Day 4171

Today seemed like the first day of summer. It was hot, but not too hot. The sky was blue with a few puffy white clouds. It was still too wet to do yardwork, but it was a nice day for walking. We walked Dawn early today because Janet has a volunteer job on Wednesdays. Dawn didn't mind the change in schedule. She's walking pretty normal now. After we finished our one mile loop, I came back to the house with Dawn and Janet. It was way too early for my long walk.

I spent the rest of the morning practicing processing another image I took out at the observatory earlier this month. What I'm discovering is that  my in-camera noise reduction is actually better than the complicated procedures for reducing noise in my astrophotography software. I have a feeling that I'm doing something wrong, but maybe the easy way is better after all.

I noticed today that McDonald Observatory has started having a photography night once a month. That's all I need is another excuse to go back to the mountain. I haven't even paid my bills for this month's trip yet. I don't think I'll be going back in June. It's a nice idea though. There are no workshops or classes associated with these photography nights. You just get access to the mountain at a reasonable price. If the observatory continues having these monthly photography nights, maybe I'll go back in the Fall

If I go back to Mount Locke in the Fall it will give me an excuse to get the little telescope I've had my eye on. Somehow a return to West Texas seems more appealing than going to Florida right now. I just wish that the drive wasn't so long and that there was a guarantee of good weather when I got there. My batting average for good weather is not so good.

By the time I took my long walk the temperature was in the high 80's. It wasn't too bad, but I was definitely sweating by the time I returned home. This was just a taste of what's to come. I'm not sure how well I'll handle the heat this summer. It seems worse every year. Maybe the summer heat will provide the incentive I need to finally return to the gym. My gym has a nice indoor track and the place is air conditioned. Walking around an indoor track is boring, but so is my walk. I've been following the same route for far too long.

I keep hoping that Dawn will bond with me on afternoons when Janet is away. I almost got her to follow me to the kitchen this afternoon for some cheese, but she lost her nerve in the hallway and ran back to the bedroom. She likes to go out in the back yard on nice days, but she won't go on her own. I have to lead her outside on a leash. I take the leash off at the back door and she's fine outside. I sit on a bench while she lies on the grass. She'll frequently come over to me on the bench and let me pet her. Everything seems normal when we're outside. As soon as we go back inside, she runs back to the bedroom. It's all a giant mystery to me.

I was going to program my new camera with some custom settings today, but I never got around to it. There are four custom menus that allow you to preload settings you commonly use for different situations. I could have a dog picture menu, a night sky menu, a portrait menu, and a nature photography menu. This might actually be useful. I'll probably never do it though. I've never learned the full capabilities of any of my digital cameras. I just pretend that they are an old Nikon F2 and stick to the basics.

I missed the eclipse of the moon early this morning. I got up early and went outside to look, but the skies were completely cloudy. Our nice summer day didn't begin until much later in the morning. 

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4170

We've had every type of weather imaginable today. Pounding rain, high humidity, pleasant breezes, a little sunshine: take your pick. The heavy rain came early and it was relentless. It overwhelmed the pumps on the roof, but luckily the roof still didn't leak. In my younger days I would have climbed up on the roof during a dry spell and unclogged the pumps, but I'm just not up to it anymore. The roof will have to wait.

I'm going to have to come up with an alternative to watching television while I eat breakfast. Not only is the news unrelentingly depressing, the commercials are even worse. I seem to see the same seven mindless commercials over and over again. Most of them are for pharmaceutical products that will probably end up killing you in the long run. Even the business channels have gotten weird. I'm tired of hearing about bitcoin and non-fungible tokens. Nobody really understands these things, but everyone has a story about someone who got wealthy by buying or selling them. Young people seem to love bitcoin, but today's blockchain millionaires seem a lot like the Dutch tulip moguls of the 1600's. I'm old, so gold, boring blue chip stocks, and old Perry Mason movies make more sense to me.

I had to change the sheets today, which is always difficult with Dawn. It takes me a long time to make the bed now with a bad shoulder and weak knees. I usually try to make the bed while Dawn is eating breakfast, but when I'm changing the sheets I can never get finished in time. When Dawn finishes her breakfast she runs back to the bedroom and hops on the bed again. It doesn't matter to her whether the bed is made of not. I could shoo her away easy enough, but I don't want to make her even more fearful of me. I usually just let Dawn sleep on the bed until Janet returns from the gym for lunch and then Dawn goes out to the kitchen again. I eventually got the job done today, but it never used to take this long.

The more I hear about the post-pandemic surge in travel, the more hesitant I become to even try to return to Kennedy Space Center. There are plenty of launches this year, but hotel prices are rising rapidly, rental cars are scarce, flights are full, and everyone is encouraged to plan ahead. You can't really plan ahead with rocket launches. The dates are always changing. Maybe I'm just making excuses, but this doesn't seem like as much fun as it used to be. I'll be glad when everyone has taken their post-pandemic vacation and life returns to normal.

My long walk was certainly normal today. The skies had cleared, my foot wasn't bothering me, and I managed to complete my full six miles. It was still humid outside, but there was a nice breeze and I felt comfortable. There weren't a lot of people out today because of the recent rain and I pretty much had the park to myself. I like days like this. Even all the ducks were in their regular places, so they were easy to count.

I stopped taking famotidine last week because I thought I was taking too much of the heartburn medication. Bad move. Now, everything seems to give me heartburn. Even my breakfast smoothie gave me problems this morning. I always expect that my doctor will provide a solution to problems like this when I go in for a physical exam. He never does. I complain about feeling tired and having heartburn and he checks my vital signs and tells me how healthy I am. My blood work and EKG were perfect this time. So why do I feel so tired? If I made an effort to be vegan, I probably wouldn't have heartburn at all. Unfortunately, I love spicy food and have very little willpower about eating.

There's going to be an eclipse of the moon early tomorrow morning but I suspect that I will miss it. The forecast predicts cloudy weather with a chance of rain. The moon will be near the horizon anyway, which makes viewing difficult even on a good day. I"ll probably have to wait until I get back to West Texas to enjoy the night sky again.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4169

There are still four Dalmatians up at the kennel. Aries name has been changed to Millie, which is probably a better name for her anyway. Two of the four have adoptions pending, but I don't think they'll be going to their new homes until June. This is a great group of dogs. They are healthy, happy, and have great personalities. Janet and I have enjoyed getting to know them this Spring. Hopefully all four will find their forever homes very soon.

