8 Days Until March !!!!

Sunshine always makes a difference, no matter what the temperature is nor what month it is. It just makes a difference. I had not even started my first cup of coffee when I could hear the birds outside singing to each other like it was a Spring day. It was 29°. Again we all started our day later than a few weeks ago but none of us minded sleeping an extra hour. I couldn't stop reading one of the books last night, just picked up from the library yesterday. Can you guess which one kept me up past 1:30am reading?

With the high today going to climb into the middle 40's, all of the frozen puddles of water were starting to melt in the yard. Although the large puddle inside the carport remained water. I was happy I chose the North Face snow boots to wear this morning. I use them as my rain boots also ... because I am cheap. LOL

Stella had her own plans this morning. She veered off the return path and headed to the middle of the field. As long as she was heading in the general direction that I was on the path, it was okay. I kept an eye on her while I enjoyed the great morning, a little past 10am. The air was filled with different kind of birds chirping away, the sky was blue and the sunshine was bright. A perfect morning.

I was wearing layered clothing with my light down jacket, not the parka. I really didn't even need my gloves but wore them anyway. As I walked, so did Stella at a pretty brisk pace.

Slowly without any input from me, she gradually moved toward me and about the time I got to the first corner, she cut me off, walking in front of me over to the brush area next to the woods. She was so close to me when she cut in front of me she almost stepped on my boot !!!

After I moved out in front of her, I glanced behind me and didn't see her!!!! She had walked down into the woods maybe 6' before I barely saw her. As I walked over to find out where she was plus prevent her from getting further into the woods and then down into the gully, she turned and walked toward me like nothing happened.   LOL

As we moved into the part of the field that was no longer frozen but extremely saturated, I could still hear the sound of the leaves and long grass breaking with a crunching sound with each one of my steps. Water came up along the sides of my boots with each step. Stella stayed just to the side of the path to keep her paws dry as possible.

I let her move along the back edge of the field at her own pace. I walked up ahead of her and had moved over to the path that Stella was walking on.I had not walked along the edge of the field in back for many months. It was also drier up there compared to the path we use every day.

I was able to take the same photo of the turkey farm and AT&T tower but it looks so much different today because I was standing at the edge of the field about 20' closer to the tower. In my eyes it makes a huge difference while I used the same zoom setting as I always do. I could not believe how different it looked.

When I told her "let's go home", she was happy with that and headed out on the path, with a few stops along the way. She is such a funny bloodhound. No plans, no focus, and walks as if she goes from moment to moment without any thought of a plan. To say the least, she is a pretty laidback bloodhound.

This does not happen often ... she beat me to the yard this morning.

What is she thinking ????

LOL ... I have no idea. Classic pose for Stella, obviously in deep thought.

With the morning so nice, she and I spent some extra time right there in the north backyard. I picked up some new limbs and tossed them into the overgrown brush area. This is the area I'd like to light a match to and burn about 20 years of dead limbs, dead leaves and give the ground some new area for new growth.

See .... she can be a nice bloodhound when she want's to be. She isn't stubborn all the time. How can you resist that kind of look?? Yes ... she does get everything she wants, at least 99.9% of the time.

For new readers or first time visitors ... that fence post and rolled barbed wire has been there since the mid 1940's based on the story my dad told me.

Stella still continuing to move to her right to finish her walk along the side of the house.

Just because it was beautiful outside Heidi still had sleep to catch up on and wasn't happy when I woke her up. Later she came out, inhaled some water and went back to sleep on the big leather chair. It's the same chair that Winston use to use, then Sadie and now Heidi. It's a great comfortable chair and I sit there sometimes for hours reading.

With the great sunny day outside at noon you would think that the hounds would have gone outside and stayed for hours enjoying the great weather. I was willing to stay outside that long. It was up over 40° and sunny. I think you will find the following photos shocking. I'll let them tell the story. No .... neither went any further than the photos show.

Heidi seems to like Oikos Triple Zero blended greek yogurt. The brand by Greek God's is a little too sour for her and she will not lick the last of the container. As you can see with the Dannon brand she has no problem burying her head inside the container to lick the bottom of the container. I always share it will both hounds.

I like Plochman's Mustard but I hate their container. I keep the nozzle clean so it spreads the mustard evenly. The problem is the mustard blocks the opening of the container and prevents the flow of any mustard, no matter how clean the nozzle is. So to fix that .... I poured half the Plochman's container into a French's mustard container, which never stops the evenly smooth pour when the container is squeezed. Is that politically correct to do in today's society?  (joke)

That just shows you some of the exciting activity around here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I tried again, giving the hounds a chance to go outside to enjoy this weather but Stella did not wake up and Heidi went outside just long enough to pee and came back to the door.

Because of that I can almost assure that there will not be enough hound activity this afternoon to blog about. I will not get many more photos than what I have right now. Therefore I am going to post this now as my only post of the day instead of waiting until 6pm, thinking or hoping I'd have more photos to add.

So which book kept me up until 1:30am, where I had to force myself to put the book down and go to bed?

