The Hounds Speak

Heidi … it’s ‘oh dark thirty’ and you are doing the full body shake with flapping basset hound ears??? That seems to be the new alarm clock. The only problem is, I stopped setting the alarm once I retired. It’s okay though, 6:30am isn’t that bad … plus once Stella wakes up she lets me know it’s time for breakfast by her howling.



I don’t have a lot to say this morning but the hounds seem to have a lot on their minds.

Heidi …

I know he used that photo of me sleeping yesterday, but it’s what I do and it’s what I’ve been doing this morning. The slave is wanting to wake me up to grab those blankets to add to the wash this morning but I’m not moving and I’m not giving up any blankets. The toenails?? It’s manicure day … he pulled the clippers out while we were all eating breakfast … LOL … Sadie took off to hide in the bedroom so I walked over to her bowl and ate what little food she left in her bowl, before Stella could figure out what all the noise was about.

Blogging?? I did receive a few emails asking where ‘my’ blog was. IT’S GONE!!! My blog presence lasted but a few days before the slave changed his mind about giving us all a blog. I KNEW it wouldn’t last so I wasn’t that excited about it … He changes his mind all the time … it’s what he does … I live with it!!

No plans for me today. It may have looked like I was sleeping but I heard him say he was giving me a 30 minute soak in warm water with Epsom Salts today. That warm water up to the bottom of my chin feels good. It has to be that deep because I have skin issues on my neck … then he will cut my nails afterwards. He doesn’t have any treats to give me to bribe any of us today … I saw him putting the box of treats in the recycling bin last night.

I’ll come back here at times and talk … I never liked that blog of mine anyway … I just like to sleep. Photos? eh … could care less. I wasn’t born to be famous, I just wanted to be a lazy basset hound.

Those antibiotics the slave gave yesterday worked. No eye gunk today and my eyes are red and clear just like any other basset hound you may see. If you had eyelids like mine, your eyes would be red all the time too.

Stella …

Ah what a day. I just woke up from my morning nap. As you can tell I am not really motivated too much on this Saturday morning. It’s a cold day but I hear it should be 58° later today … LOL, right. It’s 37° right now, a cool breeze hitting me in my face from the south. My nose is picking up a LOT of scent as I sit there.

I think it’s those cows I can barely see. I hear them at night sometimes.

Sadie is already stressed out this morning. The slave tossed out the nail clippers on the floor early this morning … WHY THEN? … I have NEVER seen her leave food in her bowl but she did … sprinted for the bedroom, hiding behind the side of the bed. By the time I figured out what was happening, Heidi was already at Sadie’s bowl with her head buried deep in kibble. Not really … there were only a few pieces of kibble left but Heidi made it out to be a big deal … “Look what I did”

It’s Saturday so the slave won’t do much more than watch ballgames. I think “my” game is on at 2:15pm, so I am hoping for lunch at 11am and our afternoon walk around 1pm. BTW … I LOVE walking in the field with no retractable leash hooked to my collar. I’m not making any promises though on that “no leash” policy … if I see any deer in that field or down in that gully … I’ll BE GONE!!!

Then we will find out who can run and who can’t … any bets??  LOL

Sadie …

Can’t believe what a day I’m having and it’s only started. As you can see I don’t even want to go into the yard or field I am so mad. The slave tossed out the nail clippers onto the floor while we were eating this morning around 6:30am. Besides making me mad because he is cutting quantity of kibble in my bowl … he wanted to ‘torment’ me while I am eating?????  Really???

He could have waited, after all it only takes me 45 seconds to engulf 2 measured cups of kibble. FORTY FIVE SECONDS!!!! Hello … nail clippers????

I didn’t hesitate … heard them hit the carpet and I was GONE….sprinted from my dog food bowl next to the slave’s computer desk toward the bedroom. I HAD to JUMP over those clippers to get by them. I slid into my normal hiding place as I ran by the corner of the bed … laying on the floor as low as I could get, keeping as quiet as possible, between the side of the bed and the wall. He will never get me to move. I’ll play “dead weight” if he shows up.

So today should be exciting. I did let him cut my nails last week … why do it every week?? The slave says a little bit per week to get them back to being puppy short. He cannot bribe me today unless he pulls out those skinless chicken thighs he cooked last night … our treats are gone because I saw him flatten the box and throw it into the recycling bin. Sooooooo chicken it will be. I will put up a fight though, when it comes to cutting my nails.

I got a lot of emails last week asking where my blog was. Readers liked the red/green design. They liked hearing my point of view on things. It’s not going to happen though … it’s gone, not saved and not going to resurrect itself. I’ll miss it for sure. I loved blogging. I had big big big plans for my blog …. and now I am stuck blogging under the slave’s rules, no control of what is being said or what photos will be used.

