Single Digits Stops Stella

We knew it was going to happen but that didn't mean we had to like it. Yes, it does look like a nice clear morning, a great sky to walk under, as we start this Friday. With only a few degrees difference between the different weather apps, I knew it was too cold to take the daily walk. My first hint was seeing the storm windows covered in solid ice as the sun rose.

It was like the rising sun was waiting for Stella and I. It not only brightened the fields across the highway in front of the house but the woods on the north side of the field. It was a bright clear morning around 8:15am ... it was also 8° and a windchill temp of -5°.

After my morning reading, and my two cups of coffee, I told Stella we were not walking this morning. I didn't know if she would take off on me or not as I stepped outside wearing a Fleece jacket, fleece lined Wrangler's, with my wool socks inside some very cheap Chinese made sandals I bought at Walmart years ago. Those $24 Nike sandals I use to wear were one of Sadie's favorite chew toys ... so I quit buying them after the 3rd pair.

I had to shove on the frozen storm door for it to open as Stella and I stepped outside. The freezing air hit my lungs as I breathed in and cleared out any cobwebs that might be lingering in my brain after a good night of sleep ... just not enough of it. The ground was harder than a rock, if that is possible. I stood at the corner of the house watching Stella ... hoping I would not have to walk out in my socks and sandals to keep her out of the land of burrs.

You'll see that she knew it was cold. She did what she had to do (not pictured), turned without me calling her name and came back to the house. As I scanned my hourly temps on my weather app, I was up to 7pm before it gets above 15° today. It's dark by that time, so I think it is safe to say both walks today are postponed.

For some strange reason last night around 1am ... yes, it hit me at 1am ... about the time I was turning off the computer for the day, I had the urge to change the blog template to show a sidebar on the right hand side and was even willing to have smaller photos, to make that happen.

I scanned the list of possibilities, all familiar ones no matter how I changed the search terms, design features or how many columns. I kept glancing to the current design I had and the one you see here and knew this one, is the one I liked the most. Will cold weather that keeps me inside make me investigate possible changes in design?

I have no idea why those impulses hit me so often to change things. It falls within the same lines as me looking to take Verizon up on their email offer for unlimited data for only a few dollars more per month. For years I have had 5Gb of data, unlimited text and calls. That small amount of monthly data covers me for what I do with my phone.

Unlimited data is always tempting though. It has a built-in 20Gb threshold they might show in small print of the agreement or you might get a Verizon rep to confess to. The speeds will slow down after 20Gb are used within a billing period. (30 days).

What's the problem? It's only a few dollars more! That is the problem. Those 'few dollars more' add up as you apply that theory to the cell phone account, the satellite tv account, or more satellite internet data. (more than a few dollar increase)

There are a few more TV channels I'd like to get back since I moved to the lower tier of shows by decreasing my monthly payment $10 a few months ago. Those shows were not that important to me when I made the change and really they aren't now ... but that 'urge to change', just like the blog template. The MLB channel is on that higher tier and baseball season is right around the corner.

I just remembered, this blog post is done on the 'newer' WordPress editor. It's not really that new as I have used it for the past few years but it is newer than their old 'wp-admin' editor. I thought there was a difference between the two editors the other day as I was reading a post on my laptop.

In this editor the content goes no further than the edges of the photos. In the 'wp-admin' editor it does go past the photos. I like this better but I have a close eye on my Activity Monitor as I type this and add a few photos. I don't want to see an unexpected 700Mb data dump that happens sometimes on the WordPress .com editor. So far so good.

Stella and I were outside less than 3 minutes this morning. It seemed like a lifetime as I waited for her to finish. As you see here, single digits does not affect Heidi, time does. When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. Her normal routine is get up, goes outside to pee, back inside to eat breakfast and right back to bed. I fold  the sleeping back over the top of her afer she lays down.

Her dog bed, bought at Costco in 2011 about an hour before I met her for adoption, is more comfortable than the bed I sleep on, I think. It has the perfect firmness for the mattress. It's just not large enough for me of course. She will be up before lunch but I guarantee you that her trip outside today will take less than a minute.

