The Hounds Check Out Rain Except Heidi

All of that nice weather I've been bragging about has left again. At least it's not cold and the rain is suppose to stop by 1pm today. That will give me some time to work on a computer mistake I made yesterday. Nothing drastic, nothing that crashes my computer. We took off this morning in what looked like rain but looking through my binoculars standing in the kitchen, I did not see any rain coming down through the Sycamore tree. They hounds of course were happy ... they don't care about weather, they just want to walk.

Sadie took off sprinting while Stella had some fresh wet tall grass to supplement her morning kibble. After every rain I guess the grass tastes that much better to her. 

Once she saw that Sadie had found something she took off sprinting ... no way was she going to miss out on something Sadie had.

I was dressed for light rain, heavy rain or no rain ... so I walked my pace, they walked theirs.

I heard Stella snorting while her nose inspected the fresh scents.

Still a little color from the fall hanging around.

With me taking pictures and obviously not walking fast enough for Sadie, she had other plans and the scent she was on was all she was focused on. She sprinted around the corner with her nose to the ground, running out of sight.

I called Stella's name loudly to see if she would come running and join us ... LOL ... what do you think of her response? the picture after this one was taken within seconds of her looking at me.

That's fine, Sadie and I could continue on ... these seems to be the norm anymore for our 1st walks of the day. In the afternoon walks Stella is right there beside me without any words spoken, even during the times I don't have her on the 25' retractable leash.

I am assuming these are very very young tree saplings? Am I right?

I mentioned the other day, maybe yesterday's post that I had moved all of my spreadsheets back to Excel. They say that memory is the first to go as you get older and that proved to be true numerous times yesterday. While I was looking for a solution to my other macOS problem that was self induced, I was reminded why I moved all those spreadsheets to Numbers in the first place a month or two ago.

I have Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. Since I really only use Excel in that program and really just design basic spreadsheets for my personal use I have no reason to spend $150 for their 2016 version. Especially when Apple Numbers gives me what I need and the only problem is I have not learned all the ways to do things differently compared to Excel.

It will take me less than an hour to study what I am having a problem with and once that is figured out, then Numbers will be perfect for what I want. The reason I switched a month or so ago, is the new Apple macOS is not going to support the older 2011 version of Microsoft Windows. In fact Microsoft no longer supports it and updates will not be sent to that version.

Currently my spreadsheets are working but I didn't want to take the chance to lose them due to macOS finally realizing that I was still using 2011 version of Office and then not give me the ability to open them. That has already happened to many users.

So I changed all of them back to Apple Numbers late last night (early this morning) in a very short period of time.

The biggest 'senior moment' came yesterday afternoon where for some strange unknown reason ... I decided to leave the Apple Beta Program and download the latest public release of macOS High Sierra over the top of a more current version in the Beta Program.

No big deal. After a couple of hours it took to download and install my computer worked perfectly without a hitch ... and still does. EXCEPT I forgot something very important .... My 330Gb file called "photos.library" would not load with the new public release of the macOS High Sierra because the Beta version is always going to be a newer version.

My only choice was to start a new file for my photos. That is also not a problem. I know a few people that have different photo library files on their computer they work with daily, but in my case until the macOS is updated in a few months I have no way to access those 100,000's of photos on my computer, except to copy that file to my external drive and plug that external drive into my laptop which is still running the beta version of the operating system.

I wasn't in a panic. I haven't lost those photos. The file is still there and is also backed up. I also have all them backed up online in Flickr, a free TB of storage in original file size. So I joined the Beta Program again with a few taps on my mouse pad but didn't get the screen to re-download the beta version of the macOS.

I dug around online and found a different way to get that page of download links. An hour and half later when the file had been downloaded, it stopped before it installed the program. It didn't show up anywhere in my files. So back to the mac forum to see what to do. Others had similar problems.

So the rain has come at the right time. I really do enjoy solving computer problems like this and will spend this morning looking for more ways to fix my problem. Once I can get the Beta version of the operating system installed, my large photo file will be available again.

In the meantime as a temporary fix ... I'll continue to operate as normal on the public released operating system and keep adding photos to my 'new' photos library file ... then import from that file later on when my large file is available again.

Yet, those two examples with the photo mix up and forgetting about why I moved my spreadsheets shows that as you get older you have to be on your toes when it comes to making decisions on a computer. Memory, memory, memory.

An online friend that reads the blog sent me something to check out for my slow Safari problem. Once I went into preferences and unchecked the Apple Pay box ... Safari was back to being faster than fast (thank you Mary) ... thus it is back to being my default browser. It does not let Facebook, Twitter, and all my Sports sites to play their videos automatically. I like videos but I want to be the one to decide what I want to watch not the computer gods.

