No Action Monday Afternoon

I knew by lunch on Monday there wasn't going to be a lot going on around here. The light rain never stopped. I was surprised that Heidi went as far as she did, all the way to the front yard. Stella decided she wasn't getting off the concrete floor and even snuck around the Mini Cooper to go back to the door.

While Heidi was heading out front I noticed some things that all the rain did the other day and the standing water. The owner of the landscaping business told me last fall when I was buying new mulch that in some cases mulch is better than adding dirt when there is soil erosion, like I have.

It was interesting how all of that rain lifted a few inches of packed much up and away from the edge of the carport

It was good to see some green showing up in the Azalea. Due to being under the overhang but centered in the flowerbed, it doesn't get much rain and I have to water it during the summer. I might replace them with some kind of ferns this spring.

The mulch tried to float away the other day but luckily the stones kept most of it around. I still want to have a big rock delivered and placed where those two different types of stones are. It would give the ground some stability and the overflowing gutter could drop water on top of that big rock instead of these stones.

Heidi got a little running in today. She doesn't like to get wet either but she found a spot in the middle of the front yard today so she had no choice about staying dry. It was good to see her 'sprint' up the driveway back to the door to go inside, getting a little exercise during the winter.

While the light rain continued Stella stood at the edge of the concrete looking out onto the driveway but decided she was not going to get wet. It was only sprinkling like it was this morning during the walk but she wasn't doing it. About the time I said something to her, she snuck around the Mini Cooper to go back to the door.\

It wasn't long before both hounds were in their afternoon spots on the couch while I read books. That is their sleeping areas in the afternoon and night. I might have to take back what I said the other day comparing the iPhone 8+ photos with the Canon G9 X photos inside in low light. After seeing these I think the iPhone might be slightly better in capturing more details in low light.

I could tell a huge difference Monday, I never watched one minute of tv news and didn't glance at any news online. I checked ESPN of course but they seem to stick to sports news again unlike a couple of years ago.

I am writing this late Monday night and will schedule it to post early Tuesday morning. With that in mind I might get back on a schedule with posting my one post of the day at the end of the afternoon or early evening. That way I can cover all activity that day instead of overlaping days. I can surely keep the number of photos down to 30 and show a few less photos from the morning walk.

As a reminder, for those that don't have a WordPress account but want to make a comment. All you need to fill in is your name and email address, leaving the box for the website blank. Your email address is a WordPress requirement for comments but will not be used by me in any way. Also the very first comment you make I have to approve, as per the rules of Wordpress. After your first one your comments will post immediately.

I might have to get creative on Tuesday to have enough photos for the second post of the day. Rain is in the forecast again, how hard or light I don't know nor how long it will be. Sounds like another perfect day for some Mahjong games, a little reading and a short siesta.

Time flies when you have too much fun in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Blog Is Backing Away From Chaos

With a new week starting with another change in weather, different internet browsers tried, and thoughts racing through my brain cells along with a delay in our morning schedule ... why not make some blogging changes also? No, not the design but the focus.
As you can see the weather yesterday was borderline freezing and neither hound wanted any part of it. At no time yesterday afternoon did they spend any time wandering and exploring in the yard. In fact by the time Stella and I headed out for a late afternoon walk, she was led by the retractable leash and our pace was swift. In out ... walk finished.

After a terrible night of sleep, getting in my normal 6 or so hours, I woke up dazed and confused. It seemed later than my watch was showing, I didn't feel good and Stella was standing by the bed whining ... in that tone where I know she needs to get outside. She's a good house dog, as is Heidi.

Backing up to the start of the walk this morning. Remember that Stella prefers to keep her paws dry if at all possible. She is not a fan of walking through water puddles and a path that has water rising to above ground with each step I was taking. So she walked along the edge of that wet path to stay out of the water. All through the walk she sidestepped the path or headed to the heavy grass to walk through, all her thoughts were keeping her feet dry.

The small screen on the back of my Canon G9 X was showing a light sprinkling of rain. It looks like those sprinkles are supposed to be going non-stop for the next three days. Just enough to dampen my coat and Stella's. Again I kept wondering where is all this water going to go.

Too wet for her ...

I want you to know that the late start of the day, the bad dreams, or the lack of excitement that it was Monday played no part in my change in direction for the blog. It's not really a change in direction but a step back ... backing away from all the chaos and noise in today's world. We all know what it's like. We all have different opinions on what to do, what's the cause or possible solutions. I don't need to drag you through that crap on this blog.

I know personally I follow blogs to get away from all the crap I see on tv news or see online. I DO read a few blogs that do a much more professional job commenting on today's political environment or news events here in the USA ... so I'll let THEM be the ones to do it ... I don't want to.

