Great Weather In "The Tropics"

When it doesn't rain, the weather this month has been fantastic. The cover has not come off of the air conditioning unit yet and the windows stay open 24/7, although it is a little chilly when it drops in the 50's while we sleep. The patio door stays open most of the day and until we head for bed at night, so the hounds and dogs really enjoy getting out in this fantastic weather. No bugs yet and no squirrels inside the fence. LOL

Henry was getting in a little stretching before his bath yesterday. He loves everything, from nail clippings, baths, car rides and food. 

I am finding Cletus to be pretty stubborn as his bio says he will be. I am use to stubborn hounds but he takes it a little bit further. He shakes his head but his ears are clean. He doesn't lick his paws but he scratches a lot. I saw last night that a possible cause is he has a gut issue. Of course there are a lot of products to choose to fix that, but how do you know what really works? Further research will go into that today and see if I can't find something that will arrive this week, if not in a store locally.

One of Watson's favorite positions. He will sleep like that at times.

I took some vertical shots of the fence line yesterday while sitting on the patio. It amazes me how fast the growth has been on the berm after cutting every bush and a lot of saplings to ground level. You might be asking what is the deal with the grass inside the fence. 

Yes I do mow it, but the theme this spring is to grow it tall with hopes of developing deep roots to survive the upcoming hot summer and not have a yard of mud next winter's raining/flooding season. I have been rebuilding the backyard after year of fungus and then last year's drought where I starting watering the backyard too late for it to recover. 

Back in December this part of the yard was all mud with not a blade of grass anywhere in sight. Those spots that are dark are Scotts topsoil along with new grass seed. I am filling bare spots after each rain, where I see puddles of water.

Ava never stops her quest of keeping the yard and us protected. From squirrels, birds on the fence, or neighbors in their yard ... she is always on the alert. Luckily she has gotten use to the all of them so she doesn't bark at the neighbors but stands and watches, same with the birds and less with the squirrels.

I saw the state of Indiana has had 44 confirmed tornadoes so far this year. We have had a few pass by with reported funnel touch downs within a 5-12 mile area. I am glad I cut the saplings and small trees that I did in March yet it doesn't make much difference with winds that strong. Do you remember when one of those black internet cables was close to 6' above ground if not lower?

Chasing the squirrel inside the house the other night and having to move some furniture away from the walls to find it, I found the missing water buffalo bullhorns I bought last April when I picked up Ava. All the hounds and Ava probably like those bullhorns more than they do any kind of bone. 

I have a surprise for the crew this coming week though ... I am buying some cow femur bones at the butcher shop. Not sure yet what my strategy is going to be to keep fighting out the picture. There might be five bones out but you can bet the bloodhounds will want all five for themselves.

On the alert at all times. 

With Ava and Walter protecting the property from any intruders, Henry knows he can nap on the patio deck anytime he wants. He would probably sleep here at night if I would let him.

Just as I was told, Cletus is quite the talker. He likes to greet everyone he sees that walks by and every day when the neighbors get home from work. He also likes telling me he his happy when I am pouring out the kibble for breakfast or lunch. From what I have seen after six months, he does not have a mean bone in his body.

I swear that Henry has Winston's DNA ... both very very similar personalities.

She knows there are squirrels out there. I wonder if the squirrels enjoy the way the berm has been cut back?

With hidden gut issues, that also might be a reason that Cletus has not been able to gain weight, either since I have had him and the three months the rescue service/foster had him. Watson always looks so serious. I wonder about his diet as he has seemed to have lost that puppy smile and energy. He plays with Ava and runs full speed. He likes playing a daily game of fetch but I can tell there is a difference in energy. Is it because he is four years old now or something else?

While filling the low spots in the yard this spring, and there have been many with more to go, I have been also preforming tests for different topsoil and grass seed. I have found I will need to keep buying the more expensive Scotts topsoil and turf builder. That is the black stuff you see. The grass grows much faster than the Timberline topsoil you buy at Lowe's. That is the brown stuff you see. The Scotts also absorbed the rain better.

All of the puddle areas were filled in this week after the pictured rain, with more grass seed. It was this area where I rolled out a couple of strips of GrowTrax. I am not sure what happened since I had it fenced off to keep the hounds and dogs off of it. Did it get more water than needed from all the rain? Not sure but in this area GrowTrax did not live up to its advertisement.

Here is another experiment. Brown, grass, black. The new grass growing in is from the sheets of GrowTrax. The photo makes it look like a small area but those rolls were close to 6' long. Yes grass is growing in but not as fast has it says. My calendar reminder says it has another 7 days to be like the tall fescue you see.

After that was anchored to the ground it rained, enough to have a large puddle of water where the brown spot is. I filled that in with the Timberline topsoil I bought at Lowes and have used here for four years filling low spots in back and planting the new yard out by the street in 2021. There are no signs of new grass growing in that brown area after seeded was mixed in. Where did the seed go?

A week after that brown top soil was laid, it rained again to show where there was more flooding, thus the black Scotts top soil was leveled out in the low spot.

Sometimes it takes multiple applications of topsoil. The Scotts shows it s around $3 per bag and sits right next to the cheaper Timberline topsoil but their bag is half the size at 20#. So really that is around $6 per bag instead of the $2.43 per bag. It is nice to load and unload 20# bags instead of 40# bags. Those pavers came from the house up north and were once called "Winston's Patio". 

Henry remembers the rock yard in Sierra Vista and from the first day he arrived here in 2021, he has enjoyed the grass. I thought then and now that he can tell the difference in the yard. He spends a lot of time in that position, in the grassy areas. After mowing this with the Toro push mower (self propelled), the grass is around 3-3/4" high. I hope all of this work prevents the four photos below next winter. They were taken in December 2024. 

I am battling history here. Each neighbor that lives next door, grew up in the same house. They are in their mid to late 60s. They say my backyard has been flooding for 50+ years. Am I fighting a losing battle? One neighbor said that 50 years ago her dad had a dump truck full of topsoil delivered in her backyard to get rid of the low spots. That is the yard that has the red two story barn shed. 

The neighbor straight ahead had a drainage system installed, so you cannot see the standing water as much until you walk through their yard. Their standing water is not as much as mine as you can see but it is visible in some spots. 

As of May 9th we have had 23.5" of rain so far this year and had a total of 49.3" in 2024. 

For those that celebrate Mother's Day, enjoy your time with family and all the food that will be provided. I have fond memories of those times. Enjoy them while you can.

Not much planned today. I just saw there is rain predicted after midnight tonight and tomorrow, so I might have to fire up the mower today and mow inside the fence. 

Great weather here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.