Starting To Get Warm Again

I took this picture of Stella a few weeks ago but it's her daily position to start her siesta right after lunch. Later in the afternoon she will move to the couch but this is a daily spot for her and has been since the day she arrived. I'm starting today's post from yesterday afternoon. Just like it was predicted, the temps crawled into the 20's but with each degree it climbed the wind seemed to blow stronger so the "feels like" temps never got above 0°

It was so cold after their lunch kibble yesterday, Heidi was too fast for the camera to catch her. She went as far as the mulch and sprinted back to the door. It was only 15° at 11am.

Stella spent a little more time outside but I kept calling her telling her to come on, get inside. She was most likely looking for frozen dirt to eat. Yes, dirt. For some reason when the mole hills are rock hard from the freeze, she likes chewing off the tops. Could you call that "rock candy" ????

So with the hounds sleeping, the heat turned on to keep the house around 68° since anything warmer is too uncomfortable to me, I was finishing Mahjong games under 3 minutes. I glanced up from my laptop computer between games to catch this ... with my Nikon D3200 sitting next to the laptop on the kitchen table it was easy for me to catch the action. It's pretty rare to see a truck like this in the middle of winter, driving into the field across the highway. I took all of these from my chair at the kitchen table, with the Tamron 18mm-200mm lens.

Can any readers with a farming background enlighten me on what he dumped and what it's for? I'm guessing it's either saw dust or finely ground corn husks. I have no idea what the purpose is. Any guesses ???

This morning was a different story though. I could feel the energy in the air inside the house and things were changing, hopefully outside. Stella was more active and back to her normal self after surviving a couple of days of 'cabin fever' and I could even feel a difference in my thought process. It will not hit 30° today but with it being 24° warmer than yesterday that is a big difference.

I thought a walk might be possible this morning as I drank my two cups of coffee. A little after 8am Stella walked in the room and starting hydrating herself by drinking and finishing half of her water bowl. She was ready to take a walk. It looked great outside, with bright sunshine but my watch was telling me it was only 17°. I thought we'd give a shot and see how far we could walk. If anything, just to get out of the house.

It was colder than I thought it would be and I could tell immediately this walk might not last long. I mean it was really cold with the slight breeze from the NW. From past experiences I was pretty sure that Stella would not be able to walk too far this morning.

I was right. When she stopped and turned to look at me, I knew we were finished.

When she raised her rear paw, I knew for sure we were finished. I told her "let's go home" and she turned around immediately then starting walking the same way she came, back home.

I had walked over to the 'return' path but she wasn't taking a chance walking through the snow covered grass. She stayed on the 'outgoing' path all the way home. She didn't stop this time either and walked all the way to the door to go back inside.

I glanced at my watch to end the app that tracks our walk and we were only outside a little over 4 minutes. When I told her I needed to go buy groceries, she walked right into the bedroom, laid on the floor and waited for me to shut her in with Heidi while I was gone. Again, I like that new habit of hers.

After lunch today it was much warmer, over 25° but Heidi let me know real quick she had already dumped her tanks earlier this morning and didn't need to be outside for any reason at all. She turned and headed back inside before I could snap off another picture.

That is a good sign to see the snow disappearing from the yard. Yet, I heard on the radio on the way home from grocery shopping we could get 1"- 2" of new snow tomorrow (Thursday) and it will be a rainy 55° on Saturday. I'll take the rain and warmer weather.

Stella checking for any frozen mole hills again today.

As you see I made a little color change on the blog this morning. Yesterday I changed the trim to crimson so the links in my blog posts would show up better. It was hard to see the links when they were dark blue. The problem with this blog template (theme) is the link color is tied into the trim color ... such has that thin crimson line below the blue header or for each section on the sidebar.

So whatever color I chose for the links in the posts that will also be the side bar color and the blog trim color. On Blogger I could change all three of those individually. I like the blue header verse a white header, so that will probably stay. I am still not sure what color to make the links so they show up next to the black fonts in a blog post.

