Heat Wave This Morning

What a difference 20° makes! It felt like a spring day as we stepped outside today even with ice around the door and a few snow flakes dropping from the sky. The flakes were so few you could barely see them but they were there. Stella didn't hesitate zipping past me

I hadn't checked the weather when we left so I had no idea what to expect. It's really handy to look at my watch and see 28° and cloudy without grabbing my phone. The Apple Watch still continues to impress me and I'm really happy that I made the purchase.

I couldn't find many words this morning after we got back, so I'll let the photos tell you about Stella's walk this morning. The Canon G9 X is my 'go to' camera now on these walks no matter what time of day it is or the type of lighting.

Stella doesn't like walking through puddles of water and obviously she feels the same about the ice on our path as she moved to the left of it to get around it.

I almost had to backtrack to go get her but about halfway there, she started to moved away from that spot that had a lot of data for her to collect.

There were no noises of any kind, nothing on the horizon so evidently she heard something.

You could tell she was pretty lazy this morning. She didn't roam too much, stayed on the path a lot of the time, got a little running in and is now ready for the weekend.

Although the single digit temps had left us, it seemed like the perfect time to put a pot of beans on the stove. I was in the mood for beans and cornbread for my late lunch or early dinner and to do it right that takes some time to cook.

With the beans cooking and the hounds fed, we checked the sunshine outside. As usual there wasn't a lot of activity after lunch. Heidi did her thing and then got some aerobic exercise trotting up the driveway, while Stella thought deeply about her next move.

Mid-afternoon Stella and I headed out for another walk. I was surprised to see light snow flurries because it felt so warm.

About the only difference in this walk from this morning's walk, Stella went on the right side of the ice instead of the left side. That just shows how much excitement we had going on today.

The day has been slow enough that I have thought about changing the template of the blog, going back to the "old school" format with a sidebar on the right on the home page and the post page. Of course that makes the photos smaller but with so many of you reading the blog on a tablet or from a phone, that would not make a difference to you ... the size of the photos.

I am probably wanting to change it just to have something to do. Who knows??? {I spent a few hours Saturday night looking for a different template with a sidebar on the right hand said and fairly large pictures. I made all the customizations I needed on the new design, hit the "publish" button and changed the look of the blog. By 12:06am, I turned my computer back on and brought the blog back to the design I had for the past few weeks. It will stay this way.}  :)

It's been a slow, quiet Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Gets A Half Walk

As the afternoon progressed we had a 'heat wave'. I kept an eye outside while I played Mahjong at the kitchen table, watching the one field become flooded as time moved on. It looked beautiful outside with sunny clear skies and it was very tempting to go for a walk.

Right after the hounds lunch we did step outside but it was only a short time. It was 15° and damn cold. Neither hound wanted to get much further than the carport. We were all back inside fairly quickly. They slept, I fixed some baked wild salmon and steamed brussels sprouts for a late lunch or early dinner. I kept the tv on in the background but it was tuned to a sports talk on FoxSports 1, Colin Cowherd.

Stella and I took off a little after 4:13pm, not really knowing what to expect. I decided we would go until we got too cold or high freezing winds hitting us once we made the first turn. We didn't make to the first turn before jumping over on the return path and heading home.

We were gone a total of 7 minutes.  LOL

With what I think is increased scratching by Stella, I looked back at photos of her to see if I could tell when this irritating habit started. Besides the weather changes, starting from the summer moving to fall, there were only two things different as possible causes.

I started giving her a monthly supplement of the GlycoFlex for her hips and joints plus I decided I would continue their monthly heartworm chews year round, just not through spring and summer. Could it be the heartworm meds that she is allergic to?

When I was taking Heidi to four different vets trying to solve her skin issues a few years ago, the same vet that had been involved in a study of allergies in dogs, told me they found the beef in the heartworm medicines spiked an increase in allergies. While dog food alone was only a cause in 3% of dog allergies

I've gone many years not giving my hounds a year round heartworm chews. The past two summers the incidents of heartworm in dogs in this area has exponentially increased. It concerned me when I heard the total number of cases just in the office I changed to in September.  I decided I'd rather have them take a chance having allergies instead of coming down with heartworm.

Of course it could be something else that is causing all the scratching. I am going to change their dog food from a chicken protein to a lamb protein in their next bag of dog food. Fish? The last time a tried a salmon blend of dog food, Heidi's skin allergies went off the charts, so fish will not be an option.

Stopping again to scratch. Even when it's freezing outside.

She was still happy to get outside. While Heidi has spent all day on the couch in a spot where the sunshine targets that part of the couch. Like a magnifying glass, that spot is pretty warm. Basset hounds are not stupid when it comes to sleeping in the sunshine, inside or outside.

I decided to answer an email question I received today, here just in case other readers are wondering. Someone asked me today by email if this blog was going to turn into a political blog. They didn't care for it. They only wanted to see the photos and read about the hounds.

So to answer that reader's question and for those that might be wondering ... NO, it is not. In fact yesterday's post will be my last about politics or anything government. I will also no longer be reading the news or watching the news just like I did from October 28 to December 9th.

That should give me plenty of time to read, listen to music or watch taped tv shows. Plus I will have less chances to get mad, irritate and mumbling to myself. There is nothing I personally can do about anything politically so I am going back to being a non-participant, until it is time to vote.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today ... ballgame on tv tonight!