Only Cold Outside Not Inside

First of all I know my weather the past few days and today is nothing like others are experiencing and I am very grateful for that. It's normal winter weather. It's been going on for as long as I can remember and in fact when I was growing up winters were much worse. (No, I did not have to walk to school in 4' of snow). 

Like most forecasts for where I live, whether winter or thunderstorms, or tornado warnings ... things never turn out as bad as predicted. So when I saw the forecast the other day I still prepared things for that but it's not as bad as they said it would be. 

I am not saying I am a fan of this kind of weather. In fact last night during a commercial of the NFL Playoff game I caught myself saying, "only a month and a half, 45 days, until March 1st". But who counts days until spring?

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Nothing is changed much since we don't do a lot during the winter months but stay inside and watch ballgames, read books, take naps and a movie or two fit in. Twitter (X) keeps me updated with all the news stuff and I must say I have enjoyed my return to Facebook.

Single Digit Temps Freeze The Hounds

I had failed to remember that starting Sunday night, the arctic winds would start blowing my direction and drop the overnight temperatures to single digits. I knew as soon as I opened my eyes and stepped outside the warm bedroom that something was different. I had turned the heat down in the living room like I do every night and with it being 5° outside it was just a tad below 60° inside. It was colder when I opened the door to let the hounds outside to start our day.

I tried explaining to Stella the morning walk was cancelled, no discussion would be allowed. I didn't see any reason to walk in single digit temps with the wind chill being -6°and a 10-15mph wind. Finally by 9:46am she had enough and needed to go back outside to do her thing. She started hydrating at her water bowl to let me know she was going outside.

Doesn't it look like the "Frozen Tundra" ???

It was so cold it took my breath away the first time I inhaled and as Stella started to walk she found it pretty hard to make the turn and hesitated.

At least she started moving in the right direction. I was hoping that she would go out in the field, dump her tanks and get back inside as fast as possible instead of wandering off down the path as if we were walking. I stepped behind the house to get out of the freezing wind that was blowing.

Even in 6° weather it's always good to stretch.

As she proceeded out to the field another thought occurred to me. I might have to walk out to pick her up and carry her back to the house if that icy frozen snow either froze her paws or got between her toes. If that were to happen, she would raise the affected paw up in the air and try to limp back home. 87 pounds was going to be a lot of weight to carry in icy conditions.

She had already peed but was looking for that special spot that dogs always do. She did a couple of figure eights and then ... decided the spot she was looking for was not out there.

She slowly took the path back to the house.

After making a right hand turn just before leaving the field, she did what she had to do in the field and then headed to the house without one word from me. For that type of reaction from her, she had to have known just how cold it was.

I could hear the snow 'crunching' as she walked. That is a sure sign it's damn cold !!!

Last night was 'movie night' ... while I watched A Dog's Purpose, Heidi was sleeping sitting up, keeping warm with Stella.

Yes ... she is sleeping, not just being caught between blinking her eyes. She was probably really exhausted after all of her exploration in the snow on Sunday afternooon.  :)

Stella was out for the night. She never moved even after I got up, turned the lights off and headed to bed.

Some have asked about the dark mode I spoke of the other day. The best example is the smaller screen in the upper left having the black/dark gray background. It is like that on my emails, and any dropdown menu. It really is easier on the eyes if you spend too many hours on the computer like I do. That is the desktop screen on my stand alone monitor.

I thought this Apple desktop photo was appropriate for a 'dark mode' ... Spring is on the way after these freezing temps leave by the end of the week.

Anyone else having problems with Firefox crashing unexpectedly this past week? It seems to be a regular occurrence for me lately. I tried that browser again last night and after the second time it crashed I changed browsers. I moved to Safari this time. It's been very fast this morning, automatically stops videos from autoplaying on news or sports websites without an add-on. I still have to use AdBlock Plus to block advertisements. With that add-on I get ZERO advertisements anywhere I go online.

Tom was complaining about this blog using cookies last night. I can't control that from my end. For those that don't know, you are the only one that control what or how cookies are used by changing your security settings inside of the browser you are using on YOUR computer.

