A Bloodhound Surprise

Starting this post I have only been up less than two hours but I have seen more change and surprises than I have in a month. What is in store for us today for the rest of the day? Will sitting on the couch duplicating yesterday afternoon and last night be a factor? I can't imagine seeing as much as I did this morning in less than an hour ... I hadn't had my second cup of coffee yet !!!!

It didn't matter the bedroom was filled with bright sunshine. Heidi was on her dog bed in the far corner of the room where the sunshine through the east window streams right on her. I may have had a different schedule this morning but she didn't.

I can tell it is spring, even if it's only been official for a couple of days. I can see it in the field across the highway and I can see my yard turning green from front to the back. It's time to drag the lawn mower out of the shed and make sure everything is ready for the first mow. Do you notice the two Sassafras saplings are not in the lower part of the picture?

I had not stepped off of 'Winston's Patio' when I knew immediately that the world had slipped off its axis and Stella was going to dictate what was going to take place. I cannot remember how many months it has been since he started her morning walk and did not take the path into the field.

When she kept ignoring my calls I knew there was no hope today. All I needed to do was 'buckle up' and enjoy the ride because Stella was behind her wheel of stubbornness and anything I said wasn't going to mean a damn thing.

She did stand at the property pole at the corner of the yard before she took off down the return path. She turned to look at me as I stood on the normal path, soft with a lot of saturation. She looked proudly at me, acknowledging my "get over here" ... then turned and walked away ... as you see here.

As I slowly walked back into the backyard toward the return path I wondered what the hell was going on today. With Stella's new ideas for the walk this morning combined with all of those very weird dreams that kept waking me up last night, I could tell the earth was having its own case of vertigo.

By this time I had stopped saying a word to Stella because I knew from past experience, when she gets this way it will not matter what I say or do. I could have gone back into the house and she would have continued on like nothing was off schedule. I am sure you have picked up through all of my drivel since December, that I like things in order. I don't like change that much ... well when you start walking the opposite direction taking the return path first ... how much change could I handle ??

As I walked up the path, I see Stella now meandering back to the middle of the field between both of our worn paths I really wondered if our walk this morning would amount to anything more than just walking in circles. I wasn't sure we would get to the first corner, let alone finish the half mile path. See how I like things to remain the same ??  LOL

My one cup of coffee at this point had done nothing to calibrate my brain cells. I had gone back to bed as the hounds were eating their breakfast kibble. Watching basketball games, sometimes two or three games at once on the split tv screen evidently wore me out. I was out of March Madness shape. I had a problem though.

During the day, I before the games, and on the way to buy more food, I stopped by the library to pick up the two books I had ordered through the state library system by Dr. Michael Greger. "How Not To Die" and his recipe book that went along with it.

Off of the "New" shelf I took a book named "The End Of The Myth" by Greg Grandin.

After reading a few pages of each, both books were so good I couldn't put them down. So I turned off the sound on the tv and would glance up from my book on occasion to check the scores or any action I needed to watch. IF it was a close game, I'd put the book down, turn up the sound, bring that game to the full screen and watch the last five to seven minutes of the game.

I was wrong to suggest the other day that Dr. Greger might have been influenced with bias, stressing a plant-based diet is the way to eat because of his position as the director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the US. He loves animals just as much as I do but he has the scientific proof that the plant-based diet is the way to eat. He also has proof that eating that way DOES reverse heart disease and many other diseases. To me, scientific data to back up his recommendations is the key factor in all of this.

It was his grandmother who influenced his diet thinking and his career path. I'll not go long on this because you can read her story in the first two pages of the preface in the book. Basically she is released from the hospital at 65 years old in a wheelchair, told by surgeons she has weeks to live and there is nothing more they can do for her. She has already had by-pass surgery. She signs up for the Pritikin's Study and showes not only signs of heart disease reversal ... but lived another 31 years to the age of 96 !!!

It's a book you will find hard to put down once you start reading it.

While going the opposite direction, not quite to the first corner, Stella turned and looked at the neighbor's house like she does every morning on 'the way back'.  LOL ... funny hound.

The other book is a great lesson of US History, something I wish I would have spent more time studying in college. I've only read the first 75 pages of the book but WOW ... what a story. Was I taught all of this in past history classes and forgot how this took place?

