We Changed Our Mind

It wasn't two hours ago that I posted "Not Interested" when I mentioned anything about walking in the snow, shoveling snow, watching the snow ... anything with snow. Yet when you live in "5 minute windows" like I do anything is possible. So .... Stella and Sadie were THRILLED that I changed my mind about going outside for a hound walk in the deep (deeper than we thought) snow.

I was not to the field yet and the snow was up to the top of my boots. They are built for this so I had no doubt that my feet would stay dry and stay warm ... onward ... the hounds were already in the back of the field knowing we were going to go on a walk.

The longer I walked, the deeper the snow got. I could tell watching the hounds it was much deeper than forecasted or what I thought it was by adding 2" to the 2" to 3" we already had. The snow was almost up to the elbows of each bloodhound.

Stella was more interested in the wooded area and the gully rather than the field. I had to yell loud for her to change her mind and her direction.

She was having fun running through the snow around the field from the wooded area to the middle of the lower field. In past years I have seen and walked through this field when the snow was up to the bottom of Sadie's stomach and higher than Winston's back ... but today's snowfall although not as deep as that was deeper than we have had in recent years.

First I couldn't believe I was seeing sparrows on the ground up ahead. If you remember, Sadie LOVES chasing birds in the heat of the summer if she finds birds at ground level in the field or yard ... she was going to get some sprints in today.

As I looked down at my buried boots ... Sadie took off.

I caught her over by the woods behind the neighbor's house but she came sprinting when I called her name.

Of course today was one of those days where one hounds is in the opposite direction than the other. Once Stella realizes that is happening, then it's her chance to escape. By the time I found Stella all I saw were her two rear legs and her butt ... she was about to go down into the gully.

Yelling her name with a stern tone and saying "get out of there", she turned around and ran toward me through deep snow, thorny bush stems and anything else in her way. She does not run, trot or walk around anything ... including me ... when something is in her way.

Sadie ??? Well one of "her birds" had escaped and had flown back across the field back to the area on my right side just ahead of Stella. I had to do a little convincing to break her focus otherwise her chase could lead her to parts unknown if that bird had gone airborne.

I decided to turn around before the back of the field. I thought but was wrong, I had seen Stella raise her paw slightly signifying that she was cold ... but she had other ideas.

They too live in "5 minute windows" so their focus soon changed to the neighbor across the highway that was brushing the snow off of his windshield. Only mom gets to park in the garage.

I could measure the distance from the ground to Sadie's elbow or I could go outside and drop a tape measure into the snow to get the depth ... but she would never stand that still, assuming I was about to cut her toenails ... and ... I've had enough fun in the snow this afternoon. So I'll just say the snow is deep and leave it at that.

Stella was ready ... I only said "let's go home" and she ran over to the path we had made and took off.

Sadie had to explore more on the way home.

Their time in the snow with a walk and some wrestling was satisfying enough to them that they ran to the door to go back inside ... but I had some work to do.

Doesn't look like much snow but it is sitting under the roof, plus I needed to clean up what I could in the carport before those rain showers show up later this afternoon and tonight, then turn to ice.

I only shoveled the area of the carport I spoke of early today ... but when you get distracted like I do outside, I decided I needed to clear out the required space around my mailbox that is requested by the post office to get the mail delivered ... 99.9% junk mail anymore.

The only problem with that is ... as the plow moves further out to the edge of the asphalt with each high speed pass, what I have shoveled around the mailbox will be covered with salty, sandy, slush ... that will freeze over tonight with the lower temps. It will be a disaster tomorrow when the mail carrier returns to work after a holiday off.

Before going back inside I kicked my boots hard and often against the concrete steps to get as much snow off of them as possible. My feet were dry and warm inside them.

Since we have had our unexpected walk, the carport is shoveled, a 2nd blog post within hours there is nothing more planned outside for today. It will be some reading, a few games of Mahjong, and maybe a game, movie or two transferred from my DVR to DVDs.

The hardest part of today will be explaining to Sadie why she cannot have any of my Oreo Golden Double Stuf Cookies. (THEY only use one 'F'). When you have to go out late at night, snowing hard enough that you cannot see when you drive to buy some kind of 'snack' food ... you know that you have fallen off of your diet wagon head first.

Enjoy the photos, there are 40 of them ... hope this didn't soak up too much data for those readers with data limits.

