The Hounds Were Active This Morning

Weather Underground is telling me we have only two more days of highs in the 70's. By Tuesday we will be back in the 50's and 60's and the toughest decisions of the day will be whether to keep wearing shorts or change to jeans. As you can see, we have some new truck tire prints on the path this morning ... visitors last night were all over the field in a pickup truck and a speeding ATV.

It looked like someone was either getting driving lessons in the truck or the chance to drive without a license ... which is normal around here in a farming community. With that traffic stirring up all kinds of scents ... Sadie and Stella had a "field day" this morning.

All that beautiful sunshine yesterday was hiding behind some clouds this morning. It felt like rain could be on the way, but that is not scheduled until Sunday night. This year has not been a good year in my location at least, for weather forecast accuracy. We will see what happens with clear gutters and a lawn that is mowed.

The air had a slight touch of smoke this morning. I am not the only one burning stuff around here and the campfire last night, next door, lasted well past midnight so that fall smell of smoke is a common occurrence. With Stella showing some energy early this morning and Sadie doing her normal darting from one scent to another I could tell they were going to be pretty busy on the walk. I kept my eye out for deer just in case.

When they suddenly stopped their jog at the first time, almost in unison, I knew something was up ... they were serious this morning and were definitely going to catch anything they could find that had been trespassing. They 'think' they own this field just like the Bloodhound Laws state at the top of this blog. Yet it is owned by a neighbor that doesn't care what we do in the field except catching it on fire like he did years ago.

The hounds went from noses to the ground to an all out sprint to the middle of the field, including Stella. I saw no signs of deer anywhere but I thought they both were headed for the woods to the north and had 'seen' something I had not. I wasn't running yet and hoped I didn't have to. After my productive day yesterday there are a few unknown muscles feeling it today ... like soreness.

Could it be that one of the new truck tire tracks is what stopped them? That doesn't seem right by the way the took off sprinting. They are not really rabbit hunters like Heidi is so that couldn't have been the reason. Whatever it was they both stopped as fast as they started their sprint. My 200mm lens could barely pick them up ... being a long way off I was happy to see them stop when they did

I yelled loudly "hey, over here" ... Sadie came sprinting to me as always ... Stella need more time to identify what they had found.

She decided she had enough and wanted to get back to Sadie and I ... without calling her ... here she came, running faster than she had in many months.

They both didn't hesitate in getting back on the task at hand ... search, and identify.

Am I correct thinking that these are a small saplings of some kind? All future trees in the field and so close together. This patch was right behind the hounds in the picture above.

Sadie led the way ... Stella followed.

This is one of her favorite spots to stop and scratch ... if the rolls of hay were there, she would be just in front of them or up by our final turn home.

Since the back part of the field had been checked out, they both ran in the direction of the house again leaving me way behind. It's good that they can run off leash, something that many bloodhound owners have told me they would never do, no matter how big a field was.

Luckily the alternate path home puts me pretty close to Stella on the right side of the picture.

What I wouldn't give to find out what these two are thinking when they stop like this.

The bright colored leaves are few this year but right next to the yard.

In early September my burn pile looked like this. A lot of those green weeds had died this past month. The taller ragweed on the left side out of the view of the photo has really died off. Ill not burn them but will do what I did last year ... cut them down with the mower. Jim was happy to have it cut but it gives Sadie a clear path into the woods. She liked doing that last winter.

While taking the hounds out for their last trip of the night last night around 10:30pm I noticed one small ember in the pile of ashes. I walked over to check to see if anything else could spread while I slept.

So yesterday with some matches and help from a rake, that burn pile went from the picture above to the one below. Over the winter a new pile will start with fallen tree limbs from the high winds and the winter storms we get. There have been some years the burn pile has grown big enough by March or April that I have to burn again.

I doubt that I will have another blog post tonight. I start my weekly football marathon at noon and will finally turn off the tv and the lights around 2:30am, after the last west coast game is finished. The hounds will still get their 2 meals, 2-3 walks, same amounts of sleep in their normal places while I watch the games.

I am glad that Tom recommended the GarminVivoSmart watch last May. It is accurate and provides a lot of information ... at times too much info. It vibrates telling me to "move" if I have been at the computer too long or on the couch watching games. It can sort out my deep sleep from light sleep plus show me the times I get up during the night if I do. It will even tell me who is calling or sending me a text ... by name. If I forget to stop the timer after our walks, it will stop it for me later, then I can go into their app and edit the time and distance for that walk.

I bought it mostly for tracking my resting and active heart rate.

Not much else is going on this morning. It's cool with the windows open. Stella has spent the last hour licking her paws and legs dry ... she cannot stand leaving them wet after we do our morning walk. Sadie always lays by her water bowl protecting it as she sleeps until lunch is served. Heidi has not moved since breakfast, as usual.

