Back To Normal

As I saw a similar view from my bed Sunday morning I knew with a sunrise like that, would lead to a great day. At the time I just didn't know how nice of a day it would be. Within a minute I knew I'd not be able to enjoy much of the day outside. My hip and waistline felt almost like the first week after surgery. Only this time I knew the cause and once again I was the culprit. It all started Saturday morning, more stiff and sore than normal. I had done something Friday afternoon that I guess I shouldn't have.

There are some mountains somewhere in there.

The wheels I ordered for the FJ came in on Friday, or let me say three of the five ordered arrived on Friday. Due to a UPS screwup the other two wheels were delayed. I was feeling great on Friday so I didn't think anything of it when I decided to drag a box weighing 63 pounds from my front porch, across and down the driveway to the back of the FJ. I would then break the banding and load each box that contained the wheel into the cargo area of the FJ. These will be mounted downtown.

Taken within minutes of the first picture.

I bent my knees and lifted the ~20# boxes (3ea) into the back of the FJ. Hours later that night sitting on the couch watching the Pac12 Championship game I knew I may have screwed up. It was getting harder each time I stood from the couch and I started taking some Advil not for the pain but to reduce the swelling that had to going on inside my hip and lower back. This was the exact muscle I had stretched a few months ago by making a mistake on a day I was feeling great. I knew what the plan of attack would be to fix it. I also knew it was going to take a couple or three days to heal.

With more sunshine you can see the reflection on the mountains. This picture was also taken within minutes of the second picture, all in a sequence of four.

Saturday didn't help because I spent a lot of time sitting on a comfortable soft couch watching the SEC Championship game, a basketball game and then the B1G Championship game Saturday night. I made a point of standing every 15-20 minutes but all that did was tell me how sore I was.

While the hounds were sleeping the day away on Sunday, I applied one of those temporary therapeutic heat pads to my lower back not he right side. I was going to keep that on all day, at least for eight hours and I was also going to spend a lot of time in bed, just like I did a couple of months ago. It must of worked because the sleep app on my phone also records detailed times for any siesta taken. I was catching up on a lot of missed sleep from the past two night.

By Sunday night I took off the heat pad and moved to the ice packs I had used the first month of rehab. I placed one under my lower back and the other to the side of the hip. Within minutes I could feel more relief. Movement of my leg was returning to normal without stiffness or pain. I could feel the improvement throughout the night each time I got up. Not only do I get up different times in the middle of the night but Heidi will at least once. We are both getting older I guess.

I could tell Sunday night that Monday was going to be a day of rain. WeatherBug app forecast confirmed my suspicions.

To see if my new iPhone camera would work like the advertisements I saw on tv last month, I held the phone up in the air in a pitch black bedroom and aimed it where I thought Stella would be sleeping ... right next to my bed. This was the result although I had to hold the phone camera still a few seconds for the auto flash and shutter to work properly. Not bad for a room that was dark.

I woke up at 4am when Heidi woke me up with her dangling tags as she shook her head. She was headed to the patio door to go outside and I always plan to get their first. I quickly got out bed and felt all the pain and stiffness was gone from my hip and lower back. I felt normal again as I walked fast down the hallway to catch up with her.

What happens if I don't hear her? Two options, Stella either wakes me up by whining to tell me Heidi is gone or Heidi will lay down by the patio door until I get there. Most of the time I do here her and get up.

Sunday I pulled one of her favorite blankets out of the closet and put it in the corner of the room. It's winter and she likes to have blankets in different parts of the house for a nap. You can see she preferred the blanket to be out in the middle of the floor instead of the corner. I have just enough room to step around it to sit in my desk chair. As long as she is happy I am happy.

Monday morning's sunrise didn't have a lot of sunshine. That's fine as I needed another day of rest before getting back on the bicycle. I will have to watch it though as the last two wheels are arriving this afternoon. Since they came from the same warehouse in Colorado there were be two boxes banded together. If I can catch the UPS driver in time, I'll have him load them into the cargo area of the FJ.

Duluth Trading Co finally shipped my order without telling me. They also sent it 2nd Day Air but that does not mean it was delivered on a weekend. Still nice to get another flannel shirt and a pair of Keen shoes I wanted. Plus Heidi will have a strap that connects her collar to the seatbelt the next time she is riding in the passenger seat. She and Stella have not been on a road trip lately.

