Stella & Henry Go Walking

The sunrise was much much better than this photo shows. I guess it's hard to keep the camera steady so soon after waking up and before having coffee. The day started early though, 3:52am as the dog next door was outside barking at something. I was told last weekend all their dogs sleep in the bedroom with the door closed. Guess not all the time. I did not hear any coyotes, so not sure what had irritated the dog, but he was barking his ass off in the 'attack mode'. Needless to say, I never really got back to sleep.

Saturday Was A Rest Day

I attempted and I think succeeded, to rest on Saturday. I only walked when letting the hounds outside, fixing meals in the kitchen and trips to the fridge while watching college football. I tried to get up out of my chair every hour to get the blood circulating if it only meant to stand in one spot. I did NOT try to walk laps inside the house or up and down the hallway ... I wanted to see how I felt by the end of the day without the extra steps. I felt good throughout the day into the early evening.


It was another typical night of sleep Friday night but I was able to add some longer periods of solid sleep. I might be up to 3 hours straight right now. I am the one waking the hounds up now as they both sleep mostly through the night. You can see here it's early and they are not that active, probably wishing they could be fed breakfast when they get up like they use to instead of waiting for MJ to feed them around 8am.

Saturday morning I grabbed the Canon G9 X, the camera with the black spot that is on the sensor sometimes. It was back and I edited out that black spot for these next few photos. It was so nice to sit outside in 62° weather watching the day get it's start. Coffee seems to taste better when it is consumed outside early in the morning.

I felt good Saturday morning, felt strong. I could tell it was going to be a good day, with nothing planned but watching college football with good games late into Saturday and a specific plan to rest and not walk as much. Out west games start at 9am and finish much earlier then they did when I lived in Indiana. No more having to stay up until 1:30am to see the end of the game.

Excuse the dog hair in the space between the floor and step. I'll be vacuuming out there today (Sunday). There is a slight step down onto the patio. For support I line the walker up like this and then take the first step with my good side, the left ... left foot first. I step down easy just to make sure the new right hip ball joint stays where it should. I'd rather be too careful than back in the ER.

With morning temps in the 60's and 70's staying around until after lunch, Heidi has been spending a lot more time in the 'rock' yard and soaking up the sunshine. She likes laying on the edge of the patio where the sunshine can barely touch her.

As I sit sipping hot coffee, listening to the birds and watching the clouds ... I realize just how much I miss that daily early walk that Stella and I use to do before her surgery. That knocked her out for two weeks of no walking. I hurt my hip the day after the vet office took off her bandage and said to wait until the following Tuesday before she would walk again. I also miss those morning bike rides and wonder what it will feel like when I try to get on any of my bikes for the first time.

When I asked Stella "do you miss your walk?" ... she gave me this look. She does.

MJ showed up soon after my neighbor did Saturday morning. The hounds love it when MJ shows up but like she reminds me, they only do that because she is the one feeding them now. "It's all about food." Gerry was happy when I told him I was going to make an effort to walk less and watch more football instead. He has seen others go through rehab for knee and hip replacements. He tells me I have progressed faster than he has ever seen.

I didn't make it to the end of the Saturday night football games but I did set my DVR to tape the last part of the games that I was going to miss. I may or may not watch them in a few days. I was tired Saturday night and when I get that feeling I do not hesitate in getting some sleep, no matter what time of day or night it is.

Sleeping solid until 1:40am when I woke up for some reason. I may have heard the hounds shaking their flopping ears and dog tags making noise as they did. They like to do a full body shake when they wake up. By the time my feet hit the floor, both of them were standing by the kitchen door to be let outside. I knew then I'd have a hard time getting back to sleep this morning.

I'll try but when I don't get back to sleep I get up, no matter the time. So here I was this morning (Sunday) starting this post a little before 3am. I felt stronger this morning as I walked down the hallway. In fact I lifted the walker up and walked on my own for that distance to the kitchen. It was nice to hear "quiet" as I walked. I DON'T do that all the time, only when the body feels like doing it.

The first day I attempted that a few days ago, I was suddenly not as strong as I felt with the walker and I thought I was back on Day 2 ... so I went back to the walker, walking slowly and not pushing anything. This morning though I feel so much stronger without the walker.

I still follow protocol when turning corners, or sitting down. I still hold my right leg straight out as I lower myself into the high seat. I feel that I could slide into a chair like I normally would before the surgery but I won't until I talk to the surgeon on Tuesday. My PT friend did tells me it would be okay to walk a little bit without the walker INSIDE the house but always near a table, a counter or furniture in case I need support.

