Stella Cancels Today's Walk

With the winds howling throughout the night I wasn't sure what I would see in the yard this morning. Luckily noting but pure white drifting snow blanketed the front and back yards. It wasn't suppose to be snowing this morning but by the time we took a short trip outside at 10:30am it was coming down hard.

Of course the highway dept's snow plows have applied so much salt on the highway, they are cleared as if a fresh rain occurred. With each pass, their snow blade was making the snow at the end of my driveway deeper and deeper. It's a common occurrence and one that I am use to when it is snowing. The wind chill was single digits but it felt a lot warmer than that. The hounds thought so too.

We had no plans to take a walk. I put my hiking boots on, leaving the snow boots inside. I wasn't going any further than the corner of the house while Sadie and Stella relieved themselves and checked out the depth of the snow. There is never any snow too deep for Sadie to keep her from tracking scent.

My boots in the driveway, no more than a couple of inches of snow.

You can see the drifting effect from the high winds last night, that rattled storm windows and howled like an oncoming train. I wondered as I dosed off what I would see in the yard when we woke up. The four Azaleas are showing no signs of death during the past month of extreme low temperatures and now this white stuff.

It's always good to see the hounds use that field as their depository and not the yard. Stella is not sure if the walk is official or not. She has finished and is wanting to head back inside I think.

Once Sadie ran back to the house Stella was ready to move back inside for her late morning nap.

Yet, it felt warm enough that a walk might be possible. Stella stood and checked out the temperatures a little longer. It's not the temperatures that bother her, it's her feet getting cold in the snow that gets her to turn around. So far there were no signs of 'cold feet'.

Heidi thought we were insane for going outside. She had spent a few minutes out this morning after we got up, as I was pouring their morning kibble, She was positive she was not moving from her sleeping bag. She couldn't believe when I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk.

I came back inside and switched from the hiking boots to my North Face snow boots. I knew with the down parka, ski cap and gloves that I would be warm enough to make the half mile walk. I was pretty sure that we would not be outside too long before Stella would get cold enough to come back inside. I didn't feel we would get far.

Of course Sadie loved it because we were 'walking' ... that is all she wants and to exercise her nose.

They both started off with excitement, hopping around, trotting in different directions as they felt snow under their paws. Something told me we would not be going too much further even with me warm enough to complete our daily walk.

Sadie was moving around faster than my camera could catch. I would love to transfer whatever she smells into some kind of computer software that would let me know exactly how strong the scent is, then tell me the source.

It was about this point of the walk that I thought I noticed a slight stagger from Stella and even some cautious walking by Sadie. Both were showing signs of getting 'cold feet'. Were we about to turn around?

There's the sign that Stella is not going to walk anymore away from the house. That raised paw had me turning around and telling them "let's go home". Sadie did not even hesitate when she heard those words, as both of them turned around and headed for home.

But it wasn't fast ... Stella was creeping slowly, lifting her paw off and on, then continuing. Sadie also stopped a couple of times and lifted her paw but she acted as if it never happened. She didn't want me to see that she couldn't walk in this stuff.

Almost to the yard but now Stella's other paw is cold.

Sadie was sure that I did not see her raise her paw on two different occasions. If I had, the chance for any kind of walk was not possible. Still she even thought there might be a chance for her and I to come back outside and do the half mile walk, after leaving Stella inside.

By the time we hit the door way, Stella was pushing her nose hard against the door to push it open and Sadie was right behind her, fighting her way in front to be back inside first. They both trotted into the living room, happy to be back where it was warm.

The hound walks have been canceled until further notice.

By the way the wind chill temps look, it might be not until next Thursday where it will be warm enough to get out into the field. This snow isn't melting until then and then the field will be saturated with freezing water and slush.

I guess after I changed the blog format to a two columns and made the width a little narrower, the Ukraine bots decided it was time to visit and collect as much information as possible. They seemed to like everything I wrote about the past October and each post had over 1,000 page views each after midnight. They had taken over the number one spot for total page views, way ahead but all of those from people in the USA.

I removed the long list of 'topics' on the blog sidebar because they were rarely clicked. I also wanted to make the right sidebar of information the same length as the post area. I made the blog narrower because I wanted the content to be about the same width as my photos, for it to look right. I think I like the changes but not 100% sure.

Not much planned today besides a day and night college basketball games, then a couple of NFL Playoff games late afternoon and one tonight on tv. I have all the ingredients ready for some small soft shell tacos on corn tortillas. I probably have more ingredients than that small tortilla can hold but I'll manage someway.

Evidently the hounds didn't mind cutting the walk off short ... they are in full stretch mode in two different rooms on the floor, sound to sleep as I am writing this. I am going to have to go back and take a look at those small towns in Arizona and one town in particular in New Mexico for available housing.

See what the snow does to me here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ?

The Snow Has Come And Gone

It started snowing harder around 3pm Friday but it didn't look like we were going to get much more than an inch. I was wrong about how much snow we would get. I thought it might be a good time to get the 2nd walk in but after a few steps outside and that freezing strong wind hitting me in the face, I cancelled it.