When is this rain ever going to end? It didn't rain all day today, but it certainly was another wet and dismal day. I'm getting tired of this. We don't have a set schedule for walking anymore. We just try to go out when the weather radar says it's going to be dry for a little while. Dawn got her walk before we left for the kennel and I split my own walk into two shorter walks after we returned home. There wasn't enough time between storm cells to walk very far today, but I did manage to get at least 10,000 steps. There is rain in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday as well. It's enough to make me want to forget about exercising for a while and just take a very long nap.

Sky & Telescope isn't interested in the new article I proposed. The letter I got from my editor was nice enough, but it was clear that the magazine just wasn't interested. I'm having trouble coming up with an interesting astronomy article. When I went out to the observatory last October, I thought an article about astrophotography was a sure bet. Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly clear that I don't really know that much about the subject. There are thousands of amateur astronomers who know much more than I do. and could probably write a better article or tutorial. I am learning a lot though. It just takes time. Maybe I just got ahead of myself.

I hope my budding career as a space and astronomy journalist isn't short lived. It's beginning to seem that way. Spaceflight Magazine doesn't seem as interested in further launch stories either.  I can't really blame them. Unless I can find a way to get interviews and establish an interesting back story for some of these launches, any article I write is going to be more or less the same. I go to Florida, follow an Air Force liaison to the designated viewing location, and watch a rocket disappear into the sky. Five minutes after the launch, it's all over. From four miles away, all these rockets look the same. Where is the story here? It was a lot more interesting when NASA put on special events for social media influencers. We got to go behind the scenes and see some amazing things that people seldom get access to. Covid put an end to all that. Even if NASA resumes the program at some point, I'm not really an influencer anymore. I think I'm basically writing a blog for twelve people these days.

Why am I still interested in astrophotography? Processing the pictures to bring out hidden details has been much more difficult than I anticipated. I don't feel safe going out after dark in Dallas either. There are too many stories about people getting robbed in the park. It's kind of weird that I have to drive 500 miles to a remote mountain in West Texas before I feel safe being alone outside at night. There are Mountain Lions out in West Texas, but these animals don't seem nearly as threatening as people. All that being said, I still might buy a small telescope this year. I do like learning how to use new gear.

It's going to be a long week if this rain doesn't clear up. At least the roof isn't leaking. I actually must have done a pretty good job of patching things up earlier in the year.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4168

Dawn got her special outing today. It wasn't a clear day, but it wasn't raining either. We thought we'd take her someplace new, but the strange surroundings scared her and we got back in the car and went back to her usual Sunday park. What a dfifference. Dawn would hardly move at the new location, but she bounded out of the car and immediately began smelling things when we returned to our regular Sunday park. This park was new to Dawn at one point too, but I don't know how much new Dawn can handle. Of course we got ice cream cones on the way home. Even though it was a gray and somewhat dismal day, I think Dawn really enjoyed herself.

I took a short nap when we returned home and then I went walking again. I could be doing other things, but walking still seems the best way to fill an otherwise uneventful day. I daydream a lot when I walk. I seldom think about serious things. I plan future trips. I think about what kind of car I'd like to buy next. I count ducks, And I wonder what the neighbors are doing. Sometimes these walks are tiring. Other times they are boring. They always beat mowing the lawn though.

I had to do some website updates today and I couldn't figure out why my changes weren't showing up in my browser. I uploaded the new pages several times and still kept seeing the old site. It finally occurred to me that I needed to clear my cache files. When I refreshed my browser, it was just reloading the old site that was already in the browser cache. Problem solved. I vaguely wondered why I don't always have to do this. I probably used to know the answer, but my web development skills are fading fast.

I watched a YouTube tutorial titled "Getting started with PixInsight" this afternoon. I thought if I understood the basics of this complex program, I might actually get some use out of it. This video was supposed to be for beginners, but it still seemed very complex to me. It was hard for me to stay interested. Things that were easy and intuitive in Photoshop required ten mysterious steps here. I still don't even understand the PixInsight menu. It baffles me that a lot of people love this program. Maybe I picked the wrong hobby. I've been taking photographs for the better part of my life. You'd thing this would be easy, but astrophotography has been a struggle for me.

I'm getting bitten by mosquitos inside the house. Where did these things come from? Mosquitos seem unusually bad this year. It must be all the moisture. I'm starting to see lots of ants too. I guess it's that time of year. Where can you go where the weather is pleasant and there are no bugs? Bugs are everywhere. There were moths inside the Astronomer's Lodge. When I go to rocket launches in Florida I always get bitten by bugs. I always get the most powerful insect repellent I can find and the bugs don't even care.

I still haven't finished unpacking from my trip. The clothing has all been washed and put away, but there's still a lot of equipment I need to deal with. I took the star tracker apart and put it back in it's box today. That's a start. Now I've got a case I can use for pet photography again. Maybe I'll deal with the rest of the camera equipment next weekend. I doubt that I'm going to be using it any time soon.

Tomorrow we visit the rescue Dalmatians again. It only seems like a few days have passed since we saw them last week. Where has the time gone? We are almost halfway through 2021 and it still seems like the year is just getting started. Covid has changed everything. I'm so used to doing nothing that it's starting to seem normal.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4167

I'm a terrible shopper. When I went to the grocery store, Janet wanted me to get her some cream cheese and showed me the tub it came in. All I remembered was the tub and came home with a tub of sour cream instead. I actually saw cream cheese on the shelf next to the sour cream, but it came in a little foil wrapped brick. That couldn't possibly be right. I was looking for something in a little plastic tub.

Our rainy weather continues. There were plenty of dry periods between the showers today. I had no trouble finding time to walk, but it's still pretty wet outside. It's actually raining right now. We had been planning on doing some yard work last week so we could throw away the debris on bulky trash day. The trash pickup got delayed, but we never found a dry enough day to trim the bushes and get rid of the rest of the dead Asian Jasmine. Oh, well. There's always next month.

