It's Life - So What ?

Well it's Friday and it even feels like a Friday if you know what I mean. I don't get that kind of feeling too much since I'm retired, but today just feels a little different I guess. That puts me in the 'rambling' mood. Not so much because it's Friday but I recognize my brain cells are going through one of those periods where they are highly active. I have a lot on my mind, lots of questions and few answers today. So we will see where this goes.

As you can see that prediction of 2" - 3" of snow last night turned into ground cover and not much more. Stella and I waited about an hour to see if it was going to rain or snow since it couldn't make up its mind from the time we woke up at 6:35am. The highway sounds said it's drizzling, the ground said snow. It didn't matter to Stella because it felt much warmer again this morning and I had to agree with her. It didn't feel like 32°.

A few of the long-time readers know that I have been known to change my mind. Some feel I change it a lot, possibly more than normal. I have no idea since I don't know how often other people change their mind nor do I know what the national average is. I guess I could search on the internet to get some idea on that. It doesn't matter to me one way or another. Just like life constantly changing, my mind seems to constantly change.

In today's world with so much information just a few keystrokes away, it's like information overload. How do you sort through that information and find the right answer, the right way, the right diet or the right camera .. or the right anything ???

I do see a trend where I start analyzing what I am eating, which way or which diet, when I don't feel good. It might only be caused by something I have eaten, which I find it's an isolated situation more than a diet decision over time. It happened during last night where I woke up feeling really sick. I thought back to what I had for dinner, which was nothing more than a snack of cheese, some raw carrots, a couple of spoons of yogurt, a pear and some olives. I really wasn't hungry for a full meal.

Of the food listed I suspect it was the yogurt, even in a small amount the caused my issue.  A few weeks ago I went back to low carbs, more fat and more protein. I had good results with that way of eating in the past and by the way I was feeling a few weeks ago, I made the change. I remember a few years ago when I tried the Paleo diet, which got rid of all my indigestion almost immediately ... it still bothered me eating all of that fat, red meat, bacon etc.

When I was younger I spent 8 years as a vegetarian and I still remember today why I went to that type of diet. I still remember talking with the heart surgeon after he preformed a quadruple by-pass on my dad who was 58 years old at the time. I remember just a few months ago where medical journals were announcing they had made a mistake 30 years ago and now they find that real butter, whole milk, more fat and more protein is good for you and not the other way around.

A panel of medical experts on US News and World Report comes out every year with their rankings of all the different diets and Keto nor Paleo are ranked high, in the 40 different diets they examine. My friend, a colon cancer survivor, says moderation is the best diet. Just like anything else everyone seems to feel their way is the best way. Who do you believe?

It doesn't matter if it is diets, cameras, computers, cars, trucks, lifestyles or sports teams, they all have different opinions. Different opinions are good, they are healthy but how do you choose?

Two topics ... This morning I have doubts about my diet decision from a few weeks ago. I also have been thinking about the news and my announcement I'd never pay attention to it again. Like Stella shows in this photo ... If you don't stick your nose in it how are you going to know what it is, what to choose or what to listen to. You can't hide from life, good or bad. Not all decisions are correct, mistakes are made or analyzed. Everything changes because that is how life operates.

Stella and Heidi are pretty good teachers if I pay attention to what they are telling me or showing me. They adapt with ease when changes are made. They have no stress because they don't have a reason to stress out. The outside world doesn't affect them, they go with the flow. Their routines change, sometimes every few weeks sometimes longer than a month. It's not a big deal to them. Life is what it is to them, even with both having bad experiences before I got them.

Diets ??? Doesn't matter to either of them. They like all food, mine and theirs.

So I woke up early this morning with doubts about my recent eating style. Questions from two or three years ago about different diets were back in the forefront of my brain. Such as, where does all of that fat go, where it use to plug your arteries, forming plaque and leading you to by-pass surgery? What changed inside the body to make that higher fat intake or eating red meat move in a different direction, away from causing damage and health issues, as proponents of the Paleo and Keto Diets claim?

