Not Much Going On

The photos may show "not much going on" but when I think back to this past week, a lot of things did happen but not blog photo worthy. Where should I start? The "to do" list continues to have items checked off and a major project was finished this week. Finishing the repair of the lower living room windows and painting the frame. I installed the screens I repaired a few months ago and they look great with the new wood repair and paint job. I only wanted to see how it looked and still don't quite trust the dog (Walter) from tearing out the new screens while I am gone ... so they are stored in the garage. Plus when cleaning windows I see way too many jowl smudges on the windows from the hounds and dog.

The Sun Is Back

The weather channel on Tucson news last night said we had received 1.3" of rain and wind gusts as high as 53mph on Thursday and Friday. My friend in Phoenix sent me a live video of I-40 and I-17 closed due to blizzard conditions, her snowboarding plans in Flagstaff were cancelled. The news showed photos and interviews with owners that had large 5th wheels tipped over, trees blown down on top of houses ... so maybe what I witnessed the past few days wasn't the norm. It all came from that "bomb cyclone" off the coast of California. As you can see, none of that bothered Stella.

Whereas back in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, I could always tell when then winds were high up on hill because the old house had storm windows that would rattle. I could hear the tree limbs blowing and only hoped they stayed on the trees and not on my house. Here about all I could hear was air getting into the vents leading to the roof and making noise. Thursday night while out I had my first encounter with tumbleweed blowing in front of my car ... it was almost as big as the front end of the RAV4 as I dodged it. This is a small sample that blew over the  fence and in the yard.

I didn't have any plans of riding my bike outside on Friday. I had at least one football game I wanted to watch and after that I spent time on Grand Tursimo 6. Moving from GT5 I have to start over. Although I am at the Professional Level of driving on GT5 I have to start all over from the Novice Level with slower small cars, drivers test to obtain license and experience enough to be able to enter races. I am moving through the different levels fairly quick. The graphics with each new update is amazing.

By late afternoon the wind was slowing down. The skies were breaking up all the cloud cover. The mountains that were invisible the past few days were back on the horizon with a little more dusting of snow on top. Still all mountain roads were closed. The visitor centers were closed. Hwy 92 south of me was flooded as well as Hwy 90 heading east to Tombstone or Bisbee. I have a feeling again, that this storm was not the normal winter storm or weather.

I moved the trash can from the garage black outside since it was safe and would not be blowing down the street, although it is a large container furnished by the city. The patio chair and blanket were returned to the spot on the patio. Although windy, no danger of blowing around the yard banging against the concrete block fence like I witnessed on Thursday. The hounds slowly migrated around the yard, checking on the new scent.

What they found were a few spots of standing water and Stella couldn't figure out why that small bundle of tumbleweed was in one of her favorite spots to sleep. I felt like I wanted to ride for a short time but good weather has spoiled me in my short time here and I found it really hard to change into bike clothes that would keep me warm and dry ... I'll try it today when it's back in the 50's mid afternoon.

I forgot to mention when I bought the new iPad Pro the other day, it came with one year of Apple TV for free. I don't need the box or remote as I can see all the games and movies I want to watch on any Apple device. I might have to expand my electronic knowledge and check that out. My iMac has a really good quality picture when it comes to watching college football games live when I can't get the IU games on tv.

This weekend is big for College Football. Throw out all of the won and loss records for the teams because when they are playing their rivals, many of them in-state rivals, games get exciting and come with a few surprises. My first game starts at 10am today but Stella and I will be taking our first walk since last Tuesday. Currently she is asleep in the corner of the computer room so she might not be excited about that walk until she sees me putting on a jacket and grabbing her leash ... THEN she gets excited.

By sundown last night I was feeling pretty confident of the weather forecast. It was going to be back to at least 10 straight days of dry weather, some partly cloudy and temps eventually reaching into the 60's as daily highs. I plan to have a big week of bicycling with a goal to get in over 100 miles of riding from Monday - Sunday. The hip feels cold damp weather. I wonder if that is going to be an ongoing thing for the rest of my life? Otherwise it is getting stronger by the day and I catch myself doing more movements in a normal way.

