A Loud Explosion This Morning

It was a little past 6:30am when I sat down at my computer, with a cup of coffee in my hand. The room only lit by the light from my large monitor. I was on a mission this morning. I HAD to find a new blog design, which I will explain in full detail at the end of the post. ...... then BANG !!!!! It sounded so close to the house that Stella went from a curled position sleeping on the floor to standing and howling ... instantly.

I walked into the kitchen grabbed my hidden binoculars from the side of a bookshelf and looked out my large picture window toward the highway. A large pickup truck was pulled over to the side by the looks of it. I could only tell by its headlights that were still on and it looked like one of those new $64,999.99 trucks. I was pretty sure I knew what happened. It's not the first time in the 20 years I've lived here I've heard a loud explosion with the windows and doors closed.

Yet, at 6:40am it's very dark outside and I couldn't see anything in the highway or within the reflection of the truck headlights. Cars were still flying by this pulled over truck at 60mph plus. This is the main highway to either the interstate or the 3rd largest employer in the state of Indiana. They never slow down, even when I pull into my driveway.

This picture shows the weather forecast may be right this morning, rain by 9am, as if we need more water. It's better than freezing temps and snow though. BTW, it was a warm 46° this morning on our walk.

As I reached for my second cup of black coffee for the third morning in a row, it was light enough outside that I could barely tell what had happened. By the time Stella and I stepped outside to head out for the morning walk, I did not even have to zoom in with my camera to see ... the "annual deer hit". You will notice the black plastic auto pieces on each side of the highway. I'm sure there are a lot more than just those two pieces.

In the past these large deer have landed in my neighbors yard (last year) and all the previous hits before either landed in my front yard, in the middle of my driveway blocking my way out and more than 10 years ago one was actually slumped standing up leaning on my mailbox.

Sadie would have smelled the deer before I even opened the door and I would have had to really watch her to keep her from heading that direction. Stella??? Remember that Stella is basically a 'couch potato, not a 'tracker' ... she is only interested in food and sleep. So she walked outside like nothing was out of the ordinary ... just another day.

Within the hour that Stella and I returned, the state highway department had answered someone's call to pick the deer up from the side of the road. I guess you could stay they were standing by the "lounge water fountain at work", smoking cigarettes (not pictured) and taking a break before walking along the ditch picking up car pieces of that $64,999.99 pickup truck.

As I watched them walking north from where the deer landed. The point of contact between deer and truck was about 10' south of my driveway ... oh, almost every car, van, or truck that has hit a deer in front of my house in the past 20 years, are going 60mph or faster.

I doubt many of them pay attention to the highway warning sign as they leave town .... you know the one .... bright yellow, black trim, picture of deer and some words warning them that deer are in the area for the next EIGHT MILES. Anyway ... the $64,999.99 truck on a 8-10 year mortgage loan will need some body work done.

Any readers that are deer hunters will have to speak up on what I am about to guess. With the warm weather, high 40's and a million fresh deer tracks in the field right behind my house ... I am guessing the warm December weather is a factor in increased deer activity.

It was almost as dark this morning as yesterday with a 15 minute difference in time.

Now there are days where Stella follows her DNA and her AKC bio and she will track scent with the best of them. This morning was one of those days. I didn't hear any sounds like I would from Sadie's flapping jowls by inhaling deeply while she tracked but Stella spent most of the walk moving, with her head to the ground.

That is until now .... Standing 4-5 feet away I always start by "NO!!" ... she ignores me. Then I try my "Come On" ... she ignores me. Then I start my slow walk toward her hoping she will raise her head and take off running ahead of me on the path. ... she ignores me.

I slowly reach with my index finger and curl it inside her loose collar to lift her head away from that delicious nutritious but bad for her, deer scat. ... she no longer ignores me and takes off running ... sometimes crouching down like she wants to play.

It's just a game to her ... LOL ... she hears everything I say!!!

Yes it looks like rain is on it's way from the normal direction of the SW.

Still tracking ... I'm a little surprised at this part of the walk.

Like yesterday as we stepped into the yard, she stopped again, didn't move and watched me walk almost all the way to the house. By the time I sit down to download the photos from my camera to the computer, she is curled up sleeping so close to my desk chair I can barely move it out to sit down. That's her normal routine after a morning walk.

My ears have been ringing the past few days .... need more Vitamin D.

"You CHANGED your blog theme again!!!!!"

I had to. I loved that last theme I was using. After a week of looking it was the best one I found with one column and photos that were 6-3/4" wide if your monitor view was at 100%. Tablets and phones don't count since any theme is adjusted automatically for your device.

I didn't want to change that theme and even told a fellow blogger, friend, "I'll never change that theme no matter what." She laughed at me.

Around 6pm last night it only took one email from a long time reader to get me to realize something .... There were NO DATES near the titles of the listed blog posts!!!! There were no dates either at the end of the post where you will see categories, tags, 'make a comment' etc.

I went into the theme support page and didn't see anything about adding a date. Sometimes you will have the option of choosing the author's name, categories or tags near the title by rarely if ever the date. So I headed to the forum for that specific theme. I found my answer immediately ... dates will never be there and users cannot add them through the CSS editor.

