My Fun Day With FedEx

If I didn't know that I was positively retired for almost 5 years, I would thought today was a work day in the last position I held. Today reminded me of what the definition of the word 'frustration' is and how that was a constant theme in that last job I worked. I wasn't in any kind of shipping position but I was trying to maneuver around all the new restrictions the Obama Administration was implementing for government work and it's contractors. If I had not been so irritated this morning, this FedEx story would almost be funny ... almost.

I'm sure you know how I just love 'hiccups' in life and how well I deal with anything that steers my high paced lifestyle a little off the track. It's especially good when I can speak to someone over the phone that is not a recording, actually resides in the USA and knows where the state of Indiana is located. It makes my day almost a perfect one when I can do that. I was nice to the Chewy Pet Supplies customer service rep but she let me list everything I did not like about MY missing transaction. It wasn't Chewy's fault in any way ... it was FedEx, the company that advertises they will deliver anywhere in the world and in any kind of weather ... My bullshit flag is flying high and proud today, for FedEx.

It started on January 9th when my automatic shipment for Stella's joint supplements was processed by Chewy .com and scanned by FedEx as received. I've never had any problems with any order from Chewy Pet Supplies and in fact they were tremendous, along with FedEx, delivery my orders in less than 48 hours with normal shipping costs. They have a warehouse in Louisville KY evidently, since my orders seem to originate from there. That is roughly 70 miles away. In the past it didn't matter if I ordered early in the morning or late at night, it was at my doorstep the day after next and usually before noon.

From the tracking information everything looked on schedule last week. I wasn't concerned about it since I had enough of the GlycoFlex to get Stella through a few extra days in case something happened. What could happen with a shipment that started only 70 miles from the door?? Really, think about that ... how can a shipment get so screwed up within a 70 mile trip? When the FedEx truck (private contractor) didn't show up on the 11th, I logged into my account to see what happened or where it was. With the forecast of a blizzard on Friday, dumping 6" of snow at least in this area, I was kind of hoping they would have shown up on Thursday. Since FedEx delivers in any kind of weather I wasn't really concerned.

The snow arrived by Saturday morning. It wasn't as much as they forecasted but I knew they had more snow north of me. I decided more out of curiosity than anything else, to check the status early Saturday morning. It was all on schedule. Stella's product was on the truck at 6:26am and "out for delivery" I also noticed on Saturday that the highway in front of the house was cleared for traffic. There wasn't snow or ice on the highway. In fact around 10:30am Saturday I saw a smaller FedEx van pass the house heading south. It looked good to me and besides, I was going to be home all day Saturday watching ballgames. So I would be here when the FedEx truck pulled into the driveway.

Saturday passed ... no delivery. Stella had plenty of the supplement left and I was off to bed early Saturday night after watching one and a half football games. While I am playing around on the computer Sunday I decided to check the Fedex shipping status. More or less just out of curiosity. Did they leave it at the wrong house? Believe it or not, that has happened before with FedEx involved, with my neighbor receiving my shipment and other times I'd receive theirs. So, even in the day of computers, handheld barcode scanners and online tracking ... things can still get messed up with a shipment. That's just the way shipping works.

Since it had the same shipping status as Saturday morning on Sunday night, I decided to take Chewy up on their offer to call about this. They are there 24/7 but I knew that FedEx would be closed. The rep was nice and without me saying a word she said "this isn't right". "Did you receive the product" ... Me: "no, and just in case, I checked the front door, the back of the house, in my carport and even the mailbox in case they stuck the box inside. I didn't find it anywhere."

She told me she could not call FedEx until Monday (today) BUT IF I HAD NOT RECEIVED THE PRODUCT BY MONDAY MORNING BEFORE NOON TO CALL THEM BACK AND THEY WOULD SEND OUT A NEW SHIPMENT AS A REPLACEMENT FOR MY TROUBLE."  That sounded like something Chewy Pet Supplies would do. I thanked her and said I would do just that, plus added "they normally show up before noon."

