Back To Warm Weather

The hounds found this morning temperature much warmer than the previous 5 days. They took their first morning walk since January 3rd in 17° weather. It felt like a heat wave. Heidi though still didn't believe it and besides, that is way below her threshold for any time outside longer than to pee. While she slept under her Marmot sleeping bag, the bloodhounds and I took a nice Sunday morning walk.

The Hounds Take An Afternoon Walk

It took a while but by mid-afternoon it felt like the time to grab the camera and take an afternoon walk. Heidi stayed inside for that walk but she did get outside for a short time right after lunch. She was outside long enough to relieve herself and take a full lap around the house. I am happy to see that the Azaleas are not dead during these freezing temps.

Of course Sadie was happy. She had been waiting, begging, staring at me for days it seemed needing to get outside for longer than 5 minutes.

Stella glanced back to make sure it was an official walk or just out long enough to grab some air.

It must have been about the right amount of time. By the time we finished the walk, both hounds were running for the house.

I've may have mentioned in the past that I have seen some pretty interesting things on the highway in front of my house which is a 2-lane US Highway ... I I live in a 'passing zone'. Yet the speed limit is 55mph and most drivers are faster than that limit.

Today I barely caught the latest of stupid drivers. By the time I picked the camera to catch both of these fuel tanker trucks, they had already passed my house.

A yellow warning sign on the left side of the highway saying "No Passing Zone" is just up ahead, not counting oncoming traffic that is going just as fast or faster than you. I've had my mailbox cut down once by a reckless driver before. I have also had many all the way over in my driveway out of control (texting) before they swerve and miss the mailbox and get back on the highway at 55mph or faster.

Otherwise, it's been a nice day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Not Quite Warm Enough

It did finally warm up enough Tuesday afternoon (yesterday) that we took a walk. It had been the first walk for the hounds since last Saturday on December 30. Of course that was a walk with Stella on a leach and she would tell Sadie and I if it were too cold. Yesterday afternoon was fine ... but not this morning.

I glanced at my iPhone weather seeing the same temps and wind chill as yesterday afternoon, so we headed out this morning. We didn't get far though ... Stella didn't lift any of her paws to show me she was cold but just turned around and headed home ... we were done for this morning but with a high of 24° possible this afternoon, we might be back here with some afternoon pictures.

Colder longer than I can remember since moving to 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana 20 years ago.

When Is Spring Arriving?

I know Sadie is tired of this below normal arctic winter weather. I am too. It looks like the frozen tundra out there and as we attempt to walk, the ground is as hard as rock. Only two walks since last Saturday, December 30th due to sub-zero wind chill. We are all wondering how many days until Spring????

Heidi Cancels Today

To start the new year off right, it's only appropriate to have Heidi decide what our outdoor activities will be today.

Today Is Canceled per Heidi

The hounds will have a limit of 5 minutes outside each time they go out to dump their tanks today. Yesterday even Sadie was running from the field directly behind the house to the door step in less than 5 minutes after she was finished.

All of this indoor time prepares us for the first of two college football playoff games, starting at 5pm.

Hibernating in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Says "No Way"

Heidi was out at 7:30am to relieve herself after a night of sleep but I doubt she will get outside until it warms up a little by late afternoon.

Happy New Year !!

The hounds and I wish all of you a Happy New Year and to having a good 2018. Those arctic winds blew in yesterday afternoon and continued through the night. Very strong winds make the storms windows rattle and that they did even with them being iced over. As you see Heidi has gone to her 'freezing weather' routine. She will get up for lunch and/or to move to the couch in the afternoon but nothing more.

Don't let the sunshine fool you. I took this pictures around 10:30am and we were not out any longer than 5 minutes. That was all the time I needed to confirm it was not just cold but damn cold. We still have a wind chill advisory to go through that starts tonight at 7pm and will last until 7pm Tuesday night. That means two days of weather colder than it is right now.

Yet from the time we woke up in single digit temps and a windchill in the negative, by 10:30am my carport thermometer was telling me it had warmed up to 15°. Wunderground and WeatherBug was saying it was more like 10°. Either way, it was still too cold to even consider a walk. Sadie and Stella didn't seem to mind.

There was some strange energy going around the house before going outside. Instead of Sadie begging to take a walk and Stella doing her normal search for food in the kitchen, just in case I dropped some on the floor ... they both stood stoic in front of the kitchen island. They reminded me of two horses sleeping standing up in a pasture. Neither hound could get the other to play, when they decided to move.

They went no further than this during the short 5 minutes we were outside. I thought they might want to relieve themselves since we are not taking any walks today. Instead they wanted to track mole traffic under the frozen tundra. I have the worst mole damage I can remember since it was pretty warm for December until he hit this cold spell.

As Sadie headed for the door, Stella decided it really was too cold to take a walk. She had walked to the edge of the yard, took one step into the field then turned around and came back inside.

It was much warmer last year. Heidi made her outside photo appearance December 29, 2016 and then I don't have another picture in her photo file until I took one inside on January 1, 2017. That sunshine feels warmer than the sunshine today.

This was one year ago exactly and the photo even looks much warmer than those at the top of this blog. Yet I remember three years ago we were having the exact same weather this time of year. I had taken a trip to Bloomington to see my friend the first week of January and my FJ dash thermometer was saying -7° as I drove over.

It's just normal winter weather in the Midwest.

Not much will be planned for today except watching the last game of the NFL regular season. Most likely it will be the last game for the head coach of the local Indianapolis Colts. Speculation is broadcasting he will be one of many coaches in the NFL that will be fired by Monday. Since that is a holiday will NFL teams wait until Tuesday to announce who they fire?

Overall the college bowl games the past two days and nights have been great games to watch. The two teams I was hoping would win did not but that did not take away from the quality of play in their games. Too bad college referees take a lot of the enjoyment away from watching ... I started hating the words of "this play is under review" more and more this year.

I thought about taking the Z4 out for a drive today since the roads are clear and dry, free of any salt residue. Still there is just something I don't think is good for it traveling 55-65mph in 10° weather with colder than normal winds hitting the engine area under the hood. After all the Z4 is for only good weather. I think I will probably end up canceling all outdoor activity until Wednesday morning.

No major plans tonight to celebrate the new year. My party days were over many years ago so here in 'the tropics' our annual celebration seems to be watching the ball drop in NYC Times Square on tv, then stepping outside for a few minutes in the back to look at a sky full of stars. That is IF we are still awake.

I will try to come up with something or photos to blog about on Monday and Tuesday. It will not be about the daily walk I know that. I could do a 'feature post' about some of the past hounds I have had or if I'm in the mood I might do a post of rambling about things in general ... freezing temps kill brain cells in my book, so I am not sure I can even come up with rambling topics.

At least everyone here is healthy and content in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana so life is good.

Happy New Year !!!