Stella Does It Again

It caused me to wake up. A familiar sound but I can't figure out what it is at first. Was it a dream? It's pitch black in my bedroom so it 'feels' like the middle of the night. As I figure out what's going on, I tap my watch face to see it IS "in the middle of the night." There it is again, that sound. It's just a little bit louder than what I heard when I woke up. It can't be. I know as it is I'll have a hard time to get back to sleep and I am not thrilled about it. A little louder this time ... it's Stella ... slightly whining in the darkness, a good whine not a troubled whine.

I give my self a chance to get back to sleep as I tell her to "go back to sleep." She knows what that means and has in the past, when I have told her that. Not today. No, she wants to start the day NOW, not a few hours from now. Of course, now that she sees I am awake, she gets louder with excitement. That wakes Heidi up and she always starts a day or wakes up from a nap with a full body shake, her hears flapping against the side of her face as she shakes her head.

It's 4:20am

The day has "Officially Started"

With the normal routine starting a few hours early, they finish their breakfast, then sneak off to the dark bedroom to go back to sleep ... by 4:35am. They are happy, fat and fed. Now for some good sleep until the morning walk at 8am. Funny, but I no longer heard any whining from Stella.  LOL

We knew the weather was going to drastically change by this morning and it did. When I went outside with Stella last night the wind was already cold, very cold. It was colder this morning, coming out of the NW. I was warm everywhere except my face.

Stella was motivated a little more this morning. I don't know if it was because she just felt good waking me up extra early this morning or was it the freezing temps compared to the past few days. She was in a tracking mode this morning and was in front of me most of the time. As we made this first turn it became colder even though the wind was coming over my left shoulder.

Last night my friend sent an email about the time I was bringing up the Canon owners manual so I could double check some of the adjustments we had made to the settings on Monday night. We have identical cameras. After reading the manual a little closer, plus the small messages on the camera screen as each icon was touched, we found we had a couple of adjustments backwards. The higher value did not make the picture better but a lower value would. Of course, with the information we talked about and the adjustments we made, it was already dark where I live so I would not find out if these setting changes worked until this morning.

Yesterday afternoon before he emailed me, I  found out the yellow bar meant the zoom picture might be grainy but not noticeable. When I zoomed too far and that bar would turn light blue, then I had gone too far. It was just as I expected. While I paid attention to those colors when I zoomed in on Stella pretty far away this morning, I backed off the zoom lever until the yellow bar had disappeared. What is hard to see at the time I take the photo, is that I cannot tell how large Stella was show in the picture. With this camera I have to use the monitor on back of the camera as my view finder. It will take time, more pictures and practice.

I also found out what my problem is when I complain that my pictures are not as clear or sharp as I expect. My 2017 iMac monitor is 4K Retina and has an awesome desktop picture. It doesn't matter if I use one that Apple supplies me or upload one of my own, they are always extremely sharp and clear. The second monitor I use is an Apple LED Cinema Display. That 27" desktop picture is sharper and clearer than any picture I've taken with a camera. I really believe my picture mystery is from looking at those two displays and not my eyes.

The Canon G9 experienced its first small drop of moisture from somewhere on the walk Tuesday morning. With one of my lint free rags that come with new computers, tablets or phones, I was able to wipe that spot off of the lens. It was easier than I thought it would be since the lens is so small compared to my Nikon D3200. Contessa has been talking about taking her camera in to get it cleaned due to the dust collected on the lens of her small point and shoot camera. I have not had that problem with my larger lens on the Nikon D3200 in the past few years but I am keeping a careful eye on the small Canon lens.

No, I did not watch the President's speech last night. I turned on my DVR and watched a taped show from Monday night, while I was watching the football game. I don't watch prime time tv shows very much but one show I like is a show called "Bull" a lawyer, courtroom show. On the Animal Planet and Discovery channel, two shows I follow are back with new episodes ... The Last Alaskans and Homestead Rescue. It is good to see some in The Last Alaskans are wearing the same $12 Carhartt 100% acrylic sock hat that I bought a month or so ago ... it keeps me just as warm if not warmer than the old wool ski cap I wore last winter. Evidently they either had a good trapping season last year or they are making some spare cash from filming the show, because two of them have brand new motor boats that they have not had on the show in the past three seasons. That is a hard life up there but beautiful country.

As far as the Homestead rescue ... that just shows some people have no business living off the grid. I shake my head more than a few times watching that show. It's hard to watch sometimes when these people have spent their life savings to live off the grid, unprepared and are within days or a month of losing everything. They get help from some Alaskan experts that have answered the homesteaders pleas on video, asking for help.

