I Confuse Myself Sometimes

Right before sundown he showed up to disc his field last night. It's a small field and with something that wide it wouldn't take him too long. Luckily the wind was blowing away from the house and all that dust was headed west and not toward the house. I had my windows open and had completed my weekly house cleaning earlier in the day.

While on the hound walk this morning I saw he still has about half of his field to do. That is the section that goes to the right of my house and behind the two neighbors across the highway. I just caught the tail end of the local tv news the other night where they were discussing income per acre. Don't take this as accurate, but the part of the show I caught was talking $15 per acre after they harvest their crops.

Sadie had not made it out to this part of the yard yet. So the robin was safe, while the hounds were over by the burn pile. I moved my mower up one level so I am letting this part of the backyard grow a little before I mow it again. The mole hills and tracks are disappearing naturally with the rains and the grass is overtaking the weeds as it gets greener. I did not apply any Scott's turf builder nor grub worm killer.

 I have a feeling the big blonde cat was checking out the yard last night while we slept. Sadie and Stella slowly walked investigating every inch along the back side of the house. They spent a lot of time around the air conditioner, then slowly migrated up the small hill to the far north of the yard where the robin was.

They have decided that is their new place, barely out in the field for their bathroom runs. They may head back in the direction of the house but not before they stand looking in the direction of the neighbor's house. Their nose scans the area before they turn to walk toward me.

By 9:45am this morning I had all of my walls and doors hand washed and wiped down with a towel. Before I did any cleaning, I vacuumed all of the walls and ceiling. I guess I could buy some new attachments for my old Swifter, or just buy a new one. The last time I used a Swifter to clean the walls, it was hard to put into words what you don't see on your walls and the Swifter picked up.

So with a break needed and a call from my HughesNet installer telling me it would be after lunch before his arrival, the hounds and I took off for a walk. Heidi was sound asleep on 'her' Marmot sleeping back in front of an open window enjoying the breeze.

You may have noticed I typed HughesNet and not Exede when I mentioned the installer calling. There is a reason for that and luckily since I was not really paying attention, it will not cost me anything in fees for changing service providers unintentionally.

The other day I mentioned on a post here the local business that installed my Exede system in June 2014, texted me as an Exede Customer telling me about the new plan available in my area as of April 1. For some reason I thought it was a new Exede plan. I also thought I was on an automatic two year contract renewal after my expiration date.

I found out last night just how confused I was on this transaction. It wasn't a 'senior moment' but more of not paying attention to what was said. Or maybe it wasn't, because when I looked back through those texts from the local business at no time was HughesNet mentioned.

What I found strange was the day I set up an "update" day (today), they billed the debit card I gave them. What was confusing was the description for that transaction said HughesNet and not Exede. The next confusing thing I noticed was that on the Exede website the plan they were offering me locally was nowhere on the Exede website.

Just a short break from the topic ... Sadie got in some really good running this morning. 100% effort and without being called.

When I saw the different name I really didn't think to much about it since I was happy with the savings in my new monthly bill, faster speeds and more data per month. I thought I'd call the local business to verify if something had been entered wrong before my service appointment.

Last night the owner texted me since it was after office hours to let me in on the change in service. I did some quick internet review searching on the Gen5 system and found no problems with it. The new satellite was just launched March 16, 2017. I watched the video on the HughesNet website, from building it to launching it ... pretty amazing stuff.

As far as reviews found on the internet ... I will read them but don't put a lot of stock in them. I'll analyze what is being said by active or past customers and then decide ... but if the review is from CNET, then that something I strongly consider before making a decision.

I was going to call Exede again and make sure I was not breaking a contract. I will say that if there was going to be a fee charged to me for breaking a contract I would have had second thoughts about the change. I have had nothing but great service with Exede and unless I start streaming movies through my Directv, the faster download speed may not be that much of a factor since I have great fast speed now for internet surfing.

I found out after my first two years had passed I was not on a two year renewal but on a month to month basis. No one from Exede ever told me that whenever I talked to Customer Service.

Besides the difference in speed and data limits, I'll not get a free data period between midnight and 5am but will get an extra free 50Gb of data for the month, to use between the hours of 2am-8am. Still a good period of the day to do my large OS updates, download movies or ballgames. Those OS updates do not take place too often.

I'll write more about the new system later after it's installed and give kind of a system review for those of you are interested. What I found interesting was that the Gen5 system automatically compresses and optimized web content with built-in SmartTechonlogies to make web pages load faster while using less data.

I will be able to monitor that activity with my Activity Monitor that I always have open on my other monitor incase something downloads that I am not expecting.

It also includes a video data saver so you can watch more videos using less data. It will adjust data rates for streaming video to deliver DVD quality.

Under my current system I basically cut out my YouTube videos because of the amount of data I was using. With only 15Gb per month I had to really control the amount of video I watched and made sure that all of the 'autoplay' settings were turned off, along with using Flash Control and Ghostery apps.

I'll keep posting updates to the system change and let you know if I made a good decision. The owner of the local satellite business told me that he is getting great feedback from past Exede customers that changed to this new HughesNet system last week.

