I Am Done Blogging

 

The hounds, the dog and myself are healthy and good. After 11 years I am tired of trying to put just a post together. My public blogging days are over. Thanks for your visits over the years, the comments and emails. 

That is all from 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

First Snow For 22-23 Winter

We were warned Thursday when it was 79° that snow was possibly a week from Friday.(18th). By last night's tv weather news, they changed that forecast to snow starting around 4:00am this morning and stopping before daylight. He was right and wrong. It did start around 4am but it has not stopped snowing a little more than 4 hours later. Will it start melting this afternoon when the temps are in the mid 30's for the high temp of the day?

If you look really close to the left side of the photo, just left of the fence post is Watson outside at 5am checking things out. 26° was too cold to stand with the door open to take photos.

Nothing Exciting To Report

As we move into our second fall here in "Pleasantville" the weather has been fantastic. Daytime highs reach the 70s and it is not freezing at night while the hounds, the dog and I sleep. One thing that is happening which is not good for this weekend's time adjustment, is we have been going to bed way too early and waking up way to early. Early enough that the hounds don't get fed immediately but they are happy to wait an hour or two for the regular time for their breakfast. It is I, that is getting up way too early, so they sleep.

Squirrels Torment Watson

Luckily the neighbors I have talked to about Watson find his "baying" funny and are happy to hear him. A few think he is a great watch dog if people are around the property. Whether it be a garbage truck, an AT&T Technician, Water delivery or the lawn crews ... Watson will sprint outside and give them his loud hello when none of them are in our yard or driveway.

Unexpected Excitement

It was only going to be for a few days but the hounds, dog and I did not hesitate going into our winter hibernation mode last week. For me that meant doing nothing. Literally. Hours and hours spent on the computer, movie watching, watching the baseball playoffs and some more analysis on tv service provider. The dog (Walter) changed his routines slightly where he not only took over Watson's chair at night but decided sleeping on Stella's sleeping bag in the corner across from the bed wasn't warm enough for him. On the bed was better.

Leaf Project 2022 Phase I

As you will notice, compared to past Leaves Projects I have blog about here, I have a different team of supervisors with Henry being the only one that did anything like my past hounds. We have been waiting for the leaves to hit the ground but not until I looked at past blog posts about leaves did I realize we might not see all the leaves off the trees until mid-November. There will be a different change this year compared to our first fall here last year in 2021. I will be doing more raking leaves than mowing leaves.

That temporary fence was taken down last Thursday.

Fall Has Arrived

It doesn't matter if I like hot weather. Fall temps are here, it's cold in the mornings and I have already broken down in early October turned he heater on just long enough to heat the house a little to take the edge off.  It will take all day outside to get to the predicted high of 78°.

What Is That Sound ???

I was at my computer minding my own business enjoying the cool temps with the windows open. I heard a sound that didn't sound familiar yet it was in the neighborhood. Did someone get a new high powered mower? I didn't see anyone mowing their yards from the view of my computer room window but from the sound of it whatever it was ... was huge!! On occasion  I will hear the train but that is much further away from the neighborhood and this didn't sound like that train. No, this sounded like it was right in the backyard. I step out on the patio and see the two hounds trying to figure out what that loud strange sound is.

Leaves Hounds & Walter

 

Blogger is at it again as it listed my photos in reverse order than I sent them. In this post that will not matter because it's going to be all photos about Walter, the hounds and leaves. Leaves are starting to fall and change color. As you can see Walter was not interested in getting his photo taken.

Next Project Was Outdoors

I did take the day off kinda after painting the two rooms inside on Wednesday. The only thing that kept that day off from a full day off, I spent about 15 minutes painting on the 2nd coat of paint on all of the porch, front, side edges and on top plus the step. After that ... no labor of any kind. Thursday morning my friend saw in the paper that four WWII airplanes were showing up at the Evansville Wartime Museum. That is a whole different long story that I will not get into, might later. We were back by 1pm after a great drive in the Z4 through the country roads of Vanderburgh County but we did not stay to see all four airplanes.

Has Been Quite A Day

This post tonight will be just an update about my painting projects. No hound photos but I will say that we all had a busy day today and all three are sleeping by the computer desk in 'their' freshly painted computer room with no lingering paint fumes. I had planned to start around 9am but the porch was dry enough to start painting the porch earlier than planned and I am glad I did. When I finished at 9:20am it was only a muggy 81° but felt like 100°. I cleaned the brush and roller then headed inside to paint the living room.