Just like Stella stepping away from the very wet and heavy saturated path I am going to step away from the daily comments about what is screwed up in this world. I am going back to being boring to some readers. I am going back to seeing my blog traffic decrease around 66% because I am not talking about chaos or politics.

Why should I care about how many readers I have when I am not into e-commerce or affiliate marking with embedded links all over my blog? Crisis, chaos, or bad news brings much more blog traffic just like slowed traffic passing a bad car accident. I just don't want to go and this blog, to go in that direction.

So the "Other Stuff" on the blog title is going back to the relaxed lifestyle here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, owned and directed by two hounds and any excitement they generate in their daily life. Like the old blog I'll go back to posting photos from my house projects or house maintenance I will be doing in better and warmer weather.

For the fans of my "rambling" and going off track on occasion, posting my thoughts about anything in general ... I will keep doing that but like the 'old blog', I'll not touch the subjects of politics or religion. Readers that want that type of commentary will have to go somewhere else after today

When 9/11 happened they did tell us from that day forward our world would change. It has all over the globe but maybe not so much here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana where we are tucked in the middle of corn and soybean fields. About the only changes we have seen here the last 18 years since 9/11 are local business closing forever and leaving empty buildings, or the major repair work on the US Highway in front of the house.

Winston loved sitting out on the SW corner of the carport during that time and watching the road crew tear out the highway asphalt down to the bare dirt. He was really interested when they installed new rebar and then poured new asphalt a little bit further into our yard to widen the shoulder of the road.

The only other thing that has changed around here of any importance ... was me retiring in April 2014 and becoming a full-time professional doorman for the hounds. The could come and go as they pleased as they requested I let them out and back inside a million times per day. With only two hounds now instead of four, I am down to around 500,000 times per day instead of a million.  :)

9/11 did change my personal enjoyment of flying. I went from loving to fly to "I'll never fly again, screw this" .... when I retired from work, I didn't have to fly again unless I wanted to ... and I haven't.

What I did not realize at the time was that all the wars overseas would push people out of their home countries, and in some cases head to the USA from all directions. I didn't realize the effect it would have along the border south of California, a border that I use to cross every day sometimes as I would head downtown Tijuana to 'the book' to bet on any horse race track in America. Or the times friends and I would cross that same San Diego border to spend the weekend at the Rosarita Beach Hotel in Rosarita Beach or go further south for a beer at Husong's in Ensenada, Baja Mx.

We've had little change here in this small town based on all of that movement of people looking for a better life than what they had. Even in this small rural redneck town we have had a little diversity in our population. An Iranian family owns the Subway, an Indian family now owns the 'infamous' gas/mini mart, a Chinese family owns a great small restaurant downtown providing me with that buffet I blogged about in December.

We even have illegals from Mexico that work at the Mexican restaurant with some of the best food I have ever eaten, from Southern California to Ensenada Baja California. We have never seen or experienced terrorist activity yet the huge government facility nearby goes into severe lockdown at times based on what is happening in the world.

So that's the end of my talking and blogging on this blog about what is going on in the world and what I like or don't like in today's society. I am going to try my hardest to crawl back into my hole here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana and let the world decide what it wants to do. That doesn't mean I will not remain vigilant and aware but I will just not blog about it. I don't need the bullshit in my life, just like I no longer needed that from a job.

While the sopping wet sound came from every one of my steps on the path this morning and Stella in her own little world ignoring me when I said "come on" ... I thought about these past 18 years since 9/11 and wondered what would it be like today if the US would just stay out of other countries business and way of life.

Let them live they way they want to and all of those trillions of dollars spent on wars, could have been spent on a new rail system, new bridges, better health care and support for those in need right here in the USA. How many people could be led off the streets into a tiny home or an apartment with those trillions of dollars?

It's a complicated story on how far do we go as a country to help others in need outside of our borders but at the same time there has always been way too much focus on changing their governments to a democracy when they don't want that kind of government or our lifestyle. Why would they? Let them sort out their own problems.

After all, if I reverse the situation and ask myself if I would like a foreign country coming here in 'the tropics' telling me and the hounds we HAVE TO change to their way of life ... the hounds and I would basically tell them to get out of the neighborhood and leave us alone ... maybe not in that kind of nice tone.

So really Stella has it all figured out, as does Heidi .... stay calm, unattached, live in your own little world but keep an eye out for trouble or deer in the field. but be sure to get enough sleep time during hours and hours of sports on tv ... not the noise of the news. All we can control is what we do right here ... that's fine with the hounds and fine with me.

Many new readers don't know about the time I spent a week taking photos and blogging about me pulling every weed out of my gravel driveway and bank, while crawling around on my hands and knees back in August 2015. To read those exciting blog posts, dripping with drama and in a way chaos, you can click here, then scroll down through the different blog posts that are listed in order of the progress.

