Sadie Gets Irritable When Walks Are Canceled

It seems to happen more during the cold weather we are having compared to the extremely hot days in July or August. Before Sadie gets her first walk of the day or her second one after lunch, she gets irritated. She jumps up thinking we are going for a walk every time I get out of my chair or off the couch. She can't relax, until she has her walks. That could be a problem this afternoon and the next few days with the arctic push arriving later today.

So, she won the battle this morning and we finally got outside around 9:30am with a windchill of 10°. Winds were strong out of the NW, freezing the left side of my face and nose on the first half of the walk. It felt like the forecast was going to be correct with the arctic storm blowing into town sometime this afternoon and dropping our temps from 20° to 5°. Sadie trotted, Stella walked slowly.

The hounds enjoyed this morning's walk, each doing their own thing. It was a pleasant surprise that they walked side by side on the path toward home, then ran toward the house passing me by in the backyard. I would have never guessed that just at the point of the first turn.

I know, another weather update but that seems to be about all to write about lately. I did get to watch two football games last night while the hounds slept in their normal living room positions. I watched part of and taped a basketball game that I will watch after I post this. There is not much planned for the rest of the day, except staying warm.

When the hounds split up running in the back field and headed opposite directions I knew I was going to have to herd them back together on the way back home. There was no way I could leave them outside on their own. Stella was exploring the middle of the back part of the field. The wind was stronger and much colder out in the open.

Sadie had sprinted to the back right corner of the field then started tracking along the edge between the brush and the field. I wasn't even close to the back of the field yet and she was already there.

Stella was actually heading toward our return path ... she must have felt it was warmer than my iPhone weather app was telling me.

I have not heard nor seen the ATV since earlier in the week. I am always on the look-out for the sound or sight of it while we take our walk. Chris is pretty good about not getting close to us the few times I've seen him but it's always good to be safe when hounds and moving objects are involved.

I had to zoom to 200mm to get this close to Stella.

Plus Sadie was still pretty far behind me, where the 200mm zoom was also required. She would eventually start running toward me but not until she was ready to, not when I called her.

When I told them "let's go home" they both headed off in the general direction.

Sadie continued her exploration. I really think she would stay outside in all of this weather all day if I would let her. She is probably more of an outside dog rather than a house dog.

Stella might have been taking her time walking toward the house with Sadie up ahead of us but all of the sudden she decided it was warmer there than where we were. She took of trotting after Sadie.

It was about this time during the walk that I realized it was Saturday instead of Sunday. I've lost track of time all week. Neither hound waited for me this morning. They followed the path to the backyard and then ran to the house to wait on me.

It was an interesting read over on Ara's blog this morning. He has included some quotes from two of the major developers of Facebook. Take a look for some interesting thoughts about social media and how these two men feel they may have made a big mistake in making Facebook so huge.

That word 'programmed' reminded me how I was not going to turn on my computer this morning as I poured my first cup of coffee. I wasn't going to blog and take a day off from the computer world. It rarely happens and what I say when I go to bed the night before about doing that that never happens the next morning.

I guess winter is officially here ... not because of the weather ... but because Sadie and Stella are in a full out wrestling match inside the house. Sadie is on the offense ... Heidi?? She is wrapped in her sleeping bag sleeping of course.

I have hope. The weather app says a week from Monday the high temperature will be 40°.

Hibernating again in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Disappears

I was going to blog about Stella's disappearance on the public blog up until the time I downloaded the pictures into my iMac. I did not blog about her disappearance before, when she did this exact same thing last spring. I had to ask myself why blog about it? Am I just wanting to generate blog traffic? Am I wanting to see what kind of response I get or the comments it receives? Why am I blogging every day publicly anyway? So ... I came here to document the disappearance.


I am going back to commenting BEFORE the photos instead of after them. It makes more sense and is also easier today when I list photos without comments. Our walk this morning started out like all of the, except this one was around 9am. That's fine as we have been starting our walks later in the day this past week.

I wasn't going to take the camera this morning but I am glad I did after what happened. For some strange reason I thought about notifying Kelly and have her put the new blog on their blog sidebar. Since my story of blog stalkers and threats are not true, it would not matter if the blog was listed. Of course, Chinle might see it and then would be able to keep track of what the hounds and I do.

