The Hounds Are Surviving All The Football Games

This morning's skies were not much different than yesterdays ... dark, dreary weather. Yet, this morning the light mist was not around and at 41° it felt warm outside as we started the first walk of the day.

 The only thing planned today is the "greatest weekend" in college football. It really started Friday with a lot of games between 'rival' schools and that will continue today and tonight. Once again it will be a case of not having enough tv's for all the good games shown at one time ... the remote will get quite a workout today ... the hounds will do their normal viewing routine of sleeping through most of them.

We were outside early this morning for their trip after breakfast. They were more than ready to take the walk they missed yesterday but no day starts until coffee is consumed. That rule outlaws all of the Bloodhound Laws.

Stella was not real thrilled when she found out it was not time to walk yet ... coffee had not been consumed at this time. But she came inside anyway and slid next to Heidi for a short morning nap while I read the internet and refueled my caffeine levels.

Once that walk started both Stella and Sadie were pretty happy since we had to take an unexpected day off yesterday. They couldn't stay in one place very long ... too many things to smell and identify.

With the ground soft from the rain two days ago, you could see the occasional prints of deer hooves. With those and the new deer scents the hounds were going crazy with their non-stop motion. The pictures did not capture any of their quick movements.

They took off around the first turn and never stopped ... only my 200mm was able to catch them in these next pictures, I was that far behind them.

The last I saw of Stella she was sprinting following the path we take and have worn down, even veering left but as I reached the first turn she made an abrupt right turn and headed to the far right corner where Sadie was already deep in the deer scents.

They never stayed in one spot too long and proceeded on their walk staying together most of the time.

At their pace I was almost certain they were going to out run me and head for the 'no- fly' zone without looking back. They had locked onto a strong scent and were running as fast as they could while their noses were dragging the ground.

Tandem exploration.

For some reason they turned when I did to follow the path home and stayed so close to me most of the way, where the 18mm setting still couldn't capture them walking next to me as they were that close behind me.

Toward the end they slowly branched out but trotted non-stop back to the house. By the time I sat down at the computer to download the pictures into the computer, both hounds were sound to sleep next to my desk chair while Heidi was still sleeping on her pile of winter stack of Mexican blankets.

Hard to believe that November is almost over. It seems just like yesterday it was in the 80's mid summer. I've been making a list of "to do's" for next spring as I think of them or see something. It looks like it's going to be very busy compared to 2016.

My Apple iMac has finished it's 6th year. I've had zero problems with it except the time I did not read the information correctly before trying to activate File Vault to encrypt my hard drive ... only to find out later that program could not be loaded onto a hard drive as old as mine. So that was 'user error'.

Following advice of the MacGeeks on the MacRumors Forum, I have never used virus protection but I do a regular scan with BitDefender Virus Scanner to check for any malware, viruses on my hard drive. So far so good in that department with my hard drive being clean and sober for it's entire life.

When I gave up 11 years of using Windows PCs in 2006 it had turned into a constant battle with Microsoft, malware, or viruses. I ran anti-virus protection and used five different programs to prevent, check or clean of any malware and viruses on a regular schedule.

The Tiny Homes still seems the rage but I have noticed since they have a couple of tv shows this year, and as popularity has grown ... the prices have increased to the level of ridiculous. I went to a 'tiny home' 25 years ago when I downsized to a condo that was 950 square feet and this current house 19 years ago that has only 958 square feet of living space.

Filling up with gas the other day, a man offered to buy my 2003 Z4. He didn't realize how old it was and thought it was a much newer model. I let him know he could find them for sale on a couple of websites, either by private owners or dealerships. I will continue to drive mine this winter as long as the roads are dry ... only with the top up. The heater works fantastic.

I am still reading about the Blood Type diet and can't make my mind up. I started the Vegan Diet September 7th and have had some good results, some I have mentioned in the past. There are some things I don't like about it thus I am continuing to read about different options.

Well it's time to get ready for the normal Saturday that is 14 straight hours of viewing college football games. When the games are playing at the same time they seem to sort themselves out by their score on if I watch them continuous or move into the "commercials game" ... meaning I switch channels to watch during commercials of my main game, while taping another for later.

So far we have had very mild weather here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A Walk In Light Rain

The rain that was predicted started last night but was not as heavy as expected. You could 'hear' the wet pavement of the highway as cars passed during our first trip outside this morning.

The hounds started their normal routines but today it was a little harder to convince them to come back inside so I could start my daily intake of coffee. Even yelling the keyword "coffee" did not get them to respond as they normally do.

There is a cause to all of this ... they have a nose 200x stronger than people and a reputation of being stubborn.

It never fails that Stella will aways take her time, possibly walking even slower than she normally does, when she comes to my call and she doesn't really want to. If I were to mention any kind of food in my yell, she would be sprinting for the door to get back inside.

Just in case it would start raining harder later, I wanted to get at least one walk in this morning ... so I cut the internet reading short, waited to drink that 2nd cup of coffee when I got back and headed out. It was warm enough to switch from a down jacket and gloves to a all-season jacket, no gloves. Amazing how warm 45° feels with no winds.

With a light rain I put the lens hood on the camera to prevent any rain drops of hitting the lens. It wasn't a steady downpour but it wasn't a light rain. It didn't matter to the hounds ... they had things to check out, not waiting for me. The Tamron lens has worked every day since I bought it last summer. Thanks Tom for the suggestion.

About the time I thought they would head to the far right corner, they made a left to follow the path. It's hard to say what their noses picked up to make that decision for them. It was a good move since we were walking in the rain.

