It's Friday So Now What?

Today seemed to be identical to Thursday. That happens when you are retired and it happens when you are hermit living outside a small rural town in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. So it's definitely not a bad thing. The hounds don't mind and neither do I. After another late night of reading (~2am) last night while the hounds slept soundly next to me on the couch, we started our Friday about an hour later than normal.

Stella even kept her walk pretty much the same as yesterday, only this time she did not attempt to go down into the gully. With heaps of praise being the focus of my verbal herding, it was one of her best walks in a very long time. She got to do all the exploring she wanted and I didn't feel any frustration like I have with a feeling I was dragging her around the field with words and commands.

I guess it was something I picked up on while reading the book about Hero Dogs. Not only was it good to read that many other people had dog issues just as bad if not worse than Stella's separation anxiety or Sadie's destruction as a puppy, but what they did to either control the problems or train them to be better dogs.

They had trained over 218 dogs to be search and rescue dogs, certified to go worldwide in times of need. Most were labs or golden retrievers with a few border collies but not one was a bloodhound. The breed with the strongest nose of all breeds. I suspect the bloodhound would not pass their agility test that was required. I mean as puppies I have seen the bloodhounds I have had, lose the balance pretty easy and fall over ... just walking, let alone blancing themselves on a moving beam 20' high !!!

Almost all of the dogs they trained over a 24 year period were rescues and it wasn't until the end of the book where the 85-year-old original owner was starting puppy litters to train them in search and rescue at a much earlier age. It's a great story and a good book for any dog lovers out in our blog audience.

With the temps in the 30's it still felt warm this morning, just like Thursday. It will get up to 60° on Saturday but along with that is a 90%-100% chance of thunderstorms. Sounds to me it will be another day of reading books inside, maybe a siesta or a movie. I'm pretty flexible so who knows what might happen.

After our walk this morning, I told Stella "I'm going to the library" and she walked into the bedroom and laid down, waiting for me to close the door. I was tempted to just shut the door to see if she would try to break out but I reverted back to my cord system that I have used every time I leave. She has shown no signs of attempted escapes for the past few months.

The trip to the library was a little disappointing. I can usually find 2-3 new books to read, but not today. I spent extra time looking through the Non-Fiction aisles for other things to read. The books with the "new" label attached to the cover, move fast. If they are there a few days ago, they will not be there today. That is consistent year round, where weather nor time of year does not play a factor.

Yet there is one book that has been sitting on the shelves main display, out in the open for anyone to grab it. Other books written by government people who have retired, part of the deep state, or current political dreamers have come and gone the past few weeks I have made regular trips. This book is still sitting there and I have not seen it move.

Andrew McCabe's new book.  I wonder why?

I ended up checking out a book written in 2018, "The Future of Capitalism" by Paul Collier. With the subtitle "facing the new anxieties", maybe it will give me some reassurance that the idiots of the far-left cannot win in November 2020. Can there be 60 million people stupid enough to think that socialism is better than capitalism?

Since I could not find a second or third book to bring home with me today, I will continue reading the in-depth book about Steve Jobs, written a few years ago, with almost 600 pages of small print.

You can tell that Stella was having fun, prancing through the field back and forth across the path. I could  barely keep up with her this morning after she got past the first turn.

Some of the tv financial experts on the tv business stations are questioning if the "dingbat AOC" is really that stupid when it comes to economics or is she playing with people's heads? I mean some of the things she says makes you wonder since it proves she does not know the difference between "funded" and "tax abatements" ... really hard to believe that she has an Economics degree from an Ivy League school.

I saw this morning where Bernie is refusing the requests of the DNC to run as an Independent. He is filling out the paperwork today to run as a Democrat. It will be interesting to see how all that plays out. I still haven't heard a plan from any one on that side of political fence, about helping the middle class American people. I guess free health care for all, free college for all and open borders are their plans.

For you that are against the wall ... I hate to tell you there is a video online of a wall being completed in New Mexico. The continue to build more walls, not fences, as we speak. Believe me, they do not have to wait on funds to start the wall. It will not matter what the Democratic side of the house issues today. They have been building walls along the border for the past year, will continue to build without delays with funding already on hand.

As far as moving government money around from one department to another. This is NOT a new thing. It isn't a Trump invention either. It has gone on all the time, by different Presidents and is very common in government finance. I know because I spent over 20 years working in government finance and at times pretty high on the food chain.