The question of the day is ... does coffee taste different if you put the creamer in first or after you pour you coffee? No, I haven't lost my mind. I read that on a blog site last week when I was checking out adding heavy whipping cream to coffee instead of just CoffeeMate vanilla creamer. Then there was a blog linked in that article where someone was actually testing those two options with tea.

So does it make a difference? I can't tell.

It will be warm enough later this afternoon to take a full half mile hound walk I think. It's already up to 24° and it's not even noon yet. So this might be a two post day just because I feel  like blogging, plus I can post all of the photos I take on the walk today in a post later tonight. You cannot imagine how nice it's going to feel to have temperatures back above 32° and Saturday's temps are almost too hard to imagine.

I watched part of the live testimony from the lady at Homeland Security in front of another Congressional committee. She said at the current rate of 2019, they are on pace to have 1 MILLION illegal immigrants crossing our southern border this calendar year. I hate repeating myself but damn!!!! How much free stuff can be supplied to a million people ?????

I have to stop watching the news on tv and reading anything online AGAIN .... it pisses me off to no end about all of this crap. I'm sick about it. As long as Trump keeps focused, accomplishing what he has and wants to, I feel we will be in good shape with all that other stuff just 'distracting noise'.

One thing about pushing through a security clearence for someone working for you, I saw that happen all the time when I worked for the government. So the headline about Trump pushing staff and others to get a security clearence process for his daughter and son-in law doesn't surprise me.

Check out who Obama did that for when he was president ... then track the trail of some of those people to the Muslim Brotherhood. Then check out who they are and what they do. Another word ... to all the whiners about the Trump Administration ... STFU !!!!

Maybe I'll change that blue header to a color of forest green ... LOL

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

Rambling At -2°

With Heidi telling me not to wake her until late April, I decided for the first time this winter I would put on a pair of long johns even if I was staying inside the house all day. I didn't care. I wanted to feel warm, hot. I wanted to get to the point where I'd have to pull them off because "it's too hot to wear these" ... we'll see if that happens.

The hounds decided they would continue to prepare for the time change this Sunday morning at 2am by waking me up at 5am wanting breakfast. Heidi was even awake and helping Stella wake me up with loud basset hound whining, not quite a bay. My watch told me it was 4°, the "feels like" was -7° and the storm door was frozen to its door frame.

What a way to start the day.

Even with the heat on inside and most of my room thermometers telling me it was 65°- 68°, I still felt cold that time of day. At 5:15am getting my second cup of coffee I could see the neighbor to the south of me was warming up his truck and her car as they waited inside their house. I guess they don't have heated seats like my Mini does.  :)

With the hounds fed and back to a deep sleep 30 minutes after waking me up, I did my normal routine reading the internet, replying to a few comments on the blog, answering some texts and emails. I wasn't thrilled about another day being cooped up inside. Then I remembered last winter, when It was like this for over 30 straight days ... I wondered how do people in Minnesota put up with this kind of cold, especially since they experience colder weather than I have by 20-30 degrees.

From the time Stella walked out to the field to relieve herself and was standing at the door to be let back inside, she was outside only 1 minute 46 seconds beating yesterday's time. How's that for some aerobic exercise? I didn't have to remind her before going outside that we were not taking the morning walk. She figured that out on her own and I was happy I didn't have to go out in the field to get her.

At least it is bright and sunny just like Monday. The temps will crawl to the high 20's but it will take all day and maybe into the early evening to achieve that. When I looked at the "feels like" temperature for each hour it never climbed above -2° .... my day is cancelled !!

I did get a lot of reading done yesterday. I played a lot of games of Mahjong. I sat and wondered at times. Like ... if it is dumping snow in Arizona where they normally don't get much and tornadoes sweeping through the southeast and it's even colder the further north you get ... where does someone go to miss all of this weather? California? Down where the "OFM" is in the gulf of Texas? What about the southern tip of Florida?

