Looks Like A Busy Saturday Is On The Way

After a long session of sleep Friday night, all of us were up at the crack of dawn this morning. I think the coffee might taste better when it's made before the sun comes up. That meant our first walk of the day was made a minute after 8am and with the field shaded most of the way, the heavy dew soaked through my hiking boots to my socks. I can tell it's going to be a busy day today.

That is one reason I posting early this morning. With the high temps predicted to be down to 82° and grass growing tall enough to mow by noon, I can see even more things checked off my list by the end of the day.

After getting Stella headed in the right direction, she looked a little gimpy this morning. I have always suspected her rear legs/hips were giving her problems, possibly from getting older. (8 yrs). Places she use to be able to jump up on were not possible yesterday. She would put her front paws on the edge but never attempted to jump or climb.

I think you can see from the fast growing field, just how saturated the grass was this morning. Stella had to lick the dew that was dripping from her nose. Her ears were also getting wet when her nose was to the ground.

As fast as they both turned the corner and trotted down the edge of the field I was sure that deer were either in the area or had been there just before our arrive. They turned to head to the rolls of hay instead of turning right into the far right corner where the deer like to hang out.

They continued their investigation on the back edge of the field as they moved around the rolls of hay and over to the edge of the grass, following what is likely the same path the deer take.

On the way back when Stella got into this pose I was positive she was smelling or hearing the field cat near the woods. Once she curled her tail with her nose high in the air I thought she might take off running in that direction. Luckily she turned and walked with Sadie and I when I said "over here".

Sadie and Stella angled across the middle of the field away from my path, to end their walk by the north side of the yard. Could this be the path for the field cats while the hounds sleep?

It has to be because they both spent enough time in this area of the yard that I was able to go inside the house, load the SD card into the computer, go back outside and called them to "come on".

I thought of letting the yard grow a little longer so it might repair some damage caused by yard moles and the hot July sunshine. I don't use a grass catcher and I don't like leaving small piles of grass left by the mower due to excess amounts of cut grass ... so most likely today will be mowing day.

I also plan to cut by the Japanese Yews by a 1/3 of their height. I just trimmed them at the end of May and they have grown so fast this summer they need to be trimmed again. With it being cooler today it will be a good time to get that done. When I have to trim them more than once per summer, I feel like getting rid of them.

If my motivation continues then I'll end the afternoon with some domestic tasks that I always put off till the end.

I'll discuss my experiences so far using the Circular Polarizing lens filter late ... but I'm find it hard to focus it to the 'sweet spot' and still catch the action shot of the hounds, even though they are slow movers most of the time.

The beautiful weather continues here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Lot Of New Info Today

The day has been jammed packed with all kinds of activity and it's not even 2pm when I am writing this. Just glancing at the picture above, one of our first of the day without my new circular polarizing filter I can see a major difference. I think you will too in some photographs below.
I know and the hounds know, it might only say it's 88° at noon but it feels like the hottest day of the year so far, consequently they are all sleeping in air conditioned rooms as I write this. We will walk again today but not until after 7pm. Wunderground tells me it might only be 88° but "it feels like" 102° ... I guess that is why all three hounds didn't stay outside long after their lunch.

It was already very hot at 9:15am when the white Ford F-150 pulled into the driveway with the electric company log on the door, driving to the top of the drive. That can never be a good sign on an extremely hot day ... especially since the power went off for about 15 minutes an hour earlier. What could this be?

They are installing a second system of power lines that will go across the creek where I take pictures of that old steel bridge, over to the next road. For them to set up the new wiring, my power was going to be turned off for almost two hours on a day as hot as today !!!!

Luckily when he passed that same news to the owner of the landscaping business it was soon canceled and moved to tomorrow at 6:30am, a time that I can handle no power because my body has no power being sound to sleep. So shortly after we all get up on Thursday, power should be restored just in time for the AC to kick on and prepare the house for another hot day.

When he came back to give me the new news, the hounds and I had just started to go on our walk. Both were pretty excited for any kind of visitors and a ton of new smells all over that Ford F-150 truck for them to check out. While they inspected that gave me and the utilityman time to discusses world events like satellite tv, internet service, insurance for home and cars, Ford trucks or Chevy trucks and how to flip services every two years to save maximum amounts of money. I was getting free advice and didn't even ask for it ... it was all good info as he also lives in a rural area even more isolated than my house.

