Stella Gets A Half Walk

As the afternoon progressed we had a 'heat wave'. I kept an eye outside while I played Mahjong at the kitchen table, watching the one field become flooded as time moved on. It looked beautiful outside with sunny clear skies and it was very tempting to go for a walk.

Right after the hounds lunch we did step outside but it was only a short time. It was 15° and damn cold. Neither hound wanted to get much further than the carport. We were all back inside fairly quickly. They slept, I fixed some baked wild salmon and steamed brussels sprouts for a late lunch or early dinner. I kept the tv on in the background but it was tuned to a sports talk on FoxSports 1, Colin Cowherd.

Stella and I took off a little after 4:13pm, not really knowing what to expect. I decided we would go until we got too cold or high freezing winds hitting us once we made the first turn. We didn't make to the first turn before jumping over on the return path and heading home.

We were gone a total of 7 minutes.  LOL

With what I think is increased scratching by Stella, I looked back at photos of her to see if I could tell when this irritating habit started. Besides the weather changes, starting from the summer moving to fall, there were only two things different as possible causes.

I started giving her a monthly supplement of the GlycoFlex for her hips and joints plus I decided I would continue their monthly heartworm chews year round, just not through spring and summer. Could it be the heartworm meds that she is allergic to?

When I was taking Heidi to four different vets trying to solve her skin issues a few years ago, the same vet that had been involved in a study of allergies in dogs, told me they found the beef in the heartworm medicines spiked an increase in allergies. While dog food alone was only a cause in 3% of dog allergies

I've gone many years not giving my hounds a year round heartworm chews. The past two summers the incidents of heartworm in dogs in this area has exponentially increased. It concerned me when I heard the total number of cases just in the office I changed to in September.  I decided I'd rather have them take a chance having allergies instead of coming down with heartworm.

Of course it could be something else that is causing all the scratching. I am going to change their dog food from a chicken protein to a lamb protein in their next bag of dog food. Fish? The last time a tried a salmon blend of dog food, Heidi's skin allergies went off the charts, so fish will not be an option.

Stopping again to scratch. Even when it's freezing outside.

She was still happy to get outside. While Heidi has spent all day on the couch in a spot where the sunshine targets that part of the couch. Like a magnifying glass, that spot is pretty warm. Basset hounds are not stupid when it comes to sleeping in the sunshine, inside or outside.

I decided to answer an email question I received today, here just in case other readers are wondering. Someone asked me today by email if this blog was going to turn into a political blog. They didn't care for it. They only wanted to see the photos and read about the hounds.

So to answer that reader's question and for those that might be wondering ... NO, it is not. In fact yesterday's post will be my last about politics or anything government. I will also no longer be reading the news or watching the news just like I did from October 28 to December 9th.

That should give me plenty of time to read, listen to music or watch taped tv shows. Plus I will have less chances to get mad, irritate and mumbling to myself. There is nothing I personally can do about anything politically so I am going back to being a non-participant, until it is time to vote.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today ... ballgame on tv tonight!

My Fun Day With FedEx

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What then????

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

DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED           DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED          DELAYED           DELAYED

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

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

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

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

It gets even better!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retirement Life Is Easy !!!

I can get use to this great weather very easily. Just like retirement, it's another great day not to jump in that line of traffic 'flying' by the driveway and join them for another day at work. That is probably one thing I have never gotten tired of as I approach my 5th year ... FREEDOM !!! It is so much different to wake and start your day not having to follow a schedule. I can do what I want like the hounds do. Heidi and Stella basically dictate most of my schedule.

Even though the weather was great this morning for Stella and I on the walk, Heidi needed some extra sleep time. She did get up like we all do, had her breakfast kibble and then went back to bed. She likes to scratch the sleeping bag and blankets into the perfect spot before circling three times and laying down. She slept late today because I was up too late last night (2:36am) changing and fine tuning the blog.

I also found out this morning that the actual time on the clock isn't what dictates what Stella wants, such as her walk ... it is based on when she wakes up, and has her breakfast. For example, this morning we didn't start the day until 7:52am, much later than normal. So with her walk set to take place eight minutes after she woke up .... instead she went in the dark bedroom to sleep on the floor right after her breakfast (normal routine) ... an hour later she woke up, drank water to let me know to prepare for our walk.

