When It Rains It Doesn't Stop

That's the hounds a few days ago in drier weather but it's the same look they had yesterday as they stepped outside for one of their million trips outside. The rain was loud, heavy and the wind was blowing rain in their faces. Consequently I was not standing in the yard to take a head on picture of them. It started Tuesday night while I was sleeping and between then and now, Thanksgiving morning, there have been few periods of time where it stopped raining. Gonna be some rambling in this post.

With the forecast showing rain through today and tonight, I didn't have any plans of riding my bike outside yesterday or today. At this time of morning when I took the photo it was in the 40's and windy. I decided I would put one of my bicycles back on the indoor trainer so I could get some riding indoors during days like this. Riding makes my hip feel better and sitting around causes it to tighten up, become stiff and sore.

I was enjoying the cloud formations while drinking my morning coffee. It was just 10 or 11 days ago that Stella and I were on top, on the backside of Carr Canyon where the sunshine was so bright I was sunburn on my head and face after forgetting to bring my ballcap. No worries though with this weather ... over the course of the year it will rain 11" and have sunshine over 300 days out of the year. I can definitely live with that.

I had mentioned before I had not made up my mind yet on whether I was going to cook the full out Thanksgiving Dinner as I have in past years. As today got closer I lost that urge to cook all of that food. As I drove around town yesterday for a few things, the parking lots of Walmart, Fry's Market and Safeway confirmed that I did not want to go shopping. It was late last night where Fry's sent me an email telling they were still delivering groceries within the hour if I wanted to place an order. Tempting but the urge to cook was gone.

Over the years of reading my blog you may have guessed I am not real big on holidays. When living near family or having more family members I did enjoy them a lot more but I missed a few of them even then. So today it will be okay to me if I pass on the traditional food for today in exchange of pasta, maybe a steak and baked potato or a big pot of beans. Hard to say where the menu will end up today.

With the rain pouring yesterday I still had the urge to get out of the house. I jumped in the truck and headed for Huachuca City to try out the Camino Cafe. I had saw so many good things about it on one of the local Facebook Groups I follow. I was somewhat disappointed as I waited almost 25 minutes for a soft taco and a burrito. It was a small restaurant and only two other tables were occupied. The food was good but not really different than what I had at Rodolfo's in Sierra Vista last week. I expected the Carne Asada soft taco and burrito to be hot but it was ice cold.

The rain had let up just enough after I returned from town for Stella to come outside and double check the weather. She didn't stay out longer than relieving herself before trotting back inside. She is pretty smart for a bloodhound.

One of my favorite hangouts in town as been the Sun and Spoke Bicycle Shop. Mark and Chris never mind talking to me and others while they are either putting new bikes together or repairing them. I call this the "mountain bike shop" because both of them and most of the customers are into riding mountain bikes on trails instead of road bikes on roads like I do. Even in bad weather they were still doing their weekly Wednesday night ride out towards Brown Canyon, using headlights that are brighter than any car or truck headlights. I laughed as I turned down their offer to join them.

From there I had to test myself. I had to see just how much discipline I had. I had to make a trip to Best Buy and see if I could walk out of there without a new camera, new computer, new something. With "Black Friday Deals" starting, there were more blue shirts walking around that store than customers. Of course each of them had to ask me if I was finding everything okay. I felt no urges to buy anything and I look at things from one end of the store to the other.

I played with the new MacBook Pro 13" and 16", so I could give a review to my friend up in Phoenix that is tormenting herself on which one to buy. They were very nice but like all new computers, they are faster, can store more, better picture blah blah blah ... I'll stick with my 2017 iMac and 2015 MacBook Air.

I wasn't finished though ... I held a case in my hand for my 2017 iPad Mini ... and put that back on the rack although it had a sale price of $9.99. I headed toward the camera department. I noticed no change of my heart rate in anticipation. My Apple watch was showing me I was clicking at 68bpm. No signs of adrenaline to buy a new camera. They don't have much on display in this store so my exploration was short. I did pick up a 55mm lens hood for $4.99.

That is Stella last night ... taken with my Canon 9X that I like but don't like the black spot on the sensor. I bought a memory card for that yesterday for less than $10 so I could use the camera some more. I'll edit out the black spot when it appears because I don't have the tools nor the motivation to take those small screws out so I can get to the sensor to clean it. I think Greg showed how he did it on his blog sometime this year.

