Hounds Enjoy Sunny And Freezing

While standing outside last night staring at the Big Dipper while the bloodhounds did their last trip of the day ... it was freezing. It was much colder than earlier and I could tell this morning was going to be colder than they had predicted.

When the hounds and I stepped outside for the first pictures of the day it was 24°, making it hard to believe just two mornings ago it was already above 60° at the same time of day.

It did not matter to the hounds though. I can't remember where freezing weather or snow has ever bothered Sadie but I can tell that Stella is not a fan of the freezing temps. Heidi ... was deep inside the blankets and sleeping bag until tomorrow when it's warmer.

I took a couple of hours not only to drink my two cups of coffee but reading a lot on the internet. Plus I wanted it to get a little warmer before our first walk of the day.

It was nice, no wind today so that made a huge difference. Everyday is different with Stella though and this morning I had to pull out the 6' standard dog leash much earlier because her stubbornness had gone off the charts within minutes of starting the walk.

She was in the total ignoring mode, even after I walked over to her and tugged at her collar to get her to walk. She did not move and refused to come with Sadie and I. So I found it quite easy to reach into my pocket and pull out the leash.

I find it to have a motivating effect on her if she wears it while walking. I don't even have to hold it and she will stay with us and still have the ability to drift off when she has the urge to.

So what was the problem??  Temps below freezing seems to make things more tempting to eat. So her urge to eat 'stuff' takes over the desire to walk and run in the field. Luckily she has never gotten sick but there are some days I don't feel like putting up with it .... so depending on her level of stubbornness determines if the leash is used.

With the temperatures so low I found it surprising to hear so many birds chirping as we walked. I couldn't see them to take pictures of them but I could hear them. They were having quite a conversation.

Here Stella takes off to the middle of the field, dragging the leash along. What is interesting is when I called her to "come on", she didn't hesitate in joining me and Sadie on the path back home.

Hopefully she will be showing signs of weight gain in the next month. I am feeding her kibble with more protein and higher fat, plus an added cup of kibble. I found that SPORTMix dog food is manufactured and owned by the same family that owns Earthborn dog food.

Three years ago this grass area was full of wild bushes and small saplings. Some of the overgrowth was taller than 6' high. I cut it down, then raked it and pulled all the vines and roots out of the ground, as much as possible before planting grass seed. I hope to have the same result I did here over on the bank area left of the trees and old fence post.

I guess I will find out if the landscaping business owner is right about freezing temps for a couple of days and grass seed. He thought it would be okay to plant some on Friday.

Just as she started the walk, Stella did not want to follow me. Only this time I didn't say a word to either one of them. I kept walking to the house after snapping the pictures. I knew eventually they would be at the door wanting inside.

It didn't take long for Sadie to come sprinting to the house. I had not even taken my coat of yet when I heard her at the door wanting in. She doesn't bark but will use her paw on the aluminum screen door to let me know she is there.

Stella stayed out longer. As I looked at her from inside, she glanced up looking confused since Sadie and I were nowhere in sight. She glanced different directions but couldn't see or pick up our scents. With leash and all she came sprinting to the backyard, stopped and looked different directions and then came running for the door. Since she is use to escaping by moving a lever door handle with her nose to open the door ... she will try that on all of my round door handles without success.

I heard her at the door trying to open the door with her nose.

By the time we took our afternoon walk a little after 2pm, the temps were close to 50 and felt much better even with more wind. I decided this afternoon's walk would be one of freedom ... the hounds could do whatever they wanted.

At first I thought Stella would be hanging back, I kept walking but was somewhat surprised when she came trotting towards me. Did the time on the leash this morning have anything to do with it?

Of course that was all over after both her and Sadie was chowing done. I didn't want to look and kept walk, enjoying the afternoon weather.

Bye Stella, we will see you on the way back.

Sadie didn't let me get as far as the corner before she sprinted by me. She always does that. She is the perfect hound for this type of walk with a large field of grass and scents.

She wanted to make one final check to see if Stella was coming or not. We didn't see any sign of Stella so we took off.

Sadie had the whole field to herself.

