Hounds Smell Yard Moles

The routine right after they have lunch never changes. All three hounds check out the yard without going into the field wanting to take off for a walk. With the recent heat wave here in the Midwest, the moles in the backyard have been very active. Here you can see the hounds smell them but luckily do not try to dig them up. Their noses tell them the moles are there.

Tornadoes Were Way North Of Us

When I mentioned yesterday there was some tornado type winds NE of Indianapolis just like last week ... I was unaware what was either taking place or about to take place 68 miles due north of Indianapolis.

I was sitting outside in the sunshine while the hounds either laid down or Sadie slowly exploring the backyard ... during that time. As I stepped inside my house my cell phone was going off with emergency warning texts. There was a warning for the area 25 miles west of me ... still, I did not know what had taken place in Kokomo, IN.

All of that was approximately 135 miles north of me, it was all sunshine where the hounds and I were at. This morning Sadie was sure she had located a yard mole ... lucky for me she is not the type that will dig up the yard trying to catch them.

Stella is in her slow mode today ... she is my mobile thermometer.

The heat wave has returned just as it should for this time of year. I knew last week had to be a tease with temps in the 70's and no humidity to speak off. So when I opened the door to let the hounds outside it was an instant notification that summer was back here in 'the tropics'.

It was almost 1pm with the sun moving in and out of the clouds where we thought it might be a good time to get in a hound walk. While I was inside putting on my shoes, Stella was heading north and totally out of sight. I could not even see her after I started the walk and was on higher ground.

This photo is looking due north of my location and the start of the walking path.

Stella finally came running out of nowhere to catch Sadie and I, we were almost at the first turn of the walk. I could tell that Stella was going to operate on 'her' schedule and not mine today.

There she is pretty far behind us, in her favorite part of the field. I didn't call her name ... just kept walking. She would have ignored me anyway if I had called her name.

She did glance up at us and started trotting toward us taking a short cut across the field.

While making the return path home, I was lucky. I just happened to turn around to see where she was ... she was headed north and hopefully escape to the land of nowhere before I could catch her. I called her name and she came toward us without hesitating. I think she knew she had been caught trying to escape.

She wanted to show me things were normal and that it was just my imagination that she was on her own schedule today. She decided to run along the side of Sadie like she had done nothing wrong.

Although it was not the unbearable type of heat, it was uncomfortable. What a nice way to end the walk but to open the door to a rush of ice cold air from the air conditioned house ... the inside temp said it was only 76°.

We didn't move the rest of the afternoon.

I'm not sure why I keep this blog as it gets little to zero traffic. It does give me a sport to list a few photos and very little written content ... just like I planned it. That lack of content may be the big reason the Google Bots have not picked it up to be found on their search engines and therefore resulting in zero traffic. A lot of the photos are also the same ones you will see that same day on this blog.

It was pretty calm today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Survived The Labor Day Weekend

Their pace was pretty fast and furious for the Labor Day Holiday with food, a lot of college football on the tv and temperatures hot enough outside that justified hours of sleeping in the cool inside.

They didn't do much different than their normal days which included numerous trips outside then back inside to enjoy the AC. We did do the daily walk every day after 7pm. They slept their normal amounts of time, which is a lot. In fact all 4 hounds are sleeping as I write this in the middle of the day.

Heidi went out this morning just long enough to pee and then sprinted back inside the house as I was walking in to get the camera. The other three hounds did their daily sniffing expedition and Stella passed a very big test being off the tethered rope.

The previous owner said that she use to follow her riding mower as she mowed the yard. The sound of my mower last week when Stella opened the door on her own and came out to meet me mowing, was probably because of that reason. Well today it wasn't me mowing, but my neighbor that is north of me. He is across a field but the sound of his riding mower was loud enough that she heard it.

So when she was way out in the field taking care of her business, she starting to meander in a northern direction. I called her by her new name and she turned to come towards me. Not only was it good that she came in my direction but she once again answered to her new name which is only a week old.

She hears her name in this first photo. It's her choice to go to the neighbors or back to her yard. It was her slow pace but she did make it back to the yard.

With Heidi back inside enjoying the dirty blankets that will be washed today, Winston was trying out his latest hobby of eating the fresh fine grade dirt that is pushed up through the ground by the moles. I cannot tell you what he enjoys in eating that dirt but he likes it. I hope this new habit of his is short term.

Sadie is staring to like Stella more and more since she sees that Stella has no intentions of becoming "leader of the pack". (On a side note I know it's proper English to put that period inside the quotation mark but to me it's never looked right that way ... so I follow my own rule).

Sadie is starting to spend more time sleeping next to Stella or at least with 3' of her. There has been no issues of eating dog food in the same room. All three hounds eat their food much faster than Stella does and I've had to stand in front of her to keep the other hounds away from her food dish until Stella finishes. They seem to REALLY like the Fromm Less Active blend with Duck as the #1 ingredient. Heidi started her new bag of Earthborn Holistic food today, moving from Bison Meal to Lamb Meal as the #1 ingredient.

I also made a short trip to town last night and left her in the bedroom with the other three hounds .. she did okay again, no signs of damage to the walls, back of the door or window sills. That might sound weird but from photos on the Bloodhound Owners group on Facebook, all of that damage plus more is photographed. Most likely caused by the hound's separation anxiety.

I am sure having the other hounds with her in the same room play a huge factor in Stella's success when I am away. I am also willing for her to have a bad day occasionally and understand it's always possible.

I think this last photo of the morning shows that she is a pretty happy bloodhound and Sadie is no longer upset with the new hound in the family.

This is suppose to be the last day for a while where the temps here will be in the low 90's. Someway tomorrow it will have a high in the 70's. I hope we have seen the last of the 90's until next July sometime.

You never know what the change in weather might bring here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.