I find it to be very convenient to be sitting at the kitchen table playing Mahjong on my laptop, on days of expected deliveries. This morning was no different. Traffic was heavy on the highway and once again I had seen some regular size FedEx trucks heading south. That visual made it all the more confusing later in this story. REAL CONFUSING !! My blood is only slightly starting to boil about the time I finished feeding the hounds their lunch.

FedEx had not shown up yet but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt with the snow storm Friday night ... maybe they were not able to make it to the house on Saturday or got backed up on deliveries and ran out of time. All I can do though is check my tracking number on the FedEx website with the assurances to call Chewy back since I didn't have my product yet. I am into Day 5 of the order and Chewy always delivers much sooner than that, no matter what part of the USA you live in.

Before I called Chewy Pet Supplies, I wanted to make sure what the latest status was. I was EXPECTING to see an update where the date had changed from 01 TWELVE 19 to 01 TODAY DATE 19 "out for delivery" ... seems logical with all of the barcode scanners and all the data entry that goes on, I would think at least they could do is change the date of the status. .... OK, the hounds have been fed, that's good in case I black out as I look at the tracking screen. They have water so they are taken care of AND they both have been outside. SO IF WERE TO BLOW A FUSE OF SOME SORT BETWEEN MY BRAIN AND HEART ... the hounds would be taken care of.

My eyes LOCKED in on the latest status .... 01 / TWELVE / 19 ... 12 !!!!! January 12th !!!!! That is my latest status ????? At least they didn't show it as being delivered but come on !!!! Can't they at least update the status as of TODAY ... MONDAY ... NO HOLIDAY ... A WORK DAY FOR 99.99999999999999% of the people nationwide ... not counting those government workers in the news. So I throw about 4 almonds down my throat, looked for and found my iPhone and put both pages of my order on my computer so I can see them while I called. Chewy's order page on the left ... the FedEx clowns tracking page on the right ... I call the number for Chewy customer service just like they instructed.

Remember on Sunday night I was told if the product had not arrived by Monday morning to call and they would ship out a replacement PLUS they would call FedEx to find out what happened or where my original order was. Well the lady I spoke to on Sunday night evidently failed to note that anywhere on the computer in my account. The girl I spoke to today ... it was like I was starting all over, like it was the first time I had ever called about this order.

Do you remember how I told you just how thrilled I get when things don't go smoothly in my life or the life of my hounds?  LOL or just how much I love speaking to any customer service reps? I just love it? Nothing else I like more than repeating the same information on every call over and over and over. Nothing ....

Well thank God I bought that Apple Watch a few weeks ago because I can glance right at it and see just how calm my insides really are ... a heart rate of 78 is higher than normal for me ... but that isn't putting me in the range of totally losing my mind while I am on the phone. I have plenty of room on the old heart beat flow chart to get a lot more pissed off than what I am. I can almost increase my 'anger' over 50% and still remain under my maximum heart rate and stay healthy. But ... she
 was nice, understanding and agreed with me about the true definition for the word 'frustration.'

She told me she would call FedEx as soon as we hung up and would call me back just as soon as she finished talking to them. SHE WOULD, not someone else. Ok ... I'll sit here and play a few more games of Mahjong and who knows, that smaller FedEx truck might pull up the driveway and everything is good.

Really ...???? You think that might happen on a MONDAY ... a few days after a dump of snow ??? I didn't either and didn't get my hopes up ..... you know why????

The FedEx screen that showed my shipment step by step, with date and time and locations of where it had been scanned as received in the FedEx process told a very interesting story .... there is more to this than I have written so far. Let's just say after the order started normal, on time, things are looking good with an estimated delivery date of Jan 11th just like always before ... TWO DAYS ... well it got to Zionsville Indiana FedEx hub okay. That's a suburb on the NW side of Indianapolis. I live 70 some miles SW of Indianapolis. It IS possible to have it on the truck and delivered the same day from Zionsville.

Driving 70 some miles south is just too *&$@#$!$%#&%$# EASY !!!!! They wouldn't want to do something so easy ... especially since a huge snow storm is on the way.

