Stella Thinks It's Too Cold

After a solid night of sleep I was unaware what was taking place outside last night. I knew the temps were suppose to dip into the teens but with bright and sunny skies predicted for Saturday, it wasn't a big deal. This morning I wondered at the time if what I was seeing through my camera viewfinder was my eyes or something else ... there was scattered white stuff in that grass. Heavy frost ???

I could tell near the house it was more than just frost, it looked like very very small amounts of snow. November 10 ???

Is there enough white stuff in these and other photos in this post, for me to officially declare we have our first snow of the winter ?? Whatever I declared official did not matter until later in the walk for Stella. I was making sure this morning I could get in the backyard before she walked into those burrs again. I was successful but she was within a couple of steps from me yelling "No".

Needless to say, the air was just a little crisp to start the walk, a few minutes before 8am.

 

With the light dusting of white stuff, those narrow paths made by deer traffic (me guessing) was showing up much easier today.

All the cold temps, the dead leaves, and here stands some bright yellow. It looks like it is not ready to give up on a Fall season nor wanting to say goodbye to Summer.

This small path is coming from the woods behind my neighbor's house. It extends from their woods to the woods behind the field. Can you see it ?

Just to the right of my path is that same path leading into the woods. It isn't straight, but curls around different blades of grass. Any deer experts reading this ?? If so, chime in and let me know if I am correct in assuming this is a path made by deer. If it isn't a ballgame or a hound topic, I am pretty ignorant on stuff like this.

I was wrong. I said a week or so ago that I would not be out early enough on the walk to see the sun in this position. Since we got up and moving a few minutes past 6am, Stella was whining to go on her morning walk about 7:45am today.

I noticed she was spending more time on the path after we turned the first corner and she was walking much slower ... is that a slight limp I see ??

It certainly was. Her pads of her feet were covered with that freezing cold snow and her feet were cold. She sat down for a few minutes and didn't move while holding her rear paw up for me to see. I rubbed off the snow from each of her paws. She jumped up and took off down the path after that. All was good to her.

During my walk I was still trying to decide if I could say this was our first snow of the year. I decided to take photos of rooftops within my camera's view and let you decide if it's official or not. I am beginning to think it is not an official snow.

In the 21 years I have lived here, I have never seen the curtains of this house opened up. In fact I have never seen anyone out in the yard except the commercial lawn crew. I've been told by a neighbor there are people living there 12 months out of the year.

This was so funny ... When I told Stella ... "let's go home and get your feet warm" ... she took off running down the return path.

In fact she did not stop to sniff the fence or the trees. She did not stop to scratch her neck. She did not stop to stare at me while I stand at the corner of the house. She moved nonstop all the way to the door. By the time I got there she was trying to open the door by nudging the round door knob with her nose. She was more than happy when I opened to door and felt warmer air inside.

Well, last chance ... official snow or just heavy frost with temps in the teens ??

I am set for the next few weeks of cold weather in the forecast. A full tank of gas, a kitchen stocked full of food and a couple of books from the library to read. I told you I was going to enjoy this winter no matter how much snow we get or how cold it gets. I do have a feeling that Stella will be taking me on less walks than past years after those temps drop below 19°. I cannot carry a 80 pound dog too far, so she will have to walk home someway if her feet get cold.

I was only joking a few days ago about mowing my leaves in the snow ... really I was ... it was only a joke ... honest.   LOL

Clear and bright sunny skies this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Week Flies By For The Hounds

I am anxious to see these photos today because I did something different than I usually do. Before the walk I read an article my Feedly account about digital photography. The writer was talking about better quality of photos with a standard lens such as a 35mm or the 55mm instead of a zoom lens. So I tried taking most of these photos today with a 55mm setting on my zoom lens, a few at 35mm and some at 70mm ... so I could also find out if I can survive on a hound walk with a zoom lens that has a range of 35mm-70mm or will a single 55mm lens work okay?

As you see my glove below, Stella was out in the burrs before I could step into the backyard. Before we took another step I pulled all of the burrs off of her only to find them attached to my glove afterward.