What else was confusing???  My old old old washer I blogged about a few weeks ago didn't work. At that time the belt had decided not to work, thus the wash machine did not spin to get all of the water out of the clothes.

I was about to say heck with repairing a 38 year old washer and just buy a new washer and dryer. I still might because it is past due I guess for replacement, but they still work okay and with me being retired I found that I do laundry less frequently.

So last night I did a small test to see if the machine was going to spin or not ... it did !!!!  I loaded the wash machine to capacity, including three pairs of jeans and two sweatshirts. Both would be very heavy when loaded with water. I would find out if the weight of the wet load would be a factor for the spin cycle not working.

The rinse and spin cycles for two loads worked perfect. I had done nothing to fix the problem of a few weeks ago. So the wash machine may be on it's last legs but I will continue to use it until it stops working.

Well I have to get the hounds fed lunch, and then barricade them in the living room, blocked by a baby gate when the installer shows up in about an hour. All three of them would be more than willing to help him do his job or at least supervise him if they were not blocked off.

It's perfect weather today here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Sadie Starts Early This Morning

I guess with the windows open all night, Sadie decided that Spring had arrived and everyone's schedule would be moved up an hour. She was outside an on the prowl by 7:30am. With the weather warm I don't mind starting the day that early ... when it's dark and freezing, then there isn't a chance of getting up that early.

I decided today it's a new week, I'll let Stella do whatever she wants today. I expected that I'd be swinging by the vicinity of the neighbor's on the way back to herd her back to the house.

Sadie decided she could not wait any longer for Stella and had things to do, so we were off on the morning walk. The temperature of 65° was fantastic, t-shirt weather and the air was full of birds chirping away.

I still have the lens hood on and none of these pictures were edited. I imagine that will be the normal setup from now on.

Sadie and I had just made the turn home when I picked Stella up in my 200mm zoom setting. She looked further away in that part of the field and looked like she was heading to the neighbor's drainage ditch.

I took off sprinting ... or at least as fast as my out of shape legs would take me.

I was happy to see that she had found something to keep her in one spot. It's going to be great weather today but I have no intentions of having to give Stella a wash off of unknown drainage ditch stuff. I kept trotting in her direction just in case she took off.

Finally it was time to tell Sadie to "go get Stella" ... she sniffed the air, found her location and took off sprinting toward Stella. Her ears were up and flying all the way.

Whatever it was, it must have been good because Stella never raised her head as Sadie made a 'touch and go' with her face. As I got closer to her, she walked toward me and we headed back to the path heading home.

With the chance of rain this afternoon and tomorrow, I decided to fill the mower up and mow the lawn. The grass was dry, so right after the walk was completed I started mowing. Heidi decided she would roam the yard while I mowed. Sadie and Stella stayed near in the field, without wandering off.

Since Sadie started our day an hour early, I was able to fit in a nice drive in the Z4 with the top down before they had lunch. With the winds being pretty extreme there were a few times I had to make sure my ball cap was going to stay on my head.

By the time I returned home, all the hounds were letting me know I was late serving them lunch ... it was not even noon yet. Stella decided to get in a little post lunch workout. I was able to catch it in the following pictures.

While they napped inside, I did all of my housework that I had been putting off last week. I can't explain how nice it is to have all the windows open. Even with overcast skies and high winds whipping through the house, it's still nice.

I was pretty sure the hounds might like a second walk a little early today. I still had some things I wanted to get down this afternoon, so off we went. It started out well but it wasn't long where I could see for some reason they were not really enthused about a walk.

This might be Stella's new routine, since she seems to come up with one every few weeks. For the second day in a row and not even at the first turn she suddenly stopped walking and sat down. She wasn't interested in going either direction but then I remembered, she loves sitting in the yard facing the wind when they are strong.

She started walking our direction after I called her name for the 100th time. After taking about two steps she stopped to look over at the woods where the large cat was seen a couple of weeks ago. She would love to just hang out there all the time, except when it's time to eat.

Sadie had been walking next to me almost the whole way. To get this picture I had to go to 18mm and then step back just to fit her in the view finder since she was that close to me.

While Sadie walked on my left side, Stella slowly followed behind me and I also was barely able to fit her in the view finder for a picture.

What I call the halfway point, or the to last turn toward home in back of the field ... both of them stopped and didn't want to move. It wasn't hot where they needed a break, I think it was just lack of interest.

It took some coaxing but both of them made it back home, walked inside and fell asleep within minutes. I guess they needed a mid afternoon siesta worse then they needed a walk.

I am starting to get a little excited about my internet upgrade, scheduled for tomorrow between 10am-noon. I'll be interested to see what a download speed of 40Mbps looks like and if I really do get those kind of speeds. I'll be sure to check it on Speedtest.net. I remember 3 years ago, the installer checked that site to check the speed right after he installed the system.

It's been a busy day but at the same time slow paced. I've knocked off a couple of things from the 'to do' list. Instead of using weed killer on the driveway, I used the weedeater to cut them as low as possible. In some cases I took cut them down to nothing. It does not look perfect but they will dry out as it gets hotter ... the good thing is the hounds will not be exposing their paws, noses or tongue to chemical residue.

