Sadie Gets Her First Walk In 3 Days

Cabin fever for all of us had maxed out by this morning. Sadie slept, had some lunch, went out to check the water levels, slept some more and then stepped into my computer room to give me 'the stare' ... it was time for a walk.

The ground didn't really look much different than it did 4 hours ago but I had come up with an idea that could get me to walk them. I'd put on my North Face snow boots. They are not big nor bulky, lighter than the hiking books, with more rubber over the top of the foot. I'd stay dry no matter what.

Stella stopped for a quick pee break and the trotted toward our path. Sadie didn't wait for us and was way in front, nose to the ground and extremely happy.

It was her first walk since the morning of May 3rd, before the rains came. It seems longer than that since it was nice weather. Even the temps at 60° felt warm.

With the grass taller only means they needed to put their noses deeper inside it. There are a lot of new scents after a rain so they both were quite active.

This is just to the start of the far right corner. Neither one of them stayed too long before they came exploring along the edge of the field. After another day in front of the computer reading and looking for some answers, it was nice to be outside again.

Stella followed her own pace today. It didn't matter what Sadie was doing up ahead, nor what I was doing. She wasn't running today but glided across the field enjoying her walk.

As you can tell the hay is not nearly as tall here as it is near the house where the hounds spent the winter fertilizing it. It also looks like Stella has gain a little weight this week.

Sadie found something interesting enough to hang back as Stella and I kept walking. There is never a worry about her because she will always run to catch up on her own.

This running is good for her. That dark spot on her lower leg is a place she licks every night before she goes to sleep. She has done that for years for some reason. It's never bare skin, just wet hair.

While we waited for Sadie to catch up, Stella stopped abruptly, sat down and looked in the direction of the neighbor's wooded area. Did she smell that big blonde cat? Something had caught her attention enough to perk her ears up.

It looks like she is walking away from us as we get to the backyard but it's a new habit she has had the past week or so ... she will always use the path to return to the yard instead of walking straight from the field's tall grass, unless she is not on the 'official' daily walk.

As you can tell, she was in no hurry today ... she must be resting to watch the Kentucky Derby tonight.

The water is slowly moving out. That is only part of the field showing, not a sandbar. It looks like the row of crops out in the middle of the water is stable ... maybe they don't have to do anything to this field but let the sunshine do it's work.

I ran a free app called Dr. Cleaner by Trend Micro to clean up all my junk files and optimize my hard drive. It found and deleted over 2Gb's of junk files. It has more features but I would have had to buy the professional version. Instead the website I mentioned in my last post called Make Use Of, recommended a free maintenance app that would analyze, repair and do some general clean up of the hard drive.

It reported there were no problems with my hard drive and did a little cleaning. I shut down the computer while we were on our walk and so far since we have restarted the computer I have not had those small frustrating issues I've been having the past couple of days since the restore of the hard drive.

So, I thought I'd wait to see how things workout before I do a clean install of my OS and start all over like it's a new computer. That option still is interesting to me.

The Kentucky derby tonight on a track rated 'sloppy' will open the large number of entrants up to where anyone can win. The days I use to go to the California race tracks every day, I never bet when the track was rated muddy or sloppy.

All the hounds are happy and sound asleep here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Rain Has FINALLY Stopped !!

I've seen the water levels much higher than now, a few years ago, but I am not sure that was worse than now. The standing water in back of my house was more than my underground drainage system could handle. It just shows how much water is moving underground in the field, which slopes towards my property. Yet ... THE RAIN HAS FINALLY STOPPED !!

For the first time in two days, Sadie and Stella walked out into the field. It will still be too wet to take any walks today and maybe even tomorrow since it's suppose to start raining again after midnight before blowing out of the area for a few days.

Sadie didn't stay long but was able to explore a little in the field. About all she was doing was finding that one spot that all dogs look for when they have dump their tanks.

It is May 5th and this is not what I had in mind for my May weather. Wasn't it just a week or so ago where we were touching the mid 70's and thought summer was right around the corner?? I am not a fan of this kind of weather.

By last night I think we can officially say the wild yellow mustard flowers (weeds) are gone. It will be interesting to see just how long it will take to dry that field out enough where heavy tractors, and planters can work there.

That same field runs up next to the highway. All water, but it still did not crest and go over the highway like it did in June 2008. I've seen hard rain fill my culverts and flood my driveway near the highway but nothing like that happened this week.

I think it's safe to say all of that work they did early in getting their field fertilized and planted before May 1st is now a tax write off as a loss. That water also stretches to the right where the majority of the field is located.

This is from yesterday afternoon. The rain had let up enough for the hounds to take a break outside. I was going to pull out the 3-step ladder I have and reach over the top of the gutter to unplug whatever was blocking the downspout. That was not why it was flooded, the downspout was not plugged and all I heard was large amount of water flowing down from the gutter.

It takes a lot of rain to get to the point. I have 6" black corrugated drainage pipe that runs the full length of the house in back right below the edge of grass and rock/gravel toward the bank.

