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°.

Moving Progress Made

It might not look like we are making progress with our moving plans but the past few days things have been pretty busy and we have locked into dates where things are going to happen. Just like when I moved out here, everything is falling into place when it needs to happen. No hangups or conflicts. I am down to just waiting for the end of April to show up before my next thing on the 'to do' list.

Closing Out 2020

As you can see Henry keeps me pretty busy during the day. Those are sharp needles next to his nose but he loves the taste of potting soil so he is not stopped by a few needles. He has a great personality but I catch myself looking back to 2004 and trying to remember if Winston was this obnoxious as a puppy. He was six months old yesterday and is already waking me up at night or coming to get me in the day if he needs to go outside. Yet, I have to watch what I leave on tables and needless to say, my house is puppy proofed.

Quietness Among The Chaos

This morning's sunrise does not acknowledge all the noise. Hounds and the dog are fine.

The Hounds Keep Me Busy

Sunday morning, 57° and the sun is trying to peek around the neighbor's tree and over the Mule mountains. It was another great day here today with highs in the 80's and the AC never clicking on automatically since the windows were open all day today. I hope I never get to the point of taking this for granted. Walter had all of us up bright and early but even he slept in until 5:10am. Once Henry knows that food is on the way he is a ball of energy with his tail going a mile a minute.

Hounds & A Dog Hang Out

I can't put my finger on it but for some reason I have been extremely lazy lately and that has rubbed off on the hounds and a dog. They have become just as lazy as I have. I check my vital signs on my iWatch, take my blood twice in a day and find nothing out of the ordinary. Has tv and radio media wore me down with political bullshit making me feel this way? Or is it the China virus  after seven months of more media bullshit? I even pulled out a bike the other day to go riding and turned around at the end of the block. Stella doesn't take walks everyday like she use to and Henry is just a bit to small to try the .62 mile walk.

Photos From Yesterday & Today

It was right after I posted Sunday night that I remembered I had used my Nikon D3500 but forgot to download the photos. So, here is Henry yesterday playing with the favorite bone that he and Walter will play to get it. The bone is almost as long as Henry. This batch of photos on this post were taken with the same camera but I later used the Nikor 70-300mm lens. I did a few odds and ends today. Did not go anywhere and am so lazy right now that I might order groceries for delivery. (did ... should get them in a couple of hours)

Henry's Controlled Environment Working

It was quite a surprise how good the new "controlled environment" went for Henry on Friday. He did not have the run of the backyard nor did Walter. I was back to the way I use to train puppies, especially those only 12 weeks old. Once they eat, wake up from a nap or stop after playing hard ... I opened the patio door and he or they went outside. Just like he was taught before I bought him, he peed immediately. But this wasn't so much about house training but prevention of destroying my yard with his digging. I wanted to control what he did in the backyard.

Henry Likes To Dig

Well Blogger was good for one night I guess but today we are back to the screwed up way of blogging. I hate it. I am even using Google Chrome as a browser because Blogger is owned by Google. Shouldn't that count for something? Beautiful sunrise today as each is different but rarely a bad one happens down here. A few surprises today and one was not what I was wanting to see.

Walter's A Deep Thinker

Normal routine this morning ... Walter is pretty consistent waking everybody up around 5:30am. That is about 45 minutes later than what Stella use to so I guess we get to sleep in a little now. After going outside first thing this morning, Henry decided he would wait from the door step for breakfast to be served. He likes to eat his 1c of kibble plus likes to sneak a few pieces from the other hound's bowls. How could you picture that look, a thief of food?

The Hounds Enjoy Their Sunny Sunday

I was curious what my hip would feel like this morning after riding two days in a row after taking eight days off the bike with soreness in the lower back and hip. I was thinking I'd ride for the third day in a row but it's never a bad thing to ride for two days and day off in between. It was cold as I opened the door to let the hounds out for the first time this morning. By the time I had their breakfast kibble poured, they were standing at the door wanting back inside. I could tell it was going to be a good day today.

I did my usual morning coffee while looking over the websites I visit daily. The hounds sleep next to my desk while I do this and if we can wait for just a couple of hours before our morning walk, it warms up quite a bit. This morning we were out the door at 8:39am, a little later than normal and too late if it were a weekday but perfect time on a Sunday.