For not doing much on Monday things got busy enough that I didn't have time to blog last night. The hounds slept more than normal and I sat outside watching the clouds developing into some afternoon thunderstorms. I never heard thunder but saw rain, not heavy. My friend in Phoenix sent me a text mid-afternoon telling me it was HAILING ???? where she was. I glanced at my iPhone weather for Phoenix and it was showing me it was 61° ... how could it be? Well last night on Twitter I saw what looked like a blizzard north of Phoenix.

The hounds were a lot like I was yesterday. I felt like doing something but didn't know what. Heidi would go outside expecting hot sunshine to sleep under but it was cool and overcast. When she looked at me wondering what was up, I had no answers for her. She would turn and head back to her favorite bed back in the corner of the bedroom.

I anxiously awaited to see that brown truck show up in front of my house with UPS on the side. I really wanted to get my last two wheels early enough so I could get them mounted at one of three tire stores here in town. I played a lot of Mahjong and some PS4 ... I'm not a big gamer but like I said, Grand Turismo is a favorite of mine. Honestly with those two games I have felt it helps with hand and eye coordination and that can't be a bad thing as I get older.  (Or that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

Stella was like Heidi. She was begging to get outside and take that daily nap in the hot sunshine up near the back of the house on the warm stone yard but not today. The later the day got the grayer the sky got, plus it was a cool 50's in the temperature department. She too turned immediately and headed back into the house to one of her many sleeping spots.

Those last two pictures were taken within 30 seconds of each other.

It was past 3:00 pm and UPS had not arrived. Between 2-3pm is their normal time but with Christmas two weeks away they are a little busy right now. I was going to be surprised if my wheels showed up before 5:00 pm. So I went back outside and watched the storm clouds get a little more intense to the west and north of me. I was back in my weather pocket where I live, where it's normal for all the intense storms to be around me and rarely on me.

It rained solid but not hard. No lightning or thunder as my young neighbors stood out in the rain trimming back one of their overgrown shrubs. I couldn't tell from my vantage point but it looked like what they were cutting and loading in their truck could be used for making Christmas wreathes. Why else would they be in the rain trimming only one of many overgrown shrubs?

A little after 4:00pm the brown truck showed up and by the time they had the 63 pound box with two wheels out of their truck, I had the back door of the FJ open where he could put it without me even touching it. After my bad back episode over the weekend from dragging and lifting those wheels into the FJ, I wanted the least amount of interaction with them.

After making three calls I found that Big O Tires was open until 6:00 pm and was looking for some action. One part of their problem is having only one entry that does not go directly into their parking lot while the business sits on one of the busiest intersections in town. Now I know it doesn't mean much to 99.9% of you but I've always wanted my first FJ back ... it was a 2007 Voodoo Blue with black wheels and rock rails. It came that way back in May 2014.

So with rock rails installed last week and the wheels last night, I now have what I've wanted every since I traded it. Those are the exact model of wheel the other one had. I haven't made up my mind whether to sell the brand new OEM wheels I took off or keep them. I have no plans of selling or trading this FJ so there won't be a need to give a new owner the option of different wheels.

Here is my first FJ I speak of ... I'll have a better picture of the new setup later today since last night did not have the best lighting for that picture with it dark and raining lightly. Current picture added Tuesday at 3:35pm MT.

My plans are to ride my bike today outside for a short one hour ride just to loosen those muscles up in my lower back and hip. They both feel like they can handle a short ride on fairly flat roads. I will make it a point to keep my ride to that one hour and not ride longer just because I am feeling good those first 15-20 minutes.

I found out this morning, since I was up so early (4:10am) and thinking clearly, that while coffee is being made I have time to do some basic exercises for my hip. Two of them were given to me by the doctor back in October. I haven't done enough of them on a daily basis and that may be some of the problems I am having right now. From now on it will be a daily routine to start my day.

I see 10 days of sunshine in my forecast and that is always a good thing for my mental outlook. Expect some posts this week about some local hiking or road trips ... I am in the mood to get back out on the road again, with my camera(s) in hand.

An early morning blog post from the 'Wild West' this morning.

Both Hounds Get Their Walk Yesterday

For the first time in a couple of months, due to Stella's surgery and mine ... both Heidi and Stella got their walk in yesterday. Each hound was taken separately at different times of the day. Since it had been a couple of months since their last one, they both were asleep early and soundly ... they never woke up to beg for my food during the baseball game nor when I headed to bed. Photos below.

I followed the great news my doctor gave me on Tuesday and had my biggest day of activity. With my Apple watch recording every move and then synchronizing with the Activity app that comes with every iPhone ... I recorded 11,369 steps, a total of 4.6 miles with 3 different "workouts" where I click the green walking icon for a walk outside. 2 of those were the hound walks. Heidi got in .42 of a mile and Stella's normal path we always take was .69 of a mile.