We talked so long as he was being paid to work, that Sadie and Stella fell asleep on the warm concrete floor next to the Mini Cooper. When he left I had to wake them up to see if they were still interested in walking. They were and it's all the pictures you have seen so far.

I caught Stella RUNNING just a little today and then once she caught up to me she stopped to walk along side of me. She seems to be getting stronger by the day on these walks. That's great to see.

I know that by the time we finished the walk, Sadie Stella and I were more than happy to know the power would not be off for almost two hours. That change in temps inside the house was a lifesaver. It is really ... really ... hot today.

The photos above were all taken on this mornings walk. After lunch I checked my mailbox hoping to see the camera filter had arrived a little earlier than normal. It was the only thing in the mailbox ... so I didn't hesitate to try it out. I don't like captions under photographs so I'll describe each in my content.

This photo is the start of all being taken with the Hoya Cir-Pl filter on the camera. At first I could tell very little difference in the sky as I tried to adjust it for maximum effect. So I lined up the white mark on the filter dead center on my lens.

With the editor in Apple Photos on my computer where all photos are stored, I hit the "auto for sharpness" ... Apple Photos is like My Pictures on Window PC's.

While looking at all the pictures after I downloaded them this afternoon I couldn't tell much difference. Lighting is always good later in the day so I may not see the true improvement until I take pictures in the morning.

Even though it was hot I think Heidi would have sat here in the sunshine much longer than she did. Once she saw I was walking toward the door, she stood up and ran to go back inside ... it must have been hot to her.

This next picture is also with the filter on, and no adjustments by me rotating the filter to get the maximum picture.

You might think "ah ha ... he adjusted the filter" ... I didn't. All I did was add color using the edit section on Apple Photos on this next photo.

Same with this picture. It's too much color because the green field is off ... I am going to read more about using the filter after I post this.

I moved the white marker on the filter back to dead center and shot the rest of these pictures. Here I caught Sadie dead handed eating fresh brown power dirt that the moles had pushed up in the yard. I added a little sharpness in the editor program.

Now to confuse your brain cells and eye sight while discussing this circular polarizing filter ... this photo was taken days ago without any kind of filter, straight lens and at the same time of day, +/- a few minutes.

No adjustments of any kind were done to the picture of Heidi.

The pictures and lens filter, along with turning the power off is not all of the good news today. I found out something very very nice and you might think so too ... IF ... you hate all the automatic videos that play on news, sports and other websites. Sometimes when you pause the largest on, a smaller one restarts in another part of the page. Very very annoying.

On the three browsers I use, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox I have always installed extensions or apps to block pop up advertising and to stop auto play of videos. That is all me trying to not waste what little data I have to use every month, at high speed.

Those I use are AdBlock Plus, Ghostery and then going to each browser's preferences and turning off auto play. If all of that works properly I would have to click the video myself for it to play ... I would get to decide what to see not the website owners.

Lately those extensions and apps have not worked as good as they use to. Especially on news sites, ESPN or other sports websites. So this morning I had enough ... I was bothered enough to go to google search and type in "how to stop auto play video" ...

They not only gave me an extension to download from Google Chrome store but told me WHY those websites were able to get around my blocking apps and browser settings. They try 6-7 times each to get their videos to play.

But this little extension stops that ... IT WORKS!!!!

"Disable HTML5 AutoPlay"

It took less than a minute to download and install. It leaves it's icon on your taskbar and once you click that to "Disable Autoplay", you do not even have to restart your browser or your computer for it to start working ... it works as soon as you click the button. That extension is available in Safari and Firefox.

So far with my normal internet activity it has decreased a lot of my data use. I am in the middle of the afternoon with only ~200Mb of data used so far today after 6 hours of being online with breaks away from the computer during that time.

I'm going to go read more about this filter and see what I need to do for making my photos looking their best. I used a polarizing lens on my manual 35mm camera 30 years ago but that is too much water under the bridge for me to remember what the process was.

Also my Garmin VivoSmart3 is now starting to irritate me (nice way of saying it) by vibrating and telling me to "MOVE" ... right after I spend 30 minutes outside walking around, talking to the hounds and checking mail.

