Sadie & Stella Take Off

With weather like this every day it's hard to stay inside. Sadie and Stella felt the same way although for some reason Heidi is back in her mid-winter hibernation mode. High temps in the 70's make it perfect weather.

For our mid-day walk I had barely made it to the yard and saw Sadie and Stella both running toward the back of the field direction in back of the house. I have no idea what they had picked up but their noses were to the ground and they were off at a fast pace.

I continued to follow the path walking the same pace I always do, knowing that both of them would be within view.

I was not even close to the first corner and they were already in the middle of the field. It wasn't until Sadie stopped to look back in my direction that they slowed their pace. I expected them to head over the top of the hill and go toward the woods.

They were not chasing deer nor birds, just jogging further and further away from me. I don't recall this ever happening when they were not involved chasing deer. I guess they really do like the field cut. I still had not made it to the first turn.

By the direction Stella was heading along the back edge of the field I thought she was well on her way into the 'no fly zone' but I wasn't going to start running after her yet. I continued with my slow pace while keeping an eye on them to see what they were going to do.

Even with this much sunshine, it didn't feel hot. It's hard to believe it's almost July and we are having highs in the 70's for weather.

I cannot figure out why they were in such a hurry to get to this area of the field. They sniffed around a lot but didn't look like they had found any 'natural protein' to eat. I wondered how long they would stay out here if I didn't get them walking back to the house with me.

I wanted to take a picture of the tightly rolled hay but Sadie had other ideas. Evidently something she liked was wrapped up inside the roll.

A single feather out in the middle of nowhere.

After checking the mail, grabbing some water to drink, I headed back outside for an afternoon of reading. Sadie was checking to see if another walk was possible. It had been about 30 minutes since we returned from the mid-day walk.

Once she saw I was not going to get out of my chair to go on another walk, she decided to sneak up on me as if I couldn't see her.

Stella got to the point of indecision ... whether to answer my call and head back to the house or turn and make a run for it back out into the far field. After a lot of thinking, she decided it was best to return to the house.

It was another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Walk In Freezing Temps

The snow started late yesterday afternoon as I glanced out the large window next to the kitchen table. Snow flurries interrupted my game of Mahjong.

I knew it wouldn't last nor would it get very deep. All of that was heading east. By 1am when we were outside for the last trip of the night for the hounds, the temperatures had dropped considerably and those predicted temperatures in the teens felt like they were just a few hours away.

Sadie was out early to check the amount of snow and just how cold it was. Facebook's program where they show a picture you posted a year ago or more, showed it snowed this time last year but just a little more than what we had today. It has really been a mild winter in the topics of southern Indiana.

Still it was cold enough this morning that Sadie didn't beg for a walk that early, she headed right back to the house. By 11am the temp was up to 18° and the "feels like" was around 6° ... so there was some hesitation in deciding if we should walk today. Is that too cold on the paws of their feet.

Knowing we had walked in blizzard conditions in the past, in deep snow, I decided it was safe for us to take a walk this morning. I didn't feel anything except on my face with the freezing cold wind coming out of the NW. Yet it wasn't at the level of being miserable.

Stella wanted to show me she was in her 2nd day of her new routine. That is walking with us instead of staying back and eating anything she could find under the thick grass and leaves. It's funny how she changes routines every few weeks, in an instant.

I thought it was a pretty strong wind as we walked but it wasn't until I turned the first corner that I really felt it. If you look at those tall light tan bushes you can see them blowing in the wind. It's hard to believe by tomorrow afternoon the temps will be in the high 50's for the next three days and then back to the 40s. That sounds good to me.

While Sadie broke left to head to the field, Stella headed to the far right corner. She had not been up there in a few weeks. I thought I might need to follow her to keep her going but I thought it was cold enough that she would catch up to us on her own.

Sadie was curious on what Stella was doing and wondering if she was coming or not. More than likely she was interested in what Stella was eating. They cannot see that far so what scent is she picking up to have her look that way?

It didn't matter, she not only took off down the edge of the field but caught me by surprise as she went sprinting into the 'no fly zone'. She never does that unless there is deer in the area. I saw nothing in that direction.

The scent that Sadie was chasing must have been strong because Stella was sprinting toward us. I looked in that direction again but didn't see any deer on the horizon. She smelled something so they may have been over in the woods.

I didn't want to chase Sadie into the next field, the wooded area, with the weather being this cold. So as I yelled her name, she made a big looping run and came back to me where Stella ran over to meet her. Yet, there is something over in that direction that interested them a lot.

