A "Normal" Saturday

For the first time since late August, my Saturday was what most people would call "normal". Meaning, I am not sitting in front of the tv for 14 straight hours watching college football because the season is over except for their Bowl games that star on the 17th.

So with all that free time, we did quite a bit today and am just getting ready to tune into come college basketball. The hounds had two walks finished by 1:30pm today and two hours later Sadie was bugging me to go again. She and Stella must have been hit with a bout of 'cabin fever'.

It was the same weather as yesterday, one of those that is 24° but feels like 19° and very little wind. Yet I found out something interesting dealing with heating my house. Last night I decided I did not want to wake to a cold house. I turned on the heat in all the room and went to sleep.

As soon as I walked through the kitchen to let the hounds outside for their first walk of the day, I could feel the house was way too hot for me. It was 69° in the computer room, 65° in the living room, 65° in the bedroom and hotter than any of them in the kitchen.

That is not what is the interesting part ... what's interesting my house has stayed warm all day ranging between 60° - 64° with all of the heat turned off since 8am. We might be on to a new system of heating the house and still saving money.

I mentioned the other day I had the urge to trade the FJ but I didn't say what I had the urge to trade it for. Here is a clue. As much as I love my Z4 and the FJ, I am wanting to get down to just one car with a sports car feel and has options to go off road and can make it up my driveway in the snow and ice.

I tried to throw those urges to trade away, tried ignoring them but I cannot stop looking at cars.com, truecar or cargurus to see what I can find and where I can find it. So since I had a lot of free time on my hands this morning and the hounds had already had one walk in by 10am ... I found a 2012 Mini Cooper S Countryman All-Wheel drive, with a 6-speed manual on a local car lot only 12 miles away.

It looked good online but I have found in the past 10-12 years of buying cars online, they rarely look as good as their pictures. So all I really wanted to do was get a test drive and see if it felt different from the prior Mini Cooper S I have had which were smaller and lighter than the Countryman and at times felt like driving a go kart. I found out the 400 additional pounds of the Countryman made it drive much better and still had the sports car feel even with higher ground clearance.

I've been doing research on this model on Google Images to see it in action off-road and in deep snow. I've been to the Mini Cooper forums to see what kind if any owners are having with repairs or what their complaints are. I read different owner reviews and see what they say 4 years later.

So far everything I have read and checked out has passed the test, except the car I test drove this morning. With a reputable local car dealer I was very disappointed with the car not being detailed inside and in the engine compartment. At least I guess I got to see the car under normal wear and tear.

To interrupt ... it tried to snow but it will not show up until later this week.

Besides the scratches on the hood, some damage inside on the console and tires that needed replaced, the car ran great. I even took it down a country road and then made a right turn the first time I saw a path into a field. So I got some sports car driving on the highway along with some off road through a hay field.

Bottom line, I liked the way it drove in both situations but I didn't like the condition of the car. They also gave me a trade in value for my FJ in the range I wanted.

Then as I drove home, I had doubts that I wanted to trade at all. I like the FJ I have, it's great and clean. I know that all the maintenance required was done by the Toyota dealer before they put it on the lot to sell. It's in great shape.

But I couldn't resist when I got home. I want to cars.com and did a search for a 6-speed manual, plus All4 wheel drive ... surprised to find out last night that all Countryman are not All4 wheel drive, that is an option to be chosen. I also extended my search area to a 500 mile radius from where I was.

I have found one in great shape, a very good CarFax record, a great price but a 4 hour drive from me. I've called and sent them pictures of my FJ so they have some idea what I would be trading and they can give me a trade in value before I decide to move on with a deal or not. Nothing is firm right now.

I might still wake up in the morning and decide I am a lunatic and will not trade my FJ, nor sell my Z4 in the spring. That's just the way I am. I've wondered what the hell is wrong with me when it comes to trading cars so often ... it's not the thrill of a new or different car ... it's the thrill of searching, finding and making the deal that must be my problem. Almost like an addiction.

