Our First Tarantula Sighting

Normal routine this morning at "oh dark thirty" when I hear a bloodhound whining so slightly I can't believe it woke me up. The longer I lay there making a decision to get up or not, the whining gets a little louder each time because she has seen me move. If my wrist moves the Apple Watch will light up ... Stella then knows that her first food of the day is just minutes away. That is all she wants, food.

I was happy she woke me up this morning because I was able to see soon after letting the hounds outside this amazing sunrise. I went back in the house to grab the Canon G97 and hoped to capture what my eyes were seeing. To wake up and see things like this happening every morning is pretty amazing and a great way to start the day.

If I lean forward or look around the corner of my patio wall ... I see the sun rising in the east. I wish that tree was not there.

I decided this morning since there would not be a school bus pulling into the neighborhood by 6:15am, that I'd have a cup of coffee this morning before Stella and I would take off for our daily walk just after sunrise. Remember those times where Sadie use to whine if we were not walking by what time ??? 8:00am ??? I don't think there is anyway I can sleep that late living here.

As the fog started to clear from the brain cells as the caffeine of SE Arizona's Arbuckle's coffee hitting all circuits, I could see my plan of the day taking form. I've been searching for just the right coffee lately as I have tired of Starbuck's and Seattle's Best Coffee. So I have a few different blends/companies to choose from in the cabinet. I'll not throw any of it out in the trash but I have checked off a few from my next coffee shopping list. It is almost easier anymore to order stuff from Amazon than making a trip to the store.

By late this afternoon the temps had warmed up and climbed out of the 70's. The hounds and I had a pretty uneventful day but at least I was able to buy groceries this morning and had them unloaded and put away by 7:30am. The only bad thing was, I needed a couple of non-food things from Walmart that Fry's Market would not have ... so I thought I'd make one trip for that and for groceries.

Bad choice.

I have a cart full of groceries, 30 million cashier lanes available, and the only lights turned on to let me know which lanes were open ... were the "self checking" lanes. I could feel my pulse rate increase just a little but it almost went off the charts as I moved through my stack of groceries ... scanning and bagging them. I guess all young cashier "monitors" see white or gray hair and instantly think we are all computer illiterates. When I heard the question "Are we doing okay" ... I tried my best to keep my mouth shut ... but you know me.

With 30 million cashier lanes available and all closed what else was I suppose to do?

I blurted out "you know if I wanted to be a (*##$^@&*@ cashier I would get a (*##$^@&*@ job !!!!" I guess she figured out I WAS doing okay checking out my groceries because she walked away. So the next time I will go BACK to Fry's Market and buy groceries in the early morning hours and then have the fastest checkout cashiers in the world (from my experience) scan and bag my groceries. I'll not have to do anything but load the moving counter and slide my debit card in the reader to pay. Plus they give you a discount on gas for the car based on how much I spend.  :)

The efforts to change policy about the new couch are still going strong. Heidi and Stella will not give up their vigilant efforts to get me to change my mind and let them on the couch or small loveseat. I did not measure the old leather couch before I moved so I am not sure but by the looks of the new couch as I sit in the middle ... it does not look as long as the old leather couch I use to share with the hounds since 2003. There is enough room for them ... barely.

When Stella begs for anything ranging from wanting my food, more of her food, cookies, candy, pizza crust, dog treats, ice cream, steak, chicken, .... ah ... you get the picture ... she almost closes her eyes and looks downward with a feeling of rejection. Still ... the policy is not going to change on this. I am looking at some options since friends I text hound photos to are making a lot of suggestions ... they think I am cruel. All ladies from our college years and all have dogs ... small dogs ... like 4 lb dogs. HUGE difference between a 4 lb dog living on a couch and a 85 lb dog living on the couch with a 45 lb roommate.

While I have been watching Reds baseball games usually between 4:10pm - 7:??pm almost every day ... I like to step out on the patio between innings and check out that crazy sky again. Sometimes I take more photos and depending on what is going in the game (Reds losing), I will pull up that ugly chair and sit outside and enjoy the sundown and the mountain views.