I've done a lot of reading about timelines for the healing process. Combine all that I have read there are some pretty consistent time frames. For example, for the Hip Capsule to be fully healed, that will take 60-90 days or in my case November 8 at the earliest. Yet I could return to "normal activity" within 10-12 weeks which would be November 16.

Looking at dates, I still have a long way to go.

Of course everybody is different and that is the unknown, why doctors or the surgeon could not give me a firm timeline with dates to shoot for.

I heard a terrible story from a friend yesterday about her sister's knee replacement this past year. I'll not go into detail but it makes my situation look simple compared to what happened to her. I stopped reading the forum I found the other day with only members that had hip replacements. IF I can heal without going through what I have seen on that forum I will consider myself very very fortunate. Of course, like all forums whether it be sports, cars, hounds, or anything else ... most have a negative tone to them.

The swelling around the incision continues to go down. I started icing it 15 minutes at a time with my new ice packs I received on Friday from Amazon Prime. For the first time I was able to see the whole incision just by turning my head instead of trying to get a mirror in the right angle to look. One question I have on Tuesday is why did he choose not to insert a drain tube in the incision?

Well I have that feeling of sleep again so I'll end this post and head back to bed at 3:45am. I can get a couple of more hours of solid sleep before we start our day.

I wonder if this injury will turn me into a hiker and less a bike rider?

Oh ... I found a mobile dog grooming business that will come and pick up Heidi and Stella Wednesday morning, take them to their facility for a bath and nail trim for each. Chewy is delivering my dog food now, and groceries are delivered by Fry's Market. So basically everything is lined up for a 'long haul' as I continue my recovery.

It's cool this morning the darkness of the Wild West.

Photos From A Year Ago

The day looked promising but I knew after seeing the 10-day forecast last night that soon after our lunch, the gray thunderheads would be moving in with rain in the forecast. That still gave all three of us time to do what we do ... hound walk, biking, hounds sleeping, me reading. Since I did not have a lot of photos to choose from today I went back into the library to August 21, 2019 and pulled some photos from a year ago. Big difference eh?

Once again Stella was highly active for some reason. She trotted from the time we were on the street all the way down the block to the vacant land across the street. Then she would spend time with her nose pressed to the street or ground identifying scent ... bounce up and start running to get ahead of me. I stopped her hip supplements a few weeks ago as a test. I'm not sure what game she is playing now ... but she is enjoying her walk.

As soon as we got back from the walk and I had a cup of coffee enjoying the mountains to my right, I decided I was riding in plain clothes today on the mountain bike. I'd still take two water bottles with me just in case I decided to ride longer. I was only going to follow the bike path around the west side of town and then come back home on the east side ... but with me plans always change.

This is the best photo I have taken of the Aerostat. I am back in love with my older Nikon D3200.

I ended up riding out toward the canyon again like I do most days only today I wanted to force myself to go slow. I wanted to keep my heart rate in zone two as they call it. For me that would be around 118 bpm. I can see that information on my Apple watch using the Strava app while I am riding. That app also records my distance, time, speed, and heart rate as I am riding.

I ended up riding a little past 25 miles and had a hard time keeping my heart rate below 118. There are too many gradual climbs where even in low gears, fast pedaling, the old ticker jumps up to 130 bpm pretty easy. My plan this week is to ride a total of 6 days by riding slower, less effort, and enjoy the scenery.

I had just opened the door for the hounds to take a break outside, at their request. A loud clap of thunder filled the skies as I was looking at the sunshine over the Mule Mts two photos up. To my right is where all the noise was coming from. I tried by holding the camera shudder halfway down to time the next lightning strike but it never happened.

As time passed the darker it got, the temperature dropping and rain everywhere but my house. It's almost the end of August and I have not seen too much of the 'infamous' monsoons I was warned about. All the locals told me "you are just in time for the monsoons" when they found out I had just moved here. Either way is good with me. I love living here ... no bugs ... no humidity ... beautiful skies ... friendly people.

So here is the start of the photos from last year to the day ... August 21, 2018

Looks like the skies were getting ready to rain there too.

While I have moved from the kitchen cooking an actual meal of steamed veggies and brown rice/lentils for lunch, both hounds followed me from room to room. The living room to catch some sports news and finding out that my Reds game had already been played at 9:30am my time. When I came into the computer room to check some things on the computer both hounds followed me and plopped down in their corners of the room for more sleep.