I updated my company website today and then decided that the update didn't make any sense and didn't bother to upload it. Somehow this wasted effort still seemed more productive than editing more Milky Way pictures. I think I'm burned out on astrophotography for a while. Maybe there's gold hidden away in the images I took out at the observatory last week, but it's been very hard mining it. I'll wait a while before  I resume this activity. I should have learned from last time. After my first astrophotography workshop I didn't even look at the pictures for almost a month. I think the wait allowed what I'd learned to slowly seep into my brain, because when I finally opened the files, everything clicked together fairly quickly.

I thought I'd get wet on my long walk today, but the occasional drizzle kept me cool instead. It's been really humid lately and if the sun was out I would have been miserable. It was a nice day for a walk, but there was no spring in my step today. I was really slow. My feet bothered me a little, but that wasn't the real problem. I was just tired. I shouldn't have been tired. I actually got more sleep than usual. I guess I'm just getting old. For every good day there are usually three bad days. 

I still think I need to stay active. Without ongoing activity and a certain amount of effort I probably wouldn't even be able to get out of bed. I hate to think what the aches and pains are going to be like five years from now. We'll see. I wonder how long I can keep walking six miles a day?

Dawn had a good day. Even though the ground is still soggy, she seems to have overcome her fear of getting her paws wet and is walking well. She was very enthusiastic about her little one mile loop this afternoon. Her appetite has definitely returned. For a while we were worried about a hesitancy to eat, but she devours her meals now. Dawn is fine. I think we just worry too much.

I went out and got a pizza for dinner. Even though pizza is absolutely the worst offender in the heartburn department, I still enjoy a slice now and then. All my favorite foods like spaghetti and chili give me heartburn. It's a shame. I try to eat sensibly, but I'd hate to be limited to a bland diet for the rest of my life. Spice is nice. For now, there's always Pepcid, but it's probably not a good idea to take too much famotidine either. 

I hope it's not raining tomorrow. Dawn missed her ice cream outing last Sunday because of rain. It would be a shame to miss this again. Hard to believe that it's been raining almost continually for an entire week, but that's the way it is in May. Pretty soon I'll be complaining about how hot and dry it is.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4166

There were scattered showers today, but not enough rain to change any plans. Not that I had any plans, mind you. It was such an uneventful day that it's hard to remember if I did anything at all. It's still too wet to do yard work, which is kind of a blessing. I'm not in the mood to do yard work at all. Mostly I just puttered around the house until it was time for my long walk.

You know the routine by now. I made the bed, fixed my morning smoothie, and watched the world fall apart on cable news. After breakfast I checked my messages and practiced processing some more astrophotography images. Today's efforts were a little more successful. I've been working with the same image for several days now and each day it comes out looking a little different. I still did one thing wrong today, so I might have to try this one more time before I move on to the next image.

Dawn was eager to walk today. She even branched off in a new direction, which kind of startled Janet and I. Instead of sticking to her normal path, she ventured down to the shoreline and had a great time smelling things. I thought she might be lost for a while, but at the appropriate time she turned away from the lake and headed back up the hill toward home. If this wasn't Dawn, you wouldn't give this kind of behavior a second thought. Seeing Dawn happy and curious was a big deal to us. She just seemed like a normal dog out for a walk on a Spring day.

As always, I continued walking after Dawn and Janet returned to the house. There was a nice breeze and it was mostly overcast, so I didn't get too hot. My feet didn't bother me too much today, so all was well. If I weren't so lazy, I'd take the car and go somewhere different to walk. It's a nice big park though and I don't mind seeing the same things day after day. At this time of year there are always new wildflowers to identify and lots and lots of ducks. Just about all the wildflowers have appeared by now and the fields and meadows are filled with color. This would be the perfect time of year in Dallas if it didn't rain so much.

The little sensor that monitors our electric lines sent a message to my watch saying that our Internet had gone out while I was out on my walk. Hmm. I didn't know that this thing monitored the Internet too. I called Janet to see if we'd had a power outage and she said everything was fine. It turned out that the only thing that was faulty was the sensor itself. Maybe I'll quit using this thing. It's supposed to help prevent electrical fires, but I'm still not sure if it does anything at all.

I got an invitation to apply for media credentials to attend the Boeing Starliner launch in late July. Do I try to go to this one, or the Falcon Heavy STP-3 launch at the end of June? There's also the Space X Inspiration 4 private mission later this Fall along with the first Starship orbital flight and hopefully Artemis-1 as well. That's a lot of activity and I can probably only afford to attend one of these launches. I'm not even sure I'll get approved to attend any. I've got to remain optimistic though. I've managed to get four articles about launch activities at Kennedy Space Center published, so at least in my own mind I'm a legitimate journalist.

I got a bag of ice from the grocery store, so I can postpone calling the appliance repairman for a while. I don't think I can postpone mowing the grass though. It's really been growing fast with all this wet weather. We'll see how the weekend goes. One way or another, I"m sure I'll be doing a lot of chores.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4165

Our rainy week continues. It doesn't rain continually and I'm usually able to find time to walk Dawn and myself, but it's pretty damp outside. It's amazing how green everything has become. I thought a lot of our outdoor plants died during the big winter freeze, but most of them have recovered. Even the Asian Jasmine ground cover is coming back. It's nice to see the yard coming to life, even though it will mean I have to mow the grass more often.

Today was a slow day. After breakfast I put together a proposal for a new Sky & Telescope article and sent it to my editor. I have no idea how this proposal will be received, but I definitely would like to keep writing for the magazine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess. I don't expect an answer anytime soon. It took me over a year to get my first article published.

Since I had a lot of time on my hands today, I practiced my astrophotography processing skills. I think I'm doing everything correctly now, but I'm still a bit disappointed in the results. I can spend hours working on a photo and the end result doesn't look that much better than the original out of the camera. This either means that my camera is very good or my processing skills are very bad. I'll keep working with what I've got. It's going to be a while before I see dark skies again.

