A Rough Dog Day Yesterday

It is tempting to jump right into yesterday's activities. There are many to write about. I thought instead I would back up a little and show why I have been so busy lately that taking photos is almost non-existent. With the FedeX delivery yesterday I am now to the point where a bike ride is planned for this afternoon led by my old friend that knows the city, all the bike routes and bike paths. Yet, the environment for the hounds and the dog will be much different due to their decisions yesterday. You will see what I am talking about further down the post. It was quite a day.

When the movers take CDs and DVs off a shelf that were sorted in alphabetical order (to prevent me from buying duplicates) it does not seem too hard to pack them the same way or close to the order. Nope, they were backward, out of order, upside down, anyway to get them in the box. So last week when unpacking the living room I sorted the CDs and DVDs just like this. Late at night.

I plan on painting the living room a tan color and it should be an easy job. I can't say that blue accent wall is growing on me but in a way I hope "laziness" does not prevent me from getting the walls painted a different color. See those lower windows? They have screens on the inside and that is part of my story later in this post. That wall decor is from my patio in Sierra Vista and is there temporarily to cover a small hole made when they took down their wall mounted tv bracket, an electrical outlet for that tv and the cable connection. The living room is part of the original house built in 1959.

For the 20x20 great room I needed some furniture. Simplicity Furniture was recommended by the lady that was doing my closing at the title company last Thursday. I was there Friday afternoon a little after 1pm. It is the best furniture store I have ever walked into. Besides the large inventory to choose from, there was sports memorabilia, classic toys, old coke machines and even an old horse from a Merry-Go-Round. They had a great choice of framed photos and framed paintings. Everything I saw was NOT for sale.

To the left is their stage for their monthly comedy show. I was invited to stop in for coffee and conversation anytime. I walked out with an order to fill the great room with a few missing pieces that I needed to go back and buy on Monday. To top it off, they gave me a free lamp and on Monday knocked off a $175 from the itemized listed prices ... plus they sent me home with a Chess Pie on Friday.

I didn't have a lot of photos on the walls in Sierra Vista. I had plans of getting my own photos framed and hung but I have said that for 15 years or more and rarely made that happen. So this time I was planning to buy photos etc at the store. I came up with these and had all of them hung by Saturday morning at 7:15am.

I am not a fan of the tv on top of the gas fireplace but it also hides the wire for the surround sound with speakers in the ceiling in the four corners. Once again it hides the electrical outlet and cable connector that they used with their wall mounted tv. I am beginning to think that one of the previous owners thought he was an electrical expert. All of the rooms that have ceiling fans with lights are all controlled by a remote ... not a fan of that either. So far the hounds and the dog are not allowed on the soft leather couches although I was assured it is bullet proof against any dog damage .... but they could not guarantee it was against bloodhound drool.

Stella and Walter will lay their heads on the couch with looks that beg me to let them up. Henry stands with his front paws on the couch so he can get eye level with me to do his begging. So far the answer is a pretty strong "no". It is nice to be able to sit on the couch, glance out the window and see a wooded area instead of the backyards of two different houses facing opposite directions. I have yet to hear any loud thumping woofers driving by the house at 1am also. A nice quiet neighborhood where Walter and Henry lay by the patio door looking for birds and smelling the fresh air.

With rain in the forecast Saturday around noon, I decided I could get my yard mowed before then and hopefully before the furniture store showed up with my free delivery. I could not have timed it better. I had just shut off the lawn mower after my last pass when their truck showed up at the house. They moved in the couches and some tables way before noon ... that rain kept getting pushed out by the hour on Saturday to where it didn't show up until Sunday. Yes, that is the same ballcap I wore in "the tropics" two years ago when I would did yard work.

Here is another thing where I cannot find an answer to my question "Why"??? What is so hard about cleaning a kitchen stove or a refrigerator or the inside of cabinet drawers ??? Why??? So Sunday morning while waiting on the Spectrum tech to arrive and get me back on the internet I pulled out my oven cleaner for stoves like this to end up with a clean stove. 

It really didn't take that much effort. This older model of stove works so much better than the new Samsung I had at the house in Arizona.

Monday I had plans. I had a list of things to do and accomplished all of those as I mentioned in my last post. Tuesday I had to hang around the house to wait for the FedEx truck to show up because my signature was needed for the title of the 1960 VW single cab truck I bought. They pick it up tomorrow in Mercer Island WA to transport it here by the next week.

So what better time than to pull out the rake and start at the end of my yard out by the street and start raking stones so I can fill that area the width of my yard with top soil and plant grass. The previous owner I hear was quite the partier when there was a ballgame on and that area of the yard had been worn down by parked cars of friends visiting. My friend Ralph is using the stone I raked up into piles, in the woods behind his house to prevent soil erosion. 