All of those mountains we normally see were gone this morning ... every direction, nowhere to be found.

With $10 worth of purchases in my hand I headed over to the PlayStation section. I've had a PS3 for years and the PS2 before that because I was/am addicted to a racing game called Grand Turismo. My copy is Grand Turismo 5 and I was looking for 6 for my current machine. Of course with Black Friday deals their new PS4 with a Tb of hard drive was on sale for $199 ... tension was NOT building. I just wanted a low priced GT6.

One of those blue shirts came out of nowhere in the attack mode. These people are awful aggressive for not being on commission. He was a "gamer", and I could tell by his face he was somewhat shocked this old man with white hair was keeping up the pace in the conversation. Really the only difference between us and our knowledge of PlayStations and video games were the number of tattoos he had where I have none. It must hurt like hell to have that huge hole in his ear lobe to fit in that 1/2" black ring. I've been pretty drunk before but have never thought of something like that in my crazy decision process.

He did tell me some great information. He did NOT try to sell me a new machine. He DID tell me where I could find GT6 right here in town. I had seen the GameStop online when I did searches for used video games in the past. I did NOT know there was a real store right here in town. He told me he was sure I'd find what I was looking for at that store and for a price less than $10. I took one final look around Best Buy and found nothing major I wanted to buy. With a $5 lens hood, an SD Memory card less than $10 and a $5 DVD movie Caddyshack ... I was pretty proud of myself and the test I had just passed.  I walked in the hardest rain I saw all day towards the truck and headed to GameStop.

Packed with new and used video games. I can assure you that I was the oldest person in there. Ha Ha.  There it was ... Grand Turismo 6, on sale plus a 'used' price. No signs of scratches on the bottom of the disc, like new ... $9.99

I was finished and had done everything I wanted. It was past 3pm and I wondered if Stella might be howling to the moon since I was late for serving afternoon kibble. I knew that Heidi would meet me at the door and if it was quiet that meant I'd find Stella sound to sleep in her large crate. New blinds still intact, no holes dug in the wet backyard and no signs of attempted escape ... the crate works very well. She was stretched out sleeping and didn't know I was about to unlock the two small padlocks so I could open her door.

Seems like as much as I try to get away from 'the new hip', that many more people want to know how it's going. Is there pain anytime? Does it click when you walk? Can  you feel the metal in cold wet weather? WHY are you riding a bike again, are you afraid of crashing again? I'm surprised you are doing all you are doing? What does the doctor say? Do you want to sell any of your bicycles now that you cannot ride? Ha Ha. .... these are from emails, texts, in person or on phone calls. No harm and I don't mind answering them but I am trying to move completely away from the situation and move on.

I don't feel the hip most of the time. At times there is not a soreness but 'something' is in there that is different. It does not click when I walk. I am close to getting in and out of all my cars and the truck the 'normal way'. I can when getting in and out of bed. I am not afraid of wrecking again on a bicycle no matter how fast I go. My top speed was 36 mph on my last ride on Monday. I cross those sandy loose rocks every ride where I went down. I am focused all through the turn and I wave at no one I see riding or walking. I might be selling my mountain bike but all the road bikes are staying where they are at.

I do admit I feel better after my doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I don't have that feeling of something 'hanging over my head' or that 'big elephant in the room'. It's good to know someone else agrees with what I read, what I eat and the bicycling I do. That person happens to have MD after their name but in the grand scheme of things that may not be important.

In a day or two I'll be back to having sunsets like this. I have already grown tired of cold weather and rain and it's not even cold really but I am just a hot weather person. Also like in the past I have lost my train of thought on this post and can't remember everything I was going to say. I'm sure there is something I have forgot to write about.

Today will be some Grand Turismo 6 as I get back to the same driving level as I have in 5. Those results are not transferable. The NFL games will be turned on today but mostly as background noise unless something is happening that is worth sitting down and watching. I have a lot of food to choose from but none of it is what you would expect on this holiday. It could be nothing more than roasted chicken breasts and steamed broccoli.

