Stella's Wild Surprise !!!!

I first started noticing it in September as I took my short walks outside, maybe 10 minutes long, slowly building up time and distance to make it to the mailbox and back. At the time possibly not strong enough yet to walk with Stella but under the doctors orders I was not to have a 90 pound hound with the leash in my hand. But EVERY walk I took, she stood at the open living room window waiting for my return.

That was so much different than the time I left her like I did today. Front window blinds pulled to the side, the patio door left open for easy access in and out of the house, whatever she chose. Back then when I tried that, I came home to three windows having their blinds ripped out of the rails at the top, laying on the floor.

Then a few weeks ago when I started riding laps around my neighborhood getting up to 30 minutes long, she stood at the living room window waiting on my return and seeing me pass the house with each new lap. The patio door was open, which it is most of the time so the hounds can come and go as they please instead of being their doorman.

The blinds stayed in tact after those rides. She showed no signs of stress while I was gone that short period of time. Yet a little over three weeks ago I left her outside in the backyard with a full gallon pan of cold water in the shade, Heidi with her to babysit but I shut the patio door because I didn't want my blinds tore down.

Well what I had was a 26 minute video on my phone of a stressed out and sad bloodhound while I was gone. I have tried multiple time to send that video to friends by email or text and even tried loading into this blog for you to see or listen too but I was not successful in any of my attempts.

After I had completed my 33 minute bike ride this morning I returned to find my blinds still hanging normally. I had not done the usual laps around the neighborhood but expanded my ride a little to roads I had ridden before. I was out of her sight for 33 minutes. She was happy when I returned and I was even happier that the house was as I left it. I praised her like a new 8 week old puppy. She was happy.

I had plans to go to the bike shop to buy a bike carrier that hangs over the tailgate of my truck. I figured at most it would be a 30 minute trip. A perfect time for a Stella Anxiety Test. Lets see if she would be as good as she was this morning. I left the patio door open, the blinds pulled to the left and took off. I had no doubt that she would be okay for the 30 minutes I was gone.

I ended up being gone from 10:34am to 1:04pm !!!!!

Good discussions at the shop, met some new people that also ride, more discussions and then they offered lunch, more bike discussions and before I knew it I had been gone over two hours and a half. I will say in the 4+ years that I have had her, she has never tore up my furniture. She may have tried to dig through the bedroom drywall in Indiana, but no furniture was destroyed.

I figured at the worst I'd come home to find my vertical blinds ripped out of the rails and would laying on the floor. The company that replaced the previously damaged blinds told me my new ones had a lifetime guarantee and a "one time only" policy that they would replace for free, any blinds that would be tore down by a certain bloodhound.

I figured I might have to call and have them activate that "one time only" policy today.

As I drove past the house about to turn into the driveway, I saw her standing at the gate in the backyard. Had she been spreading the rock yard around trying to dig herself out? Or did she try to dig through the concrete patio floor like last week, when I left her outside with the patio door shut?

I could tell the windows in the living room all had their blinds the way I left them. That's a great sign!!! Lamps were still standing on the end tables. Nothing had been knocked off to the floor. Things seemed normal as I entered with Heidi barking to let me knew she had been taking care of things.

I checked each room of the house ... not a hint of paranormal activity. The rock yard was the same and no signs of wells being dug through the hard Arizona dirt by bear like claws at the end of a bloodhound paw.  The water bowl had half as much water as it had when I left but was not tipped over like past outings.

Things looked normal !!!

Gone two and one half hours and Stella was the perfect house dog!!!

A great day in the 'Wild West'

Lazy Cool Days For The Hounds

Waking up to temps in the 40s now sets the trend. Sunrise keeps showing up later and with Arizona not changing time, the kids catching that first of three school buses in the neighborhood do that in the dark. I love that Arizona does NOT change time. Love it. Indiana use to do that a long time ago but now it's only Arizona and Hawaii that don't. Not only the cool temps have changed the routine a little but the two hounds have also. Both want breakfast as soon as we arrive in the kitchen first thing in the morning and they want it before I can start making coffee ... doesn't happen.

It's hard to believe that I am already at Day 53 for the new hip. Each day I can feel myself getting stronger. I might do something unintentionally, a move that was normal 54 days ago, and see that I can do that once again without feeling pain or soreness. I am doing the exercises the doctor gave me multiple times per day, I am doing most things normal but still following the first day protocol when sitting in and getting out of a chair or car.

