Sunny Skies And High Temps

We started later this morning, so the sky was bright with sunshine and with heavy frost below my boots. I couldn't believe I was seeing a high of 54° today on Wunderground and only 4 days before Christmas. We will enjoy another day of 56° before it turns cold on Monday. I like winters like this.

That doesn't mean that Heidi will change her early morning schedule but I have to guess she will be outside with us this afternoon after the temps near 50°. Obviously there is something that visits this area at night just behind and to the left of the burn pile. This morning it was Sadie checking it out, yesterday Stella was very interested in that same spot.

It makes a world of difference when there is no wind. I think that applies under any weather conditions in any part of the USA. In the winters here, the wind can play a major factor in if you are freezing or comfortable outside on these walks. Of course it makes no difference to the bloodhounds.

I knew before this but Stella gave me a look of confirmation that she wasn't moving today and she would be on her own.

At the same time Sadie was sprinting as fast as she could around the first turn, she had places to go unlike Stella.

One last check on Stella before I walked out of view. You can barely see her in the middle of the photo. With her new routine she set last Monday I had an idea we would pick her up on the way back in the field to the right of our alternate path. Just a hunch.

Sadie was moving her nose through the tall grass and her jowls making noises as she inhaled as much scent as possible. Her nose was getting a good workout this morning.

I caught Sadie just as she started to run to catch up with me. I thought I had caught her with ears up and flying but she was so fast I caught her ears as they were falling as she was ending her run. She will get a couple of full speed sprints in every walk she takes. Not bad for being over 9 years old.

I was focused more on the hound with the turkey farm as a background but not until I was looking at the photos after downloading them, did I realize the AT&T tower was straight in my picture. No adjustments were needed to have the tower standing straight in my photo.

Heading back to the house, up in the distance I could see something moving and my camera lens confirmed that Stella was walking in the same direction as she started to do this past Monday. She wasn't moving fast so it would be no problem catching up to her with my normal pace.

Sadie would look for Stella whenever I'd mention Stella's name.

Even with the sound of a helicopter that I was still trying to find in the sky, Stella did not even lift her head to take a look.

It wasn't flying directly above us but it looks like the passenger is taking a look at us. It was above the field, possibly the road behind the field across the highway from us. I've seen this same helicopter before but not often.

Stella was in full ignore mode today. She never moved when I called her which didn't surprise me.  Even when Sadie walked over to her, she didn't move in my direction ... so I had to go get her.

As usual, as I got near her, she and Sadie trotted toward the backyard leaving me behind.

I was pretty unmotivated yesterday afternoon. I took the Z4 drive for 56 mile loop, then spent some time outside but didn't take any pictures. I let the bloodhounds roam on their own while I walked around looking at the house and yard. Heidi was standing at the door to go back inside by the time I got back to the carport.

So today I plan to finally pickup tree limbs like these and add them to the '2018 Burn Pile'. There are many more in the front and backyards that are broken up. It looks like I'll have enough to come close to filling my 32gl trash can.

Watching one of my favorite shows last night called Homestead Rescue, I found out here at home I had made a big mistake last March by burning off the brush and planting grass on the bank at the rear corner of my house. The grass may eventually help but every since I cleared that large area three years ago I've had water turn and go down the small hill toward my house.

With all the saplings and heavy brush taken out so I could plant grass and expand my yard, it changed the water flow in and under the field during heavy rains. The same thing happened with the bank along the driveway. So I'll have some work to do this spring in building those areas back up after I find out what to do to prevent the water from going that direction.

I'd say the highlight of the day yesterday in this fast paced life of retirement, was to change my default browser back to Google Chrome from Safari. I did all of the Chrome updates during my free data period before 8am. And ... I found out last week how to change a hidden setting in Chrome that would stop all videos from automatically playing and soak up a lot of my data.

I like the new Firefox browser but just like the older version, it is still a data hog.

I have yet to watch any of the lower tier football bowl games due to lack of interest in any of the teams. Pictures from those games look like I am not the only one because the stands are empty while they play the games. It looks like the first game I watch will start tomorrow at 11:30am. Could it be possible that even with a payoff to each team, they still lose money because of the requirement of having to buy a certain number of tickets and travel expenses?

The hounds have been fed at the normal time but before 10:30am, Sadie is staring at me and Stella just started howling for lunch. It's not going to happen until it's 11:30am, almost an hour from now.

I am not sure yet but I may start to blog every few days instead of daily. I am adding some bike riding to my daily routine, some other exercise and other things, so the blogging I will do may not post until later in the day or early evening.

