Kodak Slide Scanner Works!!

Warning: Lots of photos and story telling involved.

If you remember last week I received my missing Kodak Slide Scanner but there were two issues that made it inoperable. The SD card would not lock in the slot which is needed to save the photos to that are converted from slides or negatives. Photos from that SD card are then transferred to your computer or TV screen, your choice. It also would not work once plugged into three different computers. I took it back for a refund, then ordered another one. I did not want to ship it to my house but to ship to the Best Buy store where I could pick it up. They texted two days earlier than planned for me to pick it up.

Is It Belize???

 

My sister always says that she expected me to spend my retirement years on the beach. She has felt that way since the time she visited me in Southern California when I was living across the street from the Pacific Ocean back in 1977. Yes, you could see the ocean through the living room window in that small beach town. I always thought so too but like all of us know, things change in life and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Yet when I saw that article recently of a single lady that had moved to Belize and was building her new home ... it got me thinking.

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.

A Slow Day But A Good Day

Not much going on today so there will be few words. The hounds keep wanting food as soon as they wake up and they will sit in the living room until they are fed or will follow me to the computer room while I drink coffee just to see when I might feed them. I did ride my bicycle today very easy and very slow for 29 minutes. The route was flat and a big circle through my neighborhood. Interesting that Stella didn't want to stay in the backyard with the door closed but was willing to stand at the living room window watching me pass the house each lap I took.

For the second day in a row Heidi took the lead for our morning walk. She pranced out the front door ahead of Stella and trotted down the sidewalk ... attached to her retractable leash. Our walk this morning about about .73 of a mile in 42° weather but that is still shorts weather for me.

As the the temps warm up and the action increases the hounds find it best to sleep a lot during the day. Not a lot of blog worthy action going on.

Even though Heidi had been fed on schedule, she still thought she might get me to give her a dog treat while Stella was passed out on the patio.

Another beautiful day.

I was able to straighten out the billing department in town this morning. They had no idea why I was being charged anything for the surgery on September 8th. Headquarters is somewhere back in Maine!! Their balance doesn't match the real balance. You get the picture I'm sure.

By the end of the day ... Stella was at the point of confusion.  Looks like a good night for "Movie Night" here at the homestead.

Oh ... 5 hours after I rode easy, I've had no signs telling me that my new hip did not like it's exercise. That's good news.

It cannot be 'wild' all the time in the Wild West and today was one of those days.

Photos From A Year Ago

The day looked promising but I knew after seeing the 10-day forecast last night that soon after our lunch, the gray thunderheads would be moving in with rain in the forecast. That still gave all three of us time to do what we do ... hound walk, biking, hounds sleeping, me reading. Since I did not have a lot of photos to choose from today I went back into the library to August 21, 2019 and pulled some photos from a year ago. Big difference eh?

Once again Stella was highly active for some reason. She trotted from the time we were on the street all the way down the block to the vacant land across the street. Then she would spend time with her nose pressed to the street or ground identifying scent ... bounce up and start running to get ahead of me. I stopped her hip supplements a few weeks ago as a test. I'm not sure what game she is playing now ... but she is enjoying her walk.

As soon as we got back from the walk and I had a cup of coffee enjoying the mountains to my right, I decided I was riding in plain clothes today on the mountain bike. I'd still take two water bottles with me just in case I decided to ride longer. I was only going to follow the bike path around the west side of town and then come back home on the east side ... but with me plans always change.

This is the best photo I have taken of the Aerostat. I am back in love with my older Nikon D3200.

I ended up riding out toward the canyon again like I do most days only today I wanted to force myself to go slow. I wanted to keep my heart rate in zone two as they call it. For me that would be around 118 bpm. I can see that information on my Apple watch using the Strava app while I am riding. That app also records my distance, time, speed, and heart rate as I am riding.

I ended up riding a little past 25 miles and had a hard time keeping my heart rate below 118. There are too many gradual climbs where even in low gears, fast pedaling, the old ticker jumps up to 130 bpm pretty easy. My plan this week is to ride a total of 6 days by riding slower, less effort, and enjoy the scenery.

I had just opened the door for the hounds to take a break outside, at their request. A loud clap of thunder filled the skies as I was looking at the sunshine over the Mule Mts two photos up. To my right is where all the noise was coming from. I tried by holding the camera shudder halfway down to time the next lightning strike but it never happened.

As time passed the darker it got, the temperature dropping and rain everywhere but my house. It's almost the end of August and I have not seen too much of the 'infamous' monsoons I was warned about. All the locals told me "you are just in time for the monsoons" when they found out I had just moved here. Either way is good with me. I love living here ... no bugs ... no humidity ... beautiful skies ... friendly people.

So here is the start of the photos from last year to the day ... August 21, 2018

Looks like the skies were getting ready to rain there too.

While I have moved from the kitchen cooking an actual meal of steamed veggies and brown rice/lentils for lunch, both hounds followed me from room to room. The living room to catch some sports news and finding out that my Reds game had already been played at 9:30am my time. When I came into the computer room to check some things on the computer both hounds followed me and plopped down in their corners of the room for more sleep.

Stella seems to be use to the louder than normal thunder now ... she sleeps through these kinds storms. They have never bothered Heidi.

I moved back in the book Going Back to Bisbee. It's a slow read but a fantastic history lesson of this area. Now if it were the winter I'd be more motivated to read but in great weather, even when it's high 90's it just hard for me to sit still long enough to read many pages at a time.

Stella's light snoring is making me feel like a siesta for me is right around the corner here in the Wild West.