I spent a few hours after the IU game I watched last night, trying to find a one column theme with dates but more importantly, photos that were as wide as the photos I had on the prior theme. Over 300 themes to choose from and by midnight I had not found one that would give me the design I wanted. I went to bed and had a solid night of sleep ... no worries.

After a sip of that hot black coffee this morning, before I did anything I added the 'archive' widget to my footer. I wanted to open that up and see if a date showed up. All it showed was the list of posts by month, for example "February 2018". I click on that month and it did list all the posts of that month, but they looked like the front page did ... no dates.

It's pretty amazing after the number of hours I spent this past week looking for a one column theme that had WIDE photos on the front page and individual posts, that I found one I had never tried ... all week!!!  Never tried, never even looked at.

What you see today is it !!!

The large Header Font ??? ... I have no choice. That font size also controls the size of the blog post title. It is one of the few if not the only font that fits my Blog Title into one line. IF I were to make that a smaller size font, the Blog Title would also be smaller and hard to read.

This design ended up pretty close to what I had before ... with WIDER photos !!!!

Things are getting back to normal again. No early wake up times. Blogging is also moving on it's own toward like I use to blog .... a post after our morning walk or sometimes late afternoon to recap the day. If I do one long post per day ... too many photos. (30+). So following my blogging plan of "writing when I want", I am pretty sure the first post of the day will be about the same time as this one, every morning, 9am to 10:30am range.(during the winter). A second post in the early evening will be optional, depending on how much excitement occurred during the day.

I'll also throw a short blog post occasionally where I have to get something off my chest, out of my head, whatever. Yes, I am still checking the tv news ... I eat TUMS while I watch any news channel. I see some interesting trends just in short time I have returned to the 'cesspool', that I will write about another day.

Blog followers by email ---- Do you get an email after every update I do???? (spelling & grammar corrections)

It's all good this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Let's see ... 6 days before Christmas in the Midwest, no coat, no hat, no gloves during our afternoon walk. Even Heidi was so excited she stayed outside, barked to show her excitement and even got airborne a little. When all that happens, the mood changes ... all at 52°. It has happened before so don't start lecturing me on Global Warming ... this is 'weather' not 'climate' ... there's a difference. Yes, the globe is warming. By the number of photos and few words you will see just how nice was today.

I have to burn this pile before next spring otherwise after winter weather the pile will double. What's the delay? See that garden hose to the left .... huge tear, it leaks and I keep forgetting to buy an additional 50'er so I can reach the hose and water source to the pile for file control.

Nor was Heidi ... interested in getting off the carport right after lunch. Great weather but they were not moving, a little after 11am. When you eat breakfast kibble at 6:03am ... you get to eat lunch kibble early

When we went back outside a little after 1pm ... Stella 'thought' it might be a good idea for her afternoon walk when I asked if she wanted to go on one.

In fact Stella was THRILLED with the idea of some aerobic exercise ... but only at her pace.

It's like an Army of yard moles have been dropped into the yard. I hate the bastards. I've tried mole traps, underground electric signals, Milky Spore lawn chemicals, a spray with Castor beans, my own mix with Dawn's soap, tabasco, water, vinegar mix, chewing gum in their tracts and even a lawn chair with a bottle of beer and a shotgun while waiting for the ground to move. A constant war living so close to a field.

She almost headed down into the gully until I moved to stop her.

Chopping my steps as she walks in front of me slower than slow. It's her 'afternoon' pace.

One of those times I had to backtrack to go get her ... she's really stubborn ... not a fan of backtracking.

Remember those skies on this morning's post "The Mind is Interesting"?  Here they are 5 hours later.

Not quite to the yard I spot Heidi over by the burn pile ... living proof she does get out of bed and off the couch. She is a great basset hound. How did I ever find her at GABR.

Stella was in shock when she saw Heidi and had to stop to comprehend what she saw. She didn't move as I walked around her.

Sprinting to the house because she heard my voice and possibly the word 'food' ... no, she didn't hear 'food'

That bark sure sounds like the one when she wants to eat.

Still shaking her ears out from yesterday ... I'll wipe them out again today with some dog ear wipes

I have no answers about itching ... over the past three years I've gone to 4 vets, spent hundreds of dollars, tried every blend of grain free food and even weekly environmental allergy shots ..... nothing worked until my latest kibble that I have been using since February 2017.

All of that vet treatment, shots and food were for Heidi's skin condition a couple of years ago, not Stella's scratching. Stella's happy though ... on to her afternoon siesta just like every day. She picked up the pace all the way to the door.

Changes starting yesterday morning before 6am continue today.

• NO SUGAR


• Black coffee


• No rice, no pasta (ran out)


• Groceries today were coffee, then nothing but the fruit and produce aisle
  
  
  
  • Except for eggs and Kerrygold butter, nonsalted


• I am officially serious about what I eat

I love December days like this ... reminds me of those Decemeber days living in Carlsbad California.

You never know about anything with the sudden changes in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. Stella got an A+ on her test today.