The new banner at the bottom of my blog about WordPress using cookies set him off.
I personally added that banner to my widgets yesterday due to the amount of traffic I get from the EU countries and by law, that banner is required for visitors from EU countries. So I am just following protocol and using the EU banner provided by WordPress. I am being told I do not need this banner so in the meantime until I can confirm one way or another, I have deleted the banner.

We all have our own opinions about immigration into our country, whether it be legal or illegal. This article has the best ideas I have read anywhere. Too bad they are not in politics and could present their ideas. It's a good read for those interested.

If anyone thinks what Trump is doing or trying to do is something new .... this link will show it also happened in the Obama Administration. Scroll down to see it if you don't want to read the whole article.

It wouldn't make a difference if the blog author was in Congress ... there are enough politicians in both parties that don't  want any changes to immigration and want as many ILLEGAL immigrants as possible ... both Democrats and Republicans.

There are many steps in the process to impeach a president. Let's just say that last step would approve the recommendation for impeachment even after the next election, years from now. Do the democrats and some republicans really want Mike Pence as the next president? Think about that.

With the weather as cold as it is, I see no other option than a normal day here in 'the tropics' with a lot of book reading, many games of Mahjong on the MacBook Air on the kitchen table. While playing that game I glance out to the highway between games and am still amazed at the number of drivers I see drving the Toyota RAV4 ... on this US Highway in front of my house, that vehicle is a hands down winner of choice by a landslide.

As far as pickup trucks ... from my view, it looks like a tight race between the Dodge Ram and the Chevy Silverado pickup trucks, old or new models.

I saw in the Seattle Times this morning, a newspaper I read on a daily basis ... having a picture and an article about a new kind of ice cream you can eat late at night that helps you to fall asleep. How nice would that be? Would it be as good as Ben&Jerry's Ice Cream?

At least the sunshine is out and is bright today.

Up to 9° at 10:44am here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Single Digits Stops Stella

We knew it was going to happen but that didn't mean we had to like it. Yes, it does look like a nice clear morning, a great sky to walk under, as we start this Friday. With only a few degrees difference between the different weather apps, I knew it was too cold to take the daily walk. My first hint was seeing the storm windows covered in solid ice as the sun rose.

It was like the rising sun was waiting for Stella and I. It not only brightened the fields across the highway in front of the house but the woods on the north side of the field. It was a bright clear morning around 8:15am ... it was also 8° and a windchill temp of -5°.

After my morning reading, and my two cups of coffee, I told Stella we were not walking this morning. I didn't know if she would take off on me or not as I stepped outside wearing a Fleece jacket, fleece lined Wrangler's, with my wool socks inside some very cheap Chinese made sandals I bought at Walmart years ago. Those $24 Nike sandals I use to wear were one of Sadie's favorite chew toys ... so I quit buying them after the 3rd pair.

I had to shove on the frozen storm door for it to open as Stella and I stepped outside. The freezing air hit my lungs as I breathed in and cleared out any cobwebs that might be lingering in my brain after a good night of sleep ... just not enough of it. The ground was harder than a rock, if that is possible. I stood at the corner of the house watching Stella ... hoping I would not have to walk out in my socks and sandals to keep her out of the land of burrs.

You'll see that she knew it was cold. She did what she had to do (not pictured), turned without me calling her name and came back to the house. As I scanned my hourly temps on my weather app, I was up to 7pm before it gets above 15° today. It's dark by that time, so I think it is safe to say both walks today are postponed.

For some strange reason last night around 1am ... yes, it hit me at 1am ... about the time I was turning off the computer for the day, I had the urge to change the blog template to show a sidebar on the right hand side and was even willing to have smaller photos, to make that happen.

I scanned the list of possibilities, all familiar ones no matter how I changed the search terms, design features or how many columns. I kept glancing to the current design I had and the one you see here and knew this one, is the one I liked the most. Will cold weather that keeps me inside make me investigate possible changes in design?

I have no idea why those impulses hit me so often to change things. It falls within the same lines as me looking to take Verizon up on their email offer for unlimited data for only a few dollars more per month. For years I have had 5Gb of data, unlimited text and calls. That small amount of monthly data covers me for what I do with my phone.

