It's starting to get cooler here in NC, Fall is just around the corner. I sleep out back in my SLD 11' double layer each night. The last 3-4 nights I've slept in sweatpants and sweatshirt and been perfectly comfortable. I noticed that I could start to feel the material's coolness so it's time to insert my pad between the layers. First night with pad I carried my sweat pants and hung them on a whoopie sling and wore my sweatshirt. Lows have been low 60s and I have a bug screen made from a curtain shear that actually helps keep in some heat. I had to get up and remove my sweatshirt and ended up sleeping in a short sleeve shirt and my skivvies. It's amazing how much heat you retain when laying on a pad. Now on to my feral dogs. I guess you can say I own them or at least take care of them inasmuch as they will not come within 10' of me. My brother-in-law found some puppies living under a tree in Sparta NC. He bought them home and I ended up taking two as at the time I was dogless(Is that a word?) One is a blue merle with cracked eyes an the other black wit a white patch. They were just a few months old and I kept them penned for a few weeks. They were never aggressive but would get as far back in their dog house as possible and I would lay on the ground and reach in and pet or rub them. After a time I let them out as I was afraid they'd hurt themselves as all they did was walk the fence and try to find a way out. I live a quarter mile off a sparsely used highway on 29 acres with my house in the middle of the land so I can let my dogs run loose as they don't wander from my property and are nothing but big pets. Anyway that was the last time I touched these dogs except I was able to entrap the female after feeding them in the dog lot and have her spayed. I've had dogs all my life but never seen anything like these two. I did some research and the closest thing I could find was the Mississippi state dog, the Catahoula Cur. Further research I found that there was once a wild dog in NC called the Carolina cur which is thought to be extinct. I believe these dogs are wild Carolina curs as I've had them or better said coexisted with them for close to a year and a half. I feed them each day and they love Milk bones as a treat each day but they won't come within 10 feet of me but will sleep on the ground a few feet from my hammock each night. If I get up to answer natures call they won't move as long as I don't walk in their direction. All in all I feel a little safer with them near as though I've never spotted a bear on my property I've seen them less than a mile away so I know they're there. So between my feral friends and my 50# lab mix which has to jump up and sleep with me in my hammock on occasion stretching the total weight to close to 300#,boy that Amsteele is strong, I hope to not be surprised by unwanted critters each night.
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