A Bike Ride Before The Heat

It had been 10 months since my last ride. That is sad considering before that string of not riding started, I was riding outside 2-5 days per week up to October 2023. After that it was one excuse after another not to ride. I used so many of them, it is too long to list them. Yet today showed me the routine again, not only to keep the dogs safe while I am gone in HOT weather but one that I can use every time I ride with a new puppy.

The Hounds Were Active This Morning

Weather Underground is telling me we have only two more days of highs in the 70's. By Tuesday we will be back in the 50's and 60's and the toughest decisions of the day will be whether to keep wearing shorts or change to jeans. As you can see, we have some new truck tire prints on the path this morning ... visitors last night were all over the field in a pickup truck and a speeding ATV.

It looked like someone was either getting driving lessons in the truck or the chance to drive without a license ... which is normal around here in a farming community. With that traffic stirring up all kinds of scents ... Sadie and Stella had a "field day" this morning.

All that beautiful sunshine yesterday was hiding behind some clouds this morning. It felt like rain could be on the way, but that is not scheduled until Sunday night. This year has not been a good year in my location at least, for weather forecast accuracy. We will see what happens with clear gutters and a lawn that is mowed.

The air had a slight touch of smoke this morning. I am not the only one burning stuff around here and the campfire last night, next door, lasted well past midnight so that fall smell of smoke is a common occurrence. With Stella showing some energy early this morning and Sadie doing her normal darting from one scent to another I could tell they were going to be pretty busy on the walk. I kept my eye out for deer just in case.

When they suddenly stopped their jog at the first time, almost in unison, I knew something was up ... they were serious this morning and were definitely going to catch anything they could find that had been trespassing. They 'think' they own this field just like the Bloodhound Laws state at the top of this blog. Yet it is owned by a neighbor that doesn't care what we do in the field except catching it on fire like he did years ago.

The hounds went from noses to the ground to an all out sprint to the middle of the field, including Stella. I saw no signs of deer anywhere but I thought they both were headed for the woods to the north and had 'seen' something I had not. I wasn't running yet and hoped I didn't have to. After my productive day yesterday there are a few unknown muscles feeling it today ... like soreness.

Could it be that one of the new truck tire tracks is what stopped them? That doesn't seem right by the way the took off sprinting. They are not really rabbit hunters like Heidi is so that couldn't have been the reason. Whatever it was they both stopped as fast as they started their sprint. My 200mm lens could barely pick them up ... being a long way off I was happy to see them stop when they did

I yelled loudly "hey, over here" ... Sadie came sprinting to me as always ... Stella need more time to identify what they had found.

She decided she had enough and wanted to get back to Sadie and I ... without calling her ... here she came, running faster than she had in many months.

They both didn't hesitate in getting back on the task at hand ... search, and identify.

Am I correct thinking that these are a small saplings of some kind? All future trees in the field and so close together. This patch was right behind the hounds in the picture above.

Sadie led the way ... Stella followed.

This is one of her favorite spots to stop and scratch ... if the rolls of hay were there, she would be just in front of them or up by our final turn home.

Since the back part of the field had been checked out, they both ran in the direction of the house again leaving me way behind. It's good that they can run off leash, something that many bloodhound owners have told me they would never do, no matter how big a field was.

Luckily the alternate path home puts me pretty close to Stella on the right side of the picture.

What I wouldn't give to find out what these two are thinking when they stop like this.

The bright colored leaves are few this year but right next to the yard.

In early September my burn pile looked like this. A lot of those green weeds had died this past month. The taller ragweed on the left side out of the view of the photo has really died off. Ill not burn them but will do what I did last year ... cut them down with the mower. Jim was happy to have it cut but it gives Sadie a clear path into the woods. She liked doing that last winter.

While taking the hounds out for their last trip of the night last night around 10:30pm I noticed one small ember in the pile of ashes. I walked over to check to see if anything else could spread while I slept.

So yesterday with some matches and help from a rake, that burn pile went from the picture above to the one below. Over the winter a new pile will start with fallen tree limbs from the high winds and the winter storms we get. There have been some years the burn pile has grown big enough by March or April that I have to burn again.

I doubt that I will have another blog post tonight. I start my weekly football marathon at noon and will finally turn off the tv and the lights around 2:30am, after the last west coast game is finished. The hounds will still get their 2 meals, 2-3 walks, same amounts of sleep in their normal places while I watch the games.

I am glad that Tom recommended the GarminVivoSmart watch last May. It is accurate and provides a lot of information ... at times too much info. It vibrates telling me to "move" if I have been at the computer too long or on the couch watching games. It can sort out my deep sleep from light sleep plus show me the times I get up during the night if I do. It will even tell me who is calling or sending me a text ... by name. If I forget to stop the timer after our walks, it will stop it for me later, then I can go into their app and edit the time and distance for that walk.

I bought it mostly for tracking my resting and active heart rate.

Not much else is going on this morning. It's cool with the windows open. Stella has spent the last hour licking her paws and legs dry ... she cannot stand leaving them wet after we do our morning walk. Sadie always lays by her water bowl protecting it as she sleeps until lunch is served. Heidi has not moved since breakfast, as usual.

Oh, I almost forgot ... I've added a few new blogs to the blog sidebar on the right. One has a basset hound where the title of her latest post was "Basset Hibernation" so Heidi is not the only basset that knows what time of year it was. I am slowly getting back to the 50 or more blogs I listed over the years here. It is the easiest way to see new posts by bloggers I follow but also gives blog readers a chance to read other blogs. I like the side bar more than I like them listed in my Feedly account.

