Heidi Makes History

I would have to do some deep digging back through Heidi's folder of pictures to see when the last time she made two complete walks in the field on back to back days. I know my short term memory might be on shaky ground at times but I am positive it's been YEARS since Heidi did two walk in a row. Today she even led the walk.


While I sat in front of my computer most of the day trying to find just the right blog template that I wanted, the skies never changed, it never rained and the best decision of the day was keeping the Reds game on tv in the background. After returning from our afternoon walk, the Reds were behind 13-3 with 3 more innings to go. It took little effort to press the "off" button on my Directv remote.

During the normal trip outside after the hounds had their lunch of kibble, Heidi had moved back to her regular routine of walking along the side of the house where the Yews use to be, then darting or jumping out into the front yard to relieve herself. She was moving so fast the camera barely caught her running from the yard to the driveway.

With the driveway incline that would put me in fantastic shape if I spent time just walking back and forth up the hill a few times daily ... Heidi went from a fast run to a slow walk. She had other plans for her energy that I was not aware of.

By 3pm I had come to a final decision on the blog design, answered some emails and replied to blog comments ... Heidi thought it might be time for our afternoon walk. She stood and thought about her plan before making any abrupt moves.

Within seconds of being outside Sadie was already running through the field chasing butterflies and Stella was slowly walking up the path trying to get the walk started. I think she would have liked to stay inside and sleep.

I could tell soon after stepping into the field it was going to be one of the biggest challenges of my week to keep these three hounds moving in one direction. I think it all has the possibilities for a super bowl commercial some time.

Here is one butterfly that ignored Sadie's fast running and jumping at air trying to catch them. She stayed here and enjoyed her meal on the Butterfly Milkweed. (Google Images is a great invention)

I was still in shock that Heidi was not only on the walk but was not lagging back with other interests such as following her nose. She acted as if she was on some sort of mission today, she had a plan.

With the start of the walk is a slight incline almost all the way to the first corner, there was no running involved. That would be using energy that she planned on using later.

While I was looking in both directions you could tell that Sadie and Stella had joined as a team to cut this exploration today into an effort of more coverage in less time. When they are in this kind of pose there is only one thing that will break their concentration ... mention the word 'food' or anything that is food.

As with any basset hound worldwide, anytime you are looking at pictures you can't tell by their legs if they are running ... but their ears are a dead giveaway.

I did not even call her when she was running ... it was just part of her plan.

While I was waiting for her to catch me, I had noticed that Stella was walking away from all of us in a northern direction which would be toward the center of the field. After taking this picture of Heidi I turned my view towards the middle of the field and Stella was nowhere on the horizon. Zip, nada, ... gone!!

Some how in a short period of time Stella had changed direction and went the opposite way, moving behind me either running or trotting and letting me find her not in the field but up in the far right corner and heading into the gully where the deer migrate.

While I am trying to keep Stella and Sadie from going down into the gully through that overgrown brush ... in fact I am running in their direction calling their names for them to stop ... Heidi continues her pace and is way out in front of all of us ... she is leading the walk!

Somehow, some way I was able to get Stella and Sadie out of the brush and headed in the right direction. After all the running I did chasing them, I guess Sadie had to check to see if I was okay and not laying on the ground somewhere.  HA

I don't feed the brand name 'Milk Bone' but one similar that has better ingredients. But I do say the brand name "Milk Bone' because they all respond to those two words and know they will be getting something to eat. Here Stella is asking if she just heard what she thought she heard ... "did you say Milk Bone?"

When Heidi heard those words she took of running, Stella kept walking her slow pace as usual and Sadie was about to fly by my knee in a full-out sprint. They all had a new focus now and it wasn't walk or searching ... it was food.

They still know it doesn't matter what they do, that once I say those two words they will ALWAYS get their treats and it doesn't matter if don't they come as fast as I want them to.

Heidi was wagging her tail headed for the door. She was already barking for her 'Milk Bone' by the time Sadie and Stella reached the house.

How can a hound look so sad when there is food involved?

Some readers in the past have asked me if having three hounds make times noisy around the house. It's just the opposite. Once they get their walk finished or meals, they fall asleep and the only noise I will here will be a ocassional snore or breathing behind my desk chair from Stella.