It starts after 1750, describing in detail the strategy, the famous men in charge and the movement west in the USA. Early in the book there were hints describing how our country got to all the racial tension today, the polarization that pushed Trump to the presidency. The last comment on the book sleeve, just inside the cover states ...

"The border wall may or many not be built, but it will survive as a rallying-point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism."

I highly recommend this book and that is based on reading only a few pages.

As you can see Stella decided on her own that taking the walk backwards was not good for brain cell health. She made the short crossover to our normal path, then over to the edge of the wooded area like always. Even I felt better after she moved back to our normal routine. Whew ... close call.  :)

Can you tell between these two pictures which is on my manual settings and which one is taken with the automatic setting? Which one do you like?

With underground water seeping up the sides of my hiking boots, Stella was also aware of the wet path and walked along the edge of it in the taller grass to keep her paws dry. Rain, snow, sleet or ice ... she doesn't like her paws getting wet. Sadie would have charged through just to show me how high she could splash the water.

I surprised myself yesterday at the store and how I felt throughout the day and night with my changed eating habits. With March Madness it use to be sandwich material, liters of Pepsi, huge bags of tortilla chips and large jars of salsa. Not yesterday. My 36 oz jar held cold water. I munched on carrots and broccoli with no salad dressing to dip into. Later when I ate dinner it was another large salad and two cups of 15-bean soup.

Was that the cause of my weird dreams last night?

Stella wasn't done wandering ... I let her go. She knew what she was doing and where she was going ... I followed the path while keeping an eye on her. She hasn't run off to the north woods since the time that Sadie decided it was a good time to lead her to new frontiers. They sprinted away from me that day in a playful run, hopping up high enough to see over the tall hay as they ran north.

What's this ??? She is going to cross in front of me while I follow the normal path ?? I couldn't believe she was in the same area of the field as I was after all of the changes she had this morning. I glanced at my watch and it was hard to believe, we were on time for the walk. It had not taken any longer than following the normal way. Once again I think Stella is trying to remind me to 'lighten up' it just life ... relax. Go with the flow.

Of course with the change of direction in my eating, the fat content has dropped a lot. I am alway below my recommended 1,850 calories per day although both Dr. Greger and Dr.  Fuhrman say counting calories is not important eating a plant-based diet.

So is it Vegan or Vegetarian? I would have thought it would be one or the other. Last weekend I could not figure out where the term "Whole Food Plant Based" diet came from. I had been a Lacto-Vegetarian for 8 years many years ago, I had never heard of that term until recently.

After reading the past three to four days on this diet plan I finally figured it out and it was something that Jeff over at Respectful Living told me this past weekend in an email.

To many Vegans and Vegetarians still eat processed food, bags of chips, sugary sport drinks, pastry with tons of sugar, candy, etc ... all because it was meatless, possibly dairy less. The Whole Food Plant Based way of eating does not include any of that type of eating. Basically it is fruit, vegetables, beans and legumes.

I am still not getting enough protein. Taking my weight x .4 tells me how many grams of protein I need per day and with this meatless diet I am not getting anywhere close to that. I AM seeing more positive results in the nutrient content of the food I am eating. Like both doctors say it is not the quantity of food you eat but the quality of food, optimized nutrition. Cronometer tracks your food intake right down to the very last mineral.

>Unless I shock myself, I still think there will be times I'll grab a pizza at Mother Bears in Bloomington or a strom at Nick's, even a Five Guys cheeseburger. The neat thing about Five Guys, I no longer have to fight traffic to drive to the other side of Bloomington, then south out of the way just to get to a cheeseburger, because they have built a new store next door to Nick's on Kirkwood Ave ... perfect.  :)

Right after I took this picture my camera's battery icon started flashing red at me. With a morning like this mornig why was that not a surprise? I knew it would be touch and go the rest of the way if I was to finish the walk on film as we usually do. I started turning the camera off and on to nurse it back home and still get a few pictures of Stella as she finished her walk ... like nothing out of the ordinary happened today.

This time last year I had already mowed my yard once. Not a chance to mow for weeks from now unless some hot sunshine shows up and makes it grow faster. I look at this picture and thank my lucky stars for what I and the hounds can walk through every day. Compared to the current pictures of Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska with water up to the roof line of all the houses ... two different worlds. I feel for the people going through all of that.

