Super Bowl Sunday

I finished my book around 1am and headed for bed expecting great weather today. I woke up to a bright sky full of sunshine, mild temps headed for the 50's so things were off to a good start.

Same routine as always. Sadie decided to check the air temp with her tongue. Not many can touch their nose with their tongue, but she finds it quite easy.

It's Super Bowl Sunday but I cannot say the excitement I had years ago is there today. I have not listen or read about any of the pre-game hype for the past two weeks. I'll not turn on the tv until right at kick-off. As far as the food plan for today and tonight ... wow, that has really changed in the past couple of years. It use to be an eating feast.

It was my own personal decision to change my diet and non-stop eating during ballgames. I needed to lose some pounds but wasn't obese. I mainly wanted to stop the constant indigestion and stop my addiction to straight original blend Pepsi. In the past Super Bowl Sunday's it would have been non-stop eating starting with a breakfast of a 3 egg omelet loaded with cheeses, mushrooms, a little onion and cilantro. While I would eat that my first large waffle would be cooking.

I'd have at least two them and most likely three, heavy on the butter, peanut butter and thick syrup. Although my hunger would be gone that didn't mean I'd stop eating. By noon college basketball games would be on with the Super Bowl to be later in the afternoon and then evening when the NFL decided they could make more money by showing the game later.

So even with a full stomach from the large breakfast, a walk with the hounds and for me ... I would move into the lunch mode a few hours later with all the chips, dips, meats, breads, baked beans, potato and macaroni salads I could set out on the kitchen island. It was a constant eating fest during the afternoon.

By late afternoon and getting closer to the main attraction I would start thinking about the dinner menu even though I was stuffed to the gills. I may have had a siesta to prepare for not only a 4 hour game but more eating throughout the evening. The grill would be fired up with plans of steak or salmon, sometimes both. It was a full day and night of food consumption.

Plus I couldn't watch a game without chips, salsa, cheese dip along with Pepsi throughout the afternoon and night. I would also eat that way every Saturday watching college football in the fall.

But in May 2015 I made a self imposed drastic diet change and eliminated my indigestion problems immediately. I also lost 20 pounds, 3" off my jean size and the mucus that was always a constant sinus issue was gone. So compared to all I have just listed for meals in the past, this year it looks like I will do what I did last year.

An egg, one slice of wheat toast for breakfast along with my normal two cups of strong coffee. A large salad for lunch and then dinner before the kickoff will be either baked chicken breast, brown rice and salad or salmon instead of chicken. Pepsi is no longer a staple in the refrigerator and drinking ice cold water seems to have filled in nice as a substitute.

Overall we had a great morning walk this morning. The weather was great. Sadie got a lot of running in, more than she normally does. Of course Stella wasn't around. Today Stella ended up going to far and put herself on double secret probation.

As I glanced back toward the house I saw Stella had moved out to her new normal spot. I continued to walk, Sadie continued to run back to me and then circling the middle of the field. She was having a great time.

It changed for Stella though and something I wasn't happy with but not surprised. I knew eventually she would head for the wooded area behind the neighbor's house. It may not seem like much different but if she goes that far, she will gradually move that limit out further and further.

I called her name while I walked. She would look up at me and then back to the ground. But today she kept walking slowly toward the woods and she looked like she was further away and closer to the highway but not even close to the highway. I guess I want to say, she was further away from me than she usually was.

I was pretty sure when I saw her migrating to the woods that I would have to attach the leash to her. It was folded inside my pocket.

As we walked toward her I wasn't happy about this situation. Especially as she would look up at me, hear me calling her and then keep walking more toward the woods.

Sadie and I veered toward her, still calling her name. Believe it or not, she started walking toward me slowly. I was beginning to think the leash was not going to be needed and that she would walk right up to me ... yea right.

Then typical Stella ... actually somewhat funny ... about the time she walked up to me with the leash still inside my jacket pocket ... she turned and started to walk away.

That is when I pulled the leash out, connected it to her collar and dropped it to the ground. She walked beside me all the way back home. Sadie in the was on her own and made it back home before I did.

I am going to start another book and probably read until the Super Bowl. It's hard to believe it is the 51st game. Time flies I guess when you are having fun.