Again, when the top of the driveway gets this flooded, there has been a lot of rain going on.

Yet Sadie was happy to be back outside. I had to call her to come back in from the field. Stella was already standing at the door wanting back inside. Heidi was still hibernating inside her Marmot sleeping bag.

I was still having some problems with Google Chrome today. I find it's a common problem after looking on Google search ... it was freezing when I tried to scroll on a webpage and preventing any kind of curser movement. So as a test I decided to read and find out how to clean up the files inside my Safari browser. I stopped using it months ago because it was corrupted and was deleting all of my bookmarks each time I turned it off.

It was a quick fix, deep inside 'Library' system files where Apple does not want users to go. Safari is now my default browser again, not freezing my computer and not using as much data as Google Chrome based on what my Activity Monitor is showing. It is also very fast loading the pages.

Here on top of the hill we don't have it bad at all compared to other people in the local area. With one of the main rivers in the state of Indiana running outside of town, many people have had their homes flooded, bridges and roads are closed due to being under water. It's times like these that I am happy we lived about 80' up on a hill.

Hard to believe it's Friday. It's been a strange week to say the least. I hope to pull the ladder out of the shed and get up on the roof later this afternoon. I saw this morning some small sticks sticking up from inside my front gutter. That is what is causing all of that water to come over the front edge into the mulch I have in front of the carport.

It's extremely wet here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana but at least the rain has stopped.

Cabin Fever Returns ... For All Of Us

 

It was one of those afternoons that we have not had in years, really I'm serious when I say that. There was nothing that felt right and nothing that satisfied.

Even the hounds were confused when they couldn't figure out where I had gone. I had slipped over by the burn pile, a few steps further in the corner of the woods to take a picture from that angle. Sadie thought I might have gone inside, a sure sign we are going for a walk.

Stella walked around in a complete circle and still could not figure out what happened to me. Was it a sign of things to come?

Sadie did what Sadie does best ... head to the field with her own interests. She could be an outdoor hound 24/7 I believe. Yet, she does like 'her' large leather chair with the ottoman to stretch out on to nap while I watch a game or a movie.

Cabin fever had already hit so bad by lunch time that Heidi not only made it outside, she hung around long enough for a photo shoot. That did not mean she was staying out long, after all, rain was on the way.

I know, I changed the content in the middle of a post ... kind of a test I guess and typical of this afternoon. I know some will disagree but I like the content before the picture.

After watching the water rise across the highway over the past three days I decided it was time to go over and just see how close I could get to the old steel bridge. I would have loved to have got close enough to take a picture of the water level under the bridge that had decreased to the lower half of the bank.

I knew I wouldn't get far down that single path of gravel and grass ... I can only assume that bank is at more than full capacity.

I and a few other readers have been wondering about the 'field of yellow' and what the plans were. They show up every year, are plowed under and corn or soybeans are planted in their place. I guess this year they decided to flood them out.

It keeps getting worse in the field that was fertilized, sprayed and planted early this year. That's not all of the water in that field and I'm sure he has lost some major money this year because of the flooding.

This isn't close to the worse I've seen. That happened in June 2008 when both fields were flooded. The water from the 'field of yellow' covered the highway and the water in this field was up to sign frame. It was like we were living on lakefront property.

We were only hours away of being shut off from town that time, with this highway being the last of four leading to into that were flooded out. Then a water way south of us broke and the water surrounding us and the town, drained like a bath tub and was gone within an hour.

So to battle this feeling of hopelessness this afternoon, I tried food, reading books, started a movie, channel surfed, played fetch with Sadie, tried different food, tried different books, started a different movie and channel surfed on tv a little more ... all for nothing.

I wasn't hungry for what I was eating, the books were boring, the movie was not interesting, and my tv had 250 channels of nothing to watch. Besides that, Sadie who loves playing fetch made only one run to pick up her Kong ball, only to bring it back to lay down with the ball between her paws. Heidi and Stella slept ... even my siesta wouldn't kick into gear.

We were stranded with nowhere to go.

By 5:30pm Sadie decided to try one more time to take a walk but with 4 hours of constant light rain or drizzle, she had no more interest in taking a walk and getting wet than I did.

Stella felt the first drops of rain and decided to be a statue instead. There was no way she was getting her feet wet on the fresh cut lawn. After two day of partial sunshine we were back to being water logged and bored.

Sadie has sat and stared at me for so long today that she looks like one of those bloodhound end tables that were hot sells on eBay a few years ago. Stella has decide to sleep right up next to the my desk chair in back of me, so close that I cannot move and will be trapped in front of my monitor. Heidi hasn't moved from deep inside her Marmot sleeping back with it 52° outside.

The forecast is not encouraging for the next 3-4 days ... maybe a roadtrip is around the corner?

It's not a nice time today here 'in the tropics' of southern Indiana.

More Rain On The Way

This small bird did not mind Stella being about 5' away from her and Stella didn't mind the bird being on her driveway. Luckily Sadie was out in the field eliminating any chances of a bird chase.

