Lost Track Of Days

Every since I retired in April 2014 I find it normal that I lose track of days. With our fast paced lifestyle her in 'the tropics' it's really not a big deal when that happens.

Whether it is Wednesday or a Saturday the hounds have the same routine, even on declared holidays.

So as we were out this morning, me with a cup of coffee in hand while Sadie and Stella walked around the field, I realized I had no idea what day of the week it was. Luckily the print out I have for the college football bowl games on tv reminds me not only who is scheduled to play that day or night ... but shows me the day of the week. How convenient is that?

Even with my cup of coffee in my hand and no camera, Sadie still gave me that stare she has when she wants to walk.

When I told her "not yet" ... she went back to what she was doing.

It wasn't long though ... just one more cup of coffee ... then we headed out to enjoy a beautiful sunny morning, no wind and a crisp feeling to the air.

The hounds were more than happy to get started ... meanwhile back inside the house, Heidi was in full winter mode and had not come up for air while sleeping under a sleeping back, every since she had finished her breakfast kibble. That routine in the winter cold temps is nothing new for her ... she has done this every winter since I brought her home in 2011.

The hounds were on their own as I walked. I could tell early in this walk that Stella had different things to check out and most likely would not be walking with Sadie and I. She was good though, getting back to us without being called.

When I zoomed in for this picture I knew Stella had no intentions of following our pace.

That never bothers Sadie as she sprinted past me on the path and headed for the back of the field. Even at 34°, it felt warmer than the pictures show.

Has Stella even moved since we left that spot? Even lifted her head from the ground?

Then out of nowhere, she decided she had better catch up with us.

Just as she glanced to her right up to the far corner of the field, while Sadie and I were heading home ... she made a quick left turn only to be interrupted by something her nose found.

Not to be fooled into who was really in control of this walk ... she took off trotting to a corner that is about as far away as she could get. Sadie and I continued our path home ... I was really curious what Stella would end up doing. I wondered if it was going to be one of those days where Stella lags so far behind that she is out of sight as I would make my last turn home.

But just like before she started trotting our way. With her nose to the ground she followed our steps along the edge of the field and evidently smelled Sadie and changed direction to come right at us.

Maybe she was getting cold and wanted to get home, I'm not sure. She let Sadie know she was headed home.

By the time I am almost at the edge of the backyard, Sadie gave me that stare again ... only this time she wanted to stay outside.

Stella was in no hurry to come inside either so I let them roam while I picked up more twigs around the yard on the north side of the house. When I made it back up the hill after a quick trip to the mailbox, both of them were waiting for me at the door, thinking I had left them and had gone inside.

Stella had to come to remind me it was time to feed them lunch. A quick nudge by her nose gives me the first warning shot, after that she will move to the howling stage which gets Heidi out of her deep sleep into a barking mode. I find out within 30 minutes if I am really behind in the feeding schedule.

I tried getting a picture of Heidi today to let everyone know that she really does have a pulse and actually gets outside her (mine) sleeping bag. She was so quick I barely caught her as she was moving under the yews and out to the front yard.

Stella debated whether to head out to the field or back inside. She is also not a fan of cold weather and since this morning, winds had picked up and was blowing freezing air from 15-20mph. She turned and went back to the house with Heidi and I.

Sadie never cares how cold, how much rain or snow ... she just loves being outside. I let her hangout in the field for almost an hour, then I hooked Stella up to the retractable leash and went for a 'supervise' afternoon walk. The winds were stronger and the air was colder coming from the west. Sadie was happy with a 2nd walk and was quiet the rest of the afternoon.

While they spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, I spent time setting up all of my new spreadsheets for 2017. Seems like it was a pretty fast year and some of the spreadsheets were showing some interesting results over the past year.

It is another night of no interest in watching the 3 college football bowl games being televised so it might be back to book reading or watching a movie.

I almost forgot ... Heidi had a 20 minute soak in warm water and Epsom Salts. She likes that enough that she almost lays down in the water but that would put her head barely above water. Her skin looks good but compared to past Decembers, it's about the normal condition for this month. I've thought for the longest time this year her skin problems are airborne allergies.