Once again this morning I told Sadie to "go find Stella" ... she ran right to her, directly in front of us. Needless to say, Stella didn't get in her large number of steps in this morning but she doesn't count them and does not wear a Garmin watch or FitBit to track them. She is just Stella ... in her own little world ... that likes to sleep behind my computer desk chair as I type blog posts everyday.

We were almost finished with the walk when I thought I heard drops of rain hitting my light rain jacket. It was light enough that I really couldn't tell but it was good that I convinced Stella to at least head our direction with Sadie and I.

She acted busy and ignored me of course until that rain became a sprinkle ... that moved her from head down in the tall grass to a slow paced walk. I wasn't going to wait any longer because it was starting to rain harder ... so I ran to the house with the camera facing down in my hand and Sadie running right beside me.

By the time we got to the carport Stella had decided it was raining harder and she never likes to be in the rain ... she picked up her speed to somewhere between a fast trot and a slow run. But that's just Stella ... one of the most hilarious personalities in a hound that I have had in 30 years. There isn't a day she doesn't have me laughing about something.

With her sprinter speed, she brushed by me hitting the side of my knee as she ran to the door with plans to get inside before Sadie did. Everything is competitive between those two.

The rain sounded harder then it shows on my cap. You don't see many ball caps that say Sacramento State Hornets back here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

So a little rain, some online research to fix my self induced computer problem and ..... my interest has been tweaked into looking more into the specs of those new iPhones ... Verizon told me yesterday that I could get a new phone and get paid $197 for my 6s after trading it in for the upgraded phone. I don't need one but why not ... ???  LOL

It's still a nice day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana even with a little precipitation.

Some Saturday Computer Rambling

It was nice to finally have some sunshine Friday afternoon. It wasn't hot but bright. Heidi even took the long way back to the house after an after lunch break outside.
By the time she walked up the driveway from the middle of the yard, she decided the best place to be was back under the blankets, rain or no rain.

She camped out in Sadie's chair for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The cooler temps didn't stop Sadie though. She knew the rain had stopped and with a little sunshine there had to be a chance for a walk, at least in her mind. She surveyed the property line for any new scents after the rain, hoping to see me head to the field with my camera in hand.

But it wasn't going to happen. Even in the backyard, water was coming up the sides of my shoes when walking through the grass. Did you notice Sadie's ear flipped up in the picture above? I did not until I loaded it into the blog.

Stella could tell from a distance that she wasn't going to get her paws wet and was more interested in returning inside, beg for some of my dinner and prepare to watch (sleep) some Reds baseball.

By 6pm you would have thought we had moved to some lakefront property as the winds picked up and all of that water was showing some small wave movement. I could tell it was starting to recede ... maybe not.

The 75+ year old fence post made it through all of the rain and high winds. It is much more stable and stronger than my mailbox pole that the state highway department moved for me when they repaved the highway in 2006. I could also see some of my new grass growing on the left side of the post along the bank.

More rain was expected, so we woke up fairly late with a light rain this morning. It must have started after 3am because it wasn't raining when I went to bed. I still think I see some of that water draining out of the field.

Sadie gave the wet field a detailed inspection when she got up. There has been a lot of growth after all the rain but this portion of the field is the tallest grass.

She tried to get Stella to move and talk me into walking. It wasn't quite noon when the rain stopped and it looks like we should have at least through Monday night before there is a chance for more rain. There's enough time for that weather forecast to change.

Heidi wasn't out long and refused to walk in the wet grass. She took a few steps in it to relieve herself but jumped back on the mulch to walk behind the yews. She rarely likes posing for pictures.

She and Stella woke up this morning with some gunk around their eyelids. Wunderground shows the allergies are high today, my sinuses agreed.

Tall wet grass must taste good after a lot of rain. Stella couldn't stop eating grass and walked back inside with a few strands of the green stuff hanging from her jowls. Are her ribs starting to fade away?

I thought I'd check and make sure before canceling today's walk. I looked at the edge of the field, on the path next to the yard ... If it is this wet at the low point of the field then there is a lot of standing water the further into the field we'd go. Umpire's decision ... no walk today.

Maybe the sun can dry this out within the next 4-5 hours, we will check back then. It does not look hopeful though.

Sadie lives to walk. She wasn't too happy about today's cancellation. It's been 3 days since her last walk in the field. While I was on the roof yesterday afternoon she took off and I saw her almost at the first corner (turn) of the walk ... just stepping into the woods. Would that count as a walk?