Oh I almost forgot ... Heidi has decided to join Stella and I for the morning jaunt but just the past two days where it feels like "winter" ... she has reverted back to her Indiana Winters of hibernating and not starting her day until after 7am.

Yesterday it was cool enough outside that I thought it might be my first full day of me wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt. There is one thing different 'out here' when it is cool and sunny. That sun at 4,700 feet is still hot and if you sit in it long enough you are going to get burned. The hounds as you will see in a few pictures, LOVE this weather.

It was only 60° sitting in that ugly patio chair enjoying a beautiful day when I realized the jeans I was wearing along with the long sleeve thermal shirt was too hot ... it was back to shorts and a t-shirt in a matter of minutes. Besides the dog walk, the walk to the mailbox, I still do laps around the yard and the other day for the first time I walked over 1 mile in one of my walks. I expanded my trek through the neighborhood to get to that point. I felt fine afterward, no soreness hours later nor the next morning.

I've been doing more driving around this week in town than taking trips. Today I am thinking of two options, both familiar places. I can take the new RAV4 TRD Off Road up to Montezuma pass to compare it to what the Tacoma did just last week or the 4Runner did in June. This time I would turn around at the top and come home the way I came for a shorter trip ... unless they were still doing some road maintenance.

The second option is head out to the San Pedro house again, walk further along the San Pedro river than I did last time since the ground will be dry instead of spots of mud. Or I could take one of their three or four other hiking trails that are all flat. If I do that I will definitely be using the two trekking poles I bought right before my bike accident.

When I am at home I leave the screen door propped open and the patio door open so the hounds can come and go as they want. I know some will be thinking "what about snakes or spiders" having a free lane into the house? So far after 4 months I have been pretty lucky and have not seen but one snake in front of my garage door, laying in the shade back in July or August. I do keep a close eye out for them, using the blacklight flashlight early in the morning or after dark before the hounds go outside.

You would think with the cool weather, sunny skies and the doors open for easy access that Stella would have the perfect place to stay while I am away from home either running errands or driving to Tucson's REI for a look and some winter clothing. By the way, REI was the first time I climbed up and went down a LOT of stairs since my surgery. It was hard going down as you lead with your bad foot ... I had to take one step at a time, holding the guardrail all the way down ... taking no chances.

I will show you why at the end of this post that Stella does not get "free range" like Heidi does. Heidi is really enjoying her time outside and spends the majority of day out there after 10am when that sun I talked about earlier is warming her up and probably making those old joints feel much better. So far she has not shown any signs of hip arthritis or stiffness. The supplements seem to be enough from the Fromm Gold for Large Breeds dog food. Yes, once I got the okay from the doctor to lift a 33# bag, I was back downtown buying the Fromm food instead of buying Diamond Naturals on Chewy.

As long as I am around, Stella is fine and will sleep either in the shaded patio or out in the middle of the yard. Is the lack of landscaping cutting down my chances for snakes and spiders? I follow a Facebook group of Cochise County Wonders ... a place where photographers can post their pictures ... professional or everyday people that like to take pictures. Believe me, there are plenty of snakes and spiders in this area yet I have not had any neighbors report seeing them recently.

I keep forgetting to vacuum that small strip of weather stripping between the patio and door jam. That soft material is a dog hair magnet apparently, that is 4 months worth of dog hair you see there. I will get that cleaned today.

Hint:  See those small scratches on the patio floor just southeast of Stella's leg???

The problem with the later arrival of sunshine and Heidi already falling into her 'winter mode' is that our walk is later. That puts us in the range of people driving to work, some arriving at the vet building we walk behind and around or the street that was vacant this summer where Stella could explore every inch, now has a little traffic pulling into the business building we pass which is more vacant than filled.

Since I am jumping all over the place from topic to topic I will say what many of you may have already experienced. Once that first trip to a hospital for any reason or seeing a doctor for any reason is made, it opens up the flood gates to my mailbox for all kinds of Medicare Supplement Insurance whether you already have it. Bills are mixed in with the Medicare reports that show charges submitted, what was paid and what I "might" have to pay. This was expected and something I never wanted to go through after hearing the nightmare stories from my dad and a couple of friends.

To give you just one example of kaos causing me to get on the phone for more minutes or hours than I want, causing me to spend time that I don't want to spend trying to sort out and correct mistakes .... make sure your paperwork from the doctor or hospital has your first name matching what is on your Medicare card. That's a key piece of information there ... what a mess !!!!