It Was Paint Primer Day Today

With rain yesterday morning before we woke up that lasted until 10am, painting the porch was not an option. Now today some readers might think I am insane deciding to paint today because our weather was going to be in the 90s today and Wednesday and then on Thursday the temps drop to highs in the 70s. I started today thinking I could get the primer on the porch before 11am when it would be hot and then in the afternoon I could move inside and start painting my living room while in the AC air.

The Hounds And Dog Look For Answers

Just wanted to let you know that something weird is going on with Blogger today and possibly longer. While working with another blogger on the issue, we are having the same issues with blogs we follow on our sidebars. Some blogs have disappeared and others you cannot open their website. I just added six blogs to the follow list and only three of them work like they should.

Good Weather Brings Motivation

As you can tell we have been motivated since our last post. The sunshine has been out every day, cool 50s at night and no higher than 82 during the day. With that kind of weather a lot has been getting done. Not all work but a little fun on Wednesday afternoon. The yard is so dry that I bought a water sprinkler and started watering the backyard a few weeks ago. I decided to pay money for more water use to save my yard. That has worked out well.

Why I Don't Blog Every Day

This was my day today and it will give a visual explanation why I don't have time to blog about the hounds and the dog every day like I did more than three years ago when I lived north of here and had four different hounds. Last May when I high pressure washed the driveway, sidewalk and front porch .... some of the mortar surface on the porch came apart and peeled off the porch. I knew then I had a new project on my list for the fall when the temps were cooler.

Hounds & Dog Photos

After deleting my last three posts last week I thought I would go back to the date of my last post showing and add all the photos of the hounds and dog. I found out I have not taken that many. Rain off and on since Saturday so they haven't been doing much. All of us are happy that college football season has started.

The Hounds Relaxed Today

It is always frustrating when Blogger doesn't cooperate when I added all the photos in a specific order while I use their 'compose' page. Some times it works but the majority of time it loads them all in reverse order. That is a lot to correct with 33 photos. So I go into the HTML side, delete everything on that page, reload the photos in the same order as before. Since I am on the HTML side of the page, for some reason Blogger will load the photos in the correct order.

Watson's Frustrating Weekend

Well we have had some exciting days here in the "big city". I will get to the city news I am sure most of you heard or read about on the news, at the bottom of the post. On the home front Watson made me wonder why oh why did I decide to buy another bloodhound, especially one that was a puppy and still is at 16 months old at the end of this month. Let's just say he has had a very frustrating weekend ... or was it me that had the frustration???

Finally Some Time Outside

By 6:30pm the hot temps had broken with storms south of us by a 100 miles. It was finally nice enough to sit on the patio and enjoy the end of the day. The hounds loved but the dog would not move. Walter did not join us outside for all the action that took place. All photos tonight of Henry and Watson enjoying 79°.

Hot Muggy & Busy

We have had a lot of rain lately here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana but so has Sierra Vista AZ. I miss those open sky light shows I use to see over the Huachuca Mts and the Mule Mts to the left. A Facebook photographer took this the other day. You can see his name in the lower left corner, Arizonan Yeti.

When it's not raining here, it has been hot and muggy, a typical summer in Indiana. I try to squeeze in the yard mowing in between rains which at times is not a lot of time to finish. With it hot the hounds, dog and I have been camping out inside most of the time enjoying the cold air conditioned air. So not a lot of blogable events to write about and just a few photos.

A Year Ago Two Days Ago

As you can see I am having a hard time coming up with a story for today's post. The heat was the same as yesterday so the hounds and the dog and I spent most of our time inside and a lot of that time was spent sleeping. No wonder I don't sleep well at night. This folder of photos caught my eye though. It was a year ago on the 19th of July that Mr Fence showed up early and finished early. By the time they were finished I could take down the temporary fence I had installed and did NOT have to wait for the concrete to dry holding every pole, 28 inches deep. The hounds and the dog had their new freedom to roam at will.

