Ava Outruns Them All

Before I get into the mornings play session outside in 21° weather, I want to backup the past few days to show you how we have been beating the coldest temperature so far this winter. Although it was 2024 last January and February, like now, I still call anything from November to February as "this winter". Ava continues to grow, has developed her own routines but she loves to be outside most of her time.

It seems like every time I see Cletus sleeping, I wonder where he slept all those nights when he was running loose in the streets and fast enough to stay out of the animal controls "grabber". It took weeks for them to catch him after people had called in about a bloodhound running free.

I imagine those calls to the animal control were due to Cletus getting into their trash cans to eat. He was skin and bones when they got him, and even when I pick him up months later. He has taught me two things about his food source ... leave my 13 gallon trash can in the garage when Cletus is not eating his food in the garage. Then during the day/night I set the trash can on the top step inside the garage door from the mud room. 

Also due to him being a professional counter surfer, much like Stella was ... but he's better, faster and quicker .... he has taught me not to leave ANYTHING ON MY COUNTERS even while making breakfast. If my bacon is done, I sit the plate with the bacon on the back part on the counter on top of my Nija Foodi. 

If I have three eggs sitting out waiting for the pan to be hot enough to cook them, I have to set them up high and far away as possible. If I have full plate of any kind of meat with three eggs and a sliced avocado on the counter, DO NOT turn to the fridge to get something else out of it. Cletus is that fast when food is around. He LOVES food. 

The why's for the above examples ----

• He can flip the lid off the 13 gallon trash can and not only sort what is there but after sorting it, pulls only food items out onto the floor to eat as fast as possible.
• He it tall when he stands on his back legs and can reach food anywhere on the counter. Eggs? He eats them shell and all and one at a time by the time I catch him. It has happened twice. 
• That plate full of breakfast food, half gone by the time I turned back from the fridge toward my food. That was bacon, three eggs and a sliced avocado. 

He is still a great and funny bloodhound and very well mannered ... except for his trash raids and counter surfing. Yet after those incidents and seeing the look on his face after I catch him, make me laugh. I can always remake my breakfast. 

Walter is use to stretching out on that love seat when he sleeps ... he is finding out he needs to get their first to have the room to do that.

Not only Watson but all the hounds like to groom each other. Walter will not be a groomer but he does like to have Henry clean his face and ears. The bloodhounds will trade off and groom each other and both will also clean up Henry's ears, eyes and jowls. After I check their ears to be cleaned, I find the hounds do a pretty good job cleaning them. 

I mentioned the other day my palm tree that I bought when Ava pulled the other down to the floor a few months ago, was dying. One reader sent me a google search result ... this plant could have all the causes ... too much water, not enough water, too much light, not enough light ... but I think it might be something different. After all, the other palm this size did well in that same corner until Ava pulled it to the floor.

So I have isolated the damage palm tree, with the early morning sun from the east shining through the window. The door is always closed unless I am reading a book or riding my bike indoors. So it should not be hard to rehabilitate without the hounds and Ava messing with it sitting on the floor.

This is my "bike room" but before I bought the house it was a "baby room", with a crib sitting in front of that striped wall. I might finally paint this room next summer when I can keep the windows open to dry the pain and filter out the paint fumes.

I have not been using the ceiling fan in the great room so I am unsure where all that dust came from on top of the leaves. Or is that some sore to plant disease?

I do not expect this palm tree to recover. If it dies, I will not buy another.

I moved the "recovering" palm tree from the living room back to this corner. That was what was left after Ava pulled it off that barrel and tore it apart last summer. It looks pretty bare over there now without the large plant that reached all the way to the ceiling. I might change things later over there after I get an idea to do something else. 

With the 2nd bloodhound I am happy that I decided two years ago to put the tv back up on the fireplace and out of the way of dogs playing or snooping around with their noses touching the tv screen. Even at that height it is still in danger of flying bloodhound drool when they shake their heads. (I know that's gross to think about). 

It was a little bit before 8am when Ava barked and sprinted to the patio door from the computer room to go outside. The hounds and even Walter followed her outside. Before they got off the patio Cletus and Watson were ganging up on her, grabbing her back legs. She broke away and the games began. I was limited to the number of photos I took because I was getting cold standing outside in 21° with no coat. 

The ground is hard as a rock but will be softer later today when it reaches 48°. Rain and 59° for Monday's forecast. Typical Indiana weather, the so called climate change is not a factor. My yard has never looked worse but it will recover next spring. 

Due to high winds the other night while we slept, a lot of the leaves were blown out of the yard and now surround the fence line. I plan to rake the backyard on Sunday after I use a leaf blower to go around the fence line where I can blow those through the fence and then mulch them with the mower. 

With the sprinting from one side to the other side of the yard, Watson is losing weight as he needed to do. Cletus is starting to gain weight from the dog food I am feeding him and his ribs are slowly disappearing but I will keep his waistline. I think Ava is going to be on the smaller side of a German Shepherd. She is colored identical to her mom and I think will be about the same size.

Henry only joins in when he sees Ava on the ground. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but that black growth on his tail last August has completely disappeared without any kind of medication for it. I am glad two different vets told me "to wait and see", when I took him in to have it checked. 

Well today is one of the last Football Saturday's this year, until the new 12 team playoff starts December 21st. I have four great games to watch today/tonight. The start times of the night games give me time to eat some dinner between them and the last day game. Yet the night games are on at the same time, so I will probably watch them on the split screen at the same time.

For those readers that might be analyzing or thinking about changing their tv service and which is the best. I highly recommend YouTube TV ... no affiliate income for mentioning that. After twenty some years of using Directv in addition to the improvements in picture quality for streaming tv ... I am now paying $72.99 per month for the same channels Directv was giving me for $121.99 per month. That Directv price was also AFTER $40 in discounts ... so $161. I had the Choice Package with Directv. I am very happy with the picture quality, and their DVR is on the cloud with unlimited storage at no extra cost.

For sports fans ... it is the place to go .. YouTube TV.

Ava seems to be out of her puppy destruction stage at 10 months old. Twice this past week I let her roam free inside the house with the others, while I drove to the grocery store and back. She passed her two tests which lasted around 30 minutes each test. 

Things are going great here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.