At no time did I feel sore or tired ... I felt stronger than ever.

The one big thing I noticed after the doctor appointment on Tuesday where I was given the okay to bend more than 90°, knowing that stiffness and soreness I would feel in my hip when bending that far was a normal "get in shape" pain and not "you've damaged your new hip pain." With that I was able to sit in a chair and bend over far enough to put on my sock on the right food plus tie that shoe as tight as my left shoe. You don't realize how nice that was to do. I also sat both food dishes on the floor for the hounds without using "the grabber' but used the wall with one hand to balance myself.

Stella must have sensed I was feeling pretty good, it was soon after the temps crawled above 50° that she gave me that look to go walking. Yet I had a long list of errands to run around town. When you cannot drive and are getting things delivered by Amazon Prime and dog food by Chewy, you collect a lot of corrugated cardboard. That is the only kind of cardboard that is now recycled locally. It was good to see the city's set up for recycling drop off since they changed from curbside pickup in June. After seeing their set up I'll start recycling glass and #1&2 plastic again.

With the perfect weather, not getting really hot until mid to late afternoon, Heidi has never been more active. She patrols that stone yard like she did with the green grass in "the tropics", lays and sleeps in the sun on the patio and does laps around the edge of the fence with her nose to the ground. I was planning to give her a walk when I got back from errands but I was going to take her by herself.

I stopped by a locksmith, then the bike shop to pick up the bicycle they had been storing since my wreck. I had dropped it off the day before my wreck for them to change out a long stem for a shorter handlebar stem. They loaded the bike for me. After that it was a trip to the Animal Shelter ... dangerous for me. I wasn't going their to look or get a new dog but to drop off a brand new bag of Diamond Natural for Large Breeds. It didn't take more than 100# of food to see the hounds lose their shinny coats, started shedding and both were licking their paws.

I changed to that brand when I found out that Chewy did not sell Fromm dog food and I had to have my dog food delivered when I couldn't drive or lift heavy weight. Feeding  them a 33# bag of Fromm had them looking the best they had looked in a long time, no shedding and no licking their paws.

They were happy with the donation at the animal shelter. I had to take a look, see what kind of dogs they had. I stepped outside in a large area that was immaculate with the row kennels on each side. I didn't count how many there were but every kennel was filled and as soon as I was outside 99% of the dogs were barking at me. I walked by each kennel looking at each dog. All kinds of different mixed breeds and pure breds. Each had a card telling me who they were and how they arrived at the shelter. A few were the type that you wanted to rescue but I remembered what my friend told me a few years ago ... "Steve you cannot rescue every hound that needs rescued" ... so I continued my walk around the edge of the LARGE area and made it home "dog free."

I decided I'd try a test when I left. I let Heidi stay outside with Stella but I took my phone with me this time so there was no video recorded. I would be able to tell what Stella did by the time I returned a little over two hours later. It was in the low 70s mid-morning so they would be okay. A full water bowl was left but this time in the shade on the stone next to the fence instead of the patio. You wonder why??  :)

I expected the worse ... either a tunnel dug under the concrete blocks blocking the bottom of the gate, or my steel screen door tore into or bent, or my kitchen window that sits low having it's screen tore out. All repairable stuff if destroyed and if it happened it would not surprise me.

I had good news when I got home.

Normal night time position for Stella while I watch ballgames. That walk she had earlier put her in a deep sleep where she didn't move for the rest of the night that I was up.

I didn't see them standing at the gate when I pulled in. They were when I left. I glance in the living room window that lets me see the patio door from there. Neither hound was standing at the patio door. THAT was also a good sign. I quietly entered the house and walked to the back ... Heidi was asleep in the shade on the patio and Stella had cleared out all the stone for a cooler dirt floor to sleep on in the shade in the corner of the yard.

No scratches on the steel door nor any signs of that taking place on the patio floor. I even saw evidence Stella had slept out by back fence when there was shade, once again a spot where stone had been cleared to the dirt floor for cooler temps. I returned home a little after 11am with the temps already up to 77°. The gallon water bowl was completely empty but it was not tipped over this time.

Heidi normally wanders at night between her bed and the living room before we call it a day but last night she never came back to the living room once she head toward her bedroom. That walk was good for her. She didn't walk fast yesterday but her tail was up and wagging as we cruised down the sidewalk.