Unbelievable winter weather today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Two Different Hound Theories

While Sadie did her normal tracking of scent from the start to the very end of the walk, Stella decided she wanted none of that and was on her own walk.

Sadie Couldn't Wait For First Walk

Like I said the other day, the hounds are still on Daylight Savings Time for the spring and summer. They failed to change their inner clocks in November. That means they want to take walks earlier, howl and bark for their meals earlier, then wake up earlier. Sadie was whining for her first walk of the day and it was still dark this morning.

So there was no delay when the clock struck 8am. We were outside feeling quite warm in 36° taking our first walk of the day. I tried using the flash for the first few photos. That's Stella just behind the burn pile thinking there were deer in that area. I can't say if there were or not.

Sadie was thrilled to be outside. It was her 3rd time this morning and the day had not even started yet. You can barely see the sun rising in the background through the woods facing east.

I wasn't sure if Stella was ever going to leave this area, just barely in the field and not a foot away from the backyard. I kept walking, concentrating to hold the camera still with each shot. I still ended up with a lot of blurred photos this morning that I did not post here.

After this photo I decided to turn the flash off. It does give you some idea just how early we were outside. It is not as cold as it looks.

I took the same photo immediately after turning the flash off and decided it was light enough to take photos with a slower shutter speed.

Stella decided Sadie and I were getting to far away ... zoomed in at 200mm and with her running speed it was hard to catch her before she turned the corner to sprint after us.

By the way both hounds were acting I assumed the deer scents were strong. I can't remember the last time we had a deer sighting on the walk but it's been a while.

With yesterday's skies being dark and a constant drizzle, this photographer took a day off. I didn't take one photo outside nor with the iPhone. Consequently the weather pushed all of us into a deep hibernation mode with a day full of movies. I also transferred a lot of movies and ballgames from the DVR to DVD's. If I clear my older DVR player of all the saved tapes I can either upgrade to their newer model of DVR or threaten to switch to DishNetwork for some 'retainer discounts'.

I knew Stella wasn't going to get past the first turn today. Sadie and I continued our walk and headed for the back of the field. You can see the sun is starting to rise.

With the highway dry today I'll be taking the Z4 out for a spin. I continue to check my repairs each time I return home and find that everything I installed is still tight as new.

You can't really see how far away I am from Sadie but I am close to making the final turn home.

All of the photos of her sprinting to the back of the field were again, blurry. I can't remember having this much trouble as I have had recently. Of course it's dark and with the slower shutter speed I have to keep the camera steady on the hounds longer which is the perfect condition for operator error.

This was my test today. I had the tower lined up with the three vertical marks inside my viewfinder. By the time this photo reached the editing room, I had to straighten it 2°.

Sadie also hung back more than she normally does. Unlike Stella, 99.9% of the time she will come running to catch me without me ever saying a word. I remember once last summer where that .1% occurred and I had to go back out to find her after 35-40 minutes.

It's hard to believe it's 5 days till Christmas. Last night on the local weather, they said it had not snowed on Christmas here since 2010. It looks like we will only have cold temperatures for the holidays with Saturday spitting out some rain/snow showers that will barely amount to a 1/4 inch.

I have printed out my College Football Bowl tv schedule. Counting last night there are 13 straight days and nights of college football games, except for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Add in the NFL games and college basketball games, all 15 of my tv sports channels will get a good workout the next few weeks.

Without glasses, at times it's hard for me to find Stella from a distance. The camera lens set at 200mm helps me do that. Today I saw she had not moved 10' from the last time I saw her this morning. In the spring, summer and fall that area she is standing in is solid overgrown brush full of sharp thorns.

Once she heard me call her name she stepped out like she was going to meet me but had to turn around one final time before heading home.

She chose the 'alternate' path so that is the one we took. It wasn't going to be a fast trip though. The house might be in view but this part of the walk from here to the backyard may take almost as much time to cover as the distance we have walked up to this point.

It's because they do a lot of this. Deer and cat scent must be identified for them to be happy ... moving slowly inches at a time.

There are times I think I might have time to leave them where they are, go inside and grab a cup of coffee, then come back to watch them. I am pretty sure though if that were to happen, I'd find Stella over by the neighbor's woods or yard. She knows when I am not around, and she never hesitates to expand her horizons.

Without any wind today it will be a good day to get outside this afternoon to pick up more of the small tree limbs that have blown into the yard. I'll try to get Heidi outside for longer than 5 minutes and take some photos. I might have a blog post later today with just photos of the afternoon.

After that Z4 drive, maybe during, I'll be heading to the store to buy all the ingredients I need to make chocolate and peanut butter fudge. The urge to have some of that was so strong last night that I almost made a late night run to the store. The urge has not gone away so far this morning, so it's a requirement now.

