The Hounds Have A Good Week

It was nice to feel the temps slowly crawling back into the 80's this week. I can't say we were fans of the humidity though so a lot of mid-day to early evenings were spent inside where it was cool.

For some reason all the hound walks were done without taking the camera. I must say for some reason and it's probably just a coincidence, Stella was behaving much better just walking and no photos being taken.

The camera didn't miss anything exciting but me being inside almost did. I was at the kitchen table playing my games of Mahjong close to 9pm one night ... when I glanced out the big window I saw 8-10 deer across the highway running along the edge of the field and trees.

By the time I snuck outside quietly, keeping the hounds inside the house, all of them took off sprinting across the field out of view. During this time was one of those times the lens was not getting enough light possibly and wouldn't focus so I could get the photos.

About the time I was giving up, one deer came back alone to check out the recently planted soybean field. Sorry but this was the best I could do zooming. I didn't want to walk out into the driveway and spook her since she was lifting her head each time she heard the camera's beep when auto focused. Even then the photo of her wasn't clear and sharp.

That was the 2nd time in two weeks I've been lucky that the hounds either didn't see the deer across the highway or were inside the house at the time. There is no way they can afford to run across the highway chasing deer ... that highway is never good to runaway hounds.

We moved through a pretty slow week, between thunderstorms to light rains and periods of sunshine all in the same day at times. Overall the weather was nice enough to take the hound's walks in early morning and then around 8pm. Between that, they did nothing but sleep inside with the AC running nonstop.

Today was nice and for the first time in a long time they both headed straight back into to the field instead of going north and on the outer edge of their boundary.

By late afternoon it was perfect to sit outside, listen to the birds, enjoy the slight breeze and the sun sneaking in and out of the clouds. Sadie and Stella didn't get out of the backyard while we were out. Stella enjoys the SW breeze.

It wasn't until she saw that Sadie might have something she needed, that she decided she had to get up to check it out. I think both of them are more interested in the soft dirt that is pushed up by the moles more than anything else.

Although I cut the yard on Tuesday, one level lower than before, it has really grown back fast these past few days.

All of these photos today were taken with the 55mm-200mm lens. One thing you might have noticed, something that will make it easier to tell Sadie and Stella apart ... Sadie no longer wears her collar.

I noticed the other day it looked too small as her extra skin under her neck hung over the collar. That collar as been passed down among previous hounds. It was also on the last rung and could not be lengthened, so I decided she didn't need it. I have one she can use when she makes her trips to the vet.

By the time the next photo was taken, their tongues hanging out were telling me they wanted to get back inside to enjoy their air conditioning. They had enough of the warmer temps today.

After I took my coffee and the mail back inside, I returned to see that Sadie may have been having second thoughts about coming inside. She started sprinting toward the house though when she saw Stella running for the door.

Heidi is doing well although she doesn't spend a lot of time outside with us. She was out this morning while I was picking up some tree limbs blown down the other day by the thunderstorm. I didn't have my camera with me. She normally likes to sleep all day in front of the cold air inside. Sleeping is her favorite hobby besides eating.

Her skin is looking the best I have seen it in a while. All four of her paws have a lot of hair growing back but they are still not at the normal thickness of hair.

I spent most of my week surfing the internet looking at houses and land for sale in the states of AZ, NM, CO and UT. It's nothing new, I've done it before and saved a lot of those searches in the past. There were more houses than I expected still listed for sale 6-10 months later.

I don't have any immediate plans to move but I will in the future. I am also back to looking at RVs, trailers and forums. That will all change in about 8 weeks or so when college football begins again. I am addicted to college football and most likely need some sort of counseling for it.

Life is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.