Stella didn't like this morning's walk any more than I did. It was just to wet after a night of rain added on to the Monday rain. I knew we were in trouble as I stepped off "Winston's Patio" into the back yard as water rose over the side of my boots. One step on the path in the field and it was all mud. My boots were only protected by the cover of wet leaves. We decided to go anyway. You can see after one photo that Stella isn't really enthused about taking the walk.
The water kept rising over the sides of Stella's paws and she hates that. She was looking for an alternative route as was I but even in the thick grass, water was above the ground with each step I took. After all, this morning once she saw standing water on the carport floor she made an immediate left and walked around the Mini Cooper to go out into the yard.
Turning on the Canon G9 X this morning as we headed out, the battery light was flashing. I didn't try to nurse the camera's battery on this walk. I put the battery on the charger and took the Nikon D3200 this morning.
About the time we made it to the first turn I seriously thought about walking over to the return path and head home, calling the walk off. Stella was cruising along the edge of the field and brush so I took a photo of my boot and kept on going.
This was taken after the water was going back into the ground. You can see just how much water was coming over the top of my boot sometimes. I moved over into the high grass to see if that would help. It was wet and muddy everywhere.
It was extremely warm this morning. Gloves were not needed nor was my Carhartt sock hat. I knew the only way we would take a second walk today was if that afternoon freeze would harden the ground fast enough to take that wake. I thought the chances were pretty slim for that to happen.
Just because her paws were wet did not mean she would increase her pace to get home. Same slow pace, one paw at a time and not a care in the world. She knew what her plan was for the day and there was no need to hurry up. The world clocks will adjust to her clock, not the other way around.
I had not made it to the yard when I glanced at my lens and saw that somehow drops of rain were on the lens. It wasn't raining, so it possibly came from the tall grass brushing against the lens. That was hard to understand since I made an effort to always hold the camera high as we walked through the tall grass.
I remembered how much it rained last Spring, way above our normal levels. I wondered if we are headed for another wet Spring and Summer? What do you use to see what your weather will be in the coming months?
By the time we had returned from the morning walk, Heidi was just curious enough about the noise Stella and I were making that she raised her head from the dog bed in the corner of the bedroom floor. I don't think she was happy having her morning nap cut short.
It was only a few hours later that I could feel the forecast was right. It was becoming colder and would probably get below 32° by this afternoon. Stella could either feel rain, hear rain or smell rain and she wasn't going any further than the edge of the carport right after lunch.
Heidi didn't have any different thoughts than Stella either. She went to the edge of the yard and mulch to relieve herself and then sprinted back to the door.
As the afternoon passed, the weather answered the question about the second walk of the day. One time I would glance outside it would be raining. Another time I'd glance up from reading my book in the living room, I was seeing snow flurries outside. We were back to temperatures a little below the normal average temperatures for February so the next few weeks of the month are set.
When I did my taxes in January it did not take me long to understand why my tax refund would be less than last year. Evidently people across America forgot their tax cut starting in February of last year, where they had less money withdrawn from their paychecks. That has two results. For those that get refunds, would get smaller refunds this year. For those that always pay taxes, like I use to when I worked, they might have a higher amount to pay in taxes. A third result would depend on what income bracket you are in, with the new tax laws in affect.
What is so hard to understand about that?
I planned to repeat on Tuesday what I did on Monday. NO TV news and NO online news headlines. NO reading of political blogs or tweets. If I can do that 10 straight days I will be well on my way of being "newsless" again like I was last fall. I think that's a good goal.
After 50 some pages of reading, I had a small snack and continued my new routine of an afternoon siesta for a couple of hours. I have gradually moved back to my regular schedule of staying up late, sleeping past 7am, with a late afternoon siesta. Long gone are those days of getting up at 5am just a few weeks ago.
It looks like a night of college basketball on tv tonight. Besides that, it was another successful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
