Tonight's Post Is All Heidi

It had been days since Heidi had any photos on the blog. She really is camera shy or is just stubborn enough that she doesn't want to be bothered having her picture taken. So the other day I decided I would go to her and take whatever pictures I could get. These show her typical day as I took two days worth. I just missed getting pictures of her sleeping outside in the sunshine because every time she would wake up by the time I came back with a camera. She loves the bed I bought a couple of months ago and will spend most mornings in the bedroom lined up with the sunshine while she sleeps on the floor.

You can tell it's cold at night, not that I leave the windows open during the 30's and 40's but she knows what time of year it is ... it's again a two blanket winter.

I put one of her favorite blankets folded in the corner of the computer room but that wasn't what she needed. She pawed and scratched the blanket from the corner of the room out by the book case, out of the way but directly behind my desk chair. She folded it exactly like she wanted it.

Any breed of dog will walk in circles to mash the grass down before they lay down ... this is her sequence to get the blankets in the perfect spot. She does this many times throughout the day.

She doesn't stay in one place too long either.

One of her favorite spots to sleep after her morning breakfast. She will also walk in circles in that space before laying down.

Once again not going to look directly in the camera.

Headed out for a nap in the sunshine.

Not happy having every one of her movements photographed.

She was sound to sleep in the sun until she either heard me or smelled my scent, that I was outside looking at her.

The day is over. Fed twice, many naps and she will do this while I blog tonight.

The last couple of days have been busy with errands around town, and a bike ride in the early afternoon. Yesterday I went to Lowes for their Craftsman sales but only bought one thing Craftsman but something else that was also on sale. This morning was going to be a busy morning. With some of my tv channels losing signal Friday night, the Cox technician was here by 8am. He found the trouble to be out in their box in my yard. Of course another technician can only do that kind of work and that's another appointment ... luckily I don't have to be here for them to fix the problem.

I also had a friend coming over this morning to pick up shelving my neighbor gave me when he moved out. I decided I did not want to put holes in the walls to hang those shelves plus I didn't have that much stuff to fill up a garage full of wall space. There were enough shelves to go around the garage more than once.

While I waited for him to pick up the stuff, I put a shelving unit together to not only hold the few things I brought with me when I moved, but also to have a workbench of some type in the garage. Instead of having different tools, tape, sockets, tape measures and anything else that would go into a toolbox ... scattered in different portable tool boxes and kitchen drawers ... I wanted everything organized in that black Coleman tool box.

The Cox tech, my friend picking up the shelves I had and me getting to this picture, job completed, taking me 3 hours. By 11am I was on the road for a Saturday morning bike ride.

These next few photos are taken from the patio but zoomed 65x and is clearer than the 300mm zoom I use on the Nikon D3500.

Those are the Mule Mountains down by Bisbee.

It did get over 70° today but I am finding out that since it is winter, even if it is sunny and high temps, there is still cool wind most of the time. A little too cold for cargo shorts but still sweatshirt weather after the early morning hours.

My hip and lower back feel good after my 26 mile ride today and most of it in a headwind of 14-18mph. For the last two days I have applied an ice pack to the spot that is sore plus taking those natural supplements to heal tissue and promote healing of muscle and bone. I plan to at least ride a short ride tomorrow.

I'll try to get out tomorrow for some local exploring. I have some new ideas of where I am going. I might reverse my riding to go in the morning with cooler temps and the exploration in the afternoons. Stella did not mind not being the featured hound tonight ... she sleeps as much as Heidi does.

Another beautiful busy day here in the 'Wild West'.

A Short Trip To Miller Canyon

I had seen the road sign "Miller Canyon Rd" every time I was driving south to the Coronado National Forest or down further where I could turn back north on Hereford Rd. It's a popular road for the local mountain bike riders and was part of the weekend ride a few weeks ago in honor of a young lady that had passed away too early in life. So today I grabbed a few cameras and drove down to see what I was missing. It is not as high nor as steep as Carr Canyon or Montezuma Pass but the road is narrow and in many places just one lane.

Turning off Hwy 92 I passed through a small residential area of very nice homes that had fantastic views.

It would be the first trip for the 2007 FJ but from the past FJ's I've owned I know what it can do in this type of terrain. It is the best 4x4 of all the cars and truck that I have. I started the morning by trying one more time to find the camera shop in town. I had a phone number this time and a better idea where it was located. Only one problem .. the number was disconnected and in that small shopping center there wasn't a sign that a camera shop ever existed. So I had four different cameras with me including the iPhone camera.

See if you can tell which camera took which photo.

