Hounds Start Early Again

It wasn't Stella this morning. It was me. I was up and awake before either hound woke up all because I went to bed last night at 9pm almost out of boredom. I used my Nikon D3200 yesterday afternoon while the Canon battery was charging. These first two photos are from the Nikon. It is sunny again this morning so that is good. Black coffee, no sugar for the 4th day in a row, that is also good. Not sure what today will bring but I'm feeling it will be a two post day about the hounds.

Each camera takes good pictures in their own way. I'm guessing these cameras may last for many years to come. I have never been interested in keeping up with all the advancements in cameras like I have with the iPhone. I don't even replace my computers until they break. My last iMac lasted a little over 7 years.

It was just barely touching 30° this morning depending which device I looked at. Watch and iPhone said 28° and the old carport thermometer was showing 35°, which is a normal difference with temperature comparisons year round.

The ground was hard but not what I call rock hard. The frozen leaves fill with past rain were soft with each step I took. I was in for a surprise this morning and I am hoping it's a new routine for Stella. She walked, and sniffed but never ate anything this morning ... that's always makes the morning walk enjoyable.

In fact she stayed on the path for the majority of her walk just like she does in the afternoon. What had gotten into her?

It wasn't as much as yesterday morning but she did trot a few times, kind of like a gentle jog.

She was pretty sure she had tracked deer up along the fence. I have seen more than a few scared deer jump that fence when Sadie was chasing them. As the fence moves north it is mashed down enough that you can barely see a fence along the edge of the field.

The sky was full of contrails this morning.

She stayed on path all the way. I walked and took pictures of her, almost in shock

Some of the wind damage just to the left of her. If that is the type of limb I have to pick up after heavy winds, I'll take it. I have quite a few limbs to pick up about that size. They will be dry enough to burn in a few weeks.

Another morning, another walk in the books. Any ideas what I could do with the area the river rock occupies? I am willing to dig all of it up if someone has a good idea. One thing I will be doing for sure is digging up the old 'plugged up' drainage system I have underground that is on the border of the yard and river rock. I installed it many years ago and is no doubt plugged up after seeing the standing water a few weeks ago. I'll rebuild the tract and install new corrugated drainage pipe if needed.

Near freezing, would you expect anything different from Heidi this morning???

I thought I was going to ramble about nonpolitical stuff this morning but I have lost my train of thought and cannot remember what I wanted to say. I have had the tv off the past few days and that has been a welcomed change. I also do not miss my Facebook account that I deleted a week or two ago. I go back and forth on that this past 8 months but I think I have finally 'kicked the habit' and will not return.

After starting my 4th day on the Keto 'Lifestyle" I do feel different. As soon as I eliminated granulated sugar in my coffee I no longer felt bloated after my second cup of coffee in the morning. I have kept my carb  intake below 50g every day and have noticed I have no urge to eat. I was always hungry before I started my menu changes on Saturday.

Two of the past four days I have eaten less than 1,000 calories in a day without intentionally trying. I'd like to eat at least 1,200 per day but less than 1,500. Keto say not to worry about calories just don't eat a lot of carbs.

I am thinking of starting a new spreadsheet listing only my weekly weight, daily carbs, fat, protein in grams. I could have weekly averages and monthly averages. Insert a chart to show progress with each category having its own line of data. I think a spreadsheet would give me more data to see than just a daily journal entry.

Do I crave carbs???  Yes I do. Things like pizza, burritos, cereal, oatmeal and a sweet potato. After I complete this 30-day plan (my own), I'll add some of those back into my menus but on rare occasions. I have also stopped eating bananas and apples during this 30-day plan. I want to follow the Keto plan as strict as possible for these 30 days to see what kind of results I get.

My friend sent me two newspaper articles this morning from his local paper. It had some interesting news I would have never expected. The journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, that was killed in Saudi Arabia, was an undergraduate of Indiana State in Terre Haute Indiana. That town also has another distinction ... they have named every President before the elections correctly since the 1940's. Yes, they even picked Trump when others thought he had no chance.

The second bit of news was from the small school, the University of Evansville. With an enrollment of 2,100 undergraduates, Oscar Winner Rami Malek was a 2003 graduate of UE. He actually came from Los Angeles to Evansville Indiana to study acting at their acclaimed theatre program.

Evansville Indiana also has a history of famous sports figures at the professional level. There are many of them but here are a few of the players that were famous in their playing careers.

MLB - Andy Benes, Don Mattingly, Paul Splittorff

NFL  - Sean Bennett, Deke Cooper, Bob Griese, Kevin Hardy, Larry Stallings, Scott Studwell

NBA - Calbert Cheaney, Walter McCarty

Swimming - Lilly King (2016 Olympic Gold Medalist)

I know there are many other towns in the USA just like Evansville where famous people from all areas of life grew up. It's just amazing sometimes to see so many of them in this area.

