High Winds Energize Stella

First of all I hope all of my readers from the state of Mississippi made it through "tornado alley" yesterday without any damages to your home. I cannot imagine sitting through those type of winds. We have had tornadoes pass through this area but in all directions around us, in past years. Yet at 5am this morning I was bolted awake with a loud sound as if my driveway was filled with idling cars, trucks and motorcycles. No it wasn't a dream. I got up to check outside from every side of the house. I was hearing sounds from my house I have never heard before.

So when Stella and I stepped outside this morning around 10am the winds were howling but with the new app suggested by Maricacb a few weeks ago showed me they were only 19mph from the west and we might have a burst up to 38mph at times.

From the first step she took in the field, Stella was energized. She hopped her first few steps and then took off trotting out in front of me. I continue to give her the joint supplements so it's possible she was just feeling really good this morning. She ran a few different times during the walk.

While putting on my down parka I had decided I would take the Nikon D3200 this morning but by the time I headed outside I had changed my mind. I have fallen in love with the Canon G9 X Mark II after all the frustration I had setting up the manual settings. A reminder, that is manual settings but still shoots pictures with auto focus.

It did not take long to get use to taking  a picture by looking at the monitor in back of the camera instead of through a viewfinder. The much smaller size still gave me room to use it with a light pair of North Face gloves on. I'll post a review of that camera sometime today. I have it written but want to review it and add anything new I have found the past month.

As you can see Stella was pretty far out in front. She wasn't exploring scent this morning nor was she searching out and eating deer scat. She seemed to be leaning into the wind as she walked and trotted, which was coming from her left side.

This is looking back in the direction of the high cold winds. It's the Southwest and the normal direction that gives me most of my winds, big or small.  Like I have said a few times before, from my past, I am always concerned about those three Sycamore trees on the left side of the house.  In 2008 with straight line winds I had two Sycamore trees that size pulled out of the ground and blown down parallel to the house, covering the front yard.

This isn't a real good picture but I was trying to capture the blowing grass to show how strong the wind was. In between photos, the grass was almost bent over ground level before rising up to the level you see in the picture.

I barely caught Stella trotting. She did a lot of that this morning.

Again, I barely caught her ... I turned and she was almost past me.

You can see by her ears the wind is even stronger as we were at the back of the field. With all of that open space, the wind was howling, and very loud.

At times I will find those grocery store plastic bags blowing in the yard or this field. I always grab them, put them in my pocket and throw them in the recycling bin when I get home. This looked a little different from a shopping bag. I caught glimpses of a bright reflection as the wind moved it.

It looks like someone lost their Valentine balloon.

When I downloaded this picture it sure did bring back memories of a picture I took of Bertha in 2002. I was able to get that date from Bertha's picture file information. 17 years ago already, hard to believe how fast time passes.

I think Stella was as anxious as I was to get back home. It was freezing cold and we would be walking directly into the wind all the way home.

This picture may give you a better idea just how strong the wind was this morning.

Yet, she strolled through the walk as usual with the breeze blowing her ears.

I like to see her hopping and running by herself. In fact she tried to get me to play, which I did, but was unable to capture that with the camera. Did the high winds really have that kind of effect on Stella?

After our walk I did walk around the yard to see if there were any large tree limbs blown down last night. There was really not many more than from normal wind activity and none of the limbs were very large.

It was good to see all my roof shingles were still in place. Of course if had some wind damage I could file an insurance claim, pay my deductible and get a new roof put on. If nothing happened last night, it looks like I will be paying the full price for that roof when I decide to replace it.

It was just a fast trip outside after lunch. Still very windy and cold and neither hound was excited about staying outside. By the time I returned from the mailbox, they were heading for the door.

Heidi spent her afternoon rotating from this position on the couch, then running across the living room and jumping up in the big leather chair where one of her many blankets are located. That spot is only for sleeping, which she does quite well.

By late afternoon Stella was at the door wanting out, so I decided why not ... let's take a walk.

As you can see it was still quite windy.

With an early announcement of the new China Trade Deal, it will be interesting to see this spring how many of the fields in this area plant soybeans instead of corn. There are some amazing annual sales numbers for soybeans, corn and wheat if that deal goes through. I have no doubt it will. It's good to hear just how much it will help the farmers. I'll keep an eye out for which fields plant soybeans. They normally rotate between soybeans and corn each year but I have a feeling most of the fields will be soybeans.

