Some Early Humor, Ranting and Rambling

I'll warn you, with cold temps, severe right jaw pain worse than any toothache, 2 cups of strong coffee and little sleep after doing the latest macOS beta update starting after 2am when I get 'free' data of an extra 50Gb per month added to the 20Gb I pay for ... I am feeling a little ornery this morning ... so be ready.

As you can see once the inside of the house temperature dropped below 70°, in fact getting down to 64° since I left the windows open last night ... Heidi requested she be covered up with her favorite Mexican blanket before Sadie, Stella and I took off for our morning at with fog and 46° outside.

To be 'politically correct' this morning and plans of making a 'safe room' somewhere in my downsized very small house, I have not mentioned the words 'scat', 'drool', 'glue' and have tried my best to take photos of the hounds from the front of them or their side ... no butts. I also request that as you read this post from the first word and those last few sentences all the way through this post ... know it is all written with a smile on my face and a strong flavor of humor ... I pray to god almighty I don't step on anyone's toes this morning. LOL

After forcing myself to stay up past 2am so I could take advantage of my free 50Gb data period to upload the latest Apple 'beta' version of their macOS I was wired wide awake as I tried to go to sleep at 4am. So I knew things might be a little foggy in my brain this morning the first time I opened my eyes but I didn't expect fog outside. I knew something was different though ... for the first time since last winter there was condensation on the inside of the bedroom windows ... on the only one I had shut.

With all the shade outside in the field I knew it was going to be wetter than normal. The picture above doesn't show it nearly as much as my eyes saw, with leaves saturated with morning dew. Stella charged into the first part of woods or brush ... but came back out when I called her name.

Sadie was on her own mission and was waiting for neither of us. She was practically around the first turn before I could get the camera focused. I thought long and hard about posting this photo because it was taken from behind Sadie, not the front or side ... requirements I told myself this morning had to be followed.  LOL

Stella showed her burst of energy early. When you see her ears laying flat on top of her head you know she is at high speed. Both photos were out of focus but I am thinking that it was from photographer error more than the speed of the hound. I've noticed lately that auto focus for 'single point' is not nearly as sharp as before, if it is even focused at all. I'll dig into the lens owner's manual right after my unexpected 'board meeting' early this afternoon.

The hounds have requested a meeting this afternoon to decide which direction this blog is going. It's been only a week since they came back online with new intentions of being more open in our discussions, not hiding thoughts, locations of where we are/were, along with no approvals from the 'higher ups' before publishing the blog post. After all it's their blog ... I'm only a low paid employee with no benefits and no savings plan.

As Sadie and I marched through wet grass and weeds, getting the mid calf of my leg wet (never a good thing) I glanced back to check on Stella and could see that she had her own plans. That was fine with me, Sadie and I could catch up with her on the way back.

As Sadie and I made the turn along the back edge of the field, it certainly felt like a fall day. It might have been the cargo shorts I forgot I had on in 46° that made it feel that way, but most likely it was the Golite insulated down jacket I was wearing. I'm being honest here and not funny ... I am not looking forward to winter and colder temps. I'll get through it without complaining as usual but I'll not be jumping up and down with excitement that we are doing our walks in single digit temps.

As much as it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day today ... the fall colors just are not happening so far this year. It needs to be drier and I'm not sure the heavy dew every morning is a good thing for developing bright vibrant colors in all those trees in front of us.

What I wouldn't do for some of those 800mg of Motrin I use to get years ago from our squadron doctor at no charge. Then it was for a bad back and an old baseball pitching shoulder that had too much scar tissue grinding away ... today it's my jaw. The 4 measly Ibuprofen tablets 200mg each are not working.

The closer we got to the 3/4 point of the walk I could already see Stella had wandered over to the right behind the woods next to my neighbors house. I have not seen that huge blonde cat over there in almost a year. Nor have I seen that regular size black cat but the one time in the yard,  yet with my zero mouse traffic inside my house (is it okay to say that? Ha) ... I assume the field cats the hounds and I never see, are doing their job of finding field mice at night and keeping the mice traffic under control.

With Stella not moving I asked Sadie as I always do in this situation "where's Stella"?

You would think with a nose 200x better than a human nose, testing out when she was a puppy to be a strong 'tracker', hearing 4x better than a human ... that it would be no problem for her to find Stella standing still just to the right of her. Yet she was confused ... she didn't find Stella anywhere as she sniffed the air and scanned the field.

I started my slow walk through taller grass, getting my legs wet again (never a good thing) and saying "come on" ... the favorite words of Stella. She finally moved and headed my direction ... but ....

Only about 20' where she had to stop again.

