I Clicked The Wrong Button On Monday

We woke up to cold temps (low 40s) and windy today but that is not what caused the strange blog post to show up when you tried reading it last night. Monday night I loaded the photos I was going to use for my next post, enlarged them like I always do before typing my text. Only I did not have time to put a post together so I was just going to save it and "close" it ... by habit I hit "save" and then the "publish" button ... thus the blog showing up on other's sidebar and nothing was there when you opened it because as soon as I did that I went back and deleted the post that was nothing but photos.

It was a restless night last night, up and outside many times because Heidi is having some upset stomach issues. She still rolls on her back every morning and growls at herself, trots to the kitchen when food is served and begs for my food like always, so I know she is okay. It does make for a sleepless night though hearing her walk past my bed and then trying to get to the patio door before she does. My new hip is getting a good workout during the night.

To backtrack a little, Sunday I took a few photos, not many. I put the 70-300 lens on the Nikon and made it a "day of zoom". Here are a few of those photos.

Yes even the hound photos were zoomed in.

After my big day on Saturday of riding my longest ride on the bike and then taking a 2.2 mile hike with some climbing after lunch, I knew by Saturday night I had done too much. I wasn't sore but I was really tired. The hounds picked up on that I guess so Sunday they were not interested in any walks. They spent most of the day Sunday just hanging out with me as we took a day off.

Stella did some deep thinking trying to figure out why she tore the blinds down again. I'm not sure she came up with any answers. Luckily I have found out from the company that installed them, their promise is true ... free replacement and labor for ONE TIME ONLY!!!

It just just a few years ago when I went "cold turkey" and quit buying and drinking 2 liter of Pepsi and would drink that during the day of watching football games. This drink doesn't taste as good but is much better for me ... pure filtered ice water. I think over the past couple of years it has been a factor for keeping my weight off.

Monday morning I felt much better and I knew as soon as the cup of coffee was gone I was going to take my longest ride on my bike and in fact I was going to ride my road bike back on the roads that I use to ride. A description of that ride is on my blog sidebar or you can click here if interested. It was my initial goal the first afternoon I came home using a walker to get around the house. Back on September 9th when I was released from the hospital the surgeon told me to "walk as much as possible and I'll see you in two weeks."

Riding a bike seemed like a dream instead of something possible. I worked up gradually to riding 15 miles out on the road towards Ramsey Canyon and riding for 1 hour 30 minutes. This morning I feel good enough that I could ride the same course ... but its windy and 48° so far this morning so I'll hold off for a while and see what the day brings.

At least with Heidi's digestive issues, she is able to make it outside and I have noticed she has the same route all the time. Walk toward the west corner of the fence, make a left and follow the fence line to the other side of the yard and then hunt for the perfect spot. It doesn't matter if it is 4:00pm or 1:15am ... same thing. She is never in a hurry either.

I might have mentioned the neighbors have a new 8 week old black lab puppy, pure bred with papers.  Evidently they changed from their plans of crate training it to just putting it in the backyard and shutting their patio door, leaving it alone for hours at a time. Consequently Stella is hearing new sounds from morning to night. If I knew that I would not hurt myself, I would climb my 5' concrete block fence and bring the puppy over to my yard or house. Last night it set a record of an hour or more straight of howling, barking and crying in the dark ... no one was home.

I could tell the way the day was moving along on Monday afternoon, the skies that is ... that a storm was brewing somewhere. Probably not here but somewhere. As we moved into the early evening friends from the Midwest were sending me screenshots of their weather and photos of their backyards ... they were getting a full blown winter snow storm. Asking what was going on???? This morning I see they are somewhere between 9°-11° depending on if they live in Chicago or in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

So 48° and windy doesn't seem to bad after all.

Before I decided to buy this house I asked myself a few questions to make sure I was making the right decision. These were two of them.  (1) If they were to develop the land all the way up to your fence with houses and yards would you still want to live there? -- YES.  (2) Are you willing to use poop bags and pick up after the hounds after ever meal and take them on all hound walks just in case? -- YES. Lets say they have not developed the land behind but I have become very use to you know what.  :)

I originally bought some bags at Pet Smart with the small container to put the rolls of bags into and hook it to a belt that I never wear. So the nice container that came with it was never used, with the bag just in my pocket. That supply ran out so I decided to be cost effective and buy the next batch at Walmart which had more bags in the pack and less cost. Once those ran out I came up with another plan.