This is the only one that I am considering. Still I like the FJ also. I can't say for sure that I have the urge in the future with no hounds to tow any size of trailer. I rarely look at RVs anymore. I have no longer thought about converting a cargo trailer either. Whenever I picture myself traveling in the future, it is tent camping with no hounds.

Since this car lot closed today at 4pm, I'll be talking to them on Monday to see if a deal can be made on this 2012 Mini Cooper Countryman.

In the meantime Stella got two really good runs today in the different walks. She is still ever happy when I call her and she doesn't get her way of staying outside all day by herself.

Stella did well today as far as going home when we did. They still had some last minute things to check out before ending their walk.

She is coming but at her pace.  LOL

The mystery about the ice sculpture I talked about yesterday showed it's source today ... it's condensation dripping off the upper ledge.

What was interesting is the next one, where you cannot see any part of the cobweb touching that ice drip, it's like hanging in mid air.

A little after lunch Stella was ready for her 2nd walk of the day ... we were off.

Yes, the bloodhounds would fit in the back of the Mini Cooper Countryman with room to spare. I found that out when I had my smaller Mini Cooper last spring, when Stella unexpectedly jumped in the back of it while I was unloading groceries.

There would be no plans for trips to Utah or Colorado WITH the hounds like we did in 2015. But I would take the Countryman out west in the future with no hounds.

They love this area for deer. Lots of worn paths, huge round areas of mashed down weeds ... still Stella was very cooperative today and came with Sadie and I when we left the area.

Still she will only go at her pace ... LOL

Sadie doesn't care ... she is heading home ... it's freezing cold.

Am I crazy about cars???  LOL

Nice and cold here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A Chess Match Between The Hounds

It was a little past 1am last night when Sadie and Stella woke up from sleeping in the living room while I was on the computer. That means it's time for their last trip outside before they sleep for the night.

Snow flurries were coming down lightly. There was nothing in the forecast showing we would have any snow this morning and that proved to be true.


We started a first walk of the day after lunch. I was actually warmer today at 24° because those 20mph winds out of the west yesterday were not around. In fact I couldn't feel any wind today on our walk. There were still those light snow flurries coming down during the walk but not heavy enough to be seen by the camera.

I thought Stella was going to lead the pack today for the first walk but she turned right around and headed back to the corner of the field next to the burn pile and yard. It must have been good for her because Sadie and I were about to make the first turn in the walk before Stella started to move in our direction.

This shows just how much of an incline the field has toward the corner of my property.  Stella cannot be seen but she is there somewhere.

About the time I was about to make my turn and head to the back of the field, Stella popped up in my view finder on the camera. I can see this is almost her daily routine and one that I am getting tired of. I don't mind them going at their own pace but I know for her safety I have to walk up to her by the end of the walk to get her to move in our direction. That is usually out of the way from the direction we are moving. If I leave her and go back inside the house when the walk is finish, she usually ends up by the neighbors, which is not a good situation. Great neighbors but too close to the highway.

Sadie on the other hand was trained by Winston as a puppy on how to do the walk. Lagging behind is okay but always run to catch up on your own. She does that two or three different times during our walk.

Once Stella came sprinting around the corner to catch Sadie, she never stopped and both of them headed to the far right corner. I followed them because I knew it was the only way I was going to get stubborn Stella to keep moving in our direction.

The camera does not pick up their speed ... but they are on a full out sprint.

Evidently a lot of fresh deer scat today.

Stella gradually moved on her own toward the back of the field, which surprised me.

Once one of them found something the other had to join, not to miss anything.

By the time I made the final turn home, they both ran by me and sprinted ahead. I honestly think they have figured out if they do that, they can enjoy what they find before I get there and tell them to "come on".

Yet, there is never a direct path with them because their noses pick up to many signals.

My ice sculpture is interesting. You see the height of the structure well that was flat yesterday and barely above the wood window ledge. What is interesting, there is no signs of water dripping from above, no signs or condensation running down the glass onto the ledge toward that stack of ice ... any ideas on the source of water?