Notice how well I am following my 'new rules' this morning with this string of photos from the front or side of the hounds ... plus not mentioning certain irritating words that make some sick? LOL

For some reason as I was walking the path I looked down. Were these eggs of some sort? Not by the way they looked as I bent over for a closer look. I had to take a photo fast because Sadie noticed them and of course anything strange looking in 'her' field she has to sniff it to be identified. I touched them after this photo and they felt like mushrooms. I left them there instead of taking them home for further testing.

Well another week ahead. With the gutters clean, branches on the roof tossed into the yard and moved to the burn pile, the lawn mowed twice in two different directions, leaves mulched, house cleaned, laundry done as well as the dishes ... the hounds and I have NOTHING on the agenda today. There will be a MLB playoff game tonight along with the Colts on Monday night football but through out the day ... an open schedule with a lot of possibilities.

If I don't die and sleep a little in the late afternoon after 3 hours of sleep last night ... the hounds might fit in a 3rd walk later. It's really amazing how accurate the Garmin VivoSmart 3 is at tracking my sleep ... right down to the minute, showing me the time I fall asleep and the time I wake up. When I look at the time when waking up it's right on the money for accuracy. It even tells me how much of my sleep is 'deep' and if I get up in the middle of the night.

With the hounds leading the way to end the walk and slowly entering the wet grass of the backyard with new leaves to rake or mow ... I lifted my camera up for a picture but remembered the new self-imposed rules of no pictures with the hounds ahead of me showing their butts. After all this blog is turning more to 'political correctness' so we can get on schedule with the rest of this messed up world.

As I tip-toed back into the yard to keep a few of the blog readers happy and not stepping on any one's sensitive toes ...  iswhen I saw the local utility company trucks. I hoped I had electrical power inside the house. I wanted to get a fast start to this this blog post and as soon as I ripped off my wet hiking boots, heated another cup of strong coffee I could have my fingers tearing my keyboard with words flying out of my mouth to this blog.

Since they have told me that my house electric is now on the 'new line', I was a little concerned when I saw someone working on those lines while the hounds and I were almost to the corner of the house. It was all good though with the power. As I stepped inside I looked at the microwave stove and saw the clock ... so I had plenty of power awaiting me after I sprinted to my computer to get this irritating, possibly abrasive to some, non-humorous- bs blog post written.

Just remember with me at the controls of the 'dashboard' I can weaken or strengthen what this blog does or doesn't do. I will never lock out comments because I like reading them no matter what they say. I don't care who looks at the blog, nor do I care what country they live in nor what color they are ... everyone is welcome.

I only have a setting that comments will be (about this time I was typing the next word I heard a truck coming up my driveway. It was the electric company telling me for the last time I would be losing power soon while they completed their disconnect of power lines from the older setup. 3 hours later the kitchen light came back on letting me know that power had been restored. So here I am) monitored after a post is two weeks old. That gives me a chance to look at any comments on older posts before I publish them. What that does is cut down on all the spam hacking comments that usually attack older posts or closed blogs that are still online.

I've lost my train of thought after the 3 hour gap. I am to the point of applying ice to my right jaw. The hounds have been fed lunch with the bloodhounds wanting their walk, Heidi wanting her siesta.

Later the hounds and I, at their request, will hold a board meeting (isn't that what Monday's are for?) and decide if the blog will turn toward a flavor of "political correctness" with the author "tip toeing" on eggshells not to hurt the feelings of some ... or do we open it more than ever and 'let it rip' with ranting, complaining, voicing opinion about life in general, the world in general, hounds in general, crap in general?

I would just like to keep it where it is with commentary and photos of the hounds and life here in 'the tropics' while staying away from world news or events, sports opinions, ranting or complaining about things. If I wanted that I'd find a job and go back to work. I'll let the other bloggers do that on their blogs. This is what I will recommending to the blog owners, Sadie, Stella and Heidi.

They will give me the 'yes or no' on using words like dr***, or sc**, or talk about a wild imagination of a picture sprinkling d*** sc** on top of Ben&Jerry's ice cream but sliding the bowl over to the hounds for them to enjoy. Besides I like my Ben&Jerry's ice cream plain with nothing sprinkled on top.  LOL

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

Here's hoping the comment sections below will be filled with numerous responses with honest opinions, thoughts, complaints or approvals ... all of us, hounds and readers alike love reading the few comments posted after some of our blog posts.

It's now time for our 2nd walk of the day with the camera in tow.

Cold Enough For Jeans

By mid-afternoon the inside house temperature was 68°, with a slight breeze and all the windows open. I decided to change from shorts to jeans because it was that cold and was getting uncomfortable . Monday it will be back in the mid 80's for a high. It was a lazy afternoon with a long phone call from a friend, some pasta, a hound walk and a siesta.

It's hard to believe the trees are shedding their leaves already. I think raking leaves may be one of the things I like least to do. I'll rake them multiple times and might burn them in the middle of the driveway again instead of raking all of them up top.