There was a light drizzle when I embarked on my long walk today. That was fine by me. It's been very humid lately and the light rain helped cool me down. I'd like to think that these walks are helping me physically, but my Fitbit seems to disagree. I'm walking too slow and not elevating my heart rate enough. If I made Mr. Fitbit happy, I could never complete six miles though. Slow and steady is the only way I can continue walking for long distances. I really need to return to the gym. My calves are strong, but the rest of my muscles are pathetic. Walking doesn't do a lot for your upper body.

Most of the bills for my trip to West Texas have come in. I paid some today while wondering why I didn't pick a less expensive hobby. Following rocket launches and searching for dark skies can cost more than you might think. At least I don't collect watches anymore. Who knows. Maybe I'm not doing so bad after all. I know people who spend a fortune on fishing.

Dawn very gradually seems to be warming up to me. There are times during the day when she seems like a normal dog. I still can't be in the kitchen with her though. If I'm in the kitchen, she immediately goes back to the bedroom. She's the first dog we've had that doesn't hang around waiting for table scraps. Dawn likes me to walk her and seems to tolerate me sitting on the bed with her. Hey, it's a start.

I"m having second thoughts about replacing the ice maker in the refrigerator. The freezer is full and I would have to empty everything out to give the repairman enough space to work. Do I really need ice anyway? The only thing I ever use the ice maker for is to add a little ice to the blender when I make my morning smoothie. I just do this to make the smoothie colder. Maybe it would taste just fine without the ice. On the other hand, I could just fill the ice maker bin with a bag of party ice every few weeks. I could do this for years for much less than the cost of an appliance repairman.

I've taken this week's trash to the curb and the weather forecast still says more rain tomorrow. I'm growing tired of this rain and kind of wish that I'd just stayed out at the Astronomer's Lodge. I haven't come up with a plan for tomorrow yet, but if it happens to clear off, I know I'll get a lot more done.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4164

I saw the sun again today. This might not be the only reason I managed to get more done but it helped. After breakfast I went and got some new windshield wipers for my car. Instead of going to the Land Rover dealer like I normally do, I just went to the neighborhood Auto Zone store. This saved me a ton of money. I think I paid less than half of what the wiper blades would have cost me at the Land Rover parts department. I should do this more often. I'm tired of paying Land Rover's exorbident prices. I also only bought one wiper blade, since only one was broken. When the other blade goes bad, I'll replace it as well.

I think Dawn had the same response to the sun as I did. She was eager to walk this morning. There was no balking or hesitancy at all. She acted like a normal dog and we had a nice normal walk. I wish we could depend on this type of behavior every day, but I doubt that it's going to happen. Dawn is not a normal dog. Something strange is going on in her head. The vet who suggested that she probably had a traumatic head injury earlier in life was probably right. Dawn does the best she can and that's good enough for us. She's a strange, but very sweet dog.

I got Riggs, the new dog, added to the Dalmatian Rescue website and tried to catch up with a bunch of correspondence with my contacts at NASA and the Space Force. I was pleased that I  received a reply from my Space Force contact so quickly. I am good to go for any military launch and they may be able to help me gain access to some NASA launches as well. I am even pre-approved to set remote cameras at the launch pad. I'm not sure I'm ready to lose a camera yet, but it's nice to know that I have that option. There's a Falcon Heavy launch I'd like to cover sometime in June. Hopefully gasoline and rental cars will be available in Florida by then.

It really turned out to be a nice day today, even though there is still rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. We'll see how it goes. When I wake up tomorrow morning the forecast could be completely different. Even though it's been a very wet week, I've still managed to take my long walk every day. You'd never know that rain was forecast for today as well. It was beautiful outside and I had an enjoyable walk. My foot didn't bother me at all. Maybe my foot pain has something to do with the humidity. I really have no idea, but I'm always thankful for a pain free day.

I need to call the appliance repairman and get the ice maker fixed on our refrigerator. I'm not wild about spending the money though. The repair will probably cost several hundred dollars and party ice is cheap. I still have part of the bag I got before I left for the observatory. Ice is ice and the party ice works just fine for my morning smoothies. 

I didn't really accomplish that much today, but it felt like a productive day. Hopefully, I can keep this trend going a few more days. Sunlight makes a huge difference in my mood. On dark, rainy days all I do is worry about roof leaks. It probably helped that I didn't even try to process any astrophotography today. I'll eventually master this, but the learning curve is steep. Maybe processing my star photos is something I should save for a rainy day. I may not succeed, but at least failure won't make me feel any worse.

If the weather is still nice tomorrow I may do a little yard work. The grass is growing rapidly with all this rain. It's definitely time to mow again.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4163

Another rainy day. I think it's supposed to be this way for the rest of the week. This would have been the week to go out to the Davis Mountains. It's still clear out there. I don't know what this proves other than it's very difficult to plan ahead and sometimes I'm just unlucky

I guess having a regular physical exam is an attempt to plan ahead. I do try to stay healthy, even though maintaining your health depends on a certain amount of luck as well. Since I was having blood work done today, I needed to fast and couldn't eat breakfast before my 10 AM appointment. This made for a long morning. I drove to the doctor's office in the rain and noticed that I need new windshield wipers. One more thing to add to my to-do list.

Physical exams are always a mix of good and bad news. The good news was that my doctor seemed pleased with my overall health. The bad news was that I'm due for another colonoscopy. It doesn't seem like ten years since my last colonoscopy, but time flies when you are growing old. I always ask about my ongoing foot pain and my frozen shoulder, but I'm never happy with the answers I get. There's no real cure for osteoarthritis. When the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones wears down over time, there's not a lot you can do. Your choices are usually limited to pain medications, physical therapy, and surgery. I've known plenty of people who have had knee, hip, and shoulder replacements. I'm not sure I want to go down that road.

Dawn didn't get a walk at all today. We tried, but she had no interest in getting wet. It took some planning to take my own longer walk, but I managed to find some dry time between the bands of rain moving from the southwest to the northeast. I got caught in a few sprinkles, but for the most part I stayed pretty dry. This wet weather seems to bring out the snakes. I've seen snakes almost every time I've walked lately.

