WARNING ... I started rambling unintentionally in this post. It was our normal routine after lunch is served. Even Heidi made an appearance outside long enough for me to capture a picture of her, just to let readers know that she still exists and has a pulse. She is into her winter hibernation mode earlier than I can ever remember. For Sadie and Stella I changed the camera setting back to "Auto-Area AF" for walk #2.
Heidi is in need of another bath, possibly an Epson Salt soak. I hid the wool blankets a few weeks ago thinking that was causing her skin to break out again. That does not seem to be the case and in fact may be just the time of year. Looking at her photos from October 2016 I saw the same changes to her skin after a summer of very little allergy reaction.
I am going to ramble about things in general this post, not even knowing when I will schedule it to publish. All of these photos were from our walk this afternoon (Monday). It's always nice the day after a storm blows through.
I've had another huge case of lack of motivation lately. I may have posted I was going to clean house, do laundry, rake leaves or whatever but none of those things have happened. I've been glued to either my computer with the large monitor at my desk either blogging, reading blogs, reading sports, working in my large photos library etc ... During the day I'll move to the kitchen table with a view and the permanent home of my laptop, to play Mahjong or write in my private journal.
There might be days where a siesta is needed from this fast paced lifestyle. You need all the rest you can get when you follow a nightly routine of ballgames from one sport or another and many times where multiple games are on at once. I did squeeze in a long movie last night instead of watching the NFL Sunday Night game.
It dawned on me during our afternoon walk that I have been using less data the past few days with internet speeds slower than Stella's afternoon pace. Does slower data download speeds equate to less data being used? I'll have to look into that later on the internet and see what I can find.
See it's questions like that keeping me at my desk in front of a computer. I have stupid questions like that all the time floating through my brain cells and the fastest way to find an answer to any of them is doing a search on the internet. Before you know it, it's 4pm and the day is gone.
Really though I am not in the mood for much more than I do most days, at least lately. So there are no feelings of guilt. It's kind of the lull before the storm as college basketball full-time viewing on tv starts this weekend as college football is heading for their last thee to four weeks of games before their holiday bowls and playoff games.
I have picked a couple of books off my bookshelves lately but stopped reading them soon after I started. my trips to the local library will probably not be a part of my week until the temperatures drop into the 30's and lower. The future weather in the next few weeks looks good for replacing the damaged plastic parts under my Z4. That should be a pretty easy fix, once the new parts arrive.
The pain in my jaw from a few weeks ago disappeared about as fast as it started. There isn't anything as intense as what I was feeling but I do have some occasional discomfort. After some jaw massage, or some heat and plus some ibuprofen, the jaw feels normal again. I still wonder at times what he cause of the jaw pain is.
From the few blogs I read that are showing snow in their area, it definitely proves to me I am not ready for that type of weather yet. I'll get through it when the times comes. The hounds will still get their walks. I will still wonder what we are doing outside with temps in the 20's or lower. I'll wear the same winter clothing I've worn every year since moving back to Indiana 23 years ago this December. Then before I know it, spring will be here and I'll be building my first large fire of the year, while burning the driveway bank full of dead ragweed and other wild brush.
I also remember over the weekend while looking back through my photos, it was October 25th last year that I traded the Voodoo Blue Toyota FJ instead of spending $3,000 to replace the catalytic converters and possible other repairs. I never planned to trade that FJ. It was the beginning of where I traded three cars within 9 months.
I'm glad those days are finally over since I have the only combination of cars that I have ever liked ... a sports car and a Toyota FJ. With the amount of miles I drive per year I don't need to trade cars ever ... and may not need even two cars. Yet with my constant brain activity it's always good to have options. So two cars are best for me.
My senior moment of the day was a little after lunch when I went to the fruit bowl to eat the last mango. It was gone !!! It was there last night because I remember seeing it while I ate the second to last one. I was about to interrogate Stella about the missing mango ... then realized that sometime around 3:30 am (yes in the middle of the night) as I looked at my watch, I was standing in the kitchen cutting the mango into slices ... eating my last mango in the dark.
A slight interruption here as I let you know that once again today, Stella spent a long time staring in the direction of the neighbor's woods and with hopes of seeing the yellow field cat that is larger than any cat you can imagine. She obviously smells or hears something over there.
I've been thinking about diets again lately. I've been eating healthy and just set an all-time historic event in the month of October for the first time I can ever remember. I did not make one trip through a fast food drive-thru and didn't spend any money eating out or ordering out for pickup.
That will not happen this month. I've spent the last three to four days thinking of the Chinese buffet downtown. It's around $8 for all you can eat. It is served every day except Monday's. It's hard to believe that we can have that kind of restaurant in a small rural town, out in the middle of nowhere, in the land of meat and potatoes. It's popular and has withstood all the economy has to offer for at least 15 years. It is one of my favorite places to eat.
With all the excitement and pounding my chest for the accomplishment of no fast food, there was disappointment at my monthly weigh in and measurement day on the 1st of November. Not only did I gain 4 pounds but measurements around my stomach and body fat also increased. That told me it's never a good idea to stop eating fast foods. LOL
I continue to knock off one game at a time of Mahjong, completing that tile game under 3 minutes. I have 160 different Mahjong games to choose from, all different levels of competition. That is probably the best 99cents I've ever spent when I bought that app.
What does it mean when you are too lazy to get in your car and make a short trip to the store to buy the food you need or are craving to eat? Will those Amazon drones deliver to small town USA if you live outside of town?
Would that nice small round robot vacuum I see on every other commercial during the football games on tv, work well in my house? Or would it turn into a chaotic situation where the hounds chase it all over the house while it tries to be my maid? Would it be cost effective if it turned into a toy for the hounds with dog treats taped to the top of it? Does anyone know how good the suction is on those robot vacuums?
I wonder why these current hounds are growing more skin warts or skin flaps than any of my other hounds in the last 30 years? Food? Environment? Allergies? I think I have asked this question during a visit my vet but can't remember if they gave me an answer or passed it off as not important?
7 acres of field available to the hounds and Stella likes to walk very slow right in front of me. A huge stainless steel bowl of fresh water, enough for all the hounds. Yet, Sadie thinks enough of it to sleep next to it, protecting it from Stella and Heidi. Is there any food for human consumption that Stella does not like or at least feel it's not hers? Did her previous owners 'free feed' her?
Watching the tape of Dr Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet last night ... they had their first Bloodhound patient. I have yet to see any basset hounds visit their facility on their tv show. This bloodhound puppy looked like Stella in the face but was what they call a 'black and tan'. He was accidentally ran over by the owner, breaking it's leg right next to the ball joint in his hip. They inserted three small pens with a prognosis he would be okay eventually. 14 weeks later, even with physical therapy, the hound was barely using his rear leg if at all. I hate seeing those kind of stories.
There is never a day that goes by that I don't think of Winston. He had the best personality of any of the basset hounds I ever owned. All of them had great basset personalities but his was much different. Hard to believe it's been almost two years later and I still find it hard to look at his pictures.
Well that's about it for this afternoon. I am not sure if I'll watch Monday Night Football or watch another movie. I know right now I'm going to grab a snack and play a few games of Mahjong for the first time today. I guess the trip to the grocery store can wait a little longer.
Life is rough in the fast pace lane of 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
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