Adjusting To Cold Weather

It was just a little over 4 days ago I was outside wearing cargo shorts, a sweatshirt finishing up the last of the leaves and mowing the yard one last time. The temperature was 71°.

I think you will be able to see the "coldness" in the photos below. It's not close to the 70's but 33°, when we headed out on our walk around 8:33am. Without any wind it was somewhat warm with a down jacket and gloves ... in just 4 days.

How is it possible to get out on the walk by 8:30am ?? For some reason I've been getting to sleep before midnight and waking up by 7:15am. It's barely dark, cold inside the house and all the hounds are thinking about is "pour out that kibble".

Stella and Sadie took off sprinting to start the walk. It's hard to believe that we are scheduled for a full day of rain tonight and through tomorrow. There may not be enough pictures and activity to blog about.

Luckily it looked like this around 8:33am but by 10:15am the sun was out and the skies were blue.

As usual there were plenty of new scents for the hounds to get some nose exercise. I let Stella do what she wanted and did not try to get her to move when she stopped at different spots. Sadie on the other hand had a pretty fast pace.

As you can see Sadie and I are about to make the first turn while Stella hangs back.

For some reason Sadie veered left of the path instead of moving up to the far right hand corner. As I turned to check for Stella she was already almost to me and flying full speed.

Once again when they got to this point of the walk I was sure they were headed to their 'no-fly' zone. It was nice they waited for me and as I made the turn left to head home, they did also.

They are quite a pair with funny personalities. You never know what they may do next or what they find to get into.

No neighbors in view but something has Sadie's interest. There is a house across the highway that has a Saint Bernard ... with a wireless fence. It does not stay outside all of the time, at least not in the front yard but loves to bark at us if he knows the hounds and I are taking our walk.

While I walked back to the house the hounds didn't move. I let them hang out in the field while I loaded up my 32 gallon trash can of recyclables plus another full of bagged trash into the FJ. Heidi was going to be the first hound to make a trip in the 'new' FJ. I still like how clean the FJ is so I am not sure when the bloodhounds will get the chance to ride.

It's normal that Heidi and I are the only ones that go to the Recycle Center due to the lack of space available in the back, plus the amount of time the back door is open to unload.

There is one thing bad that happens when you get up and feed the hounds earlier in the morning. That means that Stella starts begging to be fed lunch around 10am. Even after having two meals usually by 11:30am ... they don't beg for food the rest of the day or night.

Besides the a couple days of rain, it looks like the next week will be in the temperature ranges of 42°/53°. The problem is it takes all day to get up to those highs and most of the days are spent in the lower cooler range.

Does anyone know anything about a diet based on your blood type? I bought a book about that years ago but never pursued it. Still on the shelf. Yesterday one of my pages I follow on Facebook, linked and talked about that subject. After I started reading their link I saw it was the book I bought years ago.

It might be the answer on why I have indigestion when eating oatmeal, some grains and certain kind of beans. All three of those are necessities for a vegan diet in getting protein. Ironically being a Type O blood type, the book shows grains, certain beans and oatmeal would upset my digestive system. The Paleo Diet I followed from May 2015 to September 2016 was the recommended diet for my blood type.

It looks like I have more reading to do today about those diets.

We are heading for our 'winter routine' here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A Cooler Monday

We started our walk this morning a couple of hours later than normal. Two reasons ... it was cold and there were heavy amounts of dew on the ground.

Cold was the main reason.

There is nothing different in the daily routine. Mundane and boring to most readers I'm sure but it is what it is when you are retired and happy to do nothing most of the time ... plus living with three different hounds that want different things ... all at different times.

The first trip this morning was nothing more than this. They didn't go into the field, they stood there and let me know they wanted to go for a walk then, not later. They didn't get their request so they came back inside.

Like I said, around 8:30am it was too cold and too wet to be walking through the field ... so we started after 11:30. Glancing up at the thermometer in the carport it showed less than 50° as we started our walk. I've always thought it was 5° warmer on that thermometer so it was colder than I expected.