I made another attempt to process some of the pictures I took last week and wasn't happy with the results. It is much easier to take pictures of dogs. The night sky is quite dim and the stars are always moving, so you can't simply take a very long exposure. Successful astrophotography depends on taking a lot of shorter images of the same subject and then merging them together using specialized software that compensates for the rotation of the earth. There are many steps to this stacking process. You want to keep both your foreground and your stars sharp, while avoiding the camera noise that often accompanies long exposures. I'm learning, but I've got a ways to go.

The Atlas V SBIRS GEO Flight 5 launch was successful today. Several of my launch photographer friends were there and got great pictures. I'm always a little envious when I see these pictures, but I don't think I'll be returning to Florida any time soon. The East Coast gas shortage, lack of rental cars, and the huge number of people who want to get out of the house and return to Disneyland or the beach are going to make travel difficult for a while. I'm hoping that life will eventually return to normal, but clearly we're not there yet.

Dismal weather always puts me in a bad mood. I wonder how long it's going to be before I see the sun again? I spent a lot of time napping today, but that's the way it goes on a rainy day. I'll make up for lost time when the sun returns.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4162

There's a new dog up at the Dalmatian kennel. Riggs, our new boy, appears quite young and still acts like a puppy. Looks can be deceiving though. Some Dalmatians act like a puppy their entire life. Riggs was definitely a bundle of energy, but he will be a fun companion for some lucky person. Two of the four Dalmatians currently at the kennel already have homes, but their new owners haven't picked them up yet. This is not unusual, since many of the rescue dogs are adopted out of state and transportation arrangements can be complicated. I'm never sure about adoption details. Janet and I just play with the dogs and work on socializing them.

We tried to walk Dawn before we left for the kennel, but she wasn't having any part of it. Although it wasn't raining, the ground was still wet and that was enough to convince Dawn that an afternoon of sitting on the bed was a better alternative. According to the weather forecast we're going to have rain all week. Today wasn't as bad as yesterday, but we still got a lot of rain. The ground is soggy and the water levels at the lake are quite high. 

I thought I might have to curtail my walk today, but it was still dry when we returned from visiting the Dalmatians. The sky looked dark but I thought I could keep checking the weather radar like I did yesterday. This worked out pretty well. Actually, the skies cleared a bit as I was walking and I even saw a few patches of blue on my way home. I wonder where yesterday's energy went though. Today I felt tired and I walked at a much slower pace. My feet hurt again too. It's a mystery why there is no consistency to my foot pain. I'll ask my doctor about this tomorrow at my physical exam, but I don't really expect an answer.

One of our neighbors had tree trimmers out today, so I asked them if they could give me an estimate for removing the damaged Oak tree in our back yard. This crew seemed more knowledgable and professional than some I've seen in the neighborhood, so I may hire them. I'm in no hurry though. The first thing the tree service guy told me was that our tree was very large and was located next to a power line. It would be a multi-day job to remove the tree. If you've ever had a tree removed, this translates into "very expensive." We'll see what the estimate is. I'm sure it will cost more than my recent trip to McDonald Observatory.

I tried to process another Milky Way photo today, but I must have done something wrong. The edited photo turned out to be worse than the camera original. I think I must have been in a hurry and skipped a few steps. I was trying to complete the processing after breakfast before Janet and I left to visit the rescue Dalmatians. Getting these photos ready for their Instagram moment is a long and tedious process. I shouldn't even bother unless I have a lot of free time.

An Air Force launch that I'd been invited to attend got scrubbed today. This was a reminder that a trip to Kennedy Space Center is just as uncertain as a trip to McDonald Observatory. There are so many things that can go wrong with a launch. Today's mission wasn't scrubbed because of weather. There was a problem fueling the rocket's second stage instead. I think they are going to try again tomorrow. I'm not even going to think about making a trip to the East Coast until the current gas shortage is over. The trip would probably be a nightmare with a shortage of rental cars and no gas available.

Maybe I'll watch the ULA livestream of the launch tomorrow. I have a feeling that I'll still be at the doctor though. I wish I could have gotten an earlier appointment. I have to fast for these semi-annual physical exams and I won't be able to have any breakfast. Breakfast is such an important part of my daily routine that I'm not looking forward to this. I hope the doctor can explain why I've been feeling so tired lately. He'll probably just tell me that I haven't been getting enough sleep.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4161

We've got an all day rain in Dallas and it's completely clear out at the observatory tonight. Not fair. Sometimes luck just doesn't fall your way. I could have taken the advanced class and has clear skies. Truthfully, I'm not an advanced astrophotographer though. I think I proved fairly conclusively at last week's workshop that I was barely at the intermediate level. Oh, well. I'll try again, even though I tend to bring rain with me wherever I go. I've gotten rained out at Kennedy Space Center as well.

We got soaked today. I think we were even under a tornado warning for a while. I heard the sirens go off around 11 AM, but the weather radar showed that the most severe weather was located a few miles to the north of us and was headed in a northeasterly direction. It goes without saying that Dawn didn't get a walk this morning. Neither did I. It could have been a lot worse though. The house is dry, no trees fell, and there are no signs of a roof leak. Dawn is calm as well. She's the first Dalmatian we've had that isn't bothered by storms. 

Since I was housebound for most of the day, I started trying to process a few of last week's Milky Way photos. I had calibration frames and enough images to stack. Unfortunately, the image I wanted to process has trees in the foreground. Part of the procedure is creating a mask that separates the sky from the foreground. Creating a mask with a lot of bare tree limbs poking up into the sky can be time consuming and frustrating. I took my time and did the best I could. When I was finished and stacked the calibration frames and my eight Milky Way images together I discovered that some parts of the picture were much better and other parts were worse. The boundary between the trees and the sky didn't look completely natural. Actually, this part of the photo sucked. Some of the stars weren't the right color either. On another rainy day I'll start over and process this image again. There's got to be a better way to create a foreground mask.

Around 3 PM, the weather radar showed that there was going to be a break in the storm for about an hour. This was plenty of time to walk Dawn, so we put her harness on and off we went. We didn't get far. Dawn either didn't like her paws getting wet or the smell of rain in the air. We had only gone a few hundred yards before she froze and refused to walk any further. It's such a shame that she's this way. She was really eager to go on a walk when we were in the house.

