Stella Decides To Walk

The rain stopped, Stella stood up and looked at me. I put on my hiking boots but I still had no plans to take the walk. I was pretty sure that by the time we got outside with strong winds and sprinkled rain ... she wouldn't go too far.

You see she had to think about it and almost headed toward the door after walking back around the car.

Following the side of the house, keeping under the roof overhang to stay dry.

She went out into the yard, relieved herself and didn't hesitate to head back inside.

Again, follow the side of the house to stay dry.

At least with the strong winds and rain all night long, my Mini Countryman got a free car wash.

Heidi?  She might be awake but there is no way she is moving until lunch is served.

Oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Strange Visitor???

As we stepped outside after the hound's lunch ... it really felt warm. I took this picture just to make sure I saw what I was feeling. It also proves to you that are scattered all over the USA, Canada and Mexico ... I'm not crazy .. it's 40° 18 hours after a snow storm. The NFL Playoff game didn't start until 1pm so I had some time to take more pictures, let the hounds out to wander ... but they did not wander for long until they were back at the door wanting inside. It was such nice weather I wanted to stay out longer ... then I saw them. Paw prints of something.

Heidi did not spend much time trying to decide what she wanted to do. That didn't mean she was going to walk out into the snow ... just under the overhang on the dry mulch. She has not been in any of that snow since it showed up on Friday. Of course since she is allowed to dump her tanks on the mulch, I have no problems using my old 25 or 30 year old 'pooper scooper' to pick it up and throw it out into the woods.

This looks like a typical January day. I clicked a 'tag' on this blog last night "Bloodhounds Love the Snow" and found out that it was just 3 days away from exactly a year when it snowed here last year and a lot more. Sadie and Stella ended up playing rough in the snow and did some running. The snow energized them, not so much anymore.

Stella stood and thought about it. Was it time for her afternoon walk? Or was it time to go back inside and sleep for a couple of hours?

I was starting to walk down to the mailbox in case something had been delivered the past few days when I saw something a little disturbing. Let me explain. These paw prints went all the way down the driveway before curling to the right into the yard. BUT.... they did not show up going back to the house in the middle of the front yard nor anywhere in the yard.

Stella has NEVER been that far down the driveway nor has she ever been close to the highway or the mailbox. So could those paw prints be hers? If so, she was doing it during that early morning trip when I let them outside while I pour their morning kibble. IF that was her I cannot let her outside on her own, after 3 years of doing it because I cannot afford to let her go that direction any time ... whether I am outside or not.

They look like her paws ... but could it have been another large dog roaming the neighborhood during the night or before I let Stella and Heidi outside in the morning? It has been YEARS since I have seen any loose dogs running around this neighborhood and they were not large dogs. Two of my three neighbors do not have dogs. The brick home across the highway has a St.Bernard but I've never seen him outside their yard and never near the highway. He will bark at me sometimes when I go to the mailbox but that's all I ever see or hear from him.

So I'll have to try to fake Stella out Monday morning as I let her out, turn like I am leaving to pour out dog food but sneak out of the house to see where she is going. The problem is, 95% of the time she doesn't go anywhere and stands at the door waiting to get back inside. We will see what happens.

Yes, a few dents in that 44 year old aluminum siding when the house was owned by other people.

I took more pictures of those paw prints as I went to the mailbox. Is it a stray Cougar??? Don't laugh, we have them in the area sometimes. Yet, I am pretty sure these are from Stella.

Or could those be Heidi's ????

Time to go in ... Stella will always put her nose to the door knob to go back inside. We all know though, she can't open doors with round door knobs don't we?  :)

Not only one of my favorite healthy breakfasts but one with color ... it was the colors that made me post this. Bacon, three eggs, baby spinach and cut up Roma tomatoes.

During one of the commercials of the football game I was looking outside the north window noticing how fast the snow was melting. Then .... I saw more of those paw prints. So I took my camera outside and followed them from the north yard down across the front yard heading for the driveway. I did not see any paw prints where they went from the driveway into the yard.

At least my car stayed clean this weekend. I might have to make a trip to the recycling center on Monday ... I'll wait as long as possible for the highway to dry completely before I go.

IT WAS CONFIRMED AT 3:07PM EASTERN TIME THE MYSTERIOUS PAW PRINTS ARE STELLA'S !!!! 