Hero Dogs by Wilma Melville with Paul Lobo.

I started the Bernie Sanders  book first yesterday afternoon because I was really curious what I would find. I started the book with an open mind and read 79 straight pages. It was interesting because many of the things that he wanted "his movement" to accomplish ... Trump has done since January 2017. Granted, Bernie wrote this book and what he wanted before the 2016 election but the fact still remains a few things have been accomplished by a man he hates.

Although I had read 79 pages without stopping, two names of people that he respects (in his own words) made me stop reading and my first impression of Bernie Sanders was correct. This is a man I want nothing to do with. Those two people? ... Linda Sarsour and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (my favorite dingbat)

Like all the other far left Presidential hopefuls, he wants to tax the rich and give more free services to those in need, middle to low incomes or those not wanting to work, plus of course ALL immigrants, legal or otherwise. Yet with millions of dollars in his bank account, and three luxury homes, I find it hard to believe that Bernie would like to give himself that same tax increase.

What he preaches against he has ... wealth.

Would he make the last ten years of his income tax returns public like he wants President Trump to do? Would any of the screaming Democrats make their tax returns public? Doubtful. Including Trump they have all followed the US Tax Code, I have no doubt about that but I also beliew a few people walked away paying nothing in taxes just like Amazon because they have top notch tax accountants.

Here's a tidbit about Bernie ... enjoy reading it:  Bernie's A Fraud !

Jussie Smollett ???   I can't stop laughing. What "a piece of work" .... let's see just how far they follow the letter of the law because I can bet my ass if that was me, I would be convicted as a racist, hate crime offender and would be behind bars the maximum amount of time allowed. Just mailing that hate crime letter to himself should put him behind bars based on Federal Law. Prove to me that I am wrong with that assumption.

A beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana. I'm going back to my book.

New Books New DVD's

Like any other rainy afternoon, it changed the level of energy and plans for me and the hounds. Right after lunch Heidi was so disappointed in the rain she was hearing that she didn't even get to the edge of the house before stopping. I knew I was changing plans, rather than reading the book about Steve Jobs. I decided while waiting for the hounds, that I'd take my one 32gl trash can to the recycling center where they will accept my 1 bag of trash for a whopping $2.

Up until a couple of years ago, I was paying $20 per month for weekly pickup down by the mailbox, where many weeks I had nothing set outside for pickup. The savings per year equate to about four 40# bags of dog food ... not a bad exchange.

Stella wasn't much happier than Heidi was with the early afternoon weather. I wouldn't know until about 15 minutes later and 5 miles down the highway it would be much worse, with a full on summer thunderstorm. I see 60° as a possibility on my weather app in a few days. Can I sneak out of Febrary witout much winter weather this year?

With the hounds tucked away in the bedroom I not only went to recycling but stopped at the local library on the way back. There is nothing better than a small town library on a rainy afternoon. I did my normal quick shopping trip by eyeing the section of "new" releases. I grabbed a book called Hero Dogs by Wilma Melville with Paul Lobo.

I then head down the aisle where they have a long short bookshelf with more 'new'  books lined up on top in a display. I decided to expand my political awareness, taking Where Do We Go From Here by Bernie Sanders. I've always been curious what makes this man tick. Could he be the surprise of 2020?

While I was satisfied with my choices and checking them out at the counter, I glanced over at the DVD section where there were six 'new" DVDs lined up on the top of the case. I am rarely lucky to find anything interesting to watch, especially with those that are labeled 'new' but today must have been my day.

I grab The Old Man & The Gun with Robert Redford along with a western called The Sister Brothers. By 2:30pm I had watched the Redford movie and was about to put in the second DVD when I decided to hold off watching that until later.

I did not have to go outside to verify it was still raining, lightly. I took these next to photos from inside the house standing at the large window in my kitchen. It's the best window in the house as far as I am concerned. The hounds were still in their deep afternoon slumber in the dark living room.

Every time I see those posts I want to replace them with something else this spring. IF the new posts are going to be centered in the available space, a square post will not work. Today I am thinking I might have to look for a rectangular type post ... but new wrought iron posts might be my only option. I'd still like to change them to a wood post of some sort.

While Heidi was sleeping in the big leather chair and Stella stretched out on the couch, I opened to the very first page of Hero Dogs and started a new adventure. Sometimes I'll read multiple books at once but the last time I read each book individually before starting the next one. Freedom of choice is a great feature in retirement, ranging from eating, sleeping, reading, screwing off, yard work or to being a slacker in general. There is no finer way to enjoy life than having freedom.

Oh, back at the library I did see on the tall shelf of 'new' autobiography's was the book by Andrew McCabe. Glancing was all I did, the stench from that direction made me make a fast exit to the checkout counter.

Life was fast paced this afternoon in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Winter Storm Was Rain

If you would have seen the local tv weather forecast last night with a tone of fear about the upcoming "winter weather" advisory, you would have expected the hounds and I would be buried under our biggest snow fall of the year. I hate "weather drama" from local tv channels to national weather experts and always take them with a grain of salt. Others go out and clear the grocery store shelves of bread, milk, and all the other packaged foods when these kind of threats occur.

