What A Weird Monday

The field of yellow will not be here for long. Those yellow weeds might last a couple of weeks but no longer than a month before they are plowed under and something is planted in their place. Those two fields have different owners, and different plans.


I had a pretty good idea just how strange my Monday was going to be when I went to bed before 11pm, or was it before 10:30pm? After a night full of the most bizarre dreams I finally conceited defeat and was up brewing two cups of coffee by 5:15am ... yes AM.

There isn't a lot to do that time of morning. I've been a 'night person' my whole life so it may just be my biased opinion that nothing can be done in the dark at 5:30am. Of course with this rude awakening, the hounds were totally confused. They played along though with the normal routine a couple of hours early. They were fine with the idea of getting to eat ... that does not matter what time of day or night it is, they all love to eat.

A little after 6:15am the dark skies filled up with the sound of every bird outside. The bird conversations were so loud and distinct, the sounds of people driving by to get to work early to start their week was almost completely subdued.

Still, I can't say I was enjoying being up that time of day no matter how good the coffee tasted. I was sure my Monday was going to be one strange day. With nothing planned that made it equally dangerous, but that is the life of a retiree at times.

April 11th was my 3rd year anniversary for retirement and I still love the freedom that I have. I miss the money the job paid me but I miss nothing else. The freedom of time is worth more than than any amount of money.

By 7:30am Sadie was ready for the first walk of the day but it wasn't going to happen. She came back inside drenched from the heavy morning dew a little after 6am and I could tell from the window that the field was too wet for the first walk of the day.

After my two cups of coffee, getting caught up on my online reading and deleting my section of complaining on yesterday's blog post ... I put not only my computer in 'sleep' mode ... but also myself. With a restless night of weirdness traveling through my brain last in the form of dreams, falling back to sleep at 8am was too easy. The hounds all followed the command "go to sleep".

We didn't regain consciousness until 12:45pm. Yes, that is way past the lunch time for the hounds and too late for the majority of the population nationwide ... yet when retired it's not a problem ... you have to remain flexible when nothing is planned for the day.

All of us had lunch and headed out for the first walk of the day. I wanted to make a little extra effort with the camera today by concentrating a little on holding the camera steady, tucking my arms under the camera like a tripod, holding my breathing while gently squeezing the shutter ... all with hopes of a sharp focused picture.

Sadie was thrilled to be out in the field. Stella was still hungry and was looking for natural protein for the first half of the walk. The last half of the walk all she did was drag her paws one slow step at a time all the way back to the house. Sadie did nothing but track scent from start to finish.

Heidi?? Well it's not 70° and was back on the sleeping bag sleeping before I could tie my shoes.

Nothing on the horizon but it seemed to Sadie that deer were near. It would have been past the 'no fly zone' into the woods. I was hoping she wasn't going to take off sprinting from her position of nose in the air. Still she had found something strong enough in the air to peak her interest.

Stella didn't care about scents today. She was back in the spot where the bushes are mashed down and covered by deer scent ... and scat.

I finally got them herded in the same direction while I tried to decipher what I remembered about those strange dreams. Some of it was familiar from past dreams where the neighborhood is the same and practically every hound that I have ever owned shows up. The problem is they are all running loose. Some are with other dogs, some are in the streets and I cannot get them all collected by the time I wake up wondering what is going on.

Most will find this next one funny. I do now but didn't at 4am. In the dream I am writing a blog post with no pictures, no paragraphs and no punctuation. The screen I am writing the post on is automatically scrolling non-stop, where I have to type faster to keep up with the screen and keep my sentences together.

About the time all my words become one big blur from typing so fast ... I woke up, again wondering what was going on and happy to see I was still in a dark bedroom and not in front of a computer.

Since I am well rested now for the day, there will be no more siestas for me. The hounds are a different story as all of them are sleeping with Sadie and Stella snoring. A change of schedule never seems to bother them, once again showing just how more flexible dogs are compared to people.

The field of grass is growing fast. Luckily this owner lets the field grow naturally. The previous owner would bring in loaders of turkey fertilizer and spread it over the field every few years. Needless to say during those times, ALL daily walks were cancelled until further notice. My old basset Harry found enjoyment in rolling in it. I tried to keep him confined to the yard as much as possible but his expertise was getting out and away.

The highlight of the afternoon was Sadie trying to block Stella from the water bowl. There is never any growling or barking involved. Sadie will stand or sit near the large bowl of water and will quietly let Stella know she is not to come anywhere near it. That is when I stand between the bowl and Sadie so Stella can get some water. It doesn't happen all of the time.