My little Apple app 'Reminder' told me this morning it was time to download my annual credit reports from the three reporting agencies. I have all three of them scattered throughout the year, every four months. Today was time for the TransUnion report. It was good to see nothing out of the ordinary had taken place as well as seeing what few monthly payments I make were being recorded accurately. I use Annual Credit Report.

Hauwei's Mate X foldable phone is pretty amazing. I am pretty sure, in fact I am positive I will not spend the $2,600 to buy one once it is on the market. It's not only the price but I don't trust Hauwei as a company based on their past. I may be paranoid again but I have no doubt they have inserted tracking chips in their phones for the Chinese government.

Again, it's not that I have anything information they need or want ... it's the principal of them following me by a phone. Sure there are chips made in China for my Apple iPhone but I trust Apple as a company. When they said nothing like that had happened in their China facilities I believed them. Later it was proven to be true by an independent inspector.

The past week Firefox kept crashing during normal internet activity. I would send a report to them each time it happened. By Saturday I was tired of it and went back to Google Chrome after trying Safari on my iMac. Safari was just too slow.

I have started a 30-day journal about my change to the Keto Diet. Each day I am starting each post with total calories - carbs - proteins - fats in grams. I will weigh myself once per week, every Saturday morning. I will post that journal here for anyone interested, on March 24th. I plan to stick to it for 30 days no matter what. So far so good, low carbs and I have not been hungry all day.

This morning was my 2nd day in a row of drinking black coffee, although on my first cup this morning I added a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. It tasted just like it would if you bought a latte without any sugar, vanilla or cinnamon at a Starbuck's store. One thing I have noticed after my first 24 hours of a strict diet ... I don't feel bloated and my stomach is smaller. After only 24 hours !!!!

After that initial excitement a few weeks ago for the new AAF Football League, I have not tuned in to watch a game. Maybe even as a football addict I need a break from any kind of football to prepare for next season, which starts in August for college.

Manny Machado finally signed for 10-years, $300 MILLION the other day in MLB. Since Bryce Harper is a better player it looks like he may get what he wanted or at least more than Machado signed for. Harper wants to be the first $400 Million professional player in any sport. As a sports fan .... I say that is ridiculous.

The MLB Players Union President is already talking about a players strike when their CBA expires in 2022. The last players strike was in 1994. I wasn't around then since I was floating around on deployment on the USS Vinson, an aircraft carrier. I will say if they do strike in 2022 that will put me one step closer to pulling the plug on tv. I am almost there now.

High winds, sunny skies here today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

dingbat AOC Is At It Again

With a dark and dreary Saturday morning the hounds and I once again started our day off late. I guess it can officially be called our new routine, with everything shifting about an hour later than normal. Late night reading is equating to getting up later. At least it was warm this morning, low 40's and that rain in the forecast never showed up. So much for 100% chances I guess. I forgot until I was a few photos in today, the camera was set on 'automatic' instead of my usual 'manual'.

It was another night of interrupted sleep with some of the strangest dreams. I was happy to finally get up and see things were normal and not weird, if you know what I mean. It was also going to be a test today, a huge test in a way. I was out of granulated sugar. I normally have a couple of teaspoons per my 12oz cup of coffee (2 cups per day). Yet, there was no way I was starting the day off without coffee ... I'd drink it black.

I was needing to make a trip to the grocery story today, so that list was on top of my thoughts as Stella and I walked in the field. For some serious initial weight loss I was thinking of going strictly Keto and stay within their limits for daily carb intake. That is hard with sugar for coffee, a banana, an apple or even a cup of blueberries in a day.

I decided that before I would go to the store I'd look back through the websites I had bookmarked months ago when I was looking into the Keto Diet. The fact of the matter is I need a change in diet ideas even though I eat what most would consider healthy. I can't eat "just a little" carbs because even a little knocks me out for those afternoon siestas. I know those periods of low energy are carb related based on my tests of eating different foods. I don't feel as good as I think I could feel.

So with that in mind, my goal was to get in and out of the Super Walmart grocery section without any pasta nor a new small bag of granulated sugar. No bananas. No Mangoes. White or Sweet Potatoes? No. No yogurt either due it causing indigestion.