I have wondered about my recent blogging activity. Twice per day ??? Really ?? I know it has only been a few days but I like doing that early evening post of Heidi's afternoon activity with just a short paragraph and all pictures. This morning post seems to have evolved into a step by step narrative of Stella's daily walk. I find it hard to decrease the number of photos since there seems to be some sort of story following her through the field. Her post doesn't look right with few pictures.

It doesn't bother me blogging twice per day. Jon Katz at Bedlam Farm, posts multiple times per day but has only one photo each on each post. So each blogger has their own way, which is fine.

With my late start this morning I have not taken the time to look at the news online nor have I turned on the tv. By the time I finished my first cup of coffee and read all of my email, Stella was whining to get started. She is a great house dog, minus her occasional bouts of anxiety when I am gone. It is hard to believe that both hounds will be ten years old this summer.

I forgot to mention one interesting thing about following the recommendations from both doctors ... if I were to follow the amounts of fruit and vegetables to eat, I would have to go to the store to buy more fruit and veggies everyday and no longer than every other day. I tried eating the recommended amount of vegetables yesterday and could not do it ... I was full and didn't have any hunger cravings at any time.

Probably this weekend, after the NCAA field will be reduced to 32 teams from 68 teams, I'll spend one morning raking and picking up all the loose tree bark, sticks and a couple of limbs from the yard and add to the burn pile. My huge bonfire is scheduled for early April. It might be my biggest fire ever.

Stella may have started her walk off entirely different this morning but that didn't mean she would end it that way. Right after she passes that last tree on her right, she veers down the slight incline toward the house and follows the edge back to the carport. How long will it be before she changes that routine ??

A beautiful day this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It's Life - So What ?

Well it's Friday and it even feels like a Friday if you know what I mean. I don't get that kind of feeling too much since I'm retired, but today just feels a little different I guess. That puts me in the 'rambling' mood. Not so much because it's Friday but I recognize my brain cells are going through one of those periods where they are highly active. I have a lot on my mind, lots of questions and few answers today. So we will see where this goes.

As you can see that prediction of 2" - 3" of snow last night turned into ground cover and not much more. Stella and I waited about an hour to see if it was going to rain or snow since it couldn't make up its mind from the time we woke up at 6:35am. The highway sounds said it's drizzling, the ground said snow. It didn't matter to Stella because it felt much warmer again this morning and I had to agree with her. It didn't feel like 32°.

A few of the long-time readers know that I have been known to change my mind. Some feel I change it a lot, possibly more than normal. I have no idea since I don't know how often other people change their mind nor do I know what the national average is. I guess I could search on the internet to get some idea on that. It doesn't matter to me one way or another. Just like life constantly changing, my mind seems to constantly change.

In today's world with so much information just a few keystrokes away, it's like information overload. How do you sort through that information and find the right answer, the right way, the right diet or the right camera .. or the right anything ???

I do see a trend where I start analyzing what I am eating, which way or which diet, when I don't feel good. It might only be caused by something I have eaten, which I find it's an isolated situation more than a diet decision over time. It happened during last night where I woke up feeling really sick. I thought back to what I had for dinner, which was nothing more than a snack of cheese, some raw carrots, a couple of spoons of yogurt, a pear and some olives. I really wasn't hungry for a full meal.

Of the food listed I suspect it was the yogurt, even in a small amount the caused my issue.  A few weeks ago I went back to low carbs, more fat and more protein. I had good results with that way of eating in the past and by the way I was feeling a few weeks ago, I made the change. I remember a few years ago when I tried the Paleo diet, which got rid of all my indigestion almost immediately ... it still bothered me eating all of that fat, red meat, bacon etc.

When I was younger I spent 8 years as a vegetarian and I still remember today why I went to that type of diet. I still remember talking with the heart surgeon after he preformed a quadruple by-pass on my dad who was 58 years old at the time. I remember just a few months ago where medical journals were announcing they had made a mistake 30 years ago and now they find that real butter, whole milk, more fat and more protein is good for you and not the other way around.

A panel of medical experts on US News and World Report comes out every year with their rankings of all the different diets and Keto nor Paleo are ranked high, in the 40 different diets they examine. My friend, a colon cancer survivor, says moderation is the best diet. Just like anything else everyone seems to feel their way is the best way. Who do you believe?