I specifically gave them my 'official' first time on purpose in the ambulance, to numerous people with clipboards in the emergency room and even gave them my drivers license when asked to show them my 'official' first name.

But just like toward the end of my working career, "attention to detail" seems to be unheard of. It drove me nuts then and is driving me nuts now as I sort through billing errors because they put my name down as Steve instead of Stephen. Yes they will and have corrected that in some cases but it is a constant battle now and I am the one that has "attention to detail" with my phone nearby ready to dial and talk to someone.

I never wanted on this "medical train of crap" but I have been assigned a seat whether I want to go or not.

Of course this medical kaos is far from the hounds thought process ... they want food, sunshine and sleep ... so they are in a perfect situation. Heidi has taken more walks out here even with me out of commission for a while, than she had in years back in the field in 'the tropics'. As she gets older it has to help that there are no steps except an inch or two as she steps off the patio.

This is heading back toward the Huachuca Mountains from Benson the other day. I broke one of my rules of taking a picture while driving  but that car up ahead was the only car in view in front and in back of me. The hounds were back home so I thought I could take a chance that lasted less than a minute of distraction. I know, accidents can happen in seconds and I personally have been a player in a couple, but with a straight road and little traffic I couldn't resist. Of course I could have chosen not to put it on the blog I guess but then you would have missed that great mountain view up ahead.

Over the past month with the day time temperatures cooling off in the early morning I thought the perfect place for Stella to stay was in the backyard. She would have water in the shade, a shaded patio if needed and plenty of sun to lay out in to keep warm. I would NOT be leaving the doors to the house open because of her tendency which I will mention here.

I don't like putting her in the largest crate possible inside the house when I leave. I don't like locking the two of four small Blinks padlocks to keep the crate together because she is strong enough that she has created space with her nose between the edges of the door and sides trying to bust out. All four padlocks are locked in key locations.

But she walks in on her own when I say "I gotta go". I've caught her sleeping inside the crate when I return home. It is the only way I can keep her safe and my house in place while I am gone.

Due to those scratches I now have a job of repainting the patio around all the phone calls I am having to make now ... doesn't make me happy at all. But she is who she is and I am use to it after 4 years and 2 months of picking her up in 2015. I love that hound no matter what. I am the only owner that has not given her away nor will I ever give her away.

The thing is this is proof of what I am going to say. If I have the door shut, she tries to get out of the backyard like she does the crate. It is NOT that she wants to GET IN to anything, she is wanting to GET OUT from where she is.

If I were to leave the doors open like I do for Heidi, I'd come home to having my vertical blinds tore down AGAIN on the front windows in the living room because she would be trying to GET OUT. She would (hasn't yet) bite the round door knob so hard in an attempt to open a locked door that happens to have a deadbolt. So I'd be replacing the door.

So that is why, even though it is so tempting to let her run the house like Heidi when I am gone I can't. I can't take that chance. She has lulled me into giving her chances before and they always end up disasters and I am not going through that out here.

Yes I could give her "doggie downers". I tried some meds the vet gave me in June and by the time the end of the bottle was gone I was still replacing vertical blinds in two different rooms and a hit to my checkbook. I am in and out of the house multiple times every day it seems now that I am healthy. Personally I don't want a dog 'zoned out' all the time to cover the multiple times I leave the house so the meds are not an option. The large black crate for large breeds worked for all the hounds I have had since 1987 when they were puppies. They were only given the run of the house after they showed signs I could trust them. But the bloodhound breed was the only three dogs that showed any kind of damage while I was gone.

It's because they are trackers by nature, more than any other breed of dog, and they get bored when left alone. That is why things get destroyed and they find things in places I may have looked for years and shows you by destruction they found something you could not.

No worries though ... things really are great, I'm feeling better every day, it's great weather and I love this area. I am seriously thinking about stepping up and sitting on my bicycle seat today just to see how that feels. IF I feel good enough to pedal, I will do it very slowly and for no more than 5 minutes no matter how good it feels. The doctor gave me approval to do that back on October 22nd, "when you are ready."

Time to feed the hounds, wait 30 minutes and then take our morning walk here in the Wild West.

