It Must Have Been The Rain - Stella Finally Plays

I'm not sure if it is the change of weather, where the temps have dropped from the high 90's inside the carport to the high 70's today ... with a day full of light rain. Anyway Stella had a couple of firsts happen today and things I've been waiting for.

All morning she would go outside but once she found out it was raining, she wasn't interested in that and would walk back to the door to be let inside. Of course the all-weather hounds, Winston and Sadie, didn't care and Heidi didn't get out of the house until after noon. She as most of you know is the "queen of the couch" and definitely a good weather hound.

"No Way Am I Going Outside In The Rain"

In 11 Years Has Never Lifted His Leg - House Trained By A Female Bloodhound Bertha

After they gobbled their lunch faster than I had seen in a while ... they must like Duck being the #1 ingredient ... they were waiting on Stella to finish as I played guard for her and kept the other hounds from getting to her food bowl. Heidi has her own food which this bag has Lamb Meal as the #1 ingredient ... she also gobbles her food down as fast as Winston and Sadie.

Stella always goes outside after eating, deep into the field do dump her tanks as does Sadie. Winston will go as along as the hay/weeds are not to high, then he will migrate back to the yard for an easy clean up until the field is cut again.

Today though, Sadie stood and watched as Stella went to the very back of the field. I wanted to see if she would come back on her own or would I have to call her. As she started sniffing the wood line I yelled her name and for the first time since I've had her ... she broke into a full sprint toward the house. I had not seen her run before and today is Day 8 since she arrived.

She was so fast that I was only able to take one photo between the time she started sprinting and arrived in the yard, where Sadie met her and for the first time since I had Stella ... she and Sadie started playing!!  Which is one reason I decided to pick her up ... to give Sadie someone to play with that was her own size.

Stella in a Full Sprint

Stella On The Left - Sadie On The Right

They played more than the one photo show but after downloading all that I had, the only time the camera took the photos were when they were sniffing noses. Winston sensed something going on and he wanted to play too, but found out both bloodhounds were a little too tall for him.

In his younger years he would have jumped up to their level but not at the age of 11, where he has occasional back issues and not quite as strong in the hips.

I must say the drop in temperature has been great today. The windows are back open, the sound of rain hitting the sycamore leaves and the constant rain drops. After all of that high energy just 10 minutes ago, all four hounds are sound asleep for the afternoon. We will probably go outside later this afternoon but the daily walk has been canceled for the day.

We walk in snow, heat, but never rain ...

Today was one of those days I started thinking about downsizing my electronics. It all started when Gazelle sent me an email telling me the 9th was the last day they would give me the best price for my iPhone 5S. After checking their site, they would give me a minimum of $201. I upgraded and bought it through Verizon last summer for $199 and a two year contract.

I also checked to see what they would give me for my iPad Mini. It was something I was not going to buy when I did last year. In fact I wasn't going to buy any iPad at all when I turned my first iPad in for a good price. It wasn't until I saw the iPad Mini's retina display, the advantage of having the size of the Mini compared to the regular size, when I decided to buy it.

I use it a lot when I'm watching ballgames, either looking at rosters of the teams or in-game stats and checking scores of other games.. I also use it as my main electronic book reader, although I have very few electronic books. It's also good as a GPS when traveling. I still like reading books in paperback or hardback format. Now traveling ... electronic books would be the way to go.

Since Gazelle was going to give me a great price for the iPad Mini I was curious enough to check on my new MacBook Air 13" laptop that I just bought before traveling in June. It was to be my main computer while traveling, where I could upload my photos from the Nikon camera and it would be easier to blog with compared to using the smaller iPad.

Gazelle priced it at such a good price that I considered it. They will turn around put it on eBay and Amazon for sale at a huge profit for them. I found it tempting to get rid of all three items. I had not even turned on this Mac Air for over a week.

Still, it has it advantages. It's much faster than my 5 year old iMac with the solid state hard drive. The screen quality is fantastic and unlike the brand new version of the MacBook ... this one still has the slots on the side for my ScanDisk card from the camera to upload photos, a USB slot and a couple of fire wire connections. Whereas the new MacBook is going to all wireless. It's also nice to sit at my kitchen table with the big window that looks out over the highway, plus the fields across the highway and use it as I surf the web.

I remembered that last fall I could have used a spare computer when I made the mistake activating File Vault to encrypt my hard drive, then finding out later after my computer crashed, that it did play well with an older iMac ... I needed a "spare" computer to blog with, do my normal financial transactions, that was bigger than the size of a iPad Mini. I had to point out the small print on this screen to the Geek Squad Rep, to show him why it didn't work after they made the same mistake as I did, by reactivating File Vault!!!!  "it may not be compatible with File Vault"

So even thought it's very tempting to make some extra cash, I still use all of these devises on a regular basis. I guess I have to admit that I could probably live with out them and adapt but it's that I don't want to. I found the iPhone to be a very valuable tool when traveling. Whereas when cell phones first came out, I only bought one to carry with me for emergencies when traveling.

The iPhone also has a great program called "Notes" that I use all the time. It's like my brain and saves me when I can't remember stuff. Also the maps on that iPhone has saved me more than a few times from getting lost.

So the devices will stay with me and will be used. I have no plans to upgrade after Apples announcements today with the large 12" iPad and the new iPhones. Another reason I like that iPhone ... the camera. It's great to use for quick shots when I am not taking the Nikon with me.

Sorry for getting off subject from the hounds ... but the cool rainy weather makes me ramble at times.

The hounds and I are happy with the drop in temps ... this kind of weather is always nice in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.