The Sun Is Out & The Hounds Are Back

It was great to wake up to sunny skies, birds singing outside loud enough to hear around some long distance heavy equipment operating over at the landscaping business. I know it's been a few days since our last post but believe me, with off and on rain, overcast skies and two bloodhounds that didn't want to go further than the edge of the carport ... there wasn't a lot to blog about.

There have been some changes though and some of you have noticed just from last night.

I went ahead and changed the domain name of this blog back to the original blogger url when I set up the blog in October 2011. From what the traffic reports were showing last night, it looked like most if not all regular readers and those that found my blog by searching for 'lil snoozy trailers', had visited and saw the notice of the new domain name change. I may have missed a few but I don't think there are many.

Since I am always a patient person (j/k), I deleted the old .com domain last night instead of waiting until Friday - then went to my GoDaddy account and not only deleted the domain name there but also my GoDaddy account. Why all the change? It must be one of those periods I go through from time to time where I don't care about the $12 per year for a domain renewal but I hate paying the $144 per year to do it. Like a friend told me in January ... "why pay for a domain if it is not producing income" ... good point.

So it's final, I have no more urls to move to.

The rains were pretty consistent for the past few days. About the time you thought you saw some sunshine trying to poke through the clouds, a light rain would start. The hounds were not happy and by Monday had a severe case of 'cabin fever'.

Not only did the domain name change since our last real post on the 10th of March but so have the hounds. Changes that I am not real happy about but I am thrilled with Heidi's change.

For some reason 3 or 4 days ago, the hounds quit walking directly out into the field like they have done for years ... yes, years. Straight out from the house and linger in the field exploring as much as they wanted. "Free range" so to speak. Well for some reason the other day they made a turn left and headed to the north side of the yard.

Now that I think about it, it was rainy that morning so they were both staying under the roof overhang walking along the side of the house. Plus around the new area I cleared last week, both were very interested in what had been walking in that area. I don't mind them walking in that area but what Stella did a few days ago changed everything. She is now on "double secret probation".

It was the normal routine ... dogs out while I am inside making coffee. I walk into my computer room to turn on the computer and glance out the window to check on the hounds. Sadie is sitting in the field stiff as a board, like a statue, facing the house. I had seen that look from her before but never more than one or two times in her 7-1/2 years.

I knew something was wrong.

Without taking the camera with me I sprinted outside because I was pretty sure I already knew what was going on. Stella had ran off. I could tell with Sadie not moving even as I approached her that she was giving me the look of "someone is in big trouble". While glancing over the north field where the hounds never go and yelling Stella's name ... she is no where to be found.

I look back along the bush line along the path that we take for the daily walk ... I don't see her anywhere. I am not in the state of panic yet but I am beginning to think the worse. High speed highways are never nice to hounds that are loose, nor any other breed of dog.

About the time that I turn to head to the house, grab the keys to the FJ to go find her .. my glance barely catches a red color bloodhound down inside the deep drainage ditch that runs along the edge of the north field and my neighbor's yard. It is deep enough that in some parts of that ditch she would not have been seen.

Luckily as I yelled her name ... Stella jumped out of the ditch and came sprinting to me. Sadie met her nose to nose, tails wagging to let her know "never do that again".

I was thrilled to say the least that the worst had not happened. I definitely didn't want to see her laying in the highway when I looked that direction. So the problem now ... both hounds continue to make that immediate left as they hit the yard and I cannot let Stella out on her own. The 80' tethered rope that is anchored in the field is back in operation temporarily and Stella is connected to that anytime the hounds want to go out and enjoy the yard. That has been rare since it's been raining most of the time.

Stella looking back to see if I am watching her.

Stella checking a 2nd time to see if I am watching her or can she make an escape and head north and back to that ditch.

Stella is never happy when I call her to come to the house, she would love to get back to that drainage ditch she found. The good news is, although they are both stubborn at times, they do come when their name is called ... but at THEIR pace.

From all the rain you can see that one part of the yard's grass has grown exponentially over the past few days. Once it dries out this afternoon I am going to mow just that small section. The grass is taller than any other part of the yard. It was a section that Winston used all winter when he dumped his tanks. Good fertilizer.

Heidi has improved taking the supplement the vet gave me on her last vet visit a week and a half ago. It was something called Herma A Spike. I won't say that her energy level is up because that had already improved but it feels like and looks like she has gained some muscle around those bones that were showing. Also on her rear paws, hair is replacing the bare skin and is becoming thicker. She is also still eating dog food with grains included. I'll post more about that later, with her own post and hopefully some photos.

It's good to be back blogging here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Sleep Between Walk & Lunch

We had a little different schedule today based on my schedule ... called sleep. For some reason I was up really late last night (this morning) and when the hounds howled around 7:30am to wake me to let them outside, I knew then I was not up for the day. I didn't even feel like starting coffee. They went outside only for a short time because they love eating breakfast first thing in the morning. After that breakfast, recently they like to go back outside just long enough to dump their tanks ... then to sleep.

I decided today I would follow their schedule and go back to sleep. So that almost threw the whole day's activities off but you can do that in a moment's notice when you are retired ... it's a beautiful thing. I see now it's 12:22pm, already past their lunch time but none of the hounds are begging to be fed, not even Heidi. She is up exploring around the house, but Sadie and Stella are passed out after their late morning walk today. They had a pretty long run that I will describe later.

Like I said the other day, we might take the exact same path on the daily walk but every walk is different. That proved to be the case today.  This deer hoof print had something to do with it.

