A Little Different Post Tonight

This post tonight is for a couple of online friends that I hope to meet in person some day along with their dog. Some of you will figure out who I am talking about but I'll keep their names off this post for their own privacy. I have followed their blog since October 2011 and for too many times that I could count ... their photos on their blog of this area pulled me through some dark times, some days where it was below zero degrees for a high temperature and led me to this area.

When I was looking at houses last winter/spring in this town she was very helpful answering my questions because in their travels they had driven literally two blocks away from where I live today. When I was searching through 150+ houses to buy, she suggested using the keywords "mountain view" to narrow my search for what I wanted.

So these photos are for them tonight because they love and miss this area this winter. They are also for all of you, that continue to come back to this blog even when I don't have a lot to say or nothing exciting to report on. Thanks for stopping by.

After my last post on December 6th good weather was on the way and this was just 24 hours after the photo at the top of the post. I am not bragging about where I live but I am very thankful to see what I can from my patio and backyard everyday. I am also thankful for the good health that I have to enjoy it. It's just amazing to me that I don't have to drive anywhere to see what I see in these photos tonight.

I'm very lucky.

Like I have said many times since moving here, the wide open skies of the 'wild west' really put on a show. For a camera habit like I have it's hard not to take hundreds of photos at a time. Now, I know that no matter where you and I live, every day is different, sunrises and sunsets ... but after looking through years of photos I took back in the 'tropics' of Southern Indiana, skies like these were few and far between. Yet every area we all live in is beautiful in it's own way.

Some might be asking with all of this great weather, where are the blog posts about the local trips I was talking about. After all, bike riding only takes 1-2 hours per day, another hour to clean up and I should have plenty of time to do some local exploring. You are right ... the time is there. But I was warned by the doctor just this week "there will be days like this" no matter how many miles I ride my bike and no matter how good I feel ... "there will be good days and there will be bad day when it comes to your healing hip" ... "you did break your femur in addition to a hip replacement and that has to heal"

I forget that all the time until I have days like I have had four days this week.

With scenery like this in the month of December, the pain seems to go away and I can get lost in my thoughts while I sit outside. Sometimes I am not even close to a camera when I spend this quiet time with a couple of napping hounds nearby.

When you step outside and see a day like this, temperatures getting warm and maybe a little wind it sure hurts not to be able to ride one of my bikes. I realize that is just the way it is right now and things will continue to improve each day as the healing takes place. I am in much better shape than what I read from others who have had the same surgery. I'm very fortunate in my good luck and my healing.

Consequently with the pain I have been feeling, driving a car or a truck just a few miles to take some photos would not do my hip any good. Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago I posted here that my hip was no longer going to be written about, that I had forgot about the problem? Well I guess it decided to remind me and tell me when to take a break. I'm taking that break now.

It's hard to sit around though in an area like this. These mountains can draw you out toward them like a powerful magnet and all the hiking trails that are available are large in numbers where I might not have time to hike them all. There are just that many of them. Those don't count the other areas 30 miles or more away.

Friday morning's sunset ... Stella was snoring in the corner of the computer room so I figured an early morning walk was not a huge priority with her. We ended up walking later in the day just after lunch. BTW, those are the Mule Mountains to the left and Mexico dead ahead. I can't remember the name of that mountain that sits on the other side of the border. My memory isn't the best when it comes to names.

The mornings have been pretty cool, low 40's. That is cold now but nothing compared to what the hounds and I walked in the past twenty one years in 'the tropics'. Honestly, I don't miss the snow one bit but I do enjoy the beauty of it when I see it on someone else's blog or in an email I might receive.

I am putting my iPhone camera to max zoom here ... I wonder what it would look like taken with a camera that has better sharpness at distance ... the Canon Powershot SX70 will do that from what I read and see. There is someone posting photos using that camera on a Facebook Group "Chochise County and Its Wonders" of birds at a long distance away. They are so sharp you'd think she is standing within 3' of it.

My view when I stand from my chair on the patio.

This has turned into Stella's favorite winter spot for afternoon or late morning naps. Heidi also likes this area and slept most of the afternoon away there yesterday while I was enjoying my own siesta inside.

With the cooler temps and the back patio door open at all times so they can come and go as they please ... I find her outside as much if not more than she spent on the green grass back in Indiana. She likes the warm stones when she lays down. Plus I swear the small stones have cleared up her allergies as has the high desert environment.

Anytime you see the frame of the house in these pictures I am taking them while sitting in a chair on the patio.

