Weirdness & Snow

Here is another way of showing you just how fast the weather can change here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. Bright and sunny yesterday but cold, it was not a day in April like it looked. Then this morning Stella and I started our walk under the largest snow flakes I had seen in a while. They say we might get an inch of snow by noon. So what about the floods? They will continue to move and eventually recede out of the fields ... maybe.

The problem is there is more rain on the way this afternoon and all night tonight. It's times like these that I am glad we live high on a hill. After all that  really is an 'official' floodplain just across the highway. Of course the site I bookmarked a long time ago, where I could find any floodplain by location, I can't find.

I was going to walk again Saturday afternoon, let Heidi spend more time outside, and blog again but right after these photos were taken the "weirdness" hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole life I have had cold in my eyes when I get them. I had that feeling you might recognize ... it feels like you have a cold coming on but don't want to acknowledge it, hoping it will go away. Yet, you know that what you are feeling is cold symptoms.

It didn't go away at first. I tried to read but my right eye was full of tears and kept running. My sinuses were running full steam ahead. Stella was howling and whining each time I sneezed. It certainly felt like a head cold was coming on. I had not be around people for days, almost a week, so where did I get the germs from?

I did my old stand by when I'm desperate and need relief ... I took my small jar of Vick's Vapor Rub and put that on each side of my nose and under my right eye. That stuff works wonders in times of cold symptoms. Plan B was going to be a hot cup of tea but I wanted to see if the Vick's would work first. Since I was even having a hard time watching the basketball games on tv ... I headed to bed. Maybe a short siesta with a lot of Vick's Vapor Rub would knock out the cold that was trying to overtake my eyes.

A couple of hours later as reality came back into focus ... letting the hounds outside, I noticed that feeling of cold activity around my right eye and my sinuses was gone!! Could it be true? I'd find out within the next few hours it was true. Plus Sunday morning confirmed I did not have a cold nor did I have one attempting to take over my life for the next 5-7 days.

I rarely get sick but when I do, it's not a favorite activity and I can't remember if I blog during those times or not. I'd have to look at my old blog to see what happened last winter when I was really sick for about four days

If you are not a sports fan than this next bit of commentary will not mean much but if you are, what do you think of another 'pro' football league? Their first game was last night and they will play once per week until the end of April. By that time MLB will have finished the first month of their 2019 season.

I looked up the league's website early last night and read about what it was all about. Years ago they tried the XFL but for me there were too many gimmicks and I didn't watch after a few minutes of their first game. Last night I watched the whole game and enjoyed it.

I like the three major rule differences than the NFL although the owner, the coaches and players are all NFL based in some way. Even the announcers were the same as I would see on CBS every Sunday this past NFL season.

For football addicts like me, the new AAF is fantastic. For the players, coaches, or referees that have dreams of playing in or getting back to the NFL, the league is a great idea. So what were the three rules that were different from the NFL besides HOW FAST THE GAME WAS PLAYED ????

No kickoffs ... for safety reasons based on NFL stats. Teams started at their 25 yard line, where they would start in the NFL if a fair catch was signaled.

No extra point kicks ... every point after the TD had to be a two point conversion, there were not any successful in the game I watched.

A shorter play clock ... 35 seconds between plays instead or 40 minutes. OR ... the 15 minute halftime. THE BIGGEST CHANGE .... those damn commercials. This AAF League had no more than two and most of the time only one commercial before getting back to the action. They reached their goal of having the game over in less than three hours instead of the NFL games that come close to 4 and are always longer than 3-1/2 hours.

Anyway, the concept is good. Their 5-10 year goals are good. All the players are paid the exact same salary and not by position or fame. Season tickets are only $75 league wide. You can't even buy a good seat in the NFL games at that price.

They do NOT plan nor want to be a replacement to the NFL like many other old disolved leagues tried. They want to be the NFL minor league system, like MLB has. It's all good and I'll tune in again today and tonight at 4pm and 8pm Eastern to watch more AAF League football.

Once again Stella fooled me. She was "path oriented" this morning. She veered, snooped and sniffed a little but not a lot. I think she was enjoying the snow flakes as she walked. Where Sadie would jump and try to eat snow flakes, Stella showed no signs of doing that. She 'pranced' on the path with the snow in her eyes.