Walter Hates The Heat

Walter didn't like the 93° a little after 5pm when these photos were taken. Why should he? His nose is smashed into his face. Where other breeds have cooling tools in their nose the English Bulldog has very few. (only a couple) They are prone to heat exhaustion and should not be left out long. We were outside this afternoon seven minutes and seven seconds. A couple of these photos were hazy and I left them like that. By the time I lifted the camera up for that first photo, the heat, humidity soaked that cold air condition air off my lens and fogged it up.

Have Always Been Friends

I came up with an idea tonight with a brief look back at when the three I have now showed up at the house all as eight week old puppies. The older hounds, except Heidi, played with the pups and acted like they were their own. This is Walter about 15 minutes of exploring his new house.

It's Tick Season

I am running a little late today blogging. The day was so busy that until about an hour ago I had no plans of blogging today but I thought, why not it's a nice 84° tonight so I grabbed the camera and put these together. Then while I was looking in my photo library for a certain photo, I got lost in the folder I call "My Pics" and looked at too many. It is hard to stay out of the past sometimes when photos are involved. I posted a few of them at the bottom of this post.

Postponed And Walter

I have spent most of the day looking out this window, with temps borderline between shutting the windows and turning on the AC or keep them open with the AC turned off and a slight cool breeze at 75° but with 90% humidity. It is 2:30pm central time when I write this. After spending all day on Wordpress, trying to get a free blog set up like I use to have, I feel like the whole day is wasted and in fact "Postponed". Rain off an on, lots of reading on forums to find the Wordpress answer and still waiting for "Staff" expertise.

Blog Additions & Rambling

It was not a surprise to me because around 5am I heard a clap of thunder so powerful and loud I thought it was in the bedroom. I got up to close the windows not knowing how hard it was going to rain and went back to sleep. The hounds and the dog?? Never woke up. So when I opened the patio door for them to go out first thing in the morning like every morning, they stopped in their tracks and stared at "their" wet patio.

What Happen To The Cameras?

Something a little different in today's post .... more rambling, not sure what photos will show up or which direction my thoughts will go. A friend and I have been talking about blogging more lately. We had both quit blogging a while ago, he longer than I. In fact he has restarted his blog because of his need to write. That got me thinking about my blog from a few years ago when I would post daily and sometimes twice in a day.

Nothing has really changed in my routine now that I am back in Indiana for the past 14 months (times flies) so nothing for sure yet, but I am thinking of dragging my old cameras out of storage or off the shelf and start blogging more. There are plenty of things to blog about around this small city and of course the dog and the hounds will give me photo possibilities.

So no promises but we will see what happens here. At least it would get me out of the house and solve my urge to write, even if I am not a professional writer .. misspelled words and bad grammar at times brings a "roar from the crowd".

I bought that Nikon D3200 in 2014 and it was my main camera UNTIL the last two iPhones I have had with their great cameras and in some cases better, sharper picture quality. I still have my iPhone 11 Pro Max with no plans of upgrading to the smaller iPhone 13 with the wider bezel like I had on my iPhone 5. But the Nikon D3200 had some competition when I bought the iPhone 8 Pro (?) a few years ago ... really my iPhone is my daily camera I guess.

Walter's Bone Is Found

We had looked for weeks and still could not find Walter's bright orange REI bone that I bought in 2015 before the camping trip to Utah with Sadie, Winston and Heidi. The bright lime green bone is still missing. This was found while I was pulling Watson's bone out from under the chest of drawers in the bedroom. Walter was thrilled to get his bone back and was snorting as he licked it and chewed it.

To Winston's "Best Friend"

 

This is a post to a "secret admirer" and unscheduled. He will know who this is since he was Winston's "best friend". Google decided to post my photos in reverse order than what I submitted them so it is from his oldest photo to his youngest photo. The secret admirer's "notebook" will have most of these photos I am guessing but there might be one or two new ones for him. You can read more about Winston on his own page at the top of the blog called Winston's Story. The hounds, the dog and I will be thinking of you on your next doctor's visit. Good luck.

A Little Update After 3+ Months

As you will see things have been pretty normal around here. Nothing really to report on but I heard you and thought I should post a few photos of the hounds and the dog, plus a couple of extras. It was a wet April to say the least so the hounds spent a lot of time inside sleeping just waiting for the yard to dry out enough where they could run, lay in the grass with their bones. About that time the yard would dry out, it would rain again.