Stella cannot see the puppy but she has formed a friendship with the black lab puppy next door.

After a restless night of sleep Friday night I was up early Saturday morning with the help of Stella nudging my hand hanging over the edge of the bed around 4:10 am. Of course she wanted to eat breakfast kibble at that time but breakfast wasn't served until 6 am ... I took this with the iPhone camera, kitchen light turned off and only the street light reflecting off my fence just as the sun was rising. That's looking towards Bisbee AZ.

By the time Stella and I returned from our 7:30 am walk ... the day was starting to shape up. I knew at that time I was going to have to take another day off. I reached for the bottle of Advil. At least I had a few football games to watch and one basketball game. Otherwise I'd fit in a siesta due to my early arrival this morning and enjoy the day. Of course the day that I am not riding a bicycle there is zero wind and the temps were going to climb to 71° by late afternoon.

It was late afternoon I really got interested in the sunset going on while I sat outside. I could tell this was going to be a better one so I went back inside and grabbed my phone. I find the iPhone 11 Pro with that new three lens camera takes better photos of the mountains than my Nikon D3500 in the late afternoon lighting.

Enjoy the photos that I follow the setting sun for little over an hour this afternoon.

Stella never barks to get anything she wants. Whether it's food or to go back inside, she will just stand like a statue with her head lowered and eyes barely visible. She did not have to stand there long before I opened the door for her.

I kept going back and forth between the Mule mountains you see here and the Huachuca mountains you see the sunshine falling behind in the western sky.

Each time I was about to leave ... the sky would give me something else to add to my photo library.

The hounds finally came outside toward the end of this photo shoot but only because they heard the puppy next door. Notice Stella's weird shaped ear.

After this final shot I walked back inside to enjoy a large glass of ice water along with a few more Advil tablets. It's hard for me to believe it's December 7th and having weather like this. It is also a day I will never forget, Pearl Harbor. I always remember on this day the overwhelming emotion I felt each time I walked around that area and visited the Arizona Memorial. I could almost feel what had happened each time I was in the area.

It was also a surprise the last time I was there 25 years ago with my nephew ... we saw two Japanese destroyers pier side flying their Japanese flag on the fantail. They didn't understand English and we didn't understand Japanese but they knew we wanted to take a tour of their ship. After a few minutes of hand gestures they led us on a very detailed tour of their ship.

I was told just this past week by the surgeon there will be days like I am having and to expect them at least for the next five months, based on what past patients have told him. 8 months after hip replacement seems to be the magic amount of time to feel normal again. Some say it will take longer than that. In the meantime I will ride with the waves it brings and enjoy this beautiful SE Arizona area.

Thank you to a couple of online friends for helping decide that this is where I really wanted to live. I had always driven through the area on I-10 but was always in a hurry to get to my destination whether I was driving east or west. It is just as nice as they said it was on their blog and in their emails.

A beautiful day today in the 'Wild West'.

A Day Of Changes

No fear, nothing drastic in the 'change dept' it's just that the weather has had some distinct changes as you can see here in the first two pictures. I was expecting rain early in the morning and got it. Enough rain not to go riding during the time of day I like to ride. So I turned my focus online to finding the black wheels for the FJ, the same brand and design that I had on my first FJ in 2014. I found them right under my nose at the TireRack, a company I had used years ago for one of my Mini Coopers.

Within an hour after sunrise Stella and I put our walk into a 'rain delay' just like baseball. I didn't mind getting wet under the light rain but I didn't feel like toweling her off when I got back. With the natural oil in the coat of a hound, the water is never absorbed by the towel. So we waited and I went back to my searching online, comparing prices and where they were in stock. I was hoping I could make a trip to Tucson and get them today but that was not possible. They will be here with free shipping within 2-3 days.

I like the Duluth Trading Company and their tv advertisements. I've never bought anything from them but after my first order I placed last Sunday I doubt that I will buy again. In fact by late tonight if I don't get some kind of update about shipping I may cancel the order. It wasn't a hard order. Another flannel shirt since I am finding out that might be the winter shirt around here. They had a short strap that attaches on a seat belt of a passenger seat, to Heidi's collar. It's a safety thing, keeping her from flying into the dashboard on our road trips if I ever had to slam on my brakes.

In this day and age of online sales and surveys in your inbox anytime you buy anything online or in person, I may be expecting too much ... such as an email telling me my order has shipped within two days of the weekend order. If not that, at least have my order show up on my online account when I log in to check status ... instead of NO RECORD OF ORDER. I have their order confirmation email with an order number. Seems simple, maybe not. Yes, I have called and talked to a real person the last two days, who told me it was shipping that afternoon. I lose my little patience with stuff like this.