Stella didn't mind the decision since she was on her way back to the house before I made the official call. Radar was showing the snow storm was not going to last much longer. After that it will be just a week of freezing cold weather.

The hounds thought a ride to town might be possible since they couldn't go on the walk. I was done driving for the day, so it was back inside.

We waited another couple of hours and tested the temps again but it was too cold for me. Stella was checking to see if I was walking back to the house. Once she saw that I was, she headed for the door.

With the high winds rattling the storm windows I suspected a lot of the snow was going to be drifted. Heidi was not going to wake up to go outside but the bloodhounds always like to go out one last time before they officially call it a night ... even though they have spent sleeping through prime time tv.

The camera flash worked well and my hands were surprisingly steady enough to have some clear photos in the dark at 11:45pm.

Looks to be around 4" in most place. It should be a nice Saturday morning walk and plenty of snow in the field to walk through.

Sadie is always smelling something ... this is the top of the driveway right in front of the carport. There were no tracks at all in the snow until the hounds came out.

As you can see, I needed some sort of change on the blog so for the first time ever I have a blog with two columns.

The wind is howling tonight in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Are Never Surprised By Weather

Like many experienced last night all over the USA, the hot temps blew out with high winds and all that was left this morning were temps in the 20's and some light snow. That 62° was really nice yesterday. Yet we knew what was in the forecast, plus it really is January ... not March. Weather never bothers nor surprises the hounds, they just love to take their walks.

It was good to see that Stella was out in front of Sadie and I this morning, instead of staying behind while we took the walk. She took no time to run ahead of us and then charge into the wooded area. I yelled her name about the time she was heading down into the gully. She stopped, turned to look at me and to my surprise, started walking back to the field.

I could hear the icy raindrops hitting the leaves, the trees and my parka. Stella did not mind, nor did Sadie. I could feel the wind blowing pretty strong out of the N/NW and it was cold.

The snow was light enough to only cover my driveway, our walking path and the highway. While we walked slowly, the hounds exploring, I could hear the highway department snow plows going back and forth on the highway spraying what they use in Indiana for ice control ... a mixture of salt and sand with a little calcium chloride mixed in.

Whereas last winter we had an unknown animal feeding itself with chewing bark off of the fallen tree, this year there was a new path by ATV traffic down into the gully from the opposite side.

There is something about any amount of snow that energize the hounds. They were so excited to be outside on the walk, they were running into each other. It felt much warmer than the wind chill temp was on my iPhone.

Sadie and Stella sprinting around the first turn with no intention of waiting for me to catch them. This 200mm lens was used to get this close to them. As they ran, I could hear surface ice breaking as I walk. It had rained most of yesterday's afternoon and last night. It was still very warm around 8pm when the hounds took me outside. By 1am it had dropped 20° and was heading even colder.

In some spots like this ice, there was standing water barely hidden below the thin cover of ice and snow.

Luckily the paths were highlighted with snow ... easy to follow, even for Stella.

They both know the deer go this way.

Sometimes Stella has to put a lot of thought into her identification phase, trying to determine what it was, when it was and trying to match current info with her memory database.

Gives you some idea what type of day it is although the tower is a little blurry due to operator error.

The forecast has been very accurate so far the past 20 hours ... but also has 1"-3" of snow starting this afternoon.

Stella has a lot of interest while looking north ... Once I told her "go home", she turned and started following the path in the direction of the house. I have never seen her run all the way home from the middle of the field. She is just running to get further away from me to give her time to look around the field a little longer.

Yes, they followed that white path without veering out into the field.

By the time I caught up to them, they had just a few more things to check out before we arrived home.

The snow pointed out a deer path that comes from the woods behind the neighbor's house across the field to the woods behind our house. I have always seen the worn thin path but the light snow shows it a little bit better.

What was it? I glanced to the right ... no one was outside. No cars moving on the driveway. There wasn't even a car or truck on the highway ... still they were both very very interested in something in that direction. I forget how much more powerful their ears are in picking up sounds that I don't hear.

This has to be where the field cat walks at night.

The were done walking as they trotted side by side toward the carport. Winter always shows the backyard is not as flat as I think it is. It has changed quite a bit over the 20 years I've lived here.

I made an unexpected trip to Bloomington yesterday. I had been feeling an urge for a pizza plus there were some 'game worn' IU football jerseys available to buy. By the time I returned home, the hounds were barking with excitement and it was raining hard.

Heidi did get outside multiple times yesterday before and after my trip, but when it is snowing there is no chance she will go outside anymore than the minimum times, where she knows she has to go.

Stopped by the local library this morning but with the icy conditions on the highway, it was closed. There was not a lot of traffic in the two miles to town but my 4x4 setting had no problems with ice, slush and light snow. A jersey I bought yesterday had to be mailed today. I guessed correctly in weather like this that there would be no lines at the post office.

Right before I posted this it started snowing. The hounds went out, including Heidi, after their lunch but none of them stayed too long.

It's feeling like a Chinese Buffet lunch or dinner today ...

Cold but not bad, a little snow and a warmer than normal winter is on the way here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.