With the change to this blog I am now posting photos to only one site instead of two blogs and Facebook. It makes it much faster to post and gives me more time away from the computer. I keep finding things to use in the background to use for the blog and as I use this platform more, the easier it is to post.

Like I said at the start of this post, I have finally decided on the blog design. I liked having that header image where the other blog did not have that option. I like the home page where you can still see the 12 previous posts with a clean modern look to it. The pages are where I wanted and once I found out that all the links I used in the sidebar of the previous blog design this morning, would be there once a post was opened ... then I knew this was the template (theme) I wanted to use.

The name of this free Wordpress them is "Baskerville 2".

Speaking of change ... I forgot to mention the change Apple made to their new iMacs has not turned into the hassle I thought it would be for me. When they made the computer thinner, the slot for the SD card moved from the side to in the back. How inconvenient could that be?

I thought I might have to use an older adapter that would take five different SD card sizes but after 3 months from replacing my almost 7 year old iMac, I find having the SD card slot in the back not a problem at all. I do have to lean a little further from my chair to reach the back of the iMac, but not a problem.

Of course there is always something I wanted to say at the end of the post but by the time I get there, a lot of times I forget what it was. For example I've been wanting to talk about that SD card slot for weeks and finally remembered today.

Is is just me or have the first 6 days of August flown by? I don't want summer to end. The other night at 3am when I woke up to shut bedroom windows because the temps had dropped into the 50's ... it hit me that fall was just around the corner.

I'm not ready to put jeans back on, along with a jack or coat.

It's nice to have all the changes finished these past few days. It's been a 'wild' 30 days when it comes to changing stuff.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It's Almost Too Quiet Today

Living on a hill a hundred feet from a major highway you get use to the traffic noise after residing here for 20 years. It's not evident until Sunday mornings, where it is so quiet around here that you could hear a pin drop. This morning was one of those days with a light rain mixed in.


As I was standing at the corner of the house taking my daily "2nd picture", I felt some light rain. With a forecast of a good chance of off and on rain throughout the day, increasing tonight, I knew our chances for three walks today might be slim. Sadie thought otherwise.

As soon as she saw that I had gone into the house to grab my light rain jacket, she was more than excited that we were going to take the chance of getting wet on this walk. The weather radar was solid with colors signifying rain. She went immediately into the tracking mode and followed the same deer scent along the tree line as she did Saturday morning.

Both of them were not into any kind of eating 'stuff' this morning, just Sadie inhaling deep enough with her nose pressed to the ground. I could hear her jowls move as she gathered all the information she could about who and what had been in 'her' field while we were sleeping.

Stella on the other hand didn't have time for any kind of work. She was into a casual morning stroll like she didn't have a care in the world.

Yet, Sadie was more intense than ever, collecting all of the information left by the scents her nose was picking up. When she has her ears out sideways from running to the next spot, you know she has too much work and not enough time to finish it.

Still, Stella was having none of the high intensity that Sadie was showing. She will and would walk at her own slow pace. When I mentioned the possibility of rain and we needed to get home ... she walked even slower.

She then decided that she would let me know that she was still in charge of this walk, by lagging behind and ignoring anything that sounded like me calling her.

To give you an idea how different the weather is this morning, not even the enhancement button could help this photo in lighting it up or making the sky blue again. The butterflies were gone this morning so the mosquitoes moved back into town. After three quick unexpected bites, I remembered my new can of repellant sitting back at home.

These rolls of hay told me a story this morning, showing that I really am aging through all my denials. It's why you see old men wearing their ball caps crooked ... because they feel like they are on straight. I notice that sometimes with mine if I look in the rearview mirror before driving.

Lately when I edit my photos I notice that things are not straight as they should be. Luckily in the cropping section of Apple Photos, you can turn a photo any direction to make them straight. These rolls of hay helped me straighten the picture out and remind me that my balance is a little off today. I'll not tell you just how much that editing adjustment was.

As I continued to walk home with not a drop of rain anywhere, the hounds lagged behind enjoying all the scents this field gives them. Bloodhounds can smell scent up to two weeks old, even in water. I always wonder what their noses tell them with 7 acres of wild stuff growing, deer traffic, and a cat or two.

I didn't have to bribe them this morning with a treat when they got back home. They seemed to be finished with their exploring for this morning and could feel it was time for their daily morning siesta.