It was almost warm enough to go riding when we got back. As you see the hounds took up their normal sunny positions as I tried to decide if I wanted to ride that early or wait an hour for the temps to get just a little warm. A few degrees more would make all the difference in the world.

By the time that hour wait was finished the winds had picked up, strong enough that I was feeling them sitting in my patio chair. The warm sun felt great on my face and I knew I wasn't going to pass this up. Cool air, hot sun ... but too windy to ride. When I say windy I mean any flag is blowing straight out with ripples and if a plant is thin it's bent over from the wind.

While the hounds slept I took some photos and enjoyed the sunshine. I have a couple of different once I don't think I've ever had on the blog.

Looks content, sound to sleep but if I were to leave and keep her in the backyard, she is now digging to get out. More than ever.

Heidi might look like she is awake but she is in a deep sleep. I noticed when I downloaded this picture the lump the has been there for years on her year seems like it has grown or opened. Six different vets over the years have looked, felt and said it didn't need to be removed. I'll look at it closer. We might be going the vet on Monday for that. From this angle it doesn't look good.

People have always commented how big Stella or Sadie's paws were ... well here's a close up to get a better look at them.

With a hot sun and cool breeze ... this is Heidi's favorite daytime spot.

Stella thought she was going to sleep up in the corner of the fence where the shade is. After standing there for a few minutes looking lost, she decided she would wander back over to the 'dirt spot' that she continues to dig out whether I fill it in with rock or leave it bare.

That hot sun moved behind a cloud for only a couple of minutes.

Stella thinking on what to do ....

She never did lay down.

Heidi heard me talking to myself and thought she heard the word Bisbee. I left the patio door open so she could come and go as she pleased while I was gone. Stella spent time in her crate with the blinds closed in the bedroom. When she knows I am leaving or going bike riding she walks into the crate on her own before I can get there.

It was a nice drive over to Bisbee. It was a pretty quiet town for being a couple of weeks before Christmas. I found a parking spot right across the street from the bicycle shop. On the way back for the first time I took the "southern" route back home. It parallels the border a few miles north before curving later on near the Huachuca mountains. With too many cars I like to exercise them every once in a while.

By mid-afternoon I was feeling a siesta was right around the corner. I think I might head over to the Mall Theater tonight to watch Ford vs Ferrari.

Actually a pretty lazy day here in the "Wild West" today.

No Excitement Or Adventure Here

I finally had a full night of sleep last night and felt much better than I did when I went to bed last night. Hardly any pain today in the hip and none in the lower back which was giving me the most trouble. I decided to resist getting into a car and taking a local roadtrip, thinking 'one more day' of resting could be all I needed. This photo was just past 6:07am.

Even with no plans, the sunrise still looks great and the coffee taste great. It was in the 30's when I opened the door to let the hounds outside this morning.

With all the rain we had last week I'd think there would be more snow on the Huachuca's than there is.

All three of us did get a morning walk in. Heidi is not having any trouble now of completing the .57 of a mile. Either she is in better shape or cooler temps. It's probably a little bit of both. Since I wasn't going anywhere and it was too cold outside Stella decided she would sleep most of the day.

Her friendly bloodhound kept an eye on her, standing right above her.

This just shows that a little string of drool across her nose doesn't bother her in the least. Sleep is sleep.

I've been trying to find some different adjustments to bring more sharpness to photos in the distance. Maybe it's my eyes that are not as sharp instead of the lens.

Stella trying to decide if it was warmer to stand up with the sun out. She decided it was too cool and went back inside and back to sleep.

This is looking east towards Tombstone and a photo I have not been able to capture from the patio until today.

Once again she is in deep thought. The drool has been there for hours.

It was either the chips and salsa with sour cream or possibly the pineapple for desert but soon after a brief light lunch I was out for a mid-day siesta. The sleep app on the phone recorded it as 'deep' sleep. By the time I was back on my feet, the hounds were wanting their afternoon meal. It's another beautiful day here in the 'Wild West'.

I feel like I am another day or two away from being completely painless. It's the lower back area right above the surgical hip. That 'rock' feeling I always seem to have inside the hip is not around today. Maybe I mashed it up when I decided no matter what I was going to sleep on my right side today.

It's a daily happening now every afternoon as Stella walks outside to listen for the puppy next door. She only gets to see him when the neighbor lifts him above the fence line. It is growing so fast that will not be possible much longer. She might like a younger hound to keep her playing but I have no plans to go down that path.

