The Brain Scramble Continues

With this much water left this morning from the overflowing creek across the highway I wonder where all of the water will go after it starts raining at 2pm, for the next week. I know where it will go since I've seen it a lot worse in June 2008. At that time three of the four highways coming into town were closed due to flooding. Up here on the hill we were sitting on the only open way to town.

I use to post this photo every day in my older blog as the first photo of the day. You could tell just by this photo which has me facing west, what the weather was going to be for that day. The rains will come from that direction but as Stella and I walked our Saturday morning stroll, rain seemed like a far fetched idea.

You can see the field is growing by leaps and bounds almost overnight. What a difference from just 30 days ago. I followed Stella's pace this morning which was the typical weekend "slower than slow" stroll through the field.

That gives me time to sort through all the thoughts I've had about moving the past week or so. It's really intensified the past few days and I thought last week was bad. Since I would like to keep some of the places I am looking at private, I'll only mention the two states that have the towns I am really interested in.

A few readers that I have gotten to know over the years, do know which towns I am speaking of and all of them have given me valuable information about the areas I am interested in. I know that all decisions can't be based on what I read on the internet or even pictures of property but I still get some idea of city comparisons by using BestPlaces and AreaVibes websites.

Since I have narrowed it down to two towns, one in New Mexico and one in Arizona, I compare them to my current town and Bloomington Indiana which is rated as a great place to retire and a town I went to college in just a short distance away. I'll not go into detail of those comparisons but it did have some surprises.

Take a look at AreaVibes to see what categories they collect data for and rate.

As always there is always doubt about moving with the hounds. When I had four of them it was no question that I would not be moving. Now with two that will be 10 years old this summer, moving is a little more doable. I have already been informed by an agent in Arizona they would be allowed for a certain neighborhood as well as renting a house.

Many have asked, how could I even move from an area like this and all the field that the hounds can walk and explore in. I know what you mean. The hounds have always been my first priority in these kind of decisions just like when I was trying to decide whether to RV full-time or not.

As you have seen, Heidi's walks in the field are few and far between. She really likes a hot sunny day where she can lay in the yard and enjoy the weather. I think she would love a place that has sunshine 285 days per year and less than 13 inches of rain compared to the 55 inches of annual rainfall we get now. That number seems to have gone upward the past few years.

Stella seems to enjoy her walks but at times I wonder if she only walks because I am taking her outside instead of the other way around. For example, Sadie was the one that decided when all of us would walk ... where Stella will sleep through the afternoon walk unless I wake her up to go.

I cannot put my finger on any one reason that this urge to move has hit me so hard. There are a few reasons, some private and some that are really logical. I do know that I cannot explain all of my thinking here in one blog post about the 'whys' of wanting to move. I will say that the past three days the chances of moving are stronger than anytime I have talked of it in the past four to five years. It's like I have already decided I am moving.

I still use realtor dot com to look at property. I bookmarked all my different locations (4 of them) instead of saving them as searches within their website because they are faster to access the way I have them labeled and saved. They are sorted in "newest listing first" so I can tell just with a glance of anything new that comes up.

I also get automated updates on the locations I have marked as well as the realty company's website in Arizona. I did speak with their agency assistant the other day because I had a question about my hounds and the property I was interested in. She was fantastic and sent me more links of information about their town.

Late yesterday afternoon I received an email from a realtor in her business with an introduction and asking what I am looking for. He was also born and raised in Indiana and attended the rival university in sports of the college I attended. So he will be very valuable with his point of view of living in Arizona compared to where I am now.

On top of that I met a vet on Twitter as I was searching Twitter for any kind of information about the town. The good thing is, he is also in to bicycling and use to live in San Diego so once again I gained valuable information about two subjects I like and am interested in. He understands what kind of information I am looking for and the questions I have.

Each bit of information adds to my preference in the Arizona town. I am down to four choices: (1) stay where I am (2) Bloomington Indiana (3) New Mexico (4) Arizona

So that is were it stands. I'd like to do this move sometime this summer and definitely before college football season starts on August 28-30th. At the same time I know it's a possibility that I might change my mind and stay here but there is something different this time. I feel it's really going to happen and in some ways I am excited enough that I could move next week if I had a place lined up.

So that is all I have as far as updating my thoughts on moving.

This next bit of stuff I am writing about is a little concerning. Long time readers will remember last July as the bloodhounds and I were walking along the back of the field on one of our walks we ran into a 'visitor' ... another dog, something we never see in the field on our walks. If you click here and then scroll down you can see the beagle we ran into. He/she never barked, stood and listened and then turned and ran away NORTH ... that direction is key to the story I am about to tell.