Consequently they had their noses to the ground and rarely lifted their heads. For me it was nice, no jacket required, camera was working most of the time but not all the time ... but enough that I decided there was not a need to buy a new camera today -- although I am very very tempted. When their tails are up and curled you can bet their 'radar' is locked in on something good.

With it being a warm 58° and a strong wind out of the southwest - the first thing that changed was Sadie was about to continue walking over the edge down into the gully. It wasn't the drop off part of the edge but where deer walk down into the gully. It is hard to see any distinctive points in the area photo but here it is. She came running after I yelled "no" multiple times.

After Sadie trotted back into the field from where she almost took off, Stella wanted to remind her she couldn't do that.

Stella kind of checked out her spot from yesterday where they had found something to eat ... nothing there so she moved up to the brush line. She wasn't there long either because she didn't want Sadie getting anything while she was away.

As we continued down the path to return home, Sadie took off left because something has raised her interest, Stella followed. I am not sure what they found, nor did I want to know what they found because they were both chowing down something. It must have been good because they were not concerned I was walking away from them. Even if I was getting further away ... they continued to enjoy their new treasure.

They glanced up a few times to see if I was still around ... then the last time they glanced up I wasn't there. I was out of their sight line by choice because I wanted to see what they would do. The camera worked 90% of the time as I tried to catch them running toward me. I don't know what they were thinking but looking up and not seeing me must have changed their minds about what they had found. I was well past the 'corner' where we turn and they were sprinting to catch up for me.

It could be the reason that Stella 'walked it in' at the end of the walk.

With heavy rain in tomorrow's forecast, predicting 2-3 inches, walks and photos may be few and far between until the field's surface/ground dry out enough to keep us from getting muddy on our walks. That rain is suppose to start tonight sometime and those 2-3 inches will get 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana back to where it should be in total rain accumulation for this time of year. After the sun hits the yard after all of that rain I am expecting to mow the yard for the first time in 2016. Grub worm killer will be spread later this afternoon so the rain can do it's thing.

My taping of games, movies and Indy500 races onto DVDs from my DirecTv DVR is going great. I do test each disc for playback after each recording before I delete the program from my DVD. I have only been doing that test on my tv to see if the recording is good. Today I loaded those recorded DVDs into my iMac to see if they would play on the computer and on a different device from which it was taped ... years ago I had a problem with that. Today was all good. You cannot record in HD but the picture quality of the SD video was pretty good ... at least good enough that there were no complaints from me.

That still raises the question, do I really need their updated DVR to replace the one I have that works but has a lot less memory available on the hard drive. I am finding out that I have a lot of programs to convert just on the DVR that I have now with the smaller memory capacity. Do I really need a terabyte worth of hard drive?

With the warm weather today, the hounds and I will be in and out many times today. I hope to get Heidi out into the field after lunch and let her walk around and at least see how see reacts. Her appetite is still huge, water consumption normal, sleeping normal, and starts her day with sprinting around the living room after breakfast. With the clean blood work report, I continue to see her as normal with a skinning frame that may never regain those 15-16 pounds.

Spring is here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi's Health Mystery Continues

After having a lot of days in a row of good skin, today after lunch I noticed that Heidi had chewed a spot on her upper right front leg. Plus her skin had redness on the rear legs again. Instead of doing the Epsom Salt soak, I decided I wanted the vet to see what the skin looked like when it was irritated. I also wanted to check her weight and get a check-up since her last trip to the vet was last June. Plus she was due for her annual rabies vaccine. I also wanted to see if they would cut her nails further back than I do ... I found out they cut just as much as I do, not more.

After seeing three different vets since October 2014 and no changes in her skin issues, I had decided for my next trip it would be back to the original vet that Heidi had seen since I got her in July 2011. For the same reason I chose to go somewhere else in September 2014 I saw and heard the same thing today ... very little discussion on skin possibilities, and was just going to give her an allergy shot without very little discussion. I told her she the last shot she gave did not work longer than 7 days. So no allergy shot was given today. I told her the different medicines that had been tried since October 2014 and what the results were.

It might have been me taking their attitude wrong but I had the impression as I was telling the vet this information, she didn't really care since it was done at a different vet clinic. Could that be possible?

The focus was more on Heidi's thin appearance and what might be the causes. No test was given on her thyroid because the vet said in the cases she had seen with thyroid problems, the dogs were extremely overweight. She was more concerned about her liver, kidneys functions and any possible tumors. She squeezed her stomach hard, pushed and probed ... found nothing and there were no signs of pain from Heidi.

She suggested blood work. I told her last year the test results were normal ... but go ahead and try again. The results came back with normal readings. Liver and kidneys functioning normal. White and red blood cell counts in the normal range. So the good news was ... the blood test showed nothing was wrong internally.

Heidi left the vet clinic once again with a clean bill of health and no answers about her weight problem.

Although she has normal stools, just to make sure Triwormer was prescribed. She also prescribed Hema A Spike which is a potent concentrated liquid that spikes red blood cell production, supplies essential irons, folic acid and Vitamin B12. It is also contains manganese, cobalt, copper and zinc. Basically it is for older dogs that just need 'a boost' as well as dogs that have had surgery or a serious illness. It will be interesting to see if there are any improvements.

At 35 pounds, her hip bones are extremely exposed, spine is expose but you can feel muscle mass on her upper rear legs, neck and upper shoulder area. She weighed 34 pounds in June 2015.

That's about all I have for today from 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.