April 29, 2017

Sadie Fits In A Walk Between Storms


Once Sadie saw sunshine outside she thought she had a chance but we needed to go outside and take a few steps into the field just to see how wet the ground was. It looked and felt dry enough, although wet, that we could get a walk in today.



By the time I walked inside to grab the camera and came back outside, Stella was already starting the walk and was out in the middle of the field before the first turn, ready to go.


It was an afternoon of exploration. No trotting, no running and no jogging from either hound, including me. I have felt the field being wetter in the early morning dew last week than it was now. Hard to believe it had rained the the last 20 hours off and on. Yet it is nice and hot this afternoon.


Sadie was thrilled we were outside. It doesn't take much for her to get cabin fever when she cannot get outside a hundred different times a day. At least it seems that many from my doorman experience.


Stella's ischium is back to being the same size as her right one. I have to think that swelling over the weekend through Wednesday, had to be rabies shot related. She enjoyed her back rub with the rubber hound mitt that collected a small amount of shedding hair.


Not nearly all but along the edges of the field where the hounds walk, the grass seems to be getting taller by the hour. It will not be long before I'll have hard time seeing the hounds while they walk with their noses to the ground.


After hanging out left of us for most of the walk I was a little surprised that Stella slowly walked in Sadie's direction near the far right corner. I didn't have to call her by name thing but later on she turned on her stubborn feature and made the walk a little longer than planned.


Even with distance between them, still no trotting today by Stella.


She followed the edge of the field behind me and Sadie all the way up to the last turn. We had to wait on her to catch up, as she was in the ultra slow pace this afternoon. Maybe too soon after her afternoon nap.


I had walked quite a while not really paying attention to where she was. With Sadie right next to me I just figured that Stella was slowly walking behind me. When I turned to check on her, she was nowhere near behind me !!!! She was barely visible just on top of the small ridge of the field toward the north woods. It took my 200mm zoom lens just to look this close to her.


I called a few times and she never moved. I took this from a long ways away so I had no choice but to start walking her direction. She still did not move as I approached her. Then once I was about 10' from her, she raised her head and slowly walked toward me with not a care in the world.


So an unexpected walk was fit in the schedule today thanks to the actual weather compared to the forecasted weather last night. I have a feeling though that Sadie will still want another one later. We might do one without the camera but will have to see.

I still have the urge for some reason to go to Best Buy. There must be something over their that needs my money but I don't know what that would be besides some printer ink. Walmart is closer but they only have the box of three colors for $14 more than the same box at Best Buy. I don't need all three colors, I am not even close to being low on the other two colors besides cyan.

I do not need any computer stuff, no camera stuff so I can't figure out why I can't get that trip out of my head. The Epson scanner that scans negatives and slides in addition to pictures, does interest me quite a bit but I am not sure I am in the mood to jump right in scanning pictures or slides if it were sitting on my desk.

I guess the best way to sum up this afternoon is like when you are hungry but do know know what you want to eat.

Dr. Jeff's vet show on tv tonight may turned out to be the highlight of the evening here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Storms Were More Bark Than Bite


The storms last night ended up barking more than it bit. The radar showed it could be a bad one but we ended up with a .8" of rain. It sounds like everything was once again, north or south of us.



I guess it was fortunate a few years ago the farmers installed some huge drainage pipes across the low part of their field. Basically from left to right across the middle of the picture. The local tv weatherman said last night the rain coming down at a rate of 9" per hour.


This is what happens when your gutters are clear and cleaned but there is more rain than gutter space available.


The space below that overflowing gutter caught all of the excess and more.



By this morning with a night full of storms, it had been absorbed into the ground.


All three hounds did take their first walks of the day while I poured their breakfast kibble. Based on the the wet fur on top of them, they did venture out into the rain to dump their tanks. A few hours later they both went back outside to check the chances of a morning walk.

They called it off and came back to stand inside the carport looking to see how long this misery was going to last.

Even though I had cleaned the gutters just a few weeks ago, preparing for the spring rains that had not come yet, I saw this within minutes of the Friday night storms.

I knew exactly what the problem was and it would be an easy fix as long as it would stop raining long enough for me to reach over the gutter and remove some of whatever it was blocking the wire mesh that blocks every thing but water at the downspout.

