From Sunshine To Storms

Just like anywhere else in the USA, weather can change in an instant. I know my weather changes from yesterday afternoon to this morning are nothing compared to those having severe weather up in the Dakotas, Montana, and the Central Midwest yesterday. I caught some of the national weather stories last night. My worst weather of the day is not suppose to start until around noon, about the time I tune into my IU game. How will the satellite signal do in high winds and thunderstorm conditions? I am hoping the forecast is wrong

So anyway, back to yesterday. It was beautiful. It got up to 72° and as you can see Stella and Heidi were in shock. They couldn't move, they couldn't think clearly to figure out if this was a dream or was spring really here. Stella and I did take an afternoon walk but it was without the camera because it was a spur of the moment ... I didn't know I was going for a walk when I went outside with her. She decided we were.

Heidi heard me ask if she wanted her toenails cut. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to pick her up to take her to the backyard for that task or if she would eventually agree with me that her nails were way past due. I thought I'd give her time to decide, I didn't want to force anything on her. She is the best of all the hounds I've had when it comes to trimming her long nails. Winston was the second best, and Sadie was 0 on a scale of 1-10.

I was a little surprised that neither hound sprinted to the backyard and head dove into the grass with excitement. They acted their normal slow, analytical self, deciding just where they were going to go. I decided I'd walk around the yard enjoying the warm sunshine, maybe they would follow me.

By the time I returned Heidi has almost decided it was time. I went inside and traded my camera for the nail clippers. Without me saying a word, she followed me to the backyard, laid down and rolled over on her side ... true story. Within a few minutes all of those extra long nails were trimmed back to where none of them touched the ground when she was standing. She sprinted for the door because she knows a dog bone is always her reward after getting her nails trimmed.

Stella was not as cooperative. She use to like having her nails trimmed but after three of them she decided she had enough. I had to get a few more while she was sleeping on the couch last night but even that woke her up. I have two more paws to do today, someway.

They say we will get high winds today with our thunderstorms, but in our area that is only 20mph - 30mph. That will still make a howling sound up here on the hill though. That sound is what woke me a little after 2am.

You can see from the rain we received last night there is some flooding starting to show. He installed a huge drainage system a few years ago that starts behind that corner of trees on the left, diagonal in that low area to the trees on the right ... but by this afternoon that will be flooded as if his drainage system is not working.

The crushed egg shells continue to get whiter as it rains more. We are currently above the average for rain/snow this time of year and will add another inch to that surplus today. I better get my lawn mower ready for a lot of work this spring.

This shows why I am filling in all of the worn, low spots of the carport floor this spring. 44 years of wear will do that to concrete I guess.

A sure sign that all hound walks are canceled for today. The field was still soft from underground saturation yesterday, it will be muddy today. Stella doesn't like getting her paws wet and I don't like water running up the sides of my boots either.

Yes, these low spots will be filled in and repaired this spring.

As you can see my blog design has changed again this morning. I like the format, I just can't decide what colors to use, header image or no image. I even changed my computer back from Apple's "dark mode" to "light mode" and both desktop photos ... I put their desktop picture of Yosemite on my other monitor. I think it was the National Geographic channel a few weeks ago that was showing the movie "Solo" for free ... quite a movie and quite a climb for "free climbing."

I was in the mood to watch some movies late afternoon yesterday. Inserted the first DVD, the player changed my tv input to the blu-ray player input as it should. Then the screen went blank. After trying many things, reading the owners manual for the dvd player, I finally went online and found out that it was a common problem with Samsung DVD players ... I had just been lucky the past few years, having no issues.

By the time I tried their troubleshooting steps a second time ... my remote for the dvd player would not work. NOTHING worked. I went to the Best Buy website, put "Sony Blu-Ray Player" in the search and had a few to choose from. With $40 in rewards that I had forgot about and an expiration date of March 23rd ... I guess it happened for a reason.

I bought a Sony 4K Blu-Ray player with a lot of stuff I won't use for a pretty low price after my $40 discount that they showed at the final step for checking out. Instead of driving to Bloomington to pick it up I took them up on their offer for free shipping and a delivery for tomorrow. (Friday) That was the second Samsung dvd player that has stopped for the exact same reason.

I use to have a Samsung tv, so I bought the Samsung dvd player at that time.