My own rain phobias are limited to roof leaks, so I had no problem continuing to walk after Dawn and Janet returned to the house. I thought that I could check the weather radar on my phone from time to time and turn around before I got wet. The bands of rain were always nearby, but kept moving to the north or south of me. I didn't walk as far as I usually do, but I managed to complete four miles and made it home completely dry. On a rainy day, that's a win. Oddly, my feet didn't hurt at all today. Go figure.

I paid some online bills this afternoon and that was enough to quell any thoughts I might have had about getting the little telescope that mysteriously became available just before I left for the observatory. There were 16 scopes available when I first noticed it was back in stock. Now there is only one. I refuse to be tempted. I'm sure this telescope or something even better will be back in stock before I have a chance to return to the observatory again. Who knows. If my processing skills don't improve, I might lose interest in this current obsession entirely.

Tomorrow we visit the rescue Dalmatians again. I'm not sure how many we have at the kennel now, but we'll find out when we get there. On Tuesday, I have my semi-annual physical. I have a whole new batch of aches and pains to report, but I'm sure my doctor will tell me that I'm still pretty healthy for my age. There is no magic wand for staying youthful. I try to stay active and eat healthy food. What more can you do?

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4160

I spent the day falling asleep at random moments. That's the price you pay for spending a week masquerading as a younger man. It was worth it though. I really needed my visit to the observatory. Today was kind of like those stories you hear about astronauts returning from the ISS. I felt heavy and sluggish. Grocery shopping wasn't at all like star watching.

I had a lot of things on my list today. I had to get some fire ant bait because our yard is getting overrun with fire ant mounds. Most of the things on  my list were still readily available, but I had to find a new store that carried my favorite beer. Since the mask mandate has been rescinded in Texas, shoppers were a mix of of masked and bare faced. This is going to be a problem. These two different approaches to life are never going to come to a mutual agreement about anything. I even saw a few gas lines this morning. This is crazy because there is no shortage of gas in Texas. Gasoline is plentiful. We were never affected by that pipeline shutdown at all.

Dawn apparently thinks that I am a necessary component in her daily walks. Janet told me that she was reluctant to take walks while I was away. When I asked her if she was ready for a walk today, she immediately gave me one of those big Dalmatian smiles and started wagging her tail. When we left the house she couldn't wait to return to her regular one mile loop. In Dawn's world I am apparently a necessary and beloved dog walker, but a scary and frightening presence in the kitchen. I can't figure it out, but I'm willing to go with the flow. Maybe Dawn just has PTSD from years of being abused at the breeding kennel.

I took my new camera with me to the observatory, but I completely forgot how to use one of the features I thought would be useful for astrophotography. I didn't have a lot of time to figure things out, so I reverted to using my old camera and a few tried and true settings. I got some good pictures, but was frustrated that the new camera appeared to be broken. This afternoon I was determined to figure out whether it was the camera or me. I loaded the massive 500 page PDF instruction manual in my computer and slowly went through the procedure for creating Live Composite images. Yep. It was me. The camera worked fine. They could have made enabling this feature a little easier to do in the dark. There were way too many steps and it wasn't intuitive at all.  Maybe I just don't have the same capacity to assimilate new knowledge as I did when I was younger. I had trouble with the star tracker  and the PixInsight processing software as well. I'm determined to master the intricacies of the new camera by the time I return to the observatory again. I've probably got plenty of time.

My long walk was difficult today. It was hot outside and my feet were giving me problems again. It's a mystery why my foot pain is so inconsistent. I have good days and bad days. Today was one of the bad days. I completed six miles, but I didn't set any speed records. I was practically limping by the time I returned to the house. I don't understand this at all. I wear the same shoes and walk the same route. It seems like any discomfort would be more consistent.

I'm back on the Air Force launch list. I've received two notifications for upcoming military launches this week, but I don't think this would be a good time to go to Florida. I keep hearing that there are gas lines everywhere and rental cars are almost impossible to find. Rental car rates have gone up in Dallas, but it is much, much worse in Florida. I feel like waiting until life returns to normal before traveling to Kennedy Space Center to attend a launch. On the other hand, I may never travel again if I wait for life to return to normal. Maybe I should just plan a trip to Boca Chica for a Starship launch. That's where the future is anyway.

Tomorrow's version of normal will probably include a trip to Dawn's alternate park for a Sunday walk. If we're lucky there might be an ice cream cone as well.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4159

I'm back in Dallas. It's been a long and interesting day. The weather wasn't very cooperative Thursday evening. Around sunset there were thunderstorms on the southern horizon and a thick blanket of clouds overhead. We kept checking the forecast, but it didn't look promising. While it was still light outside, our group got a sneak preview of a new telescope prototype from Planewave Instruments. The company wanted to test this scope under McDonald Observatory's famous dark skies. Unfortunitely, the fancy computerized telescope wasn't having any better luck than we were. The only telescope that could penetrate the clouds was a nearby radio telescope that would have made a perfect backdrop for the photos I was planning.

We began to see lightning and as the thunderstorm got closer we retreated to the Astronomer's Lodge to learn more about PixInsight and the intricacies of processing astrophotography images. It was still cloudy around midnight and most of the group decided to call it quits and headed back to their hotels, Airbnb rentals, or campsites for the night. I was the lucky one, since I was already home. I walked to my room, set an alarm for 3 AM and tried to get a few hours sleep. The predawn skies cleared a bit yesterday. Maybe they would do the same thing today.

I dozed off for a few hours and when the alarm on my phone rang, I got up and went outside. It was completely clear. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. I dressed quickly and set my cameras up in in a few choice locations. Since I had the luxury of time this morning, I was more methodical than I was yesterday and tried to take my shots properly. I didn't try to photograph any galaxies or nebula, because I knew I would have difficulty finding them without help from my astronomer friends. The Milky Way was still there though and it looked even more spectacular than it did yesterday.

