Cold Weather Has Arrived

With the storm windows locked down tight for winter weather and all the windows closed, the hounds and I had a solid night of sleep and I could tell my mood was much better this morning than when I heard the salesman knocking on my door yesterday afternoon. It was the coldest morning so far this year as we stepped outside for our first walk of the day.

It might have looked like rain was near but we are not suppose to get anymore until later this afternoon. We should be able to squeeze in a couple of more walks before then, more photos and possibly another blog post tonight.

Hard to say what Sadie was hearing or smelling. She is facing away from the woods towards the neighbors and nowhere in the direction of Stella.

As you can see, Stella was on her own this morning. I had a feeling she wasn't going to go far by the time Sadie and I returned.

With it 46° and windy, I had a chance to try out a new Carhartt jacket a friend gave me. I can always use a different jacket but have always stuck to my down parkas and other down vests I have. This jacket will save some wear and tear on my other jackets and from the looks of it, it will do well as a hound hair collector and catching flying drool.

Those skies are to the north of us ... looks almost like a snow storm is up there. I still have not done any weather research on what the winter predictions are for this area. I have a gut feeling we will not be having a mild winter this year.

Sadie found out today as well as me ... what happens when you are eating dirt but due to all the rain it was really mud. I noticed once on the walk she placed her mouth on the ground and scratched with her paw. When she did that frantically back inside the house I decided to take a look.

All of that mud was caked up in her upper gums ... I cleaned that out in one step with a rag then brushed her teeth with some dog toothpaste and a toothbrush. I was shocked she let me do that ... but she seemed to like the result.

She never lets me get too far ahead of her, so once she saw I was not stopping my walk this morning she knew she had to run to catch up. After all she can't give Stella the chance to drink her water when we get back inside the house.

Poor camera work by the photographer but I think you can still see her ears flapping through the blurriness.

As usual as we approached the lower part of the field near the house, Sadie stood and surveyed the area with her nose and ears trying to find where Stella was.

When I told her to "go get Stella" off she went. You can barely see Stella off to the left up toward the house.

But bloodhounds get distracted easy when there is a strong scent picked up. I ended up getting to Stella before Sadie did, since she was no longer interested in finding her.

I guess the leaves are going to start showing their colors this year ... the trees seem to change every 24 hours and there are a lot of leaves left for a colorful fall season.

That is the most skin I have ever seen fall over Stella's eyes.

You might think from the wrinkles on Stella's forehead she is either in deep thought or stressed out. I just think that gravity is stronger this morning when it comes to her extra skin.

Well will be tuned into the first World Series game tonight. For some reason Los Angeles is having higher than normal temperatures. By game time they are expecting it to be in the high 90's, no retractable roof and no air conditioning like they have at Houston stadium. The starting time is great for baseball fans east of the Mississippi River but right at the start of rush hour traffic in LA.

I came back to Google Chrome this morning. For some reason while looking through my updated blog list and reading different ones, I glanced over at my Activity Monitor when I was shutting down Safari and saw in the short time I had been online, 248Mb of data was used. That is way too much for what I was doing.

I'll compare that to what I do here in the next hour or two. It might be the new update to macOS, but for some reason my Google Data Saver is no longer working. I deleted the app and reinstalled it but so far nothing is showing up. With the computer's Activity Monitor I will still be able to see how much data Chrome is using after I visit the same websites as this morning.

Heidi made it outside about 4pm yesterday. She didn't stay out too long, just long enough for what she needed. Then she trotted fast back from the front yard to the door. With temperatures even colder today it will be hard to get her to do much outside. She might move from her bed to the couch but not much else besides eating lunch. I hope to get some photos of her at our lunch break.

I am not ready for winter here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Has A Bounce In Her Step

I already knew when I posted my last blog post only 12 hours before I wrote this one, that it was going to be a cold, wet and windy day. Rain was pounding against the bedroom windows as I opened my eyes ... only seeing Sadie standing looking straight into my face. Luckily no drool was involved.

When she gets on the bed and stands over you until you wake up, it's either really late or she really has to go outside. Since she and Stella made their last trip outside past midnight ... I knew it must be late.  (9:30am)

I still knew there might be a chance to get a walk in. If that were the case I would need to be wearing my waterproof hiking boots, along with jeans this morning. When Wunderground was telling me it was 45° and felt like 37° ... I wasn't sure a hound walk would take place.

Throw in some really wet ground and high cold winds from the NW, I was planning only a quick trip outside for Sadie and Stella. Yet, Sadie had other plans ... we were walking, get the camera.