I can hear the wind and rain off and on outside while I write this. About all I can tell is that I will be watching basketball at 12:30pm hopefully without signal interruption, and explaining to Stella why we are not taking any walks today. She will figure that out soon enough when she goes outside this morning. Heidi may not get off the carport at lunch if she sees and hears the rain and wind.

While I tried to post this at 9:30am, I lost my HughesGen 5 satellite internet signal.  :)

I added these recent photos after I posted this morning. This is right after their lunch, and Stella was not interested going out into the yard. Luckily she dumped her tanks first thing this morning before her breakfast.

At least it is not snowing and single digit temps here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Decides To Walk

The rain stopped, Stella stood up and looked at me. I put on my hiking boots but I still had no plans to take the walk. I was pretty sure that by the time we got outside with strong winds and sprinkled rain ... she wouldn't go too far.

You see she had to think about it and almost headed toward the door after walking back around the car.

Following the side of the house, keeping under the roof overhang to stay dry.

She went out into the yard, relieved herself and didn't hesitate to head back inside.

Again, follow the side of the house to stay dry.

At least with the strong winds and rain all night long, my Mini Countryman got a free car wash.

Heidi?  She might be awake but there is no way she is moving until lunch is served.

Oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Typical Heidi Afternoon

Right after their lunch both hounds are given the chance to do what they need to do. Lately with them demanding my 'professional' doorman abilities they go out when they want and not after every meal. So this is really the latest high paced time. Both stare, collecting weather data, wind speed and direction, scents or sounds before deciding it's not worth going any further. They turn and head back to the house with a full body shake in preparation for their first afternoon siesta.The naps in the morning do not count ... they were only practice.

I guess it's "Official", that Heidi as claimed the chair as hers now. She spent most of her time there last night while I watched the football game. She continues to move her blanket to a perfect arrangement every time she hops aboard.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if she is sleeping or in deep thought. Today it was evenly matched, where about the time I had an answer choosing between the two options, I actually didn't have the right answer.

I know this post was suppose to be 100% about Heidi but I had to show one of Stella's normal nap positions so you know she doesn't live on the couch. The OLD Berber carpet has held up pretty well with too many hounds walking inside and out, sleeping on it, at times getting sick on it. It needs replaced but I hope to wait until the hounds have passed. I hate the thought of seeing an older hound getting ill on brand new carpet. Besides, my priorities are keeping the house maintained in good shape with manual labor while my cash goes towards new/upgraded electronic toys and/or cars and SUVs.  Another benefit of being single and/or retired.

Even though the picture is lighter because I was playing around with the camera picture modes, that is a sleeping position of Heidi ... she can and does sleep with her head up.

Not quite dropping her head in the full sleeping mode but she is slowly getting there.

Is that it? That's the position for the afternoon siesta? Yes, that's the official position. You have now seen Heidi's typical afternoon, and it does not matter if it's rain, hail, sleet or snow ... in the summer the only difference is, she will find the perfect place to sleep with the sun shining on her.

It's one of the benefits about retirement ... I can also choose when a siesta is needed. Today was one of those days for the first time in a long time. It wasn't due to lack of sleep though ... it's what I had for lunch, which was loaded with too many carbs thus giving me the same results as always in recent years ... I get really sleepy ... like a Carbs OD.

With the temps starting their decent toward the 30's, Heidi started her decent off the side of the carport. As my yard "slides" down the hill, after 21 years I have lost that much front yard ... it use to be level with the concrete. Let the comments section be filled with preventions or fixes for yard erosion suggestions.

Looking at the back of the house towards the north, it was an entirely different planet ... it looks like the storms have arrived everywhere but here. The winds are howling in the middle of the afternoon and I am well rested with a nice two hour siesta, tracked by the sleeping app on my watch. The GarminSport did not track siesta time.

A few minutes later as I write this, those same skies are blue with scattered clouds and bright sunshine. That's "tropical" Southern Indiana weather for you.

Stella and I headed back inside for warmth ... Heidi headed out for her afternoon exercise by doing her lap around the house. It's one of many tracks she follows to keep her aerobics in top condition. I anxiously wait for spring so I can start the 2019 To Do List and play with some concrete to patch the chipped out low spots.

Also ... I'll not be watching news on tv nor reading any online headlines. Those two sites I spoke of this morning have been deleted from my Feedly account. I am going back to No News like I did last October.

It was another good day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.