I can't remember the exact year I cut these shrubs down. I had to be have been around 2012 or 2013, after idiot Mike burnt them to the point that they didn't grow back. The thing is, I cut them to ground level. I have lost that much ground in the last 4-5 years due to bank erosion.

All of this tall ragweed will die, turn brown and be dry enough to burn in a few months if not next April.

Stella doesn't like 'wandering' the field but she likes to find deer scat to eat. That is all she does anymore and rarely did that the first year I had her.

If it doesn't rain harder tonight, I will be watering these tomorrow. Not quite dead as I see some new blooms. Will they come back next spring or are they one year wonders?

I cannot believe that this area is the nicest part of the yard after being under heavy brush for 16 years.

Heidi made it outside for a camera shoot.

Tonight will be college football with Washington starting in about an hour. There are a few other games going on at the same time. Then Saturday will be a day full of college football.

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

Bloodhounds Walk Before It Rains

They predicted this and they were right .... it's cold !!!! Nothing like going from the high 70's on Thursday to the high 40's earlier this morning as we stepped outside. By the time we started our walk it had edged up over 50°.

That didn't bother Sadie at all, in fact she seemed a little more energized than normal but it might have been those new scents that were filling her nose instead of cooler temps. She did not even escort me to the field this morning and took off running from the very start.

With Wunderground being right on with their rain prediction time yesterday I decided I would believe them today. We needed to get outside and walk before 1pm when it was suppose to start raining.

Sadie spent the majority of the walk way ahead of Stella and I. We were cruising the path together, on a slower pace than I am used to.

By the time we hit the first turn, Sadie was almost to the far right hand corner of the field. I don't know what scent she picked up but she went from her head buried in the grass to sprinting around the turn. The pictures did not capture her speed.

Stella did not attempt to chase her. I have a feeling that Stella is feeling the effects of an annual rabies shot and a dose of NexGard yesterday. The vet office had the same offer as last year with a coupon, one that I did not bring with me. Nancy at the front desk fixed me up with free NexGard chews for all three hounds.

Last year after picking off over 100 ticks in the month of April from the three hounds and myself, a dose of one NexGard for the hounds only (LOL) eliminated the ticks for the rest of the summer. I decided as long as I didn't see any on the hounds, there was no reason to give them anymore doses.

As usual Stella was more than happy to eat breakfast as it was served about an hour earlier at 7:15am. Too early for a Saturday or any day for that matter but we were wide awake and coffee sound too good to pass up on a day that looked as if I was in Seattle, overcast cold and rainy.

Sadie cannot figure out where the deer are. By this time last year she and Stella had a couple of deer chases under their belt but so far in 2017 they are being shutout. It would be a good test to see Stella's response if any deer showed up on the horizon.

When Sadie has her head buried that deep into the grass, she gives off that strange sound that only a bloodhound makes with her jowls making a sound moving while Sadie is sniffing as deep as she can into the earth.

This wasn't a morning that Stella was interested in exploring. She walked at the same pace throughout the walk but did have time to check and see if I would catch her veering off to look at the neighbor's house where the mystery dog showed up last Christmas.

While Stella was doing that, Sadie was back on another adventure way ahead of us.

Once I yelled at Stella "over here" she slowly turned and started the slow walk toward my direction. It's her personality more than anything. She is just laidback and obviously has her thoughts on other stuff besides doing this walk.

Sadie was wondering what our problem was and why weren't we up to where she was. She waited and waited, then took off running for the house as soon as I caught up with her.

Stella did pick up her pace the closer she got to the backyard. I didn't have to call her to do that but she seemed anxious to end the walk and get back inside ... where she was back to sleep within minutes ... her normal activity until lunch is served.

I am not sure how long that nice blue 2017-18 rabies tag will last on her collar. It doesn't matter how tight I crimp them to the collar they always find a way to come off and get lost. In stead of scanning the vet receipts and rabies certification this year I decided to just use my iPhone camera. It's easier and faster than scanning plus gives you the same file as a scanner does ... a file that you will probably never use.

After talking to the vet yesterday I decided that I would give Stella even more food than the extra I was giving her the past few weeks to a month. It will double her quantity I gave her in the past and will end up 33% more than what a larger Sadie eats. Of course if I let her, Sadie would eat the 40lb bag in one setting.

As with any large breed dog, you have to be aware of them getting bloat. In all the years I have had a bloodhound, since 1997, I've been very fortunate not to have to experience that with any of the bloodhounds I've owned.

With the weather outside, all of us hid inside. The hounds slept, I watched baseball and read out of different books. It's too quiet for a Saturday.

BTW ... for those of you that read this far .... it didn't rain today and by that 2pm prediction time, it was nice and sunny outside.

It's been a good day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.