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.

Some Past Hounds

With it raining a couple of times this afternoon between the times the sun came out, the hounds and I didn't do enough to blog about anything. Stella slept, Heidi slept and Sadie paced the house and looked out the door at the rain. 

So instead of leaving the blog blank tonight I thought I'd write something short about some of my hounds I have had in the past. I have not scanned any of my photos that I had planned on a few months ago, but I did find these on my computer. I did lose a lot of photos of them in 2008 when I had one of those moments you wish you could forget ... I reformatted my hard drive thinking I had done a complete backup the week before.

Anyway here are a few of my hounds I had in the past.

Maggie

I bought Maggie as a 8 week old puppy from a type of breeder that is despised by most and gives legitimate breeders a bad name. She was one of many basset hound puppies ... a true puppy mill ... but I didn't know any better as a buyer and besides ... she was a fantastic basset hound.

She was another great hound that I had and hated losing. She had just turned 7 years old when I noticed some swollen lymph nodes that you can see on her neck. This was one of the last photos I took before I had to put her down. She also loved roaming the field in back, never ran away. Heidi's personality reminds me a lot of her.

Bertha

I bought Bertha as a 12 week old bloodhound puppy. Sadie's personality is so close to Bertha's that it scares me sometimes. She did the daily walk, roamed the field for hours on end without ever running off on me. She was 5 years old when I brought Winston home as a 8 week old basset hound puppy ... from that first 5 minutes they were inseparable until Berta died in 2008.

She was pretty large, too overweight by the time she was 4 years old but with some portion control on her food and exercising she dropped over 30 pounds. I don't ever remember her destroying much of anything like Sadie did as a puppy. Bertha loved riding in my Miata with the top down. In fact having the top down was the only way she could fit sitting in the seat.

The link in my upper left sidebar that shows Basset Hound Rescue ... it's GABR in Illinois. Max was my first adoption from them. I drove my Miata 4 hours north to pick him up, not realizing that basset hounds could be much bigger than I had been used to. Max was HUGE ...

He came waddling out into the living room in the home I had driven to and I couldn't believe it. I honestly didn't know if he was going to fit in the passenger seat of the Miata. He did though. His head was laying over the console of the driver side and my 6-speed gearshift was somewhere around his neck ... inside all that excess skin.

He was 81 pounds at the time I got him. The owner said "he only eats dry food if you put cottage cheese on it" ... I thought to myself "no way". I changed him from Pedigree and cottage cheese to the premium food at the time in 1999. One the daily walk, the same path we take now, he didn't make it out of the backyard before he had to sit down and rest (30').

Max

Over the years of walking and giving him better food, his weight dropped to 60 pounds. Two years after I picked him up he went 100% blind with retina degeneration. It didn't matter to him though and friends didn't know when they saw him unless I told them. I kept his chair in the same spot and his food bowl ... he carried on like that for his next 5 years until he passed at the age of 12. Here is a photo of him walking in the field totally blind.

This next bloodhound you already know ... it's Stella this evening getting in a long yoga stretch after sleeping most of the afternoon. She didn't even wake up to change sleeping spots.

Well it took all day but at 7:09pm, the sunshine is out, not a dark cloud in the sky and the birds are all talking at the same time. The ground is too wet to do the late evening walk ... but I have a couple of bloodhounds wanting to go outside.

A beautiful Friday night here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.