Stella does not like to get her paws wet. You can see she is not that happy walking back to the house ... or was it because I called her to come inside. Yet yesterday while I was on the roof cleaning the gutter out, she wandered back to the neighbors drainage ditch. That sent me over the edge of insanity when I saw her. Too close to the highway, I wasn't a happy camper.

Here are some pictures of the hounds watching baseball on tv at night. Normally Sadie is in her chair with the ottoman but Heidi had taken that spot and wasn't moving. So she joined Stella on the couch next to me.

As the game went further along, they both gradually moved in their sleep to gain a little more space to sleep while I was being pushed toward the arm of the couch with barely enough room to sit. This is a nightly routine for them whether I am there watching tv or back in another room on my computer.

These last three pictures were taken with the iPhone 6s camera.

With the weather the way it was the last couple of days I've spent a lot of time on the computer trying to find out why my computer is not operating as fast as it use to before the crash a few days ago. My internet connection is still faster than ever, testing at 48Mbps downloads and over 5.5Mbps uploads, so it's not that.

I usually find a lot of good information concerning Apple computers over at the MacRumors Forum. I did this time also. It's always the place I go before I download any kind of software or apps. I also check out the CNET Reviews before adding anything to my hard drive.

Through the searches I was doing on Google, looking for answers or ideas on fixing that "slowness" that has gripped my restored hard drive, I ran onto another great site that has so many good articles, you cannot stop reading them. This place is good for Window PCs and Apple computers. Click here to see the site called MakeUseOf for some great information.

{Note: As an example of my newest computer issue I will discuss in a few sentences below ... at this point right before "the site .... " I clicked my curser there to add the website name. That froze my computer until I got a message that Blogger was 'not responding'}

Neither of those links are affiliate links. I copied the link for Macs but you can see PC drop down menu at the top of the page along with some other categories.

Even though my computer is currently frustrating at times, with the freezes and hangups doing just some simple tasks ... I like researching stuff like this and seeing if I can find a fix that works plus learning new tips and tricks for normal computer use along the way.

I've tried all three browsers (Firefox, Chrome & Safari) the past 24-36 hours. I always try to use Safari as my default browser but I always come back to Google Chrome. I don't see much difference in battery use between the three but I do see Chrome being faster and using less data to do normal internet surfing than the other two browsers. All three browsers were freezing at times ... but that might have been a weather thing since it hasn't been bad today.

During all the rain I lost my internet signal just once and only long enough for the house power to go off and right back on. Even with 800' visibility with storm clouds, my internet signal was never affected.

I did take a break from the computer yesterday afternoon and pulled my ladder out of the shed and got up on the roof. I wanted to clear the blockage on the front gutter as well as pick up all the smaller twigs laying on the roof from the high winds on Thursday night.

I needed to repair my downspout on the north side of the house right next to both satellite dishes. The wind was so powerful during the night on Thursday it not only pulled the gutter downspout out where it is mounted on the side of the house but also at the point it connects to the gutter ... taking the screw with it.

When I saw yesterday afternoon how that was hanging over my internet satellite dish, no wonder all three browsers were freezing even though I never lost signal. Who knows, maybe that wasn't it. It wasn't touching the dish in anyway but it was in between the transponder and dish.

My computer problem since I restored it after the crash has been software issues. Like clicking the button here on Blogger to upload photos ... click it ... takes forever to move.

Click on a cell on an excel spreadsheet, computer freezes. In Windows you would get the hourglass, on Apple we get a spinning beach ball.

I do run the Activity Monitor all the time so I can see it on my 2nd monitor, to track data and any sudden unexpected data surges. With a monthly data allowance you have to do that. On that same screen I can also check the memory being used or what percent of the CPU is being used by different programs.

That is where I saw it really did not make much difference in which browser I used.

I ran a free app today called Omni Disc Sweeper. It will show every file on your computer, categorized and hopefully tell you where you have files you can delete to free up hard drive space. Remember I bought this iMac in 2007 and the hard drive is only 500Gb.

Side note ... I remember in 1995 when I was thrilled to buy a new computer that had a hard drive with 350 Mb's .... megabytes. We wondered then what would we ever do with so much space on a hard drive. LOL

It will be 7 years of use this October for my iMac and I have only used 299Gb of the hard drive. The funny thing is, 252 of that 299 is nothing but picture files. I did not see any 'dead' files just laying around that I could delete.

So, since I do enjoy 'playing around' with stuff like this ... I am seriously thinking of doing a clean install of the OS, then ... restore my files from my back up on Time Machine. The difference is, the other night I only did a restore from that back up and the OS worked after that, it booted up.

I ran disk utilities again last night after 2am, and it found nothing needing repaired on my hard drive. Yet a 'clean' install of the OS gets rid of any hidden lingering issues ... sometimes.

