Burn Pile Is Gone

With great weather, little wind and rain in the forecast tonight, I knew this morning was the perfect time to burn the high stack of tree limbs collected over the past year. I did not burn them last fall like I usually do, so the stack was a little higher than normal but possibly dryer. I also add my one small waste basket of paper files or those padded mailing envelopes that you cannot recycle. First, I had to buy a 50' hose to add to the one I already have.

It looks like the deer traffic last night was pretty close to the house, which is normal. This print was about 5' in the field, as I started my walk.

I like having a water hose nearby when I burn for safety. This pile is surrounded by dead leaves along the bank, the woods behind it and to the side of it is part of the field. My last hose mysteriously had a hole in it, so that was the reason for the delay. I kept forgetting to buy the hose last fall.

Stella and I took off this morning with the air full of the sounds of birds. No jacket was needed, no gloves nor sock hat .... spring has arrived.

I am not sure why but for most of the walk, Stella walked right behind me, out of camera range.

Once I mentioned that I was going grocery shopping right after our walk, she picked up the pace and very little verbal herding was needed. Maybe she has figured out what the word groceries means and thinks there will be some food for her. She is always interested in food.

I was heading down the old path home but she wasn't going to take that way today. She followed the one we normal take and didn't even look over to see if I was coming or not. She was 'marching' for the yard.

When she glanced over to the left and didn't see me, she stopped and glanced along the horizon, then it dawned on her that I might be following her.

I had the hose and the rake out near the burn pile but I was really unprepared for this years burning. I had forgotten to bring the camera with me to take a before and after photo. By the time I walked in and back outside with the camera, the large pile of tree limbs was almost gone.

If I don't keep Stella on the tether while we are outside, she will wander off and end up next door. Yet the past two days that she has been on the tether while I have worked in the yard, she lays down and sleeps near the house. If I unhook her, she wanders off.  LOL

Heidi spent most of her time wandering around the yard, even up in the northern part checking out the trees. We were not outside longer than an hour though. In fact that tall pile of limbs was gone in less than 30 minutes.

I glanced over once at Stella and didn't see Heidi. I didn't see Heidi anywhere in the backyard nor the field. She was evidently inspecting the job I did yesterday, picking up every size of stem or limb out of the  front yard. You can tell up in the shaded area the grass is growing fast and will need to be mowed by next week.

As the pile gets smaller, I rake everything to the center.

I think you can tell by the pictures of the hounds just how nice the weather was this morning. I am glad that spring and warmer temps are here. The possibility of rain does not bother me.

Almost completely burned down and ready for another year of tree limb collection.

The first time I looked at the time after putting everything away like the hose, the rake, my ladder and after I cleaned up ... I was shocked that it was only 11:30am. It felt like mid-afternoon. Like I do every year at this time, I see that if I don't move into action right after Stella and I get back from our morning walk ... there is a chance things will not get done.

When I leave or start a job outside as soon as we return, I get a lot of 'to do' stuff done and most of the time I am finished with what I need to do for the day by noon. So I'll be posting my first blog post of the day, and mostly likely the only blog post of the day in the afternoon or early evening from now on.

I can tell that I am a little out of shape. With only twisting and bending over many times to pick up sticks in the yard yesterday, I woke up this morning with some sore lower back muscles and sore hamstrings. That's a good sign. By the time I mow the whole yard for the first time I should be in better shape.

After inspecting my roof this morning it looks like it made it through another midwestern winter with no issues. It's old and on its last years, so it's always good to see no wear and tear or any kind of buckling due to the ice or extreme changes in temperature. I am going to get every last dollar out of that roof before I replace it.

I am still trying to decide what to do along the back side of the house. I am pretty sure all of that river rock is coming out of there. I might replace it with the same cyprus mulch I have in front, then add potted plants along area. Before I do anything like that, I have to dig along the edge of the yard and rock, pull out my old drainage system and install a new one.

Too much flooding during heavy rains this winter tells me it's plugged up with mud. So I'll install a brand new drain. That's a lot of manual labor, a lot of shoveling. I can't say I am looking forward to that job.

Still, it's been another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Supervises Yardwork

I couldn't wait for Stella this morning. Luckily she was up and awake, ready to take the morning walk. As I glanced out to see what kind of field we had today before choosing what boots to wear, I swear I could tell that the backyard and field had grown over night. I'll be 'spot' mowing the yard at first because it never grows even at the start of spring.