Stella seems to be use to the louder than normal thunder now ... she sleeps through these kinds storms. They have never bothered Heidi.

I moved back in the book Going Back to Bisbee. It's a slow read but a fantastic history lesson of this area. Now if it were the winter I'd be more motivated to read but in great weather, even when it's high 90's it just hard for me to sit still long enough to read many pages at a time.

Stella's light snoring is making me feel like a siesta for me is right around the corner here in the Wild West.

Stella Has Changed Routines

After Sadie was gone in September 2018 I always wondered if Stella wanted to walk in the field because she wanted to or because I wanted to. There were too many times I would have to practically beg her to join me on the morning and afternoon walks, causing me to wonder. She is always changing her routine but recently the change has been huge. This is her response 99.9% of the time when I ask her "you wanna go for a walk" and there's her answer.

Where she use to whine around 9am just months ago to take the walk through the wet field, only canceled by rain, anymore she is sound to sleep at 9am and will join Heidi in sleeping right up until lunch is served. With the hot afternoons I try to walk early evening but it doesn't matter to her. Here it is late morning and the response is the same. "I'm not going anywhere no matter how many times you say let's go"

With lunch served, if it's not raining she spends about an hour sunbathing. I can't help but think those warm stones make her hips feel better or her back.

Heidi enjoys her bed now being right next to the central air vent. With the temps in the 80's now, she will spend most of her afternoons here, next to the cold air. I have not caught her on camera but she still likes to go outside on her own every afternoon, do a little wandering and then lay under the sunshine if it isn't too hot. Otherwise ... right there on her dog bed.

I decided to watch Stella's walk one day. I was even prepared to follow her next door if that is where she wanted to go. I'd even go as far as two houses down if she wanted to check out the water temps for the neighbor's pool. So I stood and watched to see what she would do.

It turned out to be nothing more than the "new normal", her afternoon walk and only walk of the day for so long that I can't remember when it started to be this way.

Yes, the hay is that tall again, where you can barely see her tail. All the rain has been good for the hay growth but the fields across the highway are still not planted and it's raining again as I type this. About the time it dries out enough to get tractors and plows in the field, it rains.

While I was giving her the chance to go anywhere, she walked from the previous photo over to our return path and came home without a word of any kind coming from my mouth. She does that day after day and goes no further than she has to, to relieve herself.

She likes to shake off all the hay seeds and yellow pollen before she comes back inside.

And the "official" end of the walk by walking along the side of the house.

Sometimes her walks are not even what you have seen. They are not any longer than a quick search on the driveway and back to the house. A few times I attached the 25' retractable leash to her thinking that might lead her to the field ... she sits there and makes sure her 85 lbs are as low as possible so there is no way I can move her. Similar to a heavy rock you are trying to move.

Along with her changes to routine, I have seen and felt changes with me and blogging. I admit I love having the extra time to enjoy the day and I seem to get a lot more done around here without taking the time to put a blog together. I take daily photos but not nearly as many as I did in full blogging mode. Nothing official to announce but a post or some hound photos here and there are about all I can come up with.

Both hounds will be 10 years old this summer. Is that the reason for a slower pace summer this year? I think Heidi may be 10 years old since her age is really an estimate. When I picked her up 8 years ago from GABR they estimated she was around 1-1/2 years old but no way to tell. She shows no signs of older age except some graying on her nose and around her eyes.

Stella is so laid back in personality that there isn't a gray hair anywhere on her. I have noticed more crud around her eyes this summer than usual, from the pollen in the air. She still gets the hip/joint supplements 2x per day but there are times she looks like her hips are bothering her as she tries to lay down. No yelping of any kind but she takes it slow and easy to lay down.

Things are good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It Feels Normal Again

It is starting to feel normal again. Yesterday had little research about the new watch and camera. I have just a couple of things to look up today. This will be our last day of high's in the 50s as we drop back to normal winter weather by tomorrow, into the 30's. You may be wondering what is Stella doing there, what has she found, is she eating anything? Well when I finish the dog food that is stored in the same container that you see in the 2015 Utah Trip, I turn that container upside down and lightly tap it on the concrete to get the rest of the "kibble dust" out of the container. Just like the kitchen floor, Stella likes to keep the carport concrete as clean as possible. She also likes dog food kibble in any shape or form.