For some strange reason I have had the urge for a little bit of whiskey and a nice flavored cigar. How wild is that? I could put on my rubber Columbia pants and rain jacket, sit outside on the patio and ENJOY the weather with a sip of whisky to keep me warm and a cigar to remind me how messed up I can be sometimes ... how unhealthy can I be???  LOL

So here is living proof that I am blogging when I feel like it ...

Seattle weather here in the 'Wild West.

Stella Ran More Today

When things don't go as planned you end up picking corn in the dark. I am not sure what the reason was for the delay yesterday afternoon but it turned out to be a very long day for whoever was driving the combine. By the time I returned from Best Buy around 12:45pm today, they had finished picking the corn and were loading the trucks to haul it away. Interesting Best Buy story below. You'll also see that Stella ran more today than yesterday and the past year.

For the camera to focus automatically on the combine in the dark I had to turn on the flash setting. That is one reason this photo of Stella looks brighter, but if you look at the next photo it was not even dark yet ... all three photos were taken within minutes of each other in different directions.

Heidi followed Stella outside to see what all the excitement was about but she didn't want her photo taken. She kept turning her head away when I pointed the camera at her. I barely caught her as she was looking from behind the wood frames in the carport. Notice the swelling on the side of her nose is gone.

Looking at my weather app on my iPhone it's nice to see we have only three more days of hot weather counting today. It will take an immediate 15° drop on Wednesday and continue to lower our high temps for the day from 65° down to 54° a few days later. Since it wasn't that humid this morning the temperature on our walk didn't feel that hot. Stella was not bothered by it and actually had whined earlier to come outside.

I may have mentioned here, can't remember, that the strap to my Garmin VivoSmart3 broke a couple of weeks ago. I didn't take long to go online and buy a replacement, same model3 instead of the new 4. I received it two days later and started wearing it. After the fact, I did an internet search on why that strap broke, was it common etc. The answers led me to the Garmin forum where the same questions I had were being discussed.

I sent an email to their support address listed not really expecting any kind of answer. Instead a few days later I received a reply telling me they needed my name, address, phone number and serial number of the activity monitor (what I call a watch). They shipped me a new replacement at no cost to me. I received it on Saturday, deleted my recently purchased unit from my Garmin Connect App and then synchronized my replacement with my iPhone.

So that meant if I wanted to get a refund for the one I bought 14 days ago I'd have to make a trip to the local Best Buy store. I headed over this morning to do the exchange and look at some cameras I was interested in again. It wasn't a normal trip though ... a little crazy.

I tried to get ahead of Stella in the first part of the walk after we made our first turn at the corner of the woods. She was lingering behind so it gave me a chance to get out in front so I could see if she would run to me to catch up, in a different part of the field. She did .... she ran hard. If you see her ears flopping or not in view ... that means she is running at a pretty good speed.

As far as cameras, which is the lead into my Best Buy story, I have always been amazed by the clarity and sharpness of Mark's photos on his blog BoxCanyon Blog. We have traded emails on photos, camera etc over the years. I started by asking what kind of camera he was using. He uses on the of the older models of the Canon PowerShot ELPH's. So I wanted to look at one of those today, hold it in my hand to get a feel of taking photos with it.

I also wanted to look at the Nikon Coolpix B500. While looking at both cameras on a shelf with a few other Canon and Nikon point and shoot cameras, someone asked me if I wanted to know what the best camera was on that shelf from 8 different models and two brands. Before I let him know, "not really" ... he gave me his opinion and without wasting a second told me he won his MMA fight last night in Milwaukee ... (250 miles from me).

What gave me a hint my enjoyable time looking around the store at things was about to turn into one big hassle? I couldn't escape him and even the Best Buy employee walked over and started playing along with this man's question and answers.

While the employee and I discussed the different cameras, this guy moved in-between us because he was the camera expert. While he talked I was planning my escape. I slowly moved away toward the Apple Watch and MacBook Pro table while the employee was cornered by the "MMA Champion" who had won a car, cash and showed me his bloodied knuckles.   LOL

I had just picked up the Apple Watch 44mm on display to get a feel for it. I found out my 'expert' was also an Apple Watch expert. I could not believe how fast he found me since the camera and computer departments are a good 40' apart. This time the conversation changed from the Benz he had won, to gambling casinos etc. Our conversation ended when he was telling me he had given the cash he won for fighting to his newborn child and had only $7 left until he received his DISABILITY CHECK next month !!!!! I had a feeling he was about ready to ask me for some money.   LOL

You probably get the picture.