What I meant to say when I mentioned that ... was to show how weird blogging traffic is ... those four days of blogging about pulling weeds were some of the all-time busiest blog traffic days since it started in October 2011. The number of daily visitors were close to what I was getting just last week talking about politics and chaos in society !!!!

Isn't a story or link like that much better than a link about the refugees problems or the other faction of people trying to take over our country?

So I am going to get back to that type of blogging ... the boring daily life of the hounds and I then let the 'experts' write about the chaos going on.

The hounds, and life as it is in small town rural America with a an opinion from that angle, every once in a while. There is so much more to blog about besides chaos in society whether in our country or their's. Stella and Heidi doesn't care ... neither do I.

Stella spent the whole morning walk looking for something to make it a little more exciting. There wasn't a scent anywhere along the way for her to lock into, so her focus was just to keep her paws as dry as possible and enjoy the warmer temps, sprinkles and all, as she strolled through the field.

She gave the scents one last chance to show themselves but decided the best thing to do was to head back to the house and start her morning siesta that leads to lunch. In the meantime I am going to take the books on politics and government back to the library.

Then pull a couple of books off my self that I bought years ago but never read .. one about Willie Mays and the other about Mickey Mantle. Baseball season is just 43 days away and that is much better than paying attention to who announces they are going to run for President.

The free offer of Showtime over the weekend produced nothing as far as TV watching. It only confirmed why I don't pay the extra $10-$13 per month to get Showtime or HBO all the time. I had more fun watching the new AAF football league which brought in 2.9 million viewers opening night on Saturday, on CBS. It was reported those AAF games had a larger audience than ABC's NBA game that night with LeBron James.

See, I am not the only football addict in America.

I look forward to the 'new' way of blogging and back to the old stuff. I mean what could be more exciting than a good photo of Heidi sleeping through all the chaos not caring what happens. After all, it will not have any affect on her sleeping time or the two times to eat.

The hounds have the correct solution on how to live ... I just have to pay more attention to their suggestions.

It's wet but a bright overcast this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... it's all good.

Single Digits Stops Stella

We knew it was going to happen but that didn't mean we had to like it. Yes, it does look like a nice clear morning, a great sky to walk under, as we start this Friday. With only a few degrees difference between the different weather apps, I knew it was too cold to take the daily walk. My first hint was seeing the storm windows covered in solid ice as the sun rose.

It was like the rising sun was waiting for Stella and I. It not only brightened the fields across the highway in front of the house but the woods on the north side of the field. It was a bright clear morning around 8:15am ... it was also 8° and a windchill temp of -5°.

After my morning reading, and my two cups of coffee, I told Stella we were not walking this morning. I didn't know if she would take off on me or not as I stepped outside wearing a Fleece jacket, fleece lined Wrangler's, with my wool socks inside some very cheap Chinese made sandals I bought at Walmart years ago. Those $24 Nike sandals I use to wear were one of Sadie's favorite chew toys ... so I quit buying them after the 3rd pair.

I had to shove on the frozen storm door for it to open as Stella and I stepped outside. The freezing air hit my lungs as I breathed in and cleared out any cobwebs that might be lingering in my brain after a good night of sleep ... just not enough of it. The ground was harder than a rock, if that is possible. I stood at the corner of the house watching Stella ... hoping I would not have to walk out in my socks and sandals to keep her out of the land of burrs.

You'll see that she knew it was cold. She did what she had to do (not pictured), turned without me calling her name and came back to the house. As I scanned my hourly temps on my weather app, I was up to 7pm before it gets above 15° today. It's dark by that time, so I think it is safe to say both walks today are postponed.

For some strange reason last night around 1am ... yes, it hit me at 1am ... about the time I was turning off the computer for the day, I had the urge to change the blog template to show a sidebar on the right hand side and was even willing to have smaller photos, to make that happen.

I scanned the list of possibilities, all familiar ones no matter how I changed the search terms, design features or how many columns. I kept glancing to the current design I had and the one you see here and knew this one, is the one I liked the most. Will cold weather that keeps me inside make me investigate possible changes in design?

I have no idea why those impulses hit me so often to change things. It falls within the same lines as me looking to take Verizon up on their email offer for unlimited data for only a few dollars more per month. For years I have had 5Gb of data, unlimited text and calls. That small amount of monthly data covers me for what I do with my phone.

Unlimited data is always tempting though. It has a built-in 20Gb threshold they might show in small print of the agreement or you might get a Verizon rep to confess to. The speeds will slow down after 20Gb are used within a billing period. (30 days).