Oh, I almost forgot ... I've added a few new blogs to the blog sidebar on the right. One has a basset hound where the title of her latest post was "Basset Hibernation" so Heidi is not the only basset that knows what time of year it was. I am slowly getting back to the 50 or more blogs I listed over the years here. It is the easiest way to see new posts by bloggers I follow but also gives blog readers a chance to read other blogs. I like the side bar more than I like them listed in my Feedly account.

The "labels" were changes yesterday to around 90 topics now in a list format instead of a cloud format. The times I have tested the search box in the upper right doesn't give me the accurate results as the Labels list does. Right after I post this I am changing the title from 'labels' to 'topics'.

I admit after almost two weeks (tomorrow) of blogging again, it's nice to be back blogging and taking photos.

It sure sounds quiet today, almost too quiet for a Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Voting Was Unanimous 3-0

Not only did Stella cast her vote but so did Sadie and Heidi ... although there was no eating of dirt prior to voting for them. Soon after lunch all three hounds hung out around the FJ discussing how then were going to tell me that 'they' run this blog, that I am only the typist and photographer. It kind of reminded me of my working days were people hung out in the coffee lounge discussing various things.

Instead of writing out a long detailed description of what went on during our board meeting, I'll just say here was the final decision, unanimously voting 3-0, where I was not allowed to place a vote nor voice my opinion. I was only there to take notes and then later have those meeting notes approved by Stella before posting. She insisted her photo be the 'feature' of the blog.

The discussion was short and sweet -- nothing changes from what has taken place the past 6 years. We will continue to ramble, rant a little at times, keep away from current events in the world and USA, keep away from religion and political discussion nor turn the blog into "talk radio". Cussing will be at a minimum if any at all. Posts will be published when we feel like it as well as composing the post. Photos of the hounds will be taken from all angles and all sides ... chances are the hounds will not wait for me to get in front of them just to take pictures from the front.

They tried it a couple of years ago but found it was too much work, therefore at no time in the future will each hound have their own blog and written from their point of view. GoPro cameras are under consideration but will be discussed in their next meeting ... currently all the hounds want their own cameras and mounted all at the same time ... "one for all or all for none" ??? is that how that goes?

After all, all three of them get dog treats, pieces of pizza crust and sometimes plain pancakes or waffles at the same time ... not just one of them. So the same thing goes with the camera ... until they can come to their senses and see the logic of only buying one GoPro and sharing it ... just like blankets, bones and chew toys.

Earlier with the power out while they took down the older electrical system lines that crossed the highway ... I sat at the kitchen table playing one Mahjong game after another, with the Nikon D3200 sitting right next to me.

Sadie was very interested in the stopped traffic on the highway has they removed the older power lines from high across the highway. She has never chased a car but she was sitting at 'attention' looking out the door window and her nostrils moving in an attempt to see who was out there.

After the utility company trucks left and I knew their job was finished, it was a perfect time for their afternoon walk. Much better lighting for picture taking this time of day compared to the morning pictures.

I could tell by the way they took off running they were headed for the 'far right corner' ... the scent of deer must have been strong.

The hounds did not know that high above them, on the tower for high powered cables, sat a hawk. As we got closer to making the final turn home, the hawk flew away into the north woods.

I don't know how it's possible but Stella did it ... while running and having her tongue stick out and fold sideways. You will need to click the photo for a closer look.

Later this afternoon I let Sadie roam the field on her own without a leash. I put Stella on the 80' tether to keep her somewhat near the house. It was such a nice day I didn't see any reason to keep them inside if they wanted to go outside.

I was at my computer when I heard a sound what I thought was coming from a hawk. I immediately ran outside thinking a hawk might be doing "fly byes" over Stella or Sadie. All I saw was a deer about 30' from the yard, turning and sprinting away while Stella sat in the yard staring in the deer's direction. With Sadie out in the field with no leash I was sure I was going to have to hunt for Sadie ... so I grabbed the retractable leash for Stella and my binoculars.

By the time I had transferred Stella from the tether to the leash and picked up my binoculars off the ground ... Sadie was sprinting to me from the north edge of the field, panting, out of breath ... the deer chase must have been a short one. You could tell by the look on her face she had some fun chasing that deer out of 'her' field.

It looks like a week of great weather here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Day On Hold Due To Storms

Waking up to thunder, lightning and rain it was still hard to have Sadie understand that the morning walk is cancelled and most likely the afternoon walk as well. She made a gallant effort to change my mind but soon after her short trip out in the rain to pee after her lunch, she came inside and jumped up into the large leather chair with the ottoman ... her normal sleeping spot during the day.