Stella's Anxiety & Hip Update

For the third day in a row I have had little to no soreness in the hip area. I felt so good yesterday I was doing so many things and went to a few places in town that I did not have time to blog. My hip and leg felt normal all day and at times I forgot what had happened 39 days ago. Today I felt the same way and I took a short drive to Best Buy. It was my first chance to tape a video on my phone of Stella in the backyard while I was gone. It was sad to watch and listen to her for the 26 minutes I was gone.

By 10:30am yesterday I had taken two different walks. One of five minutes doing laps around the backyard and then one ten minutes long where I walked to the mailbox and back, which is about .26 of a mile roundtrip. Every time I waited for my hip or leg  to show some sort of discomfort. They never did. I had not planned on it but I decide I'd check to see if I could get into the seat of my Toyota FJ using the same technique I use to get in bed. I also used the same technique to get in my friend's Jeep Cherokee on Wednesday night. It was the technique I was taught by the PT the day I left the hospital.

My only point of concern was, the right leg would have to be bent a little to swing into the floorboard area even with the seat back all the way and the back of the seat tilted back a little to keep my hip and waist of breaking the 90° rule. Where getting on or off the bed, both legs are kept straight during the side movement.

Again I sat there for a few minutes to see what kind of reaction I would get if any. Things felt normal and good enough I was pretty sure I could drive. If I could drive then I had something I needed done in town. Right before my accident I had ordered some Toyota black steel OEM wheels and rock rails. They arrived by FedEx the day I was in the hospital. Last week my friend that set up my bike also was nice enough to put the 5 boxes of wheels and 2 boxes of rock rails in the back of the FJ.

He recommended a good tire shop in town for swapping out my stock wheels for the steel wheels. I already knew the Toyota dealership would install the rock rails for me. Normally I would have done that simple task but I have no idea how long it will be before I am given the approval to get on the floor or the driveway, plus that would have been too much twisting and turning. I may not be able to do that type of stuff for at least a year.  It was easier just to have them do the hour job.

I was gone around three hours and when I walked in the bedroom Stella was asleep in her. large crate I bought for her due to severe separation anxiety. I cannot afford to keep buying vertical blinds that she had tore down before when I left her. Soon after I moved in I thought she would be okay if I left her in the house with the patio door open leading out to the yard ... but that is a whole different story.

Here she is hydrating herself before I decided to make a quick trip to the local Best Buy. I had finally decided on my strategy for cameras, lenses and the iPhone 11 Pro. Only today I was going to give her a break I thought, let her stay in the backyard while I was gone. She spends a lot of time out there on her own when I am here ... but that is the key words "when I am here".

While Stella was outside for her morning sunbathing session, Heidi thought it was the perfect time to ask for a dog treat. Could she sneak one in without Stella finding out?

As the rustling of the plastic bag of dog bones opened, Stella never moved a muscle and Heidi had her free treat in the morning. Now ... looking at that photo you would wonder how is it Stella would get so upset if I left her in the yard while I was gone for only 26 minutes ???? Believe me, I have asked that same question a million times.

If I was sure that a 26 minute video would not use all kinds of extra data you have by opening my blog or that video. I would learn how to post it but I don't want to take that chance. I remember how it was when I had to stretch 15Gb of data across the month. I didn't watch many videos with that much data to use.

I will say it was a sad 26 minutes listening to just how upset she was. She tried digging under the security screen door (steel) that I left locked to keep the nice breeze coming into the house. She did NOT try to dig under the fence gate like before since I had added short concrete blocks, surrounded them with the backyard rock to keep them in place. She did NOT try to dig through the window screen that sets so low in the wall. But she pacing and whining looking for any way possible to get out of the yard or into the house.

As I listened to the video while checking out my new Nikon D3500 camera, Heidi could not figure out why she was hearing all of Stella's whining and howling for the second time while Stella stood close to her.

As usual once I am home, Stella calms down and everything is back to normal for her. She didn't hesitate to follow me into the computer room, back to the kitchen and outside.

She finally curled up in the corner of the computer room and took a nap while I started this post.

I am losing my train of thought for this post. I just had a local realtor call me wanting to know if I wanted to sell the house I just moved into. LOL Investing in houses to rent out seems to be pretty popular in the town. A lot of the houses in my neighborhood are rentals.

She looks so innocent doesn't she?

They are preparing to watch the MLB Playoffs tonight. Their lunch has been served so they are pretty satisfied.