Who would have ever thought those pretty white flowers really are weeds, and not good weeds either. While looking up their pictures on Google Images this morning, I clicked the button "view page" and ran into a blog named Dave's Garden writing about "weeds in my lawn". He has the same problem I do with moles and weeds in his yard because we both live next to a field.

Who would have ever thought something as pretty as this could have such an ugly but factual writeup. I guess I will NOT dig some of them up and plant them in my flower beds but then again if their seeds are viable for decades and they will fold around a fence or other plants ... maybe they would be good to hide my old cast iron railings in front of the carport.

Here is what he said about what I call "that white flower":

“The prettiest, but most annoying weed is the Convolvulus arvensis also called Field Bindweed or Swallowtail's Dress, as we call it in Romania. It chokes the plants and is one of the most invasive species. I am pulling out thousands of Field Bindweeds, not to mention how many times I have to unfold them from the fence or from my plants. The roots are deep, but sometimes they come out easily; still they have rhizomes which produce more sprouts. I've found out that their seeds are viable for decades and only one plant can produce 500 seeds."

Don't feel sorry for Sadie and Stella by the looks on their faces. They sniff their way all the way to the house, on EVERY walk. They walk into the house quietly not wanting to wake up Heidi after EVERY walk in the morning. Sadie jumps in her big leather chair with the ottoman to sleep and Stella lays down behind my computer desk chair so close that I can barely roll the chair back enough to sit down.

They will sleep almost to lunch time. If lunch is not served on time, Heidi will start barking and that leads Stella to howling or vise versa. Sadie does not bark or howl but stands right in front of the food container waiting me to pour kibble into their bowls.

I am about to post this and with the windows open I can hear how wet the highway is by passing cars and trucks. There still isn't much traffic as most people are in church. They have a lot of churches in this small rural town and almost as many bars ... I guess you have to even life out someway.

To long time readers this will come as no surprise. To new readers I might let you in on a secret ... I change my mind a lot. I don't have a lot of history on this blog to show that and back up the facts but long time readers can attest it's true.

So as I turned on my computer this morning and as always Google shows me 12 websites that I go to often, the small picture icon of this blog was one of the 12. Here is the problem ... I liked the way the blog looked in that picture better than my current blog home page.

Yet, that other one had all the links of information in the Footer of the blog and not on the Sidebar as it is now. I need to find a template (WordPress Theme) that has the look of the other one I used on Friday with the Sidebar I have today. With a day of rain in the forecast what better time than to look through templates again, using all of my data left with 4 days to go on my billing cycle ... and find a template that I like.

Luckily I have listed those I previewed and added an asterisk or a number of them to the ones I liked. It also occurred to me this morning when looking at my categories, I had nothing written here about the "Other Stuff" part of the blog. All of that history is on my old blog.

I could import all the posts and photos to this blog from the 6 year old blog on Blogger but the last time I tried that a year or so ago, there were a lot of issues between the different blog platforms. Blogger and WordPress don't play well together.

I'm okay with starting over, with what I consider a new blog. As I write about that "Other Stuff", categories will be added. But right now it's time for just one more cup of coffee and back to looking at templates.

(note: I know I shouldn't start a sentence with the word "But" and I also know I should place the period or question marks inside quotation marks) ... but to all the grammar police and spelling bee champions out there, I like starting a sentence that way and putting periods outside of quotation marks ... plus the spelling here will be only as good as the WordPress spellchecker. I am not a professional writer so you might find a mistake here and there when I write.

Yet, even on rainy days, its great living in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

An Early Start To Saturday

As we started our walk this morning I thought it was a little bit nippy while I wore my normal shorts and t-shirt. The North Face snow boots have become my summer, keep my feet dry boots. After our return I found out why it felt cold ... 58° on August 5th ... 8am.


Sadie did a sprint from the house before I even finished my 1st picture that I take every day just outside the door. As fast as she was taking off I thought we might have 'walked in' on some early morning deer. That wasn't the case though, she must have been running after nothing .. a cat nor butterfly was anywhere in sight.

Once again I saw nothing on the horizon. No deer, and no neighbors were outside. There is a large St. Bernard that lives at the house across the highway but I did not hear him barking at us. Sadie must have heard something I didn't.

