Is Winter Really Over ??

Winters down here in "the tropics" are a little different than cities and towns in other parts of the state. We are actually further south than Louisville and much further south than St Louis. So the big storm predicted for Wednesday will blow by north of us and we will have high's in the 70's tomorrow and Thursday. The hounds love it and so does the dog. They spent most of their day outside on Monday. Henry and Watson had great walks with Samson Watson having quite the test to show me how good he is.

There are two "yappers" (small dogs) a couple of houses down on the opposite side of the street. They are along our walking route. Some times one of them will come charging out into their front yard sounding like he is going to attack Watson. He is always attached to a long cable from the front porch. Watson doesn't mind it, he has had bigger bones to chew on than the "yapper". Yesterday was different though.

The oldest "yapper" came running out after we were almost past their house. Only he was not on a leash and had escaped the house without the owner knowing it at first. Watson immediately sat down next to me after he was barking loudly at the smaller dog, almost like baying at a squirrel. Then he stood as the dog got closer and bent forward on his front paws in the "I want to play" position. The smaller dog kept coming after him, so I tugged on the leash light and quick. Samson turned and started walking with me. Only to keep looking back to see if the smaller dog was following us.

On our way back, in front of the house again, the owner was walking from a neighbor's yard, saying her dog ran off and she would have to go find him. So no barking as Watson and I walked by. By the time we had turned around up at the next intersection and was almost at our house, I saw the small dog running back across the street to his front yard. They might bark at Henry but Henry just keeps on cruising with his nose to the ground and his tail up and wagging as he walks/trots. He pays them no attention. Much like him in the photo below.

I admit, I was lazy yesterday. I did take a break and drive over to my hole in the wall Chinese food place for lunch. With the holiday yesterday it was like everyone was staying home and traffic was light to and from lunch. I guess you could say I had a lot on my mind about things that are hard to ignore, Samson.

His breeder called me yesterday to find out more about what went on. We had a nice long talk. He told me that after Samson was returned to him after 19 months, he showed up wearing a prong collar. (To me a red flag) He also said that he had a similar situation with Samson after he had put him in a large dog crate like I have. In fact after he asked about my experience with him in the crate, he said that Samson acted the exact same way toward him inside the crate. When he opened the door, Samson walked out of the crate just as calm as when he walked in the crate in my garage on February 11th.

The breeder has been around dogs his whole life, as his mom raised and trained German Shepherds specifically for protection. He has bred bloodhounds for over 30 years and most of his puppies are in SAR all over the USA. He has experienced one bloodhound returned to him that had rage of some kind, that attacked him from behind. Yet that was the only incident and he trained him, re-homed the hound without having another attacking/biting incident. With his poor health currently he couldn't train Samson like that but he re-homed him to someone he knew that could train him.

He has had some serious health issues this past year so they have not only had any litters, he has not been able to train any of his adult dogs. He offers free training to everyone that buys his puppies and continues that training for years afterward. He told me I was doing the right thing by having him put down, as he would have done the same if the dog was returned to him a second time. He feels something was done to the dog in the past that put Samson in a very vicious 'protecting' mode. 

I have tried the past few days to look forward, enjoy the hounds and dog that I have. I spend more time playing with them, talking to them and at least once per day I let them crawl all over me as I lay on the floor in the middle of all of them. Of course all three want attention but Henry is the all-time attention requester. He will crawl or walk over or under Watson or Walter to get in the head of the line. That is a lot of pounds on top of my chest as they try to get to me first. 

I have been trying some Probiotic Supplement, sprinkled over Watson's food, to see if that helps with his digestive issue. I have tried about all the different foods I can. I can see signs the supplement is making a difference, then in the afternoon I see spots of diarrhea in the yard just like before. I guess the story to that is, don't have emergency intestinal surgery at six months old. I am not sure I will continue the supplement after this small jar is empty.

By accident I saw a photo of the yard last March 2022. It was all brown, cut much shorter and didn't look like it would ever recover. A month later things were looking good in the yard department. I have to keep remembering that when I walk through the yard now. I've never had a yard go so far in the opposite direction in the winter as here. Even when I lived a 100 miles north of here, the yard did not do this.

Watson acted like he wanted to play with Henry over that rope bone ... Henry wasn't interested.

Even after Watson approached him, Henry was still not interested in playing. 

