Crazy Weather

Since December this years weather has been nothing but strange, crazy, and wild. Since the Z4 was put away for the winter 'dirty' I didn't put it under it's car cover this year. I woke up to this picture today and could barely see some small snow flakes falling. April 16 ?? I can't do anything but laugh about it. I have a washer update later in the post.

As always even a trace of snow energizes the hounds. About the time I clicked my first photo of them they both took off running way ahead of me. Even Stella was trotting a little faster than normal.

Either deer, rabbits or other night animals were really active last night because both hounds had noses to the ground and tails curled upward. They were intense in their exploration.

They went far enough into the thick brush, with new thorns, that I had to call and tell them to 'get out here' ... they knew what that meant.

About the same time I almost caught up with them, they took off sprinting around the corner and moved to their next favorite spot.

They repeated that again as I came close to them ... running far ahead of me.

Sadie of course looked back to check on me, making sure I was still upright and had a pulse. She never wants me to get too far behind.

What was the scent they were going crazy over, running in different directions that the camera could not even pick up.

When their ears aren't lying down and Stella is moving faster than a slow walk ... you know the scent is strong.

With new growth sprouting in the bushes that brings new sharp thorns. There were enough of them that Stella got hung up for a minute or so until she figured out how to set herself free.

Then once again took off running away from me.

They followed that idea all the way back to the house.

The more I thought about my washer situation last night with both the washer and dryer sitting outside their normal space, I decided even with that one water hose connected I could still lean the washer over toward it's side so I could look underneath ... I was surprised what I found and it made the water mystery even more confusing.

I knew the floor under the washer did not seem wet enough that would match the amount of water I found on my kitchen floor. But I knew the water had to come from there because of how saturated that dry towel got when I set it in front of the washer while doing my two small loads on Saturday.

I expected the floor to be really wet and possibly some standing water but there wasn't either of that. My next surprise is what I found inside the washer by looking from the bottom of it. I didn't see any signs of water, leaking hoses, or water trapped in the small 1/4" wide trap around the edge. All I found was dust and cobwebs. That's a good thing ... yet confusing.

With my bright LED camping flashlight I was able to see quite clearly from bottom to the top on all four sides. I didn't see a water stain anywhere. So I decided to put it and the dryer back in their normal spots and do more thinking.

By last night I had already ruled out buying used. There are only two reasons someone is selling a used washer and dryer ... it's either a money pit with problems or they have upgraded and bought one newer and more expensive. I don't like taking a chance on stuff like that.

I also know due to my DNA that I could never handle a new washer sitting next to my 38 year old dryer that works. It would drive me insane having them different. That's just the way I am. So on my way to buy groceries right after this post, I am going to stop by the local laundromat and see what the cost is, does it use debit cards or quarters, and what kind of vibe I get about the place. After all if I was a full time traveler like I wanted to be a few years ago, I'd have to use laundromats to wash clothes.

In the meantime I have gone back to 'layered clothing' for today but it will be high 50's and then 60's after tomorrow. I am saying it again ... the last day of freezing weather.

Thanks for the comments in the previous post on ideas on replacing a broke washer ... but is it really??? Testing tonight or tomorrow to see what happens.

Light snow disappearing from the grass here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Snow Again??

It was light snow but it stuck to my car and we could see a little of it in the field during our walk. The bloodhounds loved it of course while Heidi was buried in her sleeping bag sleeping.

Strange Weather Strange Times

It has been a strange time since my last post. One thing that always changes besides the weather is life, sometimes with devastating news. As you will see in the photos taken over the span of time since our last post on March 15, the weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana has been wild and crazy. That continued this morning, but I have not gone outside yet to document the the light snow we had late last night on the 9th of April.

Over the 6 1/2 years I have blogged here the blog has changed from very personal thoughts during my RV research. Then it slowly migrated toward the hounds once I decided in June 2015 that traveling with just one bloodhound and two basset hounds would be too much to handle. At the same time I pulled in a lot of my personal thoughts or what was going on in life and just wrote about the hounds.

Some people can write about everything that is happening in their life, from traveling to depression, health issues, car issues etc. I cannot be that open on a public blog. So as many of you know or could tell over the past year or so most of the blogging has been about the hounds and less about me or what I am doing. It's just the way it is. You will have to fill in the gaps.