Let's go the opposite direction and ship this small box further up I-74 since it is fairly close to Zionsville Indiana. That way it can go all the way to Champagne Illinois .... ILLINOIS ... before we ship it to the destination that has the correct street address on the label. HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT ON SUNDAY????

At least by Saturday morning at 6:26am it had been returned to Terre Haute Indiana, and was on the truck "out for delivery" At least it was back in the state it was supposed to be in, not one state west of us. So I keep playing Mahjong ... no return call .... I play another game of Mahjong ... no return call ... I play another game of Mahjong ... no return call ... ONE HOUR and TWENTY MINUTES later ... since I have not received the return call from the Chewy Pet Supplies customer service rep ... I decided to check that FedEx tracking page again ... maybe she got something fixed and it's been updated ... maybe it really was delivered somewhere else. Maybe it's lost ... I am willing to give them all the chances in the world just for some ACCURATE shipping update. I'd like to see the date of the update changed to 01/14/2019 from 01/12/2019 ... at least that if nothing else.

Have I ever told you there are days that I wish Stella and I could trade places? I could be a laidback bloodhound and she could be me ... fixing an overflowing toilet or a water heater, or even mowing the yard ... anything that deals with a house??????? Have I????

My eyes could NOT MOVE from the latest shipping status from FedEx!!!!! COULD NOT MOVE!!!! They were locked in on the top line of status!!!! I glance at my watch and my pulse is still good, below 80bpm .... I wasn't sure if I was breathing or not .... what were those 'sparkles' in front of my eyes???? Was I getting ready to pass out from GLEEEEEEE??? Happiness???? Was I jumping up and down like it was Christmas morning???

What then????

Well I have to give credit where credit is due ... at least FedEx changed the date on their screen for the latest status ... yes I saw 01 / FOURTEEN / 2019 ... so that's today's date and today's status.

DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED           DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED           DELAYED

Did I ever get a call back from the Chewy Pet Supply customer service rep????  NO

Could she have taken her lunch break????  Maybe

Did I think I would EVER receive a call from Chewy Customer Service????  NO

So I ate an orange. I talked to Stella and Heidi, I mumbled to myself ... I even thought about turning on the news!!! I kept thinking .... let's see, it will be delivered on the 15th - 9 = 6 ... 6 days ... SIX DAYS ... SIX ... 6 ... DELAYED .....

It gets even better!!!!!

You didn't think I was going to end the story like that did you??????   LOL

I calmly eat my orange and log that into MyFitnessPal app. I calmly throw away my orange peels and I calmly pick up my iPhone to call .... Chewy Pet Supplies Customer Service ... CALMLY.

Of course that means I am speaking to someone new. Someone that has to ask me for my phone number or order number again Now that is my 3rd time. Then she has to look over the order again and sees the shipment has been delayed .... SHE TELLS ME THAT ... how nice. I reminded her that I just read what she read to me off of the FedEx tracking number website and then told her it told me to call her if I wanted to know why it was delayed ... so here I am.

Looking to find out why it's delayed.  I mean during this time since my 10:30am ... I've seen nothing but FedEx trucks moving up and down this highway along with one UPS truck. Looks like they are open for business.

Then  ..... she ..... gave ..... me ...... my ..... answer!!!!

"It is delayed and will not be delivered until Tuesday because THEY ARE NOT OPEN ON MONDAY !!!!!   What????  NOT OPEN ON MONDAY?????

NO ... "Ground" delivery is NOT open on Monday. They are only open Tuesday through Saturday .... GROUND DELIVERY

Hmmmmmmmm I have to think about this. I am in a little shock, I am still a little mad, I am more than confused .... then she said "I can't understand why this was not delivered on Saturday because it was on the truck "OUT FOR DELIVERY". Did she offer me a replacement shipment like the lady did on Sunday night? NO Did she offer to refund my small shipping charge since "we usually deliver with 36 hours and most of the time within 48 hours" ... NO, she did not. I told her I was shocked that this was going on with Chewy ALTHOUGH it is not Chewy that screwed up and shipped it from Zionsville Indiana to Champagne Illinois. I know that.