During the time I was outside raking I had four neighbors stop by to introduce themselves, tell me about the neighborhood and of course to find out a little about me. I mean a white haired guy seen shooting a basketball every day in the driveway and he has those three dogs they thought they saw.  Plus that weird car sitting in the driveway. Ha Ha. I am surprised again by the number of neighbors that moved in when their houses were built in 1960 and never left. Now two of them have daughters my age taking care of them but still so much history of the area of my house is just a question away.

I could hear Stella destroying my screens as I stood outside by the street talking to those that stopped by. To me it would have been rude to excuse myself to make Stella stop what she had already destroyed. It was something I knew would happen eventually because of her past history of separation anxiety and a new house. For those that don't know, I got Stella 6 years ago this summer because she was breaking out of the house of her previous owner while they were at work in the country in Kentucky. She had severe separation anxiety when I rescued her in August 2015. Check previous blog posts about her.

This would upset most people that are not dog lovers but I have replaced a lot of screens in the past six years of owning here, so I have the tools and the knowledge to do it. The puppies were bothering her in the garage while I was outside working so I decided to give her a break and let her stay inside the house since she had been so good inside the house during the 50 minutes I would mow the yard. Obviously she was pretty determined to get out yesterday.

Don't leave yet if you are scrolling through the photos ... this is not the best story of the day.

The hectic day had finally ended ... I thought. The hounds and the dog and I had spent time outside in the backyard and patio enjoying the late afternoon breeze. I had left the patio door open as I sat there watching Henry on his 40' cord and Stella laying in the yard. Walter had gone back inside and I wasn't paying attention. As it got colder Stella, Henry and I moved inside and I was getting ready to get cleaned up when the doorbell rings. 

It was another neighbor but she wasn't wanting to introduce herself ... standing next to her on the front porch WAS WALTER !!!! Sometime while I was sitting on the patio with my attention focussed on Henry and Stella, he had snuck out of the house right behind me, walked around to the front yard and decided he would go see the neighborhood for himself !!!!

Since his neck is bigger than his head, a dog collar won't work. He needs and has a harness but that is used when he has to travel in the car. So no tags, no ID, just a plain dog that the mailman loves enough to stop on his route yesterday to get more photos of him and pet him. A sidetrack ... How did Walter meet the mailman whom I was talking to while raking the rock ???? I had forgot to lock the door that goes into the garage from the house and with the garage door open ALL THREE came sprinting out the door to the front yard ... the happiest dogs in town.  Stella had opened the door with the lever handle and all three were free. Exactly why her previous owner had to give her away. At least I am home to keep them in the yard when she broke them out.

Back to the doorbell. Ann was walking her dog almost home to the right of my house but down about 3-4 houses, when "this bulldog comes running up behind me". She didn't know if he was mean or not but within seconds Walter laid down on the street and crawled to her as she asked him who he was. Just like he did with me the first time I met him. Laying flat on the floor. She didn't know it as my dog but with a new dog in the 'hood he had to belong to the house with the new car in the 'hood.

I had no idea he was even gone.

So that rectangular black thing you saw in the photo above ... well that goes to that metal bracket on the left. I noticed after Walter was returned home, that Henry was missing or at least not in the part of the house Stella and Walter was. I find Henry hidden in the corner of the living room chewing on a part for the garage door system. At first I thought he had tore this out during the day while I was raking rock. Was positive it was him ... until ....

When I tried bending that metal bracket back into the correct position I realized that Henry did not do this, but I knew Stella was strong enough to bend hard metal like warm butter. I could barely bend it back with my hands, while trying not to break it. In the past she had bent metal of her dog crate that I could not even bend back with pliers. She had dented round door knobs at my other house a few years ago as she escaped from a closed door room. She had done this. Luckily after splicing the wire and inserting the piece back in it's original position, the garage door opened and closed with the remote and wall mount switch without a problem.

So it was a very interesting day yesterday with the hounds and the dog. It is sad to say but I am going to have to set up Stella's crate again, in the garage. I just can't keep coming back home to bloodhound damage. IF I had not seen part of the garage door system destroyed I would have kept her just in the garage ... although passing dog walkers have told me they have heard he howling inside the garage as they walk by the house. 

She doesn't want me to leave just like the times when I first got her.

How can you be mad at a group like this ???  Wake me up at 5am daily, goes outside, back inside to eat, follow me to the computer room with coffee in hand and the back to sleep by 5:20am preparing me for another day of hounds and the dog excitement.

It is no problem when you have the best chocolate ice cream in America just a few miles from the house at GD Ritzy's and their cheeseburgers are great too.

Otherwise everything is great here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.