As long as the sunshine is out, we are happy here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

It Fits

It was the first test for the Mini Cooper Countryman this morning. It passed with flying colors and it was good to see that my measurements in the cargo area were accurate.

While spending some time outdoors enjoying the afternoon sunshine yesterday, Sadie spent most of her time in her newly discovered favorite spot. With the summer brush cut back and that corner of the hay field cut, she likes to check out the small area behind the burn pile. There is a eroded out area that looks like a small waterway may go through there but I've never seen any water traveling that path in the 19 years that I have lived here.

While she stayed in that area, with Stella out in the field, I walked the front and back yards picking up small limbs from the storm the other night. The 2017 burn pile is slowly increasing but not at a fast pace. That usually doesn't happen until after the winter and a few more times where the winds will be above 30mph.

This morning was a different story though. The sunshine was back and will be for a few days before it starts raining by the end of the week. The temperature this morning had dropped into the 20's. With no walks planned until later in the morning I had time to take my one and only container of recyclable paper, cardboard and plastic. Just recently they started requiring glass to be sorted separately.

As I took off the piece that covers the cargo area between the back seats and the back door, I wasn't sure the 32gl container was going to fit although I had measured it before trading for the car. It slid into it's space with no problem.

You may see some "paw prints" on that black carpet and you would be right. About the time I opened the rear hatch door to put the container in, Stella jumped in the back and sat there ready to go for a ride. As she jumped back outside I slide the container in with room to spare.

I would get my first chance to drive the Mini off the main highway onto an old country narrow road, which would turn into a long gravel drive toward our local recycling center. I was happy the way it handled both roads and can tell a difference between an AWD and a FWD vehicle of this size.

It wasn't long after I returned where the temps had increased to 34° and Sadie had won with her pre-walk stare down ... that we took our first walk of the day. Heavy frost covered the field of grass except where the sunshine had shown through the trees.

I didn't say a word and let the hounds move at their own pace.

You can barely see here just how far back they were as I approached the first turn. You can also see how the sun shining through the trees have melted some of the frost in certain areas.

Sadie came sprinting around the first turn toward me into the deer area, like a horse rounding the final turn at the Kentucky Derby. She was flying then stopped immediately and turned back to the wooded area. I am not sure if she heard something or was checking to see if Stella was with her.

She didn't stay in the mashed down grass long. I suspect by the way it looks I have always thought the deer spend time there.

Then she took off on her next assignment.

I scanned along the tree line but didn't see Stella at the time. Once I downloaded the photograph to the computer photos program I could barely see Stella sitting on the far right side of the photograph. That also explains how she got so far so fast later on ... heading for that wooded area north of us.

While Sadie and I moved along the back of the field, there was no sign of Stella but I was looking along the tree line that moves into the far right corner. It was the wrong direct since she was running across the field to the opposite side.

I was surprised as I made the final turn to head back home that Stella was running and was 3/4 of the way to the woods on the north side. I didn't see her during any of her run. She did stop though when I called her name and acknowledged that she 'had been caught' and slowly headed back toward me and Sadie.

It was a good attempt to get away and she is never too happy when she gets caught.

Sadie sprinted to her and touched noses, just to let her know she needed to head home. It's funny to see that on a consistent basis, whenever Sadie touches noses like that, Stella will always turn and follow Sadie or will run to the door at home if she is in the yard.

Neither of them waited for me to catch up to them. They trotted away from me and got in one last exploration before I got even with them.

Not sure what will take place today. With it being cold outside it seems like a pretty good day to stay inside and read books. Sadie will bother me a couple of more times wanting to walk but the first of many football games today and tonight, start at 2pm.

I've decided to scan only the old hound photos that I want to post on the blog and keep the rest of them in the albums of packages. They don't take up that much room, it's just that I don't look at them much since they are out of view, yet I do look at a lot of my pictures that are downloaded in the computer.