Well last night around 7pm I had just walked into the kitchen and when I glanced out my window I saw that beagle semi-trotting across my driveway heading SOUTH. At the time I didn't remember it was the same dog we saw in the field last July. He/she looked stressed out, nervous ... so I went to the living room trying to convince Stella and Heidi they needed to change their routine and come into the bedroom so I could shut them in there while I try to rescue the beagle.

Of course when you have two hounds that are use to their routines and know that as they select their positions on the couch as I watch another Reds baseball game, that there would be NO NEED to get up and head to the bedroom. They didn't understand what I was telling them and they were not going to move ...

And ... they didn't.  LOL

So I took a chance, I left them where they were. That would be okay with Heidi because she is the true house dog where we know from past blog posts that Stella likes to explore the house while I am gone looking for food. Anything from bananas, apples, mangoes or tomatoes that are left in bowls on the counter.

I sat the two bowls of fruit on top of the refrigerator and took off in my car trying to find the beagle somewhere in the neighborhood. Of course by the amount of time it took for me to start my search the beagle was long gone. I had no idea what direction it took but I did not see it along the highway for the two miles south of me.

It was late last night while I was watching the game when I remembered it was the same beagle I had seen in the field last July. I think it belongs to the neighbors five or six houses north of me.

Being this close to a high speed highway, it is never good to see a stray dog running in the neighborhood. The few I have been able to catch and find their owner, it was amazing just how far they had traveled away from their home by the time I found them.

As you can see Stella had another successful Saturday morning stroll. I know, just like you, I cannot picture her walking like this in the high deserts of Arizona or New Mexico either. Yet dogs are so much more adaptable than people are. I can see her though sleeping on the hot rocks or concrete under the sun in those two states, just like she was here yesterday afternoon when the sun was in the western sky.

While I sat outside late afternoon yesterday she slept the whole time which amounted to an hour and a half on the hot concrete floor. That hot sunshine probably makes her joints feel better. Sometimes the sun is the best joint and hip supplement there is.

I admit I don't like the constant rains anymore just like I don't like snowy single digit winters. Rain is nice for a day or two but never all the time. With the Reds game not starting until 1:30pm my time today, that is if it is not raining hard in St. Louis, I'll have plenty of time to look for new information about the town I have locked in on.

Both hounds are still sleeping as I post this but it is so close to their lunch, they will let me know what time it is as soon as I step away from the computer desk. Yes, the skies are looking like a LOT of rain is on the way right now. In my book 84° and dry is better than 60° and rain in the month of April.

Oh ... I never spent a second of time today thinking about my Bureau of Motor Vehicles visit yesterday. Gotta go, Heidi just woke up and she wants her lunch NOW ... barking non stop.

Lunch was served and you can see they had no interest outside other than getting back inside for their post lunch siesta.

Where did the spellcheck feature go when when writing a post on WordPress ???? I hate when they update their site.

It's a quiet Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Brain Cells Working At Full Speed

Late start but it was nice to wake up to a house full of sunshine and skies that look like we are headed back to normal April weather. I'll have a lot of grass to mow on Monday after the yard dries, just like we had planned last week. Stella had one of her better walks while Heidi slept the morning away going past her normal wakeup time. Does that mean my brains cells have settled?

Stella had to think a little on which direction she would take this morning. The yard was wet, she could see the field was wet but the sunshine told her today was different from the previous two days. Would we take off on the normal path or head north and walk against the grain?

With the Reds game over a little earlier Saturday night I had time to look at the website that Barney sent me in a comment yesterday. I also matched information from that site to one that I finally remembered. A final step is a forum with people who live in any town or city answering questions of those that may have or are thinking of moving to that town. I think that website is called "city-data". Whatever those websites are, I spent additional time looking at different towns very late last night.

It is strange to me that I spent all winter without a thought of wanting to move and now it has headed toward the edge of obsession. I need some yard work to drag me outside and away from my restless mind. I have plenty to do on the new 2019 list of "to-do's" so there is help on the way for my mental shortcomings ... I guess.

I was still in fleece lined jeans at 52° this morning with a jacket but it was a psychological win as I tied my hiking boots instead of the snow/rain boots I had been wearing the past few mornings because the field was just too wet.

To add to the intrigue of different towns in the USA to look at, a blog follower left me a new comment this morning on yesterday's post suggesting I consider some southern states in my search. Specifically Mississippi. She is familiar with the 'tropics' of Southern Indiana and she is also familiar with freezing cold midwestern winters so I think she has  a pretty good idea what my brain is processing and the reasons for this new mental exploration.