What's the problem? It's only a few dollars more! That is the problem. Those 'few dollars more' add up as you apply that theory to the cell phone account, the satellite tv account, or more satellite internet data. (more than a few dollar increase)

There are a few more TV channels I'd like to get back since I moved to the lower tier of shows by decreasing my monthly payment $10 a few months ago. Those shows were not that important to me when I made the change and really they aren't now ... but that 'urge to change', just like the blog template. The MLB channel is on that higher tier and baseball season is right around the corner.

I just remembered, this blog post is done on the 'newer' WordPress editor. It's not really that new as I have used it for the past few years but it is newer than their old 'wp-admin' editor. I thought there was a difference between the two editors the other day as I was reading a post on my laptop.

In this editor the content goes no further than the edges of the photos. In the 'wp-admin' editor it does go past the photos. I like this better but I have a close eye on my Activity Monitor as I type this and add a few photos. I don't want to see an unexpected 700Mb data dump that happens sometimes on the WordPress .com editor. So far so good.

Stella and I were outside less than 3 minutes this morning. It seemed like a lifetime as I waited for her to finish. As you see here, single digits does not affect Heidi, time does. When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. Her normal routine is get up, goes outside to pee, back inside to eat breakfast and right back to bed. I fold  the sleeping back over the top of her afer she lays down.

Her dog bed, bought at Costco in 2011 about an hour before I met her for adoption, is more comfortable than the bed I sleep on, I think. It has the perfect firmness for the mattress. It's just not large enough for me of course. She will be up before lunch but I guarantee you that her trip outside today will take less than a minute.

I am afraid to turn on the tv today just to see what is going on in DC. I've glanced at the online headlines from three different news sources. Yes, I do read 'both sides' of news reporting. I have the ability to sort out facts and what is fake.

800,000 out of 2.3 million workers supposedly are the ones not being paid. They use to call it a 'skeleton crew', just enough to get the basics of the job finished but now they call it "essential personnel" ... how essential can they be if you can afford to let them go? I know the local ~8,000 government employees and contractor are all working and all are getting paid ... unless my neighbor is lying to me.

I must say that now that I have the Canon G9X adjusted I very happy with the quality of the photos I am taking. Early morning lighting is always a tough time for any camera, unless I was outside at sunrise. Today might be another good day to go for a drive.

I could stop and buy a deadbolt lock to install on the door this afternoon to contain Stella. :)

I appreciate all the responses I received via email and the public comments for my last post about the shutdown and congress. The email responses outnumbered the comments on the blog but all counted, it was an overwhelming number of people that agreed with me or that of the President. No one was threatening or angry and I welcome all opinions, on all of my blog posts.

I read this morning that Ms Harris, a 2020 candidate has hired all of the "Clinton Team" to run her campaign. Interesting. She has a lot of other issues though that will come to the forefront as the campaign gets closer to starting. I keep seeing the word "horizontal" describing her ... confusing to some I'm sure.

To add to my food discussion from last night ... I clicked in 1645 calories yesterday and had nothing but healthy food. I can also feel my appetite adjusting after tightening the food intake a couple of weeks ago. I'm not as hungry during the day or night and that's a good thing.

Well I need to see if I can figure out a way to move my desk chair away from my desk far enough to stand up. Stella has me blocked in as she is sleeping curled up and leaning on one of the desk chair legs. Maybe if I start sneezing she will wake up to whine like she always does and that will give me room to move my chair.

It's breath-taking cold today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Some Evening Rambling Or Ranting

I guess if I can start the day really weird at 2:05am, then I can end the "blogging day" just as strange with some evening rambling. It's one of those times where I have a lot of stuff swirling in those brain cells of mine that need to come out on paper. Regular or past readers will recognize that as 'my rambling', with a lot of topics talked about and none of them in any kind of order.

Let's cover that first picture. That is my summary of the food I have eaten today. Those rusty color bars are really bright red on my screen, showing me that I am getting way too much and to make some adjustments. It also shows me that I probably need to take a multi-vitamin to make up for all the vitamins I don't get through food. I've known that for a year or so.

I get all of this information on the Cronometer FREE app on my phone, tablet, plus I can go to their webpage and see all of this on my large monitor as well as log the food I eat.


Do I plan on doing this forever, no I don't. Right now I am at what I consider a 'crossroads' to either get serious about my eating habits or screw it and eat everything I want in the quantities I want then feel like crap, feel guilty, feel frustrated and feel bloated. This will help me fine tune my eating habits.

My choice.

I almost returned my Canon G9 X camera again this morning. I had nothing planned and had plenty of time to make the trip to Best Buy. I have only a couple of days left to use their 15-day return policy ... but ... like I said the other day. This is a good camera that probably deals with more user error or lack of knowledge compared to my Nikon D3200. I also said the other day that I was keeping it because it did to some good things, even better than the Nikon D3200 or my iPhone camera. Plus I was going to learn more about the camera, getting to the point that it was taking the type of pictures I wanted.