I've always wondered, what happens 15-20 years from now if they find out the uptick in health issues, heart surgeries and cancer was caused by the two fads, Keto and Paleo? Then on the flip side that also confuses me, I've known personally strict vegetarians that even ran many miles or biked many miles for exercise, have early deaths ... not making it out of their 40's or 50's. Was it their strict veggie diets, or something else like hereditary that caused them to die?

I still think cancer is more DNA related than diet related. I know old neighbors that lived all their life in this area, lived into their late 90's and probably were not vegetarians nor did they care if they were drinking water from the water system from town. They never exercised, some smoked non-filtered cigarettes starting in their teens. Bottle or filtered water was never an option for them.

Those kind of thoughts raise questions. Thus finding that right answer even harder.

I decided years ago I would eat what I call 'my diet' ... the medical experts call it the Flexitarian Diet I added in my friend's advice of 'moderation' and added a touch of my old lacto-vegetarian eating style. The problem with the 'my diet' and all of these modification I made,I would gain weight not lose it.

Well this morning as I turned on my computer I had a ton of emails from the blog. One reader had their first comment that needed to be approved. I read all comments and try to reply to all comments so it wasn't like I wasn't going to read her comment. Especially since it was right on topic ... the same topic I woke up thinking about.

She had valid points about meat based diets vs plant-based diets. It wasn't nothing new, I've known it for decades ... but it was a great reminder. It scrambled my brain cells just like that. I started pulling up old bookmarks that I had made when investigating all diet and what was the best way in 2018 or 2019. Her comment also made me go into the analysis mode about how I should eat, "Sure, you might look good on the outside, but what is going on, on the inside?"

So that story about eating, dieting, etc will be continued as I sort out what I am really going to do. I'd prefer not to be in constant change when it comes to my menus.

I spent all day during my waking hours yesterday fighting the urge to take a peek at the online news. I still had no desire to hear any kind of news commentary last night as I watched my ballgame. I never once checked a news channel during the game's commercial breaks .... but ... this morning I did click on CNN, FoxNews and Breitbart websites to take a look. I saw I hadn't missed anything.

So while Stella and I did our morning walk in warm tempers (32°) I thought a little about the decision I announced only a couple of days ago of boycotting the news. With each head turn, or pushing her nose under the snow, along with her leisurely pace ... I thought "what's the big deal if I look at the news or not" ... it's life. It is what it is, good or bad.

The strongest thought I had though was about me ... it was words I remember growing up when my mom would explain to me that I could NOT have everything my way all of the time. Funny how something said 50 some years ago is clear as ever today.

I thought about that and she was right. No matter how much I want things a certain way, that does not mean I get them that way no matter how much I bitch and complain. Especially things outside my control. For 16 minutes this morning Stella was showing me for the millionth time ... relax, take it as it comes, and quit complaining about things you have no control over.

Now since I have admitted that I do and have changed my mind a lot since I started this blog in 2011 over on Blogger I will take a peek at the news headlines again and since I have been accused more than once in my life of being opinionated ... I will on occasion blog about my opinions on the news and politics.

Before my news boycott the other day I either read it somewhere or heard it on tv, that news channels are no longer just news stations but news AND entertainment. Different reporters for each, where some reporters are not reporters at all, but just providing entertainment in a news format. It might be good for me to remember that in the future when tv news pisses me off over the limit.

Just like having all of these thoughts racing through my brain this morning, I am having recent problems with motivation. I mean my days are always open, with little scheduled. Plus I always have the option to be flexible, so it would seem motivation would never be a problem for me.

Just like habits are hard to break, so is my lifelong issue of procrastination. I always put things off until the last minute or until I have no choice but to do it or I'm in trouble. Again ... those are just part of life and I am not the only person in the world that struggles with either of them.