This was my chance to watch and follow her. I think we have a 100% confirmation these prints and those in the yard and driveway are Stella's. It's the house rules for the all the hounds EXCEPT Heidi, not to go into the front yard. It's been that way for 20 years of hounds ... Stella is now officially on "Double Secret Probation" .. (a Animal House movie reference for those that can't figure that out)

In the meantime the snow continues to melt at a rapid rate without the sun shinning ... the highway looks dry enough to me that I can make that trip to the recycling center Monday morning after our walk.

Still 40° today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It Snowed As Predicted

The prediction was 4" on Friday night starting at 8pm, another 2" on Saturday. I usually cut their estimates in half where I live. By 10:30pm, Stella and I went outside and saw nothing ... no snow, no rain, no clouds, just nothing. Had the experts been wrong again? Just as I turned out the lights a little after midnight I heard the snow plow for the first time. I am too close to the highway not to hear his blade hit that seam in the highway every 10 feet. I also know that every time he passes my house, the end of my driveway and mailbox will be buried deeper in the snow. We woke up to some snow on the ground but it was too hard to see if it was deep or not. At 7:55am, Stella and I headed out to see what was up.

From the way the snow looked against Stella's leg, I'd say we had a couple of inches but not 4". As I walked further back into the field, it looked like that 4" prediction was right. Stella didn't seem to mind and at 30° the chances of her getting frozen snow or ice in her paws were pretty slim. It wasn't cold enough for that to happen. I could tell she was having fun. This snow brought back memories of Sadie because she absolutely loved the snow and most of the time it would energize her and Stella into running around in it, wrestling in it and burying their noses in it.

What is it about a field full of snow that makes everything much more quiet than a normal day?

Stella wasn't in any hurry but was still moving out pretty far ahead of me. As I glanced around the ground I did not see one sign of deer traffic. I didn't anywhere on the walk.

I was pretty sure I had turned off the light in the computer room before I left ... then after looking more closely I figured out that it was my monitor lighting up the window.

She almost went into the woods but for some reason turned around to get out about as fast as she went in.

In that picture, it does look like 4" of snow. It doesn't matter really ... it's suppose to rain later this afternoon and tonight .. the field will turn into a swamp and the daily walks will be suspended until further notice.

She has decided it's time to head home.

Remember what I said about her pressing her nose into the ground sometimes ... snow doesn't make a difference. She wasn't eating any deer scat but something had made her investigate this area a few minutes longer than normal

Then she takes off again, getting as far away from me as possible.  LOL

By the way she was moving it looked like she was going to run to the neighbors or the woods behind their house. She hasn't been over there in a long time.

At first I thought she heard the snow plow coming down the highway but realized the neighbor was turning their truck around to leave. So far she has not run to their house, since they moved in last summer but she has always been very interested when she sees someone outside. She has never bolted on me but I keep an extra eye on her when I see people outside.

In back of that snow plow is Indiana's finest salt and sand ... popular to use on ice and snowy highways ... and take years off of your car or truck. With all the food I need, two NFL games on today, and a couple of books to read ... I am not driving anywhere just to see if the Countryman can make up back up my driveway. I don't need salt and sand under my car, in the wheel wells or between my bumpers, I'll let the rain clean the highway before I go anywhere. If I needed food I would definitely leave but no need to. That snow plow has been running all night ... besides, it might be a nice day to stay inside and change the blog template. LOL

The fence tells me we barely got two inches of snow. It never lies.

Question of the Day --- How do you sign up to follow my blog by email IF you do not have a WordPress account, and you don't blog anywhere?? I've been sent a screen by a friend that tried to follow this morning by email and after she clicks "confirm" she gets the WordPress subscription management page telling her "Your subscription could not be activated. It may have expired, or the email address you subscribed with is not attached to your WordPress.com account." She has no plans to get a WordPress account since she does not blog. Any ideas?

I am still finding the new dashboard that WordPress is working on in the background is still sucking up data like water. I only test it before 8am so I can waste my free data as a test. This morning it used over 500Mb in two hours. I will still continue to use the dashboard in the wp-admin. That is just a FYI for those of you that use WordPress and do not have unlimited data or have unlimited data until you hit AT&T or Verizon thresholds and have them slow your speeds down.

I almost forgot .... you didn't think Heidi would go out in this white stuff did you?

It's nice today in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.