A Cooler Monday

We started our walk this morning a couple of hours later than normal. Two reasons ... it was cold and there were heavy amounts of dew on the ground.

Cold was the main reason.

There is nothing different in the daily routine. Mundane and boring to most readers I'm sure but it is what it is when you are retired and happy to do nothing most of the time ... plus living with three different hounds that want different things ... all at different times.

The first trip this morning was nothing more than this. They didn't go into the field, they stood there and let me know they wanted to go for a walk then, not later. They didn't get their request so they came back inside.

Like I said, around 8:30am it was too cold and too wet to be walking through the field ... so we started after 11:30. Glancing up at the thermometer in the carport it showed less than 50° as we started our walk. I've always thought it was 5° warmer on that thermometer so it was colder than I expected.

Yet, stepping into the backyard with the sunshine out, it felt warmer than 50°. For the first time that I can ever remember, Stella didn't bolt out in front of us but stayed behind, almost like she didn't want to walk. Was she starting to do what Winston use to do? He would sit there when the field grass was too high or I had not connected his leash even if he did not need to be leashed. Sometimes Winston would not walk at all .. just sit and howl at us.

So I told Stella to "come on" ... and she went running out to the front and everything was okay.

It's the same spot every morning where she stops, buries her nose in the thick grass and doesn't come up for air. She might lift her head a few times to see where we are but she will not move until she wants to. Today Sadie and I were almost to the corner where we veer right on the walk when Stella decided she had better run to catch up to us.

She joined Sadie just past the corner and of course both the them had to check out the spot where I believe that deer spend a lot of time. I know nothing about deer or their activities so that is just a wild guess.

Stella went from making sure everything was okay in that spot to sprinting along the edge of the field/gully where she is not allowed to go into. She turned right like always but didn't stay long. She was on a scent that led back up to Sadie and I ... so Stella was in non-stop action.

Stella is still curious about her "no fly zone" and would love nothing more than to be able to run over in that direction and spend time there. When I see her in that position I call her name and I no longer leave until she is next to me. She ran right past me today and joined Sadie to lead the way home.

After Sadie's run chasing the squirrel into the wooded area by the neighbors house, I pay attention to her when she is looking that direction. I keep her moving in my direction. In 8 years she has never ran to the neighbors when she sees someone outside but there is a first time for everything.

Today the neighbors were not outside but the cloths they had hung out to dry were the point of interest today for Sadie. I wonder what she is thinking?

I wasn't able to take more photos, as both of them stayed near me all the way home. They have become addicted to the walk in the morning and will almost bother me as much as they do when they want lunch. Yet, once that walk is completed they are sound asleep within minutes of returning inside.

I tried something different today when I wrote this post. I loaded all of my photos first, then commented and enlarged them as I went. Probably not any quicker than writing first and adding photos last, but there seemed to be less requirement to make sure the paragraphs were spaced correctly between photos. It seemed like it was easier to write after the photos were added.

Oh ... the temperature was an official 45° when we stepped back inside. Wunderground shows it's not going to make the predicted high of 54° today but that's fine. It's still sunny and no snow .. so you can't complain about that.

I thought of getting some rest before the next round of the NCAA basketball games that start again on Thursday but not until around 7pm local time. Then I remembered I could fill in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night by watching the NIT basketball tournament. I will not be camped on the couch but will probably have those games on in the background and then sit and watch parts of them depending on what is going on. It sure beats the crap on tv news about politics.

All is good this morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.