While Heidi explored the front yard yesterday I headed down to the mailbox. Last Friday was the last time I checked the mail and found the camera in a box that barely fit in the mailbox. If it had not fit, my mail carrier would have taken the time to drive up the driveway and leave the box on the step in the carport. If I remember correctly, I made it home from Best Buy in time for delivery. This picture of Heidi was taken at the bottom of the driveway with the zoom staying at the far end of the status bar. Today I am going to find out what that yellow and light blue color is on the status bar ... I am guessing it's a way to tell me that a focused zoom is not possible at that range.

Our walk this morning started out a little different. I wondered if these were signs of things to come. We left a few minutes before 8am and it was really dark and overcast, to the point that I considered waiting an hour. Waiting would have better lighting for taking pictures but it was a good test to see what would be captured in low light. While I was checking some settings and taking pictures of the landscape, Stella had moved right after stepping into the field and collected as many burrs as she could ... unintentionally of course. They don't happen because the ragweed had died, they will also show up with the new growth next spring. I had Stella braced between my leg and arm so I could pull them off before they would get tangled in her coat. This was the best picture I could take with one hand and trying to hold her in place.

Once she felt I was finished, she trotted off one happy bloodhound ... on to more important things.

Last night was the last night for college football games, that are not all-star games. (I never watch those). Somewhat of a surprise win for Clemson but maybe not since they have won two of the last three national championship games. Of course I will move into college basketball now until the Final 4 the first week of April. One thing that is different, I eat less during those games, even on Saturdays where there might be a full day of basketball games being played. There are also many more games shown on tv at the same time than college football. Yes .... some of the pictures are out of focus this morning ... I'll be reading today about that problem.

I have tried my best to stay away from online and tv news again. I've been pretty successful too. I 'glanced' at the news the day the Democrats took their oath for their new positions gained in the last election. After less than 30 minutes of tv viewing and glancing at the online headlines ... I have moved back into "no news". That brings up a question or questions ... I have two websites I follow through my Feedly account. I manually added the sites so I can see their latest updates. So I can also delete them if I want to.

One of these dealt the refugee resettlement, then a few weeks ago the author moved to a new blog where she is now writing about fraud, criminal activity, politics ... things you never see or hear about in the news. I added something the other day I did not really want to but it's always been a subject that I have been concerned about. The attempt and at times success in spreading Sharia Law in the USA. That is a subject that would take multiple blog posts to cover. What is going in in the USA and NEVER covered by the mainstream media is amazing. If you want some idea ... do a search about "Sharia Law in Dearborn Michigan" ...

I just started to write more on that topic, but deleted it. I might do a post about it in the future and the concerns I have ... so is it important to be "aware" of what is going on in the news or is it better to "totally ignore" whats going on in the news, reported or not?

With all of the college football bowl games, playoff games and then adding all those NFL playoff games the past week ... my diet flew out the window and I paid for it in just a few short days. Breads, pasta, waffles etc are never a good thing for keeping weight off. In fact in five short days I gained two pounds.  Since changing my eating habits for the better three or four weeks ago, I have gain four pounds. Yet there were a couple of weeks where I had lost two pounds during that week. With college football over, there will be no more 12 hours spent watching games on tv and eating out of control. I've also gone back to really watching carbs intake or should I say wheat, and grains intake ... focusing more on veggies and salmon. This weight gain over took the daily large salad I eat for lunch. I have no doubts though that the weight will drop as soon as next Monday's 'weigh-in', based on my new 'focus.'

When I was in a car accident in March 2010, stopped on a highway 3-way stop and rear-ended by a high-speed truck pulling a horse trailer, I knew I'd eventually have problems with numbness of some sort. I have been to LMT's and PT's for treatment over these last 9 years. A couple of years ago my little finger on the right hand went numb, then a little numbness the ring finger. Chiropractors and Massage Therapists have not help as the numbness always returns. Each of those therapists gave me exercises I could do at home when that nerve problem flared up. Basically the finger numbness has never gone away.

Something new started a few months ago. It's not constant and I assume I aggravate it by the amount of time I sit in front of a computer. On my left shoulder, in front along the collarbone, it will go numb for short periods of time (minutes) where it feels the same way as hitting your 'funny bone' on your elbow. I probably need treatment 3x per week to really get rid of those two issues. Payment is not covered by Medicare nor my supplement insurance and to me it's not worth the $180-$200 per week out of my pocket for those three treatments. Compared to what other people go through at my age, it's really not that big of an issue for me. I am really lucky to have good health.

