A Little Update After 3+ Months

As you will see things have been pretty normal around here. Nothing really to report on but I heard you and thought I should post a few photos of the hounds and the dog, plus a couple of extras. It was a wet April to say the least so the hounds spent a lot of time inside sleeping just waiting for the yard to dry out enough where they could run, lay in the grass with their bones. About that time the yard would dry out, it would rain again.

You never can have enough bones for three dogs. If I bought just one large one they would all want it and leave the other two knuckle bones behind, so this time I bought each of them one large bone.

As you can see, possession is 9/10's of the law and Henry was going to make sure that Walter and Watson knew this was his bone. He only dropped it to eat his meals then would pick up the bone and take it everywhere he went.

As we moved into May it was fantastic weather. Walter spent more time outside than I had ever seen him. He still gets visits from his mailman but wasn't aware just how hot the "Heat Dome" would be in June.

Noble Roman's Pizza was a favorite stop for my family every time they would drive me back to campus at IU in 1970. We would always stop there before their return trip home. Luckily I found a Noble Romans a few miles from the house and I always get the "individual" pepperoni, italian sausage and mushrooms. That is not the best pizza in town though but it's very good.

Henry has always had a thing about sleeping while leaning up on something. He did that in his puppy photos when I would visit him with his littermates. This is his favorite afternoon sleeping spot.

This is his spot to watch the nightly baseball games.

Watson continues to get better as he gets older ... but like today he will destroy something unexpected just to let me know he is only 14 months old.

Those April rains ... my whole yard was under water just like this on two or three different occasions.

Slowly the yard came back to green and all of that short grass is now mowed at 3". I made a huge mistake last fall cutting the yard so low while mowing the leaves.

The tree contractor for the utility company finally showed up in May. They went along the back property line cutting tree limbs only, that were next to their two thin power lines up high. Those three larger cables are AT&T's and they would not trim the limbs near them. So now I have a wall of tall trees with thick tree limbs on the bottom and at the top of the trees ... thinned out and cut back in the center of the trees away from their power lines. At least they were good and not one tree limb hit my fence.

Henry loves his patio.

As you can tell the hounds and the dog were really excited about the Indy 500 race.

For those of you that voted for that idiot in office, the administration that backs him and the mystery person that has to be calling the shots for him ... this is for you. Came out just today. Yes, some of it will come down in price but not enough. We are not even halfway through his term yet ... there may not be anything left by 2024. For those that don't like my political comments, get lost, my blog and I will say what I want. After all I am saying all of this in a nice political correct way just for you.

I am officially announcing my Toyota FJ days are over. It started happening too consistently when I would step "up" into the FJ ... the hip that has the replacement started showing some pain each time. As did my left hip. I am now told the x-rays show I have some arthritis in the left hip and to start expecting more of what I felt.

Combine the hips with the rising gas prices, it just wasn't worth having the FJ anymore. The gas prices will eventually go down, now sure how long that will take but in the mean time I refuse to pay what I was paying for fuel for just local driving and one two hundred mile trip per month. This 2020 BMW X1 is fast when I want it to be, gets 32mpg around town for me so far and am told by a friend that has one, to expect over 40mpg on the freeways. 

It is big enough in back for the bloodhound and low enough for him to step into the cargo area. That was another thing with the FJ that I even brought up in past years ... it was getting harder for me to squat down and lift him under his butt, a 110 pounds worth of hound UP INTO the FJ cargo area. Believe me this is or was a good decision.

I did look at Mini Cooper Countryman again, the Subaru Forester but in my private blog I could go back to those cars and read again why I traded them. This car gives me what I liked about both of them plus more. Even having to buy premium gas, my cost analysis proved it was cheaper than pouring in 87 regular into the FJ. Plus ... no short zaps of hip pain when I get into the car.

I cannot tell you how often I will blog. I don't really think it will be anything regular, maybe a monthly thing. Yet, I just don't take a lot of photos any more. I am kept pretty busy with the hounds. As a pair they can find stuff to get into while Walter tries to supervise and help me the best he can. He would never do what those hounds do.

It has been great weather here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.