Stella also migrated outside during the light rain but went very slowly and very close to the house ... Heidi??? ... she never moved off the couch and only looked straight ahead when I told her after their lunch it was time to go outside. Basset Hounds are stubborn but I've found out not nearly as much as a Bloodhound.

With a day of rain and the urge to blog I thought I'd post photos I took of the hounds from September 11 till the end of the month and post them below, so you could see we were still active when we were not blogging. It seemed longer than that since I deleted the blog but from my personal private blog that includes all of the Wordpress posts, this blogs posts and other info I write about ... it showed it was September 11 when I deleted both public blogs.

I'll admit if feels good to be back posting photos for other people to see. I've heard back from a lot of the regular readers and a few by email. I guess blogging to some is a real part of their life, writers or otherwise. There is a fine line between being addicted to blogs and reading/writing them for a recorded journal, something to look back on in the future when the memory might end up a little fuzzy.

I think I have this blog now back to where it was. Luckily I did two three things before deleting the Wordpress blog and this blog. I imported all 131 posts from the Wordpress blog into my "master copy". It took a while because I had to reload every photo because Wordpress and Blogger did not work well together on that importing process due to two different platforms.

Second, I went into my Blogger dashboard for this blog and wrote down all the html settings to be used later. At the time I was thinking of only using those settings to change the template of my private journal blog ... but after looking at it, I kept the private master copy the same colors this old blog was in the first 4 years.

I also exported a backup from Blogger to my computer, so I had all the posts, and comments to import into my private master copy. Since it was a Blogger backup, it worked smooth to add over a 1,000 posts with photos and comments in the same date sequence on my master copy.

Some may have caught the short template change last night while I was watching my 3rd of 4 baseball games. It didn't last long and when the game went to commercials between innings I jumped on my iMac and changed the blog template back to this one. It will stay this way even if I have new options for templates in a more current design.

It will be a slow night tonight for us 'sports addicts' ... only one baseball game on, no football games tonight unless one of the sports channels are showing Saturday games again on tape. Yes, they do that and at times depending who is playing I will sit and watch those games. Only a 'sports junkie' would understand.

With the rain and wet highways, taking the Z4 to the body shop for the estimate is put on hold. I've been caught in an unexpected rain before driving the Z4 but 99.9% of the time, the tires don't hit the pavement if it's raining or snowing ... and maybe if it's overcast with a chance of rain.

Those little buds (spurs) you see are irritating as ever .. they stick to the hair of the hounds and to my jeans or shorts depending how close we get to them. If they don't cut the field before winter, these will turn dead brown and still stick to the hounds and I as we walk through the field this winter. Lets hope they cut the field one more time before winter.

I was going to write a separate post about the new Apple operating system updates but I'll just write a few short things about them. Last summer since I am a gambler, I volunteered for their Apple 'beta' program ... which lets me download their new macOS in the 'beta' form which may cause problems to my computer. After a week I felt confident enough to download that to my laptop also.

As far as the iPhone and iPad ... I did not try their 'beta' program. I waited for the finished product.

A week apart in September (17?) everyone that has Apple computers, phones or tablets were able to download the new macOS High Sierra and the iOS 11.

I don't use hardly any of the features that are new mainly because I don't have unlimited data on my phone or computer. Yet I found the generic changes and improvements to both systems to be fantastic. There are a lot more ways to edit photos on both the computer and phone. Pictures do look sharper on the iPhone compared to before the iOS 11 update.

Safari is faster as a browser with built in blocks for automatic video play plus those 3rd party advertisers tracking every step you make on the internet. They complained to Apple about being blocked but I like it.

As far as security I have always felt if the FBI has to ask Apple or force them to open computers, phones or tablets for their investigations, then the Apple security must be top notch.

That matters when you are trying to prevent someone hacking your phone or computer ... but may no longer matter to protect you from someone taking your social security number, name, address, cars, whatever .... The Government OPM, now Experian and Yahoo last year ... whatever private information I have online "locked" away by companies are now in the hands of the Chinese (Gov Breach), Russians etc.

I don't have the amount of money hackers are looking for. I don't have any yachts tied to the local pier nor do I have credit cards with tons of money available ... so I am probably pretty safe. Yet just in case I did do the processes to 'security freeze' my  accounts that are automatically downloaded at the three credit agencies ... Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.

The government was kind enough to give me 3 years of Identity Theft protection with them monitoring everything about me in case someone tries to steal my ID or start new loans in my name. As an added feature they track sex offenders telling me when they move into the area I live or the town I live. The number of those notifications are alarming, even in this small rural town out in the middle of 'Nowhere, USA".

Yahoo now owned by Verizon, told all of us last week that ALL their Yahoo accounts were hacked last year ... not just a million of us. I didn't do anything with Yahoo except one email address so I could set up and log into my Flickr photo account. One that I still consider the best online service to store unlimited number of photos, no matter the file size.