The pictures from this afternoon were with the Canon G9 and NONE of them were edited in any way!!! I did use the flash for the first two pictures as a test on an overcast day. I could tell a slight difference. I have played with the color, contrast and sharpness settings and finally have them set where the pictures look like they do to my eyes.

I know that if I plan to take a lot of pictures on the walk from a distance, where I would use the 200mm zoom lens, then I should take the Nikon D3200 with me instead of the Canon.

The Canon G9 did survive another drop test. This time it wasn't the soft grass of the field that caught it ... it was that hard concrete floor of the carport. With the wrist strap on, as I slid off my right glove so I could touch my Apple Watch face to stop the timer for the walk ... the strap came off with the glove and the camera bounced on the concrete. So it now has some 'use marks' but still works perfectly.

The Canon G9 X is a keeper.

Back in October I was finally able to shut out all the news on tv, the headlines from online news websites completely out of my life. I LOVED IT!!! I felt much better, less stressed out, less pissed off and I enjoyed not hearing all the bullshit. Then on December 13th when I wanted to be more open, more energized with my blog writing, I returned to the tv news and started reading those online headlines. I added a few new tweeters that would give me political news you don't see on tv.

In a way ... a bad move on my part ... a very bad move.

I've said it a million times on this blog and my old blog ... there is no in-between with me. It's all or nothing. Mow all the yard or not at all. Track food intake or eat non-stop. Blog multiple times per day or quit. On and on and on. So .... with that in mind ....

My mind has been very active with those same concerns I have had for the past 3 years, even before the 2016 Presidential Election. Some would call it being paranoid but I call it being aware. I hate shit happening in the background to our country that is not covered by mainstream media online, tv or otherwise. It takes certain people to spend their time tracking the 'background' stuff and then putting it out in pubic for all to see.

How many really see it though?

I can assure you that if the general public knew some of this stuff there is no way they would be happy with what is going on. You and I might not be living when the final results are in, but your children and grandchildren will. My niece and nephew will, along with their kids. The children of my friends will be affected. What is happening right under our eyes is real.

What I am talking about is the underground movement of the Muslim 20-year plan of taking over the USA. Yes, I believe that plan when I saw it.
I'll even go find it and link it here. I found the link but it would not let me copy the full url, just the website dot com url. It's a movement that is working just as they planned, right on schedule.

It's just not a religion/politics thing.

This isn't the old days when the media argued that a Catholic was going to be elected President when John F. Kennedy was winning. This isn't going through Congress and listing each with their religion beliefs next to their name. This is a planned movement with dates and milestones that have been reached. The Catholics didn't want to take over the country if he was elected. Nor did the Protestants when other presidents were elected. But the Muslim Movement does and say they will.

It is happening right in front of us and the US citizens either don't see it, don't understand it or are too lackadaisical to believe it. "That would never happen here!!!!"

Even two hundred or more years ago we were warned:

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." ~ George Washington

As I have said before ... I believe in immigration as long as they are vetted, and follow the legal process to become a citizen. I also understand that poor people want the best for their kids and will risk their lives to get to America for a better lifestyle. But I also understand why the Democrats are not interested in any kind of wall ... they need voters, illegal or not.

I hate people who take advantage of our country's constitution, our country's generosity and our system to live for free. Paid for by the taxpayers and affecting all of us in services provided or not provided because of overwhelming floods of illegal aliens taking over those systems. Do I understand this right ... we will help an illegal alien but not a homeless veteran living on the streets? Don't even get me started on that topic!!

Do not get me started on the argument of homeless US citizens without help or NOT ENOUGH help compared to the open hand and all the free programs and MONEY to give a start to someone who has illegally entered our country. Families or not, I don't care. Follow the damn laws!!!!

It was estimated today that they can account for almost 900,000 voters in the 2018 mid-term elections were NOT US citizens. Something I saw last week, over 463,000 California residents turned down their legal duty for jury duty BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT LEGAL CITIZENS!!!!

They pick the names for jury duty from lists of registered voters!!!! Any ... legal addresses. Yes, that's true, no fake news here.

I have NO problems with families from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, or any other country coming to America to start a new life. I know there are many successful stories and many of those families are happy for the help they received. That is the 'good' side of illegal immigration. I have no problems as long as these people start the process under current law to become citizens.

What I DO have a problem with is:

• 63% of non-citizen illegal aliens are using a welfare program intended for the poor and needy Americans


• 4,684,784 non-citizen households are receiving welfare payments


• These numbers from a 2014 census data ... almost 5 years ago!!!!