If you are older, do you remember January 1977 when the government announced that we as a country had a fuel shortage and everyone needed to turn their thermostats down to 55°, no matter what the weather was outside? Luckily I only had a few conversations in the living room while wearing my winter coats and gloves back then ... I was moving to the beach in Carlsbad California that month.

Well this year I decided instead of saving as much energy as possible, leaving a smaller footprint in the atmosphere by turning off my heat at different times of day or night ... that I would set my room thermostats to 65° and leave them there, 24/7. In my old house, each room has its own thermostat for the baseboard electric heat system. No furnace here.

My spreadsheet shows I just passed 2018 total kilowatts used for the year and I have two months left on my billing cycle. I use the budget plan where I pay the same amount every month and at the end of April the electric company and I balance the bill. They either give me a refund for overpayments for the year or I pay them what is needed to zero out the account.

Since I am in the mode to question everything I asked myself yesterday was it worth it? Is it worth paying a couple of hundred dollars more at the end of the year to stay warm 24/7? My brain and body screamed "YES" ... my conservative, accounting background, cheapskate said "NO". Just another decision I need to make. Nothing important ... it's just life and something that all people decide as a normal activity.

Before I bought the Canon G9 X Mark II in January I spent months doing research on all different kinds of cameras. Like I mentioned before, everyone has their own ideas which is best. Whether it's an individual opinion, a blog review with affiliate links, or a real camera dealer website that is giving their review ... every list "best of" or recommendation was different.

So in my Flipboard account this morning I receive a new article "The 5 Best Digital Cameras" ... my Cannon was not listed of course, like other lists showed last fall. No, this list made in January had 3 of 5 cameras listed, cameras that I either have or thought about buying. Go figure.

You can tell that Stella was positive she was on a deer scent and knew for sure they had been in our area just minutes before us. She did turn my direction though when I told her "let's go home" then passed me on a trot heading home.

I analyze things too much. I always have as far back as I can remember. I had to get to the bottom of everything and find the perfect answer or the best way of doing things. That drives me crazy just like it does or would do to you. I'm sure. How do I change that after being that way most of my life? Another lesson from Stella is to take things as they come.

She can tell it's getting warmer. For the 2nd day in a row she was running fast.

Maybe I'll feel better and not so confused after the time change this weekend. Not really confused but just having a lot of questions where I want some definite answers. Maybe if I know that Spring is right around the corner with that time change, my brain cells will throttle back, line up in the correct formation and I can get back to a more relaxed life. Really, I am relaxed ... it's just my brain that is overactive.

Stella cannot collect accurate data unless she has her nose below the snow. Otherwise she would just be guessing who or what had been there, what day or how long ago. She wasn't into eating frozen dirt today ... strictly data collection.

Another morning walk in the books. Temps aren't bad and it will be close to 55° tomorrow afternoon. She's content.

As you can see, Heidi moved just a little from the time we started our walk (top photo) and when we got back. She is the most sane living creature around here.

By noon the snow was gone and it was above 40° ... heat wave !!!

I've lost my train of thought after all of this verbiage I typed this morning. No worries, I'll get it all figured out, hopefully sooner than later. I have a lot of reading to do today because I want to stabilize my eating habits once and for all. I have a gut feeling that "Flexitarian" is the way to go. It matches my mental makeup, giving me options with many choices to choose from. Yet, Vegetarian is probably the healthiest, unless I believe that medical panel on US News & World Report.  :)

Strict and regimented things or schedules have never worked well with me.

Good times here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana this morning.

Stella Feels The Warmth

Just because the weather has changed for the time being doesn't mean that Heidi changes her daily routine. That will not happen until the temps hit the 70° mark a couple of months from now, most likely. The sound of "mid 30's" seems like a heat wave and a welcomed change even with a 70% chance of a ran/snow mix later this afternoon.

