The Hounds Test Out 27°

It's good that the hounds are flexible since they live with someone that has a few crazy tendencies and being retired isn't the cause. Let's just say today it was great that they are flexible, but nothing too serious that would harm their routine.

A few months ago I couldn't get to sleep and would spend most nights staying up until 2 or 3 am and would still have to force myself to go to bed. I'm a 'night person' by nature, always have been. About two weeks ago all of that changed.

I started going to bed before midnight, then gradually that kept moving earlier to 10:30pm. It was pretty consistent until last night as I was reading while sitting on the couch, then laying in one half of the couch while Stella took up the other half.

I headed for bed and it was only 9:07pm. I don't recall being awake longer than a couple of minutes. Of coarse going to bed that early only meant I would most likely be getting up early ... but I didn't think it would be that early. I was wide awake by 2am, and tried to get back to sleep until 4am ... when I gave up.

I flicked on the lights, woke up all the hounds. They were a little confused but by the time the kitchen light was turned on and coffee was being made they had figured out it was time for breakfast ... even if it was pitch black outside.

Stella howls just as loud inside the house at 4am as she does at 7:30am. She knows the kibble has been poured out and all I have to do is sit the bowls on the floor in each of their spaces. Sadie and Stella finished their bowl in less than a minute, Heidi takes her time and finishes a couple of minutes later. Sadie was the only one that wanted to go outside. She was trained at 12 weeks old of going outside after every meal ... she continues that 8+ years later.

Stella and Heidi had other plans though. They could tell it was dark and that meant it was still not too late to get some sleep in before daybreak, so they both trotted for the bedroom full of Mexican blankets and sleeping bags. Sadie eventually joined them after she figured out things were not normal this morning.

I can say it's warmer outside at 4am than it is a t 6:30am. I like that time of day outside between 2am-4am. My inside thermometer may have said it was 60° but it felt much colder as we approached daybreak.

By 8am we headed out for an early walk with the weather apps telling me it was 27°. I pulled the Mountain Hardwear down coat out of the closet, traded the lighter gloves for my ski gloves and threw on a wook ski cap even though the down jacket comes with a hood.

Stella sprinted to the back of the field directly in back of the house.

It was within seconds that I could feel winter had arrived. It felt much colder and I am thinking this year I might have to buy a pair of lined jeans, new ski pants or some Carharts. Each year it feels colder than the last when we take these walks.

I could see fresh deer hoof prints in the frosted grass ... none of the four pictures I took of them were any good, too blurry. But the hounds knew they were there and acted like it was all new stuff to them.

I wasn't sure what there pace would be today but I knew what mine was going to be ... non-stop.

Sadie as usual will not be left behind.

As you can see, Stella is different ... no amount of calling her will make her move, until she wants to move. Sadie and continued around the first turn.

You could hear the frozen grass crunching while Sadie ran.

She found it first and Stella joined her soon after.

Stella letting me know they are going to be there for a while, don't bother waiting.

Those are only three of the six large barnes to raise turkeys. I was told over 40,000 but I can't remember if that is per year, per month or per quarter.

Sadie gives Stella a look but decided it was cold enough to sprint to me and then head home. She has seen enough.

Sorry for the blurriness of the pictures. I am not sure it was the thick ski gloves that was moving the camera or the glove fingers slightly moving it when I took the picture.

Stella is more interested staying there rather than getting out of the cold ... or so I thought.

About the time she got to Sadie and I, they both took off, not waiting to see if I was following them or not.

Still maintaining the distance in front of me. The zoom lens make them look closer to me than they were.

It must have been cold because Stella did not hesitate getting home. I barely caught her in this picture since she was trotting for the house, with Sadie already at the door to be let back inside.

Heidi in the meantime had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on her blankets. She was sleeping when we left and snoring when we got back. She will come back to life around lunch time or if she hears me fixing my lunch.

I had so much time on my hands this morning you may notice I added some old and some new blogs to the sidebar. Since I like most things equal, I also edited my 'label' section on the right sidebar and doubled the number of labels to make it pretty close to even with the left sidebar.

For the first time, I added a gadget that counts the number of visitors and installed that at the bottom of the blog. By the time I finished the daily ration of 2 cups of coffee near 6am I wondered if an afternoon siesta might be in store later this afternoon. You can do that as often as you like when you are retired ... I am still telling myself after 32 months, retiring was the best decision I ever made.