It was nice enough to sit outside cooler temps and overcast skies. Heidi had passed out on the large chair in the living room, the ottoman was not needed in her case. Stella headed one direction and Sadie in another, to check out the field.

I can confirm there is something wrong with my Tamron 55mm-200mm zoom lens. I tried focusing on Sadie while she was in the field with the Single-point AF setting ... it would try to but never did focus on Sadie nor the surrounding grass/flowers.

These next two pictures were taken with the Auto-area AF setting. I did not call either hound while they took their time wandering. I had my weekly flyer in the mail from Saturdays' delivery and looked through that along with the Menards and Orscheln's sales ads while the hounds looked around.

They both came back to the yard on their own.

Stella was waiting for the sunshine or waiting on that southwestern wind but neither showed up. While Sadie tried to make an escape into the woods on the opposite side of the yard, behind the burn pile, Stella remained in deep thought.

When the hounds walked back to the house that was the sign it was time to go in. They were both back to sleep after a strenuous afternoon.

I have a little rambling below today but no complaining.

Evidently my dream of blogging must have happened due to amount of time I've thought of blogging the past few days. I was already to write a post about my thoughts on blogging until I saw today a post I wrote just last November about the same topic. It is listed on the right sidebar under "Past Year Favorite Posts".

At times the mental fight whether to continue a blog is the same as the times where words do not come easy to post. It's really hard to put your finger on what keeps bloggers blogging year after year. Why do some keep going, some disappear without an announcement and others let you know they are leaving?

I have tried cutting back at times but when I start writing the urge is a daily thing. I have found it very hard the longer the blog goes of skipping many days between posts. Yet, when I first started this blog in 2011, I wrote less than a 100 posts per year and with few pictures if any at all.

The other thing I find interesting is just one word in a blog post title can double the amount of visitors just like that. Yesterday's fire starter was the word "complaining", it doubled my number of visitors.

Readers like drama, or stories and pictures of traveling and even hearing about Stella destroying my house during a period of separation anxiety. Comparing 'action' like that to our daily routine 95% of the time makes me wonder at times if the blog is on it's last legs.

I see that Exede has received my returned equipment so I should be off the hook for any further billing by them. I love setting up the automatic payments from my accounts but hate trying to get them stopped when the account is paid in full.

I tried starting a couple of new books over the weekend without much success. I have no urge to read, no urge to work on that 'to do' list today. I think I have pretty much written this day off.

Thanks for the emails and blog comments after my venting section yesterday. The bottom line is, the increases do not amount to that much money but I hate being "nickel and dime".

It has been almost too quiet here in 'the tropics' today but nice.

A Beautiful Saturday Morning

The day started with one of the strangest dreams I've had in a while. Maybe it was because it woke me up, but I remembered a few of the details of the dream.

It was so strange because I was confused why I needed to go to a job from 25 years ago. I was late for work and couldn't figure out why I was even going to work, since I thought I was retired.

I had some of my past hounds playing in the house with none of them being bloodhounds. It was so weird to see the old Winston wrestling with himself as a puppy. The other two basset hounds were laying in the sunshine sleeping and I was still trying to figure out why I was going to work if I was retired. Had something changed?

So I was more than happy to open my eyes to see Sadie standing next to the bed staring at me at eye level with that look she has every morning "I have to go outside". The bedroom was so full of sunshine I had no idea what time it was and from the dream I wasn't even sure that day it was. To say I was confused would be a compliment. I knew I needed coffee and I needed it as fast as possible.

I could tell it was extremely cold outside as I changed into my clothes, because the storm windows were covered with frozen ice. As I walked through the kitchen to let the hounds outside, my iPhone weather app told me it was 13° with hopes of getting all the way up to 38 by this afternoon.

The hounds made their normal first trip outside while I poured their breakfast kibble. Once inside Heidi sprints for her bowl, Stella starts howling with excitement and Sadie goes into her hopping up and down routine ... to bad that exercise does not help her lose weight.

I have to have both of their bowls of food sitting high on a shelf because I cannot have them on the floor when they walk in ... each bloodhound will do anything to eat both bowls of food. Yet, they never both Heidi or her bowl of food.

By 10:30am it was up to 21° although the 'feels like' was only 9°. A perfect time for a walk.

The field was covered with frost, the air was crisp but it did not feel as cold as 9°, in fact it felt a little warmer than yesterday's morning walk. With the down parka and ski gloves I was very warm.