When you are not more than 30' into the field and the ground looks like this, you know it's going to be soggier the further you get back into the field. Water came up over the edges of my soles and I could hear each step Sadie took.

With Stella's stomach growling this morning as I drank my two cups of coffee and read the internet, she started her walk by stopping at the edge of the yard to eat some nice green grass that is growing fast in the field.

I was almost shocked at what I was seeing ... but really really happy ... to see her running to catch up to us. I had just blogged yesterday I was getting worried because I couldn't remember the last time Stella ran in the field.

I wonder if she feels better now that I found her favorite bone to chew on ... the Nyla Bone ... found under Sadie's dog bed right smack in the center.

With strong winds always brings stronger scents. I couldn't see anything in the direction they were staring. It was cold enough with the winds from the NW that I wasn't thrilled about the possibility of sprinting after them as they chased whatever they saw. They then turned and headed in the right direction.

Stella was pretty sure the deer came from this direction. There are a lot of bushes with sharp thorns in that area. It never seems to bother the bloodhounds as they charge right through them.

As always, the further we walk into the field the wetter it got. Even with a slight increase in elevation, it is always wetter near the back of the field.

If you look closely you can see standing water inside that hole of mud. Is that made by a snake or something else?

With the winds getting stronger, Stella fought the headwind ... Sadie was already far in front of us.

More of that strong deer scent had Stella not moving. I am almost positive that she was wishing and hoping that she could take off into the 'no fly zone' and find out just where that strong scent was coming from.

I let her stand there for a while to satisfy her nose and curiosity, then called her name. She turned and headed my way in a slight trot.

Toward the last part of the walk, they both were veering toward the neighbor's house. That large blonde cat is probably spending the day in that wooded area and with the wind coming from that direction, the bloodhounds were more than curious.

This was the 2nd time today that Stella took off running while she followed Sadie. It's been a long time since she has done that.

I am not sure what caused the burst of energy for Sadie but there was something in the middle of the field they had to check out. Once that happened Sadie ran back to me while Stella decided to take her own way home by heading to the corner of the property.

She had just entered the yard when she when from exploring the ground to jumping away. I didn't hear anything loud to make her jump. No leaves are around to fall to spook her but something scared her enough to turn back and look.

When Sadie saw that she had no choice but to sprint over to Stella to check it out. There had to be something she was missing. Or at the same time she was just trying to get Stella back to the house and thought she needed an escort.

I can handle one cold day in the spring when I know starting tomorrow we are back into the 60's and 70's as far as the forecast goes ... what ten days?

In the meantime we will be staying inside today. My team the Cincinnati Reds are playing an early afternoon game, like right now, along with a few other teams. With the Directv bribing program I am getting a week of free MLB Extra Innings showing a lot of ballgames at the same time. They tell me I can buy that for small payments of $52 for the next 4 months.

Not going to happen.

I love baseball but I get enough games for free with the program package I have.

There is a pitcher today starting his first MLB game ever ... his first name is really "Rookie" and is from Holly Ridge, NC (1,268 pop and 1.4 square miles) ... sounds like an amazing storyline for him. With bad weather and a team with low expectations as they enter their 2nd year of rebuilding ... a small crowd is expected. I saw they were offering field level tickets for $9, which is amazing for a professional baseball game.

I had to pass since it is not only a 3 hour 15 minute drive one way but I've never a great fan of 45° baseball. The announcer just said it's in the 30's and he thinks he is seeing sleet. In 1977 on April 6th, it snowed 4" in Cincinnati. They cleared the field and played a team use to playing baseball in the snow ... the Padres of San Diego.

Seems strange to go from not blogging in one day to two blogs posts in one day.

Cold, windy and wet today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Up Early Today

It was still dark outside, I could hear traffic and Sadie was standing next to the bed eye level ... already giving me the look that she wanted to go out. How long had she been standing there?

I tried not to subtract one hour from the actual time to make me feel even worse, with the recent time change. Since retired I never get up when it's dark in the morning ... never.

Today was different. After I became a little more conscious I realized I was just as awake as Sadie. Stella and Heidi were still in a deep sleep. As you can see, Stella wasn't even that thrilled being up and outside by 8:15am when there was some daylight. Sadie is wagging her tail ready to go within seconds of opening her eyes every morning or after a nap in the afternoon.

Stella liked that it wasn't raining this morning. It will tomorrow but this morning she was trying to sneak away from the start of the morning walk. Does she think I will not see her while I stand 20' away? That drainage ditch she visited a couple of weeks ago is in that direction.