Starting with this photo here I clicked on the screen in back of the camera to take the photos instead of using my view finder. Three reasons for that. One, I wanted to find out if my hands were really shaking during these morning photos that seem just a tad blurry to me. I wanted to see how hard it might be, since I have rarely taking photos like that. I will discuss the 3rd reason Friday or Saturday. :)

I was surprised actually how well the photos turned out with me not using the view finder. I also found out my hands are not shaking when taking the photos BUT when I pushed the shutter I noticed a few times that I was pushing in a way that my camera would tilt just a little to the lower left. It made me also wonder if my head against the view finder was a factor in moving the camera ever so slightly.

I have also been wondering if Stella's supplement, the VetriScience GlycoFlex Plus, was working or not. She is into her second bag. This morning I found out that the supplement really was working. She was running fast enough that at times I couldn't raise my camera fast enough to catch her running. By the end of the walk as she stepped into the yard, she ran and jumped into me wanting to play like she use to do with Sadie. We wrestled for a short time but there was no way I could take a photo of her with any kind of camera.

Stella was in what I call her tracking mood this morning. She spent a lot of time on the move with her nose to the ground. I let her go on her own and followed her after we made that turn at the corner of the woods.

I soon found out that she was going to lead me diagonally across the field. I had a hard time keeping up with her and for a few seconds I thought she might take off on me and head to the woods to the north. She did that a few years ago and I eventually found her in the woods. Sadie would always find her before I would.

With the 200mm zoom I was able to find her in the tall grass.

You can barely make out the worn path ahead of her made by deer traffic.

As she lagged behind me on the return path home, as I turned to get my camera ready to hopefully take a photo of her running ... she was already passing me on a full-speed run.

It was up to her whether we take the path that ends up at the north property pole by the yard, or take a left and follow the old path used for 20 years back to the house. This morning she headed left ... the scent was just too strong for her to pass up.

Verbal herding was needed here. Then some louder tone to let her know I wasn't a happy camper when she ignored me. She lifted her head to stare at me as if I was crazy, then slowly walked home.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to use only my iPhone 8+ camera. It does well with low light, close-ups and the 2x zoom ... but nothing more than that. I thought I took more photos than these two but college football must have shaded my memory from yesterday. Neither of these photos were edited in any way, straight from the iPhone.

I will be fine tuning the look of the blog today. Barney was nice enough to give me some feedback about the font color, something I wasn't keen on either. I fixed that but there are a few other things I want to fix that will require me to read to find my answer or use the free WordPress chat where their techie will give me the correct answer within minutes.

My priority is finding a way that all of the thumbnail photos on the home page are all the same size. When I inspected the element of the home page it shows the correct size is 200x200. So I have to find a way that any photo I add as a feature photo will be that size. In writing that I just figured out what I need to do, to make that happen.

My brain is on fire today with correct answers ... maybe it's the new year eh?

I signed up for and get the notices from USPS telling me the mail they are delivering that day or within the next few days. It makes a world of difference because in past years I knew I was losing some mail because I was getting too much mail in my mailbox belonging to my neighbors.

Today USPS is reminding me that society thinks I am old. I see the four pieces of mail I am getting today are for hearing aids, life insurance, funeral insurance and joint supplements. All will be thrown into the recycling bin after I take my name and mailing address off.

Since synchronizing my Garmin Connect app with the food MyFitnessPal app ... the food app is now adjusting how many calories I am allowed to eat, plus or minus my 1500 that I manually entered ... if I am not getting the amount of exercise that it believes I should be getting, based on previous activity ... it subtracts a certain number of calories from the 1500 for that day.

Some are reading this and saying "I don't count calories" or "That is not needed" ... but in my case it is. When I don't track the food that I am eating and counting calories I GAIN WEIGHT FASTER THAN EVER !! Plus it's like playing with spreadsheets I guess, in a sick way.

I still have the big urge for pizza and ice cream ... will I "fall off the wagon today?"

I just remembered since the font is now 'bone white' ... I will need to figure out how to change the color of a 'link' so when I do add links into my post you will be able to see them BEFORE you hover your cursor over them.

Well we are a little behind in our normal routine today ... the hounds are still sleeping and not howling or barking for lunch. Based on what I have seen so far, they will not want lunch until around 12:30pm local time, about an hour or so after their normal request.

I TRIED WATCHING SOME TV NEWS THIS MORNING ... 'tried' is the keyword there. By the time it took me to walk from my computer in a different room to the tv remote in the living room I turned it off mumbling to myself "I'm not going to waste my time with that shit."  (noticed how I tucked that period inside the quotation mark)  LOL

Well busy day ahead today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.