What Goes Up Must Come Down

Last night as I watched the richest team in MLB and a winner of 106 games out of a 162 regular season games, blow a lead in the 8th inning due to some poor managerial decisions ... the pain in my hip and groin returned. It felt better to walk around the house, instead of sitting in a chair with my 4" memory foam pad. Confusion rang loud but it was not about what the LA manager was doing ... it rang loud because my leg/hip did a 360° turn giving me the chance to experience more pain than I wanted.

I had already taken my second and final dose of Ibuprofen and Tylenol X-Strength. I take that dose every 12 hours. So I picked up the booklet they gave me at the hospital the night before surgery and re-read the sections on post op rehab.

It was disheartening in a way.

"Early on, you will see fairly rapid improvements. Your progress may slow after the first two weeks, but don't get discouraged ... this is normal !!!"

Then it dawned on me that I will never run again. I'm not a runner and around here the only way I would run would be turning myself into a jogger and that was not going to happen. I only ran back in Indiana when the bloodhounds would take off running after deer and out of my line of sight. So it's not really a big deal but there was something to think about when seeing the word "never again" in my mind ... Running is listed under "Avoid Higher-Impact Exercise"

I quit going to the "Hippie" forum because of all the horror stories and negativity where hip replacement surgery did not work out well for some people. I never went there that much anyway, just to ask a question and seeing my list of answers. Reading some of the comments or posts from others that continue to have problems with their hip made me feel very very fortunate with a little pain from time to time.

Maybe it was a sign to pay attention to with this new kind of pain. Or was it when I get a text from that friend that was going to come over and set up my bike on an indoor trainer (in garage), attached to the back wheel where it spins with magnetic resistance while I ride. He forgot about coming over and let me know about start of the bottom of the 10th inning in LA.

He will be by this morning to mount the bike on the trainer but the way I feel this morning after taking the meds and just a little coffee, riding anywhere seems like nothing but a rumor. Where yesterday riding a bike indoors to start my comeback, seemed as close as a couple of weeks away after my surgeons approval on the 22nd, last night made me wonder if I will ever want to ride again.

How good I felt yesterday during the day, I felt just as bad last night and so far this morning.

It could be this hard form fitting seat cushion I have been sitting on. Amazon recommended it as did the 4,5000 + reviews. It might form fit to my butt but after a week of using it, it's hard as a rock. Did this play a role in new muscles becoming sore? I ordered my 3rd different seat cushion yesterday and it should get it tomorrow.

I don't forget that I did something yesterday for the first time in 31 days. First time for that bionic hip joint. I drove my car. I got into the drivers seat just like I was instructed and did in my neighbor's Jeep Liberty when he picked me up at the hospital, then two weeks later taking me to my follow-up doctors appointment. I slowly swung my legs and feet into the floorboard area. I got in and out of the car a total of 8 times ... was that 8 times too many even after doctor's approval to drive?

Maybe it was more total steps for the day than I normal take? I took less walks limiting my max time to 10 minutes and had most of my short walks ending after 5 minutes. I felt good after each walk. Like I said earlier ... it feels better to walk than sit in a chair past the 30 minute mark.

The key for healing the hip is no twisting, no bending past 90°, no sitting in a couch or soft chair where you "sink in" and your hips end up being lower than your knees. Always keep the hips higher than the knees even if it so slight.

Then again .... since the pain has stayed with me after a night of sleep, the mystery question has always been "What do I do in my sleep with that right leg and hip, that I am not suppose to do?" Is that what wakes me up in the middle of the night ... a sharp pain that disappears just as soon as I open my eyes? We'll never know will we unless I turn my iPhone into a video recorder with the lights off.  LOL

So I'll do a little walking this morning while I wait for the sun to rise. The hounds are back to sleep after the 4:30am wake up call to go outside. They begged to be fed at 4:30am when they came back inside but finally relented and head back to the dark bedroom for Heidi and the computer desk corner for Stella. They have a good two hour wait before kibble is served. It is hard to say no to wagging tails and sad eyes looking straight at you.

I am going to post this now, with no photos because I felt like writing about it right from the start day. Sometimes as a blogger you have an urge to write and publish a post even if it is not the regular time and no photos are involved.

I'll post again later tonight for those east of the Mississippi River or late afternoon for us in the West .... photos will be added and an update on how my day went. I have canceled my car trip for today (unless I start feeling better) and will spend more time walking and standing than sitting. I'll add more time laying in the prone position in bed today ... and see what kind of results I have.

