Rambling At -2°

With Heidi telling me not to wake her until late April, I decided for the first time this winter I would put on a pair of long johns even if I was staying inside the house all day. I didn't care. I wanted to feel warm, hot. I wanted to get to the point where I'd have to pull them off because "it's too hot to wear these" ... we'll see if that happens.

The hounds decided they would continue to prepare for the time change this Sunday morning at 2am by waking me up at 5am wanting breakfast. Heidi was even awake and helping Stella wake me up with loud basset hound whining, not quite a bay. My watch told me it was 4°, the "feels like" was -7° and the storm door was frozen to its door frame.

What a way to start the day.

Even with the heat on inside and most of my room thermometers telling me it was 65°- 68°, I still felt cold that time of day. At 5:15am getting my second cup of coffee I could see the neighbor to the south of me was warming up his truck and her car as they waited inside their house. I guess they don't have heated seats like my Mini does.  :)

With the hounds fed and back to a deep sleep 30 minutes after waking me up, I did my normal routine reading the internet, replying to a few comments on the blog, answering some texts and emails. I wasn't thrilled about another day being cooped up inside. Then I remembered last winter, when It was like this for over 30 straight days ... I wondered how do people in Minnesota put up with this kind of cold, especially since they experience colder weather than I have by 20-30 degrees.

From the time Stella walked out to the field to relieve herself and was standing at the door to be let back inside, she was outside only 1 minute 46 seconds beating yesterday's time. How's that for some aerobic exercise? I didn't have to remind her before going outside that we were not taking the morning walk. She figured that out on her own and I was happy I didn't have to go out in the field to get her.

At least it is bright and sunny just like Monday. The temps will crawl to the high 20's but it will take all day and maybe into the early evening to achieve that. When I looked at the "feels like" temperature for each hour it never climbed above -2° .... my day is cancelled !!

I did get a lot of reading done yesterday. I played a lot of games of Mahjong. I sat and wondered at times. Like ... if it is dumping snow in Arizona where they normally don't get much and tornadoes sweeping through the southeast and it's even colder the further north you get ... where does someone go to miss all of this weather? California? Down where the "OFM" is in the gulf of Texas? What about the southern tip of Florida?

I decided as I was taking off my down parka and commending Stella for making it back inside in record time that it might help to warm up if I could see some photos of summer. So I went into my Apple Photos program on my computer, typed "Jul" in my search block and had over 4,000 images to choose from, all the way back to the year 2003. I label each new photo of the day with the three-letter month abbreviation. Thus finding photos in my library by using Jul as the search topic.

Listed below are 20 some photos that may make you or me feel warmer, depending where you are located. These are not listed in any specific order but a few are from 2003 with Bertha and Arthur.

I'm going to ramble a little between all of these photos. There seems to be a lot going on in the world of politics, sports and weather. The 'dingbat AOC' had her second FEC complaint filed against her in the last two weeks. She is so busy trying to get to Trumps income taxes she forgot that someone would find out about that 1 Million dollars she has moved illegally from her campaign funds. You can read about that fabulous move here -- FEC Complaint.

No one has ever accused her of being the smartest puppy in the litter. In fact the founder of GreenPeace called her a pompous twit yesterday in the news

I think it's pretty cool that SpaceX Crew Dragon test passed with flying colors. SpaceX Crew Dragon

I really feel the longer the Democrats spend time investigating Trump, which they will until he is gone whether it be in 2019 or 2024, will only seal a 2020 win for him. Have any of you seen a viable Democratic candidate yet, that has put their hat in the ring? I had friend tell me the other day that his wild ass idea is Michelle Obama will announce she is running at the last-minute, thus reminding me just how quiet her husband has been in the past few months. (Firming up plans????)

I can confirm that I am not the winner of the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot and I have not hired a lawyer to take care of that for me. Although, it would be my luck that I'd misplace if not recycle my ticket as trash if I were to win a lottery such as that.   :)

Looking through the photos yesterday of the tornado that killed 23 in Alabama, it showed me we don't have a chance surviving one that strong. Houses were pulled completely off their foundations. So the theory of taking the hounds to the 'inner room' without windows, such as my bathroom ... wouldn't mean shit with 170mph winds.

I remember that June afternoon in 2008 when the local tv weatherman said "if you are in these locations take cover NOW!!!" I was trying to gather up a bloodhound and two basset hounds trying to convince them we were headed for the bathtub. We ended up having only straight line winds of 70-80mph and those were nothing to what Alabama experienced on Sunday. Sadie never liked gettng a bath and wasn't going near any kind of bath tub ... high winds or not.

I was disappointed to hear my favorite politician of all time (NOT), Hillary is NOT going to run in 2020. Also another favorite is not going to waste my bandwidth or tv time ... Eric Holder. In my book, I'll be blunt ... they are two pieces of shit.

