Thinking While Working On Monday

Sunday afternoon Heidi went to the door to be let outside. It was a great day, much warmer and the sunshine never disappeared. She spent over an hour outside on her own while I checked on her from time to time just to make sure she was still in the yard. She has never wandered off during her time alone outside. Yesterday she found the bank on the south side of the yard to be her resting point.

About the time I walked outside a few hours later she was just about to the carport, heading toward the door.

Looks like I have grass to mow today after it dries, sometime this afternoon. I knew it would be tall after two or three days of rain. I've been cutting it taller this spring, 3".

Stella could feel it was much warmer Monday morning. She had a few stops to start her walk. She needed to think about her plan and also eat some nice green tall wet grass as she stepped into the field.

t was a little over 60°, perfect weather. By the time I do laps back and forth across the lawn later this afternoon it was supposed to be in the 70's. I had a lot to do today and with the improved weather all of those things were finished by the time I put the mower back in the shed.

During my search yesterday of warm weather locations I asked my old friend that has lived in Phoenix the past 20 years and loves it and the heat, about some of the surrounding smaller town on the outskirts of the city. The map showed nothing around those towns but I also know how fast that area is growing. After all I am not the only person that wants to migrate to warm weather.

I thought his answer was perfect.

"If neighbors are your thing and you want "community" then it a good time to get into something there.  It's cheap and it's growing at a disgusting rate.  If you don't want to be around people, the place you buy today with no neighbors in site might just be overrun next year with families, cars, kids, and stupid barking chihuahuas. Houses are made with the lowest priced materials that can be used to mass produce houses as quickly as possible.  AND they are track homes, yuck!"

I sat outside in the sunshine enjoying the day when that email showed up on my Apple Watch. I can always trust that he will give me an honest answer about anything I ask. Always has and always will.

I looked through some locations that were suggested by a few readers either in the comment section on the blog or by email. A lot of nice places but I admit, nothing really gets my blood moving until I am looking at places out west. When it comes to southern California I've had to ask myself is it the year round weather I want or am I wanting those great memories back from when I lived there before?

Why am I willing to buy something smaller and overpriced just to live in heavy traffic and jammed packed neighborhoods?

To widen my search I even increased the maximum I'd buy a house for. Of course that brings up a wide range of new possibilities. Some of them even showed some good possibilities for the hounds but after a morning walk like this morning this field is hard to beat. The obsession had slowed to just curiosity by my first cup of coffee this morning.

I knew I would think and process the information I gathered just like many times before. I was able to eliminate a couple of places and both of those were places I had lived in the past. I kept remembering the key factor of this quest was to move to warm 12 month weather.

Stella decided Monday morning had some of the best tasting, freshest deer scat in a while. I let her enjoy her delicacy before walking over to her and telling her to "come on." She would move before I had to grab her collar.

On her typical stroll and her pace. She has her own world that spins on her time, it adjusts to her not the other way around. I am slowly getting back to the same way of doing things. Not paying attention to any news, tv or online, is a great start to that change.

I had time all day to think about the places and houses I had looked at over the weekend. It made the yard mowing seem shorter. I made the different tasks I did today much easier since I was distracted.

On a side note, in the past two days I have never seen the ticks as bad as they have been since I moved here in 1998. They are all on me and I have yet to find even one on either hound. I check them each time they come back inside and figured if I am finding as many as I am on me, they have to have some somewhere. Luckily I feel them crawling and can get them off of me before they try to dig into me.

The deer traffic scent was so strong Monday morning that Stella went past her normal point where she makes the last turn with me to head home. I let her go to see what she would do or how far she would go.

She finally decided it was time to get back home. That is a worn deer path you see in front of her moving in a north/south direction.

As you can tell, the grass is a little higher than 3". It was finally dry enough to mow by 2pm and I had enough grass everywhere to mow the whole yard for the first time this year. Today will be spraying the weeds on the driveway. A few years ago in August I spent four straight days on my hands and knees pulling every weed out by hand ... only to have them grow back 3x as thick.

After Sunday afternoon's walk, Stella did finish by walking down the center of the yard, nowhere near the house. So this might just be a 'morning' routine for her and not dependent on what kind of weather it is.

With great weather Monday I found out we are outside more even if that is nothing more than the hounds sleeping in the sun and me soaking up some rays contemplating life. With that in mind I also found there are not enough hours in a day when the weather is great and was one of the reasons I did not blog yesterday. No, I wrote the blog post and added the photos but failed to post it later Monday night.