I decided as I was taking off my down parka and commending Stella for making it back inside in record time that it might help to warm up if I could see some photos of summer. So I went into my Apple Photos program on my computer, typed "Jul" in my search block and had over 4,000 images to choose from, all the way back to the year 2003. I label each new photo of the day with the three-letter month abbreviation. Thus finding photos in my library by using Jul as the search topic.

Listed below are 20 some photos that may make you or me feel warmer, depending where you are located. These are not listed in any specific order but a few are from 2003 with Bertha and Arthur.

I'm going to ramble a little between all of these photos. There seems to be a lot going on in the world of politics, sports and weather. The 'dingbat AOC' had her second FEC complaint filed against her in the last two weeks. She is so busy trying to get to Trumps income taxes she forgot that someone would find out about that 1 Million dollars she has moved illegally from her campaign funds. You can read about that fabulous move here -- FEC Complaint.

No one has ever accused her of being the smartest puppy in the litter. In fact the founder of GreenPeace called her a pompous twit yesterday in the news

I think it's pretty cool that SpaceX Crew Dragon test passed with flying colors. SpaceX Crew Dragon

I really feel the longer the Democrats spend time investigating Trump, which they will until he is gone whether it be in 2019 or 2024, will only seal a 2020 win for him. Have any of you seen a viable Democratic candidate yet, that has put their hat in the ring? I had friend tell me the other day that his wild ass idea is Michelle Obama will announce she is running at the last-minute, thus reminding me just how quiet her husband has been in the past few months. (Firming up plans????)

I can confirm that I am not the winner of the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot and I have not hired a lawyer to take care of that for me. Although, it would be my luck that I'd misplace if not recycle my ticket as trash if I were to win a lottery such as that.   :)

Looking through the photos yesterday of the tornado that killed 23 in Alabama, it showed me we don't have a chance surviving one that strong. Houses were pulled completely off their foundations. So the theory of taking the hounds to the 'inner room' without windows, such as my bathroom ... wouldn't mean shit with 170mph winds.

I remember that June afternoon in 2008 when the local tv weatherman said "if you are in these locations take cover NOW!!!" I was trying to gather up a bloodhound and two basset hounds trying to convince them we were headed for the bathtub. We ended up having only straight line winds of 70-80mph and those were nothing to what Alabama experienced on Sunday. Sadie never liked gettng a bath and wasn't going near any kind of bath tub ... high winds or not.

I was disappointed to hear my favorite politician of all time (NOT), Hillary is NOT going to run in 2020. Also another favorite is not going to waste my bandwidth or tv time ... Eric Holder. In my book, I'll be blunt ... they are two pieces of shit.

This next bit of information I cannot even comprehend. A 100,000 in March rushing the border ???  WTF

I am in somewhat of a quandary today. It's freezing outside and I don't want to drive anywhere. At the same time I am getting down to the lower limits of food in the house. I stopped buying two weeks worth of food because before the more food I bought the more I would eat in a short period of time. The food never last two weeks. Sound familiar? Probably not.

So most of the food I have left I am not hungry for. LOL I don't want steamed broccoli or carrots with chicken breasts or baked salmon. I am still eating low-carbs so that bag of beans will not get cooked. I have cans of black beans and refried beans left for burritos but I don't have any salsa, cilantro, or even tortillas and too many carbs. I'm tired of salads. I'm out of fruit.

Where is that Amazon grocery delivery by drone when you need them?

Here is another story about the 'dingbat AOC'. I like to read different news from different website to get their point of view. I guess you could call that bipartisan reading.

Will Hillary ever shut her "pie hole" ???? Wisconsin Voters

Over the past three and a half years, Stella has chewed and/or eaten my Cincinnati Reds ball cap and my IU Football ball cap ... worn for yard work or taking a hound walk on a hot summer day or any day warmer than 40°. Will the Sacramento State Hornets hat survive another summer? It's been a while, maybe over a year since she last destroyed something of mine.