Other employees stood and stared talking amongst themselves not really showing any kind of interest in getting this creep that smelled like he had been on a 7-day drinking binge away from me ... finally a Best Buy employee moved in between me and the 'expert' and I walked away. I was almost to the door to leave the store when someone said "what did he say to you" ... the voice of a Best Buy Manager. After I told him the story, he said he would take care of it. I didn't want to be around when the manager confronted him, so I got in my car and headed off for home.

On our walk this morning when I saw Stella raising her nose turning to the field behind us I didn't know that she would also start walking that way, even looking to see if she could get over the worn down metal fence. I saw no deer, no other dogs, nothing that would lead her into the next field, except what her nose was smelling.

I let her look around and she eventually started my direction.

Back to the camera discussion ... the Canon PowerShot ELPH felt too small in my hand plus it didn't have a good place to put your thump while taking a photo. I could see why some buyers had written reviews complaining of blurred photos. It would be easy not to hold the camera still for the perfect photos like Mark takes.

The camera I really liked was the Canon PowerShot SX-530. It felt lighter than the Nikon Coolpix B500 and felt more comfortable in my hand. Another big difference at least for me, the Canon ran on a rechargeable lithium battery, where the Nikon Coolpix used four AA batteries. I'm not a fan of AA batteries even if they are rechargeable. Of course by that time it was really hard to continue my analysis of both cameras with the 'expert' a foot away from me talking non-stop.

I already knew from my online research before I made the trip to Best Buy that the Canon PowerShot SX-530 was not in stock at the store I would be visiting.

While I made the 30 mile drive to the store I wondered what my sudden urge to buy a different camera was about. Was I tired of using the D3300 with a 18mm-200mm lens for 99% of my photos? I love my iPhone camera's photos but only for inside and low light conditions. Since I returned my Garmin and the Otterbox case I had bought a couple of weeks ago they gave my $50 reward back to me with a deadline of December something to use it by. So I could buy that Canon PowerShot SX-530 for $199 using the reward they gave me.

Stella started running toward me from the back of the field once she realized that I was getting too far from her. At this point of the walk, seeing her run hard two different times was good to see.

The ATVs did not return this summer. So the major ATV path from last summer has almost grown over. Stella needed to make sure and check out some scent along that path.

Once I told her "let's go home" she veered my direction and then stopped in the same spot of the path to scratch her neck.

So again she is in the same exact spot she was in yesterday when she started running toward me for her third run of the walk.

Like I said, IF her ears are not in view (laid back), that means she is running at a good speed.

She still wanted to show me she had prowling capability in case a cat or bird would be found in the field.

It will not be long before we start our 2018 Leaf Raking Project.

For the fourth time of the walk, she started running toward the house. Not a sprint but faster than a trot, more of a gallop.

I spent some time researching cameras by looking at the CNET reviews, customer reviews on the Best Buy and Amazon websites. The NFL games were on the tv but more of background noise than having any interest. For some reason today I didn't feel like watching football.

Heidi spent all day on the couch, then on both blankets in different locations to sleep the day away. She is really looking good, acting different than before her tooth surgery of course and never letting me forget what time breakfast and lunch are.

It's was another great day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

I Am An IDIOT !!!!

Okay ... here's the deal. It will not hurt my feelings if you admit it here on the blog, that you have been laughing to the point of almost falling down for the past 12-24 hours after you read me telling you about the $1 iPhone SE (new) that I discussed in my post last night.

Really, it has taken me this long to write this post because I haven't been able to stop laughing about it even after driving the 25 miles home with my new iPhone. It's a funny story that I will describe and it also might help someone getting ready to upgrade their phone.

I knew when I saw these two leaves hanging in midair that my day was going to be an interesting one. I just didn't realize at the time, the $1 iPhone was going to be the answer to the weirdness today.

Before I get started on the phone story, I'll narrate our late afternoon walk but it is still 90° as I write this at 7:10pm. We finished this walk about 10-15 minutes ago.

I am seeing more and more new purple flowers blooming throughout the field. They are everywhere. I have no idea what they are but they look nice.

