The Hounds Knew It Was Thursday

They all knew but as we went through the hound 'ear cleaning' exercise they didn't let on that I had just posted the wrong day in my title yesterday.

It wasn't until I looked at my email later last night, telling me I was getting comments on the blog post. Cat M was the first to let me know that I might be a little confused. She was nice in telling me that I had the wrong day. She could have hammered me and let me know that the International Date Line is out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and not in Indiana. Don't they have schools where you live?

Greg and Bethers also chimed in, giving me a break. Would posting it was Friday on a Thursday be classified as a 'senior moment' or too much partying when I was younger? Luckily I did have all the times correct for my basketball marathon. I didn't miss any games and finally turned off the tv around 2am after my last game. Today and tonight looks to be the same schedule.

Consequently we all started the day a little later today. Sadie was sure that we were going for a walk BEFORE I had any coffee. She assumed wrong. She talked Stella into coming back to the house after their short post breakfast trip outside.

It was nice to glance up slightly to the right corner of my computer monitor and see it was Friday and not Saturday or Sunday. Pretty convenient when the day of the week is 12" or so away from your eyes where you can see. What a concept that is.

As we started this morning's walk in 45° and a cold breeze coming from the north, I thought for a few seconds that I would let the hounds roam as they wanted while I walked the path. The smell of something burning in the air changed that ... there is a burn pit between my two neighbors where they burn trash the old fashion way. I didn't want Sadie nor Stella to head that direction.

By the time I took this picture I was sure I had a mutiny on my hands. Both were pretty far behind me and chomping on natural protein, dead leaves, or whatever faster than I could scarf down candy. I just turned and headed up the path.

In an instant Sadie ran up along side of me. She must have started her sprint as I turned away from her. She will rarely if ever wander off like Stella does.

I assumed that Stella would head to the woods with her new freedom this morning. She kind of veered that directly slightly but then headed toward the camera. Is it scent or sight that directed her my direction?

She has such a relaxed expression most of the time, outside and inside, that it is very hard at times for me to tell if she is feeling well or is something wrong with her. She does not seem as energetic as she was last spring.

As I walked I kept laughing about my mistake yesterday in the blog post.

Stella was enjoying her walk, at least I think she was. Her tail was wagging slightly while walking behind me. She caught up with Sadie and they headed for the corner of the field. I walked over in that direction to make sure I could keep her in the general direction. I didn't want Stella going into her new area today.

Sadie didn't really stop, just ran with her nose to the ground. A quick check of the field border. Or she had picked up a scent that was strong enough to keep her in motion.

It must have been a strong scent for Sadie because she took off to the center of the field leaving Stella behind. I only had three pictures to capture Sadie's tracking but she was all over the place, going back and forth in different directions.

For the rest of the walk both hounds walked behind me, too close to take pictures. Stella stayed on the worn path in her slow motion type walk. There were still a few places they needed to check out a little closer. It was another beautiful morning today. March is flying by and the outside 'to list' will be started within weeks I think.

Finally they decided it was time to go inside, eat lunch and take afternoon naps. They will assume all of the food I cooked this morning will be for them. Since they are bloodhounds they naturally think everything belongs to them. You can review the "Bloodhound Laws" on my right sidebar.

Cajun food is the basketball games diet today. I have cooked enough that the food should last me two days and nights of games. I could eat Cajun food everyday and been satisfied.

I don't know how but those dishes I spoke of the other day were done and the vacuum worked fantastic. So I am caught up with all that domestic stuff, rested for another 12 hours of basketball and the games are already on four different channels.

March is one of my favorite months for sports, with college basketball conference tournaments and a few days later the NCAA tournament.

The hounds of course will be able to fit in an afternoon walk between games. They will have multiple short breaks outside to check out the weather, for me to get the mail and check on the new grass seed I planted a few weeks ago. Will it survive the colder temps?

I'll admit though it does NOT feel like a Friday today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Are Happy It's Friday

First of all thank you to all the readers that are veterans of the US military. They make or have made a lot of sacrifices to fill those positions.

Well it's been quite a week to say the least. I am happy to be back to just looking at news headlines and not reading their articles while I move my focus back to sports, hounds, blogs, and a little house maintenance to prepare for winter.

