To Move Or Not To Move

It's hard to describe how nice it feels to step outside for the walk and it doesn't feel like you are getting ready to cross the North Pole. I think the hounds agreed by the way the roamed the field this morning. While putting on my parka I decided that Stella would be on her own today, total freedom with zero verbal herding as I like to call it. She didn't disappoint.  LOL

I mentioned the more than normal yard mole damage this fall and winter. I saw this morning they have not wasted time taking advantage of the warmer weather to start their farming of grub worms. I guess we all have to get our protein some way.

Sadie was already locked in on new scent and was going to be tracking the edges of the half mile walk. She did not care what Stella was doing nor where I was walking ... she was in her own world of exploration.

Stella tried to get my pulse rate to jump suddenly as she took a few steps toward the woods. For some strange reason she decided to turn back to the field and join Sadie and I on our walk ... but only at her pace.

I could already tell that Stella probably wouldn't get much further than the first turn today. By the time she lifted her head to look were we were, Sadie and I were marching to the back of the field. The field was no longer saturated with rain and melting snow, it wasn't frozen and it seemed that those 80° days were only a few days away. I can dream can't I ??

The skies certainly looked like snow or rain was on the way ... but Weather Underground disagreed ... nothing but cloudy today and temps in the low 30's. Hard to believe that the field and all the trees will be green in a few months.

I needed a change the other day so I went back to Google Chrome as my default browser. It has had some surprising results as far as data usage. I'm using a lot less data doing the same type of internet surfing. I wonder if Safari's updates keep adding things running in the background for their automatic ad blocking and private internet use? It also seemed to have slowed down the past few weeks on Apple's Safari.

It felt much warmer but the wind was cold enough that my eyes were tearing up .. only the beep on the camera told me if these photos were in focus or not because I couldn't see that well through the tears while I looked through the view finder.

It was good to see that Stella was still in view as I heading toward the house.

Sadie got in some exercise for the first time in a few days, although I do remember her running through the snow one day chasing birds out of her field.

There is a lot of weight there flopping in the wind as she runs. I feel just how heavy she weighs when she steps on my foot by accident. That usually happens as the three hounds are jostling for position as I am gathering three food bowls to pour kibble into.

Don't be led into "fake news" ... Stella may be looking right at us but that doesn't mean she will start trotting toward us or even walking toward us ... she is just looking to see how much more time she has before I walk over to 'help' her go in our direction.

We stroll slowly back to the house as each hound explores the field inch by inch. They don't stop until they hit the yard and even then they don't stop sniffing around.

You would think that Sadie was sprinting all the way to the house but I'm using 200mm to even get this close to her ... as you will see, she still has scent to check out.

I always wonder how long I will be standing here as the hounds inch their way back to the yard. I know that if I said anything with the word 'eat' in the sentence, they would sprint past me like I wasn't even there and run right to the door.

But after a hard aerobic workout, Stella decides to 'warm down' before she goes back inside. She has only two paces most of the time ... slow and slower.

After a brand new iOS update and multiple updates the past two week with the Garmin Connect app, I still cannot get my Garmin VivoSmart3 paired up with the iPhone 8+. It worked perfect from May - December when I had the iPhone 6s. Yes, I can download the data from the Garmin to my iMac and then synchronize with the iPhone but it was so much nicer just to tap the icon on the phone and see all of the current data.

I mentioned the other day I had been looking around the SW for a possible destination. It's almost like the old days on this blog a few years ago when I was trying to decide whether to sell out and RV or not. I like using this site to give me a little more information besides just looking through real estate that is available.

To check the accuracy I searched my current town and other towns I have lived in. I find the information to be pretty accurate. At least it is fun to play with to see what kind of information comes up. In my case the town I am living in now is rated higher than the town I have a serious urge to move to.

I will not say a lot about my search or the possibility of moving the hounds and myself to somewhere warmer and for other reasons ... but it's 10° warmer on average, less humidity, cheaper utilities, cheaper insurance, reasonable house prices, and 75% less precipitation. I have talked to real estate agents there and here.