After yelling her name a couple of times, she turned and headed back to us. Sadie was already off headed to the first turn and was quite active this morning.

Sadie was going in so many different directions, some of the pictures of her may be blurred due to her movements. Let's just say that she was getting a lot of good nose exercise in this morning.

I was surprised that Stella was on the path with us, walking without any commands or instruction from me. I was curious if she would lead me to the far right corner. There seemed to be a lot of recent deer traffic based on the actions of Sadie.

Once Sadie checked out what Stella had found, she was back to running from the left side of the path and then all the way back over to the corner. Nose to the ground, paws in the air.

There were so many different scents in the area she couldn't make up her mind which direction to go. She was everywhere, while Stella meandered slowly along the path that I take.

Sadie was back again on the far right corner and started running along the edge of the field. That is the path the deer take before they turn right, jump over the short worn fence and sprint through the corn field. I've seen them do that but not today.

Sadie was so focused during all of this she heard nothing that I said, nor paid any attention to what Stella was doing. She was 100% serious today.

Once they joined forces they had that look they were both headed to the 'no fly zone'. I was preparing myself mentally that I'd be sprinting after them, while hoping it would be a false alarm.

Yes, the deer move right along here ....

And jump into the field behind this one about right here ...

Before I sprint anywhere I always call their names. I am not running, let along sprinting anywhere if I don't have to. I was pretty happy that both of them turned and headed my direction from the 'no fly zone' then headed home back on the path.

Stella looks and feels like she is staring to gain her weight back. Those larger portions of kibble two times per day must be helping. The hound that eats the less weighs more, and the hound that is always hungry, eats as long as there is food ... is the skinny one.

She may have looked like she was heading home with Sadie and I, but she had to take one more look at the neighbor's house just in case there is something to chase or wander off to check out. When they look this way I always forget that they can hear 4x further than we can.

Without any bribes of food or treats, no threats of putting the 6' leash on her ... she turned and came our way.

Sadie had sprinted all the way back to the house by the time Stella and I walked into the driveway. She was making one last check there were no birds to chase before we came back inside. Bird chasing has been her favorite hobby this week ... Spring is here.

It's been a little over 24 hours since Apple updated their OS. I guess all of those times the past few months that I would click the buttons to send them a report when my iMac would reboot itself while in the sleep mode ... worked. So far in almost 36 hours, that error has not repeated itself.

I leave my computer in sleep mode anytime that I am away from it besides just a quick trip to the fridge or bathroom. Each time since the update it has NOT rebooted itself. When I click any key on my keyboard the computer wakes up without delay. I also have noticed it boots up faster than it did after the last update.

I did something different grocery shopping yesterday and it paid off quite well. I live near a government commissary store, same distance just the opposite direction from the grocery store I normally shop at. Evidently with a new fiscal year, new funding or something ... their small store was stocked with more choices than I had seen in the 20 years living here. All the brand names that I buy were there, including some new ones.

I'll not go into detail but to give you an idea on the difference in prices across the board, these items show the type of savings I was getting on the same foods I buy on a regular basis.

1. Greek Gods Greek Yogurt is $4.95 at the store, I paid $3.15 yesterday
2. Tyson skinless chicken breasts are $4.50+, I paid $3.88
3. Seattle's Best Coffee is $5.50+ where I bought it before, $4.59 yesterday
         -- I bought the cheapest bag on the shelf with over 8 popular brands
              to choose from.
4. Veggies and Fruits were 50% less than I normally pay.
5. Two New York Strip Steaks in the past were $10-$12, yesterday $2.96

I walked out with $50 worth of food that is normally $80-$100.

It was hard to do at the start but cutting out fruits that have too much acid, plus all fruit juices has eliminated indigestion. I love oranges and orange juice so that was hard not to buy them. As I compare how I have been eating lately to the spreadsheet of foods I pulled from the book about eating foods based on your blood type ... their lists of foods on what to eat and what to avoid has proven to be very accurate in my case.

Not much else planned today. Skies are overcast but rain is not predicted until tomorrow. I think I'll take the Z4 out for a spin. Later this afternoon after the grass is dryer I'll mow the small areas of the yard that has tall, thick green grass.

The hounds will get another walk or two this afternoon. Heidi will pass those walks up also since it is below her 70° threshold and nowhere near her 65° minimum option.

Final 4 Championship game on Monday with MLB starting their season the day before on Sunday. Life is good as I move my sports addiction into the spring and summer months. Cargo shorts instead of jeans are about to begin.

April 11 will be my 3rd year anniversary of retirement here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana. It's all good.