The overnight temps were dropping to the low 30's. I wasn't taking any chances and left the heater on automatic with the thermostat set in the low 60s. Even with cold temps this house made of tile floors and stucco covered walls does not get as cold as my older house did back in 'the tropics'. I never heard the heater turn on during the night. The hounds are back to sleeping through the night so I am now the only one getting up during the dark hours. Stella will let me sleep until 6:22am, about sunrise, not because she needs or wants to go outside but because she wants to eat !!!!  I have never had a hound in 32 years that loves food as much as she does.

A new day is breaking down by Bisbee and across the Mexican border on the right side of the picture. It does the mind good to see sunshine skies instead of howling winds and rain.

I took all of the photos on Thursday with my Canon 9X but compared to the new iPhone 11 Pro Max ... there isn't one. The iPhone camera blows the Canon picture quality away. You can see the differences between the two pictures below.

Well I have to get going here. After three days of being cooped up in the house I am wanting to get outside for a walk this morning almost as bad as wanting to get on a bike and just cruise around the neighborhood or town. Lots of football today so I'll see if I fit in some bike riding for an hour or so in the afternoon. There's always tomorrow if I don't ride today.

An interesting tidbit for those that blog or are computer experts ... let me know what you think. A few weeks ago I moved my old domain name from my Wordpress blog that I was no longer using, back to this blog where it originated. I tested and made sure the free Blogger domain name would still lead to the blog when clicked or typed by readers. Those urls are linked. Yet after changing the blog to the domain name dot com, my blog traffic has decreased over 50%. Some of the readers I don't see nor hear from since the change a few weeks ago. Any ideas? Maybe I'll park the domain name at GoDaddy and return to the free Blogger domain name for this blog.

Weather is back to normal here in the 'Wild West'.

The Danger Zone

I hope I an not starting a new routine of waking up around 1:00am, wide awake and unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours later. Soon after waking up and seeing the reflection of the moon lighting up the bedroom the sound of coyotes filled the air. I wondered just how close they were because they sounded as if they were just on the other side of my fence. At that time of night you can get a lot of thinking done. There was nothing major on my mind but I did think of a few interesting topics.

I am what I consider in a danger zone now. I feel so good that more and more I am forgetting that I have a hip that is still healing and will not be finished for almost 50 more days. It's that kind of feeling where I might become complacent, not as focused on how I move my right leg which affects my hip. I still have to separate good pain and bad pain, although pain is almost a memory now. Soreness is more like it and I know I have a lot more ahead of me as I start an exercising program.

Saturday's morning sunshine is just peaking around the corner of the patio. It was a cool 48° and I may have looked strange wearing a sweatshirt and gym shorts, no shoes. Luckily I'm hidden when I am on my patio. It still beat the weather I would have felt this time last year with rain and temps in the 50s. Our day of course started like all the others only today is "Football Saturday", with games starting at 9:00am.

By the time I ground a bag of coffee and made myself a cup, the hounds were attempting for the second time today, getting their breakfast served. They did try as soon as we got up, a little past 5:30am but now was time. I grabbed "the grabber" and lowered their bowls of kibble to the floor.

Another sign that I am healing is that I can bend over probably more than I should and feel no pain or soreness. Yet I still put a hand on the wall to brace myself, lift my surgical side leg up so my hip stays at 180° as I bend over to pet Heidi or pick something off the floor. "The grabber" by the way can pick up a coffee bean off the floor, it's that good of a tool.

This is the mystery of the week. Every day or night when I see the blanket's corners folded like this, I straighten the blanket out flat. At first I thought the wind was whipping around the patio and making it turn up. Last night as I stood at the open window at 1:30am, there was zero wind and the whole SE Arizona area was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop on the desert floor.

I like thinking outside the box about stuff like this. It makes you wonder.

