Sadie Loves This Field

From tracking new scent every morning and afternoon ... to getting her sprints and running in ... Sadie loves this field. If she had her way, there would be 4-5 walks per day instead of the normal 2-3.

The Hound's Slow Friday

With Sadie whining ... Stella nudging me with her nose ... I could tell I was going to head out for our morning walk before I wanted to. I wanted to wait an hour or two for the temperature to increase from 16° and a wind chill of 0° ... but the hounds always get their way. We were off.

Since I had walked outside with Sadie and Stella after their breakfast while my coffee was dripping into the coffee pot, I knew they had to have some motive to get back outside besides relieving themselves. They had earlier. I also knew it was really really cold.

It was going to be one of those days where neither hound seemed to interested in walking.

The both were given total freedom to do whatever they wanted ... I kept walking.

I did a lot of out loud pondering while I walked. Do I want to trade this neighborhood for one that has actual neighbors living right next to you? Or will the field be taken over by a few ATV riders this summer?

It was good to see that Stella had not wandered off into the woods.

Stella was ready for a warm house.

I am finding out more and more about my housing search. It's like any other housing search ... it's always a pain buying and selling houses. No answers yet, I'll have my answer when I need it.

Sunny but freezing in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

To Move Or Not To Move

It's hard to describe how nice it feels to step outside for the walk and it doesn't feel like you are getting ready to cross the North Pole. I think the hounds agreed by the way the roamed the field this morning. While putting on my parka I decided that Stella would be on her own today, total freedom with zero verbal herding as I like to call it. She didn't disappoint.  LOL

I mentioned the more than normal yard mole damage this fall and winter. I saw this morning they have not wasted time taking advantage of the warmer weather to start their farming of grub worms. I guess we all have to get our protein some way.

Sadie was already locked in on new scent and was going to be tracking the edges of the half mile walk. She did not care what Stella was doing nor where I was walking ... she was in her own world of exploration.

Stella tried to get my pulse rate to jump suddenly as she took a few steps toward the woods. For some strange reason she decided to turn back to the field and join Sadie and I on our walk ... but only at her pace.

I could already tell that Stella probably wouldn't get much further than the first turn today. By the time she lifted her head to look were we were, Sadie and I were marching to the back of the field. The field was no longer saturated with rain and melting snow, it wasn't frozen and it seemed that those 80° days were only a few days away. I can dream can't I ??

The skies certainly looked like snow or rain was on the way ... but Weather Underground disagreed ... nothing but cloudy today and temps in the low 30's. Hard to believe that the field and all the trees will be green in a few months.

I needed a change the other day so I went back to Google Chrome as my default browser. It has had some surprising results as far as data usage. I'm using a lot less data doing the same type of internet surfing. I wonder if Safari's updates keep adding things running in the background for their automatic ad blocking and private internet use? It also seemed to have slowed down the past few weeks on Apple's Safari.

It felt much warmer but the wind was cold enough that my eyes were tearing up .. only the beep on the camera told me if these photos were in focus or not because I couldn't see that well through the tears while I looked through the view finder.

It was good to see that Stella was still in view as I heading toward the house.

Sadie got in some exercise for the first time in a few days, although I do remember her running through the snow one day chasing birds out of her field.

There is a lot of weight there flopping in the wind as she runs. I feel just how heavy she weighs when she steps on my foot by accident. That usually happens as the three hounds are jostling for position as I am gathering three food bowls to pour kibble into.

Don't be led into "fake news" ... Stella may be looking right at us but that doesn't mean she will start trotting toward us or even walking toward us ... she is just looking to see how much more time she has before I walk over to 'help' her go in our direction.

We stroll slowly back to the house as each hound explores the field inch by inch. They don't stop until they hit the yard and even then they don't stop sniffing around.

You would think that Sadie was sprinting all the way to the house but I'm using 200mm to even get this close to her ... as you will see, she still has scent to check out.

I always wonder how long I will be standing here as the hounds inch their way back to the yard. I know that if I said anything with the word 'eat' in the sentence, they would sprint past me like I wasn't even there and run right to the door.

But after a hard aerobic workout, Stella decides to 'warm down' before she goes back inside. She has only two paces most of the time ... slow and slower.

After a brand new iOS update and multiple updates the past two week with the Garmin Connect app, I still cannot get my Garmin VivoSmart3 paired up with the iPhone 8+. It worked perfect from May - December when I had the iPhone 6s. Yes, I can download the data from the Garmin to my iMac and then synchronize with the iPhone but it was so much nicer just to tap the icon on the phone and see all of the current data.