Walter never does anything spur of the moment. He analyzes almost every move he is about to make. Here he is trying to decide if he wants to step out on the patio step, get out in the yard and enjoy the great weather he had on Monday.

I am going to changed in midstream and put my content ABOVE my photos ... maybe I need a change ... or does it look better or is it the right way of doing it ???  I don't know. It has turned into one of those days today where I don't seem to have answers for anything I ask myself.

After their morning walk, both are pretty zapped out when they get back home.

I kept looking at my watch for the temperature because the sunshine today really felt hot, like in the 70's hot ... but ... it hovered around 55° most of the day. Later in the afternoon when the clouds blew in and covered the sunshine it felt pretty cold.

Not sure what Watson had found out by the fence but it was on the outside and just far enough away his long legged paw could not reach it. You would think with that field behind the berm, angling downward but to the right of my property by a couple of houses, I would not have any flood issues. I remember seeing that before I decided to buy this house and thought for sure the berm was like the Hoover Dam in blocking water, if there was going to be any. Yet at 428' above sea level ... the whole town is saturated. 

The hounds spent most of the day moving from spot to spot to sleep or just lie under the hot sunshine. As I write this post, Watson and Walter are back to sleeping next to my computer desk, blocking the way for me to get out of the room without waking them up.

Every time I see this dirty deck I can't wait for a hot and sunny spring day, where I will use the high pressure washer to clean it and all the parts of the exterior where winter has left it's path. For the first time since living here, 2 years on April 29, I will see if the high pressure water will clean the soffit below the roof or am I going to have to use some sort of aluminum cleaner. What do you use, for those readers that have the same exterior for their overhangs?

When I took this photo I didn't realize that Watson had one eye open looking at me.

Warm weather means Henry's and Watson's friend comes back to taunt them ... the squirrel.

After that squirrel scampered out of view Henry thought it was time to get back to his interrupted siesta.

Rarely am I ever outside under a hot sun wearing long pants. Yet there was just enough coolness in the air today to keep from breaking out the cargo shorts that I live in during the spring, summer and fall. The Carhartt pants are not lined but they sure feel warmer in the winter compared to a pair of jeans.

About the time I thought I had heard all the bloodhound baying I could in one day ... Watson spotted something off in the distance. Who says dogs do not have good eyesight? Or does he smell his friend has returned? It is probably the scent of the squirrel that has Watson's attention.

There he is with a hop to his step and a perfect bloodhound bay lasting a long time to announce to anyone that can hear him ... he has found the squirrel.

Earlier during the first trip, the squirrel hopped and stopped between the fence and light pole. Then he scampered up that light pole as Watson was baying at him. 

The squirrel will eventually make a right turn and either walk tight rope on top of the AT&T cables or hopping from tree limb to tree limb across the back of the yard to escape next door in back of this photo.

I had some pasta for lunch and of course the amount of carbs or is it something else in the sauce, that puts me in a coma for a couple of hours. Or could it have been 30 minutes of intense sun on my head and face that did it? Either way it was a nice afternoon siesta.

I look in the fridge, all through my cabinets and see nothing that I want to eat. I am out of healthy snacks. I am down to one banana in the fruit department and too lazy to go to the store. I don't know what I would want to buy anyway so that would be a wasted trip of coming home with more than I had planned on buying. Today I would most likely get home with a bunch of food that I am really not hungry for. It's one of those days.

I called animal control again today more to just confirm the date of Samson being put down. I guess they have only certain days of the week that they euthanize animals. I didn't ask but he will be put down on Thursday. She is the same girl that always answers the phone or returns my phone message the prior two times I called. She feeds him from a distance ... "he is doing fine". Of course he is. He is just a dog and dogs adjust to change much better than humans it seems to me. Still extremely sad about the whole situation and him being isolated like that. 

February 11th is starting to feel like a long time ago. My hand? It looked the best yet this morning. I could actually see wrinkles on the border of the cut, where it has been slightly swollen and red ... but smooth until this morning. Soap and water irritated the crap out of it last week. (urgent care suggestion) Peroxide cleanse still works, dabbed dry and then a layer of Neosporin seems to be the best routine. The redness around the bite on the bottom of my wrist is no longer there today.

I took my last capsule (huge) of Amoxicillin this afternoon.

It was a beautiful day today in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.