Stella Tests The Afternoon Temps

Just as predicted the temperature started increasing about the time the sunshine came out. It was almost too bright today and for a second I thought I might need to wear sunglasses on the walk based on the bright sunshine. While I was taking pictures of the snow, the ice, trees etc, Stella had snuck out to the field just behind the land of burrs. It was still pretty cold outside so I was curious to see how long she would stay out.

I could tell when I saw her doing that type of walking she was not going to be out too long because either her paw was cold or there was snow between her toes. She wasn't limping getting back to the path but I could tell her walking motion was not a smooth stride.

As I called her name she was more than willing to head back to the house, slightly limping. Of course she always has time to sniff at scent along the way.

Then she stopped to raise her rear leg. I was about to turn off the camera, slide it in my parka pocket and walk out to get her. At the same time, she started walking again toward the yard. So I waited to see if she was going to need to carried back to the house.

This is the pose of confusion. She can't figure out why she can't or doesn't want to walk. I kept calling her name to make it the rest of the way. You can see she is almost raising her rear leg again.

Back inside gave me time to do some house cleaning. The dishes were done by 9am so they were out of the way, laundry was last week, so the only thing left on the list today was trimming hound nails, cleaning hound ears and brushing them. I kept looking at my watch for the temperature outside as it creeped to 20°. I wanted to get outside today for the afternoon walk.

A little past 2pm it was 22° but a windchill of 11°. Would that be too cold for Stella to take a walk? How far would we get? Actually in the sunshine it did not feel too bad and she was already trotting away from me. She was showing a lot more energy than just a couple of hours ago.

One thing about snow is you can aways see the deer tracks, especially since we had not been out in the field since the snow on Saturday. As you see on the right side of the picture plus those I've included below ... a lot of deer traffic the past two days.

More deer tracks coming out of the woods, right of center of the picture.

Just to the left of me I noticed these deer tracks circling and then taking off diagonal across the field.

Those are not Stella's tracks nor mine.

As we made the first turn into the shade the temperature dropped at least 10° instantly. It was so much colder than where we had walk from. It was now that I wasn't sure we would complete the walk today.

More deer tracks going into the woods.

This walk is over !!!!

Notice how the right rear leg is lifted high? I knew we were going no further today and hopefully she'd make it back to the house with me having to carry her.

Once she figured out what was going on, she turned toward me, got on the path and started heading home. I didn't say a word.

Getting back into the bright sunshine really warmed things up. She stopped limping and walked a little faster than her normal afternoon pace. She must have remembered from two hours ago that a warm floor inside the house made her paws feel better.

Both pictures show new deer tracks.

As we walked into the yard with a blanket of smooth snow I could see there had not been any kind of animal traffic in the past two days.

I am not sure if Stella was thinking about sitting in the snow to scratch or what she was thinking. I turned and didn't see anything out in the field in the direction she was looking.

Slowly but surely she headed to the door.  After we were inside, she and Heidi finished the last of the bone treats ... those strange grain free with the bacon flavor. Are those "keto" for dogs??  LOL

With the really cold temperature this morning I still can't complain about this winter. The temperatures have been right at the average for this time of year with highs in the mid-30s. We've had a lot of days in the mid-40's also.

I picked up a new show to watch that is only six episodes long. It's on the National Geographic channel, called Valley of the Boom ... about the start of the internet, explosive stock gains, a little corruption and the war between Netscape and Microsoft. Netscape use to my favorite browser back in the day and I hated to see it end when it did.

It was a cold but sunny day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

Stella Thinks It's Too Cold

After a solid night of sleep I was unaware what was taking place outside last night. I knew the temps were suppose to dip into the teens but with bright and sunny skies predicted for Saturday, it wasn't a big deal. This morning I wondered at the time if what I was seeing through my camera viewfinder was my eyes or something else ... there was scattered white stuff in that grass. Heavy frost ???

I could tell near the house it was more than just frost, it looked like very very small amounts of snow. November 10 ???

Is there enough white stuff in these and other photos in this post, for me to officially declare we have our first snow of the winter ?? Whatever I declared official did not matter until later in the walk for Stella. I was making sure this morning I could get in the backyard before she walked into those burrs again. I was successful but she was within a couple of steps from me yelling "No".

Needless to say, the air was just a little crisp to start the walk, a few minutes before 8am.

 

With the light dusting of white stuff, those narrow paths made by deer traffic (me guessing) was showing up much easier today.

All the cold temps, the dead leaves, and here stands some bright yellow. It looks like it is not ready to give up on a Fall season nor wanting to say goodbye to Summer.

This small path is coming from the woods behind my neighbor's house. It extends from their woods to the woods behind the field. Can you see it ?

Just to the right of my path is that same path leading into the woods. It isn't straight, but curls around different blades of grass. Any deer experts reading this ?? If so, chime in and let me know if I am correct in assuming this is a path made by deer. If it isn't a ballgame or a hound topic, I am pretty ignorant on stuff like this.

I was wrong. I said a week or so ago that I would not be out early enough on the walk to see the sun in this position. Since we got up and moving a few minutes past 6am, Stella was whining to go on her morning walk about 7:45am today.

I noticed she was spending more time on the path after we turned the first corner and she was walking much slower ... is that a slight limp I see ??

It certainly was. Her pads of her feet were covered with that freezing cold snow and her feet were cold. She sat down for a few minutes and didn't move while holding her rear paw up for me to see. I rubbed off the snow from each of her paws. She jumped up and took off down the path after that. All was good to her.

During my walk I was still trying to decide if I could say this was our first snow of the year. I decided to take photos of rooftops within my camera's view and let you decide if it's official or not. I am beginning to think it is not an official snow.

In the 21 years I have lived here, I have never seen the curtains of this house opened up. In fact I have never seen anyone out in the yard except the commercial lawn crew. I've been told by a neighbor there are people living there 12 months out of the year.

This was so funny ... When I told Stella ... "let's go home and get your feet warm" ... she took off running down the return path.

In fact she did not stop to sniff the fence or the trees. She did not stop to scratch her neck. She did not stop to stare at me while I stand at the corner of the house. She moved nonstop all the way to the door. By the time I got there she was trying to open the door by nudging the round door knob with her nose. She was more than happy when I opened to door and felt warmer air inside.

Well, last chance ... official snow or just heavy frost with temps in the teens ??

I am set for the next few weeks of cold weather in the forecast. A full tank of gas, a kitchen stocked full of food and a couple of books from the library to read. I told you I was going to enjoy this winter no matter how much snow we get or how cold it gets. I do have a feeling that Stella will be taking me on less walks than past years after those temps drop below 19°. I cannot carry a 80 pound dog too far, so she will have to walk home someway if her feet get cold.

I was only joking a few days ago about mowing my leaves in the snow ... really I was ... it was only a joke ... honest.   LOL

Clear and bright sunny skies this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.