Sadie and Stella didn't care about the flowers or the heat, all they knew, was they were on their daily walk and that was all that mattered.

While I was taking photos of flowers and the leaves that had turned colors, both of them ran pretty far away from me. They were happy to be outside today after I left them in the house for a little over 3 hours while I was at Best Buy picking up an iPhone.

For some reason today, Stella decided she would join us without any veering away from us nor hanging way back, ignoring my calls. That is always a good walk when that happens.

Lots of new spots for Sadie to check out ... nice fresh, some sort of natural organic nutrition. That's as far as I will go on what they were eating.

Stella trots along the back edge of the field, near both of us.

But she has that "I'm hot" look on her face, so I was pretty sure she would be following me all the way back to the house today.

Stella was the same way ... not many stops on the way home.

For those that read my post Sunday (yesterday) I spoke of the deal with Verizon and Best Buy for the iPhone 5SE ... $1 as long as you signed up for a 24 month commitment. Other options showed you would be paying a monthly installment of somewhere around $16 per month for 24 months for the cost of the phone.

I'm not as dumb as I look ... so the difference between those two options for the same brand new phone just didn't add up in my old brain .. circuits were evidently missing as I am trying to process this information over the weekend. I kept asking myself why is that iPhone only $1 ??

To make sure I was  "clear" on how I understood the two options I called customer service at Verizon and Best Buy ... and spoke to real people on each call, not a robot.

I find out today at the store at the time of purchase I was REALLY CONFUSED !!!!

The monthly charges were going to be for the data plan, one smart phone fee, a one time activation fee and the $1 phone.

NEITHER CUSTOMER SERVICE REP that I had called, told me that $1 was NOT the cost of the phone ... even after I told both of them "I just can't believe you are selling an new iPhone 5SE for ONE DOLLAR !!!!

So after a lot of research over the weekend, I was pretty sure I wanted the smaller size iPhone (4"), the same size as my 5S I sold last November. Luckily due to one of the regular Best Buy phone service reps leaving for lunch, someone that did not work in that department started my purchase.

Why was that lucky?

As I was bombarding her with more questions, she called the "Verizon/iPhone EXPERT" to help her with the purchasing process and answer the questions I had.

He had moved from the 5S to the 6S last year and had a lot of knowledge about the few differences between the two phones that I was not able to see when reading about them online. As I put the 6S in one hand and the 5SE in my other hand ... I was starting to change my mind. The slightly larger screen was easy on my eyes and it didn't feel that much bigger in my hand.

Long time blog readers know that I ALWAYS change my mind before the final purchase is done, no matter what I am buying ... RVs, computer, cars, trucks, etc.

As I told him ... "It's almost too hard to pass up a ONE DOLLAR iPhone 5SE for the larger 6S" ... he stopped ... he stared at me ... he had a shocked look on his face .... he started stuttering but the words would not come out !!!!!

And then .................. I was told ..... "it doesn't cost just a dollar ..... didn't they tell you about the $40 per month fee added for 24 months to pay for the phone ?????

I looked back through my hand written, notes ... I didn't see that fee listed.

So there was the REAL COST of the phone.

The interesting thing is, for some strange reason I could pick up the 6S model for $13 less per month and NO 24 month commitment, then after I added another $4 per month my 16Gb iPhone was bumped up to a 64Gb iPhone ... still under that $40 per month fee no one knows about for the ADVERTISED $1 iPhone.

It's only been a couple of hours playing around with it as I been going through the process of setting it and checking all of the settings that comes with it. I've also been downloading free apps that I had before on my other phone, all of this before our daily hound walk ... but after a short time, I can say that I am very very happy to have a smart phone back in my life.

I don't watch movies, nor ballgames and I don't play games on the  phone ... but I love the camera, the Notes program (basically my memory), the Maps that I can use as my GPS, and the free apps that help me track my diet/fat/calories and monitor my activity along with other uses.

Getting phone calls are just secondary ... I bought it for all the things it does besides being a phone.

So ... I hope you didn't spill anything while lauging about how stupid I must be to let the world know that there is a $1 iPhone available. ... it really is a good laugh and one that I enjoyed, even though the joke was on me.   LOL

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.