As far as Experian ... a true example of what happens when you don't do your Windows or Apple updates they send to you. They send those updates to you so you can install and  'patch' holes they have found in their operating systems or improvements and bug fixes ... but it's important to do them every time just so your computer, phone, and tablets are not exposed to hackers from the holes you don't know about and didn't 'patch' with that latest update.

No offense to English majors in college or alumni ... but there isn't a place for you in IT Security jobs ... like the IT CEO Experian hired and then fired after the breach. Somethings you can't understand why they happen no matter how hard you try. Experian situation is definitely a 'head scratcher'.

It just so happened I found a friend's computer a few weeks ago so far out of date with the updates I was shocked. He had me look at his computer for some 'things' that were going on ... once I saw the last time he updated his computer, those 'things' did not surprise me.

In his case if it were my computer I would have wiped the hard drive clean and reloaded all my files from a backup ... but he didn't have a backup of his computer. In Apple the "Time Machine" auto backup is a great thing to set up. Last May when I bought a new iMac after 7 years, "Time Machine" proved it works just as advertised. I loaded all of my old files and close to 65,000 photos.

I found out sometime Sunday morning what happens when you spend months trying to hide from friends and society. That process of disappearing also included deleting this blog, the wordpress blog, my facebook and twitter accounts. I am a loner by my own admission but when you start doing things to strengthen your description of 'hermit' ... it's never a good thing, especially retired and living alone.

What a rude awakening to hear the doorbell ring Sunday morning after getting to bed at 5:30am. The hounds and I rarely get visitors and never on Sunday morning after I watch 12-17 straight hours of college football. Yet, in a confused state waking up in bed ... it sure did sound like the doorbell. Who could that be ... on a Sunday???

So what did I see as I staggered half asleep from the bedroom to the door while Sadie and Stella were barking or howling being property protectors ??? Three old friends from college, over 43 years of friendship, standing at my door smiling .... wanting to know what was going on and if I was okay.

For the 2nd time since April (police that time), people were at my door to check to see if I still had a pulse due to my lack of communication with long time friends all the way back from my college days. They didn't fly into town just to check on me but once they found out how close I lived to their reunion they thought it was the perfect time to get some answers from the hermit himself. All three women are still boasting this morning of their 'technical expertise' in finding me.

The hounds were more than happy for the visitors and those thee women found out what the hounds that are 'blogging all-stars' worldwide, looked like and were introduced what I have mentioned over the years ....... bloodhound drool.

So things once again are good ... they feel better, I feel better. Yet I have to watch myself when my loner tendencies turn into total hermit-i-zation ... or modern technology will let anyone find me and ring the doorbell.

As amazing as modern technology is ... it is scary at times for what it can do.

I was very happy to see my old friends but to give you an idea ... technology wise ... all three of them lived out of state scattered over the USA, had never been to my house but had only my mailing address they use sending me an annual Christmas gift.

With just a iPhone GPS and my address they were at my door ... easy peasy.

I remember when the website Whitepages first came out I showed and explained to my dad the hazards of "this new internet stuff" in 1996. I walked him through how I could look up just his name and the town he lived in to get his phone number and street address, use google maps to get his location. He is will be 89 next month and has a Facebook account with close to 1,000 friends, ex students and ex players he talks to.

All that information was free 20 years ago but is now offered by Whitepages for a small monthly fee.

So basically the moral of the story is .... when Windows or Apple sends you those updates ... do them!!!

For solo travelers, solo retirees living in houses, condos or apartments ... keep in touch with your family and friends no matter how bad you may feel or no matter how much you want to disappear ... otherwise that 'doorbell' at your residence may ring.

I forgot until I added a few things to the blog this morning that when you 'delete' a blog permanently everything is erased ... including those "followers" that started when I made this blog in October 2011. As of today I have one follower showing, which is fine ... I'll keep that 'gadget' on the sidebar.

I have many tell me they follow by email, some bookmark the site, some use Feedly ... it's all good.

I had been thinking the previous week about rebuilding and restarting this blog. Maybe with the Experian breech of personal information was what started me thinking we are never totally secure from online activity. So why not blog for those that like seeing the hounds and those that like reading my gibberish?

Or was it a coincidence I worked and built the blog the afternoon after my old friends shocked me by their visit that morning and publishing my first post that night ... or ... maybe all of these things happened for a reason and all came together on the same day after getting in formation during the weeks prior.

Anyway ... the hounds are happy to be famous again, they love attention, and I am happy to be back sharing photos and writing about life in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It's still raining as I post this and all the hounds are in a deep state of sleep with Sadie snoring ... so much for the hound walks today.