Only Cold Outside Not Inside

First of all I know my weather the past few days and today is nothing like others are experiencing and I am very grateful for that. It's normal winter weather. It's been going on for as long as I can remember and in fact when I was growing up winters were much worse. (No, I did not have to walk to school in 4' of snow). 

Like most forecasts for where I live, whether winter or thunderstorms, or tornado warnings ... things never turn out as bad as predicted. So when I saw the forecast the other day I still prepared things for that but it's not as bad as they said it would be. 

I am not saying I am a fan of this kind of weather. In fact last night during a commercial of the NFL Playoff game I caught myself saying, "only a month and a half, 45 days, until March 1st". But who counts days until spring?

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Nothing is changed much since we don't do a lot during the winter months but stay inside and watch ballgames, read books, take naps and a movie or two fit in. Twitter (X) keeps me updated with all the news stuff and I must say I have enjoyed my return to Facebook.

This was around 7:15am this morning. The hounds and dog had already come back inside and were eating their morning kibble in three different rooms. When I moved here in 2021 Watson was not here yet but after he arrived he wanted his food, Henry's food and Walter's food even as a 8 week old puppy, so I had to feed them in separate rooms. You can tell we didn't get much snow last night by what is on top of the fence.

With the dip to single digits as high temps the past couple of days I have not made it outside. Not once. I have no interest in hearing the snow crunch under my feet as I walk nor do I feel the need to have my nostrils stick closed if I were to breath through my nose ... so I have hunkered down inside with the heat set at 68°, blinds closed to keep some of the cold out, and books nearby to grab when the urge to read hits me.

We had a lot of rain before the cold winds blew in so I was able to see if my yard strategy last summer worked or not. My strategy was to add dirt in the low spots with new seed. Then grow and cut the grass taller, making a deeper root system and cutting it taller on that last cut of the year than I normally do. The other day I did have less areas flooded in the back yard after a hard rain that was over an inch. Some of the low spots either need more dirt this spring or I switch course and make them a rock garden with plants that love water.

As always I can see my new "to do" list gaining steam as I add one task after another, to start this spring.

You might wonder how the hounds and dog handle weather this cold. As Walter has gotten older, he has become braver and actually goes outside now when he needs to. In fact he just barked to go outside. In years past he would not move once I opened the patio door and I had to give him enough leeway to use the garage. I would clean that immediately when he was finished but not needed this year.

The routine is alway, all three go outside as soon as we get up. While they are outside, I pour out their breakfast. Once they eat, Walter goes immediately outside, Watson sprints to the computer room to see if Walter has left any food behind and Henry is in the bedroom still eating slowly. Of course, since he is on his own timeline he always starts eating later than the other two.

Then once Walter comes back inside Watson is already standing at the patio door to go back outside. Today I changed things up and let him outside while Walter was still outside. As you can see Walter didn't want to be messed with, no playing of any kind, just a fast sprint back to the door to come inside.

Whether it is 4° or 100° Watson does not care. He will check out every inch of the fence line from one corner to the other. He did that as a puppy too.

Even in single digit temps, Watson and Henry do not want to come inside when I am yelling for them to. Last night I had to put my shoes on and walk out to that fenced area and "herd" them toward the door. It was dark, 3° and they were refusing to come back inside. Late afternoons it usually takes a bribe of me yelling "milk bone". Not that brand of treat but those big boxes I buy at Costco. The bones are so big I break them in half and give them to the hounds and dog when a bribe is called for. They WILL sprint for the door when they hear those words.

This afternoon I found a new way to get them to come inside. I went to the front door, opened it and rang my doorbell twice. By the time I closed the door, all three were at the patio door, with Walter barking ... to come inside. 

Just like this morning when I yelled for Watson to come inside ... he turns to acknowledge that he hears me, then turns and his nose is back on the ground. He later came to the door when he was ready to come inside.

So like the title of this post says "Only cold outside not inside", the hounds and dog are able to start their day like any summer day. Walter was sleeping until he sensed a camera was pointed at him.

This is Henry's normal sleeping spot after his breakfast.

Although Watson sleeps over night on the dog bed below with the big padded edges, he likes to sneak up on my bed after he comes back inside for a short hour nap most mornings.

Late last week when it was raining, they didn't move much further than the computer room since that is where I was hiding out. It is always fun to be on Twitter when coaching changes happen in college football or basketball. Up until last night when Washington hired their new coach two days after losing their coach to Alabama, my computer time was increased keeping updated on what was happening. Of course that did not matter to Watson and Walter.

I cannot see what to click here to put a caption below this photo so I will just spell it out. I pulled this photo from a photographer I follow on Facebook. It is a photo of Falls Park, Pendleton Indiana. This is where I swam growing up. Up by that bridge were two diving boards, a short and high dive where you could dive into the falls. 

That wall where you see the water falling over has a small dam that might be closed now or frozen over, that would fill up the pool. I believe that large building is now a museum of the area and town. It was a great place to grow up. At that time Pendleton was around 2,200 population, in the 1960s. 

To the right and up the street is a pond with a lighthouse that still stands today 65 years later. That was the ice skating rink in weather like today.

So that is the latest with the hounds, dog and I. Not much will be going on for at least the next week. At least it is bright and sunny outside and we are already up to 5° at 9am local central time. 

Where the hounds, dog and I live here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana everything is cool, 5° cool.