9 Years Ago Today

It's been 9 years already, where I headed north from 'the tropics' to NW Indiana near Merrilville to pick up Heidi from her foster mom. I had found her for adoption on Guardian Angel Basset Hound Rescue in Illinois and knew instantly she needed to be with Winston and Sadie. That was July 28th, 2011. I had stopped by Costco and picked up a new dog bed since I had time to burn. I had forgotten they were on Central time where I was on Eastern time in the same state.

She spent the first 15-20 minutes of the drive literally talking to me non-stop as if she was telling me her story. I had the dog bed sitting level with the front seat on stacks of bagged dog food. She had the perfect view out the window for the four hour drive home.

After I searched for that photo I decided to go back through my library of photos and search for each year on this day. Here are a few from past years in July 28th. For some reason on all of these photos that were taken outside I can feel the muggy humidity through each photo. Stella has stopped scratching all the time since moving to the "Wild West".

It's a long way from corn country to the high desert. It was a great move at just the right time.

One thing I don't see as much out here are butterflies. I could if I would plant the correct plants and flowers that would attract them. But when I think of landscaping I think of more chances for snakes to visit me and the hounds and Walter.

In 2013 it was hot and muggy I imagine back in 'the tropics' and even with the AC running this was the coolest spot in the house for Sadie to sleep.

Winton enjoying the Reds game no doubt. I was a little confused by the sweatshirt and had to do a double check on the photo info to see if that was really taken in July. It was and I am still confused why I'd be wearing one.

This is my current location last year, 2018.

Friday morning we woke up and saw that all the mountains had disappeared over night. Rain was on the schedule within the hour and it rained and rained hard. Maybe it's the monsoons that are making me lazy and unmotived to go explore. Not sure but I've been dragging with no energy this past few days.

The excitement of the day yesterday was seeing this young lizzard on the back wall. Neither Walter or Stella saw it and they were standing right next to me when I took the photo. As for the lizzard we had inside the house out in view for a few days ... disappeared. Walter claims he knows nothing about that disappearance.

By Friday night Walter had about all the excitement he could handle for one day. He spent a lot of time growling and barking at his bones and himself during the day since Stella had declared it a day of rest and didn't want to wrestle that much.

I had just sat the last bowl of kibble down on the floor to feed Heidi when I stepped outside to see this. What a way to start the day.

The sun was just clearing the eastern landscape towards Tombstone and Bisbee.

It was lightly raining as I headed north to Huachuca City to have a huge breakfast at Sunny D's. Their pancakes are as big as the plate and their biscuits and gravy are irresistible. If you are ever in that area that is the place to stop for breakfast or a good lunch.

Walter tried early this morning to get Stela to play but no response. I am beginning to think a new basset puppy is just what Stella needs for some relief ... where Walter will be occupied with his new brother. We'll see what happens and that is about a month away.

I have to admit ... he likes the camera and the attention.

It wasn't raining up north of Phoenix. My friend sent me this photo biking on the trails outside of Prescott. She said the small town was busy with a lot of people out but nobody was wearing a mask. Why does not that surprise me. Yet, Arizona does NOT have statewide mandate, it is only determined by the mayors of each town/city.

I had a long Friday night call with my old friend back in Indiana. We each had similar virus stories. Basically people don't follow what they are told to do and then the virus spreads. He too was feeling low engery when it comes to riding the bike but seems more interested in little projects that he has not finished around the house. Of course the muggy humid midwest puts him in a different environment when doing those small projects.

My diversion started yesterday afternoon as I tuned into the first Reds game on tv. That was followed up by the Arizona - San Diego game afterward but by that time I had watched enough baseball. It's a strange game to watch with nobody in the stands. Even that disrupts businesses, vendors and people that work at the games. I read where College and Pro football hopes to have a policy of 25% of the seats filled for their games this fall, if they even play. Baseball will give them a lot of good data on if that process of playing games is going to work.

The highlight of my day today, besides that breakfast ... vacuuming. I love to vacuum and have just enough carpet and the living room rug to keep me occupied. Walter shows no sign of fear as I run the Dyson to pick up all of Stella's dog hair. It's late Saturday afternoon and all the dogs are passed out after their afternoon kibble.

I am going to see if I can find a online source to watch the Reds game for free. Otherwise I'll head out to the patio and enjoy the 85° weather.

Things are still wet but are fine in the "Wild West".

Rain & Organization

We were up early as usual but it wasn't because of thunder or lightning it was just normal routine. Stella starts whining right before sunrise, at least that is the sound I wake up to. That wakes up Walter who sleeps next to Stella on the floor on the side of the bed. Once Walter wakes up he trots over to Heidi's bed and pushes his flat nose up against hers, so she is now awake. They all know that breakfast kibble will be served within minutes of reaching the kitchen. Once they noticed the sky full of rolling storm clouds they were not sure they would make their trip out to the yard right after breakfast. I've been waiting for rain, those weeds will be easier to pull out of the ground now instead of using chemicals to kill them.

High humidity is not normal around here most of the time but I could feel the thick air. One weather app said it was a 81% and the other 72%. No matter which was correct, it was muggy. I could tell that any outdoor activity wouldn't last long so I had time to do what I have been wanting to do for quite a while. Take stacks of paperwork off my desk, sort and file or shred. Last year before moving I cleaned out my files filling THREE 32gal trashcans and taking them to the recycling center. So my files now are only one plastic container and are also scanned digitally.