Note:  It has come to my attention at 5:17 AZ time, from a blog reader that lives in Duluth MN, not only is the 21" of new snow a problem but many roads are closed or not passible. With all the snow and ice their major lift bridge is not working. So even if my order were ready to ship, highly unlikely it would get anywhere. As she said "the point" where Duluth Trading Company is located has been closed and just opened up for residential traffic. SO MY APOLOGIES FOR BAD MOUTHING DULUTH TRADING COMPANY.

I should have turned off my kitchen light when I took this picture.

REI is another disappointing online order. You would think companies such as this would be on top of their game with so much competition for online sales other than Amazon. I ordered three things November 23rd ... they shipped them in three different shipments and based on tracking information they all came from the same warehouse in Kent Washington. The problem is on order#2 they decided to send it cross country to Richmond VA first, then figured out that Arizona is in the opposite direction. I am suppose to get it today in the mail. Let see ... Amazon delivers in 1-2 days after the order is placed or REI for 12 days after the order?????

I keep reminding myself that nobody's perfect but really ... it's not that hard to ship something correctly and on time. I DO KNOW I will not buy anything else from REI or The Duluth Trading Company online ... I'll go back to Amazon.

Later in the morning it was time for a walk. My lower back needed some exercise from that huge error in judgement I had Monday afternoon. You remember how I was going to lay on my back under the side of my FJ to lift a very heavy rock rail with brackets, up into the area to bolt it to the frame of the car. I didn't succeed but Toyota did yesterday. In the meantime all that twisting, turning and lifting irritated my lower back on the new hip side. Sore enough, stiff enough that I wasn't going to get on a bicycle today. Stella trotted a lot during her walk. Heidi stayed behind to finish her late morning nap.

I had a feeling that as the weather turned to sunshine that the winds would pick up. They did, making that 67° feel a little cooler than it was. Am I not adapting to the SE Arizona winter like I thought I would, turning into a whimp instead so soon after moving? I never thought temps below 70° would give me so much problem. I'm already looking forward to springtime and a hot summer.  Ha Ha

Stella and I rarely hear the puppy next door anymore. They surely didn't get rid of it already. I haven't seen them walking it on the sidewalk in front of the house, so it's hard to say. Stella will stand and listen for the puppy barking or crying every morning soon after 8am.

Another change I was feeling today was my lack of motivation. Granted I got up early (5am) but that is not a rare thing for me. Normally on a day that I don't feel like riding a bicycle, I feel like taking a hike somewhere or driving around the local area with my camera ... but not today. Those urges were nowhere to be found.

So while Stella slept on the patio and Heidi was on the bedroom floor in the sunshine, I sat on the patio facing the sunshine and feeling the cool air whip by my face. The sun was so hot on my face but the cool wind kept me in my sweatshirt. It didn't take 30 minutes before those winds blew in the gray rain clouds to mix with what you see here. No rain is on the hourly forecast for today.

I guess Stella was feeling the same way I was today.

Since I didn't have a lot of pictures for today's post I decided to pull some from the library like I have done before. All of these next pictures were taken on the 4th of December in different years.

2018 Dec 04

2017 Dec 04

2016 Dec 04

2016 Dec 04

2015 Dec 04

2015 Dec 04

I think I have come to the phase where I have to have an exercise program on a regular bases that consist of stretch and some basic exercises. The doctor on Tuesday did not mention doing anything like that but I know when I feel I should. He did say I would not see a lot of improvement from here on out based on what I told him. Past patients have told him it takes around 8 months before they were feeling normal. I mentioned the small aches and pains I sometimes have and he said that is normal and part of the process then once again reminded me that I also have a femur that was broken before the hip replacement.

He did say I can do everything from here on out, except those activities like running, skiing, snowboarding, basketball games, racquetball, tennis etc. He did not verbally tell me those activities but they are listed in the book they gave me the day before surgery at the hospital. So stretching, some pushups and some resistant band training should be okay.

It's one of those days where the words don't flow easy. I sit in the chair grasping at something to write and at this point in the blog I cannot think of anything else to write about. I guess it's like I said on Facebook this afternoon with that picture of Stella stretched out sleeping next to my chair "Sometimes it's just good to take a day off during the middle of the week" ... I guess that is what I have done mentally today.

It's sunny, with dark gray clouds mixed in and gusty winds just like you would imagine in the 'Wild West.