I barely caught a glimpse of Stella as I checked the area along the 'side' of the wooded area ... she wasn't there but if you look closer she is over to the right and almost outside of the boundary I will allow in that part of the field.

Once Sadie picked up her scent she took off to tap noses and let her know it was time to go.

Stella took a few steps and then back to eating. By the time I was almost to her, she came walking my direction.

She wasn't thrilled but she headed back to the path with Sadie and I. It was great feeling the increase in heat. This week will be nice to be back in the upper 50s and low 60s.

If you take a look at the left side bar under the blogs I follow, I have added some new ones along with some I use to list a long time ago. After I do a little more reading on the list of new blogs I have, I might add a few more to the long list of blogs.

Usually with freezing weather my mind starts to wander. I start thinking of options, looking at trailers or RVs ... yet neither of them are the focus. The past few months when I think of traveling in a few years it's either in a Chevy Express van or a VW Westfalia Vanagon. I still favor tent camping.

I stopped reading books the past couple of weeks about as fast as I started last month. I went from reading books nonstop to none at all. It might not return to reading books until next winter during the times I don't spend a lot of time outside. Last week's warm weather showed me I'll be outside a lot this spring and summer.

Some random thoughts ... have I ever mentioned how much I hate flies? They're back.

Do the pictures look clearer the past 2-3 posts or is it just my own eyes and imagination?

A quiet Sunday here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana today.

Howling Winds And 31°

What a rude awakening !!!!

Yesterday I was wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts for the 3rd day in a row and this morning I walk outside and notice some very very light snow flurries.

It was near 70° by lunchtime yesterday, hot enough for the infamous hermit ... Heidi ... to escape from her hibernating cave built with my Marmot sleeping bag. She didn't join us for the walk yesterday afternoon but she did explore the front, side and back yards while we were gone.

We took off for our 2nd of 3 walks of the day. I could tell that Stella was back to her old habit of laying back ... Sadie and I kept walking. I wanted to see what Stella would do if I left her alone and in the end I was right.

Sadie really enjoyed the warm weather, almost if not 70°. You could even feel the heat from the sun as we walked. It was hard to believe that by Saturday morning I would be back in wool socks, hiking boots, jeans and a down parka doing the walk.

As I glanced back I saw no sign of Stella as I expected. Sadie and I were walking along the back edge of the field. Just as I was about to turn my head and face the direction I was I was walking ... I noticed that Stella was already over by the woods behind the neighbor's house.

That was what I expected her to do but I did not think it would happen that soon. As long as she stayed in my viewing area I was fine with it.

Sadie hadn't noticed her ... she kept exploring the center of the field while I continued to walk.

Whatever Stella had found it must have been good, she didn't even lift her head as I approached her.

Once Sadie saw Stella, she took off sprinting to see what she had found. Once I got over to that spot and looked at the ground ... you wouldn't believe ... I found nothing there. Nothing but bare ground and wet grass.

When Stella refused to even lift her head and come when I called her, I pulled out the only decision maker I had ... the standard 6' dog leash. Even after I connected it to her collar, she pulled away to move her head back to the spot she was really interested in.

I dropped the leash to the ground and she followed me as we walked directly to the house instead of moving back to the worn path.

I knew it would be cold this morning when we got up but when I stepped out to take the first picture of the day, a freezing wind hit my face and it felt much much colder than 31°. Luckily it's going to change by Monday and get back up into the 50s and 60s.

I guess one advantage of having a black car is that it doesn't matter how light the snow flurries are, you can tell it's been trying to snow. Nothing of any substance is expected in 'the tropics' today.

We did the normal wait before taking the first walk of the day ... coffee, internet reading. The winds had picked up even more speed, it was freezing my face and small crystals of snow was barely visible. My iPhone weather app said it was 31°, winds out of the west at 18mph and a 'feels like' 18°.

At least there was a lot of blue sky and you could see the sunshine so all is not lost.

Both hounds were energetic and didn't take long to move out in front of me quite a ways.

You can barely see the direction of the winds blowing the hay that was missed during last fall's mowing. While I was looking at Sadie, Stella sprinted around both of us and headed to the far right corner.

