A Good Feel To Today

It was a few ticks below 60°, all the windows in the house were open, birds were singing and both hounds were sound to sleep after waking me up a little past 7am to eat breakfast. With a forecast of 80° today before we are bombarded with thunderstorms tomorrow, I didn't hesitate putting on cargo shorts. Once I heard Stella shaking in the bedroom I knew our walk was just a few minutes away.

It felt warm outside with the old carport thermometer needle just past 50°. While Stella got her plan together I had already decided I would follow her today in whatever direction she took. She was going to be on her own with the whole field available. Totally unexpected, she started the walk in the normal way ... taking the path ... after a couple of days of needing verbal herding to get her to walk in that direction.

With that tall green grass, who could resist a little added breakfast food on top of her kibble a couple of hours before?

The past few days I had my hiking boots getting fully saturated from the heavy field dew. So this morning I slipped my North Face snow/rain boots over my low-cut summer socks. Just like Stella taking the normal path ... my boots didn't take on any water as the field had dried out along the path plus there wasn't any dew on the grass.

You can see the brush line getting green. While I was out mowing the other day I heard two of my neighbors doing the same thing and my next door neighbor mowed his yard as soon as he got home from work. I am anxious to see if this spring will be as wet as last year, where I only had a few days between rains to mow the fast growing yard. So far so good on the number of rain days.

Of course, just because it was a nice morning that does not mean that Heidi wakes up earlier and gets her day started. She will eventually walk out of the bedroom and start her stretching and move into the living room big leather chair sometime around 10am ... That will also be her norm during the hot summer months.

With a Cincinnati Reds game on tv at noon today, it will our normal time right after the game for the afternoon walk. Heidi will at least spend some time outside, whether she roams the yard or joins Stella and I for a little exercise. She enjoys time alone outside in the sun, just sitting there.

Even with all the freedom I was giving Stella for her walk, she didn't deviate too far from the normal path.

Like the other afternoon, for some reason she stopped out of nowhere and sat there. I have no idea what she heard, or saw ... maybe she was just in deep thought. With the pollen count increasing, even little bit, it's time for the daily wiping of Stella's eyes with a warm washcloth. I normally do that a couple of times per day for her and Heidi.

Right after I snapped that close up of her, she stood and leaned down on her front paws like she wanted to play then took off trotting away from me. Her and Sadie use to love wrestling along with running full speed a few years ago. Her running is a rare thing anymore.

I complained again to Chewy about how bad FedEx delivery was last month. I get Stella's glucosimine supplements from them. When I started last fall I'd get my shipment within two days. That gradually moved to five to seven days. So this morning I took a look at the tracking information and see that my shipment was picked up yesterday and will be delivered today. It will be interesting to see if the FedEx van pulls up the driveway to drop that small package off on my step.

Not a lot of eating today but a lot of data collection.

Close to getting back home and starting the day. The highlight of the day will be sitting inside watching the Reds baseball game. They are on a two game winning streak and could make it three today. That is quite a turnaround after starting the season 1-8.

She trotted a few times today but I was never able to catch her soon enough with the camera.

Not a lot going on as she entered the yard.

As usual, she walked right up next to the house as she finished her walk. You'll notice I have a clean car now. It was hard getting the dried bloodhound drool off the sides of it and the rear bumper. That stuff is harder to get off than tar or bugs.

Well I am headed to recycling.

A beautiful morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Supervises Yardwork

I couldn't wait for Stella this morning. Luckily she was up and awake, ready to take the morning walk. As I glanced out to see what kind of field we had today before choosing what boots to wear, I swear I could tell that the backyard and field had grown over night. I'll be 'spot' mowing the yard at first because it never grows even at the start of spring.

Can you tell I am already finding it hard what to blog about this morning? After yesterday's excitement there has been some letdown this morning. I like seeing "mid-60's" by this afternoon but it was the coldest morning in the past week as we started the walk.