It couldn't have been leaves, maybe a twig but by the way this looked it had to be wet leaves??


The rain did not complete stop but it slowed enough for me to pull out the 3-step ladder and reach up into the gutter near the downspout to feel liquid mud. I didn't look to see what it was but moved it around out of eyesight range enough to unblock the plug and instantly hear a large amount of water flowing into the downspout.

Supposedly these storms are going to continue through the weekend and into Monday. Of course living in Indiana, those forecasts can change every hour, so Sadie's day may turn out okay after all.

Let's just say that she has not been a happy camper this morning. Stella has been the perfect bloodhound during last night storms. With a warning when I picked her up that she hated thunder and lightning, once again she has not shown any of that fear or anxiety.

There was a lot of loud thunder and a lot of bright lightning all through the night ... but to me that is just perfect sleeping weather. The new HughesNet Gen5 only lost signal once and that was when the house power flashed off and on Friday night. Soon after that computer rebooted and the signal was found, that speed was still at 48Mbsp.


I had a huge urge to drive to the local Best Buy store 25 miles away yesterday. I got the hounds ready for my departure, changed some clothes for me, grabbed the keys and was about a step from the door ... when I changed my mind. I couldn't believe I didn't feel like spending money in a place like that.


After more internet research I have found that my Epson NX420 printer/scanner does not print temporarily in black if one of the color inks are low or out, as advertised. I still do as much as I can digital and even have my auto insurance cards in my iPhone instead of a printout but I would still like a hard copy of my 2016 Federal and State Taxes just for a piece of mind.


Strange how that works. Never in my life have I ever needed a printout of my taxes but still think I need to print a copy out for my files. Sure the computer could break at any moment but I have everything backed up on an external drive and a different laptop to connect to if I lost the services of my iMac.

So, why do I need a hard copy of taxes?


I did find a nice Epson scanner, at a good price, in stock that not only scans documents and photos but 35mm negatives, 110 negatives and slides of each size. I have thousands of those slides and negatives if I add up all the different kinds.

Sometime I would like to make a digital copy of my 1976 Cross Country bicycle trip journal along with the pictures I took. Some of those are hard copy photos and others are negatives.

I have a lot of great 35mm slides taken over two decades but only a few were processed into pictures.

So once again today I have the urge for a roadtrip to Best Buy to pick up that scanner, plus buy the Epson #124 or #125 Cyan ink cartridge, so I can print in black only ... that would also get out of the house. I need to get a life sometime as others have told me.  LOL


Well the sun is trying to break through the skies. Wunderground shows all of that 100% chance of rain has dropped to 25% until midnight. Sadie does not know it yet but a walk MIGHT be possible later this afternoon as long as it does not rain this afternoon.

Changed the roadtrip plans to Rounds 4-7 of the NFL draft here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

April 28, 2017

The Hounds Prepare For Rain


I could tell after lunch that not much of anything would be done this afternoon, hounds included. The occupants of this house barely had a pulse.



Even though it was not raining Heidi heard the forecast and walked out to the front yard just long enough to dump her tanks. She took her bad weather path behind the Yews, climbed the three steps up to the porch and then jumped into the front yard. She came back the same way, only walking around the porch to get behind the Yews.


Sadie and Stella didn't get any further than this before they came back to the house to go inside. That's really strange for them as they are usually trying to talk me into a walk after lunch.


As much time as they have spent in this area the past 24 hours, I suspect the big blonde cat has paid us a visit sometime in the pre-dawn hours.


The house got so quiet this afternoon you could hear a pin drop. Instead of that, all I heard was constant ringing in my years. The hounds were in such a dream state of sleep, none of them were snoring.


While sitting at the kitchen table playing some Mahjong on my laptop, this piece of machinery drove by the house and made a right hand turn onto that one lane of gravel I was on last week. I have no idea what they are spraying. Since it's wild mustard and they have plans to plant there, my wild guess is that it is weed killer.

Or maybe they are spraying fertilizer before they plow them under????


Just like Heidi, they went back the way they came. I was so lazy I did not even get outside to take this. It's shot it through the kitchen window as I sat at the kitchen table.

It was one lazy afternoon. I heard the sound of thunder after we returned from our afternoon walk without the camera. It seemed like the perfect time to crack open a window in cool weather and take a siesta.