It was good to see her running again. I was beginning to wonder if she was feeling okay since it had been a while since she had been sprinting at full speed in the field.

Sadie then passed me sprinting but she was heading in a different direction than Stella ... both interested in different areas.

Sadie went one direction and Stella headed the other direction ... both very focused on the scents they had found.

I was surprised to see Stella sprint toward me when I called her name ... that was a sure sign just how cold it must have been. She was way out in front of me before I could focus the camera. She did some good running today.

I knew when I saw them like this ... something was up and I wondered if I was going to have to chase them to the woods north of us and farther than I wanted to walk or run in today's weather.

Luckily when they took of running they did a large looping circle instead of heading toward the woods in the 'no fly zone'.

There were either sounds or scents that really had their interest today.

Stella is too skinny. I've been feeding her larger portions of food but that doesn't put the weight back on her. It looks like she needs more fat and protein in her food.

Sadie still battles a heavy waistline but some of that should come off this summer.

For once I didn't have to call either of them to 'come on' as we neared the house. Both of them wanted back inside where it was 30° warmer.

It was a good test for my camera today. The other day when I mentioned too many of my early morning pictures seemed to be blurry lately, I had a reader comment:

"The camera may develop moisture trouble inside the lens with the change in temp from inside to outside for the short term."

I thought that might be a possibility but then I started thinking why did it take so long to do that? It was only recently I started noticing a change in my picture quality. So today's change in temps was a good test to see if what I thought might be the problem.

User error ....

I think today's pictures I took on this mornings walk proves that I had become lazy when taking pictures. I might have been breathing while I took the picture, thus a slight movement of the camera. I definitely found out my arms were out of position because I had become lazy.

These past two days I have made sure my left hand is directly under the lens, that both my arms and elbows are tucked in close to my chest to prevent any movement of the camera. Forming a human tripod for the camera. Then right before taking the picture I either take a deep breath or hold my breath.

It might be my eyes but the pictures from this morning's walk look much sharper to me so that proves to me it was user error ... me ... that caused the pictures being not quite as sharp as I use to take.

Not much planned today except for some book reading, watch a couple of college basketball games and stay warm here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

LOL ... What An Idiot

I really amaze myself at times. After finding the mistake I made a couple of days in the spelling of rip-rap ... using riff raff ... makes me wonder what's going on "up there".

Meaning ... my mind. Are there small chunks of debris floating out of control throughout the thousands of brain cells? Did I really destroy that many brain cells in my younger days, when there was always a party somewhere? You have to admit that when you read those words "riff raff" you thought "what in the hell is he talking about ... the guy's crazy".  LOL

The difference in spelling of those two words is troubling. LOL ... and not one reader said "hey you might want to check your spelling" ... you most likely were not able to because you were laughing too hard ... I know I was this morning. The hounds thought I had finally gone crazy by my constant laughing. Stella came running over to me thinking I had hurt myself.

If I had not replied this morning to Greg's comment from a couple of posts ago I would not have seen my error. He spelled rip-rap correctly but even when I read his comment a couple of days ago I didn't notice the correct spelling.

Add in the fact that when I wrote the post, Blogger was highlighting "riff raff" in bright yellow signifying that I had spelled it wrong ... then putting the red dots under the misspelled word after I clicked "ignore" on the yellow highlight.

Or ... you can check any word for correct spelling and the definition now, just by typing that word into the address bar of Google Chrome using Google as  your default search engine. How easy is that? .... What was I thinking??  LOL

Friday seems to be the day for the sky to be full of contrails. There were not as many this morning as previous Friday's but there are more than any other day of the week.

By working outside during the great weather I am ready to head to bed way before midnight instead of my normal 2am. That means not only I but the hounds wake up earlier and we have gained a couple of hours of activity during daylight these past couple of mornings.

We started our first walk of the day about two hours earlier than normal .. you might notice that Stella needed some "supervision" this morning. I wasn't in the mood to be ignored so early in the day.  LOL

I don't leave the leash on very long and once I take it off she still continues to walk slow giving me a look that I have really hurt her. Yet there are some days she is more stubborn than normal. It's during the times when she hears her name called and me saying "come on", then turning and going the opposite direction .... that I pull the leash out of my pocket, backtrack to her and connect her.