Bones For All The Boys

Seeing that the highs were going to be 74° with a lot of sunshine, I had my first lawn day today. It was hot sunshine until about 5pm when the clouds started blowing in from that huge storm on the way in the midwest. We will get that late tonight and it will rain all day tomorrow ... so the hounds and the dog enjoyed their day outside today as did I. Each has a knucklebone to chew, spaced far enough apart to hopefully prevent any fighting. Yes, they do fight if another wants two bones instead of just his.

IU Cheerleader Gets Biggest Cheer

As my team was being "taken to the woodshed" as some say, in last nights March Madness game in Portland .. the hounds, me, my texting friends and IU fans scattered all over the USA didn't have a lot to cheer about. That was until a shot by Trayce Jackson-Davis bounced off the rim, up and over the bankboard, landing on top of the goal structure full of braces, the shot clock and tv cameras.

Yes It's Normal

This time last Saturday I was sitting outside on the patio in 75° weather, the hounds were enjoying the backyard and the warm sunshine. Yesterday on Saturday it started snowing, ending up with a little over 3" and temps this morning at 16°. If you live in Indiana or are from Indiana you know this is not a surprise for weather in March. I have experienced blizzards in the third week of March where highways were closed and only "essential" traffic was allowed.

Hank Returns

It was an exciting day Saturday as Walter's new friend Hank dropped by for a visit. This one moved into darkness and by that time both hounds and both bulldogs were half asleep on the patio deck in the dark. They had played all afternoon and early evening. I will get to his visit later as I try to catch up from Friday where the hounds and the dog enjoyed weather in the 70's. On Friday they spent 5 hours outside while I made a short 200 mile roundtrip excursion.

The Mind Is Restless

You would think after 10 months, give or take a few weeks, I would finally feel like this is home since my move last May. Honestly it has not. I remember before June 2019, when I would pull into the driveway of the small rural house I lived in with the hounds, it would feel like I was home. That is one reason I did not move for 22 years when I could have any time. I'll warn you, there will be some rambling in between the photos today. In the meantime it was a beautiful day here yesterday, temps reaching 75°, and my head and face showing a little sunburn this morning.

Hounds & Dog Survive Rains

We've had some torrential downpours last week, mixed in with freezing temperatures. With it being 37° today Henry felt it was time to take the layer of ice off of the outside water bowl and drag it out into the yard for some good ice chewing. It didn't take long for Walter to request to go back inside. The yard is a mess with all the water, the house is a mess with dogs tracking in dead grass on wet paws. Warm weather is on the way so there is plenty of time to vacuum all the grass inside.

Nothing But Photos

It was nice and warm today at 65° but overcast by the afternoon. A lot of rain is scheduled for tomorrow and that will turn into sleet and ice by Wednesday. So today I sat in my patio chair and took photos. All of them were taken with my Nikon and no iPhone photos. Not much else went on, but I thought with all the photos I had today that I would make a post like this.

From Winter To Spring

The high temperature just two days ago was 27° after breaking rain records the day before that 27° cold snap with 2.25" of rain. Yet today I sat outside on the patio with the dogs in the yard in 61° weather. "From Winter to Spring" in just a day. It will only last to Tuesday but I'll take it. I love warmer weather. It is good to see the red, white and blue blowing in the wind. With everything going on in the world today, the sounds of semi-automatic gunfire at the shooting range a short distance away framed the whole picture. What will the future bring? Do the top three people in DC even care what that flag means anymore? I doubt it.

Anti-Vax Canadian Protests

A friend sent me a video from Twitter yesterday to show me what was on their news. I didn't see anything on tv here nor the online news about it until this morning.  Yes, you see people on the ground and on the video I saw horses knocking them over and walking on them. It looked like some horses were stomping on those that were knocked down. This photo is from Canada ... Is this going to be a scene in the USA in the future? Will I be put on a list of some sort for posting it on a public blog? If you read Kunstler's blog on my sidebar he talks about a truck caravan forming in California with a departure date of February 23rd. I guess we will see what happens, since I have heard about that before as far back as November.

Walter Meets His Friend Hank

When we moved in, my mailman saw Walter outside and fell in love instantly. He asked one day if I could bring Walter out front so he could see him. Walter and Matt are big friends now. Walter will look for the mail truck about the time it arrives but not every day. He knows that Matt will stop and see him and feed him treats. Matt liked Walter so much he wanted one just like him. Solid color English Bulldogs are hard to find I guess. Matt also wanted one the same color. That made it even harder.

