Stella's Sunday

With a second walk by noon, Stella was on pace to have a pretty busy Sunday afternoon. While I mowed parts of the yard, cleaned up some landscaping, and took a drive in the Z4 ... she slept. That's normal. Heidi's day is on the Wordpress blog.

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.

Hounds Enjoy The Heat Wave

Everything looked the same this morning. Windy, overcast skies and signs of recent rain. Yet there was a huge difference as we started our morning walk. It was a 29° difference and a coat, gloves and ski cap wasn't needed in the 62° weather. I am not sure if the hounds noticed or not, they were excited as usual that we were heading outside.

With it raining most of the afternoon yesterday once again they didn't stay out long after they had their lunch. It does mean that Heidi makes her appearance within camera range for her second trip of the day outside. She walked as close to the house as possible, under the overhang to stay dry, but once she headed to the yard she tip-toed one paw at a time to check how wet it was.

You can see just how close the Azaleas miss the rain for water, just to the front edge. It's like that on all four of them. I placed them in the middle to allow for growth and not having them hang into the yard when they are fully grown. I guess I'll find out my next move next spring if they survive the winter.

With all the rain yesterday and last night, Stella had some nice fresh wet grass to choose from this morning. She stretches each blade of grass out like she is using it to floss her teeth.

I could tell soon after we started that Stella would probably not be joining us this morning, then going off on her own. I was almost at the first turn when I started to wonder if Sadie was even going to come with me. As usual she started sprinting toward me when she saw I was too far ahead.

One last look at Stella had me thinking this might be a day she disappears into the woods by the time we get back. In the past I can only assume that is where she goes when we can't find her after a hour of searching and calling her name. She will always come home on her own not too long after we finish the walk. I'd rather have her in view instead of wandering.

With the strong winds behind me from the southwest I as amazed just how different the temperature was compared to just 24 hours ago. We are still looking at Sunday being above 70°.

This picture doesn't tell the story. To me that looks like freezing weather with wind and even possible snow. It is one that I will see this January when it is that cold. I am very happy at this part of the walk to feel the warm air.

Sadie doing her normal exploring ... her walks never change no matter if we take two or three of them in a day.

As I continued to walk home I could barely make out a moving object far in the distance. I lifted the camera to my eye with the lens at 200mm and could barely see it was Stella. She was moving at pretty good speed in the direction of the neighbor's woods.

I gave Sadie my normal command of "go get Stella" and she was off.

I thought I was going to catch them tap noses so I left the camera on them ready to capture a picture of that happening. Not today. In fact Sadie spent time checking out what Stella had found before leading her back to the path we take.

From the half mile walk, sometimes for Stella the last 100' is the slowest and longest of all. She will get distracted right up until the time she is standing at the door, nudging the round door handle with her nose hoping it will open. Here is an example of that slow 100' in today's walk.

You might think she is on her way to the house but when I turned around again to check on her she had walked back out into the field.

Once I yelled her name ... she headed toward the house.

But again .... sharp right turn to see what that is ... nothing is ever definite with her.

Finally she realizes it's time to come in and start that morning nap that will carry her to lunch ... life is tough for a bloodhound.

Not much planned again today but my food supply is telling me it's time for a grocery trip again. I usually stop and grab a 40# bag of dog food for the hounds on the way home even with a few days of meals left from the previous bag. That 40# lasts on average 17 days for two bloodhounds and a basset hound.

With the World Series finishing last night I am back to two sports to follow ... college football and in about ten days college basketball. My NFL time has decreased a lot this year, down from last year and that seems to be the trend nationwide.

Another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... it's warm again.