No ... that is not the end of this story.

After I calmly hung up my iPhone I decided the only thing logical I could do is take the hounds outside while I load my recycling container and take a short drive to the recycling center.

No ... that is not the end of this story.

No .... FedEx decided they wanted to rub my face in it .. they must have been listening to my call with Chewy via Facebook's Messenger Service (JUST JOKING) .... So as I am outside standing in the driveway with Stella as she is looking for that perfect spot to pee .... WHAT DO YOU THINK PULLS INTO THE DRIVEWAY OF MY NEIGHBOR ???????

YOU ONLY GET ONE GUESS .... JUST ONE!!!!

You're right, your'e the winner .... A FEDEX TRUCK PULLS INTO THE DRIVEWAY OF MY NEIGHBOR ... I can see a driver delivering a package to my neighbor!!!!! I have to ask her ... so I yell "I have a question for you" ... she replies yes so I know she heard me. "Do you have a package for my address" She says "NO" ... I say "I was just told that FedEx GROUND DELIVERY DOES NOT WORK ON MONDAYS"

She replies .... your package might be on another truck.

I ask "Are you GROUND DELIVERY or AIR DELIVERY?????"

She replies .... "I am GROUND DELIVERY" ....................... :)

Stella And I Tip Toe On The Walk

I keep reminding myself this is just a normal winter, that winter weather is NOT the same every year. From the history of my photos, sorted by day or a blog post written in the past, I can see consistent changes taking place about ever three years. Although I cannot remember off the top of my head the last time we had a major snow storm where schools were closed, highways were closed and the bread plus milk aisles at the grocery store looked like the last day on earth ... empty. I remember those types of storms happening a few times since I moved in this house in March 1998 but unless my memory is really in the failure mode, that type of snow has not happened in the past ten years.

But it wasn't snow that Stella and I were concerned with this morning ... it was the extremely saturated ground with standing water on the field path in spots, after some rain, temps near 40 melting the snow from Friday night and as we started our walk, little balls of sleet were hitting my dark blue down parka sleeve.

Here you can see how the light overnight rain depeleted a lot of the snow, only to have its evidence frozen with low overnight temps. As my North Face boots took each step through the yard you could hear a loud crunching of ice only to met by 'mud' ... not really mud but ground so soft I thought I was stepping in mud.

You can see here each step we took yesterday at the end of the walk has melted. Also it's interesting to me to see that up in the north yard, the bare grass is the exact spot that the underground water flows, even making that right turn ... I've only seen that path after I cut and cleared all the natural overgrown brush in that area a few years ago.

I took this picture of Stella not knowing  my camera was still on "landscape" mode, after I was checking some things out yesterday. I did intend for the flash to be on because it was that dark outside, even at 8:05am.

When I saw the flash show up on the image on the camera monitor, I turned if off ... this is the exact time I caught the camera in "landscape" mode instead of "auto no flash" mode.

As you can see, with bad weather yesterday and about 4 hours until kickoff for the first NFL Playoff game, I had time to 'play' with the blog template. If you checked the blog between 12:30pm and 3:30pm Saturday you may have seen 3 or 4 different designs I had published. I was close to what I wanted but was still looking and using up my internet data like a water faucet left on. Yes, I thought I loved the dark background, making my pictures stand out but there was just something about a white background I really like. I even caught myself seeing every sports website now moved to white backgrounds along with the news websites I saw a few weeks ago. I found my own eyes preferred the white background with black fonts better than my dark and light tan color font. Still at 3:27pm ... I was still looking through the long list of WordPress themes I could choose from.