I just finished comparing "Taxes for Retirees" in the five states I am now interested in. I have a couple of states that are not western states that have peaked my interest and both have good weather year round. Plus in both states you can buy a lot more house for the dollar compared to Arizona and New Mexico. One state I am familiar with and the other recommended by a blog follower is quite a surprise.

So with that in mind I will be checking out those two states in more detail sometime today. The website that Barney gave me in a comment the other day has worked out really well and I like it better than the one I had been using in the past. Their information took a few of the towns off my list.

Well Stella is doing her normal morning stretching right before she hydrates herself, which means our Tuesday morning walk is just minutes away from starting.

Another day of great weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Brain Cells Working At Full Speed

Late start but it was nice to wake up to a house full of sunshine and skies that look like we are headed back to normal April weather. I'll have a lot of grass to mow on Monday after the yard dries, just like we had planned last week. Stella had one of her better walks while Heidi slept the morning away going past her normal wakeup time. Does that mean my brains cells have settled?

Stella had to think a little on which direction she would take this morning. The yard was wet, she could see the field was wet but the sunshine told her today was different from the previous two days. Would we take off on the normal path or head north and walk against the grain?

With the Reds game over a little earlier Saturday night I had time to look at the website that Barney sent me in a comment yesterday. I also matched information from that site to one that I finally remembered. A final step is a forum with people who live in any town or city answering questions of those that may have or are thinking of moving to that town. I think that website is called "city-data". Whatever those websites are, I spent additional time looking at different towns very late last night.

It is strange to me that I spent all winter without a thought of wanting to move and now it has headed toward the edge of obsession. I need some yard work to drag me outside and away from my restless mind. I have plenty to do on the new 2019 list of "to-do's" so there is help on the way for my mental shortcomings ... I guess.

I was still in fleece lined jeans at 52° this morning with a jacket but it was a psychological win as I tied my hiking boots instead of the snow/rain boots I had been wearing the past few mornings because the field was just too wet.

To add to the intrigue of different towns in the USA to look at, a blog follower left me a new comment this morning on yesterday's post suggesting I consider some southern states in my search. Specifically Mississippi. She is familiar with the 'tropics' of Southern Indiana and she is also familiar with freezing cold midwestern winters so I think she has  a pretty good idea what my brain is processing and the reasons for this new mental exploration.

It was a little ironic that I have considered Mississippi in the past year or so when my mind wanders or when I am watching the house rehab show called "Hometown" located in Laurel MS. The south has always been intriguing to me, from my first family vacation in the mid 1960's and the few weeks I spent with friends down in Starkville and Biloxi in the summer of 1969. We left to go home a week before their hurricane but right after the moon landing.

Yet, the mountains have always been a magnet for me. Yes, I know they have mountains in TN, WV, VA and NC but none of those states interest me enough to move there. It reminds me of something I said on my other blog somewhere back in 2011 or 2012 where I would travel for a year or so and then lock in a location where I wanted to settle down.

What's wrong with where I live? Why not stay here and then just travel the few winter months to escape the freezing cold? All valid questions and questions I have asked myself before and more than a few times. Sometimes you just need a change if you know what I mean. Plus there are one or two personal reasons that I will never go into publicly.

With a day of sunshine and the Reds not starting their game today until 4pm, I'll be able to spend some time outside doing nothing but enjoying the sunshine. If you could see the hounds right now at 11:45am you might think the idea of going outside is only a dream because both of them are dead to world ... in a deep sleep and have been for over an hour. They are usually barking and howling for their lunch by now.

Of course Stella has me pinned in to my computer desk by laying partly on my leg arms of my chair, I can't move so I have no choice but to finish this post. Heidi has positioned her sleeping bag directly in the middle of the sunshine coming through the bedroom east window and has crawled under it for the optimum warm sleeping spot.

So our time outside will not take place until after they eat lunch, and after I post this. With great weather I might post a second short post later tonight with just pictures of their afternoon.

At the same time I will still continue to gather information on small towns in Mississippi. She was nice enough to tell me what area of the state to look at. That is always helpful. A few years ago I had asked my old friend living in Phoenix for some help with small towns in out-of-the-way locations in Arizona. He used to work for the state and drove everywhere for work. I still have that list of 10 small towns.

So, who really knows what might happen. That's the fun part, the research, the planning, thinking and changing my mind about what to do or where to go. It's like every other plan or trip I have thought about.

With more NP'a now charging fees for entry because there is an overflow of visitors, campgrounds being reserved and booked up through the summer it seems everyone else has the same idea to travel full-time. It's interesting it's the same bloggers that are posting these warnings now about how much things have changed the past few years when traveling by RV, trailers or van are the same bloggers that made these places so popular with their fantastic pictures and blog posts about where they were traveling and staying.