She was happy with all of the burrs off her neck, sides and a few on the side of her face. She started with a nice fast run just long enough to run in front of me and then walk as slow as a crawl or about a half step short of my normal stride. 7 acres to walk and she has to walk directly in front of me slow enough that I have to stutter step. If I stopped she stopped.

I added a little color saturation to the fall leaves that are left. I like that option, otherwise it was be a blog full of drab, dull and dying colors.

Most of these are being taken with the 55mm setting. I am surprised that I may not need anything more than 70mm. I guess now that I think about it, Sadie was the one usually running way ahead or leading the chase after deer where a 200mm came in handy. Yes, I still think about her every single day.

It felt colder than the temperature showed. This was the first morning where the cold air could "cut through you like a knife" ... the wind, nothing else, just so I am political correct.

Not a bird, not a cardinal, just a bright red wilted leaf still left at the edge of the wooded area.

By the way the photos look you may think my memory is shot but I took this first one at 35mm.

This one was at 55mm.

And believe it or not ...  this next one was at 70mm.

I had some shopping plans for today. I needed to finally replace my wool ski cap that was 29 years old ... yes honestly it was that old.

I also needed some new wool socks. Not only do they keep my feet warm on the winter walks but warm inside the house with the indoor temp 64° or lower. Nothing worse to me than a house that has the heater set to high.

I also wanted to check on a 4-Port USB Hub. I am out of ports on the back of my iMac since I added an external drive for the photos, an external CD/DVD drive that will be connected full time. I need a port for my phone cable to download the photos to my hard drive, recharge the phone and backup the phone hard drive to my iMac. I won't and never will do that over the cloud or by wifi.

Hat and socks were on sale at drastically reduced prices at Orscheln Farm and Home store. I struck out finding a new USB hub. The new ones on the Walmart rack were only 2.0 instead of 3.0. Since I already have a 2.0 that works but is just slow transferring files ... I didn't buy it.

I wasn't able to catch it with my camera but Stella pressed her nose right up against that old 80 yr old metal fence. She couldn't quit identify what she was smelling. She looked confused and walked away.

We stepped outside for a few short minutes after their lunch. The winds had picked up and it felt colder than it was in the morning, although the needle on the carport thermometer had climbed about 4° warmer. Stella didn't have any motivation to step into the driveway or yard.

Heidi was out and back, heading toward the door within minutes. I am pretty sure that the Azalea you see is not going to make another Midwestern winter. All of them are set too far back from the edge of the roof overhang and rarely get the rain water. I water them by hand most of the summer. I know myself well enough that I will not be going out in the winter every other day to water plants. In fact that outdoor faucet will be shut down for the winter.

I have watched NFL football since I was a young boy, during the 1960's. Until the past 2-3 years I watched all the games I could, no matter who was playing. I love football that much. While I still watch college football nonstop these past few years my NFL viewership has decreased to watching just the Indianapolis Colt games, the NFL Playoffs and the Super Bowl (minus the halftime show).

This might be my last season to watch any regular season game if I even make it through the regular season until the Super Bowl.

Why?

Well as it was explained on the NFL channel the other day by an ex-NFL Quarterback, the league office changed the rules to the touchdown celebrations "to attract the younger crowd" .... UN-$*&#)*##^ believable !!!!

With that rule change players can choreograph their celebrations after a touchdown. With fewer NFL games being played on my tv on Sunday's, Monday and Thursday nights where I do not tune in, I have found there are plenty of other things I can do besides watching touchdown celebrations that have turned into multiple player dance routines or comedy acts. They can do whatever they please but I won't be watching that crap.

What else can I complain about before I go ... hmmmm

Oh yes, how about more Daylight Savings complaints ... with the new time of moving the clocks back, Stella and Heidi see no reason to sleep past 6:15am every morning, while it is dark outside. Their 'inner' clocks are still an hour ahead with no plans to change. Does that turn me into a complaining grump?????  LOL

Other than that, it was a great Friday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. IU basketball game tonight at 8pm local and that's a good thing.

