High Winds Energize Stella

First of all I hope all of my readers from the state of Mississippi made it through "tornado alley" yesterday without any damages to your home. I cannot imagine sitting through those type of winds. We have had tornadoes pass through this area but in all directions around us, in past years. Yet at 5am this morning I was bolted awake with a loud sound as if my driveway was filled with idling cars, trucks and motorcycles. No it wasn't a dream. I got up to check outside from every side of the house. I was hearing sounds from my house I have never heard before.

So when Stella and I stepped outside this morning around 10am the winds were howling but with the new app suggested by Maricacb a few weeks ago showed me they were only 19mph from the west and we might have a burst up to 38mph at times.

From the first step she took in the field, Stella was energized. She hopped her first few steps and then took off trotting out in front of me. I continue to give her the joint supplements so it's possible she was just feeling really good this morning. She ran a few different times during the walk.

While putting on my down parka I had decided I would take the Nikon D3200 this morning but by the time I headed outside I had changed my mind. I have fallen in love with the Canon G9 X Mark II after all the frustration I had setting up the manual settings. A reminder, that is manual settings but still shoots pictures with auto focus.

It did not take long to get use to taking  a picture by looking at the monitor in back of the camera instead of through a viewfinder. The much smaller size still gave me room to use it with a light pair of North Face gloves on. I'll post a review of that camera sometime today. I have it written but want to review it and add anything new I have found the past month.

As you can see Stella was pretty far out in front. She wasn't exploring scent this morning nor was she searching out and eating deer scat. She seemed to be leaning into the wind as she walked and trotted, which was coming from her left side.

This is looking back in the direction of the high cold winds. It's the Southwest and the normal direction that gives me most of my winds, big or small.  Like I have said a few times before, from my past, I am always concerned about those three Sycamore trees on the left side of the house.  In 2008 with straight line winds I had two Sycamore trees that size pulled out of the ground and blown down parallel to the house, covering the front yard.

This isn't a real good picture but I was trying to capture the blowing grass to show how strong the wind was. In between photos, the grass was almost bent over ground level before rising up to the level you see in the picture.

I barely caught Stella trotting. She did a lot of that this morning.

Again, I barely caught her ... I turned and she was almost past me.

You can see by her ears the wind is even stronger as we were at the back of the field. With all of that open space, the wind was howling, and very loud.

At times I will find those grocery store plastic bags blowing in the yard or this field. I always grab them, put them in my pocket and throw them in the recycling bin when I get home. This looked a little different from a shopping bag. I caught glimpses of a bright reflection as the wind moved it.

It looks like someone lost their Valentine balloon.

When I downloaded this picture it sure did bring back memories of a picture I took of Bertha in 2002. I was able to get that date from Bertha's picture file information. 17 years ago already, hard to believe how fast time passes.

I think Stella was as anxious as I was to get back home. It was freezing cold and we would be walking directly into the wind all the way home.

This picture may give you a better idea just how strong the wind was this morning.

Yet, she strolled through the walk as usual with the breeze blowing her ears.

I like to see her hopping and running by herself. In fact she tried to get me to play, which I did, but was unable to capture that with the camera. Did the high winds really have that kind of effect on Stella?

After our walk I did walk around the yard to see if there were any large tree limbs blown down last night. There was really not many more than from normal wind activity and none of the limbs were very large.

It was good to see all my roof shingles were still in place. Of course if had some wind damage I could file an insurance claim, pay my deductible and get a new roof put on. If nothing happened last night, it looks like I will be paying the full price for that roof when I decide to replace it.

It was just a fast trip outside after lunch. Still very windy and cold and neither hound was excited about staying outside. By the time I returned from the mailbox, they were heading for the door.

Heidi spent her afternoon rotating from this position on the couch, then running across the living room and jumping up in the big leather chair where one of her many blankets are located. That spot is only for sleeping, which she does quite well.

By late afternoon Stella was at the door wanting out, so I decided why not ... let's take a walk.

As you can see it was still quite windy.

With an early announcement of the new China Trade Deal, it will be interesting to see this spring how many of the fields in this area plant soybeans instead of corn. There are some amazing annual sales numbers for soybeans, corn and wheat if that deal goes through. I have no doubt it will. It's good to hear just how much it will help the farmers. I'll keep an eye out for which fields plant soybeans. They normally rotate between soybeans and corn each year but I have a feeling most of the fields will be soybeans.

My little Apple app 'Reminder' told me this morning it was time to download my annual credit reports from the three reporting agencies. I have all three of them scattered throughout the year, every four months. Today was time for the TransUnion report. It was good to see nothing out of the ordinary had taken place as well as seeing what few monthly payments I make were being recorded accurately. I use Annual Credit Report.

Hauwei's Mate X foldable phone is pretty amazing. I am pretty sure, in fact I am positive I will not spend the $2,600 to buy one once it is on the market. It's not only the price but I don't trust Hauwei as a company based on their past. I may be paranoid again but I have no doubt they have inserted tracking chips in their phones for the Chinese government.