I had the leash inside my pocket for Stella just in case I needed it, but I didn't have to use to use it this morning. I called Stella's name and said "lets go home" and she headed down the path in a slow trot.

Sadie continued to track different scents all the way home while never getting to far away but never on the path with Stella. Like I have said before, she has a much stronger nose than Stella and has heavy instincts in her natural tracking ability.

While Stella stopped to scratch ... I wish I knew what was making her itch this past month ... Sadie was still interested in something back in the northern direction.

Stella took a short time to check out the neighbor's woods and then turned and trotted toward the house. It must have been the cold weather that motivated her enough to head home with me giving a command.

The closer we got to the house the faster they ran.

Soon after we got back from the late morning walk, Stella started howling for lunch. That pulled Heidi out of a deep sleep to where she started barking along with Stella ... Sadie just hopped up and down in excitement to eat. A quick trip outside after lunch and I was back to reading books.

Heidi is looking better than she has in a long time. Hair has grown back on her front paws, not all but most hair as returned to her rear paws and is trying it's hardest to fill in her rear legs. Those are places where a vet told me a couple of years ago not to expect that hair to ever grow back.

She has shown a lot of improvement after I started feeding her Rachel Ray's beef and rice. Why beef?? She always had had problems with food that had chicken as their main ingredient, so I thought I'd try something with beef. That food had high protein (26%) and high fat (14%). She is also adding a little weight and her coat is soft and shiny.

It wasn't too long after lunch where Sadie started letting me know she wanted the 2nd walk of the day. I was reading the other book I picked up yesterday and wasn't sure I wanted to take a walk. We normally take an afternoon walk later in the day but if she wanted to go that bad, then why not?

But this afternoon's walk had a problem. It looked inside that Sadie was wanting to walk but that was not the case ... she wanted to eat poop. That never makes me happy, honestly hate it. Stella also wanted to do nothing more than that.

It was such a nice day I continued walking and figured they would eventually catch up with me. But the further I walked, I started changing my mind. Neither hound had moved and I was more interested in reading.

I took a few more steps and decided to turn around. Here I was going on a walk when I really didn't want to. It was obvious that neither hound wanted to walk. They did not even lift their heads when I yelled their names.

So I turned around and headed home. A short walk for this afternoon. (Editors Note: After taking a short 42 mile afternoon drive in the Z4, I hooked Stella to the 25' retractible leash, let Sadie outside and we had a nice late afternoon walk)

I picked up another John Grisham book at the library yesterday and then noticed when I got home I had three of his paperbacks on my shelf and I don't remember reading any of them. I've bought a lot of books that I have not read. I figure I have about a month left of reading before my focus turns to outdoor activities as the weather gets warmer.

A couple of readers commented yesterday that my red mirrors looked like a sore thumb. I sent both of them a link of all the different mirror covers available and not even the solid black is an option. I did get two email answers from owners that I asked where they got their black covers ... both were part of their new car order from the factory in Germany.

Of course one thing to think about with my ever changing mind ... If I ever decide to go back to the 'stock' look of that model, then I can install the red stripes again and then the mirrors would be part of that standard option. The hood stripes needed replaced anyway because for some strange reason they had deep enough scratches on them, as I was peeling the stripes off, they followed those scratches in a different direction.

Still I like the all black look the more I look at it. Most that have emailed me along with forum comments also like it. One in particular thought with the stripes removed made the Countryman model have a much cleaner look. Whereas the two door coupe models that I had before, the stripes looked good.

You may have noticed a new link up on my upper left sidebar.  (Removed - 2nd thoughts) I don't put everything up there until I look around that particular website and decide if it pertains to what we talk about here and if it might be of interest to our blog readers.

I'll post about that website within the next day or so but in the meantime take a look at puppyspot.com especially if you are looking for a puppy that is not a bloodhound or basset hound. This brought up the question "what breeds are best to mix and match". I'll also post a graphic they have made after their research on choosing different dog breeds to live together.

Since I am a hound lover I've always had bassets and bloodhounds. Although there are other breeds I have been interested in such as bulldogs, mastiffs, and mutts from the shelter. I will say the mini-dachshund that I use to pet sit for my niece years ago, did like both basset hounds and bloodhounds.

I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon keeping warm and reading books. All of the hounds are sound to sleep for their afternoon siestas.

Life is good here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Day Cancelled Due To Rain

It actually started last night with different periods of hard rain. At times it sounded as if I had a metal roof on the house. Directv signal was knocked out for short time as well as the Exede satellite internet.

