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.

A Good Feel To Today

It was a few ticks below 60°, all the windows in the house were open, birds were singing and both hounds were sound to sleep after waking me up a little past 7am to eat breakfast. With a forecast of 80° today before we are bombarded with thunderstorms tomorrow, I didn't hesitate putting on cargo shorts. Once I heard Stella shaking in the bedroom I knew our walk was just a few minutes away.

It felt warm outside with the old carport thermometer needle just past 50°. While Stella got her plan together I had already decided I would follow her today in whatever direction she took. She was going to be on her own with the whole field available. Totally unexpected, she started the walk in the normal way ... taking the path ... after a couple of days of needing verbal herding to get her to walk in that direction.

With that tall green grass, who could resist a little added breakfast food on top of her kibble a couple of hours before?

The past few days I had my hiking boots getting fully saturated from the heavy field dew. So this morning I slipped my North Face snow/rain boots over my low-cut summer socks. Just like Stella taking the normal path ... my boots didn't take on any water as the field had dried out along the path plus there wasn't any dew on the grass.

You can see the brush line getting green. While I was out mowing the other day I heard two of my neighbors doing the same thing and my next door neighbor mowed his yard as soon as he got home from work. I am anxious to see if this spring will be as wet as last year, where I only had a few days between rains to mow the fast growing yard. So far so good on the number of rain days.

Of course, just because it was a nice morning that does not mean that Heidi wakes up earlier and gets her day started. She will eventually walk out of the bedroom and start her stretching and move into the living room big leather chair sometime around 10am ... That will also be her norm during the hot summer months.

With a Cincinnati Reds game on tv at noon today, it will our normal time right after the game for the afternoon walk. Heidi will at least spend some time outside, whether she roams the yard or joins Stella and I for a little exercise. She enjoys time alone outside in the sun, just sitting there.

Even with all the freedom I was giving Stella for her walk, she didn't deviate too far from the normal path.

Like the other afternoon, for some reason she stopped out of nowhere and sat there. I have no idea what she heard, or saw ... maybe she was just in deep thought. With the pollen count increasing, even little bit, it's time for the daily wiping of Stella's eyes with a warm washcloth. I normally do that a couple of times per day for her and Heidi.

Right after I snapped that close up of her, she stood and leaned down on her front paws like she wanted to play then took off trotting away from me. Her and Sadie use to love wrestling along with running full speed a few years ago. Her running is a rare thing anymore.

I complained again to Chewy about how bad FedEx delivery was last month. I get Stella's glucosimine supplements from them. When I started last fall I'd get my shipment within two days. That gradually moved to five to seven days. So this morning I took a look at the tracking information and see that my shipment was picked up yesterday and will be delivered today. It will be interesting to see if the FedEx van pulls up the driveway to drop that small package off on my step.

Not a lot of eating today but a lot of data collection.

Close to getting back home and starting the day. The highlight of the day will be sitting inside watching the Reds baseball game. They are on a two game winning streak and could make it three today. That is quite a turnaround after starting the season 1-8.

She trotted a few times today but I was never able to catch her soon enough with the camera.

Not a lot going on as she entered the yard.

As usual, she walked right up next to the house as she finished her walk. You'll notice I have a clean car now. It was hard getting the dried bloodhound drool off the sides of it and the rear bumper. That stuff is harder to get off than tar or bugs.

Well I am headed to recycling.

A beautiful morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi's Short Workout

With 'March Madness' starting today there wasn't much going on around the homestead. I picked up my two books about a plant based diet from the library, plus another off the 'New' shelf. Heidi got in a short workout after her lunch by climbing the steps, dive bombing off the other side. She followed that up with some hill climbing, down the hill and a little trotting to the door.

That dirty bumper you see on the Mini Cooper is from Stella. She feels she either has to go for a ride all the time or inspect all groceries before they are unpacked and brought inside. That dried drool will be harder than hell to clean off.