Stella Likes The Colder Weather - Heidi Doesn't

I dressed the same this morning for cold weather. The carport thermometer said 40° but it felt colder as I stepped outside. When I left Heidi she was sound to sleep with no intentions of waking up or getting up until it was close to lunch time. Stella came into the computer room to whine again, letting me know it was time for the morning walk. I was still editing yesterday's post and the more time I took the more she whined. We started the walk only about 10 minutes later than we did yesterday.

While I was standing at the corner of the house taking my daily second photo, I could HEAR the leaves crunching as Stella walked on them. That told me it was much colder than 40°. The photo below shows that it frosted last night and where the field was shaded, the frost was still there.

Stella was energized. As I turned to see where she was, she was flying toward me and moved right past me without slowing down.

That is until she was in front of me, where she turned that fast run in to a slow walk. Just slow enough where I am walking a little slower than a normal walking pace.

I am still not seeing the leaves change color, to the point of seeing bright yellows and reds. Last year it was so obvious from week to week that I took photos of the tree lines every Friday so I could look at all the photos at once and see the gradual change.

Stella was trotting everywhere this morning. I ended up taking very few photos from the front of her and barely had any from her side. She made sure she stayed in front of me this morning.

I really miss Sadie on these morning walks. She loved tracking scent in the field. Looking at Stella on this walk sometimes reminds me, of course, of Sadie.

As I continued to walk the path, Stella headed to the left. I let her go to see how far she would go plus I wanted to see if she would meet me anywhere on the path without calling her name.

I took this just to show what the shaded field looked like. That is looking toward the 'far right corner' of the field, the gully is just to the right of the photo.

I was still walking and not saying anything but I kept an eye on Stella to see where she was going.

She came back on the path without a word from me. That is always a good thing to see.

By the time we made the last turn toward home I knew it was a lot colder than yesterday. My face was freezing. Luckily with a wool ski cap, gloves and a down vest under a Carhartt jacket I was warm enough. The Carhartt jacket was given to me by a friend but is just a little too big for me if I don't wear another vest or light jacket under it.

She was getting some additional protein in her diet. I hate that she does that but what do you do to prevent it?

About the time I started to say something to her, she raised up and took off trotting as if nothing was going on ... she was innocent.

Yes, you guessed it ....

She always has a choice in the walk to make a left turn on that path, the original return path, or straight ahead to the corner of the north yard. 95% of the time she will continue straight ahead.

Frosted flowers. How many months until Spring ??

I initiated it but Stella played a little after our walk. I couldn't take the photos of her chasing me or turning to bump into my legs. Then she stopped and headed toward the house.

Just because we woke Heidi up when we walked inside the house did not mean she was getting out of her bed. I got as low on the floor as possible to take this eye level shot.

Heidi stepped outside after lunch and once she felt that 55° weather she did not stay out long. Stella could not decide what she wanted to do so she spent the few minutes we were outside just sniffing different spots in the yard. Maybe she was smelling signs of moles in the yard again.

I spent some time reading my latest book from the library. It's Bob Woodward's new book called Fear. After reading over half the book last night I think the title of the book is deceiving. It does talk of the turmoil in the current administration but it isn't anything different than I read in his other four books about presidents. Nobody will agree on every issue. I'll finish the rest of the book tonight. I thought I'd read more but Stella started her whining and then nudging my arm with her nose. She wanted her afternoon walk.

She takes the afternoon walks at a slower pace as if she is enjoying the fresh air and sunshine more than tracking scent and finding deer scat. She does what I would call a leisurely stroll.

Nothing like hanging bloodhound drool and flopping ears to show the speed of a running bloodhound.

Right before we left I received an email from Garmin Support. I sent them an email yesterday telling them it was not a complaint but some feedback about the replacement VivoSmart3 watch they sent me a few weeks ago. I have reset it three different times in a little over two weeks and it is still not working correctly after a day or two after those resets.

They offered to send me an upgraded model, their VivoSport as a replacement for the trouble I have gone through. I replied with what the activity monitor had done since the last reset yesterday and I would be more than happy to accept their offer of a free upgrade.

It might look a lot warmer with the sunshine but it didn't feel warmer, even at 55°. I told the cashier at the hardware store this morning that I wanted my summer back and so did she.

Yet, there is no rain, no flooding anywhere, no snow or ice ... it's just a beautiful clear day.

Stella never stopped walking. I had to run a little to catch up and move around in front of her. About that time she decided she would hang back since she couldn't set the pace.

Maybe veer toward the neighbors just to check to see if I am watching her.

She did realize that I had chosen to take the old way home.

There is always time for her to drift away. Like any bloodhound or basset hound, their nose always comes up with something for them to check out. Time isn't important to them until it is time to eat.

Another half mile in the books. I predicted and was right ... she was inside and asleep before I took off my jacket, load the memory card of photos into the iMac and download them. To her that is a perfect afternoon ... lunch, a short nap, a walk, a long nap.

