Stella Supervises A Busy Friday

It was cold enough Thursday night after midnight that I had to shut the windows while we slept. The hounds don't like 47°. I left the small kitchen window open just for a little air flow. I forgot today was Friday but with cool temps predicted I had a couple of things on my list I wanted to get finished today. It went so smooth that I was finished by 1:30pm.

I guess this is a sign it's near October ??

I do much better with plants buying them after they have grown instead of trying to grow them.

Stella was ready to walk this morning. She woke from her sleep when she heard me about to leave and actually whined with excitement.

Snow boots were in order to keep my feet dry so my cargo shorts could get wet as we walked through the very wet grass. I actually had to break down and put on a sweatshirt for the walk.

Stella was into hunting for deer scat this morning ... but I stopped her from eating it each time she found it.

She follows the path most of the time.

And ... she has not taken off on me while off the leash.

The path is hard to see but she will follow it every walk we take. There are certain spots in the field that she has to go check out something but lately not too far off the path.

You can barely see the water droplets.

This is the exact spot that Heidi was sniffing yesterday. I forgot to post her photos here but I did post them on my Wordpress blog that's on this blog sidebar

I am not sure if it is a cat or a raccoon.

This was the first thing on the list this morning. It is just a small pile to move by hand. Next week I will have him dump a tractor bucket full right on the new pile I make today by the fence.

The picture does not really show the steepness of the erosion. Anyway that is the spot that I am going to put the rip rap rock. Why not use a wheelbarrow to move the stone?? I figured it would be about the same amount of time to move the rock by hand as it would to dig out the wheelbarrow that is in the very back of my small organized carport shed.

Stella assumed her supervisory position.

A good start.

She decided that she would follow me back and forth from the pile of rock to the fence. I didn't think she would last that long ....

And I was right ... a few minutes later she decided sleeping in the sun was the better option.

Asking if I am finished. She had things to do inside, like eat lunch, no matter that it was just a few minutes after 11am.

I started that rock job at 10:50am and finished at 11:12am.

The next thing on my list was washing windows. Not only the inside and outside of the regular windows but the two windows in each storm window. About an hour later when I was down to the last two bedroom windows, here comes Heidi heading for the door to be let outside. She walked across the yard to 'her' spot and soaked up some sunshine for a while.

Believe it or not that mailbox pole is NOT wobbly ... it is solid ... thanks to the great job of the Indiana Highway Dept 13 (joking) years ago when they had to move it further back after they widened the highway shoulder.

By 1:30 I was finished with my window 'washing' project and was enjoying the shade. At first I thought Stella might be exploring new ground in territory she is not allowed. I really don't want her in the front yard just in case there is a rabbit, a stray dog etc ... that she could chase and end up in the highway. All the years living here, Heidi has been the only hound allowed to be in the front yard.

Stella was only sniffing for the best place to take a short nap to catch that early afternoon sun in the western sky.

Once that mum blooms, it's going to be all crimson flowers.

Stella was eventually end up like this on the couch tonight while I watch the UCLA at Colorado football game. This photo was taken last night with my iPhone 8+ in low light. I did not edit any part of the photo.

Around 3:30pm I got some good news. An email from my TV ad on Craig's List and sold my Samsung 46" that was replaced a few months ago with the Sony 55". I added some new batteries for the remote and one HDMI cable to the package. I still had the owners manual in a drawer with all the other owner manuals. The buyer is getting a good deal and I am getting the TV out of the living room, while not being used.

I've rarely had any good luck with Craig's List.

A beautiful day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

LOL ... What An Idiot

I really amaze myself at times. After finding the mistake I made a couple of days in the spelling of rip-rap ... using riff raff ... makes me wonder what's going on "up there".

Meaning ... my mind. Are there small chunks of debris floating out of control throughout the thousands of brain cells? Did I really destroy that many brain cells in my younger days, when there was always a party somewhere? You have to admit that when you read those words "riff raff" you thought "what in the hell is he talking about ... the guy's crazy".  LOL

The difference in spelling of those two words is troubling. LOL ... and not one reader said "hey you might want to check your spelling" ... you most likely were not able to because you were laughing too hard ... I know I was this morning. The hounds thought I had finally gone crazy by my constant laughing. Stella came running over to me thinking I had hurt myself.

If I had not replied this morning to Greg's comment from a couple of posts ago I would not have seen my error. He spelled rip-rap correctly but even when I read his comment a couple of days ago I didn't notice the correct spelling.

Add in the fact that when I wrote the post, Blogger was highlighting "riff raff" in bright yellow signifying that I had spelled it wrong ... then putting the red dots under the misspelled word after I clicked "ignore" on the yellow highlight.