If I decide to do that right after this post, it will take some time but maybe only a few hours. I noticed the other night it loaded my photo library only 45 minutes after I went to bed with the restore working on it's own.

It's times like these it's good to have not only everything backed up on an external drive but also a second computer, a laptop.

Is doing a clean install of the operating system just something to do while I am stuck inside or will it fix those small issues that have been popping up? Or, are these occasional freezes a sign that my hard drive is getting ready to die soon due to age and use?

With that last possibility, yes, I have looked at new iMacs to buy as a replacement. But, I've also been looking at cars on cars dot com also. LOL (That has to be being bored in bad weather)

No matter what, the rain has stopped and the sunshine is out ... that is always a good thing here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A New Book & A New Mac OS

I was up until 4am last night but it was all for good reasons. Sadie was sleeping in her "big chair" in the living room, Heidi was on the right side of the couch while Stella had her back up against the side of the kitchen island on the carpet side of the room.

As you remember I get free data after midnight so that is when I do any downloads and especially downloads that are large, like a new Operating System for Macs. It was over 4GB's and was noted it would take about 1 hour.

I knew from previous OS changes it was going to be at least 3 hours and probably 4 hours by the time it was installed and running. Toward the end you have to be around to log in, using a password, hit a few 'continue' buttons ... so going to bed while it downloaded and installed was not an option. I had other things to do during those 4 hours though. Nightly after midnight I will uploaded all the photos I take that day very easily from my computer hard drive to Google Photos AND Flickr. I can organize them into their specific alums on both programs ... everything done within 20 minutes.

So what about the other 3 hours ???  How about a new book from Chinle over at The Spotted Dog Ranch. This was #7 in the Bud Shumway series and although I have just started I can see it's another great mystery. I was hesitant in buying it in the middle of the night (2:30am)  because in the past I will read them nonstop not caring what the time of day or night it was. But ... I bit the bullet, bought it on Amazon and had it in my Kindle reader and on all my devices after a short synch.

By the time I hit the bed at 4am, the new Mac OS system was working great with some fantastic new features and Chinle's book was hard to turn off. I'll finish it sometime today or tonight. The hounds still had their breakfast kibble served at 8am ... although they will not whine for it. They sleep as long as I do.

By 1pm we were ready for the mid-day walk ... another beautiful day here in 'the tropics'.

Sadie and Stella might start the walk out together, but it will not be long before they follow their own noses and head different directions. Today I decided I'd be a friend and let them roam on their own.

It didn't take long for each hound to take advantage. By the time I got to the first turn, NEITHER hound was close to me.

Sadie never likes to be left behind, so she sprinted to catch up to me.

When I asked her "where's Stella" ... she looked around in all directions, but Stella was nowhere to be seen.

The field continues to change each day as we move close to October already ... hard to believe how fast September is moving.

Sadie and I were walking along the back edge of the field heading north, not quit at the 'halfway' point ... looking back into the field ... no sign of Stella.

Every corn field I look at in a 40 mile radius shows the corn may be picked a little earlier this year. I'll be taking some photos of the fields at least across the highway ... some farmers have bought some new equipment.

As Sadie and I turn the last time to head home I didn't see Stella anywhere. I started calling her name and guess what ???  Off to the left was Stella slowly strolling through the high grass and flowers. I expected to see her walking up the path towards us but was happy to see that she was just to the left of us.

As usual, she took her time.

They both eventually move forward and when it gets hotter, they will take the lead and head to the house.

These were in the middle of the path but we always walk around and not on flowers ... hounds included.

Although they are on the way home, there isn't a scent they will not pass if that radar nose of theirs picks up a new target.

Heidi in the meantime hung out at the house and explored the yard. This is around 48 hours after her epsom salt soak and it's about the best her skin will look. It looks bad when compared to years ago when there was nothing going on but for the past 18 months, this skin is about the best it gets.

That is after 4 different vet opinions, various medications, various grain free food, food with rice, etc.

It never fails that when Sadie returns she always goes over to Heidi to see if she is okay, even at night when Heidi comes back inside the house after her last trip outside for the night.

Once again she did not want to go on the walk after I carried her to the field. She turned and headed back to the house.

The rest of the day was spent learning the new Mac OS named Sierra, testing it and also trying some of the new features it has. I also found out from some geek sites that Safari had been update to the point of getting good reviews in tests ... so I tried it, liked it and then made it my default browser again over Google Chrome.

It was very sad to read the news about Bridget over at RVSue's blog. It's never easy losing an old friend.

If you don't hear from me ... I'll be out in Utah with Bud Shumway helping him investigate another mystery.

The weather is great again here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.