Yet ... another fantastic day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Slept Through The Afternoon

I can't tell you just how fast our afternoon went. The only thing different than yesterday, was that I stayed awake all afternoon ... but hounds didn't. Stella slept next to my chair, Sadie moved to the bedroom on her dog bed in the corner and Heidi went back to the floor next to the air condition register right after her lunch break.

I spent all afternoon looking at Toyota FJ's on cars.com When I didn't find anything I liked within a 250 mile range, I move moved it out to "all" ... nationwide. That would increase my chances of finding the one with all the TRD options I had before but less chance of buying one because I wouldn't travel that far to buy one. It listed 296 for sale but only 2 of them had TRD options.

At lunch, Sadie never got further than the 6 blocks before she turned around and walked toward the door. It wasn't even raining, no thunder, just a lack of interest.

I couldn't find Heidi in the front yard nor the backyard ... I walked all the way in front of the house to find her on the north side where the overcast skies made it even darker under the shade of the trees.

I spoke recently of 'ground surge' ... here is a fine example. 20 years ago this water meter was sitting at ground level with the top of the lid so exposed I would have to mow around it. So my whole front yard has slid toward the highway gradually.

I spent so much time on the computer today looking at cars I needed a break. My Garmin VivoSmart3 told me numerous times to "MOVE" but I kept ignoring that vibrating warning and the word covering my screen on my wrist. By 4:30pm I was ready for a walk myself and was pretty sure that Stella and Sadie would want to go with me.

While Sadie moved along the edge of the woods like always, Stella once again tried to sneak off toward the neighbor's wooded area. She will ignore my calls at first and then decide to join us.

These berries are looking good but they are not mine to pick. My neighbor who owns the field will take his wife with him on their ATV and pick them in a few weeks. I bet they make some great pies.

Sadie and I were so involved with our walk after making the first turn, we did not realize that AGAIN ... Stella tried to sneak over to that wooded area. Once she heard me yell her name she turned and walked toward us. I guess I should let her go so she will get it out of her system. She has disappeared into that woods only once when she saw the large blonde cat.

She trotted a little again this afternoon. The temperature is much cooler today, mid 70's but the humidity is up and it feels just as sticky outside if not a little more than yesterday ... it's tempting to open the windows but the AC feels awfully good when we step in the house after being outside.

Like I have said before ... I like every car or truck I've ever owned and wished I had them all. I like those FJ's but have also thought about a Toyota Tacoma Dbl Cab ... they tow 6,500 pounds. If I didn't care a lot about towing I'd take a serious look at this 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara I saw online today. It's on the same car lot where I bought my blue FJ. Yet, that jeep only tows 3,500 pounds.

I like what I have though and don't really want to trade the Countryman. I don't want to sell the Z4 either ... so really nothing will be done, I just like to look. It's the same way when I look at houses for sale.

I'll tune into the MLB All-Star game after the game starts ... that will be 10-15 minutes after it comes on tv I guess. I hate all the pregame glitz they have to have so I'll leave the tv off during that time.

I am not sure if Heidi is going to walk in the field again. I thought she'd be interested once they cut it but anymore when I ask her if she wants to walk with us, all she does is roll over to get her belly rubbed. She has no interest in going outside to walk.

Another quiet afternoon here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

Firefox Browser Is A Data Hog

Under overcast skies, sounds of thunder and storms all around us ... we will stay dry for most of the day. There is something about that I-70 corridor as it has thunderstorms and snow storms follow it across the state. It didn't take me long to find out this morning why I stopped using Firefox ... it's a data hog ... I'll discuss it at the end of this post.
As I made coffee I was sure it was going to rain any second and our morning walk might not happen. With my 11pm grocery shopping trip last night I had a new bag of Seattle's Best Coffee and a much needed caffeine boost.

After checking Intellicast radar I could see sever storms to the north and northeast of us but nothing was to the west or southwest of us. It was time for our first walk of the day. With Stella nibbling a little grass before we got started, Sadie and I took off on the path.

I was surprised as I turned to look behind me and didn't see Stella. When I looked to the side and in front of me I didn't see Stella. Holy cow!!!!  She was taking a brand new path and was over on the corner of the yard heading in the direction of her favorite woods ... nowhere near Sadie and I.

