, but it's worth the risk.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3526

Today was busy. I changed our destination in West Texas from Alpine to Fort Davis. Fort Davis is much closer to the observatory and I wasn't looking forward to a long drive back to the hotel in the middle of the night on very dark mountain roads. Since the Davis Mountains are a designated Dark Sky area, there are no lights along the roads. The entire area is extremely dark at night. Evidently you need to drive slowly and take care not to hit the Javelinas that are often seen on the roads at night. I don't think hitting a wild pig in the dark on a lonely mountain road is something I'd want to experience.

Janet wants to go to Fredericksburg, so we added this Hill Country town to our itinerary on the way home. Even before we extended our trip a bit, I had already lost faith in the Land Rover, so I have reserved a rent car for the journey. It's kind of ironic to have a car that can go anywhere that you hate to take very far from the dealership. If the rent car breaks down, it's not my problem. If my own car breaks down, I could be faced with a 400 mile towing bill. Truthfully, it's a lot easier to hop on a plane and take an Uber from the airport to your final destination. Road trips can take you places that aren't very accessible otherwise though. We'd like to see some of these places. Hopefully our little adventure will be a lot of fun. If this trip is a success we can basically go anywhere. There's a lot to see out West.

I resumed my long walks today. I don't think it matters what time of day I walk anymore. It's even too hot in the middle of the night these days. I hope the articles I read about the benefits of walking while sweating a lot are true. I should be in great shape after a long hot Summer of this punishment. I could always walk around the track at the gym, but that's so boring. For now I still prefer being outdoors where I can count Egrets and Herons.

I started cleaning the old dehumidifier this afternoon. This will take a while. Some components are readily accessible and others aren't. I still haven't figured out how to take the unit completely apart. Maybe this is why the instruction manual says "No user serviceable parts." I wish I didn't feel compelled to fix things. Just buying a brand new dehumidifier every five years is so much easier.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. Didn't I just do this a little while ago? My hair is getting thinner, but it seems to be growing faster. I'm probably just getting a haircut because we're taking a trip. I always used to get a haircut before I took a business trip and old habits die hard.

Rolly starts his heartworm treatment tomorrow. I hope he does well and there are no complications. Heartworm treatment can be rough for some dogs.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3525

This was the first day I haven't walked in quite a while. There just wasn't time. I had quite a few things I needed to do before we headed up to the Dalmatian Rescue kennels, so I decided to skip my morning walk. By the time I ran a few errands and went to the post office it was time to go. I can't say that I missed walking today. It was way too hot to be outside for any length of time.

The dogs were all doing well. Since there aren't a lot of dogs in the program at the moment, we were able to spend quite a bit of time with each one. Dalmatians love attention. I think they were all glad to see us. It's fun to see their personalities develop as they become more relaxed. Rolly still needs to finish his heartworm treatment before he can go to his forever home, but other than that, these dogs are ready. I hope that they all find great homes.

As we were driving back from the kennel it became apparent that school was back in session. Traffic seemed to double overnight and there were school zones everywhere. When school is out, mid-afternoon is often the best time to avoid bad traffic. The lunch crowd is back at work and rush hour hasn't started yet. Those days are over. This afternoon it seemed like the entire city was starting to queue up to pick up their kids from school.

Janet likes watches and loves going to the gym, so I thought she might be able to use my old Apple Watch while she was working out. I figured out how to restore the watch to its factory settings and gave it to her. She reminded me that she had given me the watch in the first place, but I think she was still glad to have it. The Apple Watch workout app is much better than Fitbit. At least the watch will get used. I don't need to wear two of these things.

Janet and I both try to eat healthy, but we love a good burger. In recent years we've been exploring new burger places on our birthdays. This evening we went to a place that has gotten great reviews for several years but that neither of us had ever tried. It was surprisingly close to home, but we don't go out much anymore. Eating healthy is almost impossible if you spend too much time in restaurants. It's OK to indulge every once in a while though. We got lucky tonight. The reviews were accurate and the burgers were delicious. I'm very full. I don't think I'll be eating much tomorrow.

We're both 71 now. All things considered, we're doing pretty well. Two years ago at this time, Janet was getting ready for a second round of cancer surgery. Five years ago, I was being treated for Hepatitis C. We're both healthy now and reasonably happy. I hope this continues. The older you get, the more you realize that having your health is a blessing. All the things you worried about when you were young just don't seem that important.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day