I have spent months researching cameras, or just lenses to add to my older D3200 or buying another point and shoot camera. The spot on the sensor inside the Canon G9 X kinda took any urge away for another point and shoot. Plus I have a iPhone that takes great photos within short range, but not so much when I zoom even 2x. When the new iPhone 11 Pro came out taking fantastic photos it was tempting to upgrade from my 8+ but that really wasn't what I was looking for.

I am happy with the 8+ photos.

So finally after more research I found what I wanted in stock at the local Best Buy. With my Cash Rewards from buying the watch recently and past purchases I was able to knock off about $75 more dollars off of the total price. I went back to that website I use that has a detailed comparison between any two cameras you are interested in.

Once I found out that in "image quality" both the D5600 and D3500 were rated equal with identical sensors, I was leaning toward the D3500. It was not only a few hundred dollars cheaper but it included the lens I have been wanting for almost a year after seeing the photos on Al's blog. The Nikon 70-300mm ... the special price today got me the camera, the 70-300mm lens and a 18-55mm lens for $200 less than it would have cost me to buy just the 70-300mm lens. I found out later it would not work with my D3200 even with the firmware update.

Why buy a new camera ???

I like taking landscape photos using a 200mm and now a 300mm lens.  My D3200 had been dropped a few times, once in the snow, once on the concrete and again when the wind blew it out of a chair onto the concrete floor of the carport then bouncing it across the gravel driveway. The Tamron lens I had been using was also used in a rough manner, just by taking photos every day as the hounds and I would hike through the field once or twice per day.

I thought when I bought the Canon G9 X last January that would be my everyday camera but it was not really good when the zoom was extended out to the maximum allowed. Then when the black spot showed up on the sensor and can only be cleaned by a professional, unless I attempt to take the camera apart ... I tired of that camera quickly.

So my phone camera will take the close up shots. The 70-300mm lens will be mounted full-time on the new camera and I will still use the D3200 with the old Tamron 18-200mm lens that has so much use, the rubber piece in the center of the lens for grip is worn and stretched out.

And the main reason ... for years I have always thought the picture quality of the D3200 was not nearly as good as it was when I first bought it. I am sure the times it hit the concrete or fell into the snow when I slipped and fell one day was not the best thing for good picture quality.

So now a short summary for the FJ story. Yes, the new 4Runner is gone. It was just too nice to off road in. All leather, great ride but reminded me too much of a "Family SUV" ... sure the hounds trashed it out with hound drool, dog hair and I helped by dropping a burrito one time  but I have ALWAYS loved the Toyota FJ. I've had Autotrader and Cars dot com bookmarked where I could look for FJ and Mini Cooper S 2-doors every day and night, even after getting rid of them.

By the end of August I bought this 2013 FJ at the Toyota Dealership downtown. It was a one owner and serviced as scheduled at Toyota since it was new. I still wanted to make it look like my 2007 Voodoo Blue with the rock rails and black wheels.

So that is what I did yesterday. D&M Tire swapped out the wheels and Toyota installed the OEM Rock Rails. I have the center caps arriving tomorrow so it will be completed by tomorrow. The only question is ... how does Stella get in the back???

I am not in shape nor have approval to lift the butt of a 90# bloodhound, helping her get up into the back. Her hips are also where she no longer jumps up in back like she and Sadie use to. I guess I'll need to get some collapsible ramps for her to use. Would she be able to get up the ramps or even want to?? That is pretty expensive to find out that she wants no part of walking up ramps to get inside.

Toyota quit making the FJ in 2014. It's my all-time favorite Toyota vehicle. What did I do with the 4Runner ... I found a Mini Cooper S, Arizona rust color at a Jeep Dealership in Tucson. They gave me more as a trade-in than what I paid for it because the TRD Off Road was a trim they could not keep in stock. They sold it within 2 days after putting it up for sale.

With the difference in trade in and sale price, plus license plates ... I made a little extra money after all the dust settled. That check from Jeep went right into my savings account.

I am still cautious when I get up out of a chair or car, or when I sit in one of those. I watch how I make turns when walking and I try not to move my right leg out to the right. That will happen later after the doctor gives me approval to start some exercises to get the hip stronger. I expect to get that approval this coming Tuesday. Again today, even in the store, I was walking on my own with my cane in hand in case there was an emergency where I needed support.

Busy times in the Wild West the past few days.