Is it possible to even live full-time on the road and boondock without seeing people near your camp site? From some blog posts I am not sure it is. Yet, that is the opposite spectrum from what I have been thinking of the past few days. That is why my mind is interesting and keeps me sane ... about the time I can decide something, it will ask me "but what about ....., did you change your mind on that?"   LOL

That's why it's good to be a bloodhound or basset hound. Both have very consistent thoughts. Routines might change every once in a while but nothing drastic. They still have an appetite for any kind of food, love siestas as well as watching ballgames from the couch ... although they usually sleep through the whole ballgame. They would probably lead me to my answer if I'd pay attention.

At least I got off that topic of food and all the indecision about that. And I've been out of the multiple car trading period. Those use to be fun times but financially costly at the rate I was trading or buying additional cars.

I still laugh at the local dealers mailers they send me, offering me a SIX YEAR LOAN !!!! WTF ... 72 months to finance a car when I have paid them cash in the past? I guess they were not paying attention after all and I am just a number to them. No worries, I know about their marketing plan and desire to put me in a brand new car or truck.

Well I have run out of words at this point plus I am a little restless. Stella has moved from the back of my chair so it does roll away from my computer desk now. Things are looking up and no doubt that as soon as Stella wakes up Heidi they will let me know it's time for their lunch.

One more question though.

Can I live in town with neighbors if I am a hermit type loner?

Being superstitious sometimes in sports, I will be wearing the same Cincinnati Reds t-shirt today for the fourth day in a row as they go for their fourth win in a row in San Diego. It's not as bad as it sounds because I did take showers in those four days.  :)

Stella could have sworn I mentioned something about food, breakfast, groceries or something along those lines. She stopped walking immediately and stared at me because of what she had heard. She isn't stupid.

Another morning walk officially in the books ... you can see it's going to be a good day today, nice and sunny with temperatures in the 70's right around the corner.

Now let me open four tabs at the top of my screen and start checking out towns in Mississippi, north of highway 82 (as suggested), look at houses for sale on zillow and realtor websites, then compare towns.

Never a dull moment here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

My Brain Cells Go On A Trip

I knew this morning when I saw the small creek had flooded into the fields, the chances of Stella wanting even a late morning walk would probably not happen. Heidi let me know that she was not staying outside any longer than needed because it was April 20th and 42° with light rain.

Usually when Stella is in this stance she is not going anywhere and is only waiting for me to confirm her decision by walking past her to let her inside the house. It took less than a minute for her to let me know we were going nowhere this morning.

So after pouring my second cup of coffee trying to wake up from my late Friday night of watching the Reds pull out another win in San Diego ... my brain cells floated away down memory lane. Was it the weather outside trying to make me forget it was officially spring or was it something else. I typed realtor dot com into the address bar at the top of the screen and started looking at houses for sale.

That happens when the weather is bad but it normally happens during the middle of winter when it's freezing snow and 7° outside, not Seattle weather in April. Now before you get too excited there is only one area that I would look at with the hounds in tow. All of the other places are for when I get older and might be boundless ... or I am tired of doing yard work or freezing my ass off in the winter.

While looking at houses, condos and even apartments for rent in one specific location, I did this the rest of the morning missing lunch and into the early afternoon. That is how curious I was. A little after 2pm the hounds acted like they wanted outside and I too needed to relieve some of my 'cabin fever' so we were off.

I didn't know that Stella was planning on take an early afternoon walk but that was nice.

She wasn't waiting for me as she silently snuck away while I was checking on where Heidi was at and what she wanted to do. It was 47° but felt colder and a light sprinkle of rain. For the second afternoon in a row, Stella took a walk in a light rain. That is history right there.

Long time blog followers have been on this 'trip' before and heard the same commentary as I move from state to state, large towns to small and from north to south. Today I covered NM, AZ, CO, NV, WA and CA. I reminded myself the reason I was moving was to see the sunshine as many days possible in a years time, with temperatures as high as possible for as many days as it could.

Another words, I need weather in southern Arizona or southern California to do that.

After living in Carlsbad California for close to 10 years I know what the weather is like and that May is the month of fog while December tries to get all the annual rainfall in one month. That's fine, it's not single digits. I have to watch myself though when I look at familiar neighborhoods because where I use to live I cannot afford. Plus I am not a fan of California's political leadership. I went from the coastal towns, looked at La Mesa and as far east as Borrego Springs.