For a few dollars more I could buy a box of 1,000 !!! bags and have Amazon prime delivery them in two days. They have been sitting in the pantry until the Walmart supply ran out and as you see that happened just a few days ago.

During this transitional period of adjusting from never having to be close to "it" with Stella using the field behind the house at all times (taught to her by Sadie), Heidi's were only as near as the length of the pooper scooper handle ... something I forgot to pack. These work out great though and I have passed the boundary of being bothered by what I am picking up with my hand wrapped inside the bag for protection. I now notice I get a little pissed on our walks where I see that other dog owners are not as dedicated for a clean pathway.

Heidi has made the adjustment from green grass to small stone and Stella from tall hay to small stone or waits for the walk.

My hip keeps getting stronger by the day just like the doctor told me it would during our last appointment on October 22nd. That one exercise he told me to do hurt at first but now makes my hip even stronger as well as making my balance better when using the right leg as a pivot point or pushing off point. I see him again on November 20th. By that time I will have ridden my bike over 200 miles since the last appointment.

With it cooler and windy I will not get outside on the bike but that doesn't mean I can't grab a camera and go hike somewhere new today. The high will be 63° and that is good enough to get outside. I just know no matter how good I feel I can't do a bike ride and then a hike later in the day ... it's either one or the other. It is hard not to follow that plan.

Sorry for the confusion Monday night with the blog post not showing up. Habits are hard to break sometimes but 'old dogs can learn new tricks' just as the new pooper picker upper.  LOL

The skies are changing fast this morning in the 'Wild West'.

Hiking The Brown Canyon Area

Most of the time I have a plan for what I want to do the next day, especially since I am feeling better physically. I am still "listening to my body" and that dictates if I ride my bike or if I take a hike or take a day off. With the sun showing up later due to the change in seasons, the hounds are sleeping later and I am sleeping later. Stella usually wakes us up a little after sunrise with that whine she has when she wants to be fed. The only plans I had on Saturday were a bike ride and the rest of the day watching college football ... things changed.

I got home from my :58 minutes of riding and my hour visit at the bike shop halfway in the trip I had a gut feeling my day of having outdoor fun wasn't over. I had ridden where I wanted and felt good pushing my leg and hip a little further down the road. As I was having my lunch snack watching a game on tv ... the desire was to be outside was strong because it was such a nice day. I have noticed this change in lifestyle on Sundays now, where I will do something outside rather than watch the NFL. These mountains and the scenery literally drag me outside at times.

I felt good enough to go hiking. I had no place in particular I wanted to go, so I grabbed this book off the coffee table to see if something really interested me. The author of this book has hiked every one of the trails he writes about. He updates the trail information and publishes a new book to reflect those changes. I knew I didn't want anything steep or breath taking like Carr Canyon but I wanted to explore some new trails I had seen on my way to the Brown Canyon Ranch House last summer.

As you can see there are a ton of choices in this area. You will notice the Montezuma Pass trip in the different cars or truck and with or without the hounds is at the bottom of the page starting on the road F and shows how much gravel road we travel to get to Parker Canyon Lake. It looks like I need to get back on top of that mountain and check out some of those forest roads that branch off of the West Montezuma Canyon Road.

Instead I chose to go back to the Brown Canyon trailhead and park the FJ there. Its a little over a mile to the ranch house but plenty of roads going left and right off the main road.

This time I took my small backpack with the 64oz of water bottle, my Nikon and the 70-300mm lens just in case I needed it. It would give me a good chance to compare photos of the same landscape to the iPhone camera. 

I knew that Heidi would not be able to finish a hike like I planned but I thought Stella would find it interesting. It wasn't that hot outside but she had her tongue hanging out and was panting after her sun bathing on the patio ... so I decided to leave her home. I had the crate door open, she was about to walk in on her own when I thought "it's such a nice day outside, I can just shut the living room window and leave the patio door open for her." That had worked the other day when I drove to Patagonia for a 3.5 hour trip. So she had the house to herself along with Heidi.

