Is It Belize???

 

My sister always says that she expected me to spend my retirement years on the beach. She has felt that way since the time she visited me in Southern California when I was living across the street from the Pacific Ocean back in 1977. Yes, you could see the ocean through the living room window in that small beach town. I always thought so too but like all of us know, things change in life and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Yet when I saw that article recently of a single lady that had moved to Belize and was building her new home ... it got me thinking.

The Hounds Love This Weather

Those scattered thunderstorms in the forecast never showed up over the weekend but it made me, the farmers and even the sparrows busy trying to get things done before it rained. Before I could finish breakfast on Saturday they were preparing the field to plant later that afternoon. So far this spring has not been "wetter than normal", yet I am mowing my yard every 3rd day to keep up.

Last year the sparrows built their nest in the upper corner inside my carport. I left the nest there for their return but they had different plans for 2018. It's small but in a perfect spot I guess, on top of my electric power meter.

With the great weather where you can sleep with the windows open in 50° weather, the 2nd hound walk of the day is in the 70's and nice enough to get a 3rd walk in by the late afternoon. Stella is staying around on her own without wandering off. She has trotted at times but no longer runs full speed.

Sadie will be 10 years old this June and she always gets in some running every time we walk. When her ears can lay flat on top of her head ... she is at max speed.

Sunday after their lunch I decided it would be a great time to brush out some of the winter coats of all three hounds. I start with a hound mitt and finish getting the rest of the undercoat with the normal small steel brush. By the time I finished setting up the operation Stella decided to move first in line and took over my area. Brushing her makes her fall a sleep.

Heidi likes the mention of three things, a bath, toenail clippers and getting brushed.

All of the rain scheduled for Saturday afternoon kept pushing out 8 hours ahead. With no rain after midnight Saturday night they were ready to add some fertilizer on Sunday afternoon. With a spreader that wide it did not take long for him to cover the field ... that is until he ran out.

Yet, with modern technology of a cell phone, he could get replenished right where he was without going anywhere. This is the first time I have seen a truck with this arrangement of liquid supplements for a delivery service. He backed next to the tractor to fill it up.

Every morning walk starts with Stella staying behind to eat some fresh wet tall grass. I don't have to call her to catch up with us. The past few weeks she has decided that is what she wants to do on her own.

It usually happens on Fridays but yesterday morning the sky will full of contrails. These were taken around 9am. Military or commercial aircraft ?

Hound walks No.2 and No.3 of the day always has Stella walking at a very slow pace. Most of the way she will not get off our path.

As you can tell the field right behind the house, has the tallest grass in the field. Two reasons for that, bloodhound natural fertilizer all winter and 7 acres of underground water that migrates to this area of the field. With great weather recently it is strange that I have not seen nor heard any ATVs in the field.

This gives you some idea how nice the weather has been everyday.

With the nighttime temps dropping into the low 50s every night, we start our walks in a field that is so wet with morning dew you would think it had been raining all night. My North Face snow boots keep my feet dry and warm. My hiking boots become so saturated on one of the walks from the heavy dew that I had to put them back on the shelf until July. My feet were soaked before we barely started the walk on Saturday.

The other day I thought it was a scampering rabbit that led Sadie into the woods on a sprint and down over the edge toward the gully. This morning I found out it was not a rabbit but a sparrow launching from ground level. She was sure she had found their nest and was very interested in heading back into the woods as I kept telling her 'no'.

It's hard to see with the camera but along this edge of the woods there is a narrow single path of worn grass that goes all the way to the first turn on the walk. Stella has been following that path of scent every morning. How many deer walk through there on that path while the hounds and I are inside for the night?

Not even a 1/4 of the way into the walk and my boots are soaked to the top of them.

Lately Stella has been taking a shortcut on the walk. Luckily instead of wandering over to the woods behind the neighbors or even the next house over, she will gradually angle toward our return path to meet Sadie and I on the way back.

By the time we finish walking the back edge of the field, turning for home ... she meets us in the middle of the field.

Sadie pays no attention to anything or anybody on her walks most of the time. Her nose is too powerful to let her get distracted.

Stella might try to walk further north across the path as if I do not see her but once Sadie gets near, she knows that we are on our way home and will wait for us.

As usual the morning walk ends with two noses checking out that scent that walks into the backyard, following the tree line.

I admit even in this great weather my to do list has barely been touched. Maybe I am waiting for the extreme hot weather, where it's too hot to be outside after 10am, I don't know. Besides the three hound walks per day, all of us (Heidi included) spend a lot of time just sitting outside without the camera enjoying the sunshine. The Z4 is being driven more than the FJ in this weather and there enough different roads we can drive where each daily drive is not the same. The Z4 runs smooth and quiet as if it were a new engine.