When I was at Best Buy on Friday picking up my new Apple Watch, an older lady asked me about the new Apple iPad she was looking at. I was waiting for the sales rep to come back with my watch. She told me her Apple MacBook Pro had died after 10 years of use and she was seriously considering replacing it with the new Apple iPad Pro they announced a month or so ago. I won't go into details but I probably spent almost an hour talking to her and the sales rep about the new updates to computer, smartphones, watches etc. We all agreed it was impossible to keep up with every new electronics development and/or release. As we talked about how Apple had gone with the bigger screen for their phones in 2017, this year's 2018 models were going to a smaller screen but the clarity was phenomenal.

About that time the sale rep reached into her pocket and pulled out "look what I am trying out for Verizon?" ... a SMALL smartphone probably not much bigger than the palm of my hand. I doubt it was 2" wide, not longer than 3-1/2" ... a screen that was just as clear and sharp as any retina display! In that small computer she had everything her Samsung 9 smartphone had. It was amazing!!!!

Yet as much as new electronics attract me I wouldn't buy one. It was small enough I'd probably lose it, or I'd have it in my back jeans or cargo shorts pocket then sit on it. It would also be too small to see the GPS map while I am driving lost going in circles or trying to find that turn I missed. Still for what it was ... it was nice to see, hold, tap extremely small icons to make it come alive. She said it was still in the 'testing phase' and that was the reason Verizon had not emailed me. I told her I had not seen any advertisements on tv or online. It was just another new electronic 'toy' that people will buy because it's different. I usually don't buy new unless my computer breaks, or my iPhone needs upgraded. I didn't think I would ever move from my 8+ iPhone but after seeing those screens on the new XR model, I'll probably upgrade in a year or two.

Speaking of electronics, as I become more familiar with the Apple Watch ... it is still impressive. It is 'connected' to my iPhone by bluetooth and the phone doesn't have to be that close for everything to work on the watch. For example I had the phone inside charging while I stood ~80' away at the mailbox down by the highway. I was still getting everything I would get standing right next to the phone. If it were not for the good iPhone 8+ camera I would trade this watch in within the 15-day limit and exchange it for the GPS/Cellular model because it is just that good. I had a phone conversation for almost two hours yesterday, ON MY WATCH !!! ... we both agreed our reception was much clearer than the smartphones we use for that long distance call. The verbal commands or the questions I ask Siri on my watch are just as fast responding as my iPhone. Once again ... amazing things inside a very very small piece of electronics.

I checked again for fleas on Stella ... there isn't any. I checked for any kind of skin irritations, redness or even a bare spot from her chewing more than I think she should ... there isn't any. She stops to scratch herself in the same places in the field and yard ... does that make it more of a habit? Inside she scratches herself as part of her self-grooming process ... does that make it a habit? Is it her food? Could be. I am not going to play that "chasing the tail" again with different dogs foods like I did for Heidi's skin two to three years ago. Her skin problem was much worse than what makes Stella scratch. It might also be the season, cooped up in the house much more than laying outside in the yard sleeping under the sunshine.

After normal use of the internet for about the same number of hours yesterday, I can say that the Wordpress Dashboard is the cause for the mysterious data leak. I did not have that problem with the "wp-admin/dashboard" Another reason I think that is the cause, the Wordpress techies emailed me last night telling me they were "still working on the problem" after I sent them a FYI email with my data use results for the day. I used only 400Mb yesterday after using 800Mb or more per day since moving the blog from Blogger to Wordpress. Each post still has pretty close to the same number of large (450Mb) number of pictures. So I'll keep an eye on that and see if the low data usage continues.

Google Chrome "Data Saver" app does not save as much data as it use to but the nice thing is, it will list in order every website you visit and how much data that website used. It goes from the highest data usage to the lowest. You can check 1 hour, 3 hours, a week, or a month ago .... Facebook use to be the #1 data sucker but recently it's been Wordpress .com by 10x as much.

I have run out of things to ramble on. I covered what I had listed in my "notes" program. Oh ... I will NOT be tuned into the President's nationwide speech tonight ... I'll either have the tv turned off or I'll be watching a basketball game during that time. It's a never ending battle in D.C. and it will never get better no matter who is in Congress nor who is elected President. Cooperation, negotiation, and compromise are words not even in their dictionary anymore. I'm going back to 'no news' ... screw it.

Heidi has risen and has a pulse, as she gulped some water then sprinted to the door after her morning nap. She was out and back in so fast I was not able to eject my SD card, insert it into the camera and take some morning pictures of her. This afternoon might be a good time for writing a post only about her, with pictures.

It's another fine day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.