Front Yard Leaves Raked For Last Time

The hounds were not real active earlier today but Heidi decided to come outside on two separate occasions so the weather must have been pretty nice for that to happen. I guess staying up past midnight  or (1am time last week), to finish watching a great World Series game, made them tired this morning. They let me sleep this morning and did not wake me up at 6:30am to go out.



Sadie and Stella didn't have that some amount of energy they had this past weekend. No playing today.

Winston didn't have much motivation but did find a nice spot in the sun. About the time he was asleep Stella decided to walk over and on him, woke him up of coarse ... she steps on my feet all the time when she walks by. After that Winston was ready to head inside.

Like I said earlier it must have been nice weather because Heidi came outside twice and stayed outside while the other hounds did.

By 3pm today I was totally exhausted. Amazing how much of a workout raking leaves for a few hours can be once you are older. When it came time to burn the first pile of leaves, I couldn't find the box of "green" matches. They were not in the normal place inside a drawer. I checked the yard, outdoor chair, FJ bumper, side of the steps ... everywhere ... couldn't find them.

I drove down to the local hardware store and picked up another box of matches and started burning a couple of small piles of leaves. While raking the north side yard what do I find laying by the fence??? My box of matches from last week. They survived the heavy dew every day, a little rain but lit up the first time I struck them along the side of the box. So now I have enough matches, based on my past usage ... for about ten years.

Since I was working in the front yard and some time by the highway, I put all the hounds in their room with the door shut so they could hopefully sleep while I raked. I did hear that new bloodhound howl that is becoming more active as days go by ... Stella has a great howl. I'll try to post a recording of it on this blog in the next few days.

They all came out for the afternoon while I burned the big pile of leaves on the burn pile that included tree limbs and my 4' pile of weeds that I pulled a few months ago. Flames were about 15' high, it was my kind of fire. I was so tired that all I could do was sit in a chair drinking ice water, watching the fire with my water hose next to me in case the fire got out of hand and headed for the woods or the neighbors yard. Nothing spread.

The plan for tomorrow is to rake the back yard for the last time this fall. The bloodhounds will help manage the job of me raking since they don't wander off like the basset hounds do. So Heidi and Winston will stay inside and sleep tomorrow while Stella, Sadie and I rake ... I'll try to get some action shots of that happening.

For November 2nd it was pretty nice in the tropics today. Looking through photos from last November, there was a light snow on November 17 ... so we will see what happens this month.

The Hounds Are On Strike

Stella and Winston sharing the couch

I'm not sure what the problem is but these past couple of days all of the hounds have been very low energy. When they go outside they sit, they search but there hasn't been the sprinting around the field and playing.

Stella and Sadie will play a little inside but it's the type of play that is quiet wrestling. The interesting thing is each time I try to take photos of them inside, they stop playing. The next interesting thing is, inside Stella will be the one on the ground with Sadie standing over her ... outside it's just the opposite.



One thing that Stella has taught Sadie is to take time to relax. Before Stella showed up August 30, Sadie would rarely if at all, just lay in the yard and enjoy the sunshine.

After letting the hounds outside Stella would just sit sniffing at the air but soon after lay down and sleep. Sadie and Winston would do their search and destroy mission in the field ... their way of destroying what they find is to eat it. I've given up trying to get them to stop, it's almost impossible with two stubborn hounds.

Stella has no interest in following along with them eating gross stuff so she would stare and watch them. She has more important things to do ... like a short afternoon nap in the breeze of a fall afternoon.

I may have spoke too soon on Heidi's skin stabilizing with the change back to a chicken and rice formula. Late Thursday night (after a week) her legs had been chewed on, some to the point of raw skin. The front paw that was full of hair, now had a hot spot from chewing. A lot of redness on her stomach, chest and neck.

Friday morning when she woke up, most of that was not red and looked like it had calmed a bit. By Friday night she was bright red on her legs, stomach, chest and neck. So we have gone back to the Earthborn Grain Free Meadow Feast blend.

These were taken around 12:30pm on Friday. The redness was much brighter later that night. The left front paw was almost full of hair before she started chewing and licking it, after the dog food switch from no grain.

Yes .. that is an extra toe nail growing on top

I still think we are getting close though where those light spots having hair fully grown back in these next few months. I believe the probiotic supplement is making a difference. It has not been 5 weeks yet, the recommended time before any changes would be noticed. I also see and feel a little more weight coming back.

It took longer than last year but the leaves finally brightened up a little. It was almost an overnight thing. Still not as bright as last year.

From the looks of things this morning, I could be raking a lot of leaves within the next couple of days here in "the tropics".

The Hounds Were Sunbathing Today

I was able to get the lawn mowed before noon on Wednesday. I probably mulched more leaves with the mower than cut grass, but at least all the grass is the same length now. It was such a nice day I grabbed a book and told the hounds we were  heading outside. They had just finished their meal and it didn't take them long to find the sunshine, find their spot and start napping.

Except the one that has the nose that works all the time ... so Sadie searched and searched and ate stuff. Heidi came out just long enough to dump her tanks and SPRINTED back to the door to go inside. For some reason she was not staying outside today ... so no photos of her. But she did lay in the sun that came through the living room windows and slept there in the sun all afternoon.

Sadie always looks up to see if I am watching her ... then will ignore my look and will start eating some of the grossest stuff the field has to offer. I've stopped trying to get her to stop and have decided she is a hound and some hounds eat anything they find and have for generations. Hopefully the other hounds will not pick up her habit.

Sadie eventually came back to the yard and actually laid down but it wasn't long before she was back up with her nose to the ground. It was some great weather. I read a lot, Stella and Winston slept a lot. I pictured sitting like this at a camp site and had no doubt the hounds would be doing the same thing as they were now, but would be trading green grass for sand or dirt to lay in. I think Stella will be a pretty good camper.

They woke up when I yelled Sadie's name

Maybe some readers can give me some ideas on what Sadie is doing. What started to be an occasional thing has now turned into an obsession with her. While she was laying down in the yard today she was chewing and pulling mouthfuls of green grass out of the yard and eating it, roots, dirt and all. Once the grass was gone then she would eat the dirt while digging a small hole with her teeth. At times to get the grass out, she was working so hard to get her back teeth at the right angle, almost like chewing on a bone.

I know when dogs go into a field and chew tall green grass some say its because they just like to eat grass, some say it's to help with their indigestion ... but in this case she and Winston are eating the dirt that is pushed up from the ground by the yard moles.

Bizarre behavior to me.

At least when I yelled her name when we were going inside, she did came running instead of ignoring me ... then headed straight to her water bowl ... lol

It was a beautiful day in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.