Sadie in the meantime is Sadie ... nose to the ground, tail up and curled ... with things to do and places to go. She loves these walks in the field and never gets enough of them.

I let Stella go on her own path after I unhooked her. I don't mind that as long as she eventually turns and heads our direction. Now if she would have ran into those woods, like she never does, then it would have been time to pull the leash out again.

Of course the distance between me and her gives her plenty of chances for her to change her mind. Her nose will pick up a scent and distract her, thus she changes directions.

Example --- heading toward Sadie and I ... "but I think I smell something over there".

 Then she turns back toward us without being called.

Sadie doesn't care ... she is on her own exploration.

There was nothing within eye sight, nor on the horizon, but Stella was positive the deer had gone that way sometime since yesterday afternoon. In fact that is one of their normal paths because I have seen deer jump the small mashed down wire fence at that same spot.

So she is correct in her thought process.

We may reach 70° again today with some thunderstorms in the forecast for this afternoon. the wild bushes are trying to tell me it's spring time by showing me their new green color ... but by tomorrow we are back in the 30's with a chance of snow north of us.

After a couple of days of cold weather we will be back in the 50's and 60's for the next ten days.

Most of the time the final stages of the daily walks are not direct routes. The hounds will always find something they want to check out or have to stop and really investigate what is hidden in the thick grass.

We don't have a lot planned for today, except to enjoy the great weather. We did three walks yesterday but the two afternoon walks were without the camera.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to plant some grass seed in the area that I cleared last fall. The owner at the landscaping business a couple of houses away, didn't think a couple of days of cold temperatures would hurt if I wanted to plant some grass seed yesterday.  I've watered it this morning and hope that a lot of the seed stays on the incline if it happens to rain hard this afternoon.

I raked all of that out yesterday, down to bare dirt. I also cut off any small tree stumps to ground level so I'll have no trouble mowing this area. The concrete blocks will stay, where they have been for 42 years, to prevent erosion. I'll use the weed-eater around those after the grass fills in.

I mentioned the other day about switching out the larger blue trash can with the smaller gray one because the gray one fits better in the Mini Cooper S Countryman when I make those trips to the recycling center.

The red mirrors on the all black car are growing on me. they do not bother me at all now and in fact from the side view ... they kind of even out the large red tail lights. I like the all black look and am glad I decided to remove the red stripes a few weeks ago.

I believe I have found an answer about dog food ... "right under my nose". Due to health reasons of the owner, the old feed store in town had to go out of business a few months ago. It had a great selection of highly rated dog food. When I say highly rated, I use the site Dog Food Advisor for a rating.

So it was to my surprise yesterday when I typed in the brand of dog food I had seen at the local hardware store. I was looking for a new rake when I noticed their display of 40# bags of dog food was almost empty. The bags are usually stacked up to my shoulders.

I never really paid attention to it because it was in a hardware store. I thought most likely it was a cheap brand name. Little did I know that Dog Food Advisor gave this particular blend of chicken meal and rice a 4-star rating, out of 5.

It's called SportMix, a small family owned business for over 40 years and has never had a recall. The bloodhounds will start this in a few days since their food is almost out. Heidi started have issues with the food I spoke of a few days ago ... so I am going to try her on the SportMix and see if she responds in a positive way ... or is it just spring allergies popping up.

I may have found the problem with my pictures being blurry early in the morning with a few at any time of day. A reader commented the other day that it might be the inside of my lens not adapting to the change in temperature from inside the house to outside on our walks.

I am thinking it is my laziness. I had forgot to either hold my breath as I took the picture or take a deep breath right before. It also could have been not having my arms tucked as close to my body as possible with my left hand under the lens, forming a human tripod.

Add is some possible light shaking by my hands ... and it all equals blurry pictures.

It's a beautiful day here in 'the tropics of southern Indiana ... by the way ... stay away from that "riff raff", it will get you every time.  LOL