I may break the 2 cup limit and fix at least one more cup of coffee to have while I read. Even with the heat turned on, it just didn't feel warm enough so I pulled out one of my space heaters designed like the old steam registers. It wasn't long before Stella as sitting right beside it as close as possible getting her ears warm.

Only Heidi has ridden in the 'new' FJ. I still enjoy how clean it is so the bloodhounds have not been in back, nor have I folded the back seats down yet. It's nice to have a clean vehicle I guess but today may be the day they get their first ride. I need to get out of the house and they would just sleep in the back anyway.

I saw my old FJ on the Toyota dealership site for sale. Obviously everything is fixed and I do admit I felt a little buyers remorse when I saw it. I kind of miss the radial look of the Voodoo Blue set up compared to the stock look with running boards. Yet, once I feel how smooth this one rides and I glance to see I have almost 30,000 fewer miles ... I feel better about the transaction.

I guess as usual the hounds will dictate how much we do today ... but it's cold, really cold so that means a lot of book reading.

The tundra has arrived here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Rain Holds Up Hounds

Waking up to the sound of rain hitting the north window told me even before daylight most of our activities might be put on hold today. Outside activities would turn into indoor activists.

For the hounds that meant more sleep. For me that meant reading books, read some blogs and do laundry. Just the kind of stuff that would keep you on the edges of your desk chair while you read the blog.

Since it's been a few days of making changes back and forth, what I blog about yesterday, I found today iIwas back to playing around with different internet browsers. As much as I would like to use Safari or Firefox instead of Google Chrome, it doesn't take long to see that Safari is a 'data hog', using a half day worth of data before 11am. Firefox on the other hand does not play well with some websites and had just enough glitches that makes me run back to Google Chrome. There isn't much more they can find out about me than they already know ... so I doubt it matters. Safari and Firefox both use Google programs for their own security, so there is no difference there.

Even with a light rain, the hounds still need the normal routine. This morning Stella never left the carport on her first trip outside while I poured their breakfast kibble. Heidi made her typical bad weather path with an immediate right under the overhang and behind the yews in front of the house and Sadie wandered out into the field not caring how wet she would end up getting.

Wunderground weather was predicting the rain would move out of our area by noon. That meant by late afternoon we would hopefully be able to take a soggy walk through the field. The hounds didn't seem to care that I wiped their paws off before they came back inside even after their short trips they took throughout the day.

We waited, had lunch and then went out to test the wet grounds ... was a mid-afternoon walk possible?

I knew that when Sadie gave me her stare telling me we needed the first walk of the day and the ground was dry enough. I headed back inside to change into my Oboz hiking shoes, which I really like as they continue to break in. At 41°, a sweatshirt along with a thinner down jacket and gloves, it was all I needed.

Stella never gets excited like Sadie does when she sees we are going to walk but she never misses one.

I could see underground water rising above ground level with each of my steps but I needed to help the hounds get rid of their 'cabin fever'. We continued the walk under gray skies, a wind that was just a little more than a breeze.

Once again when Sadie saw I was about to take the first turn without her she came sprinting to catch up, Stella didn't bother as usual. She is definitely on her own schedule.

The slight wind today was making it feel like it was much older than 41°, it was the type of cold that cuts through you. I wondered for a minute if I had chosen the wrong jacket. I was also reminded just how cold it will be in January and February.

There cannot be that much deer scat in one spot at ground level under the thick grass but Stella never moved. It must be something else that makes her stay for such a long period of time.

I took these next few pictures after making the turn and headed back toward home. I guess I was wrong thinking they were wanting to walk and run. Neither one left this area while I did most of the daily walk by myself.

Just as I passed, they decided they would head back to the house with me ... not a word was said, it was their decision.

We tried to give it a shot but the rest of the afternoon turned out to be a lot of nothing. The hounds slept, I read parts of different books and the camera wasn't used. I guess the excitement of the day was hearing Stella take her nose and nudge the door handle in the kitchen to let me know she needed to go outside.

Nothing to see here today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A Cold Afternoon

It was one of those days that no matter how many layers of shirts you put on, I never felt warm. Most of the online weather apps were telling me it was 42° outside and it felt more like -42°, not plus. I still think during these times, my sleeping bag is the warmest place in the house but I fought off the urge to climb inside, which would lead to a siesta just to stay warm.