Heidi does enjoy sunbathing but she still isn't out of bed yet today.

This explains even more why Cohen is acting the way he has ... He Wanted A Pardon From Trump

To Stella there is nothing finer than a short afternoon nap under a hot sun, right after lunch and feeling those hot stones under her. Weeds and all, makes no difference.

It's great to see the NYC mayor and governor on their knees begging Amazon to come back. Did you ever picture things being so far out of control in the world of news in the US?

Stella is not the only one that loves ... LOVES ... a hot sun.

Do you know how many professional baseball players are still good when they are 39 years old ??? Not many if any at all. Just another example of why this is such a stupid contract. Yet they will justify it by saying Harper is not being paid for what he CAN do at 39 but what he HAS DONE in the past and all the BILLIONS of dollars our team will make in the next 13 years.

I'm still cold and it's 68° in my computer room.

Over 70% of voters polled the other day said they did not like someone over 77 years old running for president nor did they like anyone socialist. ... Bernie ?? "Can you hear me now?"

I cannot believe they finally finished the Highway 99 Tunnel in Seattle. That was only a dream when I lived in the area until 1994.

I remember those days of "office food". I weighed between 25-30 pounds more than I do now. During a work week from Monday to Friday it seemed to be a nonstop supply of food brought in for all to share from the co-workers kitchens. Of course Friday's the amount of food would top out and counter space was being cleared to hold all of it. EVERY MORNING there were the best donuts, bear claw's, breads, or pastries just like the photo in the article. Wash all of that down with Pepsi's after 10am (coffee before) and it's no wonder I weighed was much as I did.

Days like today would have been a line of crock-pots full of different kinds of chili, with everyone declaring theirs was the best. How much chili could one eat in the course of the day ... A LOT !!!!  :)

Ah yes ... dreaming of mowing the yard in July and cooling off as fast as possible afterward. I can almost smell the fresh-cut grass ... until I look out my window right now. DAMN is it cold !!!!!

Just one of the photos on Heidi's (Lucy) ad on the Basset Rescue site back in June 2011. I couldn't believe a basset as nice as she, was available for adoption.

As I finish this blog post I am not sure about today. Nothing sounds good enough to eat. No book sounds good enough to read. I don't want to sleep. I don't want to go outside. Even playing Mahjong seems over, at least for a few days. Both hounds are asleep mid-morning and hours away from lunch. Oh, I also don't want to turn on my tv and fill it up with political or news crap either. Movie?? Too early.

Still ... being retired is fantastic and every day is great here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Single Digit Temps Freeze The Hounds

I had failed to remember that starting Sunday night, the arctic winds would start blowing my direction and drop the overnight temperatures to single digits. I knew as soon as I opened my eyes and stepped outside the warm bedroom that something was different. I had turned the heat down in the living room like I do every night and with it being 5° outside it was just a tad below 60° inside. It was colder when I opened the door to let the hounds outside to start our day.

I tried explaining to Stella the morning walk was cancelled, no discussion would be allowed. I didn't see any reason to walk in single digit temps with the wind chill being -6°and a 10-15mph wind. Finally by 9:46am she had enough and needed to go back outside to do her thing. She started hydrating at her water bowl to let me know she was going outside.

Doesn't it look like the "Frozen Tundra" ???

It was so cold it took my breath away the first time I inhaled and as Stella started to walk she found it pretty hard to make the turn and hesitated.

At least she started moving in the right direction. I was hoping that she would go out in the field, dump her tanks and get back inside as fast as possible instead of wandering off down the path as if we were walking. I stepped behind the house to get out of the freezing wind that was blowing.

Even in 6° weather it's always good to stretch.