I am still using DuckDuckGo for my default search engine and have not moved from Apple's browser  Safari. I'll use about 8% more data per month without Google Chrome but I know that Safari does less data harvesting. The only junk email I am getting now with those changes are from me signing up on the Bob Vila site for a free washer and dryer. I have a 'junk' email address I use for times like that so I can see just how much junk mail I have generated by signing up for something.

Well it's time for a morning drive and I can get back just in time to hear Heidi (barking) and Stella (howling) telling me it's time for their lunch.

Fantastic weather lately in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Friday Packed With Activity

You may have noticed some of the recent photos I posted of farm equipment passing by the house. Just like my outdoor schedule, their activity is also based on possible rain. Consequently I mowed the yard this morning a few hours earlier than I planned on, even with the grass a little wet. Luckily I had my camera on Wednesday as I caught this great looking Ford passing by. It's locally owned and is seen on the perfect weather days.

As usual the rain is anyones guess. It was suppose to happen Wednesday afternoon, putting these guys hard at work that same afternoon. The rain didn't show up. Then thunderstorms scheduled after midnight, didn't show up. Yesterday morning was to bring severe thunderstorms. The skies turned black, Stella whined a little while stood and moved to a different sleeping spot, but very light rain passed through.

Stella did not pace more than 3' away before she laid down and took a nap. The inside of the house was so dark you would have thought it was in the middle of the night. None of the storms bother Sadie or Heidi.

There will not be a field if bright yellow flowers (weeds) this year. He must know more than I do about the May weather or he is a gambler for planting this early. It does not take much for that field to flood and that has happened as late as the first week of June. A lot of the field was under water just a few weeks ago.

I was just happy to get the yard mowed before today's rain that was scheduled at noon. Yet as I started this blog post I took a look at Intellicast weather radar and there wasn't a cloud of any kind within 300 miles of me. So one of my major activities today was finished before 10am.

Finishing the yard that early confused all three of the hounds. They usually get a walk when I finish mowing later in the afternoons, so when I stepped inside the house to cool off and grab a glass of water Heidi started barking, Sadie started bouncing and Stella started howling. Those actions told me they didn't think it was time to walk, they thought it was time for lunch but that wasn't going to happen at 9:54 am.

After the brutal winter we had with almost a month solid of temperatures below 32° and a lot of nights below 0°, I am now declaring the Azaleas I planted late last July as being hearty survivors. The  four of them are centered in the flower beds across the front of house but that puts them under my wider than normal roof overhang ... so they don't get water from the rains. It will take a few years for them to get large enough where they can be seen 100' away down the hill.

Another sign that Spring is officially here ... this ladybug was patrolling the area around the house making sure things were clear of any kind of harmful bugs. Plus the sparrows have decided this year to move their nest back outside on top of the electric meter instead of the corner of my carport. I slid my hand up inside the nest and felt a perfectly formed cutout bed.

Heidi has been outside every day but most of the time that she is laying in the backyard enjoying the sunshine, my camera is inside. All of us have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the weather while Sadie roams the field. Stella is back to taking naps under the sun but Sadie is just too mentally busy with tracking to lay down and enjoy some time off.

Stella lets me know it's allergy season ... she itches more now than any of the other 11 months.

As you can see the field is growing by the hour. It will not be long before the hounds are partially hidden as we walk the field. Sadie seemed as if she was in a hurry this morning, she rarely stopped or look for me or Stella.

I've been keeping a keen eye out for deer in our early morning walks and the last walk of the day usually between 5p-6p. I haven't seen any ATV tracks nor have I see any signs of deer.

Stella again followed the "over here" command and headed our direction instead of the far right corner of the field.

Sadie still hasn't come up for air .... her nose was on the ground for most of the walk.

While Sadie trotted out in front of us on some kind of scent ... Stella was going to take her own sweet time.

They both seem pretty interested in the cat scent. They have been ending their walks lately by walking together and slightly behind me all the way to the yard. Of course that will change in a week or two since Stella never keeps any kind of walking routine.

I am not sure how many of you caught the shows the other night on the National Geographic channel with Katie Couric but both shows I watched were very interesting and informing. If everyone in the country watched nothing else but those two shows I think a lot of problems would be solved. The shows were about Immigration and Smart Phone Technology.

Stella is begging for lunch right now so I cannot stay long and have a lost my train of thought. I had some other stuff I wanted to write about but it has slipped away into that dark hole of my mind. One of Katie's shows talked about memory loss ... it made me wonder if all the hours on my computer the past 23 years is my problem or is it because I am getting older. Of course the concussions I've had in the past probably doesn't help.

