The Greek God Yogurt

Some people may think "yogurt is yogurt" ... but in the 45 years I've been eating yogurt I've never thought that. Like all dairy products over the years the costs have climbed exponentially, even from last week ... yet when it comes to addictions, costs rarely matter. I had noticed this brand on the shelves many month's ago ... the price was much higher than I was going to pay for any kind of yogurt, so I would resist trying it.

I didn't have my current addiction at that time. So today after seeing a 40 cent increase over last week's price, I paid $4.98 for this container of yogurt you see between Sadie's paws. No, she doesn't get spoonfuls or even a spoonful but she does get to lick out what's left inside the container. She also likes to put her teeth marks on the container to let everyone know she's finished. There usually isn't much left but she will sit next to me drooling while she waits for me to finish the container. Maybe she is now addicted?

Ed Frey was mentioning this yogurt so many times on his blog that one day my curiosity got the best of me, so I sprang for the expensive yogurt and could not stop eating it. Months later I will not even consider any other kind of yogurt. I did a test with the yogurt I was eating before this, both are high in sugar content ... but my last yogurt does not taste nearly as good as it use to.

I am not even sure it's the taste that has hooked me. It does taste fantastic but it's also the texture that is nice. I am not sure I will take the next cost hike though, I have my limits. I cannot ever see myself paying over $5 for a container of yogurt. Even though, I do pay almost as much for a smaller container of Ben & Jerry's ice cream on occasion. Of course the yogurt and ice cream are NOT on my diet.

The hounds got some exercise in sprinting and playing before the college football games started at noon on Saturday.

Winston and Heidi were not interested nor are they ever been interested in any kind of aerobic exercise. Heidi was missing during this time and I found her in a new spot she is trying out which is way outside the allowed limits. She refused to move when called ... all I need is another stubborn hound.

The hounds and I survived another long weekend of watching college football for 14 hours straight on Saturday and 2-3 different NFL games on Sunday. We did the daily walks at halftimes of the afternoon games. So while I watched the games, the hounds got their sleeping in and exercise. It got exciting though when Stella found out early Saturday evening that Winston had taken her spot on the couch, plus while she was up drinking water ... Sadie moved into the last spot on the couch and Heidi came out from the dark bedroom to take the chair that Sadie was sitting in.

Stella came back into the living room without a spot to sit except on the floor.

Stella stared for a short time processing what took place. She saw a space on the couch next to Winston not much bigger than her paw. Bloodhounds seem to think the the space 1"x1" can be expanded to fit them stretched out as long as they have a desire. Right after Stella put her paw in the 1"x1" space and had the look in her eyes that she was going to climb on the couch and sit on top of Winston ... I yelled 'no' and she migrated to her spot on the floor.

Hours later during the final game of the night, I made the mistake of leaving my spot on the couch for some water ... only to come back to the living room finding I no longer had a seat anywhere. Luckily the ottoman is large enough that I moved that over to where I could sit and see the game.

Stella, Winston, Sadie

There wasn't a lot of photos taken this week. Saturday was cool, windy with a little rain ... Sunday was just lazy and today was shopping day for dog food and yogurt.

I was wrong in my writeup last Thursday or Friday when I stated the farmer got 4 trailers full of corn ... those same 4 trailers made numerous return trips to fill up and the number I saw were 16 trailers full as of this morning. I didn't see all of them. Not knowing anything about farming or crop production, that seems like a lot of corn produced for such a small field.

The hounds didn't do much today ... Stella and Sadie played again which is now their daily ritual ... while Winston found one of his favorite spots to lay in the sun and watch the traffic on the highway. He later laid down for a full nap but woke up when he heard me with my camera.

It has now been a few days using Apple's new OS El Capitan that I installed last week. I can tell the differences, even those behind the scenes and I like some of the new features. I am not one to jump on all the new features ... I still like backing up to my computer instead of 'the cloud' ... I like plugging my iPhone into my computer to download photos instead if using wifi for that same thing. There will be many features I will never use but they are there if I ever decide to. I'll have to give this OS update an above average rating ... it works well.

