Though no fault of their own, all the hounds had a 'day off' yesterday. I'll not go into great detail but around midnight Friday night I started getting really sick. That led to a sleepless night where I seriously considered a trip to the emergency room 12 miles away. I staggered to the couch around noon on Saturday because there was no way I missing the best weekend of college football games this season. It was finally around 5pm Saturday I felt some improvement thanks to some hot peppermint tea and some rice for food.
Combined with 25° temps that I did NOT mind this morning and a Saturday where Sadie and Stella got only half of a walk ... to say they were wild and out of control this morning would be an understatement. I let loose of the reigns and let them go, taking photos as I walked.
Sadie is so happy to take a walk again and so fast that she almost did a forward somersault passing Stella.
I would hate to think it was the Marie Callender's pumpkin pie with a crunched brown sugar/pecans topping is what did me in. I watched my portions on all the food I ate Thursday and Friday but I had the same reactions months ago after having their dutch apple pie.
With both hounds running uncontrollably I was a little concerned as I approached the first turn and didn't see any signs of a hound.
There is Stella but where did Sadie run off to?
Once I called her name she came running out from the brush/gully area on the right side.
By the time I got even with the hounds enjoying their frozen treats they turned and took off sprinting for the back of the field. At the pace they were going I was positive I'd be heading north to get them out of the woods that now has a large ATV path for them to follow.
When I saw Sadie's head looking this direction with her ears perked up and head in a locked position, I looked over into the field and saw 10 or more deer standing far away looking back in our direction. As they turned to take off sprinting, Sadie turned around ran past Stella and headed home. The picture I tried to take of the deer was too blurry to post.
Their plan this morning seemed to be to stay as far in front of me as possible. They did that from the time I walked into the field to start the walk.
This gives you some idea how far ahead they are, taking the photo with the lens at 50mm.
Stella is busy as expected. But I couldn't see Sadie anywhere.
Then to the far left I can barely see her after she blended in with the tall dormant hay.
I always wonder what has walked through the yard while we sleep at night. I guess I need to mount a camera to one of these large trees or to the fence post to get my answer
You would think by now this Sunday morning walk would be over. It's freezing. The hounds have done about all they can do on their walk ... at least I thought so. But when you have some pent up energy from a forced day off ... nothing is finished until they say so.
Stella faked Sadie into a team search but within seconds did the first move of attacking her to get in some wrestling.
Since she is outside, Sadie took the defensive position to fight off Stella's strong maneuvers.
As Stella did her patented spin move to come back with another attack, Sadie did her sitting still move ... to let Stella believe the play was over.
Then she jumped into Stella with a strong chest bump and trying to win the battle.
Yet, with Stella regaining her weight and strength over the summer and fall ... she was able to pin Sadie to the ground to win the match.
The match wasn't over though to Sadie ... she got up as if she was going to walk back to the door but stopped, stood still and then attacked again trying to get the advantage on Stella.
Like I have said before, there is never any growling going on during this. Nor have they ever lost their temper and turned this into a serious dog fight. They just enjoy having another hound as big and strong as they are to play with.
When they both stopped, each of them doing their 'fake' move I said "that's all" and they headed for the door ... only to run inside and continue playing. That is what excess energy does to bloodhounds. I'll not get sick again.
I'm going to take it easy on my food intake today. I know for sure it was not food poisoning. After my first and only serving of food on Thursday I put the extra food in the fridge even while it was hot. I did the same thing on Friday mid-afternoon for an early dinner. I will not be buying another pie to test and see if that was it.
Hope all survived the holiday ... the next one isn't that far away.
A sunny freezing morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.