After the hound walk late afternoon yesterday, I hung my soaked ballcap up outside on the nail knowing there was little chance of drying out overnight with the humidity. It was better than leaving it hung up on the door hinge inside, it's normal place. So it was not a shock to put a soaked ballcap on for our morning walk this morning ... it was 20° cooler at 8:46am but it didn't feel like it.
I tried something different this morning taking photos ... all at 35mm or 50mm, except three of the last four.
Stella continued her path of success and I am in disbelief that she has not changed this routine and all out ignored me so she can head north to the neighbor's woods and backyard. She takes her own path with little verbal herding and meets Sadie and I right before we reach the corner of the field, or our first turn.
Unlike the growth in the field this spring and early summer, where it was almost all grass, it is now filling up with food for bees and places to land for larger butterflies. Like last summer I think they will let it grow until next June. That's fine since the hounds will still be visible on our walks or when I sit outside and let them wander the field.
Sadie was showing signs there was a lot of deer or rabbit, maybe both, activity while we slept. She was intense in her exploring this morning.
When she is in this mode, she hears nothing, sees nothing and moves quick in different directions. The camera cannot pick all her moves up in time.
For over two weeks now, Stella has followed her same path starting north then slowly angling toward the corner to meet us. We meet up in about the same area of the field every morning. Maybe it's her old pink collar that is making her so controlled?
By this time in the walk, what I consider the first 25% of it, the humidity is thick yet a low percentage on the weather app. Since it took me a while to realize this is Friday morning and not Saturday morning (does it make a difference retired?) I had to alter my plans to buy dog food this morning. The chicken blend usually sells out on Friday.
Stella was more active than she had been in a while. What I mean by that is, she wasn't trotting but walking faster, more receptive to what she was smelling and the shocker ... she wasn't eating deer scat.
She looks at me as if I am crazy when I talk to her ... who knows? Maybe I am.
As I walk through the field I am wondering what all of these 'normal' photos are going to look like shot at 50mm instead of 70mm-200mm? Will they be sharper, more clear? Will I have to crop any? We'll see when they are sent through the editing process.
I didn't call Sadie's name or say anything ... but as I was tracking her with the camera held to my eye ... she looked right at me. Still intense and walking at a fast pace. Scents were all over the field for her today.
It didn't surprise me. I expected it. When I turned from Sadie to see what Stella was doing ... she was looking at that 'far right corner', even taking a few steps in that direction ....
When I called her name ... she turned and came right toward me. What's up with her? I am not use to all of this obedience from a bloodhound. Honestly I am shocked how nice she has been the past few weeks on these walks.
With all the rain and sun this spring/summer ... everything is nice and green. This stood out in seven acres of greenness.
The back of the field always has a lot of deer traffic, in any season.
I am surprised how many photos I am catching with 50mm setting. I may have overlooked this for the past year or two. I am liking what I see as I downloaded them from my camera to my computer.
I am noticing with bright sunshine and the setting of 'landscape' some of the images are too dark when I am shooting back towards the sun.
From this angle it looks like Stella has gained her weight back from her loss from 15 months ago. At other angles she still looks thin but eats like a horse.
We might be close to finishing the walk but that does not mean that Stella is going to follow Sadie and I. She would love to turn right toward those woods but walked parallel to Sadie and I, to within three feet of the yard ... then turned toward us.
The only animal that would stand that tall next to the pole to draw so much interest from Stella ... is deer. I've seen them walk by that pole and took pictures of it last year (can't remember the month) ... so deer is my only guess for what she seems to be smelling.
Those last three photos were taken at 200mm
As you can probably tell, I lowered my lawn mower blade one notch yesterday ... I have a lot of grass to rake up before my next mowing next week sometime. Any grass collected will be added to the burn pile for this fall. Stella actually broke into a little trot in that photo ...
It was really nice today with temps in the mid 80's. Yet the hounds were not interested in any kind of walking or soaking up the rays after their lunch. They came out, sniffed a little and all headed toward the door to be let inside. I tried a couple of different formula's of vinegar and water mixtures to see if that will kill the weeds. Three hours after I sprayed a 50/50, a 75/25 and 100% vinegar ... I saw no signs of wilting.
I am afraid that Stella has become addicted to the air conditioning. That is as far as she got today after her lunch. She didn't move until Heidi and Sadie headed for the door to go back inside. I was almost ready to pull out my weed trimmer but decided I would do all of it tonight after 7pm when the temperature is suppose to drop to 78°. With the Reds playing in Chicago at 2:20pm I was able to cut weeds and rake grass after 7pm.
To confirm in my mind, I have looked at past pictures of this driveway in the same months for each year going back to 2010. That year I spent a week on my hands and knees pulling out every weed by it's roots with my hands ... I even blogged about it since it was so exciting .... well that only MULTIPLIED them the following summer and they have never stopped multiplying. I haven't had this many weeds in the driveway since I moved in March 1998.
99.9% of my mailbox down by the highway is a receiver of junk mail. The general consensus is I am close to death and if I return a card the state of Indiana will help pay for my funeral. I also have been getting weekly offers for the past two years for government funded hearing aids or a price discount IF I come in for an exam. Some time this past spring those offers have changed to them confirming my examination appointment ... one that I have never made.
They don't give up.
By the time I finished watching the Reds beat the Cubs 3-2 in Chicago, then taking our 2nd hound walk of the day, I had changed my mind about raking dead grass in the yard. It might be a real possibility Saturday morning but things change rapidly in retirement so we'll see
Another fine day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
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