It's cold here in SE Arizona but if I were to compare 27° here with 27° in the winters back in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana it would not be close. Even on those days the skies were clear, blue and sunny the wind back in the midwest would cut you like a knife while we took our morning walks through the field. Here in temps like this, the daily walk was canceled Monday morning because all three of us have turned into bad weather whimps. We don't do much when it's cold during the day.
The difference in those winter days of temps in the 40's, one there is no snow on the ground and if I were to sit outside in the sun, it is so hot on my face it felt like winter was gone and summer was here again. We, the hounds and I, cannot wait for spring and summer to arrive. As you can see Heidi wasn't sure it was warm enough to lay out in the sun and nap next to the back of the house. She kept going in and out of the house as I sat facing the hot sunshine.
Stella also was a little confused. She really did want to sleep in the sunshine like she always does IF I AM HOME but when she stood in the shade she could feel how cool it was. I continued to sit in my ugly but comfortable patio chair with my camera nearby. I was going to test my equipment today and shoot photos with just one camera ... but I did sneak in a few photos with my iPhone camera.
While I was back inside fixing some low carb lunch ... do you know carrots are carb loaded? ... Stella decided it was warm enough outside for a late morning nap. Again I thought to myself "I wish she would enjoy the backyard like this while I am gone to town or riding my bike" but she has proven to me as recently as Sunday, she will not be comfortable in the yard if she knows I'm gone. She seems to think she can tunnel under the house from that one spot she started last summer. The one I keep filling back up.
Heidi had enough of the cool breeze as the wind picked up after 1pm. After my bike ride on Saturday I now know that winds 14-18mph that are gusty, is nothing to spend time in. Even if I cannot see the trees or brush blowing in some direction behind my house, that does not mean the winds are gone. Sunday the winds were so strong on my trip to Bisbee, all the flags I saw along the way were blown straight out with rippling force.
Once Stella got up to walk back inside, I slide my chair up into her spot on the patio. The temps on my face increased at least 20°. It didn't take her long to come back out, sleep and have some added back support with that rounded edge of the patio floor against her from head to tail.
She too got too hot ... but just like I did, she found out staying in the shade was too cold. I did my test on the shade by standing on the east side of the house in total shade to see if it was even possible that I might want to take a bike ride. It was freezing in the shaded yard and I went back to the sunny patio.
Within minutes she was back out in the sunshine while I snuck back inside.
Believe me, I am not complaining about SE Arizona winters. It is just what I expected it would be. It's just that I have found I don't want to put up with cold weather even when it's bright and sunny outside.
Other news outside of hounds and bikes ... I made the mistake a few months ago of downloading the Facebook app on my iPhone out of "convenience" and I knew then I had sold my soul to the devil. They would know everything I said on the phone, texted on the phone, emails I would send or websites I would visit. With that data collected they would pound me with advertising on the exact things I had talked about with friends, texted to friends or emailed.
It's not that I am bothered by that strategic advertising it's just the thought of how they can do that.
Since they have butted into my life and billions of other Facebook users or ex-users ... they still track you ya know after you delete your Facebook account??? ... the Ukrainians have decide to index my blogs and are now the leaders in traffic to my bike blog and this public blog on Blogger. The USA number of visitors are a distant second place when I look at the blog stats on the dashboard. I find it interesting that when I click a link many times it's a Blogger blog that had their last post in 2011 or 2013. Can anyone more knowledgeable than I, explain what they are doing?
I have been bopping around different internet browsers again. I use Safari on all my Apple devices like iPhone, iPad and the laptop. On my iMac I use Safari the most because of their security features built into their system. I only have a google account ending in gmail because I have a Blogger blog. None of my personal emails have gone through gmail for years. I use Apple's email system for that. I figure if the FBI cannot break into an iPhone or iMac without asking for Apple's help, then security must be pretty good.
I always get curious about stuff though so I wander around the internet, checking out the new and bestest Firefox. I like Google Chrome but rarely use it because I don't trust Google although after 24 years of being on the internet it is definitely too late to worry about what Google has on me.
So here I am on Safari with the same problem I was having last summer. They updated their OS the other day and now it works with my Blogger blog differently. When I sign into my blog, it takes me immediately to my blog dashboard. When I go back to my blog home page to read other blogs and to make comments ... Safari has logged me out !!!!
Yes ... I've unchecked cookies, I've uncheck 3rd party blah blah blah ... I have logged out of Blogger and back in ... I have turned off my computer and logged back in ... I have unchecked and rechecked those blocks that should not be checked so I can stay logged in on my blog when using Safari. I have all my settings set the way they should be for it to work ... it does not.
That is when I look at other browsers.
I had my Cox tv channels fixed sometime Sunday. They never notified me nor have they closed the ticket the made Saturday night when their tech department requested a service call. Sports Junkies, like myself, are still having problems "cutting the cord" as they say. I would but based on my cost analysis and the rising costs of these streaming companies that use to be free or low cost ... I am actually spending $30-$40 more per month now for what I need compared to "cutting the cord" to cable or tv.
I am watching less sports by the year and I found out the other night when I could not get the BTN channel due to a signal problem, I could follow the IU basketball game on my computer. I've known that for years but too lazy to learn how to do that streaming stuff from the computer to tv. I wasn't watching the game but watching the data of the game. I have watched IU football games this past fall on my computer when they were not carried on my Cox channels and the picture quality was just as good as my Sony tv.
Wow ... looks like I am rambling a little this morning and about very little actually.
My new addiction .... PGA Golf for PlayStation4.
I use to love playing this game on PS2 and PS3 but I never cared for Tiger Woods and his name was associated with the Sony EA Sports golf game, so I stopped playing it. When I got back in the mood to play games or Grand Turismo racing game, I saw a used copy of the golf game on the GameSpot store shelf with a different professional golfer's name on the cover.
Basically I have to have a lot of choices in life. From cars to drive, to bikes to ride, to food to eat and how to waste time. I'm not always in the mood to read books, never had the urge to paint, draw or learn to play an instrument. So this PS3 and PS4 games are just something else added to the mix of things to do. Plus like I have said before, I think "hand and eye coordination" are important to keep healthy as we get older. What better way to do that then play video games ... or Mahjong for time.
Now if I can find a Flight Simulator game and a Sim City game like I had on my PC ten years ago, I'll be set.
Sorry for the rambling and I admit I am surprised that I am going to post this as a real blog post.
Bright sunny skies and 31° while it's almost 9am here in the 'Wild West'.