Just past that sign showing a trail to the right, I could see if I made that right hand turn it would be mostly flat and would circle all the way out to where they park the Aerostat and back behind the ranch house. By the time I had walked this far I wasn't interested in flat land, I wanted to see how high I could get on the hills to the left of me.

The  trail was not an "official" trail. I started by following a one track atv/car path that led into the field where a path was barely visible. As you can see I had climbed some elevation and could barely see a path under those tree limbs. It was quite a workout for the new hip and I was using the two trekking poles I had brought this time. I was going to take this as far as it would take me.

Someone had walked this way before. I wasn't making my own path but at times it was hard to see which way I needed to go. There were a lot of rocks on the way too. Sometimes those rocks were the only surface and too large of a space to step over. I cautiously walked on them on my way upward.

I thought this finding was a little strange. Obvious someone or something is buried there that people loved. Was it their pet? What was it?

You can barely see some sort of path snaking it's way to the left under more tree limbs. By this time my watch was telling my my heart rate was only 120bpm, about the same that an easy bike ride would be before my accident. It was nice and quiet, a cool feel to the air and temps only in the low 70's. I wasn't at the panting stage nor did I feel tired, and I didn't feel any negative responses from my new hip. I continued climbing.

The area I wanted to get to was higher than what this picture shows but this small path was leading me away from the highest point left of me. I would still have a good vantage point for taking photos back towards town.

At this point in time, the path disappeared. Past this slab of rocks I didn't see anyway to go further. I had climbed fairly high but not as high as i thought I could get. I knew when I started going down would be the adventure, not the climbing part. You can see the road I was following before veering left. That road is used by hikers, cars, trucks, ATVs, and mountain bikes. There are plenty of trails behind the ranch house that everyone likes to use.

It was a nice place to take a break, drink some water and just observe. I tried to figure out where I was in relation to my house "down there."

That gives you some idea of the incline I climbed, not as high as I wanted but not bad for a first time, stepping up continuously on the new hip. At no time did I feel any pain or soreness making this hike, even after my 58 minute bike ride earlier.

I looked at this going down and knew I was going to have to be extra careful. The trekking poles I brought were an important factor in getting down these rocky slopes without falling on my ass. "Falling" is no longer in my dictionary for permissible acts as the doctor told me weeks ago. Not in those words of course but "don't fall" was.

From the time I left the FJ in the parking lot out by Ramsey Canyon Road I kept my eye out for rattle snakes and scorpions. Why ?? Well on two different occasions friends had posted photos Facebook of a rattle snake crossing the main road and once in the parking lot of the ranch house the same day I was there in the morning. So I was alert so to speak.

As I walked down the hill I had finally come back to the small one track road I had used to turn off the main road. I could see any of my vehicles making this trip. Some of those rocks were not going to move so it would be a good test for my off-road tires that each use. I took my time walking over the rocky surface.

That rocky ledge in the center of the photo is as high as I went. I stood on those rocks taking the photos you saw of the valley back to the Huachuca Mountains.

It was good to see the ranch house come into view as I walked over the small hill that is steep riding a bike the other direction. I was going to use that bench on the front porch for my break of sitting down and having more water. I might even switch out the Nikon lens to the 70-300mm for the trip back to the FJ.

Like anything else, things change quickly. As I approached the house walking to the left of that porch for the entry way ... I hear a bike rider, taking a break in back under the shade trees, ask me something. I couldn't hear him clearly so I walked back and we ended up talking the time used for my break. All of those cars parked in the parking lot did not mean there were a lot of people taking the ranch house tour ... no one was around ... they were all out hiking the small trails behind the house.

I can't remember if I took a picture of this on my last trip so I made sure I did this time. Looking at the activity app on my watch, which automatically downloads to my phone, I saw I had close to a 1.2 mile walk back to the FJ. I didn't feel that tired at the ranch house but I knew I'd be tired after that 1.2 miles added to the activity of the day. It was a great hike and I'll be back in this area to explore the other trails. There are so many that I have not tried yet.

