Cold Temps Have Arrived

Cletus shows you just how much he loves Watson's love seat. I think you can tell he finds sleeping there much more comfortable than sleeping in the streets during the weeks he was wandering the streets of Salem Indiana before they caught him. August 23rd the bloodhound trainer and manager of the Greene County Shelter picked him up and took him to his house to train and live.

The trainer is so busy with training and taking care of hounds the right way, he does not use the internet. We could text back and forth when I asked about Cletus but he didn't have a computer to look at photos I had sent him. He gives all his hounds the attention, care and all the walks they deserve. He was happy Cletus found a good home. 

It was only two weeks ago last Friday that he arrived here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana. It did not take him long to blend in with the routine of the other hounds and dogs. He has become Ava's favorite hound to play with. Yet this morning as he spent time sleeping in the warm house, Ava and Watson were outside in 32° running from one side of the yard to the other with Ava in the lead.

He is comfortable enough living here that he will go off on his own when he wants to go to sleep. He has various places in the house he likes to nap but at night sleeps on the dog bed that use to be Watson's or Ava's. All except Walter, rotate where they sleep in the bedroom at night. 

I bought this dog bed for Cletus and set it in the great room because I knew I did not have enough couch space. But when you lose your couch to the new bloodhound it is only fair game to take his new dog bed. I even caught Walter sleeping on it last Sunday.

Last night while I watched the first three episodes of Landman on tv, they were out cold ... Walter of course was snoring loud enough I had to turn the sound up on the tv to hear the show.

Henry always decides which end of the couch I get. 

You might remember that I bought this crate for Ava for her to stay in during the times I am buying groceries, hiking, or riding my bike. Walter has always been fan of a crate, so he and Ava share this during the times I am home, which is a lot. Many times they both sleep inside it with room to spare.

It has been a sad year for me in 2024. I haven't mentioned it before but I have lost four friends this year. Three of them were in my age group and the latest only 45 years old. I am not sure why I am mentioning that here. The latest was shocking not only to me but to the bicycling community in Sierra Vista. Mark owned one of the two bicycle shops in town. Was a great influence to the younger kids, getting them interested in BMX and Mountain Bikes. They had a city kids tribute ride last Friday and his service was on Saturday. I find it hard not to think about it but gradually moving on from the situation. His death hit me the hardest of the four this past year. 

I had a puzzle on Sunday that I fixed and that only led into another unsolved mystery. I have always had low water pressure in different sinks in the house. The first year I lived here I cleaned all the faucet heads in vinegar and improved the water flow in all the faucet head. Lately my kitchen faucet was really getting bad, so it was time to see if I could fix some things.

Of course it was not the slow flowing water that got me started. The ice maker in my older Whirlpool fridge stopped making ice. Recently I had heard 'different' sounds coming from that fridge. I was guessing it has frozen possibly at the entry point and was blocked the water source to make ice. The ice maker is inside the freezer, on the side and back behind the two large sliding drawers. Not easy to get to.

Long story short since I want to move to the kitchen faucet unsolved mystery ... I manually defrosted the freezer, checked the connection of the water line on the back of the fridge and got it working. Only to have water freezing under the drawers a day later and plugging things up again. I turned the water source off and started making ice cubes in trays again.

So I slowly lay on the floor to lean up under my kitchen sink. I see no leaks so that is a good start. I turn off the water line to the faucet. I soak the faucet head in a glass of vinegar and that works as it should. I get the faucet put back together, turn on the water line.

I have so much water pressure it could peel paint. From nothing to out of control. I move the faucet lever to the right to see how much hot water I have .... the water stops ... as if I had turned off the water!!! This type of repair or maintenance is just like me .. nothing is ever simple with me doing house repairs or just maintenance. Now I have high pressure cold water and no hot water coming from the kitchen sink. I did have slow moving hot water before I turned off the water source.

So as it stands on Tuesday I am searching YouTube and the internet for answers and possible solutions.

37° at 9:50am is going to keep me inside so I will have plenty of time to hopefully figure out what is going one.

It is hard to believe this will be our 4th Thanksgiving in this house. This was Henry the afternoon we arrived, April 29, 2021. 

It's going to get colder this weekend in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.