I have added a little "flavor" to my list of blogs at the bottom of my blog. WordPress alphabetized the links that I add and to answer a couple of email questions, no ... those links do not rotate to the top when they have posted a new article or blog post. They stay in the order you see them.

It was somewhat ironic last night after we made some more camera setting adjustments, that I found out something good about my Apple watch. I was having trouble getting an app to work. Since I figured out what was wrong, that gave me a new watch face, one that is a little "old school" yet gives me the information I want at a glance. The information I want is: time and date, battery percentage left, my heart rate, the weather temp and conditions and an icon I can tap to start the app for our daily walks. I had not used this watch face because I could not get a reading on my heart rate, one that would show up on the screen. Playing around with the app called 'Cardiogram' on my iPhone last night I realized I had downloaded the app for the watch but I had never registered an account to use the app. Once I did that, I had my heart rate on the watch face in less than a minute.

You can see that 'old school' watch face at the bottom of this post.  (How's that for suspense?)

Stella might have been getting cold at this point of the walk, a little more than halfway finished. It's our last turn toward home so I call it the halfway point. I did not have to do any verbal herding except to say "come on" ... she did not hesitate turning and following me, then passing me on the path. All the way home I did not have to stop to 'convince' her to move. In fact a few times she trotted off faster than her walk but not quite a full out run. I guess by that trotting or running, the supplements are helping. She knows when she is to get one twice per day and will make sure I don't forget. Since Heidi doesn't need the supplement but needs a treat at the same time, she gets one of those grain free bacon flavored small bones that sound like they are hard as a rock when the hounds bite into them

It wasn't until I downloaded this picture did I see the tail lights from the truck next to the building. A huge turkey business operates out of there. That picture shows only a couple of many buildings, raising turkeys.

Stella was faster than my camera or maybe it was my reaction time, trying to take this picture.

Stella always checks for any signs of that large mysterious field cat. I swear I heard that cat meowing this morning as I opened my eyes but neither hound acted as if a cat was outside the window. They don't react to strangers ringing the doorbell either, so maybe it really was the cat I heard.

It's always good to see Stella do a little running. She use to love to run as fast as possible either chasing deer, chasing Sadie or trying to get away from Sadie. She might have had a little arthritis beginning to show up last year, as she moves through her 9th year now.

There was just something about seeing the pinkish/orange clouds from the sun rise against the black trees of the gully. Still not as sharp as I expected. Are my hands shaking slightly to do that?

Let me remind you that Stella also likes to eat fresh dirt. She will not dig into the yard to get it but will always find it after some animal has pushed the dirt above the surface of the grass. She eats it as fast as possible because she can hear me saying "no" ... then trots by me while looking at me proudly. The dead giveaway is the dirt on her nose and the soon to be mud dangling from her jowls.

Again I have no idea why she stops all of the sudden to pose for a picture as we are within 25' of finishing the walk. She is trotting and then sits down almost immediately without a word said. She really is the funniest hound I have ever had.

Sorry for the blurriness but I was trying to hold the iPhone camera as close as possible or as far away as possible to take this picture before the watch face goes black. The #100 on the upper right is the percent of battery left. The workout app should be above the 12, but I don't see it. That weather update is a nice feature as is the heart rate. My review of the Apple Watch is coming soon, if not this afternoon. I have used it enough I think to write a very basic review.

I don't know how to say this politely but I'll try my best. There are two words in the English language that have always irritated the crap out of me. My blood pressure accelerates and my heart rate always jumps up a few beats per minute. One of those words I have not heard in many years, if not decades. Still if I were to hear it said to me, or written to me now, it would still irritate me. The other word I don't hear a lot of but did yesterday. Drives me nuts, makes me mumble to myself and to the hounds. When my insanity kicks in I even catch myself screaming about that word.

They are:

• Stevie
• Doggie

The first one was used by girls in elementary and junior high school that wanted to see me react. Late in high school the girl I was dating at the time and later married for a short time, bought herself a purebred Border Collie and named it .... Stevie. That was not the cause of our divorce since it happened years before but even then, in the spring of 1970, that word sent me spiraling out of control to where I was speechless.

The second word is not a word I can relate to when I have two hounds, one weighing 83 pounds and the other is shorter than short and is heavy at 45 pounds. When they sit on my lap (Heidi) or tries to (Stella), the word "doggie" doesn't seem to describe two large heavy dogs. In fact I don't know if that word really describes any breed of dog. When I hear or see that word I think of a small child using that word. A dictionary will show one of the meanings of doggie as a small dog or puppy. I don't see or hear any way that word pertains to my hounds.