Still I spent all morning on the computer while the hounds slept next to my desk. So the organizing didn't start until a little after 1pm. The rain poured straight down with little wind so I could keep all the windows open as the temperature dropped to 66°. After it stopped the winds picked up from the south and really cooled things off. I think we might make up the deficit we had for annual rainfall at this time of year.

There have always been great sky shows and all three of my DSLR's were sitting on the counter waiting for action. I didn't see a lot of flooding today so the ground is still absorbing all that is catches.

That rain you see is probably between 6-8 miles away.

Walter had his first chance at "problem solving" this morning. He is housebroken and goes outside after each meal. This morning the winds were strong and it felt like rain was within minutes away. Could he go out in the yard, do what he needed to do before it starts to rain??? That was his question of the day. No photos to prove it, but he decided he had to go no matter what ... so he trotted out in the yard and made it back inside just as the first drops were hitting the patio.

Of course the best view of the rain where you can still stay dry is looking out the living room window. With the window open and a screen that Stella had not tried to climb through, they could get a good accurate smell of the rain hitting the yard of rocks.

I think the loud clap of thunder startled him a little bit.  LOL

By mid-afternoon the skies were trying to turn blue and clear but was having a pretty rough time of it.

There really are times that Walter is actually chewing one of his toys instead of Stella's ears, jowls or legs. She never cared about chewing toys the past few years until he showed up. Now she wants every toy that he has.

By 4pm when I sat down to check out the first official baseball game of the year on ESPN, Walter let me know he had not been getting enough attention today. He spent about a minute telling me all about it with his growling and half barking.

I didn't feel like cooking dinner last night and when that happens most likely I'll call for pizza delivery. At least I have ordered smaller pizzas now than past years. That's a medium from Papa John's.

For the first time I tried their Jalapeno Poppers ... very good and well worth the $4 order. That had just the right amount of "hot" ... they didn't drive you to your knees, blind you or make you sweat under your eyes, but they did have a nice 'bite' to them. Highly recommended.

I didn't watch much of the baseball game and ended up flipping through channels ... and of course nothing interests me. I'll post this then head back to the couch to restart reading Going Back To Bisbee. I have added a few more blogs to the list on the sidebar for you to check out. I have been told by a few past readers they won't read until I go back to WordPress ... not going to happen. LOL

It's wet and not wild, here in the "Wild West" tonight.

Monsoons Are Here

Today proved not only are the monsoons here but the tv forecast last night was correct ... it was going to rain today and it was going to rain hard, still might as I write this. She said we are a little over 2" below what we normally have this time of year but rain is in the forecast for the next 7 days. Between these first two photos, one was taken yesterday afternoon and one this afternoon before I sat down to write this. Those winds and rain have lowered the temps to the 70's so the ac was turned off and the windows were open all day while I read a book.

Walter shows no signs of being afraid of thunder or the hard rain. Stella still gets a little restless if the thunder is really loud but overall she has really improved with the storm anxiety she came with five years ago. Nothing bothers Heidi and she will sleep through most thunderstorms.

The thunder was rolling yesterday afternoon as we were out on the patio. They didn't know whether to go out into the yard or stay under cover. They ended up picking their own spots on the patio and staying there. The wind was cool and fairly strong. Do you need to wear a mask if you are out and it's raining? I'm not sure if that is a serious question or not ... or a joke. I just received word or a link that my previous home state of Indiana is making it a statewide mandatory to wear a mask.

Not until July 27th ... why not immediately or at least as soon as tomorrow morning. Some people here in Arizona are waiting for our governor to make the same decision but I must admit, it's a pretty fierce issue on that. Many feel you can't make them wear a mask and they are not doing it. If the cases are low in their area if any at all ... do they need to?

Stella is walking less and less and when we do walk early in the morning she has started to cut through a parking lot instead of walking to the end and around the vet building, making the walk shorter. Is it her hips or is it too hot even when it's early enough that the temperature is in the low 70's. I might have to buy my first harness for Walter if he starts walking with us because he is just too strong for a dog collar. I doubt he can walk the same distance as Stella and I walk.

This is him yesterday hearing the loud rolling thunder.

We've been lazy lately. Haven't done much but stay at home, read books, check the internet, a siesta here and there and nothing much more than that. Major League Baseball starts tomorrow so I'll tune into the two games on tv but I am not sure how interested I will be. So far I have not had enough interest to  watch the exhibition games they have shown on tv. It's weird watching games with no people in the stands and fake fan noise.

Walter was almost asleep, when he heard something that I did not even hear.

This is normal procedure when one of them finishes drinking water. Both are sloppy drinkers and from Stella's hanging drools or Walters soaked chin, they each have plenty to clean off the other.

Walter stood there and looked around the corner for his doberman friend next door but he didn't show up today. That is a true look of disappointing I see.

Just like that he walked back into the computer room and went to sleep for his mid-morning nap.

He hasn't figured out this "rain stuff" yet but today he thought it tasted pretty good after his first swig of rain water that settled on the patio. Luckily, unlike Stella, he walked AROUND the puddle and not THROUGH the puddle.

Heidi slept through all the thunder and all the hard rain. A cool breeze through that southern bedroom window is the perfect place to sleep.

A book a friend recommended caught my interest after it arrived from Amazon ... I couldn't put it down and finished it today around 3:30pm.

Below are some photos I pulled out of the "Favorites" file

Stella - October 2018

Winston - November 2015

Sadie and Stella - January 2018

Heidi - October 2019

It could be "movie night" tonight, since I have a few ideas which ones to pull off the shelf. It's pretty slow in the "Wild West" lately.