My Fall Last August

I took these photos yesterday morning before I walked the yard to clean up dog stuff. I didn't wear a coat in the 39° weather, it felt that warm. It had been days since I had been outside since I started tv binging on Netflix last Sunday. I know that might sound weird, strange or whatever but I'm retired. Time has no meaning. Just like now, I have been at my computer for almost three hours (3.5 hours by the time I finished this post) reading my daily stuff. It doesn't matter. That was my new 2022 policy and so far after 30 days it has worked very well. So I am going to tell a story between these photos today.

Snow Arrives

When I left you yesterday I had some ice, it was raining ice droplets but nothing major. Then around 2:30pm things changed. It started snowing and didn't stop until around 7:30pm. I went to bed with snow icons on my weather map every hour until 8am this morning. That seemed strange for this southern area. Luckily it stopped soon after I checked the patio. Those paw prints were not even covered with snow when we woke up this morning.

Minor Ice Storm Arrives

I have been receiving a few texts asking if I am buried in snow like the tv news shows. They have no idea what part of the US I live. I am in the midwest at the southern warmest tip of the state. What happens 15 miles north of me is much different than what I live in. I knew about the "ice storm" that was headed our way so it's no big deal. Actually I prefer what I have today, shown after this photo, compared to the non-stop rain and a flooded backyard I had yesterday.

Hounds Supervise Tree Company

I had called back in November to have the top rated tree company in the area take down the Bradford Pear tree too close to the house before storms would blow heavy limbs on my house. It had been cut before from damage in the middle of the tree prior to me buying the house. They are so busy they said they could not get to me until February or March. One of the crew told me today when I ask, they work 50 hour weeks through the winter. As you see when the large truck with the bucket pulled into the driveway, Henry and Watson were ready to supervise from the back and side yard fence.

News And Lots Of Photos

There is going to be some old fashion rambling in this post today. It was something I would do more of in the past. I can only blame it on the cold weather we are experiencing and remembering cold winter days a few years ago when I would take off rambling when writing a blog post. There is going to be a lot of hound photos along with the dog on this post, as well as some Verizon updates and some other topics that seem to get attention of the news. So grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy.

Verizon Update & Hounds Playing

Things have been moving along as usual. Things are being finalized with things I have have been waiting on so that is good. As of a couple of minutes ago my Verizon problem is almost completed, so close but will need to wait a few more days to receive the missing refund. I will tell the update in detail at the end of this post for those that are interested. Snow forecasted for Saturday so the hounds, the dog and I are getting hunkered down for the weekend. Netflix will be a life saver it looks like. Probably will not be more than an inch of snow.  LOL

Verizon Issue Turns Into Nightmare

Do you remember that Verizon story I told you in December. If not, it was in this post. 

Well it has turned into a nightmare of "systematic adjustments", computer generated. That is what the Verizon rep I talked to yesterday on the phone could not understand why or what was going on. So let me back up and catch you up on what has taken place since that post.

Hmmmm looking back I see I left you with my November 30th call to Verizon where the rep said I would receive my refund for days not used in the next 10-14 days. In the past when I canceled Verizon in 2020 to get a better bundle deal with ATT/DirecTV, the transfer was very smooth. Verizon sent me a Final Bill along with a refund check in the mail for the days I had paid for in advance but had not used. So they are capable but evidently not this time.

Watson's First Snow

Watson's day started at 19° and no snow. Where was it? The forecast was for 1" to 3", with snow between daybreak and 11am. Henry and Walter experienced snow last year in Sierra Vista. The only difference is that snow would be gone within two hours after it stopped. This snow will be here longer but the rain this weekend will wash away any snow that is left. Like all the other hounds I have had, most likely the snow would energize him and of course since he eats everything, he will try to eat it.

Hounds And Dog Like Cold Weather

I made a change from 720 to 1080 on the video settings. I have no idea how this loads on a tablet or phone, so if the larger file is a problem for you to see this video make a comment below and I will reload I deleted the 1080 video and reloaded the smaller 720 before I published this post. the short 15 second video of them playing on a day when it was 72° in the month of December. In fact it was that warm on Christmas Day but past blog posts show it was also that warm in Southern Indiana on Christmas Day in 2017.