I would really like to find out what is buried so deep inside those frozen leaves and grass that Stella and Sadie find so interesting. The times I have walked to where they have their noses plastered to the ground, I don't find anything most of the time.

Sadie turned one last time to see if Stella was coming and then took off for her walk. She is the perfect hound for walking. She keeps up, still wanders off following her nose, yet never falls too far behind ... and will come when called. Even Winston use to lag way behind at his own pace and at times in June before they baled the field he would get no further than the corner of the house barking the whole time we were gone. I still miss that hound a lot.

At this point I am almost to the corner of the field where we veer right. I could tell by Stella's lack of movement it was be the same for her as it has been the past week or so. She will not get as far as the first corner and will walked toward the neighbor's wooded area without heading our direction.

An interesting leaf ... makes me want those 100° days in July.

The cold weather had energized Sadie. She was running everywhere and at times faster than I could keep her in the view finder of the camera. The camera caught this strange stance ... she was actually moving at the time.

She tracked a lot of area today but never stayed long whenever she stopped.

In the meantime there was still no sign of Stella as she was off in her own little world.

Hard to believe I walked into the same pile of frozen dirt causing me to stumble forward with the same sore toe from previous accidents. I was still able to hang onto the camera and decided it might be time to move back to the steel toe hiking boots in our next walks.

As I was about to make the final turn toward home, look who I see up on the horizon staring right back at me. Does she come when I call her name ... not a chance. She went right back to eating deer scat.

Sadie decided to go check on Stella without me saying a word today. I kept walking and knew I'd have to walk over to Stella before she would move. I can't say that I am a big fan of her recent routine and can't wait for it to change.

I kept calling her name as I got closer. I might as well kept my mouth shut from the response she was giving me. Not until I got within a foot of her, did she left her head and walked over to me. I guess she expected me to hook her up to the leash, but I never took it out of my pocket.

It didn't matter what she was doing, at least the morning was beautiful with bright sunshine, clear blue skies and higher temps on the way.

The highway in this picture is a lot further away from her than the picture shows. I'd guess Stella is about half way between the highway and the path I am on ... that's a lot of field between us.

I don't care for Sycamore trees in general but this one is still nice to me. I had two more like it on the bank along the driveway until the straight-line winds pulled them out of the ground like weeds in June 2008. After they fell they covered all of my front yard.

When the ground is really saturated and winds get up in the 60mph range I wonder if that tree will fall like the others did. I hope not because if it fell due north like the others, that will be right down the center of the house.

It might be time this summer to have a crew come in and trim the top 25% off but I always hate seeing that happen to trees. If you look at the far right tree you will notice it does not go as high as the other 3 limbs.

The top of that limb was struck by lightning in that 2008 windstorm and fell onto the corner of my carport. It was long enough to be sitting on the ground at an angle, damaging the corner of the house and a good 6' above the roof.

By the time I almost to the house, the hounds were happy to go inside where they instantly fell asleep, which will last until lunch kibble is served.

No plans today but continue reading my books. I guess I should start giving some of the books I read a title and author. I guess today I will take the chance of hearing some sort of backlash and tell you what I am reading. In today's world on social media, phone calls with old friends or those that have family dinners ... hardly anything can be discussed anymore about current events without an argument starting.

So the book I started reading yesterday afternoon and couldn't put down, forcing myself to turn off the lights and go to bed at 3am is by Roger Stone -- "The Making of the President 2016". It's a great book and shows just how close it was to having a different result in this years election, plus all the action behind the scenes you never read about.

I tried to head a different direction in subject matter yesterday in the library, but I pulled this off the 'new' book shelf. After this is finished sometime today or tonight, I'll flip into an old John Grisham novel for a change of pace. I still have plenty of books on my personal bookshelves that have never been read, yet some have been read three or four times.

No plans today except reading and another late afternoon hound walk. Did you like two posts in one day or prefer one long post showing up in the 6-7pm range?

I have stated in previous blog posts that I am a football addict but it's the same this year as many years before ... I don't watch nor read anything about the upcoming Super Bowl. I'll not turn my tv on until the exact time for kickoff and will not only turn down the sound but will turn the tv off at halftime of the game. I really wish we could separate sports and politics.

I figure by Monday I will be back at the library to turn in the two books I have now and search for more reading material. I am addicted to reading right now. Any suggestions for good books to read, any of your favorites?

I am happy and the hounds are happy today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.