I almost forgot one of the fun things I did yesterday before coming home in the morning. I did my own grocery shopping instead of having them delivered. I didn't buy much and the heaviest bag was just two 1/2 gallons of Almond Milk. I did not go through self-checkout. I had no problem navigating the store without being ran into by someone's cart ... yes it has happened before.

Also after some lunch I put the hounds in the dark cool bedroom and took off downtown to the only place that sells Fromm Gold for Large Breeds dog food. I use to have to drive 50 miles round trip for this food, not anymore. Less than 2 miles each way. Furbabies Pet Bakery is only open noon-5pm but they have all the top brand names plus they have home made dog treats.

Right after I took this photo I asked Heidi if she wanted to go outside ... it's the nightly question I ask and she will trot to the patio door for her last pee of the day then go back to sleep.

But not last night ... she didn't even look at me. She just changed her sleeping position and went back to sleep. It wasn't until 2am when she woke me up to go outside.

Someone asked me the other day how I was able to feed the hounds without breaking the 90° bending rule. Before I let my dog sitter go, I had her move that case you see things sitting on from the garage to here. Just that added height put the food container high enough that I could get to the food out without bending over much. The bag was high enough for me to reach without bending over.

Once the bag was lighter I could pour it into the food storage container, all without bending over and breaking the 90° rule they gave me. I'll keep this setup a while longer until I can bend over without bracing myself with my opposite hand.

Yes, those stains you see on the trash can, and the case are nothing more than bloodhound drool and nose smudges from Stella smelling kibble and wanting kibble between meals. Since I am now allowed to bend over, today will be "clean up Stella's dried drool" from one end of the house to another. Luckily only a damp microfiber rag is needed to get that job finished.

 

While waiting to talk to Mike at M&M Cycling, to get my bike, I noticed a display of Hammer Nutrition. Most of the product was for bicyclists that race and for recovery after their training or racing but one product caught my eye. "Joint Health Support." I had nothing to lose and when I saw the words  "go to work immediately" I bought a bottle. I took their max dosage recommended yesterday twice and I have not taken it yet today ... I had ZERO soreness this morning after my biggest day of activity since my surgery. That's all I'll say about it. Pretty amazing.

While taking photos of Stella last night I focused in on a Menu I have sitting on the shelf under my small and soon to be replaced coffee table. It was a place I visited while on deployment in 1994. Great food, strong beer and owned by Australians. Mad Dogs in Kowloon Hong Kong. I have no idea if it is still there.

With me able to walk Stella again I am trying to remember if we walked before or after her breakfast. It was just after sunrise but now sunrise is a couple of hours later than before. Plus it's about 20° cooler now. If I wait until after 7am, we don't have our empty streets where she can trot on and explore at her leisure ... all within the 25ft retractable leash So we are kinda between a rock and a hard place to decide when to go. I do know for sure that our walk in the late afternoon when it was cooler with the wind but not the temp, was the wrong time to walk ... to many cars and noise.

Heidi's walk will be late morning like before.

The doctor told me that I would start experiencing more improvement than I had so far and based on all the activity I did yesterday and how I feel this morning, I'd have to agree. I've never felt better nor moved better and it's only 6:11am as I type that. I have some things to do at home today as far as cleaning the house but I hope to take a short trip for some hiking with my camera this afternoon.

I'll post today's photos later tonight. One thing about the new iPhone camera ... I love the photo quality. This morning I discovered the possible reason why they are so clear and sharp. The photos downloaded into my computer with .HEIC instead of .Jpg or .Jpeg. This explains it the best ... smaller file with better quality than a .jpg file .... yet when I moved them from my computer to the blog the transfer program turned them back into .jpg files so you should have no problem opening them.

It's going to be a good day in the Wild West today ... I feel a short roadtrip today with camera(s) in hand.

A Sunday Drive To Bisbee

While Stella spent most of "College Football Saturday" sleeping I also had a lot of time to think and read again about the new iPhone 11 Pro. I stood or took walks during commercials, halftimes and between games. I tried to listen to my body as the surgeon told me to do while hoping I wasn't doing too much. Out of all the activity and thinking on Saturday, one thing would not leave my thought process ... that stupid new phone. I follow MacRumors on Twitter and about the time I would shove the thought of buying that phone aside ... they would post another great photo taken by the 11 Pro.

Discussing the options and reasons with a friend, by 6:30pm I was on my way to Best Buy with only one thing I was going to do. I was buying the iPhone 11 Pro and trading in my 8+. It took longer for me to do the transaction but things had changed in the past two years since I bought the 8+ ... I had to stand there in the store and move all the data of the old phone to the new phone ... instead of coming home, plugging the new phone into my computer and restoring the data from my backup.