After their failed attempt last night to get me to change my mind, I walked back inside from one of those patio trips between innings and they had decided 71° with blowing wind coming through the open windows in the house was too cold for them. It was the first time I've seen them sleep side by side out here. You will notice the iPhone camera took a much more accurate picture of the rug compared to the bright colors the Canon G9X took the other day.

Yes our first tarantula.

With a big mystery. I saw it off to the right of the patio if I am looking out toward the fence. It's the area that Heidi usually pees in so I was happy I had checked the yard like I always do before letting the hounds out. I saw two strange things though when I keep staring at it from the patio. It wasn't moving and what was that strange black thing next to it ????

I slowly tiptoe'd toward it ... it didn't respond. I dropped a few of those small rocks on top of it and it broke apart as if were nothing but dust !!! Then I started looking at that small black stuff. It was something I had never seen in my house, my trash, or the yard. I have no idea where it came from. It looked like a black rubber chain of some sort.

Any ideas what would kill a tarantula ??  Where did that small black plastic/rubber chain come from?

Since I am basically obsessed with the sky that I can look at from the patio or the kitchen windows and the bedroom window, I thought I'd show you some of the different changes I witness from day to day. Some of these were taken before I returned to blogging. I am not sure if Blogger loaded them into any specific order. I really find it interesting to see all the different changes. I am positive these same type of changes occurred back in 'the tropics' but for some reason they were just not as dominant.

There is nothing like a wide open western sky.

With the weather forecast showing the rain has passed through, I have almost a week of sunny weather ahead this week. There will be a very good chance I'll be doing some local road trips this week after I return from my morning bike rides. I have a few trails I would like to hike also. It will be my first attempt at hiking in this area. I'll be sure take plenty of water with me if nothing else.

As I put this post together the hounds are in their normal blog writing positions ... Heidi sleeping in the corner of the room and Stella is sleeping pressed up behind my chair so I cannot slide it away from the desk. I can't move 85 lbs of dead weight, even one that snores a little.

It was a beautiful day here in the Wild West.

A Solution For Frustration

{Comments section is now available, fixed, not sure how that was closed}  This is one of the finer things of retirement. The freedom of time is something I value more than any of the money I made working. It will be five years this April when I walked out of the door and never looked back. I turned into a 'slacker' from a 'workaholic', possibly adding years to my life. I am on my own schedule, after the hounds approval of course and flexibility is the keyword in all of this. So .... some late night blogging.

We didn't know what to expect this afternoon as we enjoyed temperatures in the mid 40's well past noon. Heidi and Stella checked things out after their lunch, with a short minute trip to the mulch for Heidi and Stella wasn't moving. Once back inside I double checked my 'short' shopping list and decided to make a trip to buy groceries

We were suppose to get snow showers late in the afternoon or possibly rain. A few miles west of town it turned into a light rain. The hounds were fed so I thought the chances were pretty good that Stella would a nap while I was gone.

She will always be shut off in the bedroom with Heidi as her supervisor. That room has the least amount of my possessions that can be destroyed if Stella has one of her anxiety attacks. I can repaint or repair any damage she does to the room ... but room damage has not taken place in over two years.

With her recent escapes by opening the round door knob I continue to tie a tight cord from the doorknob to another on a closet door about 12' away and then just in case she does get that door open wide enough to chew that cord (happened early December) I put a baby gate up outside of the door.

Looking at that face how would you ever guess she is an expert in escaping from a closed room and cannot be trusted if I am gone for any length of time??   LOL

As the afternoon passed I didn't see any signs of snow. For one reason, the temperatures were not dropping enough for it to snow. There wasn't really any kind of wind and only light rain. That canceled the afternoon walk for Stella and I.

I had caught up watching my two shows the DVR taped on Sunday. Nothing on tv was an interest to me. Mahjong? No. ... It seemed like a perfect time for a siesta. It was not quite 5:30pm. A strange time for a normal siesta but like I said, when you are retired anything is possible. Time means nothing.

While the groceries were being moved from the car to the kitchen, Heidi not only relieved herself but explored the edge of the property to make sure all the rain and melting snow had not washed away our bank. (joke) That was about all the aerobic exercise she got today outside.

