I realized one day last week as I carried Heidi outside forcing her to get some sunshine and off the couch, that when her paws touched the ground and she sprinted back to the door that she had changed her rules for 2017. Normally anything above 70° had her outside enjoying the day but not until it was 77° did she jump off the couch on her own and sprint for outside when I asked if she wanted to go. I am assuming 75° is the threshold she will go by now.
I had just mowed the yard and was planning on trimming the Yews in front of the house so what perfect time than having the hounds enjoying a sunny Friday afternoon. Of course Sadie was not going to lay down nor stay around. If I cannot walk her she will take her own and spent the time I trimmed the Yews out exploring the field.
Stella was in no mood to walk anywhere nor supervise my trimming job. She took about 10 steps into the backyard and literally flopped into her sleeping position where did not move the time I was out in front of the house.
By the time I finished trimming and put all the tools away, raked the cut limbs and disposed of them on the burn pile for next fall, Heidi was letting me know she needed her ears cleaned. That sounded like a good 'operation' to do for all the hounds on Saturday. When retired you have to pace yourself by not doing all of your fun activities on one day.
As I headed out to the field to hopefully find Sadie within viewing distance, Heidi decided she needed a nap and Stella was in the dream state. Later on I had to raise my voice volume calling for her to wake up and come inside. Why wake her up???
Past experience has shown me that she may be in a deep sleep but at the same she might be 'acting' she is in a deep sleep. Then when I leave her outside to finish her nap under the sun, I would glance out the window and see her walking into the field for a solo expedition. Her days of roaming free without adult supervision are over for reasons I will not go into.
With the holiday weekend in full swing, she sat and thought this morning of her big plans for the next three days. She is a thinker and takes her time before making any kind of drastic decisions that involve any kind of physical activity.
Whereas Sadie never spends time contemplating life and is only interested in two things ... taking walks and eating food.
As I tried to catch up with the hounds who had moved way out in front of me, I was happy to see that higher morning temperature had kept the field only a little wet instead of really wet, like it was this past week when mornings started in the high 50's. I had to yell 'no' to keep them going further into the woods.
Even after moving away from the woods, Stella and Sadie found enough scent to keep them very interested.
Sadie moves thought this field exploring every inch of her walk and never takes a day off unless it's raining. It certainly seems as she has gotten older she is almost demanding me to take these walks. She does that by sitting in the doorway of the computer room and staring at me until I move. The number of walks already taken does not matter to her.
I cannot find that Stella is in any pain. The vet poked and probed her a few weeks ago, checked her hips, her neck and glanced into her mouth and did not find her to be in any kind of pain ... but she sure does walk like she is. No limping just very very slow at times.
She did keep up with Sadie this morning. She does that on most morning walks but on the mid-day and late afternoon walks she will not attempt to. She will walk slowly behind me. I am not sure by the 3rd walk of the day if she is even that interested in taking one. Sadie is a different story though.
Can anyone name that large leaf plant? It is taking over certain parts of the field. It surely can't be a good mix for the hay they will bale in June.
Stella tried to sneak off on the way back. She was a 200mm zoom lens behind me, but came back to the path with the verbal command "over here". That did not mean she would catch up to us, in fact she slowed her walking pace down just to show me who is in charge of this walk.
I need to take her back to the vet this week and weigh her. It has been a few weeks, maybe a month. I think she has gained some weight and will be anxious to see if and how much.
Since it was about ten degrees warmer this morning, both hounds did not hesitate to get back inside the house where it's cooler and they could sleep. Not much planned today but hound ear cleaning, some cooking and a possible siesta.
The field is starting to come into bloom although the flowers are extremely small at this point in time.
A couple of posts ago I decided as a change to the blog I would post one picture from the past and write a short description. Today is a picture of my first rescue from GABR, linked up in the left sidebar. It was around 1998 that I made the 4 hour drive to pick up Max. I did NOT know just how big he really was and took my Miata two seat sports car. That was almost a huge mistake because I had never seen a basset hound this large.
He took the passenger seat and laid the other half of his body across my 5-speed stick shift and slept most of the way. The previous owner told me he would only eat kibble if he had cottage cheese on it. I guess that is why he weighed in the next morning at the vet's office ... 83 pounds. With better kibble and no cottage cheese then including him on our daily walk (only 1 per day Sadie was not here yet), he eventually reduced his weight to 61 pounds. Instead of sitting down every few feet on the walk he could actually run part of it.
A few years later he became totally blind but that never kept him from his normal routine. The picture above he is blind and running in the field on our walk. I had the same 25' retractable leash I use on Stella at times, that would keep Max in our general direction without him getting lost. He lived to the age of 12 and was one big lazy lovable basset hound.
The dark overcast is slowly being overtaken by sunshine this morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
No comments:
Post a Comment