Then there it was!! Had I seen this theme before? If so, why didn't I choose it. I had used some search terms I had not used before such as "clean", "one column" (I did use this prior) "grids" (I did use that prior) ... but this theme looked great before making any adjustments plus it had a feature I had never seen before. I could choose for the home page to be skinny, standard or wide. I could choose my blog post content to be skinny, standard, wide and wider. If I made the home page wider I'd have less columns and if I made my post pages extremely wide I had huge pictures for us that read the blog on large monitors. For those of use that use laptops, those pictures would fill the screen ... for the tablet and phone readers, it did not make any difference. I checked the new blog design on my laptop, iPad Mini and iPhone so I had some idea what the readers on those devices would see.

Unlike yesterday I saw a ton of deer tracks in the melting snow this morning and so did Stella. They had followed the edge of the woods up to the first turn. Then around the corner where Stella is always checking out their entrance to or from the woods, there were tracks coming out of the woods and following the edge of the gully heading east across the field to the back.

It's funny to see when Stella picks up her pace. It reminds me that she really does have a bloodhound nose and she isn't a 100% 'couch potato' ... a term a bloodhound breeder told me once. She separated her puppies with a test at 45 days old and could tell who the 'trackers' were and who the 'couch potatoes' were. I have never bought a puppy from her but at the time I was talking to her about some issues Sadie was having as a puppy. I did not get Stella until she was 6 years old

If that isn't an overcast day I don't know what is. The temp is hovering around the 40° mark so most of the white stuff will be gone by tomorrow. I must admit I like the pictures I take in the spring, summer and fall from this vantage point. There is just something about bare trees I don't care for. At least when I lived in Washington, it might rain a lot in the winter and get dark by 4pm or earlier but those pine trees are always green.  :)

While I walked softly along the wet path, Stella had been tip toeing most of the way as if she didn't want to get her feet wet. She will walk around puddles of water near the house or on the carport floor, here I have her in 7 acres of puddles this morning.

Here you are looking at 4 stages of weather .... snow from Friday night ... residue of ice from last night ... tiny holes of rain drops from last night and then frozen overnight ... and standing water from the warmer temps Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Although in recent months, she has never taken off north toward those woods or even tried to escape on the worn ATV path made in the summer of 2017 ... she glances that way at times wondering either "what if ... " or "I remember when ..."

Stella is walking in the exact same steps she took yesterday ... she even veered left to walk parallel ... can you see where veered turned left?

With that left paw held up, that just shows you how slow she was walking with each step as the path got wetter. Super slow-motion. Tip toe through 'the tulips' ... wasn't that a song many years ago??

I've been feeling lighter this week. How can I tell? Two ways ... by what I bought and snack on since Thursday plus how much easier it is to fasten my jeans. I always find out that I can no longer eat breads in any form. It doesn't matter if it is wheat, sourdough, rye ... it's bread and my body craves it like candy when it's in the house. I also know that a 1/2c of pasta sauce isn't enough, nor is the 1c of 'dry' pasta ... even fact the word pasta can only be eaten about once per month and only in the recommended serving size on the jar or bag. I was looking through the list of diets by USNews the other day for their 2019 ratings. At #4 was something called the Flexitarian Diet ... I found out I'd had been following that for the past 5 years more or less. That is mostly veggies and fruits, eggs, seafood, chicken and then an OCCASIONAL burger at 5Guy's or that Stromboli at Nick's.

Yet that doesn't help me lose weight. And .... I'm not really dieting but just finding the best way to eat for the rest of my life ... of course open to changes as I get older.

I keep thinking about writing and posting my review of the Apple Watch I bought a little over a week ago or has it been two weeks already .. not sure. I still love it as much as I mentioned the last week. I still consider it one of my best if not the best electronic purchases I've ever made. I did a lot of research before I bought it. I also talked to an online friend who bought hers last year for health reasons. She emailed me a couple of days ago with an update about the watch, with some news you could almost consider negative as far as the watch goes but very positive that she is okay.