Illegal aliens are taught the system before they get to the border. They get free housing, free food-stamps, roughly $1,200 per month to get started, free internet, free cell phones, free medical service. SOME laugh and send their monthly money back home south of the border that totals in the millions of non-taxable income. It's not just non-citizens ... it's the poor "white trash" they call them, in trailer parks (no offense), white people, black people who know how to play the system for free services and money even if fraud is evident.

Does anyone believe the numbers furnished by the Border Patrol on how many with criminal records, members of MS-13 gangs, drug mules or child sex trade are stopped at the border EVERYDAY??? Are those numbers just made up? Is that census just made up numbers? Aren't the numbers shocking to you?

What is it that people don't understand about this immigration mess? What is it that people don't understand about the underground control of Muslim influence in our governments from the state level to Washington DC?

I personally know people of the Muslim faith, others that are immigrants from other countries. Even my small town of less than 2,400 people have residents from China, Iran, Iraq, India, Mexico (some illegal), etc. Some are waiters, waitresses, store owners, small shop owners, or restaurant owners. I have no problems and never had any problems with any of them living in my small town.

I do have a problem with my state electing Muslims to State Government who brag that "their movement" is gaining steam and by 2030 they expect to have 30-35 in Congress. I DO have a problem when these same elected officials have past or current ties to some of the most violent terrorists groups in the Mid Eastern countries. I DO have a problem with Shari Law being mentioned in the state of Indiana. I DO have a problem with what I read in the IndyStar, where US laws are circumvented, so a Muslim organization can build that Mosque or that school where they have been turned down before. It makes me puke to hear or read where laws have been avoided at the request of Muslim Organizations.

These are not the immigrants our grandparents were or their parents were. Those immigrants in the 20's 30's and 40s were not coming to America to take over a country due to their religious belief ... they came to America for a better life and to become American Citizens ... to adapt to American way of life ... not telling us we will conform to their way of life and to their laws.

If you think I am full of bullshit and paranoid as hell concerning what I have written here ... then do your own searches on the Internet and see what you find. It's alarming, I guarantee you. As a search engine I strong urge you to use DuckDuckGo ... throw that Google Search in the trashcan.

I'm not finished yet.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

She graduated from Brown University, an Ivy League school ... so she is smart just not some babbling idiot. She has a BS Degree in Economics ... although some things she has said that she wants to implement make no economic sense. Instead of using that degree she was a waitress then a bartender at a NY bar when she ran for public office. Somehow she was elected to Congress!!!!  Think about that. Sure Trump had no political experience but he had business experience. I'll not go into a rant about Ms. Ocasio-Cortez but I will say she is dangerous to your and my way of life.

This quote says all I need to know about her. She sent this to the Washington Post.

“I’m six days into the term, and you already used all your ammo. So enjoy being exhausted for the next two years while we run train on the progressive agenda”

Many 'normal' people that see that will have no idea what "run train" means. I know I didn't know what it meant when I saw it and some accuse me of not being normal. "Run Train" is a slang term used by MS-13 gangs for violently gang raping women or young girls. How did and why did Alexandria become elected? Democratic readers ... you want to claim her as part of your party?

History shows this is not the first time that US Government has been backstabbed. It isn't the first time the US Government has faced a Socialist charge and people screaming for a change in the way of life. "Rob the rich and give to the poor" ...

I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a healthy savings account. I do help people in need with either financial donations or food donations etc. I have no problems giving help to those in need, no matter what their race is or religious beliefs are. I give when I want to give or feel there is someone that needs help.

But if you want tax me, then FORCE me to support those in need ... I'll tell you to fuck off and fight you to the very end for what is mine. I feel sorry for the residents of California. I have a few friends of 45 years or more that live in that state. I in fact lived in that state when things were sane. Their newly elected governor now wants to tax drinking water to support all the illegal aliens coming into their state. Will that change the laws that Governor Brown implemented, fining residents ~$1,000 for watering their lawns or washing their cars due to a lack of water in their state?

Is the whole country going to get taxed so we can support the 22 million illegal aliens living within our borders, eating for free, medical for free, etc? They say 11 million officially but have recently confessed they really don't know and think the true number is closer to 22 million.

Just because the USA is considered a rich nation (IMO it's no longer rich), how can it be considered rich at 20 TRILLION in Debt and a DAILY interest payment of $634 MILLION PER DAY!!!!! do we as a country have an obligation to open our borders up to everyone else in the world so they can live, eat, make more kids, medical help, internet, phones, drivers licenses etc because we have the best way of life anywhere in the world?

Are we that obligated?

I'm losing my train of thought again.

I'm sure there was more I wanted to talk about.

Oh I have a question ... if these government workers not getting paid are having to hit free lunches and food pantries to feed your families .... WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT SOME MONEY IN SAVINGS!!!!!! YOU ALL WERE PAID VERY VERY WELL, ENOUGH TO SAVE SOME!!!!!