It doesn't matter if it is diets, cameras, computers, cars, trucks, lifestyles or sports teams, they all have different opinions. Different opinions are good, they are healthy but how do you choose?

Two topics ... This morning I have doubts about my diet decision from a few weeks ago. I also have been thinking about the news and my announcement I'd never pay attention to it again. Like Stella shows in this photo ... If you don't stick your nose in it how are you going to know what it is, what to choose or what to listen to. You can't hide from life, good or bad. Not all decisions are correct, mistakes are made or analyzed. Everything changes because that is how life operates.

Stella and Heidi are pretty good teachers if I pay attention to what they are telling me or showing me. They adapt with ease when changes are made. They have no stress because they don't have a reason to stress out. The outside world doesn't affect them, they go with the flow. Their routines change, sometimes every few weeks sometimes longer than a month. It's not a big deal to them. Life is what it is to them, even with both having bad experiences before I got them.

Diets ??? Doesn't matter to either of them. They like all food, mine and theirs.

So I woke up early this morning with doubts about my recent eating style. Questions from two or three years ago about different diets were back in the forefront of my brain. Such as, where does all of that fat go, where it use to plug your arteries, forming plaque and leading you to by-pass surgery? What changed inside the body to make that higher fat intake or eating red meat move in a different direction, away from causing damage and health issues, as proponents of the Paleo and Keto Diets claim?

I've always wondered, what happens 15-20 years from now if they find out the uptick in health issues, heart surgeries and cancer was caused by the two fads, Keto and Paleo? Then on the flip side that also confuses me, I've known personally strict vegetarians that even ran many miles or biked many miles for exercise, have early deaths ... not making it out of their 40's or 50's. Was it their strict veggie diets, or something else like hereditary that caused them to die?

I still think cancer is more DNA related than diet related. I know old neighbors that lived all their life in this area, lived into their late 90's and probably were not vegetarians nor did they care if they were drinking water from the water system from town. They never exercised, some smoked non-filtered cigarettes starting in their teens. Bottle or filtered water was never an option for them.

Those kind of thoughts raise questions. Thus finding that right answer even harder.

I decided years ago I would eat what I call 'my diet' ... the medical experts call it the Flexitarian Diet I added in my friend's advice of 'moderation' and added a touch of my old lacto-vegetarian eating style. The problem with the 'my diet' and all of these modification I made,I would gain weight not lose it.

Well this morning as I turned on my computer I had a ton of emails from the blog. One reader had their first comment that needed to be approved. I read all comments and try to reply to all comments so it wasn't like I wasn't going to read her comment. Especially since it was right on topic ... the same topic I woke up thinking about.

She had valid points about meat based diets vs plant-based diets. It wasn't nothing new, I've known it for decades ... but it was a great reminder. It scrambled my brain cells just like that. I started pulling up old bookmarks that I had made when investigating all diet and what was the best way in 2018 or 2019. Her comment also made me go into the analysis mode about how I should eat, "Sure, you might look good on the outside, but what is going on, on the inside?"

So that story about eating, dieting, etc will be continued as I sort out what I am really going to do. I'd prefer not to be in constant change when it comes to my menus.

I spent all day during my waking hours yesterday fighting the urge to take a peek at the online news. I still had no desire to hear any kind of news commentary last night as I watched my ballgame. I never once checked a news channel during the game's commercial breaks .... but ... this morning I did click on CNN, FoxNews and Breitbart websites to take a look. I saw I hadn't missed anything.

So while Stella and I did our morning walk in warm tempers (32°) I thought a little about the decision I announced only a couple of days ago of boycotting the news. With each head turn, or pushing her nose under the snow, along with her leisurely pace ... I thought "what's the big deal if I look at the news or not" ... it's life. It is what it is, good or bad.

The strongest thought I had though was about me ... it was words I remember growing up when my mom would explain to me that I could NOT have everything my way all of the time. Funny how something said 50 some years ago is clear as ever today.

I thought about that and she was right. No matter how much I want things a certain way, that does not mean I get them that way no matter how much I bitch and complain. Especially things outside my control. For 16 minutes this morning Stella was showing me for the millionth time ... relax, take it as it comes, and quit complaining about things you have no control over.

Now since I have admitted that I do and have changed my mind a lot since I started this blog in 2011 over on Blogger I will take a peek at the news headlines again and since I have been accused more than once in my life of being opinionated ... I will on occasion blog about my opinions on the news and politics.