I've had funding pulled back unexpectedly, I've had new funding dumped on me with instructions to spend it by the end of the fiscal year (September 30th) and as a retiree I sat here watching Obama pull 1.7 BILLION from the Veterans and just so happened to use 1.2 Billion for a new program of his for immigration support in his last year in office. A coincidence in the similar dollar values??? Not a chance. He was the best crook of all.

One thing I did notice during those 20+ years of government accounting, many times there was more than enough funding to get the projects done with a lot more funding sitting on the side in the "just in case" mode. Many times that money was never used or given back to those departments that gave it to you.

Believe me, there are millions and millions of appropriates just sitting around gathering dust and are available, without hurting any department projects. It's not a big deal with Trump moving funding around. Find something else to bitch about.

There really is a small old fence between the field behind the field we walk in. I wonder how long that fencing has been there. Stella was sure deer had been in the area.

The sun was trying it's hardest to shine this morning but it was not going to happen. Five hours later it had given up.

I noticed last night that hair IS growing back on both of her ears where she had scratched them down to bare skin. Like I said the other day, it took only one dose of the Wounded Warrior dog ointment to heal those raw spots.

By the time I returned from the library, Heidi was positive it was time for lunch. She started barking non-stop, then Stella followed up with constant howling. It was only 10am local time, about an hour too early for their lunch. We split the different and they basically got their way. I fed them lunch at 10:30am, justifying by telling myself that this spring it would be 11:30am .... She spent a little time outside but not as long as I would have expected.

She went back to sleeping her afternoon away in the big leather chair while Stella was on the couch. See, nothing changes around here.

I can't think of anything else that will happen important enough to blog about. So once again I will post this as soon as I am finished editing it, instead of waiting until the end of the day.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana as we move one day close to Spring !!!

8 Days Until March !!!!

Sunshine always makes a difference, no matter what the temperature is nor what month it is. It just makes a difference. I had not even started my first cup of coffee when I could hear the birds outside singing to each other like it was a Spring day. It was 29°. Again we all started our day later than a few weeks ago but none of us minded sleeping an extra hour. I couldn't stop reading one of the books last night, just picked up from the library yesterday. Can you guess which one kept me up past 1:30am reading?

With the high today going to climb into the middle 40's, all of the frozen puddles of water were starting to melt in the yard. Although the large puddle inside the carport remained water. I was happy I chose the North Face snow boots to wear this morning. I use them as my rain boots also ... because I am cheap. LOL

Stella had her own plans this morning. She veered off the return path and headed to the middle of the field. As long as she was heading in the general direction that I was on the path, it was okay. I kept an eye on her while I enjoyed the great morning, a little past 10am. The air was filled with different kind of birds chirping away, the sky was blue and the sunshine was bright. A perfect morning.

I was wearing layered clothing with my light down jacket, not the parka. I really didn't even need my gloves but wore them anyway. As I walked, so did Stella at a pretty brisk pace.

Slowly without any input from me, she gradually moved toward me and about the time I got to the first corner, she cut me off, walking in front of me over to the brush area next to the woods. She was so close to me when she cut in front of me she almost stepped on my boot !!!

After I moved out in front of her, I glanced behind me and didn't see her!!!! She had walked down into the woods maybe 6' before I barely saw her. As I walked over to find out where she was plus prevent her from getting further into the woods and then down into the gully, she turned and walked toward me like nothing happened.   LOL

As we moved into the part of the field that was no longer frozen but extremely saturated, I could still hear the sound of the leaves and long grass breaking with a crunching sound with each one of my steps. Water came up along the sides of my boots with each step. Stella stayed just to the side of the path to keep her paws dry as possible.

I let her move along the back edge of the field at her own pace. I walked up ahead of her and had moved over to the path that Stella was walking on.I had not walked along the edge of the field in back for many months. It was also drier up there compared to the path we use every day.

I was able to take the same photo of the turkey farm and AT&T tower but it looks so much different today because I was standing at the edge of the field about 20' closer to the tower. In my eyes it makes a huge difference while I used the same zoom setting as I always do. I could not believe how different it looked.

When I told her "let's go home", she was happy with that and headed out on the path, with a few stops along the way. She is such a funny bloodhound. No plans, no focus, and walks as if she goes from moment to moment without any thought of a plan. To say the least, she is a pretty laidback bloodhound.

