The hounds and I headed to a night of sleep last night excited with the thought of warming temperatures were right around the corner. We were going to have to wait until late afternoon before it hit 20° but at least we would climb out of those single digit temps by noon. I officially called the 'Polar Vortex' over soon after lunch, at least down here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. Would you believe me if I told you the high on Monday is supposed to be 60° ??? That's not a misprint.
Both hounds were outside for their first trip around 8:30am. I poured kibble as fast as possible. Today they were both at the door when I went to let them back inside. It was still 1° at that time and a wind chill below zero. A few hours later Stella came and touched my arm with her nose ... she had to go outside without delay. She is a great house trained bloodhound.
It didn't look that bad. Still, it was 8° but bright and sunny. I stood outside watching her, with my camera in hand, no coat over my fleece pullover, no shoes, just wool socks tucked into those cheap Chinese sandals I mentioned the other day. She surely wouldn't take to long to relieve herself.
I kept telling her to "hurry up" as she looked for that perfect spot to pee. I was a little concerned her lips or nose would stick to the yard if she kept her nose to the ground too long.
Since she didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to do what she drug me outside to do, I decided I was going to run back inside and put my down parka on, I'd pass on the shoes since that might cost me time, only to see her in the land of burrs.
She had to do more than pee and there is only one place she does that ... in the field. I decided to sprint inside for my coat. I glanced out the window and saw she had walked behind the area containing all the burrs on the dead ragweed. That's always a good thing to see.
She was as fast as I was and by the time I was back outside she was headed my direction. She is pretty logical when it's this cold outside. Although she doesn't seem to speed up her thought process even when it's freezing outside.
An hour later Heidi woke from her morning siesta and took her trip outside. See what I mean? They never have to go at the same time. That strengthens my resume as a professional doorman for the hounds. It wasn't much warmer than an hour ago but you could tell we were out of single digits by the amount of time Heidi was outside and the places she wandered.
Stella has a severe case of cabin fever. We were hoping for an afternoon walk around 5pm when the thermometer needle taps that 20° mark. We'll forget what the wind chill is, just to get outside for some exercise.
Hounds fed, I was fed and a quiet afternoon of reading and watching one of my favorite shows called Homestead Rescue. Yes, she is sleeping with her head raised off the couch.
Even with the temps rising above 15° and the bright sunshine, Stella and Heidi so no reason to cut their afternoon siestas short. They knew the plan was to do nothing until later today where it would be almost 20° warmer than when we started the day. The high's tomorrow will be back in the low 40's and all will be good again.
By 3:30pm I was just as anxious to take a walk as Stella was. It wasn't going to be worth it to wait another hour or so just to gain a couple of degrees. It was still cold but very nice to be outside walking knowing it would be twice as warm tomorrow.
She turned around to attack me as if she wanted to play but each time I tried getting a photo of her trying to get started, she would stop, so these three photos were all I could get.
Not much went on today, a lot like the ending of this post. :)
All is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, at least the small area we reside.