The major league baseball playoffs start tomorrow with their wild card game. Those games will carry me through he week nights and some week days between football games. There has always been something about baseball in the fall ... makes it seem like fall is here.

With the recent bag of dog food that Sadie, Stella and Winston eat ... they are consuming 1.833 pounds per day. I can see that Sadie is losing the weight she needed to lose. Winston is maintaining his slim waistline and Stella showed up in very good shape, not to heavy or lean .. just right. Yet all three hounds would eat non stop if I put the food out.

Heidi still eats her own Earthborn Holistic Grain Free food. Her 28# bag is lasting her 50 days. Even though she is communing .56 pounds of dry dog food per day ... she has not gain any of her weight back. In fact this morning and yesterday I could swear that she has lost weight. Yet she is happy, wags her tail, sprints through the house once per day ... and her skin rashes seem to be continuing to improve.

As usual things are pretty slow here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana if you are looking to read about exciting events.

The Hounds Play & Some Reading

Friday was another day of 'not much happening' ... did a lot of reading, books and online. I checked out some new features of the new Apple OS and had to reset some email settings so my gmail accounts would work well with Apple Mail. After a full day of using Safari as a browser, I changed my default browser from Google Chrome to Safari ... I could tell a major difference after the update.

It was cool temps outside and high winds. That meant I had to add a sweatshirt while still wearing my summer combo of cargo shorts and t-shirts. I have closed most of the windows in the house since there was a chill in the air.

The basset hounds slept all day mixed in my old blanket. Winston likes to be completely covered up and Heidi only to her head. They have slept every minute today and tonight that was not spent eating or going outside. They did not even go outside when Sadie and Stella went.

The bloodhounds on the other hand started a little gentle playing inside ... by the time Stella was doing sprints around the living room I decided it was time to take the pair outside, high winds and all, to let them burn off some energy. We did the daily walk through a light drizzle but the field was loaded with deer scent and the hounds loved it.

It feels like fall is on the way but I noticed on the 10-day forecast that it will be high 70's and a day of 80° next week.

They are quite the pair ... just like I expected.

Stella has the bright red collar with black on her tail.

This is the last white flower in the 10 acre field

A weekend of football is the normal schedule starting tomorrow ... I wonder if I can get groceries delivered to my house here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana?

Apple's New OS El Capitan Installed

Today is kind of weird because I was up all night with the download and installation of Apple's new OS El Capitan. From everything I had read from the experts it would be a great upgrade, a lot of good fixes behind the scenes and highly recommended to install without waiting a few weeks for the updates.

It took a lot longer than I had expected based on my other OS updates in the past. To use my free data I waited until midnight to start the 6+GB download. Not only did that take a lot of time, over 3 hours, the installation was almost as long and so slow at times I thought it might have hung up on me. It finally finished after 6am when I thought everything would be done a little after 3am when I started.

In the past I've never had any problems updating an Apple OS on my iMac, nor did I have any issues after the new OS was installed. It was taking so long to download that I set my alarm for a couple of hours of sleep, then come back for any needed acceptance checks or enter keys. I couldn't sleep so I got back up and did some research about the installation on my laptop computer, plus played some games of Mahjong while I waited.

Bottom line ... the new OS was installed without any issues besides taking a lot of time. I can tell a difference in speed, also how fast different files or apps open and a few programs now run without the problems I had on the Yosemite OS. My iMac just turned 5 years old so that may have been the reason for a slower installation. After this blog post I am going to go through it and check out the new features of the new OS that have been written by different computer experts. I'll probably not use some of them but it's always nice to see what's "under the hood".

The "weirdness" didn't just start this morning after I woke up for the day ... yes I got a few hours of sleep after the installation was finished. I did a quick check of some of the basic functions before I turned off my computer this morning and then slept for a few hours. No, the "weirdness" started yesterday after I posted on my blog. The mind is an amazing animal at times. It can be so brilliant at times and yet so absent minded. This pertained to my ScanDisk card that goes inside my camera.

