Sadie Shows Stella How To Chase A Butterfly

The temperatures were borderline on whether to leave all the windows open or close all of them and turn on the AC. Not quite hot enough outside but the house retains heat from the sunshine up until 11pm. We chose to leave the windows open with a few fans turned on low. After their first walk of the day and then lunch ... all three hounds have done nothing more than sleep, sleep and more sleep ... with the windows open.

I knew last night when I heard an ATV close to the house that they had migrated to my area of the field, near the house. I glanced out the window and saw they had it hung up some way. It wasn't muddy but I knew by the way they were riding and the number of trips following my path up to my yard ... that the field might be trashed this morning.

Stella wasn't interest in tracking tire scent, neither was Sadie but there were enough ATV tracks for them to go anywhere they wanted. The two ATVs had been racing all over the field. It wasn't the one I took a picture of. These were single seaters and both kids were not wearing helmets. A lot of times this morning it was hard to see the path I had worn doing the 2-3 walks per day.

As I looked around the field noticing some of the tall wild flowers that had butterflies yesterday afternoon had been ran over and mashed to the ground, Stella came up RUNNING behind me. Great to see and shocking to see.

I dug back through her picture file this afternoon and found out the last time she had been running full speed like this morning was January 23rd, 2017. A little over 7 months. She use to love to run but for some reason last winter wouldn't or couldn't. Like I said last week, it was her hips that were bothering her.

As we approach the first corner of our walk you can see the wear and tear the ATV did last night ... just an example why I have never been an ATV fan either here or out west. I can't say I was happy about the field damage but it's not my field either.

I could tell they have been following my path because their tire marks had all but erased most of the way I walk every day. Sadie and Stella ... more interested in tracking deer scent.

For the 2nd time of the walk, Stella took off running but I didn't have my camera ready for any action like that and missed most of her run. A few seconds after this picture they both turned right and sprinted for the far right corner ... just like old times for Stella.

You can barely see that my path is to the far right, heading straight back to the field with a slight turn ... all of these other worn areas are from last nights ATV activity. Two of them going as fast as possible ... no helmets.

Once Sadie realized that I was not stopping to take photos of anything and I was walking toward the rolls of hay, she sprinted all the way from the far right corner of the field to catch up with me.

Then she noticed that Stella did not follow her, she stood there for a minute or two waiting ... but Stella had other plans.

I figured on our way back I'd have to make the extra long walk to go get her but she glanced at us and could tell Sadie and I were not slowing down our pace.

Slowly Stella is taking a long short cut to meet us in the middle of the field, on the path.

She was almost to the path and not 2' away from me, when she hopped a little in the air and took off sprinting after Sadie. Sadie was chasing something and after 7 months of not running, Stella finally felt good enough to take off for a run.

I was surprised but happy just how fast she was galloping.

She still had not caught Sadie but she was running out of room to run. The woods was just ahead.

If you look closely above Sadie's head you can she that she was chasing a butterfly from the middle of the field to the woods. Her ears are up because of a sudden stop as she looks up at the butterfly. Stella was closing in at a very fast pace.

As Stella slams on her brakes so she doesn't run into Sadie ... Sadie tries one last attempt at jumping up at the butterfly but can't reach it as it gained altitude.

Who only flew higher. You can still see the butterfly hovering bove Sadie's head.

This is the butterfly she was chasing. Once Sadie lost interest and Stella followed Sadie back to the path to head home ... the butterfly flew back near me to finish her morning meal.

It's funny just how fast the hounds can change their focus to something else.

They did this most of the way home.

Stella trotted into the yard, another good sign she is feeling better. I continue to apply K9 Klear Up cream to those two callused hip bones. She wore those into "elephant skin" by sitting on carpet, turning on her hip bones to scratch.

I can't say what changed but she has been scratching a lot less lately, in fact, hardly at all.

We were about to go out for walk #2 late this afternoon but as I opened the door I heard the ATV's again near the yard. The grandkids must be from out of town and visiting before school starts. Even though some of the local schools around here have started school.

I posted a final post on my old blog yesterday giving long time readers one last chance to see the notice to contact me so I could tell them we moved. I deleted that post this morning after having most of the remaining long time readers contact me for this blog site. So I guess you can say it's now 'official', that the blog has moved to this one.

We might try to go outside and enjoy a little of this weather but if the ATV's keep their same path as last night and this afternoon I am going to have to keep the hounds inside. I don't want take the chance that Stella decides to show Sadie and I how she use to run with the ATV's at the place she came from.

Where's Heidi ???

She has set the all-time record for sleeping in one day. Her bath and manicure was rescheduled for tomorrow at her request.

A busy day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

Sadie's Butterfly Chase Started Early

Sadie's morning started really fast as she sprinted as soon as her paws hit the driveway. I don't know what she had seen but whatever it was by the time I focused the camera, she thought she had it surrounded. She was beside herself with excitement ... chase butterflies ... or track strong deer scent? Might be too many photos this morning ... 29. Plus a little rambling at the end of the post.


You can barely see a black butterfly just left of her nose.

She did nothing to the butterfly except give it her stare down.

Evidently these morning butterflies decided that hiding at ground level would be better than trying to fly away from Sadie like they do in the afternoon. She was sprinting from one spot to another to stare down butterflies.

Stella was on her own path and it was obvious she was not looking for butterflies. She was smelling fresh 'natural protein' ... who knows, maybe that stuff is helping her gain her weight back.

