Winter Is Here

It took a while but the leaves finally changed color a couple of weeks ago. I found these photos on this post today, on my camera last night, photos that I thought I had already downloaded. So the title says "winter is here", what does that mean? Yesterday I spent a day outside for the first time since moving back to Indiana with a high of 31°. That is similar to winter mornings in Sierra Vista AZ in January but there is a huge difference between here and there. By the afternoons out there, that high elevation sunshine was hot and temps would be in the 70s.

I was able to trim the last of the low hanging tree limbs on that tree you see in front of my house. It is scheduled to be cut down in February or March based on the company's calendar. For me it is too close to the house for the type of wind storms we get here. I know, it has been there for years but the neighbor who has been here her whole life says it has been damaged in the past with severe storms.

Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees behind the backyard fence but there is enough left that I might be mowing leaves all the way through December. I cannot rake and burn here like I did up north. I guess I could rake and bag them for trash pickup but that is a hard way to get rid of leaves. There are too many just to leave on the ground, which would kill the grass below them by next spring. Mulching them with the mower is what all of my neighbors do.

For those new readers wondering, why did I move from Arizona back to Indiana? I know most see the word Arizona and think 80-100's every day in temperature but that is not the case when you live at 4,600' elevation. A couple of posts from last March you can see here, will explain the circumstances and reasons for moving. I DID do a lot of analysis and deep thinking on whether I wanted to return to the Indiana winters that I moved from in 2019. I re-read weather websites, talked to my old friend that lives around the corner from me now, and images of Evansville winters .... all said the winters here are not as severe as the winters I had up north, 95 miles away. It was something I think I can live with.

I guess I will see what happens.

I'll admit I have not been a big "holiday" guy for years. Some reasons are family related and personal while others have always been the commercialism that started decades ago. And ... it's things like this photo that turn me off about holidays. Can we at least celebrate Thanksgiving before putting up Christmas lights and trees? The neighbor worked most of last Saturday taking down his Halloween lights and yard ornaments to install his Christmas lights and yard ornaments. Last Saturday was November 20th. Luckily he turns them off when the family goes to bed so there is not any light pollution hitting my living room.

How were the Arizona dogs going to handle temperatures in the 20's? Henry hails from a ranch a few miles south of I-10 and miles east of Wilcox AZ at Out West Bassets. Walter was bought in Arizona but a paperwork trail showed he hailed from Missouri at birth. They did play in the snow last winter in Sierra Vista but that snow never stayed around too long. For some reason I missed or didn't find the blog post that showed them doing that. This is during that time, click here. Stella was walking in light snow flurries here, but so light you can barely see them in her photo. 

None of the three were bothered by cold temps this week in the early morning. In fact even this morning at 19° I could not even bribe Watson and Henry to come inside with words, treats or their bones. They had to explore their yard like they do every morning because you never know who has been here while they sleep. Probably rabbits and squirrels from what I have seen. 

For some strange reason since Watson had surgery in October, he has become a poop eater. A dog habit that I hate. A dog habit that some of my hounds had in the past. I could never stop them. He's habit is the worse I have ever seen, as he will follow Henry and Walter if he suspects that is what they are about to do.

Next thing that is driving me crazy this week .. you will see that this yard is not as lush as the yard I had up north. Henry and Watson have wore down a lot of the grass along with the hot summer temps. So any that is still left is at a premium. If you look at the second photo up from this one you will see Watson has a mouth full of something. Well he has been pulling up clumps of the best grass I have in this yard of mixed types of grass ... eating it and swallowing it, dirt and all if I cannot get to him first. 

Maybe Walter is not as warm as I thought he was, since he has his eyes closed.

Remember when I have said Henry does things on his own time not mine? Does not matter if he is inside or outside when I say "come on Henry", he sits just like this. He doesn't move but hears me. If I close the door, slide over a few feet out of sight I will see him walk to the door to come in. That is the same if I ask him to come inside from the garage or even calling him indoors. He's a lot like Winston.

I no longer watch any news on tv. But Watson loves watching ballgames, some movies if he hears a dog barking and sports news. As usual Henry is in my seat and yes ... he will not move when I tell him too. I couldn't get Walter to remain in the pose he was last night to get a photo of him. I was watching a movie called A Dog's Purpose ... he sat in the middle of the couch and stared at that tv for over 30 minutes at a time and really ended up watching the whole movie. Anytime I tried to get a photo of him watching the tv, he would move and even jump off the couch.

With the smell of food coming from the kitchen Watson is always alert for a possible sample. He gets very few of those as I am trying to keep him on a straight kibble diet since his intestinal surgery.

I guess cold weather brings out the blogging in me. I cannot say that I will blog more than I have in recent months, just not a lot of time anymore. Once I found a few of these photos I thought I would blog today plus it is cold outside. We will hit the mid 40's today as a high and that is fine with me. It's not the 70s but it isn't bad for the Midwest.

I have decided to make the Thanksgiving meal this year. I can cook it all and it usually leaves me enough leftovers to last through four days of football games. It always amazes me how long it takes to cook everything and how little time it takes to eat everything. No doubt there will be a daily siesta from Thursday through Sunday.

We woke up to 19°, frost on the FJ, yard and patio. In less than 3 hours we are up to 27° with an early morning heat wave. My new Spectrum Mobile phone service has worked fantastic. I have noticed no differences from my Verizon service and why should I since they use Verizon towers for their signal. 

Sunny morning here in "the tropics" ... it's going to be a good day.