Is there a union for bloodhounds?

It's Too Much "Work" For Retirement

It’s not really surprising, at least not for me. It was something I questioned in the back of my mind during the time of writing down ideas and putting some of them into action. Did I really want to do this?

Multiple blogs, different accounts feeding into those blogs to generate new traffic. Spending time on the internet on other blogs, making comments to increase visibility of the hound blogs. Did I really want to make a commitment to do this?

Based on working full-time online from 2005 – 2008 and then part time around a job from 2009 – 2011, I know how much effort it takes to build an online business and even more time to maintain it. It is time consuming and hard work. It’s just not showing up on occasion to post on a blog or read those blogs of others.

Yes, I’m talking about the 3 different websites for the hounds – plus the plan to add Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus accounts for each of them. That is not what I want online. I do not want nor maintain that many online accounts. Less is better in my eyes.

I didn’t retire to work a different job, nor to work part-time. I retired to kick-back, do the least amount possible, downsize commitments and responsibilities — along with that, I was willing to live with a lot less income than I had been living on working. Some days in retirement means doing absolutely nothing and I am enjoying it!

Moab Area Hwy 128

So, there will be no Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus accounts for the hounds. I am not even sure if I’ll maintain their websites.

It was less than a year ago where I decided to take a break from blogging not really sure I was even coming back to blog. I did and I am glad I did. That is, working only 1 blog, not 4 plus my personal private journal. Last February I deleted my Google Plus account. I shut off my Facebook account and spent less time away from the computer. It felt fantastic.

How would that work with 4 different websites and all those other accounts?

Rifle Gap SP, Colorado

So it WAS something I kept thinking about while spending the past week building the sites, moving them etc. Was it something I really wanted to do, knowing it required a large commitment. All that was good and fun to do, even with the frustrations. Why? Because I was able to complete the job even with the frustrations. It was also something I needed for my frame of mind at that time. Too much dwelling on things is never healthy.

Now for all those readers that love reading about the hounds from their point of view … that will still take place. Those views will be posted on this blog, not every post but just as much as was being said on their own sites.

That is something I will think about. I’m sure some are asking if you can write their points of view here, then why not over their on their sites? That’s a good question. Is it worth $125 per year for hosting cost and domains. Okay…so I could move their blogs back to the free side of WordPress.

That’s the thing though … I don’t want to post on 4 different blogs/websites. I want to come to one blog and cover all of their and my activities.

The purpose of this blog remains the same as it did when I started the blog in October 2011. I wanted to document what I found out in my RV research, and any travels we did. That gradually turn into the direction of blogging about life here in the ‘tropics’. Then it was less RV talk and more photos and posting about the hounds or whatever projects I had to do around home.

That’s the way this blog will continue.

I cannot make the commitment to run a whole dog life online. I still want our lives to be less online and more in real time. As the weather gets warmer, as in the past, I will be spending less time on the computer as will the hounds. There will be more photography with better weather but that still means less computer time and more ‘living’ time.

We still have plans to travel this spring and/or summer. We still have plans to blog about what we do (even at home) and where we go … we just don’ have plans of waking up everyday with a job to do.

Retirement in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana means not working !!

Now What??

Basically the websites of the 3 hounds are up and running. There are a few more things to add to the sidebars but basically the majority of the work is finished. The feeling an ‘ex workaholic” gets when working non-stop is gone.

So, now what?  What’s next?

When I shut down my computer last night I was reminded of the time last June while sitting at the picnic table on a beautiful Colorado day, at Rifle Gap SP, thinking to myself “now what?”

Both seemed to be very similar in feeling but so much different in the task. One was building websites with most of the hard work furnished, so there wasn’t major building involved. It’s not like I was writing code, which I don’t know how to do. Yet, there is a lot of work to get the website/blog designed and working correctly … times 3 or 4 if you count mine.

Whereas in traveling, there was the planning, the packing, getting the hounds situated to travel, non-stop driving, setting up the campsite and then sitting back with a feeling “that’s all finished … now what do I do?”

Weird comparison isn’t it?

Not much was planned for today except watching some college basketball before the two NFL Playoff games play back to back (almost 7 solid hours of football). Not only am I out of high-speed data, using my 1gig yesterday for $10 … but I am also out of food and no motivation to go shopping. The life of being a single sports/computer addict.

Not much of a post today … I guess I need to look through the old photos I have on file and post some here. This blog is more about photos than just plain commentary.

On a side note … traffic reports show that 50% of my blog traffic has deserted me and has moved over to the websites of Stella, Sadie and Heidi, now following the hounds … so much for thinking you and your content were the reason people were coming back to read your blog … lol

It’s was a cold but beautiful sunny day in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana today.