As I pulled into the Lower Parking area there was plenty of room for RVs, trucks with trailers, and had restroom facilities. I am not sure if overnight camping was allowed but I did NOT see any signs saying it wasn't allowed. Based on the map I had, it was farther than I wanted to walk to the trails and possibly too much incline for my walking at this time ... so I took a few photos, hopped back in the FJ and headed to the top.

Believe it or not, that FJ hit the road for the first time in November 2006 ... 13 years old and only one owner before me. There is not a scratch or dent anywhere and it's very possible that it never drove off paved roads until I bought it.

I was not going to the top of this, it was just a closer view of what I took standing by the FJ.

Looking at this picture I have to wonder just how many different kinds of landscape do you see between the trees, wild grass, flowers etc.

At this point of the drive there was enough room to pull over and let a large truck towing a horse trailer pass by, coming at me. Up ahead I would have had to backup to a place I could pull to the side of the road. It wasn't scary steep but quite narrow at times.

From the way the map looked I didn't think this road was going to get too high in elevation. I did know for sure that I was not going to be driving along the side of the mountains straight ahead nor going to the top of them.

As I pulled into the Miller Canyon Upper Parking Lot, there was a U-turn with a sign for private property straight ahead ... or to the right of this picture. I didn't see a sign but the maps call that property the Beatty's Guest Ranch and Orchard. I did not see any entry or road leading to the Miller Canyon Recreation Area ... unless we are looking at the entry point in this picture.

Behind me and to the left of where I am taking this photo, all parking spaces were taken, leaving me no room to park and check out the trails. I had only two choices and that was to head back down to the lower parking area or head home.

If you can try to picture a 26'-29' Class C RV coming from the other direction. Luckily we were at a point I could slide to the right edge in the rocks to let her pass by. She would barely have enough room to make the U-turn at the top ... then again, she might have been too long to make the sharp turn back down the hill. Something tells me that wasn't the first time she had driven her motorhome up there.

I was able to go up and back down in 2-wheel drive. It just wasn't that steep and maybe two switchbacks at the most with plenty of room to turn out around the corner. It was the perfect weather to go hiking but I had done what I came for ... find out what is up here and take some photos. I'll come back another time to hike those trails at the top of the road.

Once you hit pavement it's just a short drive to Hwy 92. Those snowcaps you see are north of Tombstone almost 40 or more miles away.

When I walked into the house Heidi was nowhere to be found. She was outside sleeping in the sunshine but by the time I went back to get my camera, she heard me and met me inside. Stella on the other hand was sound to sleep in her crate. Once I opened the door she stopped as usual to get her collar put on then trotted outside. She wasn't finished sleeping and she loves the hot sunshine.

It took this with the patio post in the picture on purpose. I just wanted to show what a nice day it was. A little cool but still nice bicycling or hiking weather. I was/am going to take one more day off from riding. I am having very little if any pain at all in my lower back or right hip. Two of my bicycling friends feel that cycling will keep that hip loose and will help the healing process instead of causing any damage. Better to keep moving instead of being stagnant.

By the time an hour had passed, Stella had moved back inside because she gets too hot after about 15 minutes then came back outside to do the same thing she did before when she ended up getting too hot. It's a vicious circle I guess.

Here she is showing the the thoughtful process of a bloodhound sunbathing in the winter.  LOL

This is a zoom photo of Carr Canyon I think. If you look closely you can see the road in the center, switchback to the left and climb ... it would go behind what the photo shows. It is a road that I classify as 'scary' in some parts, 4-5  of them.

By the time I gave myself a haircut (13 years experience), Stella had moved back inside and was sleeping in the living room where it's nice and cool.

I'll end this post with some short notes, questions or comments ----

Those that use Blogger as your blogging platform, how do you like the "new Blogger"??? They are slowly changing it page by page. Is it time for me to install a new design??  (theme)

When I moved in June my old Dyson had been picking up dog hair out of the carpet for almost 11 years. That's a lot of dog hair. It was still working perfectly but more than a few people told me it was time for a new one. I waited until I moved before buying another Dyson. This time I went with the cordless model (can't remember the number) and that has really cut down on the time it takes to vacuum. Good purchase.

I have too many cameras.

I guess I should have NOT tried to save money when I bought the Nikon D3200 4 years ago and spent 2x or 3x as much to get a professional camera that does everything that I want. Instead I have spent too much money trying to save money. So I have two Nikon's and the small Canon G9X and EACH does one thing the best. Then the iPhone 11 camera improves so much it moves to the top of the list beating the DSLR's in everything but one thing ... 300mm zoom.