With the discussion of a few bloggers about the sharpness of the photos posted on their blogs, Ed commented this morning on the post that I did yesterday, that he found there was a size difference in the same picture I posted here on Blogger and my Wordpress blog. As many of you know, the larger the size, the more pixels it has and that results in a sharper clearer picture.

In my Wordpress blog, they give me a choice from three different sizes for my 'default' size, Blogger does not. I believe I can go into my Blogger template and instead of 'customizing' my template I can click the button "edit html' and change the size of the default pictures in their html code.

To see if there was a difference that was noticeable, today I exported my photos from my Apple photos program on my computer using the picture quality 'maximum' setting. That doubled the size of the file from ~500kb to over a 1mb for each picture. I think it's safe to assume that since it took forever to upload the pictures from my computer to the blog while writing this post, it will take you longer to load the pictures after you open my blog.

IT WILL NOT REMAIN THAT WAY IN FUTURE POSTS.

I'll change the setting back to 'large' after this post and that will reduce the size back to ~500kb and thus will let the page load faster when you open the blog. But right now I want to keep these pictures as they are to see if you notice any kind of picture quality difference.

I have always been a fan of Jason Bourne movies. Actually I became a fan after the first book I read by Robert Ludlam titled The Bourne Identity back in the 80's. So when I received an email yesterday that the latest Jason Bourne movie was showing on Directv I decided 'movie night' would be one day earlier.

As usual it had all the action you needed, drama, mystery etc ... but I can't say that it was the best of all of them, even with Matt Damon returning to play the character Jason Bourne. They did end it like all their other movies where the story can continue ... but I wonder if this story has ran it's course like most series do. The same thing happened with three of my other all-time favorite shows: Dexter, Breaking Bad and Homeland, they run out of things to write about or their best writers move to start a new show.

What makes someone always wanting to trade cars?

Is it a poor diet, poor DNA, possible mental problems, lack of activity, ... what? I am serious about the question but those possible reasons are listed in a jokingly manner. The reason I ask, every since I traded my Voodoo Blue FJ, I continue to look at different cars, some not even an SUV to trade for. I HAVE NO REASON TO TRADE EITHER CAR I HAVE ... plus it's expensive and a waste of money trading card frequently.

I went over two years having zero urges to trade cars. I had the two cars I was happy with but every since I made the trade in late October, I cannot stop to look at other cars that are for sale. It's just not look but a strong urge to make a trade. It's strong enough that I have come close a couple of times of calling the dealership or sending an email to inquire about the car.

The highlight of the day so far is the "silent chess match" between Sadie and Stella over water. It started right after we came inside after our walk earlier this afternoon. Stella sat next to my desk chair while Sadie laid stretched out on the floor next to the water bowl. Sadie thinks it is her water and will protect it most of the time. Stella sat next to me and looked down at her ... motionless. Then she decided to step on Sadie's stomach.

Sadie didn't move.

Stella then started to walk on her until Sadie got up fast enough to prevent being walked on and jumped up to the side of the doorway but turned to watch the water bowl, as Stella stopped. For almost 30 minutes straight ... they both looked at each other without a sound, without a move. Then Stella would lower her head and stare at the water bowl which by now is right in front of her and available to drink out of. Nothing blocking her if she tried to drink.

It took another 30 minutes before Stella walked out to Sadie who was sitting in the hallway, turn round and walk all the way over to my desk chair and then move into the water bowl from behind it, the furthest side from Sadie. Sadie then did not care that Stella was drinking 'her' water.

It's a pretty quiet and cold day again in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Heidi Makes An Appearance

She does not get photographed a lot because she is not out a lot not that it is freezing. When she heard I was watching Jason Bourne movie tonight she thought she'd come out to watch it.

She slept through the movie but really this is her normal activity.

She will be up in time for lunch today with no problem.

Another cold morning here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.