I will still walk those short walks and I'll apply ice when needed. Ice seems to be my best friend through all of this or maybe a close second to coffee.

I am going to assume all the pain around that hip area and now up by my pelvis is nothing more than a sign that things are healing inside. I did a visual inspection and there is no swelling or discoloring of any kind. My hip bones are level which means my legs are the same length, and the right side looks as normal as the left side.

No matter how I feel it will still be a great day here in the Wild West ... seeing the mountains in about 45 minutes will make me feel that much better. Sitting in the sunshine later this morning will make me feel that much better. Seeing Heidi begging me for food ... lets me know she really is feeling good. Hearing Stella howl for food will make me laugh ... all things to help me forget the pain I feel.

I can't stop saying that I love where I live ... moving here was a life changing decision.

Pace Is Fast And Furious

With nice weather yesterday there were a lot of farm equipment just like this on the highway in front of the house. With rain predicted for Monday, farmers were plowing, spraying anhydrous or fertilizer on their fields. Due to the two fields within view of the house being in an official flood zone, they usually don't start any kind of work until later in the spring. Here at home today a lot of things could be happening inside and outside ... depending on my motivation.

Before I could barely get outside this morning Sadie was already checking out the field drainage ditch that moves behind my burn pile. I have never seen water in this ditch but based on the dugout shape of it, there must be some kind of drainage from the field.

I could tell early on that Stella was going to march to her own drum beat today. I let her do what she wanted during the walk Sadie and I took. At no time did I call her name to follow us or to verbally herd her in the direction of the house ... she was on her own clock.

Although it was warm enough just to wear a light jacket, Heidi was back in bed sleeping after her breakfast with no intentions of walking this morning nor getting her picture taken. She also is always on her own schedule.

While walking I was going through a list of things to do today in my head. Like always what gets done will be determined by the time of day or night. I have a baseball game to watch at 2:15pm, an IndyCar race to tape and watch after the ballgame sometime and a Pacers NBA playoff game to watch tonight. A DVR makes all of that convenient if I decide to chose to work the 'to do' list during the daylight hours. I'd also like to take another drive in the Z4 today on one of the many routes we can choose from.

Like I said ... Stella was marching to her own drum today.

No, I never called her name ... I just kept walking with Sadie.

Sadie may not pay much attention to Stella during the walk unless she sees her getting out of bounds or heading in the opposite direction of us ... then she takes the supervisory role.

I mentioned I had added the free Flipboard to my reading list. You can chose which subjects you want to follow and Flipboard does the rest by supplying you articles that are not listed on the mainstream media. In some cases the topic might be the same but are written by web authors not associated with newspapers or magazines.

Tijuana is a town I use to spend a lot of time in when I was 40 years younger and living in Southern California. There were a lot of things to do there from places to eat, their horse race track or enjoying the entertainment the city provided. It was shocking to see today on a headline in Flipboard that since January 1 of this year 650 people have been murdered, related to drug cartels fighting over neighborhoods.

It was also shocking to see on tv the other night where a California senator was talking about the gang problems in a town called Oceanside California, a place I either lived in or 5 miles away in Carlsbad for close to 9 years. It is hard to even imagine either of those two stories being possible in towns where you could walk or drive in while feeling safe.

That's what makes living here in 'the tropics' so nice. The bad thing is, this town is usually closed for the night by 9pm, nowhere to get something to eat ... yet low to zero crime.

Looks like the neighbor finished plowing his large field yesterday. A sure sign that Spring has officially arrived ... finally.

As I looked for Stella along the wood line to the left of me, I couldn't find her. Then out in the middle of the field there she was with her head down and walking fast, heading north, as if she knew exactly where she was going. Without me saying a word, she stopped and stared right at me.

When she decided to ignore Sadie and I, heading her own way north ... that is when Sadie decided it was time to step in to let her know that was the wrong thing to do ... running after her to get her headed back in the direction of home.

I did not say anything to Sadie either ... she did this on her own.

I have thought more about moving again, only this time with a change in strategy as far as looking at houses. One of the main hold ups is me not wanting a mortgage payment for the rest of my life, since it's been years since I have had one. I never planned on having a mortgage payment during my retirement years. That might be too 'old school' in theory.

So the other night I started looking at houses in the town out west, that might need some work, a little paint or yard cleanup and even some new flooring installed ... all for a lower price range than I had been looking at and where it would be an even swap financially if/when I sold mine.

I came up with some new houses to look at and some of them had been remodeled inside, where the only thing I would need to do is paint outside in a color I like and work in the yard installing a 'desert landscape' so I would not have to spend time mowing grass.