This next bit of information I cannot even comprehend. A 100,000 in March rushing the border ???  WTF

I am in somewhat of a quandary today. It's freezing outside and I don't want to drive anywhere. At the same time I am getting down to the lower limits of food in the house. I stopped buying two weeks worth of food because before the more food I bought the more I would eat in a short period of time. The food never last two weeks. Sound familiar? Probably not.

So most of the food I have left I am not hungry for. LOL I don't want steamed broccoli or carrots with chicken breasts or baked salmon. I am still eating low-carbs so that bag of beans will not get cooked. I have cans of black beans and refried beans left for burritos but I don't have any salsa, cilantro, or even tortillas and too many carbs. I'm tired of salads. I'm out of fruit.

Where is that Amazon grocery delivery by drone when you need them?

Here is another story about the 'dingbat AOC'. I like to read different news from different website to get their point of view. I guess you could call that bipartisan reading.

Will Hillary ever shut her "pie hole" ???? Wisconsin Voters

Over the past three and a half years, Stella has chewed and/or eaten my Cincinnati Reds ball cap and my IU Football ball cap ... worn for yard work or taking a hound walk on a hot summer day or any day warmer than 40°. Will the Sacramento State Hornets hat survive another summer? It's been a while, maybe over a year since she last destroyed something of mine.

Heidi does enjoy sunbathing but she still isn't out of bed yet today.

This explains even more why Cohen is acting the way he has ... He Wanted A Pardon From Trump

To Stella there is nothing finer than a short afternoon nap under a hot sun, right after lunch and feeling those hot stones under her. Weeds and all, makes no difference.

It's great to see the NYC mayor and governor on their knees begging Amazon to come back. Did you ever picture things being so far out of control in the world of news in the US?

Stella is not the only one that loves ... LOVES ... a hot sun.

Do you know how many professional baseball players are still good when they are 39 years old ??? Not many if any at all. Just another example of why this is such a stupid contract. Yet they will justify it by saying Harper is not being paid for what he CAN do at 39 but what he HAS DONE in the past and all the BILLIONS of dollars our team will make in the next 13 years.

I'm still cold and it's 68° in my computer room.

Over 70% of voters polled the other day said they did not like someone over 77 years old running for president nor did they like anyone socialist. ... Bernie ?? "Can you hear me now?"

I cannot believe they finally finished the Highway 99 Tunnel in Seattle. That was only a dream when I lived in the area until 1994.

I remember those days of "office food". I weighed between 25-30 pounds more than I do now. During a work week from Monday to Friday it seemed to be a nonstop supply of food brought in for all to share from the co-workers kitchens. Of course Friday's the amount of food would top out and counter space was being cleared to hold all of it. EVERY MORNING there were the best donuts, bear claw's, breads, or pastries just like the photo in the article. Wash all of that down with Pepsi's after 10am (coffee before) and it's no wonder I weighed was much as I did.

Days like today would have been a line of crock-pots full of different kinds of chili, with everyone declaring theirs was the best. How much chili could one eat in the course of the day ... A LOT !!!!  :)

Ah yes ... dreaming of mowing the yard in July and cooling off as fast as possible afterward. I can almost smell the fresh-cut grass ... until I look out my window right now. DAMN is it cold !!!!!

Just one of the photos on Heidi's (Lucy) ad on the Basset Rescue site back in June 2011. I couldn't believe a basset as nice as she, was available for adoption.

As I finish this blog post I am not sure about today. Nothing sounds good enough to eat. No book sounds good enough to read. I don't want to sleep. I don't want to go outside. Even playing Mahjong seems over, at least for a few days. Both hounds are asleep mid-morning and hours away from lunch. Oh, I also don't want to turn on my tv and fill it up with political or news crap either. Movie?? Too early.

Still ... being retired is fantastic and every day is great here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Butterflies Fly Away & Come Back

While trying to edit the post with all the butterfly photos from a few days ago, I inadvertently deleted that page. So all of those butterflies in that photo have flown back to the blog. Enjoy ....

Hounds Start Day Late After The Rain

The day may have started a lot later than normal but as you can see we have another thunderstorm headed our way that is about 30 miles west of us while I start this post. When I woke up this morning to let the hounds outside and feed them breakfast, it was pouring  rain hard outside so I wasn't sure if the hounds would go out for their first trip of the day. Heidi stood by the door barking for food while the bloodhounds had to go bad enough they sprinted to and from the field. They were at the door waiting for me by the time the breakfast kibble had been poured.

What better time than to catch up on some sleep with it raining that hard. I was up past 2am just to start the latest macOS beta update. It will download and install after I click the button for it to start, so I no longer have to stay up through the night to click the different screens for it to continue. Between 2am to 8am the update can use that free batch of data HughesGen gives me every month. With the update for the iMac and my laptop computer, it took a little over 6Gb of data for both computers. Besides that it was a restless night of sleep filled with the strangest dreams. My Garmin VivaSmart watch told me I was awake for a total of 20 minutes during the night. That's a lot of tossing and turning.