Since I am undecided about the future of public blogging, I'll not ask Kelly to add the Wordpress blog to the list. Afterall I have used 15% of my 3Gb of free photos before I would either have to make version 2.0 of the blog or pay a monthly fee for expanded photo storage just for a blog.

I am two days away from my Facebook account being permanently deleted. That means if I were to log back into my Facebook account AFTER August 28th, I'd have no history, no friends, no photos. I would have to go back and block all the people I don't want finding me nor have a desire to see their accounts. I do miss Facebook "just a little" ... the photos for the FJ Group were fantastic but mostly off road mods and rock climbers. I do miss seeing what a few of my friends are doing. But really they were just "Facebook Friends" that never really kept in touch with me in real life ... except for a couple.

Twitter gives me all the sports news and photos I need. Most of those people have duplicate info on their Facebook accounts. I never heard back from Stephanie concerning Stella.

I knew at this point of the walk that I would be letting Stella do whatever she wanted. Most of the time she is up near the first corner when I leave her behind and then she will wander over toward Haslers or behind Lueking's backyard.

It was this picture that I thought about later when I didn't see her anywhere in the field as got closer to home. Had she gone into the woods? That is the only place she could have gone because she was nowhere in the field outside of her normal places.

Sadie will always look back to see where Stella is.

The sunshine is out an hour later but from this photo you would think today was going to be overcast and cloudy.

Sadie took off looking for Stella as we came to the first corner. Stella was nowhere in sight along the horizon. I looked from the woods on the left, across the field and to the right toward Haslers.

Stella was gone ... I suspected she was in the woods to the left, where I last saw her with her nose to the ground.

In 20 years of living here I have only walked in this woods a few times, probably less than 5 times. It's always wet and muddy down below as I found out that time I was looking for Bertha. But today the ground was dry and it was really nice back in here. I should go back and explore more.

No signs of Stella anywhere. I called her name over and over, hoping to see her come running through the woods ... but did not see her anywhere.

I can see why Lueking's son and grandchildren were walking through this woods last December ... it's nice and easy to move through.

Just think ... this woods rebuilds itself naturally. For all the fallen, rotted trees on the ground, there are new ones growing, with tree trunks only 3" to 6" in diameter.

I was actually shocked I did not see Stella in these woods.

A final check of the field. Sadie and I walked over to the edge of Hasler's drainage ditch ... no sign of Stella. Luckily I did not see her laying by the side of the highway, although traffic is really lite for a Saturday morning.

Sadie was looking through the yard, ran to the carport door and then the front yard looking for Stella ... I left her inside and then drove the FJ back to the turkey farm behind us. Stella was nowhere in view.

I was gone for 8 minutes looking for her in the FJ. It had been 38 minutes since we started the walk. As I pulled into the driveway there was Stella in the carport, walking out to the front to meet me. She was happy I was home. She did her normal 'poking' me with her nose, smelled my hair and then tried opening the round door handle as Sadie and Heidi barked from the inside.

I'll not blog about this. But it's good to document it here. I hope I can find the "label" from the last time she did this so I can keep all of her disappearances together.

For not doing a lot except watering my flowers on occasion, they are looking pretty good. It will take 2-3, maybe 4 years before these plants grow enough to look good. I don't miss the large yews.

The hounds are sound to sleep. I've had my coffee but need some oatmeal for breakfast. Plus I need to start cooking a large pot of beans for later today and the next few days. My problem is, once they are finished cooking, they taste so good I cannot stop eating them. They don't last longer than 2 days.

I'm glad Stella's back. She acted happy that I came home.

It's Friday !!!

As if it makes any difference ... it's Friday. Years ago this use to be one of my favorite days of the week. Work was usually slow every other Friday since a lot of the government workers had the day off. I think today is one of those days because traffic is lighter than normal today. Not much planned today, just to enjoy the weather.

I let the hounds roll on their own today. I didn't have to yell and only called Stella a couple of times to get her to move in our direction. Sadie of course enjoyed being in the field.

I'd like to take Stella over to the vet today and get her weighed. Gets me out of the house and I'd like to see how much weight she has gained since April. She had gained 5 pounds the first month after that and I have a feeling that she has gained even more.

Another beautiful day today. For the first time I will not have to mow the yard after 7 days.