As I yelled her name she ignored me and kept walking north, parallel to Sadie and I. No doubt she was smelling the scent of one of the field cats.

While calling her name over and over, she sloooowly turns in our direction.

She started trotting toward Sadie at a fairly fast pace but not quite a run. I cannot describe how good I feel when I see her trotting again more than once per day and multiple days in a row.

Although we had assurances of no rain on the radar, the thunder was loud and in the skies up ahead. The colors of the radar of those storms were those deep reds, browns signifying just how serious the thunderstorms were. They were about 20 miles from us.

After reading last night that a favorite lens of a professional photographer was her Nikon 16mm-35mm lens I thought I'd try a few shots today on the walk with the lens set at 35mm. Here is one of them below, power tower and lines included.

Sadie had other plans and started running in the direction of the far right hand corner of the field, but she had a scent to check out first. That area is a deer lounging area.

This next photo is a good example of why it's so hard to put both bloodhounds on a leash that is connected to a splitter. In that situation they would be 6' away from me and walking right next to each other. They each have their own interests when walking and their noses leading them in different directions. No RVing for them. I would never do that here on our walks, only as a test for possible travel.

Sadie had found some fresh protein supplements this morning. Stella trotted to see if Sadie would share any of it. Of course I had to stroll over and tug on Stella's collar to lead her in our direction. Sadie will always come running when I call her name ... Stella is a different story.

Walking by those rolls of hay and smelling the aroma of hay bales (rolls in this case) reminds me of the summers in high school where I had part time jobs of baling hay for the local farmers, then stacking it in the barns. Extremely hot work, good money. You would have to wear a t-shirt to keep from being scratched by the cut hay ... but the smell of cut hay always brings those memories back to me.

When Stella heard thunder becoming louder she thought it might be to her advantage to get home a little faster this morning. She didn't trot all the way but I couldn't keep up with either hound all the way back to the house.

With everything green around here, I thought I'd add a little color to my blog post this morning.

During the walk I also realized that I don't and probably will never have a set time each day where I post to the blog. I am pretty consistent in posting in the middle of the day after editing our morning walk photos ... but I find it too hard at times to wait until the end of the day to post which adds even more photos.

Two blogs per day are sometimes missed by readers, at least statistics show that. They will alway view the latest blog post of the day but not read the previous one. Yet there will be days I'll blog multiple times per day because my schedule is basically this --- "do what I want when I want, no plans".

Now to the Firefox story ....

I opened it up late yesterday and used only 20Mb of data to get it updated. It seemed faster than it use to be. I liked the look of it. Yet it would open websites up a little slower than Safari (instant) or Google Chrome (2 seconds). It was not until this morning when I tried it, that it reminded me EXACTLY why I don't use it.

Since I have limited data per month for my home computer, no choice based on my location ... I always have Activity Monitor open and on my other monitor so I can catch any unexpected data usage that is more than I can handle to stay within my estimate of 665Mb per day to spread 20Gb out per month.

So this morning I did all of my internet reading on Google Chrome, which uses a data saver in the background. After I returned from the walk I opened up Firefox and went to my blog dashboard to edit last nights post and correct some spelling errors.

That was the only website I had open.

Right before clicking the 'update' button on the blog, I glance over at my Activity Monitor and see that Firefox had used 83Mb of data just on my blog edit. While two hours of internet reading, including my blog and looking at stats from the dashboard had used a total of 38Mb !!!

That probably doesn't mean much to you but when you have limited data 45Mb used doing really nothing is a lot. I can buy more data if I go over the 20Gb limit and luckily with HughesNet any of that additional data I buy but do not used is carried over for future use. Exede Satellite service zero'd it out at the end of the billing period.

Even writing this post and uploading photographs to it, I still have not used as much data as Firefox did this morning and that includes my 2 hours of internet reading while on Google Chrome.

The pace of life will not be out of the ordinary today. I have found an old John Grisham novel on the bookshelf ... it's hard to put down ... yet the hounds will get their 3 walks in today.

Heidi has moved from the couch to the floor right next to the register that has that ice cold air conditioned air flowing out of it ... she is a pretty smart basset hound.

Food supply was replenished late last night ... all is good again here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.