Before my news boycott the other day I either read it somewhere or heard it on tv, that news channels are no longer just news stations but news AND entertainment. Different reporters for each, where some reporters are not reporters at all, but just providing entertainment in a news format. It might be good for me to remember that in the future when tv news pisses me off over the limit.

Just like having all of these thoughts racing through my brain this morning, I am having recent problems with motivation. I mean my days are always open, with little scheduled. Plus I always have the option to be flexible, so it would seem motivation would never be a problem for me.

Just like habits are hard to break, so is my lifelong issue of procrastination. I always put things off until the last minute or until I have no choice but to do it or I'm in trouble. Again ... those are just part of life and I am not the only person in the world that struggles with either of them.

If you are older, do you remember January 1977 when the government announced that we as a country had a fuel shortage and everyone needed to turn their thermostats down to 55°, no matter what the weather was outside? Luckily I only had a few conversations in the living room while wearing my winter coats and gloves back then ... I was moving to the beach in Carlsbad California that month.

Well this year I decided instead of saving as much energy as possible, leaving a smaller footprint in the atmosphere by turning off my heat at different times of day or night ... that I would set my room thermostats to 65° and leave them there, 24/7. In my old house, each room has its own thermostat for the baseboard electric heat system. No furnace here.

My spreadsheet shows I just passed 2018 total kilowatts used for the year and I have two months left on my billing cycle. I use the budget plan where I pay the same amount every month and at the end of April the electric company and I balance the bill. They either give me a refund for overpayments for the year or I pay them what is needed to zero out the account.

Since I am in the mode to question everything I asked myself yesterday was it worth it? Is it worth paying a couple of hundred dollars more at the end of the year to stay warm 24/7? My brain and body screamed "YES" ... my conservative, accounting background, cheapskate said "NO". Just another decision I need to make. Nothing important ... it's just life and something that all people decide as a normal activity.

Before I bought the Canon G9 X Mark II in January I spent months doing research on all different kinds of cameras. Like I mentioned before, everyone has their own ideas which is best. Whether it's an individual opinion, a blog review with affiliate links, or a real camera dealer website that is giving their review ... every list "best of" or recommendation was different.

So in my Flipboard account this morning I receive a new article "The 5 Best Digital Cameras" ... my Cannon was not listed of course, like other lists showed last fall. No, this list made in January had 3 of 5 cameras listed, cameras that I either have or thought about buying. Go figure.

You can tell that Stella was positive she was on a deer scent and knew for sure they had been in our area just minutes before us. She did turn my direction though when I told her "let's go home" then passed me on a trot heading home.

I analyze things too much. I always have as far back as I can remember. I had to get to the bottom of everything and find the perfect answer or the best way of doing things. That drives me crazy just like it does or would do to you. I'm sure. How do I change that after being that way most of my life? Another lesson from Stella is to take things as they come.

She can tell it's getting warmer. For the 2nd day in a row she was running fast.

Maybe I'll feel better and not so confused after the time change this weekend. Not really confused but just having a lot of questions where I want some definite answers. Maybe if I know that Spring is right around the corner with that time change, my brain cells will throttle back, line up in the correct formation and I can get back to a more relaxed life. Really, I am relaxed ... it's just my brain that is overactive.

Stella cannot collect accurate data unless she has her nose below the snow. Otherwise she would just be guessing who or what had been there, what day or how long ago. She wasn't into eating frozen dirt today ... strictly data collection.

Another morning walk in the books. Temps aren't bad and it will be close to 55° tomorrow afternoon. She's content.

As you can see, Heidi moved just a little from the time we started our walk (top photo) and when we got back. She is the most sane living creature around here.

By noon the snow was gone and it was above 40° ... heat wave !!!

I've lost my train of thought after all of this verbiage I typed this morning. No worries, I'll get it all figured out, hopefully sooner than later. I have a lot of reading to do today because I want to stabilize my eating habits once and for all. I have a gut feeling that "Flexitarian" is the way to go. It matches my mental makeup, giving me options with many choices to choose from. Yet, Vegetarian is probably the healthiest, unless I believe that medical panel on US News & World Report.  :)

Strict and regimented things or schedules have never worked well with me.

Good times here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana this morning.