The "labels" were changes yesterday to around 90 topics now in a list format instead of a cloud format. The times I have tested the search box in the upper right doesn't give me the accurate results as the Labels list does. Right after I post this I am changing the title from 'labels' to 'topics'.

I admit after almost two weeks (tomorrow) of blogging again, it's nice to be back blogging and taking photos.

It sure sounds quiet today, almost too quiet for a Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Runs Away Further Than Ever

Tonight I thought I'd be writing about about our morning walk plus a few photos of the lunch break for the hounds ... one of the times that Heidi makes an outdoor appearance and a chance to photograph her ... but the afternoon walk went beyond distances we had ever traveled ... at least the three of us. Stella took off running and didn't come back ... until Sadie and I finally caught up with her.


For some reason I've been very motivated today and still may not be finished. I have time to do a few more things between the time I post this and the Cubs/Nationals baseball game at 8pm local time. I've done one load of my laundry, washed three of Heidi's Mexican blankets, stored the two window AC with hopes of a new central air unit by next June, vacuumed the house and cooked a large lunch. All while deciding to request some friends to comeback to my new Facebook account and not just keeping it a 'reading' account for me.

The fields are still pretty wet I'm sure based on how my yard feels from all the rain but with cooler temps some might have a changes to combine their corn or soybeans. I barely caught these two passing the house while I was outside with the hounds.

These were the two best photos of Sadie and Stella from this morning's walk.

I was so energetic today that I went outside to seal around my windows and to fill with silicone the hole around the new satellite coax cable they inserted through the 20 year old hole on the side of the house. They peel out the old calk silicone every time they install a new system for the internet and tv. I always fill the space back up to keep it dry under the house. That cable runs under the house from the satellite dishes to the tv and further back to my computer room.

This is Stella starting the normal afternoon walk ... where it looks like she can barely walk another step ... so slow she drags her paws. No excitement was expected at this point.

I was not even close to the first turn when two red bloodhounds ran by me at full speed with no intentions of slowing down. All of the photos were taken with the lens set at 200mm, so that gives you some idea how far behind I was.

By this next photo I knew for sure they were going to be out of my sight and I might even have to do some slow jogging if I were to catch them. I saw to new ATV tire tracks in the large path they wore down this summer ... I was pretty sure where the hounds were heading ... way ... way past 'the no fly zone'.

When I saw what Stella was doing on the right side and how fast she moved away from Sadie ... I knew she had plans of her own ... she was on a mission.

Sadie decided if she was going to enjoy this adventure she better put it in high gear to catch Stella.

Doing her best effort to catch Stella.

If nothing else ... both hounds were getting some great aerobic exercise while I was huffing and puffing in a slow jog 75 yards behind them.

When I caught a horizon with no hounds in view, I picked up my pace and started yelling Sadie's name since she was the nearest to me. I knew Stella was long gone.

After a slight diversion, Sadie changed direction and headed the way Stella was last seen.

Still shooting photos with the 200mm setting but I am getting closer to that large electrical tower.

As I change the name of the hound I am yelling for ... Sadie stops to wait on me as I start yelling 'Stella'. Sadie was positive that was the direction she saw Stella heading.

So we are now approaching the farthest corner of the field behind the house ... those tracks will veer to the left into the woods of the next property owner that is 4 houses north of mine. It is also the new path that 8th grader Christopher takes across the field into the deep gully where the deer hang out.

Just to make sure I made one final glance to the left, looking at the 'northern woods' for Stella before running into the next field.

Sadie has stayed by my side this whole time since I caught up with her. She waited for me and then trotted along side of me. As we turned the corner into the woods ... who did we see up ahead ... ????

When Stella is locked in this pose, not moving .... she either sees, smells or hears ... deer, dogs, cats, people, or ATVs. I was hoping she would go no further and come back in our direction.

Once she heard me call her name and see Sadie running after her to rescue ... she acted as if she was afraid of what she had found and was happy to be running back in our direction.

Sadie did what she always does when she finds Stella in the field or when Heidi comes inside after a short trip out at night ... she taps noses.

With Sadie's 'nose tap' telling Stella we are going home, both hounds ran past me, following the path we came in on and headed home.

Stella may have thought she was in trouble but she wasn't. I wasn't mad and only called her name loud in hopes that she would hear Sadie and I were coming to find her. Then again after all the running she did to get her, she may have been tired and had decided to walk home.

Yes that is drool hanging from the bottom of her mouth.

Once she shook her ears out ... she was ready to cruise back to the house for an early evening nap.

The two partners in crime ... NEVER a dull moment when you have bloodhounds ... LOL

Evidently the Equifax breach of personal information has had an affect on me. Added to the OPM in 2015, Yahoo in 2016 and Equifax in 2017 all of my information for the past 20 years is now in someone elses hands. Actually it probably doesn't mean anything in my case ... I'm a 'nobody' really, and do not a lot to offer financially or in assets to any hackers that are interested.

So in that case I am more open online ... screw it.

People now know exactly where I live, even strangers. If you look close you can see in this blog the exact name of the town I live outside of, and I am back on Facebook ... 'the king' of spreading your private photos and information on 'their' website to all parts of the world to make us all just one big happy family ... worldwide.

I guess you can say I no longer care about online security.

So the temps are cool, the windows are open, Sadie is snoring while sleeping in 'her' large leather chair, Heidi is passed out on the couch and MLB playoffs are on a little more than 2 hours from now.

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