Books And Laziness

One thing good about this old 40 year old house ... it's well insulated. As the temps dropped into single digits last night and the heat turned down or even off in some rooms, the house never got below 60°.  As I stepped outside with the hounds this morning I could tell by the sound of the snow below my boots that it was going to be too cold to do much outside anytime today.

It was the normal routine in the morning. The hounds went out for a very short time. In fact Stella started a slight limp from walking in the frozen snow. She was more than happy to get back inside. I can't say the hounds did much more than the photo shows ... a day of bone chewing.

Around 11:30 I got my email notice from the local library that a book I had requested was available.  My old college friend suggested it last week, called Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen. In the meantime I picked up a book off their "New Arrivals" shelf, called Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas. I started reading Concussion first and haven't been able to put it down today. Setting up an account at the local library a few months ago was one of the best things I've done this year.

Early Morning

Checking to see if we are going for a walk today

Stella slightly limping from the frozen snow

A late afternoon check on the weather outside

I'm not sure what it was, either being inside from the freezing temps outside, the book reading or the small lunch I had  ... but by 1:30pm I was almost in a comatose state that as screaming 'nap' at me ... I'm always up for a siesta so I tried that for a while. It was one of the most successful things I got accomplished today. I even took a 2nd one after about 2 hours of reading.

I am afraid that if the blog has become boring to me recently, it must be that for you also. If so, I apologize for that. Although the post about my friends 1970 MCI Bus brought a lot of interest. Some interested readers have contacted Dennis. IF....IF you do not get a reply to your emails, let me know and I will call him.

On of my readers can read my blog but is having email issues ... strange ones at that. Maybe I can find an answer for her in my Area 51 book. This is to let her know that I have been sending emails since last Thursday and in fact tried two today as a test ... one from my Yahoo account (Flickr), thinking Gmail was the problem.

I'm heading back to reading for the night here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. The hounds? They are sleeping again.

A Light Soft Snow

It's one of those snows that you can 'hear' how soft the snowflakes are. No wind, temperatures not really freezing cold to you until you see on the thermometer it's below 30°. It does not matter what the weather is to the hounds, unless it is some really hard spring rain ... but snow, not a problem. They do what they do every morning on our first trip outside when it's daylight ... noses to the ground.

I'm hesitant in taking the walk today simply because I don't want get away from the house, see a hound raise their paw to let me know they can no longer walk and need to be carried ... just because snow and/or ice is frozen between the pads of their feet. Stella felt light the other day when I carried her back to the house ... but Sadie would be out of the question, she is that big, that heavy.

We have walked in deep snow before in past years. I remember some of the basset hounds I had would walk first and create the path. The snow would be taller than most of them. My first basset hound, Harry, was famous for making paths up in the snow in Breckenridge Colorado, on the daily walk.

This was about the only thing they did this morning and it wasn't long they were ready to head back inside for a little wrestling, bone chewing and a nap. They have to conserve energy for lunch. You never know what the afternoon might bring.

It was sometime around 1:30pm and I was getting a little touch of 'cabin fever'. It didn't feel that cold outside. All three of the hounds went out after their lunch but now were sound to sleep. In fact Sadie was already in her "snoring mode". With no wind and not a freezing feel to the temperature outside I decided it was time to wake the hounds up - minus Heidi - and see if they wanted to go for a walk. Their answer is always the same "Yes!!!"

It didn't take them long to get in stride and check out what had been in the area last night.

 

They like to spend a lot of time in that mashed down brush area and I am sure that is a favorite spot for the deer to be hanging out. It's becoming hard to pry the hounds away from that area. Stella headed off for her other normal stop. Stella and Sadie found something pretty good hid below the snow. Stella realized that I was not going to wait on her to finish whatever she was doing.

About the time Stella made it back to where Sadie and I were standing, Sadie decided it was time for a break and thought while she had the chance she would be the one attacking Stella instead of the other way around. It didn't take long before Sadie let her have the upper hand in the battle.

As usual, just like that, they stop and take off for the house.

I'm thinking there might be enough time left this afternoon for a short siesta to prepare for tonight's viewing of college basketball games. Life is pretty fast paced in the winter months.

Another great day of retirement here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

My Friend's 1970 MCI Converted Bus For Sale

My friend Dennis lives in New Mexico and has decided to put his 1970 MCI bus up for sale. I have photos of it but not all the details. You will have to contact him for all the information on that. I do know he built this bus to be used for boondocking. The few things I do know about this bus are:

• Two generators
• 4 x 40lb propane tanks
• Two A/C
• Winegard Satellite TV Antenna
• Spare working engine.

Asking Price $40,000

For ALL questions contact Dennis at trishglore@gmail.com

Before you ask or suggest ... yes my brain cells are analyzing this bus in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana as it snows outside.

Indiana Weather Can Change Fast

Although I made a comment yesterday wondering if 'the tropics' would experience any winter weather this year, I knew it was suppose to snow today or Tuesday. It's only going to be around an inch when it stops this afternoon. So that's not really winter weather here.

As you can see from the photos taken around 1pm today, the hounds and I will not be doing too much more than we have been so far today.

I've been reading books, drinking coffee, reading the internet, playing Mahjong on the computer, and something different today ... I turned the tv on. It didn't stay on for long. In the meantime Sadie and I played a short game of fetch. Then Stella and Sadie played semi-slow today. In this photo you can see that Stella feels as long as she lays on Sadie's legs, the she can't go anywhere.

They didn't do much earlier this morning before snow started around noon. It will not amount to much besides ground cover.

They will spend most of the day sleeping ... not sure about the afternoon walk at this time ... it could be a "game time" decision. Of course Heidi is catching up on her sleep. She has nothing to do with bad weather.

Short post today from 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.