I mentioned the other day I had been looking around the SW for a possible destination. It's almost like the old days on this blog a few years ago when I was trying to decide whether to sell out and RV or not. I like using this site to give me a little more information besides just looking through real estate that is available.

To check the accuracy I searched my current town and other towns I have lived in. I find the information to be pretty accurate. At least it is fun to play with to see what kind of information comes up. In my case the town I am living in now is rated higher than the town I have a serious urge to move to.

I will not say a lot about my search or the possibility of moving the hounds and myself to somewhere warmer and for other reasons ... but it's 10° warmer on average, less humidity, cheaper utilities, cheaper insurance, reasonable house prices, and 75% less precipitation. I have talked to real estate agents there and here.

I may have grown up and went to college in Indiana but I've lived over 25 years on the west coast. Both places have their pros and cons. Nina over at 'Wheeling It' just posted her thoughts on major moves ... then last night I get an email from a company I follow telling me how to sell a house in the winter .... are they trying to tell me something?  LOL

It will be a fast pace today in 'the tropics' .. some house cleaning, some games of Mahjong, another hound walk in the afternoon and an IU ballgame tonight on tv ... life is good.

The Hounds Are Snowed In !!

I was up late, like very very late ... so we started the daily routine by me jumping out of bed to feed the hounds at the normal time, glance outside to see how bad it was then sprint back to bed. I know they told us a couple of inches of new snow by noon today so it wasn't that much of a surprise ... but looking at the hounds in the snow and how much of their legs disappeared ... it was deep.

The Intellicast radar was showing the front was about finished and would pass through but up in the upper right corner it was telling me there would be "snow showers" this afternoon. Well that will be an interesting concept. One that will cancel any late afternoon walks.

Stella had to make sure she smelled snow before getting to far out into it. I could tell the tire tracks I made last night after a quick trip to town for snack food, had disappeared. If I shovel anything it will be the carport floor out to the edge of the carport/driveway. I am not motivated this year for working outside in snow. No snowmen will be built, no snow forts ... no playing in the snow.

Stella decided to get a little stretching in before taking off for the back of the field. Sadie was already gone but she had to go and go bad ... it was right after her lunch and she was trained as a 12 week old puppy to go outside after she ate or woke up. She still does that on her own almost 10 years later.

I could see from her running in the field that the snow was deep and would be over the top of my North Face snow boots if I were out there in the field. Not interested. I've been on walks where the snow is up halfway my calf. Not interested. Yet, the hounds are. They have been sitting quietly staring at me to let me know they want to walk. Not interested.

January 13

Today at noon

Neither hound was interested though in going for any walk when they were outside. Once they were finished dumping their tanks, they sprinted to the house. Check out Stella's legs to have some idea how deep the snow is.

IF ... IF I decide to shovel some snow out of the carport ... I will go along the edge out to 'Winston's Patio' ... those 6 red brick blocks. But I think I might wait and see if those snow showers help me out clearing off the snow. Of course it is going to get colder tonight after midnight so that is telling me all of this stuff is going to turn to ice.

No ... I didn't screw up. It was late in the fall and the Z4 was dirty enough to wash. I only do hand washes, no car washes ... but it was too cold to wash the car at the time. I thought I'd at least get one day last November to wash the car and the put the Z4 under the car cover like I do every winter, but that one day never appeared until last Thursday ... wasn't interested.

I wasn't going to put a dirty car under a car cover, giving the wind any chances of moving that car cover a little and scratching the car's surface. I have seen sports cars left outside in all kinds of weather in Chicago, Boston, NYC ... so a few inches of snow won't hurt.

Yet, it does hurt a little to see this much snow blown over the back of it. Maybe I could slide down the driveway and take it out for a high speed run today to blow the snow off of it. That was typed 'tongue in cheek' by the way for anyone not able to pick up on my sick humor ... I don't even like taking the FJ out because of the amount of salt that you see mixed in with that dark colored sand on the highway to the left.

Heidi ????

She went out first thing in the morning before breakfast but she had seen enough ... she turned and sprinted for the couch after her lunch when I said "get outside" ... Not interested.

Well the snow has stopped at this point of the post. It feels pretty warm at 22° and a wind chill of 14° ... it is temping to put the boots on and see how far we get on the walk ... but its quite a mess to clean up between the two bloodhounds feet, legs and stomach, then the snow sticking to my boots, jeans etc ... no mudroom and to cold to clean up outside.

So ... not interested.

It's pretty and white today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.