Doing very little in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana is a good thing.

The Hounds Start Monday Early

Little did I know when I snuck up behind Heidi on Saturday that I would be 'out of commission' on Sunday. She was doing her lap around the house in great weather on Saturday when I took these first two pictures. That small amount of sunshine can definitely make a winter day feel much different and is always welcomed.

Heidi is pretty set in her ways. I have found that basset hounds are not as stubborn as bloodhounds but it is part of the pedigree. So the times I have tried to get Heidi outside in previous years has never worked. I guess I could carry her from the couch to outside but she would immediately sprint for the door to go back inside as soon as her paws hit the ground. That would be some exercise for her, I guess. Otherwise she goes outside 2-3 times per day/night to relieve herself and is more than excited when her meals are served. She loves sleep.

We took our 2nd walk on Saturday with no camera and Stella attached to the retractable leash, giving her 25' to roam. With all the ballgames on tv I didn't have time to take our normal leisure walk and that was the reason she was under my control. Our 'halftime' walks have to be quicker than normal, yet Sadie gets in her nose exercise and some running. It's nothing new to them for Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

This morning was a different story. All of us woke before dawn and since we did not take any walks yesterday due to my 'sickness', I felt I owed it to Sadie to get started with her first walk as soon as possible. She gave me a lot of 'stare downs' yesterday when she found out I couldn't take her for walks. This morning we found fog, and a light drizzle after daybreak but it was good enough to head outside earlier than normal.

It was dark enough that I used the flash on this first photo and I should have continued to use it. Instead, I had most of my photos turn out too blurry to post and I was still unable to capture the darkness like I wanted to.

I'm sure that Stella doesn't know the days of the week but she is pretty consistent in coming up with a new routine on Mondays. Why I don't know but she started one this morning. By routines, I mean what areas of the field she will wander off to while Sadie and I continue to make the whole walk.

With it feeling warm and the field not being too wet after our overnight 0.01" of rain, it was a good morning to walk. I didn't really know there was a drizzle until the small spots started to cover the sleeves of my jacket.

With the low light and my unsteady hands (evidently) I am posting more photos than normal this morning that are blurry.

With that drizzle becoming a little more prominent I cut off my walk on the back side of the field and turned onto the ATV path. It's not a lot of difference in distance but is shorter and is usually taken when the weather is bad. Sadie doesn't mind, she can exercise her nose anywhere.

This gives you some idea how the early morning looked. Actually it was darker than this photo shows. You can tell the dormant hay is wet. The fog and mist reminds me of my days living on Whidbey Island in the winter.

Drizzle, rain, hail, sleet or snow ... doesn't matter to Sadie. Tracking the field is like me needing coffee.

It will be interesting to see if this will be Stella's new area for the next few weeks, during the times I let her hang back on her own. It's not new territory for her, she has always roamed over by the woods behind the neighbor's house but it's been months since she has wandered to this area.

Of course she is not going to come while I call her. It's Monday and she is always more stubborn on that day of the week, than other days. It is not too far off our alternate path but she did not move until I walked right up to her, then she gleefully trotted away to the path without me saying a word.

Sadie in the meantime was bring up the rear as Stella and I moved out on the path home.

Both hounds will keep searching right up to the yard but once their paws hit the grass they know the walk is over and the next thing on their agenda is a nap until their lunch. Unless there is scent of the field cat or deer.

It looks like Stella is ready for another new week. College football has started it's Bowl games and will now start being on tv every day/night from now until after the start of the new year. The routines of the hounds will not change but there might be a few more of those 'halftime' walks, that is at a little faster pace. I love this time of year being the sports junkie that I am.

Evidently no cat scent in the yard this morning since both hounds ran for the house once they walked into the yard. Or it could have been that drizzle becoming a little stronger that made them a little more motivated to get back inside.

I read a little about this new law they are passing about Net Neutrality. I won't go into detail but from what I have read, it will take up to a year or longer before it goes into action. It will probably be delayed even longer due to all the appeals held up in court. All of the major internet service providers have come out with statements saying they will NOT be making the changes the media is suggesting as a worse case scenario.

That means they are saying the internet will remain fast and open for all. That they will NOT prevent certain websites from showing up on your computer nor will they charge you more money for faster speeds with plans similar to your tv programming. Yet, in today's climate I find it hard to trust anything that large companies tell us. So, sometime years from now we will find out if they are telling us the truth. I will never pay on a tier system for faster internet speeds.

It always surprises me when the counter in my camera flips to 0001 to start another 10,000 photos.

Not much planned today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.