I am glad to see that two local Farmers Markets are opening soon for this year. There is nothing better than fresh produce, fresh meats and fresh eggs. I can't remember the last time I bought a tomato at a grocery store that had any taste to it. Yes, I have the room to grow all of this myself with my own garden, but for me personally it's easier to let the experts grow what they do and let me buy it when it's ready.

It 'feels' like rain is on the way but the radar is clear and only a 30% chance this afternoon. That is one thing that makes living in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana so nice ... the weather is constantly changing except for those 30 days last winter.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... have a nice weekend.

Heidi Goes Outside On Her Own

I know today's blog post title doesn't look like it means much but it's been a rare time these past 20 months, that Heidi jumps down from her chair and runs to the door when asked "do you want to go for a walk?"

The few times she has done that I have always taken that as a sign she is feeling either good or better, during her skin issues. Today was one of those days and a little unexpected. Of course she did not chose to go on the walk with us but wanted to wander around the yard while the bloodhounds and I took off for an early afternoon walk.

She has picked out one of the best parts of the yard today, waiting for our return. That previous photo caught her doing what she does a lot of ... scratching. She's been doing that for so many months I am not sure if it's a habit or something actually itches. Looking where she itches, there is zero skin irritation.

As we walked into the yard from our walk, Sadie and Stella must have forgot that Heidi was outside because they immediately went running toward her to see if someone was in 'their' yard. Although there are no loose dogs running in the neighborhood, they have to make sure their yard had not been invaded.

After they verified her ID, she was okay to them, they were more interested in getting back inside for their afternoon siesta that they take after every walk they go on.

I did something different today when applying the water/vinegar mix. I started last week with cotton balls, then went to a spray bottle and dabbing with a washcloth to keep it from running. Today I soaked the wash cloth with the mixture, squeezed out some of the mixture but still damp enough to spread the mixture on her.

I liked that way the best. It seemed to cover her skin better and she rolled on her back to have it done instead of trying to escape the spray bottle application.

I've decide to not expect any drastic changes to her skin until next fall. It might take that many months to kill the yeast infection or whatever has been tearing her skin up. Also we are moving into allergy season which may be a factor. As long as her skin does not get worse and I continue to see healing I'll be happy with that.

It's been a long time fighting this skin issue after having very little if any improvement at all. Today there is no redness yet a lot of "elephant skin" along her neck and each side of her face but it looks like it's healing. Her feet and legs are not red with no inflammation. All of her skin is soft.

Sadie and Stella were bothering me non-stop to go for a walk. It's been a beautiful day so I decided to take them out mid-afternoon instead of waiting until later. It was perfect weather ... slight breeze, sunny but not hot and for some reason no gnats!!

Here is Sadie giving me her stare to see if we really are going on a walk. Stella had already taken off on the path to get the walk started.

It's a little boring at times writing about the same thing every day but to them every walk is different. I change back and forth on the photos with a 55-200mm zoom and sometimes I walk with the 18-50mm lens. They don't seem to care either way.

Again today I decided I was going to call Stella to follow us instead of letting her roam in the right corner of the field. I didn't want to leave her behind or let her go at her pace I guess. She turned my direction every time I called her and she was still able to go at her pace as she explored.

It's hard to tell Sadie and Stella apart, but this is Sadie in between two photos of Stella.

The recent rains helped this grow in the middle of our path. I have no idea what the name of it is.

Stella wasn't into much running today ... she was just happy to trot along enjoying the walk and the sunshine.

Her is a second look at the new bird nest. I wonder where they found the moss type of building material?

It's really hard to believe this week is almost over. Time moves so fast when you are retired. It is also different this year in that I don't have a list of 13-15 things "to do" on the house like I did last spring. I still have some ideas for some future blogging but have not had the urge to start that yet.

As far as driving around the local area for photos ... the past two times, Heidi has acted like she was car sick and the bloodhounds did their share of whining before laying down in the back ... maybe the excitement of riding is over for them.

I received an email this morning telling me that I had posted "Hounds Demand a Walk" .... the problem is the time between I actually posted and received this email was almost 24 hours difference. Google's feed burner program is a little off.

The ticks have seemed to disappeared recently since I have not be pulling off the same high number of them from me after a walk through the field. I only had two of them on me today whereas last month I was finding 4-5 per walk on me.

I might post again later today, not sure. The hounds are sleeping but I have a feeling they will want an early evening walk later today. I think this place needs a couple of chairs, maybe a small table to hold a book and/or beverage.

The weather is fantastic today her in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.