The picture you see here is straight out of the camera and hasn't been processed yet. I'm standing in front of the Astronomer's Lodge and looking up at the 107 inch Harlan J. Smith Telescope. This should make a nice shot when I have finished processing it. I stayed outside until dawn, photographing the sky from a variety of different angles. It is so beautiful on top of Mount Locke when the sky is clear and the Milky Way is rising. I love this place.

There was no point in going back to bed when the stars began to fade. I fixed a pot of coffee and made myself some breakfast. It is so quiet in the morning at the Astronomer's Lodge. The staff doesn't arrive until later in the morning and I essentially had the place to myself. After breakfast, I packed my bags and got ready for the long drive home. I stopped at the observatory fire station to pump up my tire again since it had lost five pounds of pressure overnight. By 8 AM I was on the road.

As I made the 50 mile drive North through the Davis Mountain to head East on I-10 I didn't see a single car. I almost hit a deer though. The deer are everywhere up here. Luckily, even though my rental car had a bad tire, it had good brakes. No deer were harmed. 

It probably wasn't a great idea to make a 550 mile drive with no sleep, but I made it back to Dallas in one piece. I arrived in town during rush hour but the traffic wasn't as bad as I expected. I don't think anyone works on Friday anymore. It was still a shock to see so many cars though. I really prefer the solitude of the Davis Mountains. I'm sure I'll be back again, even though I hate the drive. The Davis Mountains have become my happy place.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4158

Last night didn't go as planned. The fog lifted during the day and by mid-afternoon the sky was completely clear. Everyone was feeling pretty good when we assembled for a lesson on how to properly align our star trackers and telescopes around 5 PM. We ate dinner around 6 PM and almost immediately afterwards a thick bank of low fog rolled in out of nowhere. The weather reports were still saying that we had clear skies, but maybe fog doesn't show up on weather radar. At any rate there was nothing to see. We drove to the top of Mount Locke to see if we could get above the clouds, but the fog was even worse up there. The fog kept getting thicker and just before midnight we gave up and called it a day.

I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge and went to bed. About 4 AM I woke up to go to the bathroom. Since I was up, I decided to go outside and see if the skies had cleared. There were still clouds, but there were patches of clear sky. This looked promising. I quickly got dressed and grabbed a camera and tripod. Whenever I saw a patch of clear sky I took a series of photos. Sometimes a clear patch would last about thirty seconds. Other times the sky was clear for five or ten minutes. As it turned out, 4 AM was the perfect time to see the core of the Milky Way. For a while I was able to see the entire arch of the Milky Way as it crossed the sky. The photos I took weren't as as spectacular as the ones I took last October, but I felt good that the evening wasn't a total disaster. 

My little window of opportunity didn't last long. After I felt comfortable that I had captured something, I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge to change camera lenses. I was only inside a few minutes, but when I returned to my tripod, there were no stars. The fog had become very thick again. I went back to sleep and when I woke up this morning, the mountain was still shrouded in a thick fog. The humidity has been very high for the past few days. This is very rare for West Texas. The humidity was 90% this morning which is almost unheard of at the observatory.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I don't really feel tired. I ate breakfast and then circled the mountain again like I did yesterday. It was interesting to watch the fog slowly lift as I walked. Each time I completed a loop around the mountain I could see a little more of the terrain below. It was actually quite beautiful to watch the fog lift and the sky gradually become blue. 

So far, today looks like an exact repeat of yesterday's weather. The skies are completely clear now and it's easy to feel optimistic about observing conditions tonight. Things can change quickly in the mountains though as we learned last night. If it's clear tonight, we'll probably skip some of the planned classroom time and try to catch up on the observing we missed yesterday. At least I know how to use my star tracker now. If I can see Polaris tonight I"m going to set the thing up and try to step up my game a bit. I feel more confident now. All we need are some clear skies.

I had a bit of a scare yesterday. When I was driving to the top of Mount Locke after dinner, a warning light came on saying that my left front tire was very low and ended to be filled immediately. Not good. I was miles away from a gas station that was probably closed anyway. I had visions of waking up in the morning with a flat tire and no spare. Luckily one of my astronomer friends came to the rescue. He said that the observatory fire station had an air compressor where I could fill the tire 24-hours a day. So far, so good.  I'm going to check all the tires again before I return to Dallas. I don't think anyone even bothers to maintain rent cars anymore. They just fill them with gas and send them out on the road again. The last time I rented a car, a warning light came on saying that I was low on oil. This time one of my tires had only half the air pressure of the other three tires. After all you pay for rent cars these days, you'd think they could do better.

I'm really hoping that we get some better weather tonight. It's going to be a long time before I get to see dark skies like this again. Clouds are easy to see in Dallas. I was looking forward to seeing stars.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4157

I'm posting early today. I've finally realized that there is no point in trying to write something at 2 AM after a long night of starwatching. I am usually incoherent at that time of day. It might be better to start writing during the day anyway. Years and years of posting something at the very end of every day have deprived me of a lot of sleep. 

So far the day has been interesting. I woke up this morning surrounded by a heavy fog. When I looked out my window at the Astronomer's Lodge the whole world was grey. I couldn't see the telescopes or the visitor's center in the valley below. It was cold too. The temperature was around 50 degrees for most of the morning.

After breakfast I put on some warm clothes and took a walk around the mountain. There is a road that circles the top of Mount Locke providing access the Astronomer's Lodge and some of the smaller telescopes. The road is not as long as I thought. I had to circle the mountain five times in order to walk two miles. It seemed like I walked longer than this because of some steep slopes and the high altitude. The top of Mount Locke is the tallest mountain in Texas accessible by road.

I met the guy from Planewave Instruments who will be conducting the workshop with my friend from the observatory. This is probably as close as I will ever get to a Planewave telescope. They sell mostly to universities and smaller professional observatories. Their telescopes start at about $20,000 and go up to over $500,000. A little rich for my blood. The Planewave guy isn't here to sell us a telescope though. He is here to teach us how to use PixInsight, the software program that I had so much trouble installing on my laptop. The first time I opened this software it seemed incomprehensible to me. I hope I learn something in the next few days. So far, it's all Greek to me.