It was a little ironic that I have considered Mississippi in the past year or so when my mind wanders or when I am watching the house rehab show called "Hometown" located in Laurel MS. The south has always been intriguing to me, from my first family vacation in the mid 1960's and the few weeks I spent with friends down in Starkville and Biloxi in the summer of 1969. We left to go home a week before their hurricane but right after the moon landing.

Yet, the mountains have always been a magnet for me. Yes, I know they have mountains in TN, WV, VA and NC but none of those states interest me enough to move there. It reminds me of something I said on my other blog somewhere back in 2011 or 2012 where I would travel for a year or so and then lock in a location where I wanted to settle down.

What's wrong with where I live? Why not stay here and then just travel the few winter months to escape the freezing cold? All valid questions and questions I have asked myself before and more than a few times. Sometimes you just need a change if you know what I mean. Plus there are one or two personal reasons that I will never go into publicly.

With a day of sunshine and the Reds not starting their game today until 4pm, I'll be able to spend some time outside doing nothing but enjoying the sunshine. If you could see the hounds right now at 11:45am you might think the idea of going outside is only a dream because both of them are dead to world ... in a deep sleep and have been for over an hour. They are usually barking and howling for their lunch by now.

Of course Stella has me pinned in to my computer desk by laying partly on my leg arms of my chair, I can't move so I have no choice but to finish this post. Heidi has positioned her sleeping bag directly in the middle of the sunshine coming through the bedroom east window and has crawled under it for the optimum warm sleeping spot.

So our time outside will not take place until after they eat lunch, and after I post this. With great weather I might post a second short post later tonight with just pictures of their afternoon.

At the same time I will still continue to gather information on small towns in Mississippi. She was nice enough to tell me what area of the state to look at. That is always helpful. A few years ago I had asked my old friend living in Phoenix for some help with small towns in out-of-the-way locations in Arizona. He used to work for the state and drove everywhere for work. I still have that list of 10 small towns.

So, who really knows what might happen. That's the fun part, the research, the planning, thinking and changing my mind about what to do or where to go. It's like every other plan or trip I have thought about.

With more NP'a now charging fees for entry because there is an overflow of visitors, campgrounds being reserved and booked up through the summer it seems everyone else has the same idea to travel full-time. It's interesting it's the same bloggers that are posting these warnings now about how much things have changed the past few years when traveling by RV, trailers or van are the same bloggers that made these places so popular with their fantastic pictures and blog posts about where they were traveling and staying.

Is it possible to even live full-time on the road and boondock without seeing people near your camp site? From some blog posts I am not sure it is. Yet, that is the opposite spectrum from what I have been thinking of the past few days. That is why my mind is interesting and keeps me sane ... about the time I can decide something, it will ask me "but what about ....., did you change your mind on that?"   LOL

That's why it's good to be a bloodhound or basset hound. Both have very consistent thoughts. Routines might change every once in a while but nothing drastic. They still have an appetite for any kind of food, love siestas as well as watching ballgames from the couch ... although they usually sleep through the whole ballgame. They would probably lead me to my answer if I'd pay attention.

At least I got off that topic of food and all the indecision about that. And I've been out of the multiple car trading period. Those use to be fun times but financially costly at the rate I was trading or buying additional cars.

I still laugh at the local dealers mailers they send me, offering me a SIX YEAR LOAN !!!! WTF ... 72 months to finance a car when I have paid them cash in the past? I guess they were not paying attention after all and I am just a number to them. No worries, I know about their marketing plan and desire to put me in a brand new car or truck.

Well I have run out of words at this point plus I am a little restless. Stella has moved from the back of my chair so it does roll away from my computer desk now. Things are looking up and no doubt that as soon as Stella wakes up Heidi they will let me know it's time for their lunch.

One more question though.

Can I live in town with neighbors if I am a hermit type loner?

Being superstitious sometimes in sports, I will be wearing the same Cincinnati Reds t-shirt today for the fourth day in a row as they go for their fourth win in a row in San Diego. It's not as bad as it sounds because I did take showers in those four days.  :)

Stella could have sworn I mentioned something about food, breakfast, groceries or something along those lines. She stopped walking immediately and stared at me because of what she had heard. She isn't stupid.

Another morning walk officially in the books ... you can see it's going to be a good day today, nice and sunny with temperatures in the 70's right around the corner.

Now let me open four tabs at the top of my screen and start checking out towns in Mississippi, north of highway 82 (as suggested), look at houses for sale on zillow and realtor websites, then compare towns.

Never a dull moment here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.