Some of my shopping list would be the same as in a steak or two, fresh wild caught salmon, chicken thighs and breasts with the skin. No yogurt this time but the larger container of cottage cheese. Veggies would be about the same as I always buy. So it would be interesting to see if I could make it home with my new shopping list.

Although it was nice and warm and I was pretty sure Stella would not attempt any breakouts from her bedroom 'jail' this morning. I wasn't more than a few miles west of town when rain drops started hitting my windshield. That light rain never stopped. It was doing that when I took my siesta a little past 1:30pm and was still coming down as I wrote this, after 4pm. So the afternoon walk was cancelled.\

I did stop at the library on the way to the store. I picked up two books that looked interesting but after a reading a few pages of each before my siesta, I had a feeling I had made a mistake and I wasn't sure I'd finish either.

Now the book about Steve Job's, that I was reading late into the early morning hours last night, is very interesting. Not so much about him but more about all the high tech development in Silicon Valley, where he grew up. Yes, even as a youngster, he had an amazing mind but I was totally unaware of the massive build up of companies in that area in the early 1970s. Very interesting

That path you see Stella walking on, along the edge of the gully, is made by deer traffic. It will curl to the right, around that bush up ahead. While I walked in new territory with heavy thick grass, I could feel just how wet and saturated the field was.

After I made the final turn home, she was way to the left of me. I had let her do whatever she wanted as I walked along the back edge of the field. She did finally head my direction, turn on the path and head home with me. It was really quiet this morning with no wind, no sounds of birds and warm enough where gloves were not needed. I had a feeling not much was going to happen. Enough stuff to blog about ??? Maybe not.

She strolled at a pretty steady pace once she made the final turn home.

I didn't read a lot of news this morning. I didn't even glance through my Flipboard account for new things to read but I did catch this little gem. While the news was focused on Bernie's socialist background, where he said "breadlines are good" .... our favorite "dingbat AOC" was letting the Democratic establishment know .... drum roll ..... "We're In Charge" ....

I wonder if she realizes just how many journalist jobs she saved these past two months after her arrival in D.C. ?? She will give them enough material these next two years or more, not only will they keep their jobs but I am sure a few new books have been started as an idea.

I want you to know your tax dollars ... yes yours ... are being well spent. She put her staff on a minimum salary of $52,000 per .... even the gofer that delivers that "grande" Starbucks she always has in her hand. Of course $52K per year doesn't go to far living in D.C. She is so stupid that in a way it's scary. Stupid people follow stupid leaders which lead to stupid election winners and stupid decisions.

I know its way to early to pay to any attention to political polls this time of year or so far in advance of the 2020 election but that really is just around the corner. It just drags on because it will be nonstop news coverage of every little thing said or done by whom.

A couple of other tidbits show that this campaign may make this one even uglier than 2016. We have one candidate telling her staff years ago to clean her comb ... hair comb??? Of course. Everybody needs a clean hair comb ... especially after you have used it to eat salad. ????  Really ???? Is that Presidential material ?

I've done a LOT of wild things in my life but I don't recall ever eating my salad with my hair comb. Even when I was drunk and stupid in Encenada or Tijuana, I didn't do anything that gross.

Ms Harris couldn't seem to remember her vicious tweet that people have copied into an image before she deleted it. I didn't and don't have it, but it was racially slanted when she heard Jussie's original story of being attacked at 2am in the Windy City during the Polar Vortex. She looked confused when asked, even glancing back at her staff for an answer, she didn't seem to remember that vicious tweet she had made on her verified account. Is she really Presidential material ?

As you can see by these few examples, the longer the campaign goes the uglier it will get. It will not be about their plans or platforms they are running on. We will hear more about what kind of underwear they are wearing, whether they smoked dope in college, how many private planes they fly or luxury homes they live in. At no time will we hear of any plan on how to pay for these fantasies they are going to run on.

The last time I checked, hospitals and doctors are not free. Someone has to pay.

I am more interested in seeing some big name people from a few years ago be brought before a judge or jury and end up in jail where they belong. We know that will never happen. Not only are we on a different pay scale than they are, but we have different laws than them. They are always covered when the shit hits the fan, we are not.

Is Hillary still drinking and stumbling around the house? I'd like to see her return to the 2020 campaign just for shits and giggles.

I see I'm slowly waking up here in the early evening in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.  :)