The neighbor is back from Texas. I am not sure if he drives or flies and then drives from the Indy airport. He might drive because he always arrives home after 1am. I saw him parked the other day when I had gotten up in the middle of the night to drink some water.

For some reason I feel much better today. I might even get some things done.

Two weeks until college football starts again. I can't wait. I cannot say that I am that excited about the NFL. I really don't like the pro player with the personal shows after a TD or just a normal play. Plus the protest against the national anthem totally pisses me off.

The B1G is showing basketball games this year on Friday nights ... what about the high school games? Also IU has only ONE home game on Saturday in the conference schedule. What is this all about ??  Money ....

I'm not bored today but I can't see much is going to happen.

The Hounds Adjust To Hotter Weather

Those cool August temps were nice while they lasted. This week we are headed back to the normal high 80's. Therefore all three hounds made some adjustments to their schedules yesterday. Heidi slept more than ever. Sadie didn't bother me for an afternoon walk until early evening and both bloodhounds found the kitchen tile to be the coolest place to sleep the afternoon away.

Starting our Tuesday morning walk a little later than normal I found the light to be better for taking photos. At least I thought I did. Stella decided to take a whole different approach for her walk. She stood by the butterfly milkweed for a long time and then slowly ... I mean really slow ... headed for the neighbor's woods until I called her.

You can see her direction by where the property pole stands. I could tell that she had no plans to go with Sadie and I. I was about to let her do what she wanted but decided it would be better if I were to call her and then wait for her to catch up with Sadie and I.

I was surprised she actually decided to head our direction, like she has for the past few weeks.

Sadie was on her normal tracking exercise. Every day, every walk ... she never changes.

Stella stayed on her own but had a gradual path to follow our direction. There are a lot of things she likes to check out in the middle of the field.

More ATV racing took place late yesterday afternoon about the time we were heading out for a walk. We turned around, went back inside and waited for the excitement to die down. There is no way I want the hounds around ATV's that are going full-speed with young drivers.

Stella looks like she is finally regaining most of the weight she lost at the start of the year. The food I give her is still the same, so maybe she had the flu.

Every walk when we make the final turn toward home, Stella will sit and start scratching herself. Same place every walk??  That is why I think it is more of an acquired habit instead of an allergy.

When she is finished she will trot or run to catch up. This morning it was closer to a slow run rather than a trot. It's good to see her doing more of that.

For the first time in 14 days I did not add the buffered aspirin to her kibble. I want to see how she does this next 7 days. I am still deciding which hip and joint supplement to buy for her.

They might take their time but they will gradually meet for the walk into the yard when they finish each walk.

I took a day off from blogging yesterday. The break felt good and it might lead to less blogging or at least not every day. I get a lot done around the house when I'm not on the computer all the time. I also deleted my Facebook account yesterday afternoon. I'll have until the 28th of August to log in to keep all the data on my account.

Since I get all of my sports updates off of Twitter and many of those people have the same links of Facebook, I decided I didn't need both. Plus I find it troubling that Facebook admits that not only can they track your internet activity (what's new) but once you download their app into your smart phone, they can listen in on phone calls.

I've never used their Apps for that reason. I realized that all websites track what I do and I really don't make that many phone calls ... still the thought of their abilities was one of the reasons I decided to delete my account. I had other personal reasons also.

Why did I get a phone call from the Netherlands yesterday? Caller ID is a great invention. No, I didn't answer the call.

While enjoying the AC after 1pm yesterday I played a lot of Mahjong and continued to decrease times. I decided to get the rest of my games under 3 minutes 30 seconds. On average I was completing them in 3 minutes and 10 seconds or less. I still have less than 5 games I can't seem to get down to 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

On the walk the ticks are gone ... mosquitoes are back. My spray with a lot of DEET works fantastic.

I am thinking diet changes again. Not much of a change but back to a plant-based diet with fresh salmon. I'll have to make the 25 mile drive to pick up the salmon and of course coffee/sugar will be one of the few processed foods I eat.

I almost forgot ... due to the increased blog traffic from Russian and the Ukraine on my old blog where I use to do all of my public blogging ... I set that blog to private yesterday. That keeps them from poking around looking for holes and prevents others from downloading photos. I'm not blogging there but just locked it up.

Thanks for stopping by to read the blog, look at the photos ... I'm heading out for a short drive in the Z4 before it gets too hot.

It's going to a 'scorcher' today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.