Depending on locations in that state determined whether I looked at houses, condos or possible apartments to rent. Of course this would be years down the road without any hounds. I will admit though, good memories living in that area do cloud my thinking when I try to justify I could live there again.

I also looked again in my old stomping grounds on Whidbey Island, WA. I then reminded myself the reason I was looking to move was for good or great year-round weather. Whidbey Island is beautiful with the Cascade mountains only an hour away by car, Seattle a few hours away with today's traffic and Ft Ebey SP just minutes away. I also enjoyed the 10 years I lived there.

I did glance at Colorado, the two towns I lived in the early 90's and a couple that sparked my interest a few years ago. Yet, if I want snow and cold winters, I can stay where I am.

When I think of small towns in southern Arizona there is always one thought and not what you might think. No it's not immigrants traveling through the area but what will the water availability be like 10 or 15 years from now? I'm serious. Out there in rural small town Arizona water is more valuable than gold and seems to be disappearing in some mysterious ways.

Still the thought of being warm during the winter made me feel better ... then I remembered seeing the snow somewhere in southern Arizona where RVsue lives. Maybe what I want is winter or year-round weather is no longer possible. No ... Florida is not an option.

If you had not noticed in the photos, Stella started our walk taking the return path and then cutting over to the regular outward path in this next photo.

It might sound strange considering where I live now and from the pictures you see on the blog but I can see myself living in one of those small townhouses in Borrego Springs, CA. I always have a good feeling when I look in that area and at that property. A few of the townhouses have been for sale over 550 days.

La Mesa CA interests me because I could use public transportation and get to San Diego Padre games only 12 miles away. I'd have great winter weather and a lot of activity would be within walking distance. Maybe an over 55 complex might be the way to go in that area.

I could go as far east as Escondido or Vista or San Marco in northern San Diego County. Of course when I rode my bicycle through all of that area in the late 1970's it was all orange groves and now it is wall to wall houses. I remember when I flew down to visit friends in that area in 1994 I didn't like all the changes and the huge population/traffic explosion ... so I moved to Indiana, where I am now.

Of course all of this brain cell tripping could be just a case of things "always look greener on the other side of the fence" or it could also mean in a few years I will be ready to pack up and get out of cold winters.

So what location would I be looking at when the hounds would be coming with me ?? New Mexico. I've looked at a couple of towns since 2010 off and on. I saw the other day NM is now one of the three states that are popular with retirees. Ara over at The Oasis Of My Soul has given me a lot of good information about the town he lives in.

Like anywhere in any state, all towns large or small have their own plus and minuses. Compromise is a needed feature anytime you move. I can say though that everywhere I have lived in my life I have really enjoyed my time there. I have never lived in NM but have traveled through it numerous times by car, VW Bus and bicycle.

It does get cold in that town and they do get snow in Alamogordo but rarely more than an inch or two and it is usually gone within 24 hours. If you want snow, the mountains are 20 minutes away. I have always enjoyed the time I have visited towns in the high desert.

Like I have said many times though, where I am now is perfect for the hounds. I cannot beat this 7 acre field anywhere that I look at property out west. I also enjoy a lot of the benefits living in this area. I'll not list everything but this small town had a higher livability rating than any of the towns I have looked at out west. Now if I can just remember what that website was called that gave every town or city a 'livability' rating, I could check out some more information.

Another telling sign is, when I get in moods like this and consider different moves, it usually takes me only one walk through the field to pull those run-away brain cells back into formation where I can think logically and find out this place is hard to beat. I like hot and humid weather, it's just being delayed this year.I will continue to look at property just like I did this morning.  :)

Yesterday was my first day in a very long time that I ate food without logging it into my phone app and then later manually inputting some data from that app into my spreadsheets. I had no problem getting through the change. I bought nothing different when I shopped for groceries yesterday.

It is the late night baseball games that is killing me this past week. Last night the game went 11 innings which put us past 1am. I also think looking at the city skyline during that game in San Diego and remembering just how many Padre games I use to attend, in a different stadium, may have brought on those thoughts about moving back to the San Diego area.

The thought of living in southern California again, maybe in a condo with no yard work, does spark my interest more than it should.

It will be interesting to see what Stella does in a few days at the end of her walk when the weather is sunny, no rain and back to the high 70's. Will she still walk as close to the house as she can or in the middle of the yard where it will be nice and warm.

Luckily the Reds game starts an hour or two earlier tonight but I still might need a short siesta this afternoon if I am going to make it through another 9 innings of baseball. Otherwise I'll make a new cup of coffee, log back into realtor dot com and let my brains cells take me on further travels.

Seattle winter weather today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.