As I walked out of the store in the dark ... I took my first photo with the new phone, the FJ under the bright parking lot lights.

I quickly read through the changes with the new phone and how to do things, synchronized my two watches to the phone and by 11:00pm I was calling it a day. I did not dream about the phone, I didn't wake up at 1:00am like I had been doing nor did I hear Heidi's body shake telling me she wanted to go outside. By the time the sun rose I was still feeling good about the purchase the night before.

The house filled with cool 48° air and since we overslept past our normal wakeup time, Stella was ready to eat her breakfast as soon as we walked into the kitchen. The problem was, Heidi was still sound asleep and it was almost 6:30am.

This is the view as I step out on the patio.

Once Stella figured out she had to wait for breakfast, she joined me in the computer room and slept for almost an hour before I woke her and Heidi up to have their breakfast. I had spent most of my hour re-synchronizing one of my watches to the phone so the Activity would be tracked when I wore it.

After I returned home last night I caught the last 2 innings of the Yankees - Astro game. What a finish!!! The Yankees hit a HR in their last at bat to tie the game and Houston hit a HR to win the game. The Yankees and Dodgers won the most games this year and spent the most money on their rosters ... neither team made it to the World Series.

I tried the new feature in the camera by shooting 'outside the lines'. That is where the hounds eat twice per day and there has never been a fight over food since they day they started living together. Shooting "outside the lines" stretched them left to right.

I woke up this morning without any kind of pain or soreness. The feeling I call "the rock" was not in my hip this morning. I didn't know how to take all of this news so early in the day, so I did a few laps around the backyard.

After three laps of feeling pretty good, I walked through the house and headed out to the sidewalk with plans to walk to the end of the street and turn around. By the time I walked to the end of the street I felt so good that I decided I would see if I could walk the path that Stella and I use to take every morning up until April 25th.  By the time I would return to the house I had covered .67 mile.

Stella was standing by the front window when I returned. It was good that she did not know that I took the walk without her, but I found out that I was strong enough to make the complete walk but not really strong enough to walk with a 90 pound bloodhound. I have no idea when I will be able to take her but I think it will be sooner than later.

Like Heidi she likes to explore the yard. A little different than exploring that green grass back in the tropics.

While the hounds soaked up some early morning sunshine I was devising a plan. I wanted to drive the Mini Cooper today and hopefully take the Cinelli handlebar stem that I had swapped out on the LeMond bike down to the bike shop in Bisbee and donate it to his inventory of handlebar stems that he sells.

By the time I moved into the driver's seat of the Mini, I still had not felt one bit of soreness from Saturdays "most activity since the surgery."

Not even 11:00am on a Sunday and downtown Bisbee is packed with people. I slowly drove past the bike shop that you see on the right side, two buildings past the yellow building. I had a feeling I would be parking up the hill and around a curve near the same place I parked 43 days ago. I was close ... only three parking spaces away from where I parked before.

During the time I walked downhill I did not feel any discomfort in the hip. That was a good thing as once again I forgot to bring the cane with me. When I pay for things in this store with a credit card (so I can get a small percentage back in the future), it recognizes Bisbee Bicycle Brothel as "entertainment" not "shopping" like it does when I buy from the local bikeshops. Any ideas why?  HaHa

Like I have said before, it's more than just a bike shop but a collection of music for sale and a ton of great photos that have been framed from the small 4x6 to poster size. All of these old bicycles were made in Europe or Britain by famous builders and some have been raced in the Tour de France.

The owner and I had our normal long conversation on all kinds of topics. We only took breaks talking when he had customers come in to take a look. Not one of them was a bike fan or rider and even one lady thought she had walked into an antique shop. I guess in a way it is. Some of the bikes are older than I am.

It was a nice day to take a drive with the windows down, through the Mule Mountains and then brake off and on as we slid downhill into "old town" of Bisbee. I can usually tell right after I turn off Hwy 80 just how busy the town will be.

I stood most of the time or walked around while we talked. I explained to him that I felt better walking or standing rather than trying to sit in a chair that was too low for me nor did it have arms that I could use in helping me get back to my feet.

It was the first time I had taken a long drive in the car since my surgery. Also all of these photos were taken with the new iPhone 11 Pro. With all the pasta I ate after returning home, the carbs always makes me sleepy. It was a perfect time of day to get some rest for the hip and take a siesta.

It was another great day here in the Wild West.