As I was getting ready to run outside last night to take a photo of this great sunset, the door on my camera to the camera card was open, which means the card is in my iMac to download the day's photos. The only problem was, it wasn't in my iMac. A lot of times after downloading and editing the photos, I will eject the card and sit it next to my keyboard as I continue to either blog or work on the computer. The card was NOT sitting by the keyboard. One of those "senior" moments I guess.

An Amazing Sunset Last Night

Those are the only three places the card could be, in the camera, in the iMac or beside the keyboard.

I turned on the lights in all the rooms in hopes of seeing it sitting somewhere I had forgotten it. It wasn't around anywhere. How could that be? It's a normal routine of moving the card from the camera to the computer and back to the camera. I had not made any trips to other parts of the house, but the card was gone!!

Then I remembered I had grabbed a candy wrapper (I fell off the diet wagon hard this month) next to my keyboard and threw it away. Could that camera card been mixed in with the candy wrapper?  After lifting that wrapper from the trash, the card was not with the wrapper. Still a little confused, I checked the desk again, then the area around my camera and even on the kitchen counter by the coffee machine just in case. After that I pulled out my bright camping flashlight to look in the trash ... there it was, off to the side, slightly down in right corner missing the coffee grounds from the morning. I had found it but it was nowhere near the candy wrapper.

I hate to think what my mind will be like when I am in my 80's.

This ugly bone was intact for a couple of years until Stella showed up, already a month ago. Sadie had chewed on it more than any other bone she had. I was surprised actually that she let Stella have it soon after she arrived. Stella will lay down and chew away while Sadie lays next to her watching. I've had to watch when one of those corner pieces are finally chewed off so I can throw it away instead of taking a chance she ingests it and cause intestinal problems, if not a vet visit.

Notice The 4 Corner Pieces

A Couple Of Weeks Ago

Just a few sample pieces showing how they are taking this bone apart.

Today

The hounds continue to be friends. There have never been any issues among the four of them. I really didn't expect any problems because of the personalities of the three hounds I already had. They like people and other dogs, cats, rabbits, deer, squirrels, etc.

So that is about all for today. I'm off to explore the new OS, then visit the MacRumors forum to check for any issues/fixes that other users are having. The hounds didn't do much outside today, it's cooler and windy .. with the temps below 70 that means Heidi is only outside long enough to dump her tanks. I've noticed that Stella may be a "fair weather" hound but of course Winston and Sadie can always find something gross to eat in the field.

Checking The Temperature and Wind Direction Before Heading Back Inside

Winston Does Not Care What The Weather Is ... Never Matters To Him

I Give Up Trying To Stop Him From Eating Stuff In The Field Or Yard

Stella Moves In Slow Motion Most Of The Time

While on the computer last night not quite dark, the window was open that faces the field and woods ... I heard what I thought was an animal grunting. It was loud enough to hear it easily from where I sat. As I turned to look out the window, at least 5 maybe more deer took off along the edge of the woods. They evidently heard me move from my chair to the window. Needless to say, this morning those two bloodhounds were all over that area and refusing to come back inside.

I'll have to watch out for deer while walking Sadie without a leash and during the times that I let the hounds outside. I don't think any of the hounds are young enough anymore to get away from me and that they would stop fairly soon after their short burst of speed in attempting to chase them. It will be something to keep an eye out for this time of year.

Also I don't think we are going to see a lot of color from the leaves this year. Most of the leaves are turning dark brown and dropping to the ground before they get to change their color. I am not sure about the reason for that, whether it is a lack of water or the temps were too high too long this past summer.

As you can tell it's another laidback slow day here in "the tropics" with not much going on.

Absolutely Nothing

Stella Wanting To Ride

I'll admit right off the bat ... I don't feel guilty ... when the majority of my days in retirement find me doing absolutely nothing. The only thing I accomplished today was cleaning my Bunn coffee maker. I read the websites I normally read in the morning, looked up some stuff I had questions about online ... then turned off the internet to play about 3 hours of Mahjong Deluxe.

That program has 4 different groups of games and each group has approximately 40 games. My goal from the time I bought it was to play and complete all of them under 4 minutes. I have only a few left where it took me a little over 4 minutes to complete the game. I justify it joking that it keeps my eye and hand coordination in shape.