I replaced the D3200 with the D3500 because in the 4 years I've had the D3200 I've dropped it in a snow bank, had the wind blow it off a chair and bounced it a few times on my gravel driveway back in Indiana, plus it needed to be professionally cleaned. It looks like somewhere in Tucson is the closest place I can find to do that. Yet with the "Deal" at Best Buy this fall I could buy a new D3500 AND the 70mm-300mm lens I wanted for LESS THAN just the lens !!!

I am still not happy with the quality when using the 300mm zoom on the mountains from the patio. I am trying a different camera for that, "a loner" if you will, with 65x zoom and it is bringing in the mountains quite sharp and clear .... but that same camera does NOT take better pictures in low light, inside or even outside in the sunshine ... it has a "soft" picture quality.

Without any adjustments, the iPhone 11 camera I have now blows all of them away in picture quality ... except for the zoom.

I think I'll find a few camera shops in Tucson where I can sell some used equipment and get down to my iPhone camera and the camera that does well in max zoom. OR trade all that I have except my iPhone camera for something more professional that will do everything I am looking for in a sharp clear high quality photo. Stay tuned.

One thing good about blogs ... you can go back to any year you blogged, a lot of times on the exact date and see that things really haven't changed that much. I just found out this morning on this date just last year I woke up at 3:10am just like this morning. I also didn't get back to sleep in either year and got up to start the day a little after 4am. IN BOTH CASES, 2018 AND 2019 STELLA WANTED TO EAT HER MORNING KIBBLE WITHIN MINUTES OF WAKING UP AT 4AM !!!!  LOL

I was over on Wordpress this time last year claiming I was going to be more 'transparent' in my blogging and opinionated ... that didn't last long ... it was fun while it lasted but really not a good move. I came back here because it's free and Wordpress was wanting to charge me for a free account and they always had a limit on how many photos I could have in my account.

Their photos are better quality on the blog because they do NOT COMPRESS the photos like Google does on Blogger or in Google Photos. Bye bye sharp and clear when that compression happens to a photo.

(I hear the music for the ice cream truck that passes through the neighborhood every Thursday)

That music brings Stella out of a deep sleep.

So that's it for today. I am still debating on whether to take a 'short' bike ride today or hold off one more day. It's a confusing time for what to do.

These photos were taken with the following cameras/lenses:

Nikon D3500 / Nikon 18-55mm lens
Nikon D3200 / Tamron 18-200mm lens
Canon G9X
iPhone 11 Pro Max

Beautiful weather here in the 'Wild West' again today ... as usual.

No Excitement Or Adventure Here

I finally had a full night of sleep last night and felt much better than I did when I went to bed last night. Hardly any pain today in the hip and none in the lower back which was giving me the most trouble. I decided to resist getting into a car and taking a local roadtrip, thinking 'one more day' of resting could be all I needed. This photo was just past 6:07am.

Even with no plans, the sunrise still looks great and the coffee taste great. It was in the 30's when I opened the door to let the hounds outside this morning.

With all the rain we had last week I'd think there would be more snow on the Huachuca's than there is.

All three of us did get a morning walk in. Heidi is not having any trouble now of completing the .57 of a mile. Either she is in better shape or cooler temps. It's probably a little bit of both. Since I wasn't going anywhere and it was too cold outside Stella decided she would sleep most of the day.

Her friendly bloodhound kept an eye on her, standing right above her.

This just shows that a little string of drool across her nose doesn't bother her in the least. Sleep is sleep.

I've been trying to find some different adjustments to bring more sharpness to photos in the distance. Maybe it's my eyes that are not as sharp instead of the lens.

Stella trying to decide if it was warmer to stand up with the sun out. She decided it was too cool and went back inside and back to sleep.

This is looking east towards Tombstone and a photo I have not been able to capture from the patio until today.

Once again she is in deep thought. The drool has been there for hours.

It was either the chips and salsa with sour cream or possibly the pineapple for desert but soon after a brief light lunch I was out for a mid-day siesta. The sleep app on the phone recorded it as 'deep' sleep. By the time I was back on my feet, the hounds were wanting their afternoon meal. It's another beautiful day here in the 'Wild West'.

I feel like I am another day or two away from being completely painless. It's the lower back area right above the surgical hip. That 'rock' feeling I always seem to have inside the hip is not around today. Maybe I mashed it up when I decided no matter what I was going to sleep on my right side today.

It's a daily happening now every afternoon as Stella walks outside to listen for the puppy next door. She only gets to see him when the neighbor lifts him above the fence line. It is growing so fast that will not be possible much longer. She might like a younger hound to keep her playing but I have no plans to go down that path.

Not much news to blog about on a day like today.

A calm sunny cool day here in the 'Wild West' today.