With a light rain all night I knew the field would be wet today, maybe a little more than the normal heavy dew. I remembered to apply some mosquito repellant this time so I had a very nice bite free walk. I did notice one mosquito fly up under my ball cap bill but flew away. The stuff works ... 25% DEET. I have tried all the natural stuff and it just not work for me.

I am going to let this flower grow a little longer before I confirm what it is from Google Images. It is the first time that I have seen this flower.

Sadie had moved from chasing butterflies to strong deer scent. I wasn't able to get a good picture of her taking a few steps into the thick brush where the deer had worn down some of the brush. Stella was equally interested.

My very first time I was able to capture some of that 'natural protein' that both hounds enjoy adding to their diet.

While Sadie headed for the far corner of the field where the deer hang out, Stella thought about running that direction but when I yelled "over here" she stopped and only stared then walked back along the trial.

The one thing about Sadie that I have said before. I can let Sadie stay behind as long as she wants, she will ALWAYS run to catch up to me. On the other hand the two times I have tried that with Stella, it was 30-45 minutes later when I had to go back out to this far corner to get her to come home. One of those trips last year, I drove my FJ back to that area to get her.

Sadie getting a lot of running in this morning. When both rear paws are off the ground that is some pretty fast running.

Sadie heading for the back edge of the field trying to get Stella to follow her.

But as we all know, Stella has her own GPS and will come and go as she pleases, at her desired speed. That is one thing that makes her a great bloodhound.

Stella did find strong deer scent here. In this exact spot I have seen deer in the past, up to 5-10 of them, run and jump over a small hidden fence into that soybean field to Stella's right.

She was stubborn on this spot ... I had to walk back and get her with a gentle tug of her collar. There are times she will try to resist my tug.

At the same time I had Stella back on the path, Sadie took off sprinting and Stella tried to follow. She didn't sprint but moved faster than a trot.

Not sure what Sadie was sprinting for ... that seems to be a common theme for her today ... running is good for her.

As the both looked toward that woods to the north of us, I had a feeling they would love to go check it out. We usually don't extend our walks out that far. I guess we could and start getting a longer walk in but I'm not sure Heidi would complete it. It's best to keep the walking path as routine as possible, with a ocassional exploration trip over there with Sadie and Stella.

More things for Sadie to chase ... where did she come up with all of this energy this morning. Maybe it was the temp being only 72° during the mid-morning.

Stella decided it was time to start her slow trek home.

Sadie came running up behind me at full speed. She always likes to brush the side of my knee just to let me know she is back. Stella is starting her path to the single pole at the north corner of the property line.

I would guess in this part of the field there is probably some deer scent but also the field cats that are rarely seen out during daytime.

It might take some time but they finally make it back to the yard. All on their time, not mine. I can see that Sadie has lost some weight (good) this summer because I see her waistline and barely see her ribs. Stella is getting back to close to that.

Well another week of low temps for August. My 10-day forecast shows temps no higher than 81° in the month of August. That is just hard to believe.

Today I might transplant those wild field flowers I spoke of yesterday. One thing I noticed this morning, even with the rain with my extra wide overhangs the Azaleas and Dallies do not get the water they need from the rain. The ground around them is dry.

I had a call from my old college friend last night telling me that he was able to check out in person a trailer that I might be interested in. They manufacture in only two locations, Denver CO and Indianapolis IN. You can check out their trailers here if you are interested. It is definitely a possibility and a close call betwen the two now, with the Taxa Trailer I spoke of a few weeks ago on my old blog.

I joined the Facebook owners group for Taxa Trailers a few weeks ago and have noticed a couple of problems that owners have to fix themselves with company pdf instructions. I just joined the owner's group for the HikerTeardrop Trailers so I can track any issues they may have.

For the new readers, in June 2015 I made a trip with one bloodhound (Sadie) and two basset hounds (Winston and Heidi) to tent camp in Colorado and Utah. I answered a lot of questions I had with that trip. The following August 2015, two months later, I thought long and hard before deciding to go pick up Stella who was being listed as a "re-home".

I knew at that time IF I chose a 2nd bloodhound, then any travel plans would be put on hold. Until you try to walk two large bloodhounds with a leash or leashes, you have no idea how strong they are and how they like to go in different directions. Basset hounds don't mind walking next to each other wearing a splitter to one leash.

Good news ... I see the sun breaking through the clouds.

I hope to get two things done this week ... not required just an urge. With a new printer cartridge I need to reinstall the printer software so my 2 month old iMac will recognize it. I may be able to use bluetooth or wi-fi instead of a usb connection.

The other 'big' goal is to look at my manual settings on my Nikon D3200 camera and check out different ways of taking photos with the dial at 'P', 'S', 'M' and 'A'. Of course the computer inside the camera might be better than my adjustments, for the better picture.

As far as games go ... I started winning at 2048 too much on both my computers that I went back to playing Mahjong. Remember that when I transferred my files from my 6.5 year old iMac to a new iMac in May ... it cleared out my Mahjong results and I had to start the 160 games over. I now have all of them completed under 4 months with some of them finished under 3 minutes. I might get an hour or two of playing that game today while I sit looking out the large window and seeing all of those having to drive to and from work.

Heidi was sound to sleep in the corner of the living room. That spot is available since I moved my bicycle that is on an indoor trainer. When I first moved in this house in 1997, my bloodhound Max use to like to sleep in the same corner as a puppy.

I can tell it's going to be another great week here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.