With a full stomach, Stella was ready to start another day. She wonders when we will be able to start walking again. I also have to do some testing myself to see if I can even walk a half mile. I have before but not that many times. I'll ask the doctor again on Tuesday when I can walk the bloodhound again. I can't wait to get back to that routine first thing in the morning ... things will seem more normal after we resume those walks.

Heidi spent a lot of time this morning exploring different parts of the yard. Yesterday she was laying in the sunshine on the patio with Stella. She is loving these lower temperatures and the high afternoon temps near 80s seems to agree with her.

All of these photos today are a mix between the iPhone 8+, the older Nikon D3200 and my new Nikon D3500.  I can tell the difference between cameras and my suspicion of years ago was true. It's only been a few hours but I am happy with my new purchase.

A thought I had last night at 1:00am ... does it do any good to take the Bayer Low Dose 81mg Aspirin? It was prescribed by the surgeon. I need to take it for 6 weeks after my surgery. With my AVS I am assuming I need to take it every day for the rest of my life. Yet, recently medical news was online stating they had found it didn't make that much difference for people with heart issues.

Which is it? A requirement or a take a chance and follow the most recent study?

Something else I was thinking about while I laid in bed wide awake ... a "plant based" diet. As you know I have tried different eating styles in the past five years and all of them making a positive difference for me. A friend in Bisbee changed to a plant based diet after his open heart surgery. I met another blogger last year that did the same thing, both people claiming it was the only diet to follow if you had heart issues.

While reading Facebook during this two hours of 'wide awakeness' I ran onto a blogger I use to follow that must do his writing on his Facebook page now. Years ago he was blogging about his dog Atticus. He was having some medical problem about the same time I stopped reading his blog. Well last night I see he is also on a plant based diet, taking less meds, seeing less doctors and has lost 140lbs.

Yet, just like the medical study on the benefits of taking low dose Bayer Aspirin, there are studies that says it makes no difference to the heart if you are eating plant based, Keto or Paleo. Most things I've read suggest the Mediterranean Diet and following 'moderation' when it comes to eating red meat or all that good fat ice cream.

So which is it? Follow your intuition, the latest medical study or the most consistent information?

After I made the big camera purchase last night, I wondered if I would have bought the new Apple Phone 11 Pro if I had the phone with me instead of leaving it home to take a video of Stella while I was gone. I will say that with my watch, my phone anymore is basically just a camera for low light conditions and close up, normal portrait type shots.

I can reply to text and email verbally on my watch. I can get the same GPS info on my watch and people tell me that the phone calls are more clearer than the phone, when using the watch. With the new Series 5 with the cellular feature, I usually leave my phone at home now when I am out and about.

I don't do it a lot because I don't trust myself, but I like the phone WITHOUT a case best of all. It's dangerous to do that because my cheap Speck case has saved my phone a few times when I dropped it on the title floor or on a concrete driveway or carport. It does happen for one reason or another, just not age related. Still, I like it without a case.

So as I operate this morning taking photos with the iPhone, adding what food I eat into the Cronometer app and checking mail ... the phone feels "new" without the case. The photos are sharp and clear ... all of this talks me out of going to Best Buy on Sunday (too much football to watch today) and trade the 8+ for the 11 Pro. No, I don't need it.

Such a change from 12 hours ago or a little more as Stella was seen on video trying to dig right though that door jam to get back inside the house. That is her normal position about every morning when I am out on the patio, just to let me know that she misses her walk.

No matter how much stuff she had damaged the past 4 years and 2 months, she is just a great hound. She has a unique personality that gives you a laugh a day and almost more than just one. She is laidback as long as I am home with her or she is with me in the car. She doesn't mind going to the vet, doesn't mind seeing new people or dogs in the neighborhood ... she is just a great bloodhound.

She catches up on her sleep when I spend the day watching football.

Heidi couldn't make up her mind this morning if she wanted to go back to bed on her dog bed or hang out with Stella and I. She made numerous trips to the bedroom, tried the computer room and numerous trips outside to stand and think. She likes the warm sunshine ... always has.