Stella and I stepped outside earlier than we had in months, before 8am. That is just how nice the morning felt. I could hear all kinds of birds as I walked from the carport to the field.

Stella could feel the difference compared to the last two or three morning and I could tell how excited she was. She turned to see if I was as excited as her and if I was going on the walk or was I just going to stand around watching her.

She was so shocked with the change in temperatures that she had to sit and enjoy it before she did anything else. I was already a few steps in the field before she moved. There was nothing for her to really look at, she was just taking in all that warm air at 28°, filtering through her nose. I thought it felt much warmer than that but three different weather apps were telling me the same temps.

Whereas the ground was extremely soft and muddy at times during our Wednesday afternoon walk it was nice to feel it hard as a rock this morning. I had overdressed by putting on my North Face snow boots that I use for rain or extremely wet fields.

Google Chrome users, I assume you got the notice from Google yesterday to update "right this minute". If not, you need to update your browser now!! To check to see if you have the latest update they are saying the version of Google Chrome you need to have is 72.3626.121

Here is a link to show you the process and why the urgency. I had been using that browser a few weeks ago because the latest version of Firefox had been crashing on me a few times every day. For some reason I went back to Safari a week to ten days ago. It was faster than normal, I knew I had security and it had the built-in "disable auto-play".

I found out this morning when I opened Chrome to see what version I had, that I had updated it the first of March with the version listed above and possibly in time to prevent any damage to my computer. A year or so ago I decided to "un" Google myself and moved all of my email from gmail to new iCloud accounts that I could get through Apple mail.

This link will show you some options to get away from Google products and still have the same kind of programs, apps or features. Since Apple had about all of those types of features many years ago, that synchronized between devices, Blogger was really the only thing I could not escape from. Thus for my one public blog and my two private blogs on Blogger, I had to keep my gmail address to access those. I don't send nor receive any email through those gmail accounts.

I know it's almost impossible to transfer a Blogger blog to WordPress due to the different platforms used. Yet Blogger will accept a transfer file from WordPress with no issues. If I could figure out a way to transfer my large Blogger blog to WordPress I'd do that in an instant.

You may have seen my earlier post this morning when I said I was no longer watching news on TV nor reading any online news sites. I still haven't but came very close to turning on the TV after our morning walk this morning. Why ??  It's a habit and one that I will need to work on for the next ten days to break.

I thought about my decision of tuning out the news while I was on the walk this morning. The question "what now" popped in my head. More along the lines of what do I blog about now, not really what do I do now in my daily routines. My life doesn't need the news but statistics show blog readers love posts on news or politics, whether they agree with you or not.

Still, my blog doesn't need the chaos and I will be more than willing to accept a lower number of visitors and a few less angry emails in my inbox by staying away from the news and then blogging about it.

I have mentioned before I have never been a 'prime time' tv watcher. I still have some shows I watch on a regular basis, usually after I tape them on the DVD so I can fast forward through the commercials. Most of these shows are not on the network channels but are on the History or National Geographic channels. The show Project Blue Book is quite interesting and is based on a true story. UFOs and Russian Spies in the 1950's is what it is based on.

I still like watching Building Off The Grid. I am always amazed what people come up with in the design of their house or cabin and what they plan to use for energy, plus food source. Homestead Rescue is another that is interesting but the amazing thing in that show is how many people are trying to live off the grid that have no business doing it ... because they did not do any research before they moved and are now asking for help. Sometimes they have put themselves in a life threatning situation.

I like Hometown, down in Laurel Mississippi. I visited there in the summer of 1969 and left Biloxi about a week before their hurricane, just after the moon landing. So I was curious enough the other day to check out online information for the town of Laurel. I'd gain about 10° on average year round in temperatures. I even looked at their history of tornadoes. The stats were very similar to where I live now but I expected that Laurel MS would have a lot more tornadoes than I have here.

