I Reviewed The Canon Owners Manual

I didn't need to look at the frozen condensation on the storm windows to know it was really cold outside. I felt that freezing cold air as soon as I opened the door to let the hounds outside for their first trip of the day, while I poured their breakfast kibble. It's close to the middle of January, so yes it's winter and this weather is expected. What is nice is that there is no bone chilling wind, no single digit windchill temps nor snow on the ground.

All of that saturated ground I spoke of the other day was frozen as hard as any rock would be this morning. Maybe the mole traffic will slow down now.

I am a little surprised that the cold temps are not bothering Stella. Of course it's not single digits yet. Last winter she lifted that frozen paw, turned back to the house and limped toward home as I picked her up.

One difference with that day compared to today is, it was 7°, frozen snow and ice in the field and arctic winds.I tried to get Stella's view as she walked but it was a little hard to keep moving and trying to capture a picture of her with her nose to the ground.

A bright sun was creeping over the horizon to the right of us. It made the whole field glow compared to past days.

All of that grass with a white tint ... frozen.

Right on the path made by deer traffic as they head for the far right corner and then down into the gully ... or is it the other way around?

I could tell as we walked through the frozen grass, there were a lot of 'holes' made by deer hoofs for Stella to investigate.

Stella roamed while I took pictures. I still kept an eye on her to keep her in the area.

Looking west, a little after 8:15am.

She is making her 'get-away' but at least she is headed on the path and in the direction of home. I knew exactly where she was going ...

Just like that she was invisible.

She was exactly where I thought she would be.

At 19° it's getting a little cold after 18 minutes walking. Still, Stella kept her pace and didn't trot, didn't run, she kept 'cruising'

I have no doubt that she follows the exact path of the field cat at work during the night before. I know one thing about that cat ... it's been years since I had to keep mouse traps hidden inside the house to keep them out of the house. So the mysterious, never seen cat, but talked about ... is doing a great job at night.

A lunch time break for Heidi and Stella ...

Heidi is on her normal after lunch 'lap' around the house. I assume she is checking out the internet connection and that we are getting the fastest speeds possible.

I called Stella and she headed for the house ... what a surprise.

With these afternoon pictures I see just a couple of tweaks I can make to the settings.

Those sure look like burrs on the side of her. By the time we came inside, fixed some lunch for myself, they were gone when she laid on her left side to show me. Of course I did not see those burrs until I downloaded the pictures taken after lunch. I was too late to pull them off her coat. Where did they go?

It feels like it will be an afternoon of book reading. I don't have a basketball game to watch until Friday night, then the two NFL Playoff games on Saturday.

It's cold but a nice day here in 'the tropics' in Southern Indiana.

Mood Swings Are Interesting

They come and go unexplained, the mood swings. At least now I can recognized them and hop on for the ride. They don't last long (24-36hrs) and they are not caused by the amount of sleep I get or lack of. The hounds don't upset me to start down that path. TV news isn't watched but I'd love to use that as an excuse. Food? Diet? ... maybe.

So how can one live alone, non social, active mentally and at times physically, go off the rails?

Many years ago I'd be mad the next morning after any one of my teams had lost a basketball game, a baseball game or football. Not anymore as I view it just as a game and I don't have anything to do with the outcome sitting on the couch 8' away. The players have to decide how bad they want to win and performance is key. So ballgame results are not a reason either.

I blame my mother. She was just like this. She could be Mother Theresa one minute and by the afternoon she was Bobby Knight for no apparent reason. For those that don't know who Bobby is, google his name. She fought her disease with pharmaceutical, prescribed meds, and in a way that even made things worse. Let's just say I learned my anger issues from one of the best teachers of all time.

I was never into that prescribed meds thing. Even after my car wreck in March 2010. I left the emergency room that night (6pm) with a had full of prescriptions for more meds than I ever wanted and never asked for ... I had my chance to jump on the opioid addiction train. I had all the famous names right there in my hand and didn't take one of them.