I am sitting here wondering just how long can a blog post be, with it not being too long. I wrote a post yesterday afternoon with about 15 pictures, saved it with plans to add to it and then post it around 6:30pm. But the afternoon changed and I forgot about the post until this morning.

This morning started out as always. Yet it was about 10° warmer this morning but that didn't mean the hounds stayed outside any longer. They know how important coffee is to my start of the day so they didn't stay outside very long.

Once I saw the temps rise above 50°, we headed out for a walk. They didn't wait on me either ... they were off as soon as their feet touched the field.

They had already dictated they were going on their own pace and I was fine with that. I was enjoying the clear skies without a cloud anywhere, no humidity of coarse and the temperature felt about right.

With Stella staying pretty far behind Sadie and I ... it was quite a surprise to see her running to catch up with us. I'm not sure what her reasons were but she sprinted fast enough that my camera could not keep up to catch all of her sprinting.

Sadie took another look in back to see if Stella was coming or not. As soon as she saw that Stella had stopped again, Stella took off for the right corner of the field.

Then again ... Stella came running to catch up with us. I'm glad that every day is different with her.

During our afternoon walk yesterday I caught this.

Earlier while at the computer on Thursday morning, I heard the warning beeping sound of a truck backing up. I went out to the large window to see what it might be. Due to yesterday's fog I could barely see a State Patrol car blocking highway traffic but could not see what was backing up due to the thick fog.

It looks like this might have been some of the equipment on the move. It would have been too long to make a left 90° turn but with the dirt road going the opposite direction to the old bridge across the highway, something that long can make some 3-5 point turns to back in that road to make the left hand turn.

This is an AT&T tower that has been there for around 15 years and it will be interesting to see if they are going higher or just adding more equipment to the tower. It's strange that I my house is that close to a tower but when I had AT&T a couple of years ago I could only get 3 bars max for signal strength. Even a couple of weeks ago I was told by AT&T they could not offer any wireless internet in my package.

This is what I saw this morning so there wasn't much change. Maybe it is waiting for the next phase of either repair or installation of new equipment.

Once I mentioned getting some 'food' to the hounds when we got home, they both were pretty motivated to get home.

Yet, there were enough places to stop and identify before moving on.

I'll implement some of the post I wrote yesterday afternoon and take a chance that I have not make this blog too long. At least for those readers that just scroll through to look at the pictures (nothing wrong with that), they will have more to look at.

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Heidi made a rare appearance outside to walk around instead of just long enough to pee. Her skin is actually getting better with the places where she has bare skin or little hair, is becoming softer. More hair is trying to grow back on all of her legs and paws. It's been a while since that has happened.

She will be getting a bath today (Friday) and her nails cut.

Lunch had been served with the normal routine of going outside right after being fed. Something that was done when house training Sadie when she was a puppy. Heidi and Stella were brought home when they were older dogs, so I am not sure if that was their routine when they were puppies.

I was going to let the bloodhounds wander the field and keep an eye on them but I saw 'the stare' ... the one that Sadie gives me when it's time or she wants to go for a walk ... which is all the time.

Once she saw me walking toward the field with my camera in hand she came running to escort me on the start of the walk as she always does. She will actually try to grab my left hand with her mouth as she is hopping up and down in excitement.

I tried to keep the walk moving and Stella came with a little coaxing. I am sure if I had not said anything Stella would have stayed back for most of the walk.

Around that first turn and we were headed to the right corner of the field.

Today I decided I'd join them in the area of that right corner where there are a lot of signs of deer activity. While the hounds stayed and did what they normally do, adding protein of some kind to their diet, I walked toward the gully.

You can see the tall brush that has been mashed. I know nothing about deer so I am just assuming they might spend time here sleeping, not sure.

I have taken pictures before trying to show just how steep and deep this gully is but I'm not succeeding to many times.

On the way back, Stella gave me a look that she had seen the neighbor. He was out on his riding mower sweeping up leaves in his yard. Their clothes were out drying in the sunshine so I thought she might take off again since she seems attracted to their clothes line.

Thursday afternoon turned out great with temps getting up near 60°.

College basketball starts officially tonight with regular games on tv instead of the exhibition games. Football of coarse continues through the first few weeks of January for colleges. I think I have my own little NFL boycott going on as I have been watching it a LOT less than I have in past years.

Another great Friday so far here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.