I admit I lost track of what day it was while I was driving to the store 12 miles away. It all started at a stop light downtown, where I couldn't tell if the normally bright orange 'open' light was on in the window of the Chinese restaurant. That activated the word buffet from my memory and I remembered the buffet is not served on Monday's. So what day was it?

A quick glance to my watch told me it was Monday, 45° and cloudy and my pulse rate was 62 bpm, even with a sheriff pulled along side of me in the right hand lane.  :)

Just because I have all this time on my hands, not working, no meetings to attend anymore, that does not mean the word frustration has been erased from my dictionary. It all started when a car pulled out in front of me as I had just made my left hand turn downtown. This town is loaded with old people and those old people always drive ultra slow, even through town.

I passed her in a legal passing zone just as I was leaving town with the speed limit 35 mph. ... Those same slow ass drivers were waiting for me up ahead and my 12 mile trip to the store seemed like a cross-country drive. It did not stop there ... oh no.

With the forecast that our location would be coming to an end within 48 hours with a winter storm from hell, everybody and their mother was at the Super Walmart Store, the best grocery store available within a 20 mile radius of my house.

Not only do they drive slow, they shop slow. They block aisles while stopping to talk. Some don't know if they are going left or right so they stay in the middle of the aisle, dazed and confused. I only needed a few things, like coffee, eggs, butter, chicken, veggies and fruit. It would have been quicker if I would have shopped and bought one thing from every aisle in the store ... it was that clogged with people and slower than slow.

I might think I am flexible being retired until I am in this situation ... then I'm claustrophobic. It's not that I have to get out of there because walls are closing in ... no ... I have to get out of here to get away from people who irritate the hell out of me.

I don't deal with stupidity well. Never have.

To top it off ... slow cashiers and backed up checkout lines was the icing on the cake. I finally excused myself to the lady behind me and the lady behind her, so they could back up and I could get out of line ... then go through the self checkout.

LOL ... NO !!!!!!

It didn't get better .... I have all my food checked out and sacked with no problem. But the machine would not read my debit card. Finally the lady that works that department when trouble arises came over but she couldn't get my card to work either. Something was wrong with the reader.

Luckily after she tried for the 4th time and was about ready to call someone ... it decided to work, while she did nothing different from the four previous attempts.

I was able to get out of the parking lot without anyone backing into me, pulling out in front of me, all those crazy things that can happen in parking lots. So that was a good thing. Did this mean I had a clear shot home? A short 12 mile drive at 60-65mph ???

Not today.

Oncoming traffic was spaced out just enough that even if I punched the accelerator I still would not have been able to slide in front of someone. Right before my eyes I saw my 12 mile trip was going to take longer than I did driving over. The 'lead' car would be an old beatup pickup truck with a Confederate liscense plate on the front ... how did I know I was screwed on the drive home??  LOL

So I kicked back, knew I was going to go slower than slow, five cars behind the leader (that truck) of the 45mph caravan. Sports talk AM radio saved the day.

It's always an encouraging sign as I pull into the driveway that Stella is not outside waiting for me to pull up the driveway. I know that sounds weird and surely impossible but it did happen right after I first got her in August 2015. She broke out of the house that day because I made the mistake of leaving my screened windows open, the bottom of that window she tore through was 4' off the ground. So the thought of that might happening is always there.

I glance inside the door window as I unlock the door and see the door, the baby gate and cord are all as I left it a couple of hours ago. That's a good thing to see. Some 'short' shopping trip that was. People panic when the news is blasting scare tactics on winter storms.

Don't they know they live in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana where you can count on it being much much better than the rest of the nation will get? We don't have a lot of bad weather anymore.

So I am home. I am happy, The hounds are happy and treated with their grain free bacon flavored dog bone. How could I celebrate surviving a couple of hours of frustration?

I fell off my food discipline while shopping. I anxiously took off the lid to a brand new container of Haagan Dazs Strawberry ice cream and started eating. Damn!!! did that taste good.

I'm blaming those 22grams of sugar for my late afternoon siesta ... yes ... I ate the whole container and then basically passed out a few hours later.

LOL

It turned out to be a successful day in 'the tropics' of  Southern Indiana.