Stella and I could tell it was going to be a very wet walk this morning. Where Sadie would have been sitting in the computer room entry giving me the stare down, forcing me to walk no later than 8am ... Stella was in a deep sleep, snoring, with legs and ears hanging over the foot of "my" bed a little past 9am.

She must have known the leafy path was too wet for her liking and her first step into the field was just off to the side of the path where it wasn't so wet, muddy and slippery.

This will give you some idea what the path looked like after a night of rain, instead of all that snow we were going to get after midnight. I was expecting at least some snow ground cover when we woke up but all I saw while making coffee, the car headlight reflections on a wet highway, clear of any snow.

This is not a good sign for the afternoon walk. Rains start again at noon and are supposed to be for the rest of the afternoon. I'm glad I did not apply Scott's Winter Lawn fertilizer this year otherwise I'd be mowing the first chance the yard was dry. Ask me how I know that?  :)

With all the rain and a wet field, Stella's desire for deer scat was nil. She spent all of her time with her nose to the ground or up in the air with nostrils moving as she tried to capture all of the scents she was finding this morning. With her being so meticulous in her 'data collection' the walk was a slow process ... at times one paw at a time.

I finally took a photo that shows you just how deep that gully is behind the wooded area. The neighbors that are behind my house and behind the wooded area, sits at the very top of this photo. You can see the elevation from their yard down into the gully. Luckily over the 21 years I've lived here there have been very few times where I had to walk down into that area to go get a hound. If I remember right only Harry and Sadie checked out the very bottom of the gully.

Either Stella was confused a lot this morning or she was just following what her nose told her. This would not be the first time where she would turn in the opposite direction of the walk to check something else out. Luckily this part of the path was not under water, muddy or slippery. Just very soft, but as we get higher in our 47' of elevation at the back of the field ... the path will get wetter.

Slowly but surely we move around the first turn and the back of the field looks like it's on the other side of the planet at the rate we are walking. I begin wondering if I should have brought a backpack with a lunch inside.

No deer scat but scent strong enough that I had to go over and tug at her collar to get her to move.

If there was any snow last night it would have been to the north of us and northeast. That is one thing nice about living in 'the tropics', we are about 75 miles south of the line of normal storm activity. That ranges from snowstorms, thunderstorms and tornadoes that always seem to follow I-70 from the west into the Indianapolis area

With the majority of the walk completed, Stella was still staying just off the side of the path. She was taking no chances getting her paws wet. Heidi would be tip toeing, Sadie would have charged through puddles and mud, Winston would have strolled on the path no matter how wet ... but Stella ... always bypasses any kind of ice, water puddles or over saturated paths.

Again ... reversing her stance in the opposite direction she was walking.

Just because I took a left at the "Y" you can barely see, using the old way home doesn't mean that Stella was going to follow me. She gradually veered toward the same part of the backyard we always enter at the end of the walk, the north part of the yard.

I checked the battery icon before we left and it looked as if we had plenty of battery left for the walk. Right after I took the 2nd picture on the walk this morning, the battery icon turned red and was flashing at me. So I turned the camera off and on between pictures during the walk and made it all the way to here. Right after I snapped this picture, the camera went dead and the lens retracted automatically. Perfect timing.

With rain predicted it will be another day inside. I am back to reading the huge book about Steve Jobs. Over the years I have tried multiple times of reading that book but have never completed it. I might find something else on my shelves that interests me. I do know one thing for sure ... I will NOT be reading the book by Andrew McCabe.

In my opinion he and others should be in jail not doing book tours. James Comey included.

This afternoon might be time to finally post my review on the Apple Watch Series 4 I bought January 4th. It does so much that I had to turn off some notifications and over the 6 weeks that I have used it I have fine tuned the information it provides into only what I want to see.

I still claim it's the best electronic device I have bought since my first desktop computer in 1995. I saw the other day that 1 in 4 adults now wear a smart watch of some kind.

Partly because I was sick yesterday and partly because I tried ... I kept away from tv news yesterday and last night. It was hard not to tune in to see what was going on, even when I knew what was going one. It's sad to think we have to listen to the same bullshit for the next two years and possibly longer, depending on who wins the election.

Vegas gives Trump 3-2 odds of winning. Harris is second at 8-1 and I think it was Bernie in third place at 10-1 odds. You may not remember or know, but up to the final day of the 2016 election Vegas oddmakers had Trump winning the 2016 election from day one, no matter what the tv political polls said.

Heidi has just woken up at 10:41am and strolled into the computer room where the water dish is located for her and Stella. She likes to hydrate herself right after her morning nap. When she is finished with 'inhaling' water, she will then move to her position on the couch for more sleep until lunch is served.  LOL Yes, I'm serious ... that is her daily routine. Plus she never stops for air while drinking water ... it's nonstop.

I feel much better than I did this time yesterday. Maybe I have flushed out that illness with all the water I have been drinking the past few days.

It's warm and wet here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana this morning.