TV Update

When I left you yesterday the question asked was ... Do I leave my tv low on the coffee table, where I like it the most or put it back up on top of the gas fireplace to keep it safe from hound dog nose prints and a possible accident like yesterday?? As I sat drinking coffee and waking up this morning in the computer room, I could hear the hounds in the great room playing. They are allowed to do that. Yet all I could think about was the possibility of another tv accident. THAT motived me enough to move it to where it was when I first moved here. I had it up and running by 9:45am.

The coffee table will not stay in the corner like that but if I moved it back in front of the couch, Samson would not have the space to sleep. He likes to stretch out and sleep on the floor when everyone else is watching tv, sleeping on the couches. My floors are dirty in these photos from when the hounds and the dog went outside this morning first thing. I have a new dust mop that includes a wet mop head and it had its first test about 30 minutes ago. Worked really well. Better than my Swiffer and wash cloth trick.

All of them do this, they clean each other's faces, jowls and ears. This morning though while Samson lay sleeping, Watson was cleaning his jowls and eyes. 

He ended his work by cleaning Samson's ear that is laying open.

Not a lot of photos tonight because today was just too busy. TV moved early morning. A short drive to the Pet Food Center to buy a new 40# bag of dog food. If I go there on Monday's I get a 20% discount for being a veteran. After that it was FJ repair time. Now I am not a mechanic but YouTube and the FJ forum members can usually tell me what I need to do to replace this passenger side bumper end cap.

You have to be able to reach inside the bumper cover to slip six white clips into the slots on the left and right side in the photo. They hold the cone on the bumper. Some on the forum said you could undo the bottom of the bumper and pull back just that corner I was working on. That was not possible. I could not pull the bumper cover away enough to slip my hand down inside to insert the clips.

The girl on the YouTube video had the grill and the bumper cover, pictured above, off the FJ in less than three minutes. I didn't need to take the grill off but I also had to take off the heavy steel skid plate in the front. That gave me the room to get to the last bolt on each side, that would release the bumper cover. Luckily I installed the same number of bolts as I started with. Before putting them in I lubricated the bolts in case I ever have to take them out again.

This is the finish's look. The end cone on the left was replaced.

While I was outside in the garage working, the hounds and the dog were taking their afternoon siestas inside. They escorted me to the computer room to transfer photos from the phone to the computer and put this blog post together. Once they saw I was set up to work, they all continued their siestas as close to my desk chair as possible. That is Samson with the choker collar on. You all know the three in the next photo.

Believe it or not, there are times there is total silence when the hounds and the dog are inside.

Overall I guess I am happy with the tv move. There are some good things that came from that move. The long philodendron was moved to the computer room where it will flurish with the amount of daylight and sunshine it will get there. The Arizona patio wall art will also go up on the computer room wall behind my desk chair. It was above the fireplace hiding three different types of electrical outlets and a cable connection when the previous owner had his tv wall mounted.

The last red pieces of wood from the Bradford Pear tree that I had cut down, went to the bookshelf. Spider plant will also do as well as the small cactus in the living room which gets more light than any room in the house. While I sat on the couch to retune the settings since I had unplugged the Apple TV box, my DVD player and the Directv box ... I realized that the back of the couch leaned back ever so slightly. It was comfortable to look up at the tv, while sitting all the way back in the seat. It might have been my eyes but the picture quality looked better with it up high like that than when it did sitting on the coffee table.

Samson has another successful day added to his calendar. I am still aware that he could "go Cujo" on me at anytime based on what I was told by the previous owner. He could do that too with the other hounds and the dog. Maybe over food, a toy, while wrestling ... don't know. He loves to play with them, and has not shown any kind of aggressiveness towards them or me.

I watched Cesar Milan's dog training show I had taped from his Friday night episode. It was about a very small dog that bit the owners and other people. Listening closely it took almost two months to break that habit and a month of that was solo training at his facility. My emotions will be key in keeping Samson calm and his natural laidback personality. That has worked with Watson in the past month or so.

Once again both bloodhounds and Walter were at the front living room windows watching a young lady walk by with a smaller dog and her young child in a baby stroller. They stared out the window but did not bark. A few months ago they would have been going insane barking at her.

It was a busy but good day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana today.