Whenever I go see what Stella is eating, there is nothing there. Her nose will have pushed the brush back to ground level and as you can tell, the brush is thick and deep.

The amount of rain drops stayed the same throughout the morning walk. Both were happy to get back inside where the dropped in their normal spots for a late morning nap. Life's rough as a bloodhound ... very similar to being retired.

Yesterday afternoon after a lot of demanding by Sadie's stare, then Stella's howling ... we took out for the 3rd walk of the day on Tuesday. It was still pretty cold but the sun was out and the skies were blue ... very nice.

It was Sadie this time that stayed back in the corner and then came sprinting ... great exercise for her at 8-1/2 years old.

You may notice she is down to just one front tooth. I guess that is what happens when you are a puppy and are determined to get out of a large indoor kennel while I was at work. She chewed and even was able to bend those heavy black rods that made up the wall of the kennel. I was glad to finally put that kennel away, never to be used again.

Tuesday afternoon.

Just a few years ago, the wild brush that grew around that 75 year old fence post and those trees to the right, was so high and thick you couldn't see it or the base of the trees. I'm glad I became motivated enough in April 2015 to cut, burn all of that out and plant grass seed.

The burn pile for 2017 has started.

Yesterday was colder but so much nicer than today. I knew it was going to be one of those kind of days where the light rain or drizzle would never stop. Yet, plenty to do inside. Some new books to read, college basketball games, some college football games with plans of a lot of food to eat stretched out over the weekend.

Heidi had her 20 minute Epsom Salt soak today. Once again she almost fell asleep with her head propped up on the side of the bathtub.

As the day moved along, it continued to rain and a little harder. So we didn't get another walk in and stayed inside except for the short trips outside for them to dump their tanks. I did more reading about the Blood Type Diet and of coarse with anything written in a book or online ... the reviews voice both sides. I go with my intuition after reading reviews from what kind of dog food, to electronics and/or diets.

Here are some pictures of the hounds during "Football Saturday" or even during the week while watching IU games. Very rarely that the bloodhounds argue about couch space. Mine is a little smaller than your three section couch, so this past Saturday we had a power struggle going on. Instead of Sadie moving over to her chair by the wall ... they decided sharing space was better.

Heidi decided to move out from the bed to the couch. It must have been that Mexican blanket I pulled out of the old FJ and put it back into the active stack of blankets. I am sitting to the left of Heidi and Stella.

Happy Thanksgiving from the hounds and I here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Adjusting To Cold Weather

It was just a little over 4 days ago I was outside wearing cargo shorts, a sweatshirt finishing up the last of the leaves and mowing the yard one last time. The temperature was 71°.

I think you will be able to see the "coldness" in the photos below. It's not close to the 70's but 33°, when we headed out on our walk around 8:33am. Without any wind it was somewhat warm with a down jacket and gloves ... in just 4 days.

How is it possible to get out on the walk by 8:30am ?? For some reason I've been getting to sleep before midnight and waking up by 7:15am. It's barely dark, cold inside the house and all the hounds are thinking about is "pour out that kibble".

Stella and Sadie took off sprinting to start the walk. It's hard to believe that we are scheduled for a full day of rain tonight and through tomorrow. There may not be enough pictures and activity to blog about.

Luckily it looked like this around 8:33am but by 10:15am the sun was out and the skies were blue.

As usual there were plenty of new scents for the hounds to get some nose exercise. I let Stella do what she wanted and did not try to get her to move when she stopped at different spots. Sadie on the other hand had a pretty fast pace.

As you can see Sadie and I are about to make the first turn while Stella hangs back.

For some reason Sadie veered left of the path instead of moving up to the far right hand corner. As I turned to check for Stella she was already almost to me and flying full speed.

Once again when they got to this point of the walk I was sure they were headed to their 'no-fly' zone. It was nice they waited for me and as I made the turn left to head home, they did also.

They are quite a pair with funny personalities. You never know what they may do next or what they find to get into.

No neighbors in view but something has Sadie's interest. There is a house across the highway that has a Saint Bernard ... with a wireless fence. It does not stay outside all of the time, at least not in the front yard but loves to bark at us if he knows the hounds and I are taking our walk.

While I walked back to the house the hounds didn't move. I let them hang out in the field while I loaded up my 32 gallon trash can of recyclables plus another full of bagged trash into the FJ. Heidi was going to be the first hound to make a trip in the 'new' FJ. I still like how clean the FJ is so I am not sure when the bloodhounds will get the chance to ride.

It's normal that Heidi and I are the only ones that go to the Recycle Center due to the lack of space available in the back, plus the amount of time the back door is open to unload.

There is one thing bad that happens when you get up and feed the hounds earlier in the morning. That means that Stella starts begging to be fed lunch around 10am. Even after having two meals usually by 11:30am ... they don't beg for food the rest of the day or night.

Besides the a couple days of rain, it looks like the next week will be in the temperature ranges of 42°/53°. The problem is it takes all day to get up to those highs and most of the days are spent in the lower cooler range.

Does anyone know anything about a diet based on your blood type? I bought a book about that years ago but never pursued it. Still on the shelf. Yesterday one of my pages I follow on Facebook, linked and talked about that subject. After I started reading their link I saw it was the book I bought years ago.

It might be the answer on why I have indigestion when eating oatmeal, some grains and certain kind of beans. All three of those are necessities for a vegan diet in getting protein. Ironically being a Type O blood type, the book shows grains, certain beans and oatmeal would upset my digestive system. The Paleo Diet I followed from May 2015 to September 2016 was the recommended diet for my blood type.

It looks like I have more reading to do today about those diets.

We are heading for our 'winter routine' here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.