The fog is already starting to lift and according to the latest weather forecast it should be clear tonight. I'm glad I brought my warmest winter coats with me. I have a feeling that I"m going to need them. When I was here last March, the temperature got down in the mid-30's at night. By the time we were through with our photography session, I was frozen. I've learned to be a little better prepared on subsequent trips. With any luck, I should be warm enough tonight.

Later this afternoon I'm going to assemble my star tracker so it will be ready for this evening. I'm really beginning to wonder why I bought this thing. It's heavy and a royal pain to put together. Also I have to kneel down and look through a small scope built into the tracker in order to line everything up correctly with Polaris. This was made for younger knees. When I'm down, it's hard to get up again. I"m going to regret not going to REI and getting a collapsible walking stick. I'm also going to regret not bringing a small folding chair with me. I hope to learn a lot about astrophotography at this workshop, but I may just learn that I'm getting too old for this.

Have I mentioned how good the food is at the Astronomer's Lodge? I always gain a few pounds while I'm here. Maybe I'm weird, but this is my idea of a nice vacation. The food is great. The place is quiet and peaceful. Quiet might actually be an understatement. It is dead silent out here. When I took my walk in the fog this morning, I heard nothing at all. There is no traffic noise, no airplanes, no police sirens, and no yard crews with their irritating leaf blowers. I didn't even hear any birds this morning. 

The fog continues to lift and I'm starting to see some blue sky now. Things are looking up.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4156

I made it out to the observatory in one piece. What a long drive. Every time I travel to West Texas I'm reminded what a big state Texas is. I felt like I drove halfway to California today. I traveled through every type of weather imaginable. Parts of the state had clear skies. Other parts had thunderstorms with lots of thunder and lightning. Towards the end of the drive I even encountered a small dust storm. The weather is nice at the observatory this evening. Who knows what it will be like tomorrow. I guess I"ll have to wait and see.

The worst part of the trip was a construction zone around Odessa where the freeway was shut down to a single lane for almost 40 miles. Traffic was backed up for miles. I was stuck between two eighteen wheelers and there was no place to get off the freeway. Luckily I'd gotten gas just before the construction zone started. This was no place to worry about running low on gas. My rental car was a huge SUV that gets terrible gas mileage. It was the only thing I could find with an in-dash navigation system and blind spot warning lights. When did gas get so expensive? It was over three dollars a gallon in most places.

I think I'm the only one staying at the Astronomer's Lodge tonight. It's kind of spooky up here. The manager and the cook were leaving when I arrived. They showed me my room and got my dinner for me and then they left. I think some more people are arriving tomorrow, but for now it's just me. Luckily the WiFi password hasn't changed. The password is so long and complex that I needed help getting online the last time I was here. Meals are amazingly good up here. I don't know how this place managed to snag such a good chef. 

One of my astronomer friends stopped by to say hello while I was eating dinner alone in the dining room. He invited me to join him later this evening to look for Red Sprites on the horizon. I'd never even heard of Red Sprites until recently, but they are a spectacular form of lightning in the upper atmosphere. Often they are hundreds of miles away when they appear.  Red Sprites only last a fraction of a second, so they are very difficult to photograph. Maybe I'll see a Sprite tonight. Maybe I'll see nothing. I'm pretty tired after today's drive. I see a pillow right now and a nap is pretty tempting.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. The workshop doesn't begin until later in the afternoon, so there's plenty of time to go exploring. I didn't get a lot of exercise today, so I really ought to take a long walk in the morning. I took a short walk after dinner and was very tired. My feet hurt too. Going to bed early tonight is starting to look better and better.

We did end up looking for Sprites around 10:30 this evening. The storms were too far away though and we didn't see anything. The sky was pretty though. The Milky Way was just starting to rise and the sky was alive with stars. I stayed outside for about an hour trying to identify constellations. I wish I was more familiar with the night sky, but that's what I'm here for. Tomorrow should be a busy day. Maybe after a good night's sleep I can finally figure out how to put my star tracker together.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4155

We picked up a new dog at the vet on our way to the kennel this afternoon. Aries is a beautiful six year old female who was an owner surrender. I can't recall that we've had another dog named after a zodiac sign. I wonder is she has an Aries personality. Aries is friendly, very gentle, and will probably find her forever home almost immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if she was determined as well. That's a typical Aries trait. I took some pictures of her for the website, but I think she already have someone looking at her. A dog this nice doesn't stay at the kennel very long.

Cooper was still at the kennel, but only because the guy who wanted to adopt him still needed to fix a few things in his yard. As soon as the yard is secure, I think Cooper will have his forever home. Charlie will probably be with us a little longer, but he certainly deserves a good home as well. Charlie is one of the smartest dogs in the rescue program. He just never developed a soft mouth as a puppy, so you have to be careful where you put your hands. 

Dawn got her walk today, but I had to skip my longer excursion. I'm already way behind on packing for my trip. I did take a short walk after we returned home from the kennel, but the weather hasn't been very cooperative today. It's been on the verge of raining all day. I thought I was going to get lucky, but when I had to go out and run some errands toward the end of the day, I got soaked. I hope the weather improves later in the week, but it's not looking good right now. I have a feeling that I'm going to be driving to West Texas in the rain.

I keep hoping that the ice maker will start working again, but we haven't seen any ice for several days. It's a safe bet that the ice maker is broken and will need to be replaced. We got a big bag of ice on the way home from the kennel. Maybe that will last until I can make arrangements with the appliance repairman to get this fixed. Something always seems to be broken around here. As soon as I get one thing fixed, another thing breaks.

I'm starting to wonder why I wanted to go to the astrophotography workshop at all. I'm very disorganized this time and I'm dreading the long drive. Hopefully the weather in West Texas will be nicer than the weather in Dallas. The rain is pounding down now and there is lots of thunder. There have been several severe weather warnings on the television this evening as well. I'm really glad that Dawn is unaffected by the weather. Thunderstorms don't seem to bother her at all. I wish I could say the same.

It's been a long day and I need to get some sleep. I'll do a little more packing before I go to bed. I guess there's always tomorrow, but I am running out of time. Why didn't I get organized sooner? I certainly knew this was coming. 

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day