Morning Is Rained Out

They warned us. All that snow we were walking through yesterday was going to be washed away by the time we woke up this morning. Their prediction was 100% true as it has been pouring rain all night and has not stopped. Here's the kicker though .. by late afternoon, the temps drop from 48° it is now at 8am to below freezing and all this rain will be mixed snow. The snow will not stick. I hate to write about the weather every day but it seems that is about all that is happening. Although in the background quite a bit of things have been happening ... not in life ... electronically.

Where should I start?

With the 5 pound bag of dog bones, grain-free with bacon flavor, gone ... it was time to buy more. That is only a half mile drive to the hardware store that carries dog food and dog treats. It's 4-star rated food and produced by the same company that produces Earthborn dog food. Stella had shown no signs of trying to escape the past few weeks when I have gone grocery shopping. I am usually gone for an hour and half on those trips. Yet it would have been hard for me to tell because I was still using the cord system, backed up with a baby gate. When I would return from those trips I'd check the door handle inside the bedroom for bloodhound drool ... there wasn't any. There wasn't any yesterday either but she opened the door someway.

No, I did not have the cord tied from that door knob to a closet door knob. I wanted to see what would happen so I just closed the door and put the baby gate up just in case. That was a good idea because when I returned ten minutes later, she had opened the door and is standing on her rear legs chewing the top of the baby gate. She didn't even stop when I walked in ... I yelled "hey" and then she stopped.

It has been suggested by others and what I've read, to install a deadbolt. I can do that and have thought about that many times. Especially every time I come home and she has that door open. Something always holds me back from doing that ... it's the "what if" thoughts I have. What if I install a deadbolt and she then tries digging through the door itself? It's a typical hollow interior door, easily replaced if damaged. You might think that is not a possibility but the time I spent repairing the drywall right next to that door in 2015 would prove otherwise. I hate the thought of having to replace a door just because she wants to get out for some reason.

No ... I did not leave her during anytime that she would have been fed lunch. It's just her. It's her DNA and exactly who she is, as the previous owner told me "she is an escape artist, NOTHING, keeps her contained." Those words haunt me three years and five months later.

I mentioned a few weeks ago I was having problems with the Wordpress dashboard at Wordpress .com using major amounts of data unexpectedly. Their support team suggested I use the 'old' wp-admin dashboard for everything. They did not tell me at the time they were redesigning the newer dashboard. When I say major amounts of data, I'm talking 700Mb - 1.5Gb just like that. Well over time I'd check the regular, newer dashboard and it seemed like things had settled down.

Until yesterday.

I was hovering around 140Mb of data usage for the first three hours I was online, after 8:30am. I glanced to my right at the 'Activity Monitor' to see Data Received at 974Mb ... Google Chrome was the browser. I checked their Data Saver which lists all activity from the most data used down to the least amount used, by name. There was Wordpress .com at the top of the list. So who knows and really, who cares. I'll keep using their older wp-admin dashboard. Like I have said many times before, I can't afford to lose 1Gb of data when I pay for 20Gb per month.

Two years ago the farmer hauled in and installed some of the largest black drainage system in that area of standing water. It's just like the same stuff we would buy in a 6" diameter. His looked like it had a diameter of 10 feet !!

At least I was able to install the new Apple iOS and MacOS updates this morning on my 'free' data period since it was before 8am. I like doing those updates mostly for security. They might include a lot of features, many that I don't or will never use but they always plug holes and tighten their security with those updates. You would be surprised how many friends contact me at times with computer problems, phone or tablet problems and the first question I ask is ... "When did you do your last update?"

In almost all cases ... they had missed the last 2-3 Operating System updates whether it was Apple devices or Windows. Doing those updates when they come out fixes a lot of problems you might be having.

I know many of you wish I'd get off this camera subject. The one I bought on January 2nd and it arrived on January 4th. I did a lot of research about that camera. I read reviews from professional camera websites, read the forum for that specific Canon camera and talked to a friend that had bought that camera and raved about it. I was still hesitant right up until the time I clicked that purchase button on my computer. For years I've wondered if it was my eyes getting older and why weren't the photos from my Nikon D3200 as sharp as they were when I bought the camera in 2015 (?) Then when I would look at the sharp clear photos taken with my iPhone 8+, that made me wonder even more. A reader explained to me it was the humidity in my tropical air that was causing the problem based on his experience ... the same thing. Just slightly not as sharp and crisp as they should be.