I may have grown up and went to college in Indiana but I've lived over 25 years on the west coast. Both places have their pros and cons. Nina over at 'Wheeling It' just posted her thoughts on major moves ... then last night I get an email from a company I follow telling me how to sell a house in the winter .... are they trying to tell me something?  LOL

It will be a fast pace today in 'the tropics' .. some house cleaning, some games of Mahjong, another hound walk in the afternoon and an IU ballgame tonight on tv ... life is good.

The Hounds Are Back To Normal

It didn't take long for things to feel like they were back to normal, me included. Sadie and Stella want to walk all the time. Sadie, Stella and Heidi want to eat all the time. It is still not warm enough for Heidi but I really believe if I were to let the bloodhounds out on their own, they would spend most of the day in the field.

Strong winds for around here were forecast last night and they arrived. Since all of the storm damage with huge trees blown out of the wet ground in June 2008, I am always a little anxious when the winds get around 40mph. I still have huge Sycamore trees due south of the house. The Sycamore tree in June 2008 was just as tall and was pulled out of the ground like a weed, falling through the fence and all the way across the front yard.

Yet, those were straight line winds in 2008 and last night wasn't nearly the same speed. So about all the damage I found in the yard from last night's wind was this small tree limb from the Sycamore tree. If there were any other limbs in the north or front yards, they had been blown out of the yard last night.

Stella wanted to let me know that she was back in control since the frozen tundra was gone. While Sadie headed south, Stella headed north ... that's never a good way to start the daily walk. Until she responded to me yelling her name, it looked like by her pace she was going next door to check out the neighbor's backyard.

Granted, we took the day off yesterday from walking so the field would have more time to change from a muddy field to only a wet field. With almost 2" of rain in addition to 4" - 6" of snow melting I was somewhat surprised there wasn't more water this morning being squeezed from the ground with each of my steps.

I could tell a lot of verbal herding was going to take place today, if both hounds were going to finish the walk.

With the winds howling from the SW around the 20mph mark, I could feel freezing cold air hitting my face although the temps had jumped to the mid 30's. If it were to stay like this the rest of the winter I would take it. The forecast shows it will be 40's and 50's a lot of days in the next 45 days.

I didn't realize it at the time I took the photos but a lot of them today did not have the hounds as the main focus but the surrounding weeds, bushes etc. My camera may have automatically switched from 'single point' to 'all area' focus when I turned it off. It does that sometimes but not all the time.

Sadie was more than happy to be going on walks again. I could not remember today when her obsessions with these walks started because I don't remember her being this demanding for walks when Winston was around. Of course back then, she was not the head of household, Winston ran the show.

This time last year Stella had started losing her weight mysteriously so it's good to see that she has gained all that she lost last year. I have a feeling her previous owner had dog food out at all times for her to eat along with their other dogs, whenever they wanted. She is alert any time there is any kind of food around or is being cooked.

Not to get into politics but I was happy to see the government decided to go back to work. I want my tax refund from my filed taxes they electronically accepted at the IRS on January 19.

It has been a long time since they have trotted over to the 'far right corner' of the field on this walk ... they did not today either ... but they took their time exploring every inch along the back fence line. I was beginning to wonder if were going to make it back home some time today.

As we turned home, about in the middle of the rear field Stella decided she had things to do. She took her slow time, Sadie and I waited ... and waited ... and waited for her to finally catch up. Stella does nothing fast .... nothing.

Without me saying anything, just walking with Sadie ... Stella finally figured out we were going home with or without her. She broke into a trot to catch Sadie as we took the normal path back home. It wasn't cold but the wind was stronger as we walked into it instead of having it at our backs.

I can't wait until the field is nice and green this spring.

This past fall and early winter has been the worst mole damage I have ever seen in my backyard. I need to have someone bring their riding mower and roll the yard for me this spring. It would be a first time I've ever done that. I am debating whether to apply grub worm killer in March to get rid of or lower the number of moles.

Heidi did not hesitate to come running when lunch was called but she came to a sudden stop once she felt the strong cold wind from the SW come out from behind the Z4. She eventually moved out into the yard but didn't stay out any longer than required to relieve herself.