I looked at my to do list and see I am getting things marked off. I am down to cleaning the walls as I am always shocked with the amount of micro dust I collect off the walls after each summer. Then I'll prep the bedroom and computer room for painting, including the closets in each room. If I like the slight change in color from white walls to a light tan ... I'll paint the kitchen, living room and bathroom. After that I will have one item on the list that I keep putting off but it will finally get done this fall.

Once Heidi went back to sleep after her short time outside, she slept most of the afternoon. If she is doing that it must be close to winter.

Another fine day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Is Out Below 40°

I had just started my second cup of coffee when I heard Stella whining, sitting looking at me wagging her tail. It was still 36° outside and I wasn't ready yet to walk through the wet field for the first time this fall in temperatures in the 30's. She wanted to go for a walk.

Once again she was at the back of the field directly behind the house before I even took my first step in the field. Luckily I didn't feel any wind so it would be warmer than my wildest imagination had told me inside. I've decided after this morning's walk she wasn't tracking deer scent like Sadie use to, these past few days. She is tracking scent to find deer scat.

With my hiking boots still a little damp from yesterday's walk, I stepped into the wet field thinking of a new plan to not only dry my hiking boots today but also apply some Scotch Guard to keep the water out of the insides. The solution for drying the boots enough to spray that Scotch Guard will be written later.

With a wool hat and my lighter North Face gloves on, I was going to be warm for the next 12-15 minutes. Stella was trying to high step through the wet grass on the path. I don't think she likes getting her paws wet either. She wastes no time when she gets back home to start licking her paws and legs until they are dry.

Her ears show how fast she may or may not be going.

She had turned to look at me but by the time I snapped the camera shutter, she was in the middle of turning back around and trotting away from me. It was good to see some blue sky hidden behind a hazy sky with a little fog mixed in.

Her plan was to not look back and stay out in front of me as far as possible this morning.

With a gentle trot, she was covering the very narrow pathway of mashed down grass that deer had taken earlier this morning.

This gives you some idea of how the sunshine is trying to make an entrance to today but first it had to burn off some light fog and clouds.

After we made the turn for home, Stella took off galloping in the tall wet grass. She was energetic this morning.

There is sound that goes with this picture ... hard to describe and only one that a bloodhound makes with their jowls.

Once she saw me pass by ... she was going to get back in front of me but still made a few stops along the way.

 She is almost positive that some kind of animal is in her yard while she sleeps at night.

I thought she was sitting down to scratch herself but she just sat there looking at the field. Without her collar on, she has been scratching less.

Of course with the morning as cold as it was, Heidi was already starting her winter hibernation and it's only in the middle of October. Will there be a fall this year? Or will it move from summer to winter, just like it missed spring this year.

It was chilly today where Heidi only stayed outside long enough to relieve herself. She chose a different area than the front yard which was nice. She is spending more time growling at herself and rolling in blankets when not sleeping, a sure sign she is feeling good.

On really hot days you can flip the trashcan over and let the sun dry it out if some fluid happens to seep through the large trash bag. Days like this it might not happen. Stella didn't know if it was a decoration or an intruder so of course she had to check it out.

She has never shown an interest in the fence along the driveway until today. I will see birds and squirrels move across that top piece but rarely see anything on the ground running in front of the fence. She had to check it out though. I was reminding her that she was out of the boundary.

About half way down the driveway she decided she turn around and head back to the house. She was never close to the highway but had moved too far from the house. I'd prefer she would continue to stay out of the front yard and spend all of her time in back.

I thought she was going to come inside with Heidi and I because I was actually getting cold. I cannot believe 'my' summer is gone. When I didn't see her in the driveway or carport I expected to see her in the field but I was wrong again. She was over by the north part of the yard, another place she hasn't had a lot of interest in.

I cannot wait any more for it to get hot and dry outside so I can open the windows. I have to apply the polyurethane now to the windows and inside the front door. Otherwise all the sanding and staining I have done will have condensation destroying it. I guess I need to break down and buy a large humidifier to use during the winter to cut down the amount of condensation on the windows. I need an excuse to go look around Lowes anyway.

I have a small stack of papers left that I need to sort through. These are old tax returns which will be burned and some older work files where they had too much information to take any chances of recycling yesterday. I'll burn those also in the next few weeks as I burn the fallen limbs from last spring and the leaves I rake this fall. It feels good to have organized closets and a lot of old paper files no longer taking up space.

Not a lot happened today. I did finish the paperwork project. I also cleaned out three drawers in the desk so as of this afternoon the desk is clean, all of the closets are reorganized and clutter taken away. I'll start scanning a few old photos sitting on my computer desk and put all of the hound photos away since it's pretty obvious I am not going to scan hundreds of photos where I can only scan one photo at time through my Epson printer.

It's great weather again to work inside here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.