Hounds Hibernate With Temps in Teens

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I didn't post on the blog. There was just nothing to blog about. With the temperatures floating between 18°-21° most of the day yesterday and it looks like that again today ... we didn't get out much. After Sadie, who I cannot carry if required, raised her left front paw yesterday around noon because it was frozen or had snow/ice between her toes ... staying inside seemed to be the right thing to do.

They hounds slept, I read books, had some hot soup and a nice siesta. All nothing to write home about nor blog about. I am finding the book I picked up at the library this week, Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen is a great book, right from the start.

With weekend temps projecting to drop to the low teens or single digits ... expect more of the same. It might be a good time to "ramble" a little, dig through the photo archives and tell some stories of past hounds or places I've been. Many of those photos still need to be converted to a digital format. So I'm not sure what the blogging situation will be.

In the mean time here are a few photos from yesterday afternoon and this morning.

The afternoon yesterday felt pretty warm but neither hound had any desire to stay out long. These first photos were from yesterday morning. We did take off on a walk later yesterday afternoon but I didn't have my camera with me. It was a nice change of pace.

I knew it was too cold yesterday morning when I glanced out to Sadie seeing her lift her front paw. She limped back to the house.

It might look warmer this morning but don't let that sunshine fool you. It was 23° when we took these photos and WeatherBug said it "felt like" 15°. I had to agree with my fingers freezing almost immediately.

The "to do' list is starting to be developed for the spring of 2016. High pressure washing the fence along the driveway will be one of the first things done. Some minor repairs of nailing some parts back together and I am going to add some steel fencing posts to help support some of the wooden posts .... yes, the same type of steel posts that I just cut down about 5 years ago.

If my memory serves me well ... I am pretty sure that I cut these shrubs at ground level about 3 years ago. My neighbor at the time denied he set them on fire while burning "my bank". I guess the south side of them became mysteriously burnt, reasons unknown. The time is not the factor here but "ground level" is. If I am correct about that, then I have some serious erosion going on that will have to be taken care of. Any suggestions for saving a bank that is being eroded away?? In the meantime I'll do some research on the internet.

The problem has always been, the 10 acre field behind my house angles downward and towards the south end of my property. All of that underground water flows towards my house and veers towards the south end of the property over the bank where Winston was sitting just last May. Back 60-70 years ago, my driveway use to be continuous with a small brick road that went between these two trees. The red brick is still down in the bottom of that gully. It would come out to the road that is still there today and used.

I learned from a cousin that grew up a few houses north of me and was very familiar with my house, that annually they would bring in a load of pea gravel every spring and fill in the washed out yard that is at the edge of my property and bank. A few years ago I had 2-3 truck loads of 'mine dust' brought in, recommended by an old neighbor and that stopped the underground water. Of course that water found another path around the edge of that mine dust over the years.

I may or may not clear that patch of land I talked of last week and make it all green grass. The problem is, a "to do" list is coming together but I am wanting to travel. I'd like to back out to Utah earlier this year to miss the 90° temps and get up to Glacier NP before the forest fires, then head back to Indiana. My issue isn't the list ... it's Stella's separation anxiety.

She is passing tests where I leave for short periods of time, most of the time ... but didn't like being left in the FJ when I stopped in the library this week. Although there is no damage in the bedroom lately, she is still digging  at the door trim and was still able to move my chest of drawers ... with a 25lb dumbbell on the floor to block any movement.

With her anxiety ... it would be hard to stop for grocery shopping. When I buy gas she seems okay, because she can see me. When it gets a little warmer, we will stay overnight in the tent in the backyard to see how she handles that. With that anxiety I am not sure that Stella will be a good camper ... hard to say until we try a few things. I was about to leave a few weeks ago to a friends place in AZ and warmer weather but when she started trying to dig out of my bedroom while I was gone, plans were put on hold. There is no way I am going to let her destroy a friends house while we are away.

That's all for this morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I'll post more later, possibly today.

Hound's Late Afternoon Energy

Stella came to me wanting outside. By the way she acted I knew she had to go ... but it wasn't the reason I suspected. I'll let the photos tell the story.

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.