Hounds Enjoy The Sunshine

"25° and you think I'm going outside????" ... No Way!! There is one thing about having hounds, they are pretty consistent. They might change parts of their routines but still remaining consistent. During the winter months that means Heidi rarely gets outside until after her lunch besides her trip first thing in the morning. She went back to sleeping while Stella and I took off for a walk.

You might notice a difference in the lighting with these photos and it wasn't just because the skies were blue and sunny. It was the difference in time from the normal 8am start time. We were not even conscious this morning at 8am, so a late start to the day it was.

It was great to feel a hard surface as we stepped into the backyard. So much nicer than mud or a very wet path. Stella seemed to enjoy it also. By the time I started my Apple Watch to track the walk, slip on my gloves and grab the camera ... Stella was trotting away from me.

It was good to see her getting in some running this morning.

I came very close of just wearing a light 4-season jacket of my fleece sweater this morning but a few feet into the walk I was glad I had the Mountain Hardwear Parka on. the wind was freezing and strong. Maybe you can tell by the blowing tall grass.

Last night after 1am, the last thing I remember hearing was the howling wind, rattling the old storm windows and sounding like we were in tornado warning. It's my paranoia from June 2008 when straight line winds blew over two 100' + Sycamore trees across my front yard. I still have a small group of Sycamore trees just as tall, due south of my house, next to the driveway. Strong winds after a lot of rain are the same conditions as they were in June 2008.

Stella at times acted as if she was ducking her head into the wind. I knew when we would make the last turn for home we would be walking directly into the wind, It kept moving from the SW, from the W and then from the NW. Which ever way it came from it was freezing cold. My eyes were watering and felt like I had poked myself in the eye.

The picture of the AT&T tower is always a good indicator of our weather.

Once she sits down to scratch, that gives me time to get ahead of her so I can hopefully catch some photos of her running. Today I was 3/4 of the way to the first turn before she moved. You can see the sequence of her in the photos below.

Didn't seem to have much interest in running but moved right around me then stopped!!!\

No ... there is no one outside, there are no sounds, there is no cat in view, no deer in the woods ... nothing. But something is interesting to her. As she sat there like a statue ... I kept walking toward home.

It was an uneventful finish to the walk this morning. The only question now will be if I post this now or wait until the end of the day?

I received an email notification from the local library yesterday that a book I had wanted was available to be checked out. It is the newest book (From the Ground Up) about Howard Schultz. I know I mentioned I was no longer reading above the government, politicians etc ... but I want to know more about this man, just in case he can work his way through the maze of the 2020 campaign. So far so good after reading about a third of the book.

Besides reading about coffee in his book I noticed my supply here at home is getting low. That in itself is a reason for me to take a roadtrip to the store to replenish my coffee supply. I can run out of food but NOT coffee!!! I'll probably take that trip after the hounds are fed lunch.

I still use the "cord system" to keep Stella shut off in the bedroom with Heidi while I am gone. That keeps her safe and my fruit in the bowls. I also don't have to 'child proof' my house when I leave, in case she would escape. There are signs that she sleeps while I am gone and that is always a good thing.

When I see on Twitter that there are 40 days or so until baseball's first game ... that means Spring is right around the corner. Looking at my 10-day forecast and seeing all the icons showing sunshine or clouds ... no rain or snow ... it is perfect for February.

Well it looks like we have moved back into the regular schedule after a late start to the day. I might even find some motivation to go outside this afternoon and pick up all the small tree limbs, sticks and/or twigs out of the yard then add to my burn pile. It's going to a HUGE fire this year ... maybe next month.

We are much drier today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella & I Slosh Through The Field

Stella didn't like this morning's walk any more than I did. It was just to wet after a night of rain added on to the Monday rain. I knew we were in trouble as I stepped off "Winston's Patio" into the back yard as water rose over the side of my boots. One step on the path in the field and it was all mud. My boots were only protected by the cover of wet leaves. We decided to go anyway. You can see after one photo that Stella isn't really enthused about taking the walk.

The water kept rising over the sides of Stella's paws and she hates that. She was looking for an alternative route as was I but even in the thick grass, water was above the ground with each step I took. After all, this morning once she saw standing water on the carport floor she made an immediate left and walked around the Mini Cooper to go out into the yard.

Turning on the Canon G9 X this morning as we headed out, the battery light was flashing. I didn't try to nurse the camera's battery on this walk. I put the battery on the charger and took the Nikon D3200 this morning.

About the time we made it to the first turn I seriously thought about walking over to the return path and head home, calling the walk off. Stella was cruising along the edge of the field and brush so I took a photo of my boot and kept on going.

This was taken after the water was going back into the ground. You can see just how much water was coming over the top of my boot sometimes. I moved over into the high grass to see if that would help. It was wet and muddy everywhere.

It was extremely warm this morning. Gloves were not needed nor was my Carhartt sock hat. I knew the only way we would take a second walk today was if that afternoon freeze would harden the ground fast enough to take that wake. I thought the chances were pretty slim for that to happen.