This does not happen often ... she beat me to the yard this morning.

What is she thinking ????

LOL ... I have no idea. Classic pose for Stella, obviously in deep thought.

With the morning so nice, she and I spent some extra time right there in the north backyard. I picked up some new limbs and tossed them into the overgrown brush area. This is the area I'd like to light a match to and burn about 20 years of dead limbs, dead leaves and give the ground some new area for new growth.

See .... she can be a nice bloodhound when she want's to be. She isn't stubborn all the time. How can you resist that kind of look?? Yes ... she does get everything she wants, at least 99.9% of the time.

For new readers or first time visitors ... that fence post and rolled barbed wire has been there since the mid 1940's based on the story my dad told me.

Stella still continuing to move to her right to finish her walk along the side of the house.

Just because it was beautiful outside Heidi still had sleep to catch up on and wasn't happy when I woke her up. Later she came out, inhaled some water and went back to sleep on the big leather chair. It's the same chair that Winston use to use, then Sadie and now Heidi. It's a great comfortable chair and I sit there sometimes for hours reading.

With the great sunny day outside at noon you would think that the hounds would have gone outside and stayed for hours enjoying the great weather. I was willing to stay outside that long. It was up over 40° and sunny. I think you will find the following photos shocking. I'll let them tell the story. No .... neither went any further than the photos show.

Heidi seems to like Oikos Triple Zero blended greek yogurt. The brand by Greek God's is a little too sour for her and she will not lick the last of the container. As you can see with the Dannon brand she has no problem burying her head inside the container to lick the bottom of the container. I always share it will both hounds.

I like Plochman's Mustard but I hate their container. I keep the nozzle clean so it spreads the mustard evenly. The problem is the mustard blocks the opening of the container and prevents the flow of any mustard, no matter how clean the nozzle is. So to fix that .... I poured half the Plochman's container into a French's mustard container, which never stops the evenly smooth pour when the container is squeezed. Is that politically correct to do in today's society?  (joke)

That just shows you some of the exciting activity around here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I tried again, giving the hounds a chance to go outside to enjoy this weather but Stella did not wake up and Heidi went outside just long enough to pee and came back to the door.

Because of that I can almost assure that there will not be enough hound activity this afternoon to blog about. I will not get many more photos than what I have right now. Therefore I am going to post this now as my only post of the day instead of waiting until 6pm, thinking or hoping I'd have more photos to add.

So which book kept me up until 1:30am, where I had to force myself to put the book down and go to bed?

Hero Dogs by Wilma Melville with Paul Lobo.

I started the Bernie Sanders  book first yesterday afternoon because I was really curious what I would find. I started the book with an open mind and read 79 straight pages. It was interesting because many of the things that he wanted "his movement" to accomplish ... Trump has done since January 2017. Granted, Bernie wrote this book and what he wanted before the 2016 election but the fact still remains a few things have been accomplished by a man he hates.

Although I had read 79 pages without stopping, two names of people that he respects (in his own words) made me stop reading and my first impression of Bernie Sanders was correct. This is a man I want nothing to do with. Those two people? ... Linda Sarsour and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (my favorite dingbat)

Like all the other far left Presidential hopefuls, he wants to tax the rich and give more free services to those in need, middle to low incomes or those not wanting to work, plus of course ALL immigrants, legal or otherwise. Yet with millions of dollars in his bank account, and three luxury homes, I find it hard to believe that Bernie would like to give himself that same tax increase.

What he preaches against he has ... wealth.

Would he make the last ten years of his income tax returns public like he wants President Trump to do? Would any of the screaming Democrats make their tax returns public? Doubtful. Including Trump they have all followed the US Tax Code, I have no doubt about that but I also beliew a few people walked away paying nothing in taxes just like Amazon because they have top notch tax accountants.

Here's a tidbit about Bernie ... enjoy reading it:  Bernie's A Fraud !

Jussie Smollett ???   I can't stop laughing. What "a piece of work" .... let's see just how far they follow the letter of the law because I can bet my ass if that was me, I would be convicted as a racist, hate crime offender and would be behind bars the maximum amount of time allowed. Just mailing that hate crime letter to himself should put him behind bars based on Federal Law. Prove to me that I am wrong with that assumption.

A beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I'm going back to my book.