Waiting for those late afternoon, early evening "snow showers" here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Wrestles Again .. A Good Sign

It's always good to have the weather so close to view with just a click of a button or an icon on my phone or computer. It tells me what I need to be wearing on the morning hound walks, whether it's 80° or 25°. Again this morning Stella beat all of us into the field and wanted to beat Sadie to their first stop of the day. Sadie has to be running pretty fast to have both rear paws in the air at the same time.


I was going to let both bloodhounds do whatever they wanted this morning because it was that cold. A wind chill of 25°, wind from the NW made me walk a little faster and take a few photos a little out of focus. Even if there is any glimpse of sunshine today, the hourly forecast shows the wind chill will not reach 30°.

I kept looking back at Stella to see where she was. I had no doubt she would be lagging behind today. I didn't mind that, I just didn't want her to wander off into the woods and disappear for an hour or so. So I kept looking back in her direction as I walked.

With Sadie doing her daily sprint around the first turn, I turned to look for Stella and at first I could not find her. I had to step a few steps to the right so I could see the full brush line ... then there she was running in our direction ... quite shocking.

As I have said before, based on how she looked and acted last February / March time frame, seeing her running hard again is great to see.

About the time I thought she was going to veer to my right, her left ... she ran right past me chasing Sadie.

Sadie's jowls were so loud making that sound that only a bloodhound makes, I could hear them flapping with each inhale as she tracked the heavy brush.

While Stella was adding protein this morning ...

Sadie and I were rushing for the back of the field. It was getting colder the longer we walked.

Once again Stella started running our direction. That's rare to see her run after us without being called.

When they got to the area where we make the final turn, both hounds were going crazy with all the new scent they were smelling. They ran different directions, circled the area and zig zagged before turning and heading my direction. The deer must have hung out there a lot last night or early this morning.

Then as fast as they changed their minds about tracking that area in the back of the field, they turned and sprinted past me ... not stopping until they were way ahead of me. They knew exactly where they were going and how they had to get there before I did.

Here they are at a point of ignoring me every time I called their name. It was like I was nowhere in the field.

As I got closer to them, continuing to call their names, they both turned and slowly walked my direction. Another Sunday morning walk had been completed.

Another rare act ... both of them were ahead of me walking through the backyard toward the house. Then just about the time I thought Stella would turn into the carport, she glanced back at Sadie with plans of attacking her for a short period of wrestling. That's another good sign to see compare to her last February/March.

I'll let the pictures tell the story ... showing just how energized they were at the end of their 15 minute walk.

Here's a little closer look at that photo above. Although it looks like Stella is about to take off Sadie's ear ... there is never any growling, they never lose their temper and start a real fight ... it's all playful fun by two very big and very heavy bloodhounds.

With the leaves gone and the raking project over, that blue trash can will be going back into the hidden corner of the carport today until I need to use it for yard maintenance again. With the high winds and storms Saturday afternoon I have a lot of tree limbs to pick up and start the new burn pile for next  spring.

Sadie makes her last move toward ending the wrestling match.

Another late start to the day today. The hounds hound their breakfast at their normal time but after 14 hours straight of watching college football on Saturday I had a late arrival to start the day, thus this blogging today. I'm not sure that any NFL games will be watched today. It's cold but I want to get outside and pick up all the small tree limbs out of the yard, close my three vents in the foundation that  lead to the crawl space.

I might even jack up the Z4 in preparation to starting the repair Monday or Tuesday depending on what time my parts arrive on Monday. I'll put the front of the car up on jack stands so I have enough room to crawl under it plus it's safer that way.

I am finding that November this year has been much colder than last year. The month is barely half over and I have used more electricity for heating the house than I did last year at this time. Yes, I do get that information from the spreadsheets I keep plus the updated electrical usage from my local utility company.

Since I am late posting this, I have two bloodhounds sitting quietly in the entrance to the computer room staring at me ... quietly begging for lunch ... quietly reminding me it's past noon and I am late serving their lunch time kibble. It's good to have live reminders plus the two hounds always get me walking  two to three times per day for some exercise.

I am find tuning my diet again ... but the official start might not happen until after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with left overs getting me through the weekend. Monday's always seem like the better day to make changes in anything.

It's cold but sunny today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.