She has atrial fibrillation (A-fib) and that can be picked up by the Apple Watch Series 4. This newer model is supposed to detect when you fall, then automatically call 911 if that person whom has fallen does not respond in a certain amount of time by pressing a button on the watch. She fell, and passed out but that was not detected by the Apple Watch plus it did not call 911 as it was designed to do. Test reports stated it was very accurate in detecting a fall and if you had A-fib. Luckily her husband was at the house and found her soon enough to call for medical help. She did say the watch DID detect that she had a A-fib episode.

Fall Detection is one of the reasons I decided to buy the watch since I live alone. As I said when I wrote about it a few Fridays ago .. I don't think I will ever be in that situation, but you never know. If I would fall and the watch did NOT detect it, I guess I would be in the same situation as if I had not bought it. So nothing lost really ... I still love the additional information the watch gives me and the different ways it provides that information.

I have two more NFL Playoff games to watch today. I did not finish watching the second game last night. It was not that late but the urge to sleep was greater than wanting to watch the game. I guess that is what I get when Stella thinks I should get up every day at 5am. Only today, she let me sleep late. In fact I had to wake her and Heidi up to go outside a little past 7am.

I know you have heard me say this many times over the 7+ years of blogging on this blog, either here on WordPress or over on Blogger. I really like this current theme and am pretty sure this is the final design. I DO have one more option to check out. It is on this same theme.
I can add a sidebar either on the home page, the post page or bothI can only add to the footer, a sidebar is not an option I found out I had two options, in the footer but only two columns wide or on the single post page BUT only after the post BEFORE the comments section So I chose in the footer so the comments section is just below the post ... a sidebar would let me list those other blogs or websites I like to follow, the most visited posts or pages for those first time blog visitors, maybe a few favorite pictures, or the link to my new Flickr account that I keep forgetting I set up a few weeks ago.

That will be the only change that MIGHT HAPPEN ... a sidebar added ... IF I decide I want that information within a click away.

The Question of the Day ... why does Stella always whine or howl when I sneeze or when I am trying to break the record for the most consecutive sneezes in a row?

It's Sunday, the snow is melting, the hounds are laid-back like always, my coffee was good and my Apple Watch battery has lasted longer active than the 18 hours they told me it would. NFL games on today with some college basketball, good food available, a fairly clean house for a single hermit and a 'toy' list that is once again blank.

It's all good today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Escapes AGAIN !!!!

Anyone want a bloodhound??? An EXPERT in getting out of any kind of confinement. She can open doors with lever handles or round. If she ever gets outside the house, she will sit and wait for your return. Her funny personality and being a great bloodhound 99.99999% of the time keeps her from any animal shelter or me giving her away. Don't panic and don't scream at me .... I'm kinda joking here and need some space to vent as I tell the story from today. Thank you.

When I left at 10:42am to drive 27 miles to Best Buy, I was using the tested proven security of a tight, a very tight, cord tied around the bedroom door (she is behind that door), stretched tightly to another door handle that goes to a closet maybe 10 feet away.

The theory being ... if she pulled the doorknob from inside the bedroom, the tension from pulling would tighten the cord from the opposite direction and prevent her from opening the door. This has worked many times since her last escape almost a month ago

This is the other doorknob the cord is tied to. I double checked both doors before tying the cord to make sure their latches were in place and would prevent either door from opening.

When I arrived home at 12:53pm .... around 2 hours and 11 minutes later .... I saw that top photo, Stella standing next to her LAST apple out of five of them. I bought some great Red Delicious apples just yesterday morning. I was in total shock about her standing there, a lot more than the damaged fruit.

For those that read the post this morning you may remember it was suppose to start raining at noon. When I walked out of the store it sure didn't look like rain nor did it rain at home ... so that isn't what made her want to escape. Maybe she was hungry since I was almost two hours late serving her lunch??? Who knows???  LOL

All I could think about was HOW DID SHE GET THAT DOOR OPEN  ?????? God Almighty she is good!!!!! Anything I have tried the past 3 years and 4 months with a 18 month gap of nothing in the middle ... she has figured out ways of escaping !!!! I cannot tell you all that she has destroyed in those first 22 months ... but to give you an idea I'll mention the word "drywall."

