Wow Was I Confused ???

 

I was confused yesterday when I said I did not have any new photos because I found some this morning on my iPhone. Then I am still confused today because when I uploaded the photos I took this morning (shown here) plus the "missing" photos, I saw I had used the "missing" photos here on my January 9th post. I had used my iPhone, Nikon, and Cannon in the past 8 days. Luckily when I load them into my "Import" file here on my iMac they are sorted date taken.

Blogger is also confused today. I have uploaded the photos in this post 4 different times and Blogger still puts them in reverse order than the way I loaded them. I even shut down my browser on the last two attempts but it did not work. So all these photos except the last two, were taken this morning.

Polar Vortex Has Passed

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.

The Hounds Survive

By noon the temperature had climbed to -1°, the hounds had been fed and we had received a phone call from California wishing us well. Since he had grown up on a farm in Indiana he still remembered what it was like being outside in weather like this 45 or more years ago. I could see out of the large kitchen window at the bright sunny day but anywhere else the door windows and storm windows were covered with ice. Thank God for storm windows. I went out with the hounds right after their lunch, they were finished and back inside the house in little over a minute.

They were maintaining pretty well since they were unable to wander the yard or field. I never had to call them since they could feel just how cold it was. It was indescribable. I cannot imagine what Chicago felt like at -45° today. Stella scratched as usual.

Heidi did her normal stretching and body shakes after lunch, right before she took a siesta.

I was a little surprised that Stella headed for the backyard at -1° ... but when you have to go you have to go I guess. Better to do that outside and not inside.

The carport thermometer is consistently 5-8 degrees warmer year round, than what my iPhone weather app tells me.

Like I said, they were both back at the door in little over a minutes time.

A few hours later while I was playing Mahjong, both hounds walked to the door, Stella slightly whining and Heidi fighting for position to be the first one outside ... I could only guess what they couldn't hold anymore.

The perfect house dog ... in the field at -1°.

Heidi still had time to explore a little on her way back from the front yard.

We anxiously look forward to tomorrow's heat wave when it climbs to the mid 20's ... that right there is cargo shorts and t-shirt weather.

All is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Frozen Tundra

As expected, it was extremely cold this morning and the solid ice on the storm windows proved it. I had no plans of taking any walks today at all. We did last year in much more colder weather, more wind and a lower wind chill. There are always concerns walking the bloodhound in temperatures that range of 15° or lower. Will she get ice in between her toes and then have to be carried home? Or, will the extreme freezing weather harm her pads of her paws? Will it cause cracking later on? So with some hesitation, we cautiously walked outside after 10:30am and at 14° and a wind chill 5°.

Two things made it feel warmer, the sunshine was out and very bright. Plus the thermometer in the corner of the carport was at 20°, in the shade. The freezing wind was from the Southwest let me know it was going to be colder on the way home. With that bright sunshine, mentally it felt a lot warmer than it was. I didn't mind it so far and neither did Stella.

With it so cold what little snow was left from last night's dusting, it was not moving from the path onto Stella's paws. It was very dry, like the snow you would experience out west. So the only question would be as we started the walk was ... will Stella's paws get cold enough that we would have to turn around?

Really it did not feel that bad. I was wearing my normal layers of clothes, covered with a down parka and a hood over the top of my sock hat. The Mountain Hardwear parka is 25 years old and is still working fantastic keeping me warm. I had no doubt that I'd stay warm enough to finish the walk. Stella looked a little energized and ready to go. A complete walk was looking promising.

Stella kept trotting fast enough to always stay in front of me. I tried a couple of times to get around her but each time I was about to take a photo of her from the front, she would run by me before I could press the shutter. I was a little curious if that meant she would head for the far right corner of the field, knowing I was not going to run after her? Our pace was the same as always. We did not speed up just because it was cold, after all ... the sun was out. :)

With the straw blowing from left to right, you can't feel it by the way it is bending to the right, but it shows the winds were stronger than normal. With it forecasted to be even colder tomorrow I would have expected the winds coming from the NE or the upper left corner of the photo, since that is where the arctic front is coming from.

When I asked "Do you see any deer?" ... LOL .... she stopped and studied the landscape.

Then looked back at me to see if I was serious or just joking with her. Looking back through some photos in my Deer folder the other day, it showed I have not seen deer in this field since November 2017. What happened? Where did they go? Deer tracks yes ... actual deer no.

This is about as far as Stella veered off the path this morning. She did not act cold in any way but she also did not get off the path too far.

As she stopped at the last turn for home, I told her "lets go home" ... and she took off trotting down the path.

I ran a little to get ahead of her, thinking I might catch her running but not today. She always tried staying in front of me.

The daily stop and look toward the woods behind the neighbor's house. Is it the smell of food outside or the smell of the rarely seen field cat?

It might be really cold, but that does not mean Stella will move any faster. She is always on her on time.

The bright sunshine made it feel warmer mentally. It is supposed to get up to 21° by late this afternoon but still has a wind chill of 7° predicted ... about like it was this morning. So the walk may not happen. I do know for sure it will not happen tomorrow when the high temps are single digits. She and Heidi will get their short 1-2 minute supervised trips outside to relieve themselves but that is all

My friend from the Chicago area after waking up to 8" of new snow on top what they had the previous days. Then today ... it's reported that Chicago will be colder than Antarcticia this week!!!

I was in such a hurry to get out of the store yesterday like I wrote about last night around midnight, that I forgot to buy oatmeal. I had failed to put that on my list. I did run into an old co-worker at the store yesterday. She retired a few years before I did but yesterday she told me the same thing I tell people, "It was the best career decision I ever made, and I don't miss working at all." No plans for today other than watching the taped show Bull, more reading about Steve Jobs, some internet surfing and probably some Mahjong games. Without any ice cream in the house, it is doubtful I'll pass out from a sugar overdose and need an afternoon siesta like I did yesterday. Life is rough in retirement but someone has to do it.

'The tropics' of Southern Indiana is freezing today but still warmer than most states in the Midwest and east of us.