I was right ... once the bloodhounds heard me grab the FJ keys, they were up, awake and excited. They have become to like the short trips around town.
Heidi heard me but tried to ignore me and wouldn't move. She will not hesitate once I get her moving off of her blankets, becomes active and does what Sadie and Stella do ... it's just a matter I guess of getting her started.
She did a pre-trip pee and jumped up into the front seat of the FJ and proceeded to take her normal position of riding 'shotgun'. Sadie and Stella were already in the back and waiting to go.
I didn't know where we were going, so I thought I'd take a look at the old steel bridge across the highway. I wanted to see what the water level was like after the recent rains compared to last May when I blogged about it
here.
This area looks a lot nicer in May when plants have bloomed and the scenery is green instead of the dead look from the midwest winter.
I knew when I left the car that Stella would jump into the front drivers seat so she could keep an eye out for me. I also knew there would be bloodhound drool involved ... and there was. It comes with the territory when you own a bloodhound.
She doesn't seem to like it when I get too far away from her eye sight. She always has to move to where she has a better view of me walking away from the FJ.
In this area the terrain is hilly, small fields are scattered anywhere a tractor can get into where they can plow, disc and plant the field. I guess a lot of small fields add up to a large field of crops when it comes to making money.
Here is a photo of my house from across the highway. Notice how the field behind my yard all moves downward toward my bank for all of that underground water. That bank in 2008 was filled with 3 more of those large sycamore trees and solid with smaller trees.
The neighbor's house has been for sale since July 2014. That is the month and year the current owner bought the house. That does not include the year before that the previous owner had it for sale. Both owners want about $40K more than what it is worth. It has not been lived in since July 2014.
From there I crossed the highway and went straight ahead. This road is just a few hundred feet from my house. Part of the land borders the field that we walk in every day. I did not want to take any photos of people's houses along the way but I wanted to capture some of the wooded, hilly terrain.
That yellow sign stated Do Not Enter to keep the area contamination free. Those smaller barns must be where the turkeys are first raised. Owned locally but part of Perdue Farms. I was tempted to drive to the top of the hill but we turned around in the lot to the left.
Another older steel bridge is closed.
Last month a man in a natural gas company truck stopped by the house to give me some information about converting from electric to natural gas for power. With the EPA laws that may or may not change, my electric bill may increase more than I want. All of the major power plants in Indiana are coal based and future laws will dictate if my electrical power stays at a reasonable cost.
You can see here where they are installing new natural gas lines. There a lot more of these around the area that I did not take photos of.
Every road we drove on was narrow, hilly and pretty empty. I met a couple of pickup trucks along with way but you could tell it was a quiet Sunday. In the direction we were going I knew that we would be driving through
the covered bridge that I took photos of in October 2014. I didn't know how the hounds would react but they ended up not saying a word.
Heidi spent most of her time standing with her nose out the window to pick up the scents of turkeys, horses and cows along the way. I had Sadie laying down in back with Stella standing to the left of my head, panting enough to where I could smell bloodhound breath ... it was great to be able to leave the windows down.
This company is still open but I thought their old building with advertising on the side of it was kind of cool looking.
We had driven in a small circle from the house but as we left town and headed home, the hounds recognized this highway as the way to go home ... they started whining, knowing where they were headed. All of them were pretty happy to return and wanted back inside the house so they could finish their naps that I cut short. They were all sound asleep within minutes.
It was a shorter drive than planned. My bladder dictated just how long the drive was going to be. There is not a lot to see around here. It's a small rural town. The county is large and has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.2% and a lot of the area is what I called 'depressed'.
It's very wooded and hilly here but 4 miles west it is flat, where fields go as far as you can see. The hounds and I will try to drive in that area this week.
It was a very relaxing day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