Headed for warmer weather here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Super Bowl Sunday Hound Walk

The sun was bright but it was windy, more than usual. I almost thought of taking the walk without the camera today but anymore that Nikon D3200 is part of the walk and part of me whenever I go outside. I never put the shoulder strap back on when it was returned last spring from the Nikon Repair Facility. I like that much better and find no problems carrying it one hand. It seems to fit my right hand like a glove.

Soon after starting the walk today I decided I would try something new ... kind of like a test ... I would not be calling them to "come on", nor would I be calling one or both of them to "get out of there". No, today I was just going to walk and take photos. I wanted to see how they would react.

The first point in the walk that I started wondering what was going to happen was where the deer bed down ... is that the right term? I don't know because I am not a hunter. I could tell from a distance that Stella was really deep in the brush and Sadie was not far behind her. In fact a few minutes later when I arrived, Sadie was the one deep in the brush ... something had caught her interest.

 

You can see Stella just barely to the right of center

This is the bed area of the deer

They took opposite paths toward the treeline but once Stella saw that Sadie had found something she headed for what I call her normal spot. I walked by them not saying a word. I continued walking, turning around at times to take photos ... neither of them had moved, they were enjoying whatever it was they had found.

Only today was different. One, I wasn't saying a word to get them to come to me and two they were not moving no matter how far away I was walking. Sadie would look up at me at times to see where I was and what I was doing. It was Stella that realized she was left alone, that I wasn't around ... she didn't wait on Sadie ... she put her nose to the ground and sprinted, following the path that I had taken.

After taking that last photo of Stella running toward me, I glanced up at Sadie and she was still chowing down on her afternoon snack of something. I was almost 3/4 of the way into the walk and far enough away the 55mm lens setting barely picked her up in the photo.

She then realized that I was not going to call her name and I wasn't going to wait .. if dogs can realize something like that ... some people say they can't. She didn't follow the path that Stella took nor did she put her nose to the ground ... she saw where we were and was going to get to us in the shortest distance and the fastest time possible.

Neither hound had to stop to catch their breath after their run ... they both got on the path and headed home.

Don asked about the high power wire the other day. In past photos you could pick up a part of that tower. I decided today to take a photo of that tower, plus show just how bright, clear and sunny the sky was today a week into February ... will we have 'a winter' this year in 'the tropics' ??

In other news, the more I look at it, the more I have decided I am going to cut the small trees at ground level, tear out that annual ivy that grows out of control only on the upper half of this area. I'll rake the roots out like I did to the piece of ground just to the right of it, last April. Then I will till the ground with a handheld type that has the long handle. This time after I lay grass seed, I am going to cover it in straw, unlike last April. I thought of planting some wild flowers but I've never had luck with that process the times I have tried before. I like the vision of that area being all green grass and that old 75 year fence post always exposed ... along with the roll of barbed wire hanging at the bottom of the post.

This post is showing up sometime during the Super Bowl for a reason. I didn't want to post this at the same time as Heidi's post earlier this afternoon. You might find this different, since I am a self proclaimed football addict ... but I don't like the week before the Super Bowl with all the media hype that has "too much info" in prepping for the Super Bowl every year. Nor do I like watching the "pre-game" analysis the day of the game, leading up to kickoff.

I love the commercials ... I hate the halftime show.

So ... I don't turn the game on until teams are lining up for the opening kickoff. I shut the tv volume either all the way down or the tv off during the halftime show that is becoming longer and longer by the year .. hate it. And I turn off the game as soon as the last play of the game is finished.

I guess this will be the last game we will see Peyton Manning play. Even though he plays for Denver, those of us football fans in Indiana still root for him to do well, except when they play the Colts. His time here  probably saved NFL football for the state of Indiana and definitely increased interest in football from the Pop Warner Leagues up through the High School level of play. Personally I hope it is his last game. I would hate to see him come back next year, and like some other great QB's have and played 1 year too many. No predictions on who wins ... but I would like to see Peyton Manning end his career with a win.

Otherwise, while the Super Bowl 50 is on tv here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... there is one SURE bet you would win ... all of the hounds will be sleeping during the game and Sadie will likely be snoring through most of it.