So yesterday I did some more looking online and found a website that does reviews, listed first after my search. I had been on this website before I bought the camera. When I checked my bookmarks in my Camera folder, I had not seen this exact page that gave me the answer I was looking for. I am NOT crazy ... LOL. There were many others making comments on this review with the same complaints I was having. BUT ... the review itself pointed out the problem and why I will NEVER get the kind of picture I want with this camera.

It's the lens.

Sure it's a great feature to have a small digital camera with a 1" sensor, only a few cameras have a sensor that big. That great feature still will not override what they called "a soft lens." The Canon G9 X Mark II will never take sharp pictures of Stella far away, like yesterday morning's photos. The review said it would not even take sharp pictures of landscapes, even after shooting in automatic mode or manual with adjusted sharpness and fineness tweaked. I've made those setting adjustments the review suggested and have taken a few photos late yesterday afternoon inside and outside. I plan on taking more today when the skies brighten up. Right now at 8:39am it is dark, overcast and raining.

I knew before I bought the camera the max zoom was 84mm ... I found that even shooting at that range was not a sharp image. Before I bought the camera I set my Nikon lens at 70mm as a test and tried taking my long distance photos of Stella with that range while on the walk. I guess I need to learn and practice using a shorter zoom distance, then cropping the photos to the larger size I want. That is something I have rarely done but I did it with Stella's picture at the bottom of this page.

So my brain cells were scrambling again about the camera. I know that sounds stupid as hell but that is just the way I am. I admit I post a lot crap quality pictures on this blog, meaning slightly out of focus sometimes. Or not as sharp and clear as I want. That may not bother you but it does me. I only read this blog on my phone when I check to see how it looks to phone readers. Same way with my tablet. I might read the blog from my laptop but those times are few and far between. I do all of my writing, photo editing and reading on a 27" monitor. So my photos will look different from what you see on a phone or a table, maybe even a laptop. Everyone has a different device they are using so what I might be complaining about is not seen by you.

Interesting isn't it?

I am not sure how many of you have blogs or do blog. Those that do might be able to relate to what I am going to say. I've had a couple of online friends that do blog remind me that "this is your blog, you are writing for you,  traffic means nothing." I answer to them saying I am not writing just for me because if I were, then I would have continued to write on my private blog like I do here. Using the blog as a documented journal to be looked at in the future as a reference or good memories. So since I am writing for readers mostly or posting photos for them to see, I try to put good stuff online.

Who knows what the reasons are but I am sure that other bloggers know ... there is something addicting about seeing your traffic statistics that Blogger or WordPress provides all bloggers. Are high traffic numbers fulfilling a hidden need our personalities need for acceptance or is like what I call the "Facebook Syndrome" of "look at me, look what I am doing, look where I am, look what I did" ... Of course with a lot of blog traffic that means you need more server space and luckily Blogger and WordPress furnishes server space. If this were an independent website I would have to pay more for that server space to handle large amounts of visitors. So that is not really something I like with average blog traffic.

I don't get anything near what other bloggers get in traffic numbers. I have a boring topic. I don't have a lot of emergencies, or crises to write about. I don't travel. Plus my daily photos don't change much in location or even how the hounds look. So I get it. No way am I going to get thousands of blog visitors everyday. That's good in a way because I don't get recognized when I am traveling or walking down the street like some do, nor do I have people knocking on my door to visit the hounds. I am a 'small time' blogger with small amounts of traffic.

What I am leading up to is ... it just makes me wonder out of curiosity how in one day after 44 days of consistent blog traffic ... it decreases 60% from the daily average.

In the meantime, Stella drank her water at the normal time of day, thinking we are walking. We aren't going anywhere. I'll put on a jacket and take some photos outside of what we are looking at to cause the cancellation for this morning's walk. The field will be nothing more than a pond if we were to walk through the wet grass today. I have standing water in the driveway and in back ... that means the field is even worse with water levels. Plus there are strong winds.

I left her inside as I went outside to take the pictures of the field and standing water. An hour ago there was much much more water standing than what you see in those pictures. The start of the path looks like it is close to having standing water on top of the leaves. Based on experience, the further we walk into the field as the elevation increases so does the water level.

This is the response that Stella gave me when I told her the walk was cancelled for this morning. "We might go out this afternoon." ...

It might sound like strange weather but this "yoyo" weather is normal winter weather for 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.