My hounds are not doggies, dogs ... barely, they are hounds, but definitely not a doggie. Please refrain from using the word doggie in my presence when talking about my hounds ... as I only like getting mad at umpires (baseball), referees (football) and officials (basketball).

Yes, I did rethink about discussing those two words in public but it's back to that 'transparency thing' readers were wanting when I announced my blog was changing. So there it is ... transparent, bordered with flashing lights or am I standing at a podium with six US flags behind me, looking like I just had a fresh dose of formaldehyde injected in me? ... announcing my dissatisfaction to the world  :)

No matter what, it's another great day of retirement here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Typical Heidi Afternoon

Right after their lunch both hounds are given the chance to do what they need to do. Lately with them demanding my 'professional' doorman abilities they go out when they want and not after every meal. So this is really the latest high paced time. Both stare, collecting weather data, wind speed and direction, scents or sounds before deciding it's not worth going any further. They turn and head back to the house with a full body shake in preparation for their first afternoon siesta.The naps in the morning do not count ... they were only practice.

I guess it's "Official", that Heidi as claimed the chair as hers now. She spent most of her time there last night while I watched the football game. She continues to move her blanket to a perfect arrangement every time she hops aboard.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if she is sleeping or in deep thought. Today it was evenly matched, where about the time I had an answer choosing between the two options, I actually didn't have the right answer.

I know this post was suppose to be 100% about Heidi but I had to show one of Stella's normal nap positions so you know she doesn't live on the couch. The OLD Berber carpet has held up pretty well with too many hounds walking inside and out, sleeping on it, at times getting sick on it. It needs replaced but I hope to wait until the hounds have passed. I hate the thought of seeing an older hound getting ill on brand new carpet. Besides, my priorities are keeping the house maintained in good shape with manual labor while my cash goes towards new/upgraded electronic toys and/or cars and SUVs.  Another benefit of being single and/or retired.

Even though the picture is lighter because I was playing around with the camera picture modes, that is a sleeping position of Heidi ... she can and does sleep with her head up.

Not quite dropping her head in the full sleeping mode but she is slowly getting there.

Is that it? That's the position for the afternoon siesta? Yes, that's the official position. You have now seen Heidi's typical afternoon, and it does not matter if it's rain, hail, sleet or snow ... in the summer the only difference is, she will find the perfect place to sleep with the sun shining on her.

It's one of the benefits about retirement ... I can also choose when a siesta is needed. Today was one of those days for the first time in a long time. It wasn't due to lack of sleep though ... it's what I had for lunch, which was loaded with too many carbs thus giving me the same results as always in recent years ... I get really sleepy ... like a Carbs OD.

With the temps starting their decent toward the 30's, Heidi started her decent off the side of the carport. As my yard "slides" down the hill, after 21 years I have lost that much front yard ... it use to be level with the concrete. Let the comments section be filled with preventions or fixes for yard erosion suggestions.

Looking at the back of the house towards the north, it was an entirely different planet ... it looks like the storms have arrived everywhere but here. The winds are howling in the middle of the afternoon and I am well rested with a nice two hour siesta, tracked by the sleeping app on my watch. The GarminSport did not track siesta time.

A few minutes later as I write this, those same skies are blue with scattered clouds and bright sunshine. That's "tropical" Southern Indiana weather for you.

Stella and I headed back inside for warmth ... Heidi headed out for her afternoon exercise by doing her lap around the house. It's one of many tracks she follows to keep her aerobics in top condition. I anxiously wait for spring so I can start the 2019 To Do List and play with some concrete to patch the chipped out low spots.

Also ... I'll not be watching news on tv nor reading any online headlines. Those two sites I spoke of this morning have been deleted from my Feedly account. I am going back to No News like I did last October.

It was another good day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It Feels Normal Again

It is starting to feel normal again. Yesterday had little research about the new watch and camera. I have just a couple of things to look up today. This will be our last day of high's in the 50s as we drop back to normal winter weather by tomorrow, into the 30's. You may be wondering what is Stella doing there, what has she found, is she eating anything? Well when I finish the dog food that is stored in the same container that you see in the 2015 Utah Trip, I turn that container upside down and lightly tap it on the concrete to get the rest of the "kibble dust" out of the container. Just like the kitchen floor, Stella likes to keep the carport concrete as clean as possible. She also likes dog food kibble in any shape or form.