Unlimited data is always tempting though. It has a built-in 20Gb threshold they might show in small print of the agreement or you might get a Verizon rep to confess to. The speeds will slow down after 20Gb are used within a billing period. (30 days).

What's the problem? It's only a few dollars more! That is the problem. Those 'few dollars more' add up as you apply that theory to the cell phone account, the satellite tv account, or more satellite internet data. (more than a few dollar increase)

There are a few more TV channels I'd like to get back since I moved to the lower tier of shows by decreasing my monthly payment $10 a few months ago. Those shows were not that important to me when I made the change and really they aren't now ... but that 'urge to change', just like the blog template. The MLB channel is on that higher tier and baseball season is right around the corner.

I just remembered, this blog post is done on the 'newer' WordPress editor. It's not really that new as I have used it for the past few years but it is newer than their old 'wp-admin' editor. I thought there was a difference between the two editors the other day as I was reading a post on my laptop.

In this editor the content goes no further than the edges of the photos. In the 'wp-admin' editor it does go past the photos. I like this better but I have a close eye on my Activity Monitor as I type this and add a few photos. I don't want to see an unexpected 700Mb data dump that happens sometimes on the WordPress .com editor. So far so good.

Stella and I were outside less than 3 minutes this morning. It seemed like a lifetime as I waited for her to finish. As you see here, single digits does not affect Heidi, time does. When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. Her normal routine is get up, goes outside to pee, back inside to eat breakfast and right back to bed. I fold  the sleeping back over the top of her afer she lays down.

Her dog bed, bought at Costco in 2011 about an hour before I met her for adoption, is more comfortable than the bed I sleep on, I think. It has the perfect firmness for the mattress. It's just not large enough for me of course. She will be up before lunch but I guarantee you that her trip outside today will take less than a minute.

I am afraid to turn on the tv today just to see what is going on in DC. I've glanced at the online headlines from three different news sources. Yes, I do read 'both sides' of news reporting. I have the ability to sort out facts and what is fake.

800,000 out of 2.3 million workers supposedly are the ones not being paid. They use to call it a 'skeleton crew', just enough to get the basics of the job finished but now they call it "essential personnel" ... how essential can they be if you can afford to let them go? I know the local ~8,000 government employees and contractor are all working and all are getting paid ... unless my neighbor is lying to me.

I must say that now that I have the Canon G9X adjusted I very happy with the quality of the photos I am taking. Early morning lighting is always a tough time for any camera, unless I was outside at sunrise. Today might be another good day to go for a drive.

I could stop and buy a deadbolt lock to install on the door this afternoon to contain Stella. :)

I appreciate all the responses I received via email and the public comments for my last post about the shutdown and congress. The email responses outnumbered the comments on the blog but all counted, it was an overwhelming number of people that agreed with me or that of the President. No one was threatening or angry and I welcome all opinions, on all of my blog posts.

I read this morning that Ms Harris, a 2020 candidate has hired all of the "Clinton Team" to run her campaign. Interesting. She has a lot of other issues though that will come to the forefront as the campaign gets closer to starting. I keep seeing the word "horizontal" describing her ... confusing to some I'm sure.

To add to my food discussion from last night ... I clicked in 1645 calories yesterday and had nothing but healthy food. I can also feel my appetite adjusting after tightening the food intake a couple of weeks ago. I'm not as hungry during the day or night and that's a good thing.

Well I need to see if I can figure out a way to move my desk chair away from my desk far enough to stand up. Stella has me blocked in as she is sleeping curled up and leaning on one of the desk chair legs. Maybe if I start sneezing she will wake up to whine like she always does and that will give me room to move my chair.

It's breath-taking cold today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

All Walks Are Cancelled Today

Getting up a little before 8am I could tell it was colder than normal outside. Every storm window was covered in ice. By 10:30am when I opened the kitchen door to let Stella and Sadie outside to relieve themselves, we saw the storm door frozen as well as the handle.

It was 3°

They did not stay out long ... and Heidi tells me there is no chance that she will leave her bed of sleeping bags today.