Took the vehicle out for a run, put it thru it's paces and could not get it to act strange again. The heat was coming out as it should be, so that was just an issue of not heating while idling, whatever that indicates. The car did produce some blue smoke when taking off for a few minutes, then cleared up completely. The coolant hose did get hard once I came back and checked things out, that after about a 15 mile test run.
Ralph