All the same questions linger in back of my mind on the decision to move. Those have never changed really since this blog started in October 2011. Although at that time I was thinking of traveling full time in some sort of RV and with only one bloodhound since Stella had not arrived yet. (2015)

Some people say if you can't make a final decision then you need to stay where you are. Others say if the urge is there, then move even if you are undecided and things will workout once you get there. I use to put very little thought into moving decisions and it always worked out but as you get older I guess that 'free spirit' becomes hard to maintain.

Of coarse this field is perfect for the hounds and it would be hard to leave just because of that. Not only would they have to turn into 'city' hounds but I would also have neighbors living within 25' of me ... could I even handle that?

It never changes over the years, I always run different possibilities in my mind and usually decide to delay my moving or traveling decision until after the hounds pass.

There are definitely other things I enjoy about this area besides just this field for the hounds. If I had things I didn't like about it, I would have never stayed here 20 years. So we will see what the summer brings.

That is about all I have for this morning. I might post some photos of Heidi on my other blog later today. That blog is on my sidebar here called "It's A Hounds Life".

As you can see Stella decided to take a detour as Sadie and I walked into the yard.

She teaches me to relax about things ... nothing is really that important. You can tell by the look on her face she is giving me a teaching moment on patience.  LOL

It's almost too quiet today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Snow & Warm Weather Same Day

If you had been outside with the hounds and I just after 12 noon yesterday, you would have found it unbelievable what we saw an hour before sundown. With the temps near 50° it was good to see the 5-day forecast was right on track for warmer temps by Thursday and the thoughts of Spring could be right around the corner.

With the warm weather, we fit in 3 different hound walks yesterday with the last two without the camera and Stella on the 25' retractable leash. I could feel the warmth of the sun but as we walked further the wind that was blowing was extremely cold ... what was happening?

Sitting on the couch later, watching tv and catching up on all the millions of dollars spent on NFL free agent players yesterday, I glanced out the window and saw blizzard like snow, blowing sideways and coming down hard. It was just 50° a few hours ago !!! Those big flakes were sticking to the ground also ... strange stuff.

So this morning the hounds and I finally started the walk a little later than normal after realizing it wasn't going to get any warmer than it was, 24°. As you see there is snow barely covering the yard and field. Yet the bright sunshine made all the difference in the world on the walk.

These recent freezing temps have led me back to Realtor dot com, looking at houses in Southern Arizona instead of New Mexico. I don't want to be cold anytime of year ... is that possible anymore?  I had been looking at houses out west hard starting around January 20th. I even called a realtor "out there" and had a local agent stop by my house to take a look. I had a few favorites 'saved' but in the past two weeks two of my top three have sold.

So this morning over a couple of cups of coffee I took another look at the small towns I had looked at before. An even trade for what I would get for my house (not much) is not possible out west even in very small towns, without buying a 'fixer upper'. Those results have been the same for the past 8 years where I have looked at housing off and on.

Some say I am crazy wanting to sell a house I own and move to a different house in a different location that would come with some kind of mortgage. Other people remind me that it would be worth the mortgage payment in exchange of better weather. One tells me as long as I can afford a mortgage then there is nothing wrong having a mortgage after you have retired.

Although it wasn't the houses that was interesting this morning though ... something had already been walking down our path leaving prints of some kind barely visible. I kept trying to see if they were deer hoofs or something else. It looked more like a dog paw in size but nothing was distinct enough to tell me what it was.

The seemed too close apart for deer tracks.

Sadie and Stella were behind me and the prints on the path. Evidently the freezing weather created a lot of deer traffic earlier this morning before dawn.

As usual I was letting Stella do her own thing but was a little concerned that soon after I took the picture of her, I glanced back in her direction and she was out of sight. She has done that before but seems to show up within 30 minutes after Sadie and I finish our walk or while Sadie and I are finishing our walk. I was hoping she would show up today before we got back to the house.

The snow brings out the paths the deer take down into the gully. During the summer those paths will be evident by mashed down brush.

The idea of moving has always been a hard one for me to figure out. I've been here 20 years, moving in about this same time in March. It was much warmer the day we moved in and the week after seemed like summer based on the photos I glanced through the other day. With the inability to make a decision, I take that as ... I should stay here until I know something more definite.

But when that Apple iPhone weather app shows me at 24° and a few western towns I have listed in the 60's and 70's it seems like a pretty easy decision.