Can you tell I am already finding it hard what to blog about this morning? After yesterday's excitement there has been some letdown this morning. I like seeing "mid-60's" by this afternoon but it was the coldest morning in the past week as we started the walk.

I am barely feeling an urge to pick up every stick and limb in my yard today. With a Cincinnati Reds game starting at noon, I'll either finish that project before the game or wait for warmer weather, then tape the game to watch tonight. The weather is too nice to stay inside. I did that all winter.

While watching tv last night, a Reds game, I started thinking again that DirecTv has a clearer picture than DishNetwork. I went through that thought process before making the change at the end of my DirecTv contract in February 2018. It was different enough to notice it right after they did the installation. The tech forums claim what I am seeing and agree.

Like any two competitive companies, each have their pros and cons. Both companies have features that the other doesn't but those you like. I have about 10 months before I have to make a decision whether to stay or move from DishNetwork. By that time AT&T might have streaming services in my area, but they don't at this time.

My mind was wandering this morning as I walked. Will it be a laundry day or a trip to the grocery store? Hold off on until it is a rainy day and do yard cleanup today or will procrastination win out where I do nothing? I could do a mix of all, so I guess I'll know by the end of the day. That's the advantage of being retired. I wasn't as focused this morning as I was yesterday.

I've noticed from the few blogs I follow now, that almost all of the full-time travelers from seven years ago have come off the road and travel part time, if at all. Some have passed on, others just disappeared from blogging. I remember how obsessed I was back in 2011 and 2012 spending most of my free time researching RVs and making plans for when I retired two years later, with two basset hounds and two bloodhounds.

I spent a lot of time reading those bloggers that lived on the road as well as the forums for RVing and different type of rigs. During those times I also read about a lot of places I had already visited and a few where I had lived. I did a lot more traveling and exploring the surrounding areas when I lived out west in California and later Washington.

Stella had a thorn bush get stuck to her jowls today, as she pulled away.

While I thought back to those times yesterday I knew that some roadtrips will take place in the future. The thought of traveling might have also been triggered when I looked at my list of towns in the generic weather app that comes with the iPhone, and seeing temperatures 20°-30° warmer than my April day was.

Like I have stated many times before, mostly on my older blog, this house and field are the best situation for my hounds and they are my #1 priority. I also like living here and enjoy the area. Things are simple, quiet most of the time and away from all the chaos. I've never lived anywhere as long as I have lived here in this house.

Stella wasn't tracking scent today even if it looks like it. Oh I guess she was ... deer scat scent, not deer travel. I had to stop her numerous times from eating it. I still don't think that is a good idea and I've read articles both ways, about dogs eating crap. She is not the first that has done this in my history of hounds. Some did some didn't.

I was a little surprised I did not have any kind of heartburn after having that medium pizza yesterday. I ate half of it there and the other half last night for dinner. I expected to be woken up in the middle of the night with indigestion but that did not happen. That's a good thing. I also stayed within my daily calorie limit by not eating anything else. I just wasn't hungry after I finished the last piece of pizza.

This is about all I have for this morning. I had thought about waiting until the end of the day to post but I have to many photos to do that. Maybe I'll hold off posting this, delete some of these photos and add some afternoon photos, then schedule this to publish later today.

By the time I got here I decided I'd wait to post this. Who knew what might happen. I became highly motivated to clean the yard up with a little raking and picking up every stick, stem, twig or limb from the highway all the way to the field.

Heidi let me know the reason for me not bothering with that stack of leaves. She found it to be the perfect bed under the sunshine to sleep while I worked. I had Stella on the long cord that is anchored in the field. All she did was enjoy the sunshine and slept the two hours I was outside.

I had one more job after cleaning the yard and that was get rid of those leaves along the back of the house. I moved them around the corner of the house and burned them. No chance of having them blow back into the yard during the next storm.

I was finished with everything by 11:53am and found out the Reds game did not start until 12:30 instead of noon. Either way it was perfect timing. I had time to clean up and fix something for lunch. I had all the windows in the house open for about an hour before deciding that 57° outside was just a bit too cold to leave the windows open.

It was good to be back outside working in the yard for the first time this spring in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.