While Heidi explored the front yard yesterday I headed down to the mailbox. Last Friday was the last time I checked the mail and found the camera in a box that barely fit in the mailbox. If it had not fit, my mail carrier would have taken the time to drive up the driveway and leave the box on the step in the carport. If I remember correctly, I made it home from Best Buy in time for delivery. This picture of Heidi was taken at the bottom of the driveway with the zoom staying at the far end of the status bar. Today I am going to find out what that yellow and light blue color is on the status bar ... I am guessing it's a way to tell me that a focused zoom is not possible at that range.

Our walk this morning started out a little different. I wondered if these were signs of things to come. We left a few minutes before 8am and it was really dark and overcast, to the point that I considered waiting an hour. Waiting would have better lighting for taking pictures but it was a good test to see what would be captured in low light. While I was checking some settings and taking pictures of the landscape, Stella had moved right after stepping into the field and collected as many burrs as she could ... unintentionally of course. They don't happen because the ragweed had died, they will also show up with the new growth next spring. I had Stella braced between my leg and arm so I could pull them off before they would get tangled in her coat. This was the best picture I could take with one hand and trying to hold her in place.

Once she felt I was finished, she trotted off one happy bloodhound ... on to more important things.

Last night was the last night for college football games, that are not all-star games. (I never watch those). Somewhat of a surprise win for Clemson but maybe not since they have won two of the last three national championship games. Of course I will move into college basketball now until the Final 4 the first week of April. One thing that is different, I eat less during those games, even on Saturdays where there might be a full day of basketball games being played. There are also many more games shown on tv at the same time than college football. Yes .... some of the pictures are out of focus this morning ... I'll be reading today about that problem.

I have tried my best to stay away from online and tv news again. I've been pretty successful too. I 'glanced' at the news the day the Democrats took their oath for their new positions gained in the last election. After less than 30 minutes of tv viewing and glancing at the online headlines ... I have moved back into "no news". That brings up a question or questions ... I have two websites I follow through my Feedly account. I manually added the sites so I can see their latest updates. So I can also delete them if I want to.

One of these dealt the refugee resettlement, then a few weeks ago the author moved to a new blog where she is now writing about fraud, criminal activity, politics ... things you never see or hear about in the news. I added something the other day I did not really want to but it's always been a subject that I have been concerned about. The attempt and at times success in spreading Sharia Law in the USA. That is a subject that would take multiple blog posts to cover. What is going in in the USA and NEVER covered by the mainstream media is amazing. If you want some idea ... do a search about "Sharia Law in Dearborn Michigan" ...

I just started to write more on that topic, but deleted it. I might do a post about it in the future and the concerns I have ... so is it important to be "aware" of what is going on in the news or is it better to "totally ignore" whats going on in the news, reported or not?

With all of the college football bowl games, playoff games and then adding all those NFL playoff games the past week ... my diet flew out the window and I paid for it in just a few short days. Breads, pasta, waffles etc are never a good thing for keeping weight off. In fact in five short days I gained two pounds.  Since changing my eating habits for the better three or four weeks ago, I have gain four pounds. Yet there were a couple of weeks where I had lost two pounds during that week. With college football over, there will be no more 12 hours spent watching games on tv and eating out of control. I've also gone back to really watching carbs intake or should I say wheat, and grains intake ... focusing more on veggies and salmon. This weight gain over took the daily large salad I eat for lunch. I have no doubts though that the weight will drop as soon as next Monday's 'weigh-in', based on my new 'focus.'

When I was in a car accident in March 2010, stopped on a highway 3-way stop and rear-ended by a high-speed truck pulling a horse trailer, I knew I'd eventually have problems with numbness of some sort. I have been to LMT's and PT's for treatment over these last 9 years. A couple of years ago my little finger on the right hand went numb, then a little numbness the ring finger. Chiropractors and Massage Therapists have not help as the numbness always returns. Each of those therapists gave me exercises I could do at home when that nerve problem flared up. Basically the finger numbness has never gone away.

Something new started a few months ago. It's not constant and I assume I aggravate it by the amount of time I sit in front of a computer. On my left shoulder, in front along the collarbone, it will go numb for short periods of time (minutes) where it feels the same way as hitting your 'funny bone' on your elbow. I probably need treatment 3x per week to really get rid of those two issues. Payment is not covered by Medicare nor my supplement insurance and to me it's not worth the $180-$200 per week out of my pocket for those three treatments. Compared to what other people go through at my age, it's really not that big of an issue for me. I am really lucky to have good health.