I am afraid to turn on the tv today just to see what is going on in DC. I've glanced at the online headlines from three different news sources. Yes, I do read 'both sides' of news reporting. I have the ability to sort out facts and what is fake.

800,000 out of 2.3 million workers supposedly are the ones not being paid. They use to call it a 'skeleton crew', just enough to get the basics of the job finished but now they call it "essential personnel" ... how essential can they be if you can afford to let them go? I know the local ~8,000 government employees and contractor are all working and all are getting paid ... unless my neighbor is lying to me.

I must say that now that I have the Canon G9X adjusted I very happy with the quality of the photos I am taking. Early morning lighting is always a tough time for any camera, unless I was outside at sunrise. Today might be another good day to go for a drive.

I could stop and buy a deadbolt lock to install on the door this afternoon to contain Stella. :)

I appreciate all the responses I received via email and the public comments for my last post about the shutdown and congress. The email responses outnumbered the comments on the blog but all counted, it was an overwhelming number of people that agreed with me or that of the President. No one was threatening or angry and I welcome all opinions, on all of my blog posts.

I read this morning that Ms Harris, a 2020 candidate has hired all of the "Clinton Team" to run her campaign. Interesting. She has a lot of other issues though that will come to the forefront as the campaign gets closer to starting. I keep seeing the word "horizontal" describing her ... confusing to some I'm sure.

To add to my food discussion from last night ... I clicked in 1645 calories yesterday and had nothing but healthy food. I can also feel my appetite adjusting after tightening the food intake a couple of weeks ago. I'm not as hungry during the day or night and that's a good thing.

Well I need to see if I can figure out a way to move my desk chair away from my desk far enough to stand up. Stella has me blocked in as she is sleeping curled up and leaning on one of the desk chair legs. Maybe if I start sneezing she will wake up to whine like she always does and that will give me room to move my chair.

It's breath-taking cold today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Art Of Changing Your Mind

Some may think after seeing that title that I am going back to my old blog on Google's Blogger. Some of the long time readers I have would be use to that kind of announcement because I have done it before. I think I am pretty well set with change last night to go back to a right sidebar. As you see I had already changed my mind about that before this story posted. Ha Ha
In this case that is not going to happen. Not even close.

I like the Wordpress platform a lot. I am even getting use to their new editor where I write and insert the photos. Now that I have found the icons for bullet points and the small bits to add to the content I am much happier. They were well hidden deep in their menu.

I've adjusted my photo size so once they are inserted they come in at the right size. I like the size of the photos overall when the post is opened up, but I'd prefer them to be as wide as the website, without a sidebar. Yet without a sidebar, the footer is too long and I don't care for that look after trying it a day or two.

So I am suspended in between the cells of my brain, wondering what my next move is. I hope it is sitting still now, without more design changes. That way can free up some of my time and crawl away from this computer again. I feel that I am falling into a two blog a day schedule. I am going to still schedule what I can for a very early post time.

That way I can take the events and photos of the day and post those in the early evening Eastern Time. I think the first post of the day that is scheduled early in the morning, will be posts that I write as the feeling hits me. Different topics most of the time and I'll still try to include some photos from the file I have. Any announcements will be all verbal like the one yesterday.

I was reminded again the other day that I am really writing for me. That is a hard therory to wrap my mind around, because it doesn't feel like that. I try to post photos that are some of the best ones I take for the day and those that I think the readers will like.

Besides if I am only writing for me, then why is the blog public? Why do I keep looking at different theme choices in design and ask myself "what would be best for the readers?" Or ask "will anyone even scroll to the bottom where they would see the the information that use to be on a sidebar?"

Is any of this important? Not really. It's just a place to write, good or bad. Yet that would be like saying it doesn't matter what color your house is inside or outside because "it's only a place to live." Plus I like to fool around with my blog designs until I don't want to change it anymore. THEN ... I know it's the right design. Or I just like making changes.

