Another Day of Rain

The farmer knew the weather that was coming when he got his field planted yesterday. It was just in time for the light rain that started last night and never stopped. I was also glad to get the yard mowed on Sunday, in between rains.




It was a slow day here in 'the tropics' with a light rain most of the day. It's these kind of days where the hounds hibernate and there isn't much to blog about.

Heidi hibernates, Sadie sleeps and Stella is back to chewing her Nylabone that had been missing. I noticed the other day that Sadie was storing all the balls and bones between the wall and her dog bed. When I pulled her bed up there were 5 more bones hidden under the center of her bed.

Stella was happy to get her nylabone back. She grabbed it and took off running to her spot on the floor to start her chewing exercise. Sadie at times falls into those "bloodhound property laws" that are listed on the sidebar named "Too Many Topics" ... all the water, all the bones and all the balls are hers.

Not much went on today. I did a lot of reading about Heidi's skin, hyperthyroidism as a possibility for her weight loss last year, and the normal sports news. Heidi had come to a point of needing a bath so we took care of that this afternoon. I noticed a lot of her skin was dried out, a little rough ... so I am not sure if that is the skin infected with yeast being killed or her response to water/vinegar.

Every time we went outside today, there was a light rain ... so the bloodhounds didn't do much more than the photo shows.

Warmer temps and sunshine are in the forecast for 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Are Low Energy This Morning

My trip to Bloomington to buy dog food yesterday turned out to be a longer trip than I planned. I have only one more bag to buy of the Fromm Reduced Activity And Senior before I get a free 33# bag. It's really good food and I can tell a big difference in the coats of the hounds, less shedding, shines and is softer. My vet told me years ago that if the coat was good that meant the ingredients were being used all the way through their system.

In February the vet mentioned two different sources of protein or blends for Heidi's skin issues ... Duck and sweet potato or as a 2nd choice Venison. Since then I have tried different foods that you have read about, with those two proteins. The problem was most of the dog food companies did not have just Duck or Duck Meal with sweet potatoes ... they always added lamb or chicken to the mix.

I am trying to decide if chicken or lamb may be the cause of her allergies. So after "further review" I decided to bite the bullet and spend more for dog food than I told myself I would ever do and bought Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato blend. It's NOT no grain food like I have been giving her with the Earthborn foods, but it's only Duck and Duck Meal as the main protein source. I am hoping the additional carbs from the barley and rice will help her gain weight.

Of course I couldn't just stop at dog food. Since Stella and Sadie had destroyed their Nylabone, I bought another large Nylabone Dura Chew, not noticing on the label "Allergen-Free Peanut Butter flavor. I only bought one and not two bones because based on my experience if I would have bought two bones, Sadie would have wanted both of them. Or both of them would have wanted the same bone.

So far that was a successful trip. Just down the street is my friends car lot so I thought I'd stop in to visit and see how his beagle/bulldog mixed pup was doing. I mentioned that dog in my August visit for dental work. The dog was bulldog size and played the whole time I was there ... which turned out to be almost 4 hours. I'm not sure who talks more, me or Jason. We are both storytellers.

The amazing thing, I was there 4 hours and didn't trade cars/trucks. I did walk around his lot looking at the cars/trucks he had available. He didn't try to sell me but what was surprising I had no feelings of trading either my FJ or Mini Cooper S for anything on the lot ... although he has a nice selection and some nice cars/trucks. In the the past I would have made a trade right then and there. I have bought a lot of cars from him over the years.

I knew traffic would be heavy for a Friday afternoon, heading home. What I didn't expect was backed up traffic due to an accident on the highway about 8 miles from home. Luckily I was able to pass a line of cars and take the first left down a country road which ended up being a back way home.

It was the longest I had ever left Stella alone with the other dogs so I kinda expected the worse but knew there was nothing important that she could destroy if she did have any separation anxiety while I was gone for so long.

She passed with flying colors ... no damage of any kind ... she probably enjoys being with the other hounds and not kenneled alone.

We headed out this morning with camera and coffee in hand. Beautiful day but all of the hounds were low energy. Of course since it's not noon yet, Heidi didn't get off her old leather couch.

The other three hounds didn't do much but sniff the area, stand and stare and then headed back inside. Instead of their "treat" I gave them 1/2 portion of their dog food. They scarfed it down within seconds. It wasn't two hours later that Stella is laying her nose on my arm at my computer desk whining. Once again when I told her it was not time to "eat", she started howling ... lol.

I did not give in this time. Yet while I write this, Sadie is standing at the door of the computer room giving me her usual look that it's time to eat. Their next food supplement will be later this afternoon. It might take them awhile to get use to the new feeding twice per day. It's proof they would eat non-stop if I would leave their dog food out.

From my football tv schedule, which I print out and then highlight the games of interest, there are three games I want to watch are not starting until 10:30pm local time. That is a normal time for west coast games but three games at the same time is not normal for that time slot. It looks like the remote control will get a workout tonight.

The hounds will still get their daily walk in later this afternoon.

Here are a couple photos from Friday night's sunset. The fall nights really light up when the sun sets.

Thanks for the feedback on how often you feed your dogs and the frequency of my blog posts.