When I was at Best Buy on Friday picking up my new Apple Watch, an older lady asked me about the new Apple iPad she was looking at. I was waiting for the sales rep to come back with my watch. She told me her Apple MacBook Pro had died after 10 years of use and she was seriously considering replacing it with the new Apple iPad Pro they announced a month or so ago. I won't go into details but I probably spent almost an hour talking to her and the sales rep about the new updates to computer, smartphones, watches etc. We all agreed it was impossible to keep up with every new electronics development and/or release. As we talked about how Apple had gone with the bigger screen for their phones in 2017, this year's 2018 models were going to a smaller screen but the clarity was phenomenal.

About that time the sale rep reached into her pocket and pulled out "look what I am trying out for Verizon?" ... a SMALL smartphone probably not much bigger than the palm of my hand. I doubt it was 2" wide, not longer than 3-1/2" ... a screen that was just as clear and sharp as any retina display! In that small computer she had everything her Samsung 9 smartphone had. It was amazing!!!!

Yet as much as new electronics attract me I wouldn't buy one. It was small enough I'd probably lose it, or I'd have it in my back jeans or cargo shorts pocket then sit on it. It would also be too small to see the GPS map while I am driving lost going in circles or trying to find that turn I missed. Still for what it was ... it was nice to see, hold, tap extremely small icons to make it come alive. She said it was still in the 'testing phase' and that was the reason Verizon had not emailed me. I told her I had not seen any advertisements on tv or online. It was just another new electronic 'toy' that people will buy because it's different. I usually don't buy new unless my computer breaks, or my iPhone needs upgraded. I didn't think I would ever move from my 8+ iPhone but after seeing those screens on the new XR model, I'll probably upgrade in a year or two.

Speaking of electronics, as I become more familiar with the Apple Watch ... it is still impressive. It is 'connected' to my iPhone by bluetooth and the phone doesn't have to be that close for everything to work on the watch. For example I had the phone inside charging while I stood ~80' away at the mailbox down by the highway. I was still getting everything I would get standing right next to the phone. If it were not for the good iPhone 8+ camera I would trade this watch in within the 15-day limit and exchange it for the GPS/Cellular model because it is just that good. I had a phone conversation for almost two hours yesterday, ON MY WATCH !!! ... we both agreed our reception was much clearer than the smartphones we use for that long distance call. The verbal commands or the questions I ask Siri on my watch are just as fast responding as my iPhone. Once again ... amazing things inside a very very small piece of electronics.

I checked again for fleas on Stella ... there isn't any. I checked for any kind of skin irritations, redness or even a bare spot from her chewing more than I think she should ... there isn't any. She stops to scratch herself in the same places in the field and yard ... does that make it more of a habit? Inside she scratches herself as part of her self-grooming process ... does that make it a habit? Is it her food? Could be. I am not going to play that "chasing the tail" again with different dogs foods like I did for Heidi's skin two to three years ago. Her skin problem was much worse than what makes Stella scratch. It might also be the season, cooped up in the house much more than laying outside in the yard sleeping under the sunshine.

After normal use of the internet for about the same number of hours yesterday, I can say that the Wordpress Dashboard is the cause for the mysterious data leak. I did not have that problem with the "wp-admin/dashboard" Another reason I think that is the cause, the Wordpress techies emailed me last night telling me they were "still working on the problem" after I sent them a FYI email with my data use results for the day. I used only 400Mb yesterday after using 800Mb or more per day since moving the blog from Blogger to Wordpress. Each post still has pretty close to the same number of large (450Mb) number of pictures. So I'll keep an eye on that and see if the low data usage continues.

Google Chrome "Data Saver" app does not save as much data as it use to but the nice thing is, it will list in order every website you visit and how much data that website used. It goes from the highest data usage to the lowest. You can check 1 hour, 3 hours, a week, or a month ago .... Facebook use to be the #1 data sucker but recently it's been Wordpress .com by 10x as much.

I have run out of things to ramble on. I covered what I had listed in my "notes" program. Oh ... I will NOT be tuned into the President's nationwide speech tonight ... I'll either have the tv turned off or I'll be watching a basketball game during that time. It's a never ending battle in D.C. and it will never get better no matter who is in Congress nor who is elected President. Cooperation, negotiation, and compromise are words not even in their dictionary anymore. I'm going back to 'no news' ... screw it.

Heidi has risen and has a pulse, as she gulped some water then sprinted to the door after her morning nap. She was out and back in so fast I was not able to eject my SD card, insert it into the camera and take some morning pictures of her. This afternoon might be a good time for writing a post only about her, with pictures.

It's another fine day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.