Yet, stepping into the backyard with the sunshine out, it felt warmer than 50°. For the first time that I can ever remember, Stella didn't bolt out in front of us but stayed behind, almost like she didn't want to walk. Was she starting to do what Winston use to do? He would sit there when the field grass was too high or I had not connected his leash even if he did not need to be leashed. Sometimes Winston would not walk at all .. just sit and howl at us.

So I told Stella to "come on" ... and she went running out to the front and everything was okay.

It's the same spot every morning where she stops, buries her nose in the thick grass and doesn't come up for air. She might lift her head a few times to see where we are but she will not move until she wants to. Today Sadie and I were almost to the corner where we veer right on the walk when Stella decided she had better run to catch up to us.

She joined Sadie just past the corner and of course both the them had to check out the spot where I believe that deer spend a lot of time. I know nothing about deer or their activities so that is just a wild guess.

Stella went from making sure everything was okay in that spot to sprinting along the edge of the field/gully where she is not allowed to go into. She turned right like always but didn't stay long. She was on a scent that led back up to Sadie and I ... so Stella was in non-stop action.

Stella is still curious about her "no fly zone" and would love nothing more than to be able to run over in that direction and spend time there. When I see her in that position I call her name and I no longer leave until she is next to me. She ran right past me today and joined Sadie to lead the way home.

After Sadie's run chasing the squirrel into the wooded area by the neighbors house, I pay attention to her when she is looking that direction. I keep her moving in my direction. In 8 years she has never ran to the neighbors when she sees someone outside but there is a first time for everything.

Today the neighbors were not outside but the cloths they had hung out to dry were the point of interest today for Sadie. I wonder what she is thinking?

I wasn't able to take more photos, as both of them stayed near me all the way home. They have become addicted to the walk in the morning and will almost bother me as much as they do when they want lunch. Yet, once that walk is completed they are sound asleep within minutes of returning inside.

I tried something different today when I wrote this post. I loaded all of my photos first, then commented and enlarged them as I went. Probably not any quicker than writing first and adding photos last, but there seemed to be less requirement to make sure the paragraphs were spaced correctly between photos. It seemed like it was easier to write after the photos were added.

Oh ... the temperature was an official 45° when we stepped back inside. Wunderground shows it's not going to make the predicted high of 54° today but that's fine. It's still sunny and no snow .. so you can't complain about that.

I thought of getting some rest before the next round of the NCAA basketball games that start again on Thursday but not until around 7pm local time. Then I remembered I could fill in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night by watching the NIT basketball tournament. I will not be camped on the couch but will probably have those games on in the background and then sit and watch parts of them depending on what is going on. It sure beats the crap on tv news about politics.

All is good this morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Freezing Sunny Friday

It was really quite boring and I didn't do a damn thing today. I spent a lot of time online reading, took a mid day nap for three hours, more internet, a dog walk that was too cold and some photos taken in the afternoon ... nice light.








Heidi's skin looks the best it has been in a long time ... she still needs a bath.

Last day for Winston's antibiotics. He doesn't seem to be in any pain after losing two more teeth. He is also not leaving any signs of blood in his drinking water.

You can tell it's winter though. Very dark early in the morning. I sure don't miss driving to work that early but at the time it seemed normal. After the hounds come back inside Stella and Sadie have decided that blanket on the bed I use for a sheet is warm. Since Stella has decided this is her home ... she and Sadie go to the bed after they eat for a nap the rest of the morning on the cold days.

I take off the down comforter every morning in case the hounds decide the bed is the place to sleep. i don't need to come in and find a destroyed down comforter and feathers all over the place.

Heidi takes over the living room chair and Winston heads for the couch.

I am getting more and more emails asking either for "invite" to read the blog or that they miss seeing the hounds and reading about them. Even one reader mentioned she missed reading about "the tropics".

It will be a great thing to look back and read ten years from now or even longer. Much like looking through an old photo album that I have never kept.

Here are some hound photos from this after noon, 38° and felt much colder.

I am seriously considering making the blog public again even if some of the photos are a little gross.