I know how much you make because I use to be a government worker and later a contractor. I KNOW how many people making $60K five years ago, sitting in their cubicles doing NOTHING because they had not been assigned a project to work on or were just a natural-born slacker. I KNOW how many on a base of 8,000 really do work and how many don't. I KNOW how many of those salaries are paid by 'overhead' not by 'project money'. BELIEVE ME ... THIS SHUTDOWN IS NOT HURTING AS MANY AS YOU THINK.

"Two weeks from losing my house" ... IMO you should have put some of that overpaid salary in the bank CALLED A SAVINGS ACCOUNT!!!!! Or made some extra house payments and try to pay off your mortgage early.

IMO, Trump will hold out longer than anyone realized and it's only a way of privatizing the TSA, closing down Government Departments that should be shut down and off the payroll, that will naturally 'weed out' the excess workers as they look for other employment or process paperwork for food stamps, welfare, disability, free cell phones, free internet, free medical just like all the other ILLEGAL ALIENS do.

I guess that is about all for tonight ....

Go ahead and say anything you want as a comment ... I know how to take "incoming" :)

LOL

Thoughts From The Darkness

It's been a few days or weeks since I rambled a little bit. I can tell this blog is gradually moving back to the same direction it was going before I announced to the world that the subject matter would change. Plans of more transparency. No stone left unturned as those thoughts slowly crawled out from beneath the rocks. So what happen? What's the plan?

When you saw that title you probably came running to see how far my brain had dropped over the cliff ... wrong kind of darkness. Not quite true. The darkness is what is outside on a Sunday morning at 7:15am. Still the mind is active, maybe too active at this time of day.

In the past few days you have probably notice the blog has changed colors for less than five minutes, font changes but no format changes. I like the format and I've heard from a few readers that they like it to. It's easy to find stuff, and easy to navigate through. So the format will stay but you know how I like 'tweaking' the look when I get an overactive brain.

It was just a few years ago when I had this type of brain activity, I'd start looking through websites that had cars for sale. In most cases I'd end up trading cars or trucks or both within 72 hours after I started looking. The disaster in all of that impulsive buying was my bank account took a hit and the satisfaction didn't last long. I think the all-time record for owning a car before I traded it was 47 days, in December 2016.

Now I just look through website design (themes or templates) choices and fill the same urge to make changes. Yet there has been a battle for the past few months, thinking I would take advantage of those 'holiday deal' with drastically reduced prices, that have since passed by me.


The Apple Watch Series 4.

I don't really need one. I know it will only work with Apple computers and iPhones, which I have. I would have to add an app to track my sleeping habits. The battery life is too short for me. (18 hours) Nor would I buy the cellular version because I don't need emails, texts, music, coming out of my wrist. I'm looking at the health tracking features mainly.

On the other side of the view, it does have a proven heart health tracker, including an EKG reading. I was reading this morning that it does NOT have constant pulse reading but I think that might be an incorrect statement, I'll have to check. It does have 'fall detection' where it will call 911 if the settings are right and you don't respond in a certain amount of time.

Tied in with Apple Health in my iPhone, that 911 call will alert the friends I have listed as emergency contacts, all living out of state. That might be handy since I live alone but I don't plan to fall and see that as a feature that isn't needed for another 20 years when I will be in my late 80's. On the other hand it could replace my iPhone. How neat would that be to go anywhere without carrying a phone in one hand or slipped into a pocket in cargo shorts/pants?

Yet the iPhone has a fantastic camera for indoors or low light. Not bad for outside. Could you tell which photos in blog posts from Wednesday on, were taken with the iPhone ?? So that would be one reason not to have the watch replace the phone.

I currently wear a Garmin VivoSport that has a long battery life, constant pulse readings, GPS, sleep tracking, synchronizes with MyFitnessPal (food log) and feels small on my wrist. I would not have paid the $160 for it, but Garmin sent a new one to me free when I let them know in September that the band to my Garmin VivoSmart 3 broke. I didn't ask and really wasn't looking for help. I was just letting them know what had happened.

The Garmin gives me all the information that I was looking for two years ago. It looks good in casual dress, which is most of the time for me, and will look good as I mow the yard or do yard work in the warmer months.

So it's back to the question of 'a need' or 'a want' for the Apple Watch. Just like it was when I use to satisfy this urge by trading cars. I feel a strong urge to drive to Best Buy today and buy one ... a huge urge actually ... or I could buy a new camera .... see what I mean? That little man on my shoulder with his lauging voice, is tormenting me again today.