Just because her paws were wet did not mean she would increase her pace to get home. Same slow pace, one paw at a time and not a care in the world. She knew what her plan was for the day and there was no need to hurry up. The world clocks will adjust to her clock, not the other way around.

I had not made it to the yard when I glanced at my lens and saw that somehow drops of rain were on the lens. It wasn't raining, so it possibly came from the tall grass brushing against the lens. That was hard to understand since I made an effort to always hold the camera high as we walked through the tall grass.

I remembered how much it rained last Spring, way above our normal levels. I wondered if we are headed for another wet Spring and Summer? What do you use to see what your weather will be in the coming months?

By the time we had returned from the morning walk, Heidi was just curious enough about the noise Stella and I were making that she raised her head from the dog bed in the corner of the bedroom floor. I don't think she was happy having her morning nap cut short.

It was only a few hours later that I could feel the forecast was right. It was becoming colder and would probably get below 32° by this afternoon. Stella could either feel rain, hear rain or smell rain and she wasn't going any further than the edge of the carport right after lunch.

Heidi didn't have any different thoughts than Stella either. She went to the edge of the yard and mulch to relieve herself and then sprinted back to the door.

As the afternoon passed, the weather answered the question about the second walk of the day. One time I would glance outside it would be raining. Another time I'd glance up from reading my book in the living room, I was seeing snow flurries outside. We were back to temperatures a little below the normal average temperatures for February so the next few weeks of the month are set.

When I did my taxes in January it did not take me long to understand why my tax refund would be less than last year. Evidently people across America forgot their tax cut starting in February of last year, where they had less money withdrawn from their paychecks. That has two results. For those that get refunds, would get smaller refunds this year. For those that always pay taxes, like I use to when I worked, they might have a higher amount to pay in taxes. A third result would depend on what income bracket you are in, with the new tax laws in affect.

What is so hard to understand about that?

I planned to repeat on Tuesday what I did on Monday. NO TV news and NO online news headlines. NO reading of political blogs or tweets. If I can do that 10 straight days I will be well on my way of being "newsless" again like I was last fall. I think that's a good goal.

After 50 some pages of reading, I had a small snack and continued my new routine of an afternoon siesta for a couple of hours. I have gradually moved back to my regular schedule of staying up late, sleeping past 7am, with a late afternoon siesta. Long gone are those days of getting up at 5am just a few weeks ago.

It looks like a night of college basketball on tv tonight. Besides that, it was another successful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

No Action Monday Afternoon

I knew by lunch on Monday there wasn't going to be a lot going on around here. The light rain never stopped. I was surprised that Heidi went as far as she did, all the way to the front yard. Stella decided she wasn't getting off the concrete floor and even snuck around the Mini Cooper to go back to the door.

While Heidi was heading out front I noticed some things that all the rain did the other day and the standing water. The owner of the landscaping business told me last fall when I was buying new mulch that in some cases mulch is better than adding dirt when there is soil erosion, like I have.

It was interesting how all of that rain lifted a few inches of packed much up and away from the edge of the carport

It was good to see some green showing up in the Azalea. Due to being under the overhang but centered in the flowerbed, it doesn't get much rain and I have to water it during the summer. I might replace them with some kind of ferns this spring.

The mulch tried to float away the other day but luckily the stones kept most of it around. I still want to have a big rock delivered and placed where those two different types of stones are. It would give the ground some stability and the overflowing gutter could drop water on top of that big rock instead of these stones.

Heidi got a little running in today. She doesn't like to get wet either but she found a spot in the middle of the front yard today so she had no choice about staying dry. It was good to see her 'sprint' up the driveway back to the door to go inside, getting a little exercise during the winter.

While the light rain continued Stella stood at the edge of the concrete looking out onto the driveway but decided she was not going to get wet. It was only sprinkling like it was this morning during the walk but she wasn't doing it. About the time I said something to her, she snuck around the Mini Cooper to go back to the door.\

It wasn't long before both hounds were in their afternoon spots on the couch while I read books. That is their sleeping areas in the afternoon and night. I might have to take back what I said the other day comparing the iPhone 8+ photos with the Canon G9 X photos inside in low light. After seeing these I think the iPhone might be slightly better in capturing more details in low light.

I could tell a huge difference Monday, I never watched one minute of tv news and didn't glance at any news online. I checked ESPN of course but they seem to stick to sports news again unlike a couple of years ago.

I am writing this late Monday night and will schedule it to post early Tuesday morning. With that in mind I might get back on a schedule with posting my one post of the day at the end of the afternoon or early evening. That way I can cover all activity that day instead of overlaping days. I can surely keep the number of photos down to 30 and show a few less photos from the morning walk.

As a reminder, for those that don't have a WordPress account but want to make a comment. All you need to fill in is your name and email address, leaving the box for the website blank. Your email address is a WordPress requirement for comments but will not be used by me in any way. Also the very first comment you make I have to approve, as per the rules of Wordpress. After your first one your comments will post immediately.

I might have to get creative on Tuesday to have enough photos for the second post of the day. Rain is in the forecast again, how hard or light I don't know nor how long it will be. Sounds like another perfect day for some Mahjong games, a little reading and a short siesta.

Time flies when you have too much fun in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.