Another sunny but cold day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Love This Weather

It may not be their favorite weather, who's to know, but they seem energized when it's near 32° and sunny. The key word there is ... sunny.

The warm temps yesterday were a nice change of pace but really today is nice, just a little cooler but nothing major.

Before my last drink of coffee, Sadie had talked me into taking the first of two daily walks. It was perfect timing really because I needed to do some errands before the week starts and they could get a walk in before I left. That also seems to help Stella's anxiety when I leave.

Speaking of energized, Stella moved out to lead the walk from the start. That didn't last too long, at least in the beginning. As I turned to see where she was ... she was nowhere to be seen. Did she go down into the steep gully? I couldn't see her as I scanned the wooded area.

Then, just barely I caught her tan coat hidden among the dormant bushes. Maybe it's just my eyes but you can see how hard it is to see her in this next picture.

She scrambled out of there when I called her name and took off getting back into the lead. The light frost on the grass made each step 'crunchy' but with the sunshine out, it didn't feel that cold.

I am not sure what they were tracking but they didn't stop today anywhere they normally do. They veered around that first corner and took off with tails curled into the air and noses to the ground.

It was quite surprising to me that Stella was out in front and not spending a lot of time investigation different places she normally stops. I was beginning to wonder if she was going to run off as Sadie and I hung back.

They decided today that two noses are better than one. A lot of places on this walk today they were either next to each other or within a few feet of each other.

The path you see that the hounds are on, is a path of deer traffic. A lot of the grass is mashed down year round and it's one the hounds take every time they move to the far right corner of the field.

They didn't stay long, following the edge where the field had been mowed. Before I could even catch up they were trotting down the back edge of the field. I had a gut feeling they had locked on to something and might not stop ... so I was aware they might do what they did on Saturday, take off sprinting PAST the 'no-fly zone'.

Stella moved out to the left and quickly moved back with Sadie. I could tell she was really on a strong scent.

It was at this point in time I had to yell for them to stop. They had both stopped right before this picture, had raised their heads sniffing the air while facing the area they were not allowed to go.

I could tell they were wanting to go in that direct and started to go in that direction again past the power tower and along the edge of the field you see. They finally agreed to head my direction back to the house.

About halfway home, they both stopped and looked in the direction of the neighbors house where they had chased the strange dog the other day. It was visiting for Christmas, so it will not be around much longer. I did not see the dog anywhere on the horizon but the hounds could still smell him.

It was like they didn't want to come inside this morning as they veered back to the edge of the field with their noses on the ground and rechecking the path that starts the walk.

Stella never looks happy when the walk is finished.

It is quite a change to see I have plenty of gas left in the Mini Cooper tank after driving my usual errands the past two weeks. The inboard computer tells me I am getting 34.5 mpg since I left the dealership just a couple of weeks ago. Plenty of room in back for groceries, with a hidden storage under the cargo area floor that is 8" deep.

There wasn't much planned for this afternoon since I am down to just one room to clean and that isn't more than mopping a small bathroom floor.

I am still going through photographs although I have not scanned anymore of them since xmas day. Cleaning out a closet yesterday I found about a box that had 10 more packages of pictures in it. There were a few old Polaroid pictures of when Harry was a puppy in the summer of 1987. Even at that age of 3 months he would wander off if left unsupervised or like Stella, if you let him roam.

Looking through those new stacks of pictures many were duplicates of what I had put in albums, a few were new and will be sorted once I decide if I am going to sort by dog or by date sequence.

With the large size pictures I can only fit 3 at a time on my scanner for the 'overview' the can capture each individually and scan it. It's a slow process and I am beginning to think if I am serious about this scanning pictures, it might be best to have Office Depot or Costco do the scanning for me with a small fee.

Well it's that time of day where Stella comes over to me and nudges my arm with her nose to let me know it's time for her lunch. With the sunshine out today I can see us doing possibly three walks today. After lunch I am going to let them roam the field on their own while I spend some time outside but I'll be keeping my eyes out for them.

Great weather to end the year here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.