After starting that new spreadsheet I am going to put some daily menu ideas together so I don't just 'nibble' throughout the day. Baked salmon and steamed broccoli will be the feature for today. What's nice about retirement, I can eat dinner in the middle of the afternoon if I want.  :)

Sunny, cold and clear here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II Review

I probably don't need this but in a way I do need it. I'll write more about why I bought this camera a week after Christmas at the same price it was at the beginning of November. I bought it online through Best Buy for various reasons, in case people are wondering why not Amazon? Well Best Buy ships this too me for free in three days without any kind of membership required. They offer a price match. They offer a 15-day full refund with no questions asked. They are local and driving distance for service or exchange.

I had been looking at smaller point and shoot cameras for almost a year. I emailed bloggers that I knew were using smaller cameras. It wasn't until a regular reader told me his experience taking photos at high altitude in Colorado, then using the same camera at beach level altitude ... that I understood how photos are sharper than others.

At the time I did not know about his camera. I was looking at the Canon ELPH models, the Sony X100 models and even the Canon Point and Shoot that looked like a lighter DSLR camera. In fact I bought one and returned it within a week due to picture sharpness.

In December 2017 I upgrade my iPhone 6S to the 8+ and the difference in the camera was obvious. The iPhone 8+ has a great camera for taking low light photos inside and using it's 2x zoom outside. I thought that would be my 2nd camera that I could take everywhere. It wasn't, because I found that when I took it on the morning walk, shooting the same photos of the bloodhounds you see in most of my posts ... they were not as good as my Nikon D3200, as expected.

So really what I was looking for was a small camera with zoom capability, able to take sharp up-close photos (macro), could capture Stella running or deer showing up unexpectedly on our walks .... all with the same sharp picture quality as my Nikon D3200 and the iPhone 8+.

I still did not know about this camera ...

Until my friend emailed me a few months ago excited and shocked how his photos were turning out with this exact camera. Over the past 15 years of so he had taken over a 100,000 photos with professional cameras costing $5,000 - $6,000 per camera. He told me this small package had a 1" sensor, a rare feature in a point and shoot model. I looked at his photos on his blog ... crystal clear. I downloaded some into my computer so I could look at them enlarged on a 27" 4K monitor ... sharp, crisp and just as close if not better than my Nikon D3200.

I also factored in the humidity here even in the winter compared to where he lives out west. I wrote honestly what I was doing in setting changes, showing what photos looked like with different settings. I admit I was having problems with the camera but felt better about it when I decided it was more 'user error' than the camera.

During the week I wasn't getting every photo right but there were just enough photos that kept me from returning it. I kept fine tuning the settings in "M", which seemed to be taking better quality photos than when I used "Auto". Also using "M" did not mean I had to manually focus the camera, that was still automatically done.

I also figured out that it also matters what time of day I use the camera. Like any camera, the light between 8am-9am is never really optimum lighting for taking photos. Yet that is the time we take the morning walk. It is the time of day I take most of the photos. I happened to find other adjustments I could make inside Apple's Photo editing program.

I kept taking photos inside the house at night so I could compare it to the good quality photos my iPhone 8+ takes in low light conditions. It was not until January 13th where I took a photo that was just as good if not better than the iPhone 8+.

Since I take a lot of photos with a zoom lens at 200mm, this was my concern before buying the camera. Could I still get those photos that far away with clarity and sharpness?

It was this picture of Stella that convinced me to keep the Canon G9 X Mark II.

I am not getting any money for this review or for stating the reasons I bought it. All of this is just for "Information Only" for any readers that might be looking for a small camera with all the features this Canon has.

From this point on I am writing about what I have found this past month or so.

I finally found the correct settings for the "M". I went to a few forums that dealt with this model of camera. I also re-read the review sites that I used before buying the camera. In a couple of different review sites I found what I was looking for. For some reason I get better photos in the Manual setting than I do in the Automatic settings.

Manual does not mean I have to manually focus the camera as that is still done with auto-focus.

Of course like any other camera, lighting plays a role in the quality of the photos. I shoot most of my photos on my blog between 8am - 3pm. One key answer to my frustration when I started, was finally understanding the zoom capability of this camera. Once I understood that, those zoomed pictures I had taken where they turned out blurry, was solved. I also decided I could live with the maximum 84mm zoom compared to my Nikon's D3200 200mm zoom lens.

If I stayed within the zoom range of the Canon G9, then I still had crystal clear photos. As I used this camera more it has become my favorite camera over my Nikon D3200. It's much lighter of course, it can be carried in a side pocket on your cargo shorts or cargo pants. It did not take me long to get use to not having a view finder and found it easier to shoot a picture while looking at the monitor on back of the screen.

With the design of the zoom lens I find the camera lens on the Canon G9 stays much cleaner than my larger lens on the Nikon D3200. There are many times where I do not have to edit the picture in any way and I can post them to my blog in their original form.

Shooting pictures inside, in low light, it's a tough close call when compared to my iPhone 8+ camera. Both are very sharp and clear pictures and about the time I am ready to declare one camera the best inside, the other takes a picture that is even better. I don't mind having both cameras.

As advertised the battery does not last as long as a DSLR camera. I haven't counted the exact number of pictures I take before I have to charge the battery but I will say the batty does last for a few hundred pictures. If you were traveling it would be good to take a spare battery. The battery does take longer than I expected to recharge. Also, once you see the battery icon flashing on your camera monitor, it will die very soon after that, within a couple of pictures.