She is also a great hound. After 8 years I cannot remember one thing that she done that she shouldn't have. A perfect house dog. I still wonder what caused all the times she would be found in the animal shelter before GABR rescued her?

I have a neighbor a couple of houses down that is moving out. Stella was more than interested in all the different people pulling into his driveway or in front of his house. At first I thought he was having all of his friends stopping to help him move but found out later he and his wife were having a garage sale.

I've seen some serious yard sale buyers this morning. This people out west don't play around when they shop for the best deals. They are towing large trailers that show they have made other stops before here. Pickup trucks are packed and strapped down with more things than you can imagine. Just a little different than the yard sale buyers back in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

I told you that Heidi was moving around a lot this morning ... can't make up her mind where to finally lay down.

While the hounds enjoyed their day inside the confines of home today, I watched the IU game on my computer, taped the UW-Oregon game on tv to watch Sunday morning ... and was amazed that I am doing more activity than I have since my surgery. I drove downtown to pick up some center caps at Toyota for my new wheels ... no sign of soreness in my hip.

I'd like to drive or hike up to the live of the 'yellow'. That is something I could not capture standing on my patio until I tried the new 70-300mm lens.

I also took my longest walk yet this morning and did another at the halftime of the IU game. In total I had three walks that were longer than a half mile each time. I feel that I was more flexible today for the first time but still aware just how far I could bend over.

I even forgot to take my cane with me when I went to the Toyota Dealership. I took the cane with me on the three long walks but never needed to use it. I could feel my hip and upper thigh getting stronger with each walk. Still, in back of my mind I hear a little voice telling me to be careful and not blow this improvement by being too over confident.

With a stiff breeze throughout the day, the house stayed cool, and the hounds spent more time outside than they did inside. I was even able to walk to the mailbox and back where Stella never woke up and never knew that I was gone.

By late afternoon after seeing another one of those fantastic night photos taken by the new iPhone 11 Pro, my brain cells started scrambling and I was about to pull the trigger on purchasing the new phone. My 8+ is just a couple of months shy of being 2 years old. So this afternoon as I was walking laps around the inside of my yard between ballgames I took some photos with the 8+.

All of that vacant land is behind my fence and where I heard coyotes and the javalinas the other morning. I wonder how brown all of that will be during the winter months.

I took this while I was walking and didn't stop to take the photo. For some reason the Activity app on the phone was not synchronizing with my two different watches and wasn't recording all of my steps or walks today. So after a little searching on the internet I found I should get to a better location for GPS service. I carried the phone with me while I walked and eventually things started downloading.

I also noticed today while I did normal activity that my right leg was moving in a natural direction and sometime that included moving to the right at a sharper angle than it had since my surgery. What is mind boggling is just how good I feel compared to just a week ago when I was crawling into CVS to pick up the muscle relaxers.

I am anxious to see what the surgeon will suggest for my next phase of rehab. There will be some soreness involved but it will be the good kind as the muscles and tendons start getting stretch back to their normal positions. I'll be sore again as I get 'in shape' ...

It was really a good day in the 'hip department' today in the Wild West.

It Was A Day Of Improvement

I checked online to see if it was safe to take Cyclobenzaprine and Ibuprofen at the same time. I found my usual medical journals to confirm it would be okay. I didn't see why I couldn't since both do different things. Numerous studies had found combining the two had better results. Whereas if you take Advil and Aspirin after you have had  a heart attack or stroke, they have found that it decreases the effectiveness of the Aspirin. I decided to check when my time alerted me at 6 hours if I need more Cyclobenazprine.

While the hounds slept in the corner while I did the morning post, I wanted to see if the sun was up yet since it was a little past 6am. I could tell when I stood up at the chair that my lower back was much better, no signs of pain in my groin area and only the everyday soreness from the hip healing.

