Stella Does A 180° In Attitude

The logging operation finished late this afternoon. What was pretty neat about this, the same machine that was moving and loading the cut trees, was also the same that cut the tree trunks to those lengths right before he loaded them.

After lunch the temps had increased to 23° and it felt nice enough to take the hounds out for a walk. Only this time I was putting Stella on the 25' retractable leash. Maybe that would help her remember how to walk again. She never minds it and will always run toward me when she sees I have the leash, then wait for me to connect it to her collar.

She took off walking as soon as I connected her. She followed Sadie and I on our walk, had 25' to explore and rarely stopped to eat anything. In fact she spent most of the walk leading Sadie and I. Along the walk I kept giving her positive reinforcement whenever she did something correctly.

So with our 2nd walk today, in mid-afternoon, it was a good test for her even thought the walk with the leash was only a couple of hours before. What would Stella do off leash now?

She and Sadie had been out in the back of the field for about 10 minutes while I put on a warmer coat, grabbed the camera and came out to let them know we were going for a walk. Sadie always sprints to me every walk, this afternoon was different.

As I started up the path, Stella came running toward me like Sadie does on every walk, so it was a surprise to see her do that. She must of thought I had the leash with me. I can't remember the last time she ran toward me to start the walk when I didn't have the leash with me.

She must have been happy that she was not going to get connected to the leash because she turned almost immediately with Sadie and took off ... it was the first time unleashed that she did not hang back like she has for weeks, if not a month or more.

It was good to see her follow Sadie along the path.

I can't describe how much warmer it felt during this walk at 36° compared to yesterday in the teens. It almost felt like a day in March, not December. A 20° jump in temperatures will do that. We are suppose to reach the lower 50's later this week.

As we made the first turn, Stella was walking just the way I wanted ... wander nearby but keep up the pace that Sadie and I take. It does give them time to check out areas and I'll stop during times like that ... as long as they are moving.

She still kept the lead whenever Sadie caught up.

I was curious if they were going to head right to the corner but they followed the direction of the path I take and headed for the back of the field.

Once again she wandered off a little to the left but also turned and trotted toward Sadie as we approached the final turn toward home. It was just like she had done most of her walks prior to a month or so ago.

As all of us made the turn for the final leg of the walk ... Stella trotted around both Sadie and I ... taking the lead again.

They both trotted away from me, all the way up to that first corner ... nothing needed to be said to get them to follow me home. I was shocked in the difference in Stella's attitude.

As we approached the backyard, they both continued to walk toward home. I really couldn't believe in the change they both had on this walk. It may have been a month or longer since Stella has walked off leash the whole walk instead of hanging way back and then meeting us at the first corner to turn around and come home.

Does that picture look like a day in December?? Of coarse I remember last Christmas Day in 2015 it was in the 50's if I remember that correctly. Although at the start of the walk 36° didn't feel too bad, by the end of the walk it was freezing.

The hounds were not the only surprise of the day. My brain was. The light bulb in my mind flicked on as I stepped inside the door and out of nowhere I knew exactly what I had to do to my old door so the new door knob would fit. That doesn't sound too out of the ordinary but I bought this new door knob over 3 years ago.

I didn't install it then because the hole in the door was too small to fit the new door knob. I pulled out some sandpaper, a small wood chisel and a pencil to mark just how much bigger I had to make the hole in the door.

I didn't have a drill with that diameter and I realize that would have made it much easier and faster. The one I did have was too small, was one that I had used for the shower faucet years ago. Anyway I made the hole large enough to fit the mechanism of the new door handle, with what I had.

It works perfect.

What got me thinking about fixing it, was the other night I could barely slide my key into the slot to unlock the door and at the same time this morning I could barely turn the lock from the inside to lock the door. Too old, too flimsy and too much movement while even jiggling the key would not work. The locking mechanism was just too old.

My decision to trade the FJ for the Mini Countryman must have been a good one ... not a sliver of 'buyers remorse' has floated through my brain cells.

The temps are suppose to continue to climb here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana and that's always a good thing.

Stella's On Probation After Monday

After calling it a day pretty early Sunday night, that only meant the hounds and I would be up and out by 6am the next morning. Dark outside ... and cold.

My iPhone weather app was telling me it was 4° and wasn't going to get much higher than 19°. Little did we know on Monday just how accurate that would be. Consequently not much was done outside yesterday and we barely got in a late afternoon walk.

That didn't stop the tree cutting operation going on across the highway, clearing out some trees along that gravel road that leads to the old closed steel bridge. It is suppose to warm up this week, maybe into the 50's, so I'll grab the Nikon and go see what took place.

Our trips outside yesterday were not more than just a trip long enough for the hounds to dump their tanks. By 9am the temperature had risen only 1° to 5° ... so things were not looking real promising for a morning walk. At least the sunshine was out.

I wonder how many layers of clothing it takes to stay warm while working all day outside in single digit temps. Inside 60° was feeling too hot for me but that seems to be the happy medium to keep the air from drying out from the electric heat and my allergies under control.

Sometime after 2pm the temps had flew upwards to 21° and with no wind the "feels like" was the same. It was time to get the hounds some fresh air and some relief to their 'cabin fever'.

There was only one problem.

There isn't an answer anywhere on the internet, many have the same problem if you are a dog owner and the hounds are almost obsessed with it ... except Heidi, she would never lower her standards that low.