No plans for the weekend, except a 100% chance of a lot of rain here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella Finds New Territory


Little did I know just how interesting Friday's morning walk would get. Needless to say Stella acted like her 'old self' today starting the minute she woke up.


We were up early again and while I was taking my first pictures of the day, Sadie and Stella were out trying to identify what had been in their yard while they slept last night. It was just a few minutes past 7am.


I know it will take a while for Stella to regain the weight she lost but it looks to me that I am seeing fewer ribs showing from the side. Heidi gained her weight back, so can Stella.


Being up earlier meant the coffee was consumed earlier, the reading finished and Sadie showing up at the corner of my desk chair earlier, letting me know we needed to get our morning walk in before the forecasted afternoon rains. With that early departure, the field was even wetter than normal.


If you do any reading about the breeds of the basset hounds and bloodhounds you will notice there is a difference in them, besides their size. Bloodhounds have one purpose if hunting ... to flush out deer. Basset Hounds have one purpose if hunting ... not only to find rabbits but to chase them into thick brush where the rabbit will panic, stop and catch them.

{my basset hound in 1990, named Sadie, did that exact thing. I saw brush moving, that was so thick I could not walk in it. I heard her baying and a little later a happy basset running back to the car with signs that she had a rabbit lunch}

I found out yesterday afternoon that the bloodhound writeup was absolutely correct while Heidi stayed back in yard.


Sadie was near this area yesterday afternoon, although this picture was taken in sequence this morning for Stella's venture, when not TWO FEET AWAY from Sadie's nose a rabbit hopped out of the ground and moved as fast as possible into the woods ... neither Sadie or Stella even noticed it.


This morning was a different story as you have seen from the previous two pictures. Although, NO rabbit was involved. Stella reacted so strong to a scent that she walked into the green brush. Ignoring me calling her name. I knew when Sadie joined the party in the previous picture I could have a major problem on my hands. I could tell that both were excited.

Stella sprinted into the wooded area and I had no doubts that she was headed off into the gully by the way she ran. As I tucked my camera, yelling her name, I sprinted into the same wooded area where I was barely able to catch Stella coming back from where ever she had gone.


Luckily I got both hounds back out into the field and finding out myself just how many of those bushes had thorns ... I'm glad they didn't tear my jacket sleeves.

Stella had to recheck that spot one more time before she left to catch up with Sadie. To see her jog, not trot, to catch up to Sadie was a blessing in disguise. She was going faster than a trot and looked like her old self compared to the past few weeks where she walked the whole way not much faster than a snail.


The deer scent was extremely strong this morning. They were both more active than normal, always out in front of me and at times past the line of comfort.


When Stella changes directions with her nose in the air I am aways ready to take off running after her. You never know what she has picked up and you never know if she is going to go after what she has smelled. That trip this morning into the woods proved that.


This morning was much different than past walks. It was the first time in a long time that she spent 99% of the of walk in front of me with Sadie instead of dragging her feet walking behind me. By her energy this morning, she has to be feeling better.


I added this picture just to show how far out in front of me they are. With Sadie's nose down like that I thought they might take off on me again so I started jogging up the path to catch them.


When they ignore you because of what they are smelling, that can be potential trouble unless you are in the mood to get some running in.


Stella is sure the deer went this way. She would be correct because that is a common place where the deer jump over a small hidden fence and take off into the corn field.


By the time I convinced Stella to turn around and head home, Sadie was trotting way in front of me. Again, it was great to see Stella take off running to catch up with her. I also like seeing her tail upright which shows she is feeling good.


Not quite a full run, but a jog faster than a trot ... and far enough away that 200mm zoom was needed to catch up to them.


Sadie reminding Stella to keep it at this pace.


Close to home and still moving faster than normal.


Sadie walked it in but was always on the lookout for a new scent to identify. The rain may or may not show up and that will determine this afternoon's activities. In the meantime Stella is back to destroying her Nylabone.


It can never be a good sign when a concrete truck pulls off the highway to check their load. I wonder if a warning light on his dash told him to pull over and get out to look or did he hear something out of the norm?

Not sure of my plans today but it feels like a day to read books, a game or two of Mahjong on the computer and an afternoon hound walk if it doesn't rain.

The temps are trying to crawl back to the 70's today but have a long way to go, here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.