With today's forecast of a mixture of rain/snow that will keep me off the roads. The Mini Countryman is very good in the snow but I have no 'need' to go anywhere and why put the salt/sand base under and on the sides of my car. I just heard another snow plow go by laying down that exact mixture on the highway to get their ice melting base set up.

As we walked back into the yard, the highway already was covered with this light snow mixture but it looked slick.

I'll let the photos tell the story of our walk this morning. Or I could ramble between them I guess.

The dingbat AOC's advisor has already been caught lying online about the Green New Deal. They were trying to backtrack what the deal actually said and attempted to put up a revised version showing economic support instead of tearing it apart. I am still amazed that is what we are looking at for the Democratic agenda prior to the next election.

I have an open mind on presidential candidates and always have but I'll tell you, as each one announces their candidacy I just shake my head and wonder "is that the best you can come up with?"

Will society ever get back to normal or what I think of as normal ... or do we just bury our heads in the sand with hopes it will get better or go away, like my head cold?

Trump haters have to hate this headline this morning:  "The AOC-ization of the democrats boots Trump in 2020." I couldn't agree more. Will they give Howard Schultz a chance? Will Bernie's followers make it happen this time? Will Hillary crawl out of her vodka bottle soon enough to declare she is running again? Can you tell me a legitimate Democratic candidate for 2020 .... give me some names.

That light glove has kept my hands warm all winter, even when the temps dropped to the low teens. Last year I have worn ski gloves when it got that cold but with ski gloves on I cannot use the smaller Canon G9 X but can use the Nikon D3200.

While Stella sat and scratched in the same place she does every morning on the walk, I got as far in front of her as I could, hoping I could catch her running. She almost started running hard to catch me but stopped as fast as she started.

I just had that strange numbness feeling across my left collarbone happen again. The same feeling as if you would hit your crazy bone near your elbow. Then it goes away, never lasting too long. Glancing at my Apple Watch during those times, my pulse is 58 bpm. I think all I need is a good chiropractic neck adjustment.

This was about as close as I could get to show you just how a bloodhound tracks scent on the ground. She does not make the sound with her jowls like Sadie and Bertha did but she keeps her nose as close to the ground as possible while she walks.

I saw no deer tracks this morning of any kind.

With having clear eyes and sinuses this morning I will be able to get a little reading in today. The book titled The Deep State is a really good book. It does NOT lean toward a Trump supporter type of book but has opened the vaults showing just how corrupt the government is as a whole. Many things I've read I already knew. It confirms Obama's administration was the most corrupt in history, beating Nixon.

I am thinking of lighting my burn pile on fire this winter instead of waiting until spring. I normally do it in the fall but this year my second 50' water hose had a hole in it so I could not extend the hose system long enough to reach the burn pile to use as a safety measure. This time of year there might be less of a chance of the fire spreading into the woods with the ground covered by dead leaves.

I see where AT&T is trying to move in front of the 5G movement with false advertising. Sprint is now suing them for that exact thing. I was told by a phone sales store rep in December that my iPhone 8+ will not work with 5G capability. I've read a little about it but no matter what I am not going to upgrade my phone just for 5G capability.

(Heidi's up and awake)

With all that the Apple Watch does, and does well, in my short 5 weeks of using it I would get rid of my iPhone if I did not need it to work with the Watch for updates and my wifi connection. With the Canon G9 X taking the same high quality photos in low light like the iPhone does, I rarely take photos with the phone anymore.

I plan on keeping the 8+ until Apple no longer supports it with iOS updates years from now ... but ... never say never.  :)

It was just announced online that "border talks have broken down" with just a few days to go before Congress passes a signed bill to the President. Why is that not a surprise? Congress is about as worthless as a soup sandwich. For so many intelligent men and women, elected by the people ... most are dumbasses with political agendas.

The word 'compromise' is not in either party's dictionary.

When I heard it was snowing in the Seattle area the other day I was reminded of my first or second November living on Whidbey Island. Normally they might get an inch or two of snow annually, sometimes never, sometimes just a dusting. But that one November day it started snowing and didn't stop until 24 hours later, ending up with 27" on the ground.

The Island Country transportation department did not have one snow plow to clear the roads. They never needed one. So to my friends out in Seattle ... enjoy it ... drive safe ... and head for the ski slopes at Stevens Pass and have fun ... call in sick to work and keep skiing. Based on personal experience you will survive doing that. :)

Well my train of thought is gone .. typical crap.

The snow has stopped, the highway is clear, it's a quiet Sunday and another great winter day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.