Then in the afternoons the hounds hang out usually sleeping after they are fed around 1:30pm. It's so quite you could hear a pin drop inside my house ... with two bloodhounds and two basset hounds ... it's hard for a few friends to imagine that is even possible.

By late afternoon if it is not raining nor muddy from a recent rain ... we head off into the field for a daily dog walk. Today Stella walked the first half of the trip off leash. I only leashed her coming back because in the past she would go out the full 25' away from me on the retractable leash numerous times.

She has done very well spending time off the leash. In fact it's been weeks since I even tethered her. She will come when called and today stopped immediately when I yelled "no" as she and Sadie were sprinting in the backyard and were headed around the north side of the house. No doubt they would have made a lap around the house but backyard only is the rule. Except for Heidi and she has kinda claimed the front yard as hers.

Back to my day though. Compared to days last April when I was burning and clearing some land to plant grass and clearing the bank along the drive ... it would seem I would be pretty bored doing nothing. Even compared to the days in June to mid-July where I was taking care of most of my "to do" list, I was really busy. Still I am not bored and every day seems to move fast. I've never had a retirement day that crawled like they did at work sometimes.

In fact after retiring 17 months ago I've gone from being a workaholic to a slacker. I'm beginning to think I was born to be a slacker. I like that pace. On many days the most I get done is reading a book and there are a few days where the biggest activity is feeding the hounds.

No, I don't feel guilty about doing absolutely nothing on a daily basis.

As far as feeding the hounds ... no problems with the 4th hound. Each have their own bowl put in the same spot of the room every day and the bowls are set down in the same order ... a habit I guess.

Since Heidi eats at a normal speed, I have to stand in front of her while she eats to keep the other three hounds of getting her food. They don't hesitate if there is any chance to get to her bowl, even with me watching them. It must be good food for them to want to eat nonstop.

I will keep adding her new probiotics for the next year. Based on the recommended dose, that is how long it will last. I will say she continues to have her good and bad days. About the time her skin is looking really good and you think she has turned the corner ... I'll look at her later in the day and she will have a flare up of red skin with some bare raw spots.

She Hates Flies Bothering Her

Today Is A Bad Skin Day

It's during these times I remember my vet telling me last February that 97% of dog allergies are NOT food related. He also feels that all the different kinds of dog foods are nothing more than a marketing ploy to make the most profit possible for the dog food companies. He does not sell any kind of dog food in his office and is pretty honest in voicing his opinions on the different dog food.

Don't think he is recommending Ol' Roy for dog food but food that has no corn, soy or wheat. He thinks the only hounds that should be on a no grain food are those with food related allergies.

I logged it into her spreadsheet but when they were picking corn the other day I had all the windows open in the house to enjoy the temperatures that were in the low 70's. My cars and house were NOT coated with the residue that was in the air but you would have to think there were enough particles in the air based on how it looked as the combine mowed through the corn field.

I think airborne particles like that affect Heidi's current allergy problems. It's not the only cause but one of them. Much like pollen in the air.

I attempted to cut one of Sadie's toenails last night as she slept in the chair. I was quiet, I moved slowly and about the time she felt that clipper touch that toenail she went vertical from her horizontal sleeping position. I guess you can tell I only got one of her toenails cut ... it looks like it might take 9 more days/or nights to get all ten cut ... unless she starts sleeping with one eye open. I must admit by her looks, she is somewhat leery now of taking a nap.

If I just toss the nail clippers onto the floor for her to see them ... she takes off sprinting.

About the time I think fall is arriving early because the lows are now getting into the 40's and the highs the next week or so will be in the high 60's. ... I realize it's already October 1st tomorrow. That is so hard to believe for me because it just seems like I was in the middle of the summer and 90° days.

Stella loves running in the field.

It will be fun tonight after midnight. I'll probably need some coffee, but I plan on downloading and installing Apple's new Operating System "El Capitan" on my iMac and MacBook Air. I get free unlimited data between midnight and 5am so it's the best time to install new updates.

I will also install any updates on my apps for my iPhone and iPad Mini.

Well as you can see there isn't much going on here in "the tropics" ... just beautiful weather.