It pays to get up an hour earlier in the spring, here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Lens Hood Makes A Difference

My picture experiment today was using the lens hood that came with the Tamron 18mm-200mm lens. I saw a difference just after a couple of photos, that would be the same type taken every day at the same time of morning.


After the hounds have their breakfast, Sadie, Stella and I go outside for them to dump their tanks and while my coffee is being made. I only take 3-5 pictures during this time. The small picture I use to post here of the field across the highway, then a shot in back as I stand at the corner of the house and some of the hounds if there is something to take.

All of these pictures posted were not edited in any way and all were shot using the lens hood. I think that with this specific lens, the hood is needed at all times because the colors were being flushed out from the additional light.

Granted we are moving from winter to spring. Things are getting greener by the day if not by the hour. Pictures taken in the winter months in the Midwest are dull and drab in color.  Yet during those months the color of the hounds did not stand out unless I enhanced their color when I edited the pictures.

Stella decided it was going to be one of those days where walking was not her main priority, nor was tracking deer scent. After she moved from the spot above, this is what I found in the picture below. There was nothing there but the wet leaves from where she had been licking.

Sadie was on her own schedule and was always pretty far ahead of us, even after she would backtrack and wait on Stella and I.

I believe whoever or whatever was chewing the tree limb decided enough is enough and moved on to some other delicacy.

I was trying to decide while I waited on Stella if I should just walk on with Sadie and let her do whatever she wanted but I did not want to go get her near the end of the walk. Most likely she would have ended up by the neighbor's wooded area.

While Sadie was showing more energy than normal ...

Stella was walking and moving in an extra slow gear. I could almost hear her dragging her paws on the ground as she slowly walked along the edge of the field.

By the time I took this next picture, Sadie had already been up to the far right corner to check out the 'deer highway', then circled back to get Stella and I. That did not matter to Stella, she was on her own pace today and wasn't going to change.

Neither hound had any urges to take off out of bounds and as I turned the corner to head home they spent the majority of time walking right next to me with Stella right behind me, out of camera range. I had to stop and wait for them to get this far in front of me.

I believe you can tell just how slow she is walking. Each step is slow and once again she was falling behind Sadie. Based on the starter growth of the field and lack of weeds growing, it looks like their first cut of hay will be one of their best quality in June.

With temperatures headed to the 70's we were going to make a couple of more walks, fix the three screens that Stella destroyed last summer and do as much outside as possible.

I was off to a good start, with the 2nd hound walk complete right after their lunch, I went to work on repairing the small screen windows with new screen on two bedroom windows and one spare.

This is the new grass I planted a few weeks ago, really about a month ago. It survived freezing temps a few days after I planted seed the first time. I spread some more seed, then the heavy rains came. So I spread the last seed I had in the bag I bought in early March. It is filling in the bank quite well and looks to be right on schedule. It will look good next spring in 2018.

All the photos taken this afternoon were with the lens hood on, no editing.

I found out last summer the hard way that Stella was the escape artist they claimed she was. I made the mistake thinking there was no way she could crawl through a window that was only 16" tall and 39" off the floor.

She did.

By the time I returned from my Z4 drive with the top down, she was sitting next to the FJ, panting, ready for me to let her back inside for some water and a nap.

Before

After

If I don't have any more memory lapses when I get ready to leave the house, and make sure the windows are closed, then these new screens should last another 15 years like the others did. I guess there is one advantage of repairing them ... they will not have be cleaned with the high pressure washer in a few weeks.

I was at a good pace, getting things finished, and checking a few things off of my long 'to do' list, until I stopped at 2pm to eat some lunch. During the time eating a salad, a small carton of Chinese food, I remembered the final round of The Masters was on tv today. I usually watch the last 4-5 holes.

Around that was the Long Beach Grand Prix Indy Car race, 85 laps on a different tv channel. With some slight stiffness in my lower back from doing something as simple as repairing the screen windows I thought it might be the perfect time to cancel the rest of the list for the day and my rules in retirement. That rule is not to do more than one 'major' thing per day. LOL No schedules and no rush.

In the meantime we headed out for our 3rd hound walk of the day but cut it off short. Neither hound seemed too enthused and it ended halfway to to the first corner when Stella sat down looked at me and didn't move. So all three of us turned around and headed home. They both were sound to sleep within minutes after walking inside.

After looking at these pictures I am going to make one adjustment in the camera settings and set the light setting to -1. That will brighten them up just a little and other than that I think I have found part of the problem and it was the light that washed out the colors while using the lens without the hood. I never used the lens hood with the Nikon lens but need to with the Tamron lens.

You can take a look if you want at my photos on Flickr. This link will show about 1,000 photos I've made available for public viewing. I have all my photos in Flickr as a backup. The reason I bring this up, I think you will see a real difference in the picture quality when they are not compressed by Blogger. Also my Wordpress blog does not compress the images I load and they are the same pictures I use in this blog. I think you will see a difference.

Thanks for the emails and comments about my picture blog post Saturday night. It's always good to get opinions from blog readers. Check out these photos from today and let me know what you think. Maybe I have solved the picture quality problem by using the lens hood.

The 'to do' list is about to commence here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.