Or ... you can check any word for correct spelling and the definition now, just by typing that word into the address bar of Google Chrome using Google as  your default search engine. How easy is that? .... What was I thinking??  LOL

Friday seems to be the day for the sky to be full of contrails. There were not as many this morning as previous Friday's but there are more than any other day of the week.

By working outside during the great weather I am ready to head to bed way before midnight instead of my normal 2am. That means not only I but the hounds wake up earlier and we have gained a couple of hours of activity during daylight these past couple of mornings.

We started our first walk of the day about two hours earlier than normal .. you might notice that Stella needed some "supervision" this morning. I wasn't in the mood to be ignored so early in the day.  LOL

I don't leave the leash on very long and once I take it off she still continues to walk slow giving me a look that I have really hurt her. Yet there are some days she is more stubborn than normal. It's during the times when she hears her name called and me saying "come on", then turning and going the opposite direction .... that I pull the leash out of my pocket, backtrack to her and connect her.

Sadie in the meantime is Sadie ... nose to the ground, tail up and curled ... with things to do and places to go. She loves these walks in the field and never gets enough of them.

I let Stella go on her own path after I unhooked her. I don't mind that as long as she eventually turns and heads our direction. Now if she would have ran into those woods, like she never does, then it would have been time to pull the leash out again.

Of course the distance between me and her gives her plenty of chances for her to change her mind. Her nose will pick up a scent and distract her, thus she changes directions.

Example --- heading toward Sadie and I ... "but I think I smell something over there".

 Then she turns back toward us without being called.

Sadie doesn't care ... she is on her own exploration.

There was nothing within eye sight, nor on the horizon, but Stella was positive the deer had gone that way sometime since yesterday afternoon. In fact that is one of their normal paths because I have seen deer jump the small mashed down wire fence at that same spot.

So she is correct in her thought process.

We may reach 70° again today with some thunderstorms in the forecast for this afternoon. the wild bushes are trying to tell me it's spring time by showing me their new green color ... but by tomorrow we are back in the 30's with a chance of snow north of us.

After a couple of days of cold weather we will be back in the 50's and 60's for the next ten days.

Most of the time the final stages of the daily walks are not direct routes. The hounds will always find something they want to check out or have to stop and really investigate what is hidden in the thick grass.

We don't have a lot planned for today, except to enjoy the great weather. We did three walks yesterday but the two afternoon walks were without the camera.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to plant some grass seed in the area that I cleared last fall. The owner at the landscaping business a couple of houses away, didn't think a couple of days of cold temperatures would hurt if I wanted to plant some grass seed yesterday.  I've watered it this morning and hope that a lot of the seed stays on the incline if it happens to rain hard this afternoon.

I raked all of that out yesterday, down to bare dirt. I also cut off any small tree stumps to ground level so I'll have no trouble mowing this area. The concrete blocks will stay, where they have been for 42 years, to prevent erosion. I'll use the weed-eater around those after the grass fills in.

I mentioned the other day about switching out the larger blue trash can with the smaller gray one because the gray one fits better in the Mini Cooper S Countryman when I make those trips to the recycling center.

The red mirrors on the all black car are growing on me. they do not bother me at all now and in fact from the side view ... they kind of even out the large red tail lights. I like the all black look and am glad I decided to remove the red stripes a few weeks ago.

I believe I have found an answer about dog food ... "right under my nose". Due to health reasons of the owner, the old feed store in town had to go out of business a few months ago. It had a great selection of highly rated dog food. When I say highly rated, I use the site Dog Food Advisor for a rating.

So it was to my surprise yesterday when I typed in the brand of dog food I had seen at the local hardware store. I was looking for a new rake when I noticed their display of 40# bags of dog food was almost empty. The bags are usually stacked up to my shoulders.

I never really paid attention to it because it was in a hardware store. I thought most likely it was a cheap brand name. Little did I know that Dog Food Advisor gave this particular blend of chicken meal and rice a 4-star rating, out of 5.

It's called SportMix, a small family owned business for over 40 years and has never had a recall. The bloodhounds will start this in a few days since their food is almost out. Heidi started have issues with the food I spoke of a few days ago ... so I am going to try her on the SportMix and see if she responds in a positive way ... or is it just spring allergies popping up.

I may have found the problem with my pictures being blurry early in the morning with a few at any time of day. A reader commented the other day that it might be the inside of my lens not adapting to the change in temperature from inside the house to outside on our walks.

I am thinking it is my laziness. I had forgot to either hold my breath as I took the picture or take a deep breath right before. It also could have been not having my arms tucked as close to my body as possible with my left hand under the lens, forming a human tripod.

Add is some possible light shaking by my hands ... and it all equals blurry pictures.

It's a beautiful day here in 'the tropics of southern Indiana ... by the way ... stay away from that "riff raff", it will get you every time.  LOL