The Hounds Look Forward To Winter Weather

I know it might be hard to believe but I am also looking forward to winter weather. I've always liked the change of seasons and really the large amounts of snow we use to get didn't bother me. I am much more prepared now in winter clothing than I was then. Yet, we haven't had major snow storms here in the past few years. Heidi has already gone into her winter mode, and Stella is just Stella. This morning was our first morning walk there the phone was telling me "it feels like" 28° at 8am. It felt great on the morning walk.

We started our walk earlier than normal because we were up at 6:17am, the hounds eating breakfast kibble as I poured my first cup of two with Seattle's Best Coffee. That is what happens when you go to bed early. My new free Garmin replacement they sent me because my band broke on my other one is tracking my sleep right down to the minute. It separates it into deep, light, REM and awake. Don't ask me how.

Stella stayed away from the ragweed burrs this morning but right from the start her nose was in overdrive with activity.  Wearing layered clothing under my Mountain Hardwear parka the cold temps didn't bother me at all, especially with the fleece lined jeans I was wearing. They make a huge difference on these walks when the temperature is below 40°.

I guess since I scheduled a second blog post for late last night, it will kind of calibrate the blog back to a normal time of posting. It's hard for me to keep a schedule on anything retired nor is one needed. So although I might think I will start blogging at the end of the afternoon to cover the hound's activities for that day, it will probably lean more to posting when I feel like it. That would put a new post at no specific time of the day, which is what you are use to.

Getting rid of Flickr after their announcement of requiring a monthly payment or have 27,000 of my 28,000 photos deleted by them to remain a free account, has not been missed. Downloading my daily photos to the external hard drive is quick, easy and uses no internet data. That was a good decision on my part.

Some of the blogs I follow and read have mentioned problems with advertising increasing in their email  inbox, on their social media sites and some leading to their junk folders. I have always tried the blocking apps to block advertising and the automatic videos that play on news or sports websites. Overall I have been successful in at least decreasing advertising if not stopping it all together. The changes I made last summer basically blocks every thing when it comes to having some website feeling they know what I need to see. I hate being force fed any kind of information.

Even with the recent upgrades to Firefox Quantum and Safari's browser that is suppose to block advertising, I still kept my AdBlock Plus, Ublock and Flashblock installed and running on my laptop and iMac. Last summer I deleted my Facebook account, and Instagram account plus changed my email address from gmail to icloud. I only kept my gmail acocunts so I can log into my Blogger blogs, where a gmail account is required.

Using gmail I use to get 100-120 junk email advertisements per day, ranging from dog supplies, auto repair, warranties, medical plans, financial investments etc. Since I made the change to icloud for email I collect between 3-7 junk emails per day and I might catch 1 in my inbox but not ever day.

When I click on any websites, if they have videos set to play, those are blocked out with a white screen and not making a sound on my computers. I have to click twice to get a video to play if I decide I want to see it. And ... I don't miss any of the social media sites that I deleted. I have also noticed since I stopped reading the news online, I get ZERO political ads or junk emails in my email program with Apple Mail.

This might sound weird in today's world but I don't have a clue what the latest news is nor do I know who won or lost in the elections. I quit caring. Sports news, yes I know about that. Flipboard articles and Feedly are all scrubbed of any news feeds including those that are forced on you. Apple News was deleted from my computers, iPad and iPhone. The world is so much nicer with all of that crap not crawling into my brain and thought process.

Below we have the roll of hay from 2017 on the right and the smaller roll on the left from this past summer, in 2018. They will never be carried away, nor will they be eaten. 

I guess you could say we are in the final stages of Fall 2018. It was a short season, just like last Spring was short. All of those snow icons in my 10-day weather forecast were gone this morning but at the same time all of those high temps in the 50's in the next 10 days have disappeared. What will be Stella's threshold to tell her she will not go on any daily walks? She isn't like Sadie when it comes to weather. There were a few times last winter we had to turn around and cancel the walk because Stella didn't like the freezing cold.

We didn't smell any burning fireplaces this morning like we do sometimes in the winter but that did not mean that Stella wasn't interested in something she smelled or heard far away. I had to step around her because she wasn't moving.