Conclusion --

I bought this camera for less than $400. I knew at the time it was not going to fully replace my Nikon D3200 when shooting far away (200mm) objects. I also knew from the reviews that with the lens design my landscape pictures would not be sharp and clear as my Nikon D3200 but they would be good quality pictures. The Canon G9 X Mark ii fits the bill if you are looking for a small camera you can carry anywhere, takes sharp and clear pictures and has a zoom capability up to 84mm.

It is smaller than I thought it would be yet I am still able to hold it and operate the shutter while wearing a lightweight pair of gloves this winter. It is very durable and still works perfect after I dropped it twice on the concrete floor.

The camera does what the reviews say it will.

Stella Loved Her Afternoon Walk

Heidi was ready and acted like she wanted to spend some time outside this afternoon. The sunshine was bright, skies were clear and it was hard to believe what I had heard on the radio earlier .. snow is possible tomorrow. Of course in these photos it might look like it's in the 50's but it's not much warmer than it was this morning. With a Columbia Sportswear fleece under a North Face light jacket, (Brand names are not important ... its what's on sale)  Stella and I were able to take the afternoon walk without gloves. Let see if you notice any difference in the photo quality with these photos. The lighting would be much better than this morning or earlier in the afternoon to take pictures but still it's the same time as yesterday's walk where I was beginning to wonder about picture quality and my sanity. Others were also.

See if you notice any difference in these pictures taken this afternoon.

Stella wasn't going anywhere until she had her after lunch siesta. It's tough riding in back of the Mini Countryman, down narrow bumpy crooked and hilly roads. It was also what she always does after her lunch and in the same spot as this. It looks like Heidi has joined her today and that never happens.

After I got back from a short grocery store run that consisted of a large bag of mixed frozen fruit, a large bag of frozen blueberries, 5lb bag of red delicious apples, bananas, two more containers of Oikos Zero Yogurt, a dozen eggs, baby spinach, and some of the best looking oranges I had seen in a while ... it was time for a walk. The weather was just too nice not to be outside, even at 29°. You will find out later that I spent some time at a place you have never heard me talk about. Pictures were taken there also and you'll probably see that place as one of my posts on Friday. I've now got more pictures than I can post on one or two posts ... so the 'post bank' is building into a library.

I don't do too many things without the hounds giving me approval first. Stella stared intently across the field behind the house, sniffing the air to gather information to process. She finally decided it was a great time to walk and without even turning her head to let me know ... she took off up the return path.

I was actually shocked I was walking in 29° with no gloves, didn't need gloves and reached up to unzip the top of the jacket then the fleece I was wearing underneath. It seemed like those summer afternoon walks we take

Stella was showing a lot more activity than she normally does for her afternoon walk. She is usually following me, dragging her feet with each step. Today she was like she is on her morning walks, tracking scent and keeping on pace while lingering behind at times.

Can she smell the cat? Or is she smelling the food the neighbors leave out for the cat? Or does she hear something I cannot? I doubt if we'll ever know.

Places where she would normally stop to find deer scat, she walked over them, never stopping.

I was amazed at her constant motion. She must have had a deep sleep in that short time while I was gone to the store.

The 'holes' I mentioned this morning made by the deer hoofs while walking or running on the frozen grass.

The 2017 roll on the right and the smaller 2018 roll on the left. They will most likely stay there forever

I'll admit it ... I am really happy with the quality of these photos this afternoon.

I always take a picture in this direction as a reference, where I can tell differences in camera settings. It also helps when the sunshine is bright and the skies are clear.

As we made the final turn home I let Stella go anywhere she wanted. I wanted to see if she would follow scent to her right and all the way to those woods. She has not moved in that direction since Sadie has been gone. Maybe it was always Sadie leading Stella on those 'wild goose chases' instead of the other way around?

I turned just in time to get only one picture of her running. She was far enough away that I thought I'd get at least three of them. She was faster than autofocus.

It wasn't too far after she passed me that she slowed to a slow walk.

I thought I'd try a little black and white ... but I did not make that adjustment until I had downloaded it and was editing the pictures. Not all pictures are edited but every blog picture is looked at when deciding if it is going to be included.

She did not explore the edge of the bushes, or along the trees this afternoon. She just kept on walking without me saying a word ... not stopping to pose for any pictures ... she headed straight to the door.

Well it's been a pretty good day today. I bought only what I needed at the store. You can bet your ass that I will keep my bowls of fruit on top of the refrigerator anytime I leave the house. I'll take no chances of Stella eating seven bananas, five red delicious apples, possibly an avocado again. I think Contessa was right ... leaving her alone, shut off in the bedroom when it was her normal time to eat lunch made her motivated enough to break out last week and eat all of that fruit. She did not touch anything else in the house ... only the food she could get to. Luckily she has not figured out how to open the refrigerator.  LOL

I took close to 200 pictures today from 8am to 3pm roughly. I can see the differences in the pictures when I match them in my computer based on the time of day I took them. I have enough pictures from today to make two more posts.

I'll leave you with a surprise ......

All of the photos you see here on this post were taken with my Nikon D3200.