Even this morning I can't say if I will continue blogging or not. I am pretty sure I will no longer be blogging on a daily basis. I do know as the weather warms up my 'to do' list feels like it's a mile long and that doesn't give me a lot of computer time. I will just have to see what happens.

I will say that local tv weather experts were right in their forecasts. If they said it was going to rain non-stop for days and nights ... it did. A few times I had the feeling me might slide down the hill house and all or blow away from the strong winds. About the time the ground would be close to dry, it would snow. Dreams of spring weather were nowhere to be found and that stupid groundhog out in Pennsylvania was pretty accurate that winter would be extended this year.

Occasionally we do have some nice sunsets here. Yet, those sunsets that some of you post on your blogs out west are hard to beat. That wide open western sky is fantastic.

Not only were Sadie and Stella confused about the weather and why it was too wet or raining to take our daily walks ... this robin was also confused. The birds showed up normal time in the end of March, not knowing there was more snow on the way a week later.

Stella has been pretty good the past month as far as wondering off during our walks, then ignoring me. She has continued to stay in the general area while Sadie and I complete the walk and she actually walks slowly in our direction when I call her name as we return home.

A year ago she was skin and bones, looking sick ... this year she has gained all of her weight back, her coat is soft and thick. Maybe it's that 'natural protein' she enjoys eating.

Sadie runs whenever she gets the chance in the field. It doesn't matter how wet or saturated the ground is with the large amounts of rain we have had.

It happens every spring but rarely does it happen in March. From back in the field looking this direction you would think we have moved to lakefront property. This was taken a week or two ago, there is even more water than that right now.

The only thing that kept us sane was the bright sunny days although the temperatures were in the low 30's and the field was frozen mud. Thoughts of the town I want to move to was 40° warmer and the cost of housing is bout $40 per square foot more than where I live now. A lot of thinking and a lot of conflict again on what to do.

With less blogging I took less pictures lately. That led to some low quality photos even with the auto focus settings. We still took 1-2 hound walks per day as long as it wasn't raining or the water didn't come up over my boots as I took each step in the field. Many of those walks were with the retractable leash in hand just in case Stella decided to turn stubborn.

Stella decided one morning it was more fun to make the complete walk on her own without a leash, rather than hanging back and supplementing her diet with natural protein left by the deer. She even had a little bounce to her step so I knew she was feeling pretty good.

Many of the morning walks the past 3 weeks have had the sound of crunching frozen grass under our feet. It's just hard to wrap my brain around freezing temperatures in the month of April. I cannot say that I am thrilled about that. I am ready for warm, hot, sunny weather.

After the snow disappeared at the end of March, the robins tried one more time to set up their camp. I guess the 40°'s felt like 60° to them.

I have noticed a lot more deer traffic lately on our walks with fresh hoof prints and Sadie taking more and more trips into the wooded brush area. She spends a lot of time with her nose to the ground and running from spot to spot.

As she turns 10 years old in June I think I am seeing a little more gray hair around that black nose of hers.

Stella is always in deep thought.

After almost two months of Dish Network I can say that I am pretty happy with the change in satellite tv service. Of course like anything else, there are some things I don't like as much as I move around their menu with my remote and other things I like better than Directv. I continue to get the mail from Directv every week telling me to come back with some pretty interesting offers.

They are now willing to give me the same programming that was going to cost me $99.99 per month for $19.99 per month for the next 2 years ... plus ... throw in a $300 gift visa card. Yes, you read that correctly NINETEEN DOLLARS per month.

Here is Stella on March 22nd trying to figure out what happened to her green yard she was in the day before. Not a lot of snow but just weird ... I was mowing my yard a few times a week this time last year.

The only one not confused around here abut the weather or life in general is Heidi. She knows what is going on outside and she wants no part of it. She might do a lap around the house after her lunch but as far as checking out the rain, the snow or high winds ... not going to happen.

Consequently with all the bad weather the past 25 days ... the hounds do a lot of this.

The light snow covering the ground this morning is already disappearing as I write this. I'll be mowing parts of the yard this Thursday as the temps move into the mid 70's for a couple of days and then drop back into the 40's a good 15° - 20° blow average temps for the month of April.

You will notice the comments section is open again.

Basically the hounds and I are doing okay, taking one day at a time here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.