The next time I go back to Brown Canyon or any canyon for that matter, or the next time I take a ride on my bike ... no questions asked ... Stella will be put in her large indoor crate with the four small padlocks at key locations to prevent her from hurting herself since she has tried to force her way out of that. As I drove in front of the house before making the turn into the driveway, I glanced to the living room window to see if my blinds were to the left like I left them.

I saw instantly "Houston we have a problem" (Apollo 13 movie) ... I saw a bloodhound standing with it's front feet on the window sill and the last of the hanging blinds ALL in her mouth for one final jerk, pulling them down from their holders. I honked my horn with hopes of stopping her final jerk.

Stella is a great dog with some huge mental problems. Yet she is consistent and has been since I drove down to Kentucky on a four hour trip to pick her up in August 2015. Guess why they were giving her away? You guessed it. Same stuff different location. I was her 4th owner in her first 6 years of life.

So for those readers that have emailed me over the years telling me that crating a bloodhound is not right ... here is living proof on why I have to. This is NOT the first time I've taken pictures like this, I just haven't blogged about most of the damage I have witnessed over the 4+ years. Drywall attempted escape anyone ????

Luckily in this case, the blinds installer told me when he was finished installing new blinds on three different windows back in August "these come with a lifetime guarantee AND IF YOUR BLOODHOUND TEARS THEM DOWN AGAIN ... you get free blinds and installation JUST ONE TIME"

Well I will believe that when I see it. I'll find out if that is true when I call first thing Monday morning after they open their business. If not I will be using the old debit card again for a new set of blinds. Last time it took 4-6 weeks before the blinds to come in for installation. I assume for just one window that wait will be the same.

Since I didn't want an open view into my house at night I rehung all the blinds she had pulled out to the floor. Luckily every one of them would connect and if I used my fingers to turn the mechanism because she tore down the long arm to use to rotate, they rotated to closed. They don't look good and straight but good enough not to let the whole wide world see my living room at night.

Over the time I have had her, she does this exact same thing in Indiana and Arizona. I give her a little more leeway as she is showing me she can be trusted with no damages. I start with short trips and gradually extend the time I am away from home. When living in Indians she actually passed a 7 hour period where I was gone from the house. A few days later when I ran to town and was gone only 12 minutes ... total destruction.

Just like the past few weeks I had this same situation set up and was gone for over 3 hour each time with no damage. Then just like the past ... destruction.

I've tried meds, downers whatever the first month I lived here. See those photos? That was the same photos I took after she finished the month and a bottle of doggie downers while I was gone. For those readers that think leaving her in the backyard since the temps are cooler now ... well I have tried that numerous time. I even took a 29 minute video just last month ... let's see ... has tired digging under the gate, has tried digging though the concrete patio floor, tried to grab the door knob of the steel screen door to open it, tried to pull the steel screen out with her paws, howls non stop at times ... need more info?

When I looked at this house before I decided to buy it, I though the fenced yard would be perfect to Stella to stay in 10 months out of the year when I was gone.

So as I have said before ... for her safety and my sanity ... anytime I am going somewhere she will be left in a large indoor crate where she can turn around, plenty of room to sleep and in a cool environment. I have even walked back inside the house when I return to find her sound to sleep in the crate. 95% of the time if I hold the door open she walks in on her own.

I'll wait to see how my hip feels today before deciding if I go for another hike or bike ride. So far this morning it feels normal so I doubt that I can sit inside as we have another beautiful day.

Note:  As I was about to click the publish button I hear Heidi doing something I had not heard in the 8+ years I've had her. She was barking nonstop in the backyard. Did we have our first rattlesnake in the yard or any other kind of snake? As I turned the corner of the patio to see what it was ... there were no snakes but she had smelled my neighbor's brand new black lab puppy!!!

There is never a dull moment in the 'Wild West' especially when you own a bloodhound!!

All Of Us Got Zapped

I am not sure what happened but my free app called Sleep Watch recorded 10 hours of sleep Thursday night included my Friday afternoon siesta.  63% of it was called 'restful'. I have found that app is pretty accurate as it records every time I get up at night whether I'm awake or not. It reminds me what the actual time was that Heidi decides she needs to go outside and it tracks my sleeping heart rate. I felt great waking up Friday morning but as the day progressed I could see what hit me also hit the hounds.

