Birds Or Squirrels ?

Stepped outside a little past 12:30pm today and it felt like a day in April. It was 42° and April is still four months away. The day was still nice and with a jacket and hat on, it was nice to sit out on the patio and enjoy the sunshine.

So far it had been an off day for the hounds and the dog. I think you can tell by their facial expression and none of them looking at the camera when I called to them. After their initial trip outside at 6:30am in the dark to start the day, things have been out of order. Walter lets me know he wants only the fresh filtered water he sees me pour into their water bowl.

Then he didn't want anything to do with it, that gives Watson some time to come running inside straight to the water bowl and guzzle water as if he has spent days in the desert. Only to leave all that normal bloodhound drool that has been trapped up inside his jowls in Walter's new filtered water. Walter had lost his chance for clean water until later.

They go outside again right after they eat. While they are outside on the first trip of the day I am pouring their kibble, then since 8 week old puppies they have been trained to go outside after every meal. Sometimes that second trip is before 7:30am and some of my retired neighbors might still be in bed, I don't know. Others have already left for work.

Why do I tell you all of that? Around 7:18am, I hear the loudest bloodhound bay and the longest. If people were still sleeping I would have bet they weren't now. They all tell me they love hearing when Watson is "singing" but I am not for sure if 7:15am was part of that.

As I sprinted from the computer room to the patio, grabbing the "Bark B Gone" along the way, I thought the squirrels were out early and that was his reasons for baying. It wasn't until I took these photos in the afternoon I found out what he was baying at. In the photo above he went sprinting from the patio door to that corner of the yard ... because there is a new bird bath sitting on the neighbors new brick deck.

He wasn't barking and baying at the squirrels but at the birds.

Walter likes to bark also, but just to have something to do, no other reason. The hand held Bark B Gone tool has worked very well and when I push the button a few times he hears the high pitch silent noise and stops immediately. He will also turn and sprint to the patio door no matter where he is. The hounds also stop barking but they know based on training, if they run to the house they will receive a large milk bone broken into thirds. I bought those by a large box at Costco.

Within a few photos Walter ran from one corner of the yard to the other because he saw a couple of birds eating in the grass. You can see by his ear and tail in the next photo that he is hopping up and down while he bays at it. I am not sure but I think I am seeing a huge different between a male and a female in the bloodhound breed. Sadie and Stella were never this loud. Yet I did not get Stella until she was 6 years old, Sadie at 8 weeks.

I looked but I didn't see any birds at all and the only thing I saw moving then yard outside the fence was blowing leaves.

Henry would prefer to lay out in the sun on the deck. All of those end pieces are gone for a reason. They started chewing them, pulling them out the first summer I lived here in 2021. I have bought the replacements at Home Depot and have all the others up high and hid in the shed. You have to go outside the extreme when hiding something from a bloodhound if they have been chewing on it. I might try and see if they are out of that habit and put all of them back in. It definitely looks better with the end pieces installed.

To top it off, when I say things are not lined up right today for the hounds, something seems off. It's a beautiful day today, now 45° and sunny. You would think they would want to stay outside like they normally do in the summer but not today. I close the patio door to go back inside and they are both outside at the door waiting for me to open it again to let them in.

During the "polar bomb" a few weeks ago, I had to put on my shoes and jacket, then go out and chase them back to the house and inside ... it was 6°. See what I mean about things being off today?

BTW, all that brown grass in my yard is Zoysia, and it does what is does in the winter. Half of the front yard is Zoysia. I am told it is intrusive and will take over the Kentucky Blue Grass and Fescue I have planted over and over the past two springs. It is the strongest grass of all though when it comes to hounds wear and tear. I never had yard problems like I have now when I lived north of here.

For some reason Henry went on his high speed run when I had the photo pointed at them. Nothing was said about food of any kind, so it's a mystery.

The new collar I bought for Watson last week is black. I wanted it to blend in with his coat instead of having a bright red one. I guess a brown leather one would work but I haven't had leather collars in decades. Still thin eating 5 cups of food per day. That is a measured 5 cups. This is normal for a bloodhound puppy. They don't usually fill out until 3 years old. By that time I will be year and a half older and he will be monster. LOL

I just cleaned my iMac monitor and my large screen tv with a damp cloth that came with my glasses, then followed that up with a dry micro cloth. Since I lowered the tv to the coffee table from the top of the fireplace I noticed there were a few more hound nose prints when the tv was turned off. Wonder how they go there?

It is going to back in the 50's the next three days so I will be out exploring some new territory with a camera or two in my hand, to see what I can find. When looking at the iPhone weather app that comes with the phone I see a lot of days in the high 50's out of the next eight days.

Still drinking black coffee, sugar never used and is out of sight. I bought some organic milk and eggs to make some cornbread for the beans I made yesterday. I purposely did not buy butter. 

I'll watch the college football championship game tonight and after that, the newest episode of Mosquito Coast on Apple TV.

Gotta go, I hear Walter barking and Watson baying ... 

It was a really nice day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana today.