Today, she had opened the bedroom door just enough to chew the cord in half, thus getting out. I guess by her pulling inside with her mouth and jaws around the door knob, it popped the closet door open releasing the tension on the cord. THEN she probably chewed the cord in half.

I glanced to my left and saw what was left of a new bundle of 7 bananas. Obviously from all the small brown marks on the floor, she had not only eaten them but had walked on soft bananas and the peelings, with sigs of her paws on the floor.

She has not been sick today, in any way. This isn't the first time she ate all of my fruit sitting in bowls on the kitchen table or on the counter. The first week I had her in September 2015, I was outside mowing the yard while she ate all of my bananas, apples, half of a whole pineapple, three mangos minus the pits (which are poisonous), and four kiwi. She didn't get sick then either.

Like I said I was in shock. At least there was no damage in the bedroom like in the past. She did not touch my desk and probably never walked in the computer room. She walked up to me slightly cowering, slowly wagging her tail. She knew she had done something she shouldn't have. When she looks up with those eyes of hers, any frustrated or angry feelings I have are always gone instantly. She really is a great bloodhound.

For new readers, I was her 4th owner in her first 6 years of life.

Seeing that she had escaped took away any excitement I had about buying the Apple Watch. Here I am just starting to set it up, getting ready to change the face and move the information to where I want it on my watch face.

With Stella's escape I was mentally stymied again, slightly confused on what do I do now? Will I ever be able to leave my house again while she is living here? Am I a prisoner in my own home? She had 18 months of perfect manners, never trying to escape with just a closed door. There were times during that 18 months that I was gone 8-10 hours visiting friends.

Later in the afternoon she had a second change ... a short test. I had to go buy some dog food. I had two choices ... take her with me for the half mile trip to the store or leave her at home in the same set up ... only this time I would add the baby gate right next to the door in case she opened the bedroom door again.

In the afternoon test I was gone for less than 10 minutes, in and out with a new 40 pound bag of kibble. I was relieved when I pulled into the driveway to see she was not outside waiting on me. (that happened in 2015) I was thrilled as I looked in the kitchen door window to see the bedroom door still closed. I didn't care that I was only gone for 10 minutes at the most ... I was just happy she had not escaped.

As she walked out with Heidi wagging her tail, I praised her like I was training an 8 week old puppy again ... then gave her a couple of grain free, bacon flavored (what a combo that is) dog treats. I will continue that positive reinforcement no matter how long I am gone, IF she is good. She went almost a month since her last escape.

I am still learning all about the Apple Watch Series 4. In the few hours I have owned it, it is awesome !!!! In fact it might be the BEST Apple product I have bought in the last 10 years. It is that good.

I did my first ECG (EKG and was told my heart rhythm is normal. Of course I will have to get used to charging the watch every day or at least every 18 hours. It came 100% charged. I will write a review about it after a few weeks of using it or a month at the latest.

Since Stella figured out I was not going to hang her from the highest rafters, give her away or keep her outside as punishment ... she was more interested in finding a car door that was opened or one she could open for a ride around town. Or, she was smelling the bag of dog food in back of the car, locked up.

I had another toy show up in the mail today. It's a Canon G9 X Mark II, with a 1" sensor and from I have been told by a friend that recommended the camera to me, it will do just as well if not better than my Nikon D3200. I am anxious to use it on the morning walks as soon as the rain stops. Maybe by tomorrow morning. In the meantime I'll take some photos with it in the house, low light conditions, so I can compare those with my iPhone 8+ photos.

To say the least, it's been quite a day. From being very happy, to pissed off, to laughing as she looked at me with those crazy eyes of hers, then feeling busy again while I read about the watch and the new camera.

No worries .. I just had to add a little flavor of honesty to the story about Stella's escape.

I will continue to think of a Plan C for securing her when I am gone and I am always open to suggestions. Just remember, she is an EXPERT, not a normal dog you may have experienced with separation anxiety ... plus she is strong as an ox.  :)

Friday night in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, exciting times!!