Over the years I have tried many things to combat mood swings and honestly, no matter what the 'experts' say or recommend ... they don't work. This 'thing' is buried deep in the DNA files and just going out running for 20 minutes, riding a bike for an hour or even meditating for 20 minutes twice per day ... they might take the edge off but they don't squash naturally born mood swings.

You probably could tell something was wrong after you read the last two or three posts I had written or through the comment section where I replied. Internally I had declared war on everybody, everything and even the electronics that only sit here. I was on the out of control train and no way to stop it.

No, self talk does not help either.

I had solid sleep last night, the normal 5-6 hours worth. By the time I had made coffee this morning I could tell the 'mental war' was over. I felt great and already knew what my plans were for the day.

In a few minutes, Stella and I will take our daily morning walk in 19° weather. Then something different after that. Instead of downloading photos, editing them and putting a blog post together, the hounds and I are climbing in the Mini for a tour around the local area with cameras (Canon & Nikon) in hand. We are going for a ride and will hopefully grab some nice pictures to blog about later.

Sorry for the lack of pictures tucked in neatly between paragraphs but I thought this type of post should be only words that were quick and easy to read. I'm only adding a feature image so the columns on my blog front page line up right.

Believe me, it's much better this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Too Early To File Tax Return?

It was looking promising right after lunch as far as the weather, a possible early walk and more pictures from the Canon to analyze. It wasn't warmer but the sunshine was bright and that was the nice surprise of the day. To bad that didn't last long after Heidi came back inside. By the time Stella and I took an afternoon walk, it was overcast and colder than this morning. I may have even seen a few specs of snow but not enough to let me know if it was real or just my imagination. Stella and I continued on though, since she wanted to walk and I wanted to take some pictures. But ... it was really cold and windy.

I decided for these few pictures I'd go back to shooting in Auto mode. It's almost like paralysis by analysis where nothing looks right anymore. It's a funny deal trying to sort out what you thought you saw in the first few pictures taken last Saturday and what you see now. I think I might just start taking them and posting them, and let it ride without even looking at them. I could rename the blog "badphotos .com"

I glanced out the kitchen window ten minutes after Stella and I came inside. Heidi wasn't anywhere within view. I was about to walk out through the front yard and head to the north side yard but decided to make the fastest trip possible and look what I found! If I didn't know any better I am pretty sure I caught Heidi within seconds of eating some of that dirt that Stella likes so much. The only difference is when I yelled "hey" ... she almost bounced in midair as she turned to face me ... then came running.

I don't crop a lot of pictures but I did those two. They didn't turn out to bad and were much clearer than trying to zoom in.

Since we were all ahead of schedule by getting up at 4:30am or a few minutes before, I decided why not? I'll file my federal taxes early. I did last year also. They will sit in their electronic inbox until the IRS is ready to process them on January 28th, but its soon after that refund is dropped in my bank account electronically.

Since I retired I bring home less money per month, per year, per whatever. That threw me into a lower tax bracket than when I was working making a lot more money. So now when I file federal taxes I get a 100% refund of taxes withheld and pay a little less to the State of Indiana where I have always had to pay them no matter what income I made. Of course that refund doesn't make up for the net pay difference but I write that difference in money off as the cost to have total freedom of time. (more than worth it) The tax refund ??? That usually replenishes the hole in my bank account after I buy new electronics every year. I call that an even trade-off.

I don't miss those meetings of one Power Point Slide after another, every week, every month, every quarter, every year ... you get the picture ... meetings meetings meetings.

Again today Stella was moving a tad faster than her normal afternoon pace. She wasn't dragging her feet but she wasn't running either ... a brisk walk combo trot.

I'm seeing no consistency in color in these photos today. None. Sharpness, contract ... nothing.

Has she finally decided it might be a little too cold to be walking this afternoon?

While I wait for the state of Indiana to tell me I can submit my tax return, it might be the perfect time for a siesta. Nothing going on, it's freezing outside, I'm hungry for things I can't eat ... so what better way then to sleep it off. I just reminded myself that "you did get up at 4:20am this morning" ... now there is some justification if I ever heard one.

It's a quiet afternoon for the hounds and myself here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

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.