It doesn't look good for this field with another inch of rain predicted by the end of this afternoon and even more tomorrow. Luckily the yard was dry enough to mow yesterday and much earlier than planned. I was finished by 1:30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon with ice tea and a good book.

I don't know, maybe it's because my 'free' data period has changed with the move to HughesNet to the hours between 2am - 8am. I don't have unlimited data like I did with Exede's 'free' period which took place between midnight and 5am but I do get an additional 50Gb of data per month. Whatever the reason, lately I've been asleep before midnight and up and moving by 6:30am.

With that earlier than normal wake up time, Sadie was at my desk an hour earlier this morning wanting her morning walk. Or maybe she knew the weather forecast. Stella was still asleep and Heidi is never walking that early nor with the field grass that wet. We took off a little past 8am.

Sadie took off right from the start of the walk. She wasn't waiting for me or Stella today. With it being this early, the field was extremely wet and my hiking boots were soaked only a short distance into the field.

It was nice to see Stella trotting past me up and heading up the path. It might be just my wishful thinking but I can tell a difference this week on top of her back and between her shoulders, where it is filling in where her spine and shoulder blades are not as visible as before, if at all.

She was in continues motion this morning with her nose to the ground all the way around the first turn. She only stopped once for less than a minute and moved on.

Sadie was the same way. Where she had stopped a few days ago deep in the green bushes after the first turn, she didn't today. She was on that deer path with her nose to the ground locked in.

Then they both picked up something pretty strong and they were off ... running full speed around the far right corner. I wasn't able to catch them on camera until after they made the turn.

With them moving this fast, I was concerned they were heading into the gully or back into those woods, which also drops in a steep drop off.

You have to wonder just how strong that scent is for them to take off like that and then imagine what they are thinking it is. From what I have read in different books, all of this scent tracking they do is their way of identifying what and who has been in the area.

Sadie went toward the gully and stopped, only to look back at me to see if I was coming after her. She did not move from that spot. She had found something to eat.

Stella headed the opposite direction, with both of them chowing down on some natural protein.

This morning I wanted to see what they would do if I did not go after them. As usual, once Sadie realized that I was walking away she came running full-speed to catch me.

She never stopped running and blew by me to the back edge of the field.

Stella was not moving. I thought briefly that it might be one of those days where I walk all the way home and then drive the Mini Countryman back to this location to have her run back to the house, following the car. I did that last year with the Toyota FJ.

I kept walking and used the zoom lens at 200mm to look through the view finder to keep track of her. You can barely see her in the center of the picture.

This is shot at 50mm, which is the view that my eyes are looking at. She is still there in the center of the picture next to the edge of the woods. Sadie was looking in that direction waiting for me to give her the command to "go get Stella" but I wanted to keep walking and see if Stella would run full-speed to catch us.

Sadie and I had made the last turn home and when I glanced over I didn't see Stella. I started my slow walk in that direction calling her name. It was then I saw her at the edge of the field and woods behind the tall grass.

The three pictures I took of that walk and finding her were not in focus ... so this picture shows where she thinks she is going to continue the walk in the normal direction instead of walking back with me to the path we were on.

Again, it wasn't warm this morning, mid 40's and as you can see that rain is coming from the southwest. Radar was showing the storm front was about 200 miles away when we started the walk.

That is Stella in the lead and her sly way of quietly sneaking off to the right toward the neighbor's woods as if I cannot see her. She actually thinks every time that she is going to get away with it. She seems to like the words "over here" and returns to the path when I say that to her.

Before going inside Sadie needed to checkout my lawn mowing from yesterday, one more time.

Stella slowly returned to the yard following every inch of the path and not veering off. She was back to sleep behind my desk chair within minutes after coming inside.

I am now on the clock so to speak with HughesNet. I'll still be using my Excel spreadsheet to log in my daily data use. With the graph I inserted I can tell if I am using too much data as the month progresses. After their 20 days of free data for new customers, I will get my full allotment of 20Gb for the last 10 days of my billing period.

Their webpage that shows my data is much better than I had with Exede and shows the balances on my monthly allotment and the 50Gb's I get every month between 2am-8am. It also tells me how many days/hours/minutes before the next reset.

As it gets darker outside as I type this, it looks like it will be another afternoon inside reading while the rain pours outside. It's typical spring weather with a good chance of rain every day until Sunday and then six days of nice sunshine.

I have finalized my 'to do' list on a Word Document and a lot of items will be completed once the temperature are up in the 70's. Nothing hard but time consuming, regular annual maintenance that goes with house ownership.

I am adding a new blog to the sidebar, from an online friend of mine. Who would have ever thought of pelicans spending time in Minnesota while it's still cold, but here they are ... click here.

I have realized that most of the things I put off doing around here isn't really procrastination like I thought. I looked back through my blog and found that I like doing the 'to do' items when it's hot weather day after day. The hotter the better. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Dark and dreary this morning in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.