Not much news to blog about on a day like today.

A calm sunny cool day here in the 'Wild West' today.

Back To Normal

As I saw a similar view from my bed Sunday morning I knew with a sunrise like that, would lead to a great day. At the time I just didn't know how nice of a day it would be. Within a minute I knew I'd not be able to enjoy much of the day outside. My hip and waistline felt almost like the first week after surgery. Only this time I knew the cause and once again I was the culprit. It all started Saturday morning, more stiff and sore than normal. I had done something Friday afternoon that I guess I shouldn't have.

There are some mountains somewhere in there.

The wheels I ordered for the FJ came in on Friday, or let me say three of the five ordered arrived on Friday. Due to a UPS screwup the other two wheels were delayed. I was feeling great on Friday so I didn't think anything of it when I decided to drag a box weighing 63 pounds from my front porch, across and down the driveway to the back of the FJ. I would then break the banding and load each box that contained the wheel into the cargo area of the FJ. These will be mounted downtown.

Taken within minutes of the first picture.

I bent my knees and lifted the ~20# boxes (3ea) into the back of the FJ. Hours later that night sitting on the couch watching the Pac12 Championship game I knew I may have screwed up. It was getting harder each time I stood from the couch and I started taking some Advil not for the pain but to reduce the swelling that had to going on inside my hip and lower back. This was the exact muscle I had stretched a few months ago by making a mistake on a day I was feeling great. I knew what the plan of attack would be to fix it. I also knew it was going to take a couple or three days to heal.

With more sunshine you can see the reflection on the mountains. This picture was also taken within minutes of the second picture, all in a sequence of four.

Saturday didn't help because I spent a lot of time sitting on a comfortable soft couch watching the SEC Championship game, a basketball game and then the B1G Championship game Saturday night. I made a point of standing every 15-20 minutes but all that did was tell me how sore I was.

While the hounds were sleeping the day away on Sunday, I applied one of those temporary therapeutic heat pads to my lower back not he right side. I was going to keep that on all day, at least for eight hours and I was also going to spend a lot of time in bed, just like I did a couple of months ago. It must of worked because the sleep app on my phone also records detailed times for any siesta taken. I was catching up on a lot of missed sleep from the past two night.

By Sunday night I took off the heat pad and moved to the ice packs I had used the first month of rehab. I placed one under my lower back and the other to the side of the hip. Within minutes I could feel more relief. Movement of my leg was returning to normal without stiffness or pain. I could feel the improvement throughout the night each time I got up. Not only do I get up different times in the middle of the night but Heidi will at least once. We are both getting older I guess.

I could tell Sunday night that Monday was going to be a day of rain. WeatherBug app forecast confirmed my suspicions.

To see if my new iPhone camera would work like the advertisements I saw on tv last month, I held the phone up in the air in a pitch black bedroom and aimed it where I thought Stella would be sleeping ... right next to my bed. This was the result although I had to hold the phone camera still a few seconds for the auto flash and shutter to work properly. Not bad for a room that was dark.

I woke up at 4am when Heidi woke me up with her dangling tags as she shook her head. She was headed to the patio door to go outside and I always plan to get their first. I quickly got out bed and felt all the pain and stiffness was gone from my hip and lower back. I felt normal again as I walked fast down the hallway to catch up with her.

What happens if I don't hear her? Two options, Stella either wakes me up by whining to tell me Heidi is gone or Heidi will lay down by the patio door until I get there. Most of the time I do here her and get up.

Sunday I pulled one of her favorite blankets out of the closet and put it in the corner of the room. It's winter and she likes to have blankets in different parts of the house for a nap. You can see she preferred the blanket to be out in the middle of the floor instead of the corner. I have just enough room to step around it to sit in my desk chair. As long as she is happy I am happy.

Monday morning's sunrise didn't have a lot of sunshine. That's fine as I needed another day of rest before getting back on the bicycle. I will have to watch it though as the last two wheels are arriving this afternoon. Since they came from the same warehouse in Colorado there were be two boxes banded together. If I can catch the UPS driver in time, I'll have him load them into the cargo area of the FJ.