As she proceeded out to the field another thought occurred to me. I might have to walk out to pick her up and carry her back to the house if that icy frozen snow either froze her paws or got between her toes. If that were to happen, she would raise the affected paw up in the air and try to limp back home. 87 pounds was going to be a lot of weight to carry in icy conditions.

She had already peed but was looking for that special spot that dogs always do. She did a couple of figure eights and then ... decided the spot she was looking for was not out there.

She slowly took the path back to the house.

After making a right hand turn just before leaving the field, she did what she had to do in the field and then headed to the house without one word from me. For that type of reaction from her, she had to have known just how cold it was.

I could hear the snow 'crunching' as she walked. That is a sure sign it's damn cold !!!

Last night was 'movie night' ... while I watched A Dog's Purpose, Heidi was sleeping sitting up, keeping warm with Stella.

Yes ... she is sleeping, not just being caught between blinking her eyes. She was probably really exhausted after all of her exploration in the snow on Sunday afternooon.  :)

Stella was out for the night. She never moved even after I got up, turned the lights off and headed to bed.

Some have asked about the dark mode I spoke of the other day. The best example is the smaller screen in the upper left having the black/dark gray background. It is like that on my emails, and any dropdown menu. It really is easier on the eyes if you spend too many hours on the computer like I do. That is the desktop screen on my stand alone monitor.

I thought this Apple desktop photo was appropriate for a 'dark mode' ... Spring is on the way after these freezing temps leave by the end of the week.

Anyone else having problems with Firefox crashing unexpectedly this past week? It seems to be a regular occurrence for me lately. I tried that browser again last night and after the second time it crashed I changed browsers. I moved to Safari this time. It's been very fast this morning, automatically stops videos from autoplaying on news or sports websites without an add-on. I still have to use AdBlock Plus to block advertisements. With that add-on I get ZERO advertisements anywhere I go online.

Tom was complaining about this blog using cookies last night. I can't control that from my end. For those that don't know, you are the only one that control what or how cookies are used by changing your security settings inside of the browser you are using on YOUR computer.

The new banner at the bottom of my blog about WordPress using cookies set him off.
I personally added that banner to my widgets yesterday due to the amount of traffic I get from the EU countries and by law, that banner is required for visitors from EU countries. So I am just following protocol and using the EU banner provided by WordPress. I am being told I do not need this banner so in the meantime until I can confirm one way or another, I have deleted the banner.

We all have our own opinions about immigration into our country, whether it be legal or illegal. This article has the best ideas I have read anywhere. Too bad they are not in politics and could present their ideas. It's a good read for those interested.

If anyone thinks what Trump is doing or trying to do is something new .... this link will show it also happened in the Obama Administration. Scroll down to see it if you don't want to read the whole article.

It wouldn't make a difference if the blog author was in Congress ... there are enough politicians in both parties that don't  want any changes to immigration and want as many ILLEGAL immigrants as possible ... both Democrats and Republicans.

There are many steps in the process to impeach a president. Let's just say that last step would approve the recommendation for impeachment even after the next election, years from now. Do the democrats and some republicans really want Mike Pence as the next president? Think about that.

With the weather as cold as it is, I see no other option than a normal day here in 'the tropics' with a lot of book reading, many games of Mahjong on the MacBook Air on the kitchen table. While playing that game I glance out to the highway between games and am still amazed at the number of drivers I see drving the Toyota RAV4 ... on this US Highway in front of my house, that vehicle is a hands down winner of choice by a landslide.

As far as pickup trucks ... from my view, it looks like a tight race between the Dodge Ram and the Chevy Silverado pickup trucks, old or new models.

I saw in the Seattle Times this morning, a newspaper I read on a daily basis ... having a picture and an article about a new kind of ice cream you can eat late at night that helps you to fall asleep. How nice would that be? Would it be as good as Ben&Jerry's Ice Cream?

At least the sunshine is out and is bright today.

Up to 9° at 10:44am here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.