I opened the door and felt a rush of cold area that was hitting around 54°. It felt colder. It was nice to stand outside in the cool breeze taking some photos. I still had time to lay in bed for 45 minutes until the hounds wanted their breakfast. Football and rest were the only two goals today.

That cool breeze was pretty strong this time of day.

It was a little strange that the hounds had not followed me out to the patio. Normally they would be trying their best to get me to pour their kibble but so far this morning not a word from them.

In fact when I turned slowly to go back inside ... no hounds in view. That had to be a first.

Only as I laid down in bed did the hounds wake up and move into the bedroom. I thought I'd have about 45 minutes of rest before I needed to pour their breakfast kibble. Stella had other ideas. Like standing right by the side of the bed where she could make sure I would hear her whining or the wagging tail banging against the chest of drawers.

They win ... I got up. She was pretty proud of herself after she got me to feed them. They both took a short trip outside and during that time I washed both of their food dishes, which I do after every meal.  I saw in my email that my Amazon order for another pair of Russell Athletic gear gym shorts had been delivered in yesterday's mail. Would I be able to walk that far today? Would I need to?

Of the three seat cushions I have bought in the past 34 days, this one has turned out to be the most comfortable. I basically carry that with me when I am going to sit in a different chair in the computer room or at the laptop on the kitchen table.

One big difference from satellite tv service and cable, I have a lot more opportunities to stream ballgames or movies. I am not a big streaming fan because I like watching movies or ballgames on my large tv in the living room ... but today I was desparate. I knew before I moved here that I would only have one BTN channel and there would be times I would not see the IU games if they were being shown on the BTN Alternate channels. I had those with DishNetwork but not with Cox Cable.

So I did some online searching and figured out what I needed to do. Download the app for the phone but with the iMac I just needed to go to Foxsportsgo.com I had my IU game live on my iMac.

They show mostly food or automobile commercials during football games. You can see that Heidi has no interest in going to Wendy's to try all of those sandwiches. With that cool breeze blowing through the house from the direction of the patio, she had found the perfect place to sleep.

Stella must have smelled the sandwiches on tv but it wasn't long after that commercial was on, that she came wandering out from the computer room where I left her in a deep sleep. It's takes her a little while to decide what to do when she wakes up. She always looks confused when she gets up.

By mid-morning I was feeling better than I had just two days ago. The times I walked inside the house with the walker or the cane I did not feel any kind of pain in my groin area. The soreness on top of the thigh was hardly big enough to feel. I still did not feel as strong as I did on Thursday morning but felt much better than I did just 24 hours ago.

Stella likes to look out the front window to make sure her neighborhood is okay.

I didn't do a lot of walking but I did what I said I would not do. I sat in a chair while I watched the IU game on the computer. I DID get up during commercials and halftime. With the new seat cushion I could sit longer in the chair than I did yesterday.

By 12:30pm my lower back felt good, my right thigh was much better when I walked and I was almost back to the normal feeling of 'the rock' feeling in my hip, which feels like it's on the side of the hip. The times I walked inside the house to the kitchen, bedroom living room or patio I thought I could make it to the mailbox and back at a slower pace. I finished the walk at a 42 minute per mile pace which was about 10 minutes per mile slower than normal.

I had to go to the mailbox because I knew the small Amazon package would fit inside my narrow box in the mailbox cluster. They would stop mail delivery until that package was out of the way. Plus it included a new pair of gym shorts that are loose fitting.

As the day moved through college football games and more to watch started at 4:30pm, I drank a ton of ice water, took a siesta for about an hour and fed the hounds. As you can see once they get that afternoon meal, they too like to sleep.

I'd have to call today a success. Sore yes, stiff at the start or when I get out of a chair, yes ... but within a few steps I feel good. No lower back problems today, not a lot of pain if any in my hip and nothing in the groin area.

I will take another 'rest day' on Sunday, which means no walking outside around the fence line, no long walks to the mailbox, only to the kitchen, to the patio or back to the computer room. I am not sure I will need any muscle relaxers after the dose a little over 5 hours ago.

A good day here in the Wild West.