Getting back to that habit of turning on the tv right after our morning walk, eating habits are another hard thing to break as I am finding out this week. I was so good last week and saw amazing results after six days of being disciplined. This week I've not only eaten more carbs every day but I added those two level tsp of sugar for each cup of coffee I have. Two cups per day, four teaspoons of sugar per day or 16g of carbs just for the sugar.

All small numbers. All within the allowances of typical medical diet suggestions. Yet I can feel a difference. My stomach feels bigger than last week. Not bloated just bigger. I also feel like I have gained the weight back that I lost those first six days. (5lbs)

As far as my diet goes, I am allowing myself 50g of carbs per day. That is more than Keto's diet plan but what the owner of Paleo suggested.  Before this week I was staying below that limit, felt better, not as hungry, more energy. This week I have more urges to eat, have taken a daily afternoon siesta and feel heavier.

I also came close to going to CNN, FoxNews, Breitbart and The Guardian while I was waiting for the photos to load into WordPress from my computer. (It's warmer ... Stella's restless and wandering around inside the house) That will be another hard thing to fight through. What do they say, ten to fourteen days to break a habit or start a new one?

With the book on Steve Jobs being such a detailed slow read I was glancing through my bookshelves this morning looking for something else to read. Maybe something a little 'lighter'. I don't mind reading some books a second or third time but I also have books on my shelf that I bought years ago but never read. There has to be one that can pique my interest enough to read.

Sometimes Stella will get tangled in the wild vines that have very sharp thorns. Before I can walk over and pull those off of her, she will just tear through them. The vine you see in front of her got stuck on her neck and she just tore through it without any kind of injury. I couldn't walk over there fast enough.

The back edge of the field had a lot of deer scent I guess. She spent more time along that back edge than she did on the walk itself.

I just received my email notice from the USPS telling me what mail they are delivering today. I have noticed since they started that service based on when I signed up for the notifications, I stopped getting mail for my neighbors in my mailbox. Still 99.9% of the mail delivered is tossed into the recycling bin after I block out my name and mailing address.

I also just got a text from my friend that lives in the Chicago suburbs. She escaped from her freezing weather to her mother's winter home in Florida on Tuesday. She is lauging as she is telling me today her weather the rest of the week will be in the 70's and 80's. Here I've been thinking how nice the 30's feel and am excited about the 50's.  LOL

Stella thought she could disappear on me but the camera found her.

I glance in the direction she is looking thinking there might be some deer to see. I saw nothing along the horizon, from one end of the north woods to the other. She must have smelled them or heard them moving through the woods.

Yes, you just witnessed a little running this morning. See, warm weather does make her feel better. I have been filling up my 'junk mail' folder lately with emails about cannabis oil. They have found one of my iCloud accounts. I don't remember signing up for anything new lately using those accounts. Apple mail automatically filters email like that so I don't have to bother with it.

The reason she is not veering off to the right like she normally does, there are a couple of mole hills of dirt exposed and before I could get to the yard she was already trying to eat the top of the frozen dirt pile like we would eat an ice cream cone. Frozen dirt !!!!

She looked for more all the way to the carport. She knows she can always eat a little frozen dirt before I can get her to stop.

That box and those cables running into the house are now antiques I guess. It's my AT&T landline telephone box and the phone lines running from that box under the house to two different locations where phones use to be located. I remember the year I bought the Sony wireless phone, 900Mhz with the built-in answering machine. It could set on a table or be mounted on the wall. Top of the line electronics.

Ah yes ... landline phones.   :)

As you can see, it was a pretty lazy afternoon here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I guess the excitement of the day was the feeling I had for a very short time that I might be checking out that fall detection feature on my Apple Watch. I was sitting at the computer starting this blog post when I started feeling really dizzy. I seriously thought I was going to pass out. During the time I was was a little dizzy I glanced at my watch for my pulse at the time and it was only 58bpm. I did the watch's EKG test just to see if anything showed up and things were normal.