As they use to say in the 60's we were wasted. Both hounds slept through their normal breakfast time. There was no howling or barking for early kibble. Afterwords there was no begging or whining to go on the daily walk ... they slept, they ate and they slept again. That took place throughout the day even after a feeble attempt at a walk a little past noon. Heidi's tongue was hanging out and we had not crossed the street yet. Stella had more interest in sniffing and tracking literally every inch between the house and our turn around point. I cut the walk short and headed home. It lasted more than we normally walk and covered a lot less ground. When we got back, they went back to sleep!!

After all the excitement yesterday how could today top that? For the first time this week I did not have the urge to go for a bike ride. I did not have the urge to grab the keys and take off with my camera to see what I could find. I didn't have the urge for anything and following my doctor's advice "listen to my body" ... my body was saying take a total day off from all activity. So I did.

Yet it was nice to sit out on the patio and watch the sky change. Temps were going back and forth between 70° and 68°,  cargo shorts and a sweatshirt seemed to be the uniform of the day. I let my mind drift with the wind and didn't move out of that ugly chair for quite a while.

Like I said, since they missed their walk Friday morning I thought they might be interested in taking one mid-day. Stella didn't even flinch when I asked if she wanted to go. I had to lean down and touch her to see if she even had a pulse ... she was off in dreamland, dead to the world.

Friday was Heidi's day to protest taking any photos of her. Everyone I took she looked away. She would wander out in the yard to walk laps since I was no longer doing that but when I would speak to her, she just kept on walking all the way to her bed in the back bedroom. She wanted nothing to do with what the day offered, no belly rubs, ear scratches or conversation.

I didn't feel restless today as if I needed to do something. I did a lot of reading, had a call from my old friend that was hiking today in the Indiana National Forest in cool damp/rain weather. He likes that kind of weather so its not a problem for him. All that land you see behind my fence has dirt trails and one track roads for 4x4 trucks, cars or gravel bikes. You will be able to go as far east as the San Pedro River but will have to take a highway bridge to go further east.

I love watching the open skies throughout the day. At least at ground level there is not a lot of strong wind but you can see above, things are happening.

The hounds were about like I was Friday. Totally undecided what they wanted to do. If they were awake, there wasn't a spot that felt comfortable enough for them to lay to long. They went in and out a million times, and slept it off the rest of the time. I did catch Stella poking that "infamous" window in the living room to see if the window was closed or not. She would not have tried to escape since I was around but she likes to check on different occasions that the windows and doors are shut ... just s quick nudge of her nose gives her the answer she is looking for.

I took this photo at 6:58pm. It was dark outside and I turned off the kitchen light in the background. I didn't use the flash so I am a little disappointed in this photo taken by the phone you see on all the commercials the past month. It looks like daytime but it was dark in real time. Probably user error.

This is a prime example that Stella never lets me get to far away from her. Now, she will sleep overnight in the living room on the floor or in the computer room in the corner but whenever I take an afternoon siesta she plops right down next to the bed and right in the landing zone for my feet when I get out of bed. So basically she is making sure that I am going nowhere without her knowing. She will also sleep in the same spot at night.

She moves around a lot, has a lot of different overnight sleeping spots whereas Heidi loves that new bed I bought for her and will spend all night and most of the day on that bed. It was money well spent.

By the time you read this it is "Football Saturday". There were be a few good or great games to watch, Alabama vs LSU for one. Penn State at undefeated Minnesota will be interesting. My two favorite teams, IU and Washington do not play on Saturday. IU has the weekend off and "UDub" played last night on Friday.

I found out today I will be driving back to the top of Carr Canyon Rd November 16 in a support capacity. If you remember my first trip up there, I found about three to four switchbacks with no guardrails where the pucker factor kicked in. I was too scared to stop and didn't want to take a hand off the steering wheel to take a photo as I crawled around the corners.

I will be hauling water, food and a table to the top to support the mountain bike ride that goes to the top of the mountain. It's a two day ride not to the top but two days and about 150 miles around and in the Huachuca Mts. I will be interested in seeing who makes it to the top of Carr Canyon Rd where the Ramsey Vista Campground is located. I'll take photos of that day and write about it later.

I know it's repetitive but I'm honest I guess ... it was another great day in the Wild West.