There would be no 'herding' of hounds today. All three were on their own during this walk. Heidi was spread out taking as much of the couch as possible to sleep until lunch. Sadie and Stella were going to have free reign of the field ... go where they wanted as I walked along the path taking early Saturday morning pictures.

Stella continues to act more like her old self this morning. As the hounds were getting ready to go outside she nudged Sadie's nose as if she wanted to play. That is something she has not done in so long I can't remember the last time they playfully wrestled.

I could tell by the path made in the tall wet field, along the edge of the field and woods, that deer had followed this line all the way around the corner to the back of the field. Sadie and Stella was locked into that scent, working slowly to start their walk.

It's not out of the norm but I always find it interesting just how fast this field grows after it's cut in late June or early July. It has changed so much over the years. From only tall hay years ago to a lot of clover, wild flowers and weeds taking over that tall hay the past two years.

With Wunderground Weather telling me today will be an exact copy of yesterday, and that is just too hard to believe. It was so nice yesterday with a high of 71°. It will be perfect bike riding weather after this post is published. I'm going to be taking the Giant road bike out to ride for an hour or two.

Here is an interesting picture that can only be seen if I get out early enough and before the sun burns off the dew hanging on the grass. I just remembered that if I highlight each photo, one at a time, I can add a link which gives you the ability to click on any photo for a larger image.

I am not sure if you can tell in this picture but it gives you a better idea of  what all of that dew looks like for just a foot away.

At first I thought Stella was heading to meet us on the return path but the more I watched her through my 200mm zoom lens, I could see she was going to ignore my calls and walk north while Sadie and I were walking southwest.

Like most of her morning walks, Sadie's focus is mostly using her investigative abilities, more than eating the 'natural protein' I speak of at times.

Just because Stella hears me calling her name, doesn't mean she will head my way. Maybe she is just telling me to follow her instead, that she is leading the walk.

As you can see she is going to give me every chance to follow her, as she continues her walk in the opposite direction of Sadie and I.

It was a slow process, but she gradually walked a big swooping loop that led back to Sadie and I. By the time Sadie had stopped a couple of times, Stella had caught up. This picture shows she has gain some of her weight back after losing so much of it in March.

By the time we hit the shaded area of the field again on the return home, it actually felt cold. I cannot imagine ever wearing a sweatshirt in the moth of August where I live but this morning I could have.

As I arrived at the corner of the house I asked Sadie "where's Stella" ... she looked for her but not in the direction where I saw Stella.

You can barely see Stella just right of center. This would be directly behind Sadie, not in the direction Sadie was looking. That gave me time to go inside and change shoes. By the time I stepped back outside to set my boots in the sunshine to dry this morning, I could hear Stella out of sight, shaking off all the water she had collected during the walk.

As you see the Wordpress blog template (theme) has changed a few times since Friday morning. Like always I can never make up my mind. Not all have every feature I want. What I like about this design is the sidebar on the right and easy to read. My pages are easy to find, listed in tabs across the top. The posts look good when they are opened.

Each post is easy to see on the main page, especially since I have been publishing two posts per day lately. I don't do that all the time but post when I feel like writing. One of the bloggers I follow will post 5-8 times per day, depending on what his camera has captured or what is on his mind.

What I don't like about this design is the black color for the header but the are only a few choices for change. None of the choices are better if not worse. This design looks too plain, I'd like to have something a little more current with the times.

It seems that a lot of the latest or new designs have most of the things I want, except for two. Most of them put the sidebar of information and links at the very bottom of their pages or they will hide those links in a drop down menu in the upper right corner, that might not be noticed by readers. Most of those newer templates give me the option to add my own header image.

On tablets and phones the sidebar of information will always be on the bottom of the pages no matter what template I use.

Of course if I were to pay for a template, that would give me more options to make changes in design and color. But 'Free' is good when it's just a personal blog that is not monetized.

So there might be more changes to the design later, depending if I want to spend more time looking over the same 174 free templates available that I spent hours looking at yesterday and again late last night.

I noticed the state police were warning people in the local paper yesterday, about the increase of heavy traffic that will take place on August 21st, when the solar eclipse happens. I see that one of the optimum areas to view the eclipse is about a 100 miles south to southwest of me ... and ... the highway that goes in front of my house was one of those listed for increased traffic to and from that optimum area.

That will be exciting times here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.