It didn't take long for her to regain the lead and the trot further ahead.

The sun was barely coming up over the horizon and it was a little past 8am. Which reminds me, my camera setting did not change the time on Sunday and I need to do it manually.

Again the path is barely visible but Stella followed it every stop of the way to the backyard.

As I glanced up I was surprised how many leaves were gone in the trees in back compared to yesterday. I did notice a small increase in the leaves laying in the yard but nothing like I expected. As I pointed my camera from one tree to another I kept seeing bare limbs. Even the section that has leaves left has a lot less than it did yesterday. I might only need to mow the leaves one more time this year. The neighbors will think I am crazier than they thought when they hear a mower running in 30° weather.  LOL

Stella hears the St. Bernard barking from the house across the highway. I don't see him outside much until the weather gets colder.That bark reminds me of Caesar, the St. Bernard neighbor I had in the beach town of Carlsbad California. He spent plenty of time under the lawn water sprinklers during the summer months. Strange how back then in the late 70s we could use all the water we wanted but they rationed gasoline for cars. Now use all the gas you want out west but watering your lawn will give you a high priced fine.

I would really like to know what kind of animal travels through this area while we sleep but I am too cheap to buy a camera to mount so I can find out. Stella knows something has been through here. A raccoon or cat, maybe an opossum?

Some readers have asked about Stella's tail and if that dark back spot is normal or is something wrong with her tail. Well that is "black and tan", is another color that bloodhounds have. Obviously one of her parents was a black and tan bloodhound. That is all thick hair growing there and the main reason they had named her "Dipstick" when she was a puppy. Unlike Sadie, she loves to be brushed everyday. In fact she will try to stop me brushing Heidi to brush her nonstop.

Speaking of Heidi, this is a very poor picture taken this morning just as we came back from the walk. Due to condensation on my Tamron lens, I grabbed my iPhone to take her photo. Two things wrong happened, my hands were not steady and when she heard me she woke up and moved just as I pressed the shutter on the phone. It does show that she is alive and well before 9am though.

We gave the day all the chance it needed to warm up but it never did. I admit that it was cold on that early afternoon walk that Stella took me on. I was shocked that Heidi came outside with us and stayed in the yard sniffing around while Stella and I were gone. It was that cold outside.

We went out mid morning to get some fresh air plus it was Heidi that went to the door to lead Stella and I outside. We had not been back to long from our morning walk when this happened.

Heidi was caught midstream on camera, shaking her head after barking nonstop.

I found out today it is not because the time is near 11am or noon that causes Heidi to bark and Stella to howl for lunchtime kibble .... it's the 3 hours of time passing after they had breakfast. I found this out because Heid started barking and  Stella started howling right after they came inside ... It was only 9:20am, a long way from lunch being served but 3 hours and 3 minutes since they had breakfast.

On a normal day of eating breakfast between 7am - 8am, having lunch between 11am-Noon falls into that 3-4 hours since breakfast.

In between barks.

Luckily they went back to sleep until after 11:30am and I filled the rest of my morning up by playing one game after another of Mahjong. Most of my games were completed under 3 minutes. That told me I had a good night of sleep and I was well rested. You may think I am joking about that but on those restless nights of sleep, if I play Mahjong the day after, games take close to 4 minutes if not over before I can finish them.

Stella really wanted to walk out into that area where she had found something to eat the other day but in the middle of a thousand burrs. She stopped immediately when she heard me yell "No" ... then stood there contemplating her next move.

She moved no further but leaned in as far as she could to smell what she could.

Then turned and headed for home.

I've noticed another difference between Stella and Sadie in the afternoons. Stella likes to finish her second walk of the day by 2pm. Sadie didn't usually want to start on her second walk until late afternoon and would sleep through the early afternoons. Today we were back inside by 2pm and the walks were finished for the day. Both hounds were sound to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.

I wonder if anyone might have an answer to what happened on my WordPress Blog? Click here to read about the weird story.

A clear and crisp day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.