Besides, Heidi had changed her strategy after lunch and had moved her sleeping spot from the couch back to the bed. Not only on the bed, but she had nosed her way completely inside my sleeping bag and was in the snoring state of sleep.

By 5pm I had read enough books, ate enough food, played enough Mahjong that we decided to head out for an afternoon walk. I also wanted to do my annual test of how well my baseboard electric heat works. See, it's December 5th and I have yet to turn on the heat this year. The house has been staying below 60° during these cold days outside and nights that fall into the 20's.

So I set the timer on the iPhone for an hour, cranked each control to turn on the heat in the kitchen, computer room and living room. I also took a reading of my house meter ... then set out for an afternoon walk.

With no winds it makes it bearable but I am already counting the days down to spring, back to at least some 70° temps. I am not a fan of winter weather.

Stella stayed up with Sadie and I most of the walk. I guess it was that lecture I gave before we started that I wasn't going to be calling you to "come on" and I wasn't going to chase you to follow me home. I am beginning to hate those two words "come one" after having to repeat them more than I ever wanted to.

Just as I turned back around after taking that picture above me, Stella sprinted past me as fast as she could to catch up with Sadie who had rounded the corner to their favorite spot.

I turned myself if that direction hoping to lead them in the right direction without too many commands and too much cussing. Luckily they followed me out of that area and headed out along the back of the field.

There is always areas to explore for them, no matter what part of the field we are in. It is some cheap entertainment for them and better than any dog park that I can think of. I've made them loners just like me.

As I made the turn to go home, they both trotted around me and down the path. Maybe my lecture worked as they were more than the perfect bloodhound on the walk this evening.

They still needed to check out a couple of spots on the way home which is normal. I could feel it was getting colder as the sun went down. The hounds must have felt the same way since they didn't hesitate in following me home.

As I turned for a possible last picture, I had only Sadie behind me and didn't see Stella anywhere. For some reason she decided to take what I call her June Route home, checking out the north part of the yard.

I have some new plans for that dirt area that I cleared a few months ago. Instead of just planting grass I have a plan that will add some color other than green, prevent some erosion and still keep the wild bushes from grown. You'll find out what it is next spring as I do it.

I mentioned a few weeks ago or a month ago about making some changes to my diet. I've lost weight, fat and part of my appetite on the vegan diet I started September 7th. I am finding some consistent issues with indigestion that I did not have when I cut out all grains for the year before September 7.

On the vegan diet, beans are a major source of protein and most of the different kinds of beans I have eaten give me more indigestion. Oatmeal gives me indigestion. When I tried the Paleo Diet which emphasizes low carbs, no grains, meat, chicken or fish, with fat and protein ... I never had indigestion.

Plus after a meal of meat and steamed veggies I felt full and rarely craved food between meals. On the Vegan diet with steamed veggies and brown rice I always feel hungry soon after eating. It was interesting to see that the book I mentioned a few weeks ago, The Blood Type Diet suggested a diet for my blood type being closer to a paleo diet with dairy, meat, fish and chicken as the main sources of protein.

That book also mentioned I should stay away from oatmeal, certain kinds of beans and all grains. Everything thing it listed I should stay away from in that book is what I found to be my source of indigestion on a consistent basis. It even named the beans by name ... the foods it listed to stay away from it was right on the money.

I'll not go into a lot of the book but it did say with my blood type I was more apt to get stomach ulcers than heart disease. There is something in my intestines that worked well with red meat and certain kinds of fish but not grains, or legumes.

I think I will be moving away from the diet that gives me indigestion and makes me feel hungry all the time toward a Paleo type diet with some personal adjustments I had before.

Basically I have come to the conclusion after trying different foods the past few years .... moderation .... is key but what is more important than what food you eat, is eliminating sugar, processed foods, soda's and alcohol. So that is what I will revert back to.

Back to my electric test. I just completed the hour curiosity test. I used 6 kilowatts in 60 minutes. My computer room went from 59° to 71° and my living room went from 56° to 66°. Both of those rooms are way too warm for me, past my comfort zone ... using the 41 year old baseboard electric heat system.

The hounds seem to like the heated house ... 2 of 3 of them are snoring. I don't think I have heard Stella ever snore but she does wag her tail while sleeping.

It does not feel like it should be December here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.