Something else I do when I get in these moods for change. I play around with different browsers. Safari for Macs, Google Chrome and Firefox Quantum. Even though I have always read the latest reviews in CNET, PCmag, and other tech websites about those browsers ... I still keep going back and trying all three of them.

Until a couple of days ago when RetroRoxie sent me a link, helping me find an answer for WHY Safari and Google Chrome was preventing me from making replies on some WordPress blogs plus logging me out automatically from my blog on Blogger, "Bhounds And Other Adventures".

It was due to the privacy settings for each. Safari calls it "cross-site" tracking. Google Chrome calls it "3rd party websites collecting cookies and data". I needed to switch them to 'off' so each could take place. Once I did that, both Safari (using it now) and Google Chrome did not prevent me with those two issues I had for months ... or since their last updates.

Many reviews say that Safari is the best browser for Macs. I have an iMac and a MacBook Air and it is what I have run for a browser most of the time until I had that problem two paragraphs above. I like that Firefox and Safari do a great job in blocking ads and stopping videos from automatically playing on news and sports sites.

I could tighten the settings on Google Chrome and add some apps to prevent ads and autoplay but I am not really keen on the brighter version of the new Google Chrome. Now, if I were using an Android phone I would tie myself into the Google system with docs, and all the other products they have available ... but I get all they offer in my Apple devices, all synchronizing with my phone, computers and tablet.

I know I will continue to bounce between browsers every few months ... but at least that is free. Plus it calms that overactive brain I get sometimes.

So where is all that blogging transparency? The change in direction for the blog?

My mind has been content I guess. I have not noticed a lot of deep thoughts surfacing. I have not noticed any inner crisis taking place. Both hounds are in good health, no emergencies, no drama going on ... nothing to bring thousands of blog readers rushing to see the latest, like they slow down to look as they drive past a car wreck.

I've continued to "glance" at tv news. I have also continued to turn off the tv or change channels within minutes, mumbling under my breath ... "what a bunch of shit". (yes I LOVE that periods OUTSIDE the quotes ... :)

So I don't have a lot of radical comments about what is going on in the news because I have stopped watching it enough to where I cannot make comments. In 2013 while working as a government contractor I was sent home when Obama shut down the government. Speaking only from personal experience ... I think I remember being gone for only 10-14 days ??? but I do remember to keep my health insurance and a regular paycheck, I had to go on vacation while wasting my vacation days.

I did write a post the other day and saved it as a draft. It was an idea I had for the blog that wasn't tried and may not happen ... a weekly collection of questions, weird or otherwise, that I have throughout the week. I still have that post in 'draft' folder. Which brings up the subject of 'drafts' ... not beer, blog posts.

I have a hard time writing blog posts in advance, filing them under 'draft' and posting them later. Most of the time my posts are time related, like current, within that hour(s) ... I cannot go much more than a day on subject matter for the post. Whereas some bloggers can write about where they were and what they did on a trip two months later ... I find that hard to do.

So due to my DNA, I'll probably continue to blog like I always have ... in the morning after our walk ... maybe late afternoon or early evening in the warmer months. I am outside a lot when it's hot doing anything, from yard work to sleeping under the sunshine. If I post something like this very early in the morning ... I'll probably have a second post late afternoon or early evening with a paragraph summary and all photos.

That is probably what will happen today.

One thing about this template (theme), I do not have to manually put a space between the photos so they show up on tablets and phones with a space between them. Nor do I have to change the file size like I did on blogger, so the photos were sharper. Which I have discussed that too many times in the past.

Just remember, new readers ... the hounds and I live a pretty simple lifestyle, laidback without a lot of drama. I'd say the post about the water heater a few days ago was the most excitement the hounds have had in months. Believe it or not I still have steaming hot water coming out of the faucet so that is a good thing, since I had no idea what I was doing to repair it.

The posts are usually more photo based than a post like this but sometimes I like nothing but words, content, thoughts, etc. I just have to come up with some kind of photo to add to the top so there is a small thumbnail on the front page. The look stays the same that way.

Much like me mowing the whole yard when only the backyard needs mowing ... or the "balanced" look where the punctuation is outside the second quotation mark. Or all those squares for each post lined up evenly on the front page.

That will give you a picture what my pet peeves are ... plus crooked photos on a wall in anybody's house.

Well that magic hour has struck ... 8am ... Stella has walked in the computer room to drink water, hydrating herself before she whines to get me to change shoes to boots, throw on my down parka, gloves and sock hat ... grab the camera and go out
to do 22 minutes of 'verbal herding" to get her from Point A to Point B. The walk last 5 minutes due to the sound of gunshots ... no verbal herding was needed ... I had to trot to keep up with her has she turned around and headed for home.

There was probably more I wanted to say in this post but like usual ... I forgot what it was.

It looks cold outside but I can see some sun here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.