Walking back I thought I saw some kind of movement up ahead but it's always hard to tell because I don't wear my glasses on the walks. I was happy to see Stella heading across the field to the other woods ... I was pretty sure she was tracking those same prints I had seen veer from the path in that direction.

Luckily with little wind ... it was just cold but not freezing.

The photo doesn't show it but Stella is moving at a fast pace with her head down and heading toward the woods behind the neighbors house. I thought I'd yell her name and see what she would do.

She was faster than my camera shutter as she stopped and looked right at me, then turned around and started walking toward our path. These photos are taken at 200mm zoom so we are still pretty far apart.

Once on the path she strolled toward me to nudge my knee with her nose letting me know she was ready to head home. I wonder what her new routine will be a few weeks from now?

I can't explain my sudden urge to blog two days in a row. I have no idea if it will continue, we will see.

A reader told me this morning by commenting on yesterday's post, that he could read my blog but could not see my blog images on his computer, tablet or phone. Anyone else have trouble like that? For him, every image has that triangle with an error symbol. I have no idea why the blog shows up like that so I'll do some google searching and see what I come up with.

If any of you know why that happens, leave a comment so we can see if he or I can fix it.

Maybe I am hesitant to sell my house because I would have to keep it 'immaculate' for showing prospective buyers instead of the 'lived in' look?

Tom .... I've decided on this post to leave the images in the smaller size that Google Blogger compresses them and see if that makes a difference to you.

Bright and sunny there in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... just a little cold is all.

The Hounds Are Ahead Of Schedule

The weather was so nice yesterday that we ended up taking a total of 3 walks, the last one with Stella on the retractable leash. It might just me but with warmer weather I am seeing more of these deer hoof prints than I normally do. That may be the reason for Sadie's obsession of wanting to go outside all of the time recently.

Stella enjoy her leisurely stroll yesterday afternoon but it's always at a very slow pace and unlike her morning walks, she never hangs back. Plus she will never stay behind me ... walks by me on the path, gets back on the path I am walking then slows down so I can walk her pace. She is a funny bloodhound and very smart.

Not sure why but I was up and making coffee before any of the hounds even thought of getting up this morning. Once Sadie saw the kitchen lights were on, she was hopping up and down to go outside like every morning. Stella and Heidi joined her as they walk out into the dark while I poured their morning kibble. As soon as they finished eating they were back in the dark bedroom sound asleep.

I was hoping to download all of the updates awaiting me on my laptop, tablet and phone this morning. I had that 50Gb of free data available until 8am. I found my internet connection intermittent just like I left it last night. I was hoping while I slept they would fix whatever issues there were having. I decided to call tech support and found out that the HughesNet engineers were doing network repairs and it would be back up in a couple of hours.

By 8am this morning the HughesNet Gen 5 was fast and all the lights were green. While it down last night, it gave me a chance to use my iPhone hot spot and that tested to be just as fast as Hughes with a download speed of 48Mbps.

This morning just after daybreak Sadie took off tracking scent as soon as her paws hit the field. Stella decided again today to do her own walk and didn't cover much distance.

On our way back I looked to see where Stella was through my 200mm lens and could barely see her tail just a little left of dead center.

More fresh deer hoof tracks very close to the yard. Not sure if the deer were there first and then the ATVs rode following deer tracks last summer or the deer seem to be doing all of their running on the paths made by the ATVs last summer.

Another successful morning walk in the books. It's good to see 'February' has arrived. Hopefully that means just 28 more days of up and down weather. It was cold enough to wear a jacket on the walk this morning but warm enough not to wear gloves. Yet, we were at the highest temp for today at 7:30am ... we start the slow migration downward to 21° by tonight.

A few people have told me by email that I should consider whether my quality of life will improve if I move. My old friend that lives 90 miles away told me to ask myself if any move will be an improvement from what I have now. Those are both hard questions to answer.

Since it seems that more than a few blog readers thought I was buying a house site unseen, I was curious enough to do a google search on that topic  .... 19% of all new home buyers never see their house in person before they buy it. Some are investors, some are military families returning from overseas, some are too far away and other are just too busy. The one common denominator for all the articles I read was to have a very good house inspector look at the house and possibly a contingency walk-thru before putting your name on the dotted line.

My current home and the option of moving are basically 'neck and neck' in a race to the finish. Both towns are rated nice places to live. Both have things that attract you to live there. There are some houses I like and am following but this house has everything I need and it's a great location for the hounds. So who knows what will happen.

The week is almost over here in the face paced life of 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.