Duluth Trading Co finally shipped my order without telling me. They also sent it 2nd Day Air but that does not mean it was delivered on a weekend. Still nice to get another flannel shirt and a pair of Keen shoes I wanted. Plus Heidi will have a strap that connects her collar to the seatbelt the next time she is riding in the passenger seat. She and Stella have not been on a road trip lately.

For not doing much on Monday things got busy enough that I didn't have time to blog last night. The hounds slept more than normal and I sat outside watching the clouds developing into some afternoon thunderstorms. I never heard thunder but saw rain, not heavy. My friend in Phoenix sent me a text mid-afternoon telling me it was HAILING ???? where she was. I glanced at my iPhone weather for Phoenix and it was showing me it was 61° ... how could it be? Well last night on Twitter I saw what looked like a blizzard north of Phoenix.

The hounds were a lot like I was yesterday. I felt like doing something but didn't know what. Heidi would go outside expecting hot sunshine to sleep under but it was cool and overcast. When she looked at me wondering what was up, I had no answers for her. She would turn and head back to her favorite bed back in the corner of the bedroom.

I anxiously awaited to see that brown truck show up in front of my house with UPS on the side. I really wanted to get my last two wheels early enough so I could get them mounted at one of three tire stores here in town. I played a lot of Mahjong and some PS4 ... I'm not a big gamer but like I said, Grand Turismo is a favorite of mine. Honestly with those two games I have felt it helps with hand and eye coordination and that can't be a bad thing as I get older.  (Or that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

Stella was like Heidi. She was begging to get outside and take that daily nap in the hot sunshine up near the back of the house on the warm stone yard but not today. The later the day got the grayer the sky got, plus it was a cool 50's in the temperature department. She too turned immediately and headed back into the house to one of her many sleeping spots.

Those last two pictures were taken within 30 seconds of each other.

It was past 3:00 pm and UPS had not arrived. Between 2-3pm is their normal time but with Christmas two weeks away they are a little busy right now. I was going to be surprised if my wheels showed up before 5:00 pm. So I went back outside and watched the storm clouds get a little more intense to the west and north of me. I was back in my weather pocket where I live, where it's normal for all the intense storms to be around me and rarely on me.

It rained solid but not hard. No lightning or thunder as my young neighbors stood out in the rain trimming back one of their overgrown shrubs. I couldn't tell from my vantage point but it looked like what they were cutting and loading in their truck could be used for making Christmas wreathes. Why else would they be in the rain trimming only one of many overgrown shrubs?

A little after 4:00pm the brown truck showed up and by the time they had the 63 pound box with two wheels out of their truck, I had the back door of the FJ open where he could put it without me even touching it. After my bad back episode over the weekend from dragging and lifting those wheels into the FJ, I wanted the least amount of interaction with them.

After making three calls I found that Big O Tires was open until 6:00 pm and was looking for some action. One part of their problem is having only one entry that does not go directly into their parking lot while the business sits on one of the busiest intersections in town. Now I know it doesn't mean much to 99.9% of you but I've always wanted my first FJ back ... it was a 2007 Voodoo Blue with black wheels and rock rails. It came that way back in May 2014.

So with rock rails installed last week and the wheels last night, I now have what I've wanted every since I traded it. Those are the exact model of wheel the other one had. I haven't made up my mind whether to sell the brand new OEM wheels I took off or keep them. I have no plans of selling or trading this FJ so there won't be a need to give a new owner the option of different wheels.

Here is my first FJ I speak of ... I'll have a better picture of the new setup later today since last night did not have the best lighting for that picture with it dark and raining lightly. Current picture added Tuesday at 3:35pm MT.

My plans are to ride my bike today outside for a short one hour ride just to loosen those muscles up in my lower back and hip. They both feel like they can handle a short ride on fairly flat roads. I will make it a point to keep my ride to that one hour and not ride longer just because I am feeling good those first 15-20 minutes.

I found out this morning, since I was up so early (4:10am) and thinking clearly, that while coffee is being made I have time to do some basic exercises for my hip. Two of them were given to me by the doctor back in October. I haven't done enough of them on a daily basis and that may be some of the problems I am having right now. From now on it will be a daily routine to start my day.

I see 10 days of sunshine in my forecast and that is always a good thing for my mental outlook. Expect some posts this week about some local hiking or road trips ... I am in the mood to get back out on the road again, with my camera(s) in hand.

An early morning blog post from the 'Wild West' this morning.