I am barely feeling an urge to pick up every stick and limb in my yard today. With a Cincinnati Reds game starting at noon, I'll either finish that project before the game or wait for warmer weather, then tape the game to watch tonight. The weather is too nice to stay inside. I did that all winter.

While watching tv last night, a Reds game, I started thinking again that DirecTv has a clearer picture than DishNetwork. I went through that thought process before making the change at the end of my DirecTv contract in February 2018. It was different enough to notice it right after they did the installation. The tech forums claim what I am seeing and agree.

Like any two competitive companies, each have their pros and cons. Both companies have features that the other doesn't but those you like. I have about 10 months before I have to make a decision whether to stay or move from DishNetwork. By that time AT&T might have streaming services in my area, but they don't at this time.

My mind was wandering this morning as I walked. Will it be a laundry day or a trip to the grocery store? Hold off on until it is a rainy day and do yard cleanup today or will procrastination win out where I do nothing? I could do a mix of all, so I guess I'll know by the end of the day. That's the advantage of being retired. I wasn't as focused this morning as I was yesterday.

I've noticed from the few blogs I follow now, that almost all of the full-time travelers from seven years ago have come off the road and travel part time, if at all. Some have passed on, others just disappeared from blogging. I remember how obsessed I was back in 2011 and 2012 spending most of my free time researching RVs and making plans for when I retired two years later, with two basset hounds and two bloodhounds.

I spent a lot of time reading those bloggers that lived on the road as well as the forums for RVing and different type of rigs. During those times I also read about a lot of places I had already visited and a few where I had lived. I did a lot more traveling and exploring the surrounding areas when I lived out west in California and later Washington.

Stella had a thorn bush get stuck to her jowls today, as she pulled away.

While I thought back to those times yesterday I knew that some roadtrips will take place in the future. The thought of traveling might have also been triggered when I looked at my list of towns in the generic weather app that comes with the iPhone, and seeing temperatures 20°-30° warmer than my April day was.

Like I have stated many times before, mostly on my older blog, this house and field are the best situation for my hounds and they are my #1 priority. I also like living here and enjoy the area. Things are simple, quiet most of the time and away from all the chaos. I've never lived anywhere as long as I have lived here in this house.

Stella wasn't tracking scent today even if it looks like it. Oh I guess she was ... deer scat scent, not deer travel. I had to stop her numerous times from eating it. I still don't think that is a good idea and I've read articles both ways, about dogs eating crap. She is not the first that has done this in my history of hounds. Some did some didn't.

I was a little surprised I did not have any kind of heartburn after having that medium pizza yesterday. I ate half of it there and the other half last night for dinner. I expected to be woken up in the middle of the night with indigestion but that did not happen. That's a good thing. I also stayed within my daily calorie limit by not eating anything else. I just wasn't hungry after I finished the last piece of pizza.

This is about all I have for this morning. I had thought about waiting until the end of the day to post but I have to many photos to do that. Maybe I'll hold off posting this, delete some of these photos and add some afternoon photos, then schedule this to publish later today.

By the time I got here I decided I'd wait to post this. Who knew what might happen. I became highly motivated to clean the yard up with a little raking and picking up every stick, stem, twig or limb from the highway all the way to the field.

Heidi let me know the reason for me not bothering with that stack of leaves. She found it to be the perfect bed under the sunshine to sleep while I worked. I had Stella on the long cord that is anchored in the field. All she did was enjoy the sunshine and slept the two hours I was outside.

I had one more job after cleaning the yard and that was get rid of those leaves along the back of the house. I moved them around the corner of the house and burned them. No chance of having them blow back into the yard during the next storm.

I was finished with everything by 11:53am and found out the Reds game did not start until 12:30 instead of noon. Either way it was perfect timing. I had time to clean up and fix something for lunch. I had all the windows in the house open for about an hour before deciding that 57° outside was just a bit too cold to leave the windows open.

It was good to be back outside working in the yard for the first time this spring in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.