Decisions Decisions AAAH !!!!

I'll warn you, not many photos, no photos of the hounds and dogs with very little information. This is just a short post to start the month of August and hopefully 30 days of cooler weather. That photo you see is a MLB field inside a NASCAR race track in Bristol TN. Not normal and not really a fan of this idea, but another money grab by MLB, where they have sold 75,000 or more tickets. Some seats are so far away that it will make baseball players look like little bugs running around. Game is on Monday Saturday night if interested, Reds vs the Braves. 

I never liked my pellet grill because it never seemed to get hot enough, nor did the food ever have the taste of a grilled steak, hamburger or chicken. I have never owned a gas grill but those too did not have the grill taste from my experience. So the other day I bought a bag of charcoal and that burner can to get the coals hot before spreading them out on the bottom grate of the grill. 

I am in the market for a bigger table. I need to locate some second hand furniture stores, maybe the Goodwill Store and see what I can find at a bargain price before buying one at Lowe's or Home Depot. In the meantime that small table bought in Huachuca City AZ will have to work.

I found this like new Weber grill in the shed. Not sure when I bought it but it works well and is in mint condition. 

See all that dead grass? ... what once was bright green tall fescue is nothing now all because of the urine from Cletus. Thinking of a Plan B around the patio, possibly putting stone around the patio deck out so far.

I don't know why but on Wednesday at 9:49am, with the temperature at 95° and a "feels like" over a 100° so early in the morning ... I decided to pull weeds. Due to my month of June, I was unable to pull any as I saw them growing after all the rain we got. I got a few of them pulled Tuesday but it had to be finished another day ... maybe today. It was just too hot to finish the job.

By 10:15am, only 26 minutes later I asked myself "why now"?? Thursday was supposed to be much cooler, down in the 80's and borderline close to shutting off the AC and opening the windows. So I brought the weed pulling equipment back into the garage, closed the garage door and called it a day for pulling weeds.

Luckily that weed is spread out to where I can get almost all of it with one root. The interesting thing is on this area of weeds ... I have done everything to make them disappear forever ... but they always come back.

Some of you might remember when I bought this and burned every weed there was around the house. Who would have thought weeds burnt to the roots would come back. They did and do all the time. I have never spent this much time pulling weeds as I have at this house. 

Not my drive or sidewalk but you get the idea. Even the small ones I burned numerous times that grow up between the cracks of the driveway come back. There is some small enjoyment burning weeds, too bad it didn't work. 

With the cooler temps today I plan to finish this front flowerbed and the long one around the corner, on the south side of the house. For over a year now I have thought of putting the brown mulch right over the stone to match the other flowerbeds. I did that to a small section in front by the garage last spring. No weeds in that area this time. Did the mulch make a difference yet there are weeds on the north and south side coming up through the same mulch I want to use. 

That stone has been there for years and even after heavy rains, you are not digging it up nor raking it out ... it is as hard as concrete ... so the mulch would have to go over it.

I got as far as that azalea on the left next to the porch step when I quit. This fall I will need to fix that low spot on my porch. Always new things added to the house "to do" list.

I am not sure if it will happen but I have been thinking about writing about my month of June and all that happened within a 16 day period. Like I mentioned last month I like to keep some personal things private but at the same time the information I would write about might help someone or even save their life. Yeah, seriously. 

So I will leave you with that. I am sitting here at 7:15am with the windows open and the birds singing outside. The sun is shining through the screen window but isn't nearly as hot as it was on Tuesday morning  or the past month. All the hounds and dogs are sleeping of course ... they only get me up at 5am to eat breakfast and are back to sleep fast after a trip outside to relieve themselves and some fresh water. 

With cooler temps, outdoor bicycling will resume for the first time in almost a year. Yes the gap in riding is part of the story I may or may not write about. Something is pulling me in the direction of spilling my guts about that. It would help at least one person for sure, only because up to the very end ... I never had symptoms.

Good diet, good bloodwork numbers, highly active for a man my age but a lot of surprises, some unplanned within 16 days in June.

With the cooler temps the hounds and dogs will be outside more as will I with my camera in hand. So future posts will get back into the swing of things with new photos of the hounds and dogs. A lot of them.

One more thing ... what kind of dog food ... is being discussed inside this head of mine. Since 1987 I have always fed my hounds and then my first dog in 2020 (Walter) what I consider "premium" dog food. They all died of cancer or large tumors and had to be put down. Every one of them. Most lived 8-12 years, a couple before blogging was even invented, did not live that long.

Over the course of the last 4 years, or since Watson's emergency surgery for swallowing part of his Mexican blanket, I have tried different kinds of dog food just so he would have consistent firm stools like all the others. Any kind of food does not bother them except Watson.

Intestinal surgery will do that I guess.

I tried this a few months ago. Warehouse pricing was about $10 less per bag than their online pricing. Good ingredients, same as Diamond Naturals and even made in the Diamond factory ... yet too many soft stools even after a food change adjustment, for Watson.

I don't mind picking it up with the scooper and throwing it over the fence into the berm ... but it tells me that Watson's digestive system has problems with something in the food. Higher not lower fiber is needed.  

I have fed this for many years. Made right here in Evansville along with three other factories that are out of state. I was getting a good deal the past four years. Where I bought the food I would get a free 40# bag after the 12th bag purchased. That averaged out to around three free bags per year. The problem is for the past year or so, their "rewards" program software doesn't seem to work well enough to track those 12 purchases ... so I left their store and never went back.

Recently I went back to this food. It was first suggested to me, not the brand but the type of food, when I picked up Henry as a 8 week old puppy. Overall a good quality dog food yet Watson does not have consistent firm stools.

One food I have tried that will shock you and may even bring negative comments to this post as some people hate it, while thousands of other dog owners swear by it. I am talking about the photo below. It was even suggested by my vet as she examined Ava last year during her puppy check up.

Believe it or not ... when I have tried this as a test, the coats of all the hounds and dogs are shiny and soft as they are with all the other foods. The BIG difference ... Watson has a firm stool not only in the morning like he does with the other food but also after his lunch, which he does NOT have with the other foods.

There is NO "real chicken" in that food as the label shows but it does meet the basic minimum requirements for dog food. 

Since buying premium dog food, at times expensive dog food since 1987, I must admit I have a hard time justifying feeding this to my hounds and dogs as I look at the ingredients list and add that to my dog food analysis spreadsheet. 

Yet over the years I have had other vets say it is good food. A lot of positive reviews on Chewy, Amazon and other dog food websites. Those that analyzes food do not like it and give it less than 2 stars in a 5 star program.

But ... it works well with Watson's damaged and repaired digestive system. He has had firm stools at all times when I have fed this food to the hounds and dogs. 

Why can't my mind spend just a moment free of any analyzation, or decision making.

It's beautiful weather once again in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.