Once I realized I had not eaten any breakfast, I had some small amounts of different food by the tablespoon, hoping to get some fast absorption to where I would feel better. While I sat on the couch for a while to see what was going to happen with me, I decided the best idea was lay down, after all we were all up at 5:05am this morning.

By the time I woke up the afternoon was almost over and that sure did look like snow falling as I glanced out the window. Taking the afternoon walk was not an option for a couple of reasons. For one, in the that is Stella in the first picture sleeping on the couch taken right after I woke up. That is Heidi yawning as I walked back in the bedroom to get my shoes. I could see they had no plans of going outside for anything.

The snow fall wasn't heavy, in fact you can barely see it against the background of the trees. We are suppose to have a mix of rain and snow for the rest of the night, stopping around midnight with a possible 1" to 2" of snow on the ground when it is finished.

While I was standing outside taking those pictures of the snow, I could hear the sounds of wet pavement as cars were passing on the highway. These stones barely show there is the same amount of rain as there is snow, both very very light.

I have a fridge full of good food and I can't think of anything I am hungry for. In fact as I looked around for other options of food to eat, nothing looked good to me. I am still feeling slightly nauseous, that cannot be a good thing. I have a sneaky suspicion it was the Oikos Greek yogurt I had that has made me feel this way. I've had a hard time digesting any brand of yogurt lately.

After being up a short time the hounds have confirmed to me they are not going outside for anything. Stella woke up long enough to check out that it was me walking around the house, then went back to the couch to sleep. Heidi never left the bedroom and is back to sleep. I need to find a book to read.

Although I slept most of the afternoon away I have to admit it's been quieter than normal here today with me not reading any of the news sites nor tuning into the news channels on tv. I've looked at sports news on the computer and I did watch a show on tv that was taped last night ... but no news. No 'noise' running around my brain, no mumbling to myself and wondering what is going on in today's world.

Luckily I have an IU game to watch at 8pm, a couple of new book possibilities and plenty of time to figure out what to eat.

It's been almost too quiet today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

My First Day Without News

I did it in October and I'm going to do it again, otherwise I am heading down the path of insanity. I am no longer going to watch nor read ANY kind of news outside of sports. I have already found out this morning before our morning walk just how much time I was taking to read online news. That didn't count the amount of time I had the tv turned to the news. By the end of Wednesday night I couldn't take anymore.

It was all crap and it didn't matter which side of the political fence you are on.

With my tv remote in hand, I went into my DishNetwork settings and deleted the two news channels from my menu. One of them was a business channel but they would discuss politics when appropriate.

Then I went to my Twitter account and deleted any account I was following outside of sports, plus the tornado account. I went to my Feedly account and repeated the same process. I went into this blog's dashboard and deleted a few blog links in my "Favorite Links" section that dealt with politics or immigration.

So as I write this I have been up and online for two hours and twenty-four minutes. I have not seen nor read a word of news or politics. I went for over a month back in October. It was fantastic and I could tell a major difference in my day and thought process. My mood was better. I used less internet data and spent less time on the computer.

Only after moving my main blog to Wordpress in early December, with an announcement I was going to be more open in my writing and expand the subjects for blogging, did I take a look at the news so I could make comments about it.

THAT was A TERRIBLE DECISION !!!!

It will be just as hard as following a strict diet change to keep from taking a peek at the news sometimes. The fact is, I know what's going on. I know it's not going change as long as Trump is President and maybe even longer. I know that I cannot do anything about any of it. Me watching or reading about it does nothing to improve my life.

I am just tired of hearing it. All of it.

Stella and I still have about 20 minutes before it's time to take our walk this morning. It's going to be warmer today which is good. We did the afternoon walk yesterday but without the camera. As the field thaws it was soft and muddy in spots. With a mix of rain tonight and tomorrow the field will be a mess, maybe too wet to take a walk. At least it will be much warmer.

NO NEWS will be read or watched here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.