They are called "frozen poopsicles", they are gross and Stella NEVER left the yard. Well ... she was about 2ft into the field ... still not even interested in a walk. Every time I looked through the zoom lens she was chewing.

Sadie in the meantime had places to go and didn't care what Stella was doing ... she and I kept on walking. It was clear blue skies and not bad temperature wise. It was nice to get out. The frozen grass and and leaves had a crunching sound with each step.

As I turned to check on Stella I had hoped she had at least moved to her 1st stop of the walk, further into the field and show some motivation to get going ... but I was wrong. I could tell by now she was going to be a problem child today. Let's just stay politically correct and say my meter for patience with her has max'ed out the past week.

By the first turn of coarse there was no sign of Stella. I figured like the past couple of weeks we would meet her on the way back and continued walking the path as Sadie headed to the far right corner.

I keep looking for Stella to be running after us ... but not even a sign of her. By this time I am heading for the final turn home and Sadie is deep into the tall weeds toward the gully. Did I now have two problem hounds on this walk?

Way up ahead I couldn't believe what my eyes were telling me. Stella had walked north, halfway between the neighbor's house and mine. She wasn't even close to meeting us on the way back. I quickened my pace, concerned she might follow the drainage ditch toward the highway. Obviously a scent had led her in that direction.

Once Sadie could tell that I was heading home a little faster than normal, she came running without me calling her. She sprinted all the way to me as I was in kind of a semi-run towards Stella. Her instincts were telling her something was up.

I don't think there is anything that makes me mad more than a hound that is already out of their allowed area, look up at you ... stand and stare at you ... then walk in the opposite direction. My low blood pressure increases to the level of aerobic exercise.

The tone of my voice evidently got her attention enough that she started in the direction of Sadie and I. Needless to say, this was the last photo of the walk ... we headed home as fast as possible.

Will it be back to the 25' retractable leash for Stella today??? Stay tuned.

35° is the predicted high today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana and to me that will feel like a heat wave.

The Hounds Missed The Deer

I admit today's post title may be a little misleading. I'll get to the specifics after this short weather intro ... but it was a different kind of deer chase today.

The weather forecast did exactly what it said last night and this morning. From 46° yesterday in the late afternoon we were sitting below 15° around 7:30am and very little if any snow. Unlike 70 miles north of us, it's a different story.

Looking at Wunderground weather it wasn't going to get any warmer than 18° and it was already 'up' to that range by 9:30am, give or take a few minutes. With that in mind I decided we'd get our walk in and it would probably be the only walk of the day. These kind of temps always make me cautious, wondering if it's too cold when I consider some their paws coming down with frostbite.

What was the difference in this deer chase today compared to the other 5 or 6 we have had this summer and fall ?? Well the hounds were so busy with their normal exploring to start the walk ....

They didn't see the deer that jumped out of the woods at the first corner turn we make and in fact didn't even catch their scent until they got to that corner.

By the time the lens focused in this freezing weather, it did hesitate, this 2nd picture was the last I saw of the deer. They were so fast and quiet, neither Sadie nor Stella even raised their head and took off like they normally would have and have in the past.

They continued along the path not yet to that corner. I was prepping my camera in anticipation they would take off sprinting in the direction of the deer once that fresh scent of just a few minutes ago came up on their radar .... didn't happen.

It didn't happen even when they approached the corner well within the place the deer jumped out of the woods. Has 18° frozen the abilities of the bloodhound's accurate and powerful nose??

I'm shocked ... still no response !!!!

Then they take off sprinting !!! But wait ... the deer ran 90° left of where these two lost bloodhounds are running. What's up with that??

Flying down the backside of the field, not even close to the path of the most recent deer. There was probably a lot of deer activity earlier this morning along that path.

A look of confusion, after all they are not 'problem solvers'.

Yet they are sure they are just about ready to catch their deer so they continue to sprint in to the "No Fly Zone".

I don't have a problem with that. I change my direction off the path and start walking to my left so I can get on top of the small incline to have a better view of where they went and where they are.

But they stopped way before that and turned around just past the base of that large electrical tower.

Sadie looked as if she was still pretty proud of her chase, while Stella looked pretty disappointed. She is the one that normal is in full pursuit of the deer she chases.

They still took one last look for any possible new deer before heading back inside. With the unexpected run, we cut the walk short right after and headed home. It was too cold for them I guess as they both sprinted for the house.

Temperature started to drop soon after lunch. Heidi made an appearance long enough for me to take her picture as she trotted back to the house but she wasn't out very long when the windchill was 5°.

{Forgot to add the picture when I published the post}

We didn't do much after that. All of them slept, I watched NFL football games. Stella tried to get me to feed a third time around 5pm by howling like she does if I miss her lunch time. Only today, I did not miss their lunch time. I couldn't figure out any other reasons that would cause her to howl like that.

The weather experts were right when they predicted this would be a "colder than normal" winter. We are way below our averages but at the same time because he have not had any snow like other parts of the USA have had, nor any ice storms that can cause damage or take out power.

I noticed the dealership where I traded the FJ did not have it listed after adding some new cars to their inventory online. I guess they could have sold it in one day but more than likely they took it to the car auction to get rid of it. My old blue FJ is still for sale at the Indy Toyota dealership.

This new used Mini Cooper is working out great for me. There will enough room for anything I need in back, the ride is nice and the mpg is great.

We are staying warm her in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana, even in the low single digit windchill temps.