Again, it's not that I have anything information they need or want ... it's the principal of them following me by a phone. Sure there are chips made in China for my Apple iPhone but I trust Apple as a company. When they said nothing like that had happened in their China facilities I believed them. Later it was proven to be true by an independent inspector.

The past week Firefox kept crashing during normal internet activity. I would send a report to them each time it happened. By Saturday I was tired of it and went back to Google Chrome after trying Safari on my iMac. Safari was just too slow.

I have started a 30-day journal about my change to the Keto Diet. Each day I am starting each post with total calories - carbs - proteins - fats in grams. I will weigh myself once per week, every Saturday morning. I will post that journal here for anyone interested, on March 24th. I plan to stick to it for 30 days no matter what. So far so good, low carbs and I have not been hungry all day.

This morning was my 2nd day in a row of drinking black coffee, although on my first cup this morning I added a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. It tasted just like it would if you bought a latte without any sugar, vanilla or cinnamon at a Starbuck's store. One thing I have noticed after my first 24 hours of a strict diet ... I don't feel bloated and my stomach is smaller. After only 24 hours !!!!

After that initial excitement a few weeks ago for the new AAF Football League, I have not tuned in to watch a game. Maybe even as a football addict I need a break from any kind of football to prepare for next season, which starts in August for college.

Manny Machado finally signed for 10-years, $300 MILLION the other day in MLB. Since Bryce Harper is a better player it looks like he may get what he wanted or at least more than Machado signed for. Harper wants to be the first $400 Million professional player in any sport. As a sports fan .... I say that is ridiculous.

The MLB Players Union President is already talking about a players strike when their CBA expires in 2022. The last players strike was in 1994. I wasn't around then since I was floating around on deployment on the USS Vinson, an aircraft carrier. I will say if they do strike in 2022 that will put me one step closer to pulling the plug on tv. I am almost there now.

High winds, sunny skies here today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Another Year Ends With RAIN

It's pretty amazing to look back through the blog to previous years, the exact date, to see how things change within that 12 month period. I can also search certain dates in my large Photos Library on my computer and see the changes all on one screen. It wasn't until I looked back in the older blog to see that last year it was -1° with a windchill of -9°. Consequently the hound walks were canceled for the day.

Then the foggy brain cells of mine remembered last year. The coldest winter in history here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. For over a month from December 15th to January 15th it never was warmer than 32° and many of those 30 days had high temps of single digits ... some below zero.

I started this post this morning with on the first two photos of Stella. It has been raining all night. Add all of that water to the saturated field, it was not walkable. Stella knew it before she stepped off the carport. She stood listening to the rain drops that were falling from the tips of the tree limbs, but it wasn't raining. She knew we were not walking at 8am. It was too dark, much darker than those two photos show. She stood in the yard a little confused.

Heidi didn't think it was that bad by lunch time, as she snuck around the corner of the house. It was warm enough to be above her threshold but she didn't stay outside long.

After raining all morning it didn't look bad for standing water. Reinstalling a new drainage system is the first thing on the list for a March/April time. It's old and obviously not working as good as it use to.

Early afternoon the winds picked up as predicted and rain was blowing from the west

About the time I thought it was over, I had a "Weather Advisory" hit my inbox, telling me high winds are scheduled for later this afternoon or early evening. Will those 40mph - 60mph winds disturb my tv satellite signal while I try to watch two good football games?

A little after 2pm the lights flickered, the internet lost service as well as my tv signal, with it raining so hard I couldn't see outside. When you see the amount of standing water you will not believe that short burst of rain was less than 20 minutes long.

Stella doesn't like to walk through water. Just to the left of those posts is her way outside. She snuck around the car thinking she could bypass the large puddle

She stood and thought of a plan. She had gone outside this morning to dump her tanks but likes to always go out after lunch. Walks were cancelled today so she knew she would not be able to get to the field. She doesn't like getting her feet wet.

Not until I cleared all of the overgrown brush in this area a few years ago, did I have that water path down the center of the yard. In fact with all the heavy brush, I never saw standing water of any kind in that area.

When the neighbor's culvert is flooded, that's a sign of a lot of rain water. Before December 1st we were 10" above our annual average of 42". We have had three major rain storms this month.

As Stella walked along side the car ... she saw more flooding ... she was stopped and would not go any further.

Sniffing the air, she didn't see any way nor smell any way of getting outside into the field or yard. She slowly turned and headed back inside to wait for a try later on.

We decided to "button down the hatches" and prepare for high winds. With the ground so saturated I am never a fan of high winds. In 2008 with more rain than what we have now, straight line winds pulled every tree out of 80' of bank, landing those trees parallel to the house. The closest tree was 8' from the front door and the front yard was covered with fallen trees.

I hope the winds don't disturb my satellite signal. I'll be watching the Michigan State - Oregon game at 5pm and Northwestern - Utah game at 7pm ... right during range of time for the high winds warning.

62° today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Happy New Year !!!!