That didn't matter. I was deep into my newest book, a novel by John Grisham called The Summons. I'm liking the large print. It's an older book and hard to put down so it was another night I had to force myself to stop reading to get some sleep ... it was 3am.

I was out cold and never heard another drop of rain the rest of the night, in fact I didn't hear anything. No weird dreams, no waking up in a sunlit room ... just solid sleep. You can always tell how much rain and how windy it was during the night by looking at the floor of the carport then next morning, to see it was pretty active.

It was good to see the car cover was still on the Z4. Halfway down each side of the cover are two grommets where I connect each with a bungee cord that goes under the car. That keeps the cover from blowing off when the wind speeds are extreme. Ask me how I know that.  LOL

Sadie and Stella went out this morning for just a short time. Stella did not have any hesitation in returning to the house after she took her bathroom break. Sadie in the meantime was trying to figure out the mole traffic which has destroyed not only my backyard this year, but the front yard this winter. I'm killing the grub worms in March, chemicals and all.

Stella normally has her tail lowered, rarely up and curled like Sadie so when she had her tail up and pointing out I couldn't believe how long it was. When you see the bottom half of her tail is black from a parent being a 'black n tan' bloodhound, it is pretty easy to see why the original owner named her "Dipstick". Plus there is a story from the couple I got her from that she did get into some oil in the garage while they were at work.

Once back inside the house, it was time to continue the book with Heidi and Stella exemplify what kind of day it's been. I've been keeping my house between 60°-65° but today is one of those days it might be 62° outside and inside the same but it feels much colder. Heidi needed the Marmot sleeping back to keep her warm.

Later we took a short break outside but it was lightly raining, the sky to the west didn't look any better. It might be 62° but the weather experts say it will be a high of 28° by Thursday. Where's global warming when you need it?

Lately when thinking about my spring to do list, I've change my mind about planting grass along the old 75 year old wire fence and hill at the corner of the house. Due to keeping the hill from moving I'd like to keep all of the roots of the trees in the ground, along with the concrete blocks the Amish house builders threw into the hill 40 years ago.

I have enough problem with 'ground swell' as it is besides pulling up all the roots and planting new grass. I don't think just planting grass on this hill would hold it. All the underground water in that field leads right to my backyard.  I might throw a few handfuls of wild flower seeds over this area to mix in with what grows back to give it some color.

After posting the pictures of the Mini Cooper yesterday without the stripes here and on the Mini Cooper forum, I have had a surprising number of emails and forum replies. Everyone has some pretty good ideas on how to move forward.

One interesting idea was to put two solid wide stripes only on the hood in dark gray and on each outside edge a very thin red strip. The majority of Countryman owners on the forum suggested keeping the red mirror caps and the brake inlets, then doing a couple of mods to accent the red.

I originally thought of making it black as possible. Now remember all the ideas I speak of, have pictures online or on the Mini Forum showing me what it would look like before I make changes. I also thought of putting on door handle caps that are black. They sell those along with the chrome trip around the headlights and brake lights. Many paint those chrome trim pieces.

One forum member even suggested painting the thin piece of chrome around the car called the 'belt line' red.

Interesting about the color black. I thought it would be quite easy just to order a set of mirror caps in black and then sell my red ones. I was wrong. Even the official Mini accessory site does not list black caps as an option. So I guess from the pictures I saw online, those were special ordered at the time they bought the car or were painted later.

The thing is I am still a fan of chrome and to me there is just enough chrome there to make the car look good. Until I was looking through 5 different sites last night that sold Mini accessories, I didn't realize those red brakes you see behind the black wheels cost almost $1,500.

I also found the exact stripes I took off, in a kit for $117. Some have suggested putting them back on, only on the hood and rear hatch door. Some think only on the hood would look okay while others say forget the stripes and make it as black as possible.

Speaking of cars, I noticed the Toyota dealership that took my blue FJ in trade back in October still has it on their lot for sale. They just had their 3rd price reduction and it is now priced the same as what they gave me for a trade in. I'm surprised it has not been sold yet, since they installed new OEM catalytic converters plus fixed anything they found to replace.

The hounds probably miss riding in it. But I like the Cooper Countryman and it still gives me all the room I need plus better gas mileage. It's quite comfortable.

Well I am headed back to my book. I think I can finish that tonight. Thanks to all that have suggested books to read the past few days. I have included every one on my list of books to read and have found a few of them available in my library. If they are not available I can have them sent here within the state library system.

I see just a little blue sky trying to peek outside the clouds but it's way too wet to take a hound walk today here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.