I decided if I showed a dirty leather couch with Heidi sleeping once I could again. This is Heidi around 2:30pm today as the bloodhounds and I took our first walk. She never does a lot of tossing and turning when she sleeps, it's all solid sleep with a few dreams of running at times.

For some reason Stella was ready to get the walk started today. She didn't hesitate by sitting at the corner of the house nor did she try to fake me out by heading north instead of east with Sadie and I. She stepped onto the wet grass and marched toward the path, with a purpose, whatever that might be.

With a quick left turn she was heading for the center of the field behind the house looking for that perfect spot like she always does. It has made the walks much easier to do with her following the path and at times leading Sadie and I on the walk. Not a lot of verbal herding has been needed the past week and a half.

The rain did bring cooler temps but not that cool. It's cool enough that the AC does not turn on but hot enough outside that some AC would be nice. That strong wind from the southwest that the tree leaves are showing, is blowing warm air, not cool.

That is northeast up ahead with patches of blue sky. The sky behind us looks like rain is near. While I was waiting for Stella to get on the path, Sadie had already started her own walk. She was obviously happy we were walking when the chances looked slim earlier today.

Stella took her time following her nose through the field to the path but she made it eventually. She then walked as close to me as possible as I tried getting this photo and reminded me she was still in charge but walking on my foot. Nothing like feeling an 80# hound place their paw squarely in the middle of your boot.

Sadie was nose to the ground and out in front of us.

Interesting to see those small pieces of undercoat hair. Not only do I pull that out every day but I brush her daily just because the shedding she is still doing this summer. I've never seen it this bad and she is the only one shedding hair compared to Heidi and Stella.

She got a little trotting in today's walk but not the full speed sprints she normally does.

While I was taking photos of Sadie ... Stella was walking her pace without any stopping and getting way out in front of us.

Once Sadie saw that, she took off trotting to catch up, thinking that Stella must have found something she needed.

After more investigation she found out it was a false alarm.

I did not say a word to Stella but she decided it was time to head home. She started walking without stopping again. I'll say it again, she is the funniest hound I've had in 31 years.

Only one butterfly was seen this afternoon on the walk. As you can see a lot of their food source is used for the year. They might not be around much longer.

Stella walks too slow on the path for me to follow her and then when I stay in front of her she speeds up to be right on my heels, making it hard to take a picture of her.

They still find time to explore even when we get closer to the backyard. The walk is never officially over to them until they step in the backyard. If there is field under their paws, they think they can take all the time they want to complete the walk.

Once they heard that rumble of thunder, they became a little more motivated to get back inside. Rarely are they in front of me at this point of the walk.

This is for the Apple users that read the blog. With each new update even in the beta version I see small changes, all for the better usually. You can tell they are getting close to the official release in a month or two. The system runs faster, files open faster, photos upload to the blog and Flickr faster and the one obvious change I noticed today was the 'transparency' feature brightened things up since I use the 'dark' mode.

I had been using solid colors as my desktop on my iMac. It was between dark gray and black, so my email, iMessage and preference screens were darker than you see. Today I changed my iMac background to the one on the right under 'Dynamic Desktop'. Since the Dynamic Desktop changes colors automatically based on local time, my borders around these darker screens brightened.

Some of the sidebars that had been the same dark color as the menu's of preferences, Apple mail and iMessage changed to a lighter gray color that made things easier to read. Plus not all the fonts were bright white like they were after their last update. Due to privacy, I cannot do screen shots of those because I am not sure my friends would appreciate our conversations or emails to be shown on the blog, if you know what I mean.

For example that lighter gray color you see as a border on the screen shot above was the same color as the darker screen inside around the images and list before last night's update. All of the fonts were bright white. Subtle changes.

My Reds game turned ugly early last night, so I went from watching baseball to watching an old old movie that was being shown on HDnet channel. Some of you may remember this movie from the early 90's or late 80's ... called ... Officer and a Gentleman. I like watching it for the scenery. All very familiar to me because I lived there for ten years. The motel, the bars in the movie are in Port Townsend and the old abandon stone base is at Fort Ebey SP, just around the corner from where I lived. The ferry ride and landscape brought back a lot of good memories.

I'll try baseball again tonight as usual but my patience is running thin again with the Reds while they are in a losing streak since their All-Star Break. Before that break they had been the hottest team in baseball for the previous month. After a hard day all of the hounds will be doing their normal sleeping, with Sadie in her big leather chair with her head on the ottoman, Heidi next to me on the couch and Stella stretched out on the floor near any AC floor vent.

I hope to get back to my tasks at hand after the rains leave us.

A fast day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana today.