Fall Is Here This Weekend - Temp In The 40's

We survived the full day and night of college football yesterday, a lot of great games and one that I couldn't stay up for in the end that probably had one of the most exciting finishes. I lasted until 1:30am and the Boise State and BYU game was just starting the 4th quarter. I see this morning that BYU scored 21 points in that quarter I missed to come back and win.

The hounds on the other hand were all asleep 10 minutes after coming inside and the first game had just started around noon. They are not into commercials and can sleep through them with no issues. I was beginning to wonder if Heidi was ever going to "come up for air". She had not gone out anytime in the morning, she was awake when I would check on her, but she continued to sleep.

I wasn't alarmed because when the fall and winter starts, that is her normal activity. She is a 70's degree basset hound, anything more or less than 70° and she is not real enthusiastic about doing anything outside. I glanced down from the tv once and there she stood staring at me. Sadie is the normal alarm for "its time to eat" but she was still sound asleep. I guess Heidi finally got to the point of being hungry, since it was about an hour past their normal feeding time.

"When Do We Eat"

After that she went out just long enough to do what she needed to do. At one time late last night Winston decided it was time for bed so he headed to the bedroom for his normal sleeping position. Stella had walked away to get some water and Sadie decided that was her chance to take her seat on the couch. For the second time today, both bloodhounds were on the couch.

It didn't matter, because they are bloodhounds. What that means ... if there is just a small spot available to sit and they want to sit there, then either one will move into that spot on the couch and then decide how they are going to move you and anyone else so they can fit. So at one time last night it was me being pushed to the corner of the couch and two bloodhounds sharing the other part.

By midnight for our last trip outside, the temperature had dropped a lot, into the 50's. By the time we went out on Sunday morning it was 45° and sunny. Of course that meant that Heidi was not getting out of bed, so it was the three hounds on their morning exploration.

Winston decided it was time to show Stella some new territory to smell and was about to lead her into trouble by going down over the embankment, giant ragweed and all. Now Winston has always thought about doing that but never has taken off over the side. Once I yelled "no", they both stopped their decent and walked towards me.

Stella is very good at coming when called. She will go to the edge of the property and I'm sure it's very tempting for her to be sprinting across the field in new territory but she always comes when I call her name.

Sadie was more than curious that Stella was going out into the field without her. She had to go out and retrieve her to get her to come back towards the house. She will do that anytime I tell her to "go get .... ", find them, touch their noses and the other hound will follow her to come back inside the house.

Sadie After Chasing Stella Back To The House

They still found time for a little play this morning. I'm glad they do this outside and not inside. It might be hard to believe with four hounds and two of them being fairly large hounds, but they are always quiet and well mannered inside the house. They either sleep or find a bone to chew. Luckily they are all at the age where running and chasing each other inside the house doesn't happen.

While on the computer doing my normal internet reading this morning, I heard a hound trying to get into the dog food container which is in the same room as my computer. It's usually Sadie that is the food hound but when I glanced over it was Stella trying to turn the lid of the container, which locks as you turn it. So I will have another bloodhound that is food driven at times.

Today starts the regular season for the NFL, so our Sundays will be identical to our Saturdays ... that's what football addicts do. We do take time for the daily afternoon dog walk. So far I have not had enough hands to take photos on that walk, not even with my iPhone. Sadie has been walking leash free since Stella arrived. Winston is on one retractable leash and Stella is on the other retractable leash. Both are 25' long. I am pretty sure Stella would be okay off leash and walk with Sadie ... as long as no other animals showed up.

Twice this past week on that walk, a large number of Canadian Geese, have been flushed out by Sadie, getting airborne before Sadie can get to them. I know Stella would be right there with her based on her running the other day when she saw them ... only to stop immediately at 25' with my arm in tow.

This week all four of the hounds and I will try to take a trip locally and get some different photos than just the backyard and the field. There are not any dog parks around so that is not a possibility. We will see what we can find though.

It will be back to the high 80's a couple of days next week but overall this time of year is a great place to be, in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.