There is one major obstacle to that. Looking through different themes soaks up data like a sponge. My data limit is between 600-700Mb per day to keep within the 20Gb per month I pay for. That doesn't mean I stop when 700Mb is reached. I do what I want all month and buy more at the end of the month if I run out of data.

When I am checking out themes for hours on end, I will burn around 1.2Gb of data  in a day based on previous experience.

By this time in the post most visitors have clicked the back arrow and have left town. Should I be concerned? If I was then it would only make sense to stop this post right here and click the 'publish' button. Since I am "writing for me" I continue with the post (probably a boring one) and take the time I need to insert the photos between the paragraphs instead of the much faster way of doing the opposite.

So .... I think you've seen about all the changes you are going to see for a long while. The new domain name is set. I believe that most people saw the post where I told them I was changing the domain name. So we will see if any gets "lost" after the change.

I guess I am kinda 'old school' when it comes to the modern designs, plus those don't really seem to fit the hounds and what I write about. The theme I have right now is about as modern as I can get.

I look at this site to see how it works on a tablet, smart phone, laptop and my iMac. A few times I noticed that large photo at the top was loading really slow but I think that is more my internet connect than it is file size. If you have that large photo taking too long to load let me know.

dI like the list of blogs and websites I follow, but not many others do. Since the majority of visitors for the past 7 years are here and gone in less than 5 seconds I am assuming this design is basically for me. I do the same thing sometimes when I visit blogs, just a quick glance to see a photo or see what they are writing about by checking their title.

It was a good time to do all the blog movement and design changes because it rained most of the day and night on Friday and continued through Saturday morning. Southern Indiana has has over 52" of precipitation since last January 1st.

When I change my mind there is way too much analysis that goes into it. Way too much, except when I trade cars. People know that once I am on that mission things are done within 24-48 hours max. Adding another hound, could cause me to think for weeks. (no, not going to happen)

It takes a lot of skill to change your mind. I like to start a brand new spreadsheet to get everything out in front of me where I can see it, then the decision becomes clear. I do not nor will I do a spreadsheet on whether to change the blog design. I know one friend that would be in shock if I didn't "spreadsheet it".  Ha Ha

With the blogs I follow I can't same very many, two or three, have changed their blog design after more years than I have had mine. Many people are still driving their same car or truck for the past 5-6 years and I cannot remember how many different ones I have had in that same time span.

I justify changing my mind a lot as if I was wearing different clothes every day, or a different pair of shoes, taking the leash or camera on Stella's walks, and even meal changes. That really isn't a good justification for change.

Enjoyment is a better word. "I enjoy changing things."

Speaking of photos ... I find it really hard during the winter months here in 'the tropics' to take photos every day. The trees are barren, leafless. The field is dormant with browns instead greens. Most of the the skies are gray and overcast. It would make no difference if I were to drive the local area to take photos, it all looks the same ... unless it snows, then there are a lot of photo possibilities.

Some say there is beauty in everything and the picture is there somewhere. Others might say that the best picture you will ever take is when you don't take one. The problem with that is I can't remember that beautiful sunset three years ago like I did then.

So I am thinking this winter you might see a lot more 'old' photos I have in my files mixed in between these unorganized paragraphs. My writing proves I like to change my mind ... it can change as fast as a new paragraph.

That drives me insane and is a habit I wish I could quit. It's just a lack of focus and a brain that is hopping all over the place.

So let's see what happens.

The coffee is gone. The Saturday morning walk was postponed due to rain. If MLB can do it so can I. I'm not hungry, don't want to read a book, don't want to watch tv or a movie nor do I want to watch daily news ... I am also rethinking that decision.

All the photos were take by me with a small Olympus camera 15 years ago. It was on a MLB Baseball Tour for 14 days, 13 cities (games) and 1 day at Cooperstown NY. Over 3,500 miles driven, plenty of room on a large bus with 32 people. One of the best vacations ever. If you might be interested in something like that, take a look at Jay Buckley's Baseball Tours.  (not an affiliate link)

Hoping for dry weather here today (Sunday) in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.