That is one thing about winter ... with all of the tall ragweed and thick brush gone for the winter, it gives Sadie easy access to the woods right behind the burn pile. From the way the dead ragweed has been mashed I think deer pass through there at night. I have caught them in that area sometimes when it's really late.

 I guess both bloodhounds were satisfied with their morning walk. They didn't stay outside after their lunch much longer than Heidi did. Within minutes all three had found their normal afternoon sleep spots and were sound to sleep. Lately Stella has decided to pin my desk chair close to the desk and sleep right behind me. For me to get up and out of the chair I have to wake her up to move.

It's hard to believe that January is a week from being over. Time is flying as usual.

It's a quiet day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

We Have Traded Snow For Rain

Since I last posted there have been a LOT of changes. It's warmer and that's a good thing. ALL of the snow is gone. It's very really windy, the field is too saturated to take any walks and there is standing water in the gravel driveway in places and in the backyard. All is good and as soon as the field gets a little dryer in a day or two ... the hound walks will resume.

It was warm enough on Saturday where Stella joined us to take the complete walk. It looked like the snow was about half of deep as it was on Friday. The temps had been over 35° that afternoon and all night. I was happy with the change and the hounds were happy.

Stella was more than focused on scent instead of food supplements. She kept her nose to the ground just like Sadie for most of the walk.

The higher we got in elevation and further back in the field, the wetter it got. There was more standing water and it was starting to come up over my boots, not just along the sides with each step. Water trails followed Sadie's running paws. I could see that I would have to towel dry her stomach off as well as Stella's once we returned home.

As we headed back to the house toward the end of the walk, the hounds checked out more deer tracks that went toward the highway running along the north side of our property. The temperature was perfect for this walk.

Not that the sunshine was that hot but I knew with the sun out and the temps higher that snow would be melting. I wanted to help anyway I could so I took the snow shovel and slid the moist snow toward the edge of the driveway bank. Snow was a little over 4" deep. My drive was level again on top of the drive ... the other 80' down the hill and to the driveway, I would let the sunshine do it's own work.

With rain forecast on Monday ... I put the car cover back on the Z4. I doubled check around the bottom edge of the soft covertible top and made sure it was dry where all of the snow was packed just a few days ago. It does not take that long to take the cover off and roll it up as I take it off ... take a drive ... the put it back on when finished, just like all the other winters.

With the temps above 35°, Heidi made a longer appearance than normal during the freezing weather. She did NOT go out into the snow still left in the front yard but hugged as close to possible against the house as she checked things out.

By Sunday morning my shoveling the day before helped the snow disappear to where most of the driveway was once again visible. You can see in the background that basically the snow was gone ... hopefully for this winter.

This was 24 hours after I had a yard full of snow ... hard to believe it disappeared that fast but I'll not question the how or why ... it's gone and it's good.

Sometime during the night I thought I heard loud wind, very loud wind. Then I heard rain hitting the storm windows ... the rain had come and it had storm velocity. I could hear Sadie snoring on her bed in the corner of the room. Stella doesn't snore but breaths loudly when in a deep sleep. I was happy they were not begging me to wake up so they could eat breakfast kibble.

Like I said earlier, it will be a day or two before we can walk. The short trip that Sadie took out to the middle of the field at lunch left mud stains about an inch above her paw. Stella had no urge to go that far out ... it's too wet for her. Heidi of course never got of the mulch in front and the gravel in the driveway but she inspected the perimeter.

The camera didn't catch the movement of the car cover but the winds are between 20-30 mph and this car cover is flapping in the wind. I learned years ago to pull a bungee cord under the car to connect to both eyelets in the lower center of the cover, to keep the car cover on the car.

I did turn the Z4 on and let it idle a little on Saturday after sitting in the single digit temps.

Not a lot to blog on. One change I am going to do on this post, I am going to leave the photos alone as they loaded. Google Blogger does compress the images, taking away some of the sharpness ... last year sometime I started going into the html and changing the size back to the original size for a sharper image. Tom commented on my last post that my blog was using too much of his data when it loaded ... so hopefully this will fix his data usage problem.

Windy, rainy beats freezing and snow here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.