Hounds Took A Day Off

The words wouldn't come on Tuesday when it came time to write a blog post. I had a few pictures but not the normal large number of them to choose from. I thought I'd wait and see if anything came to me by late afternoon. By that time Sadie, Stella and Heidi declared Tuesday was a 'day off', so no blog post yesterday.

That didn't mean I got anything done. The hounds slept, ate twice, took two walks and then an early evening break outside just roam in the yard or field. I had a very good afternoon siesta.

This morning they started a new routine or a new direction. Like last summer Sadie and Stella took an immediate left walking through the yard to the north side of the field for their morning trip, instead of straight back behind the house.

We could feel the warmth a little this morning. The sky looked fantastic as we started the walk and it was hard to imagine that we were looking at a 75% of rain by 1pm. It was the same on Monday but that did not amount to anything more than a light rain. They didn't even have to stop the baseball game in Cincinnati when 'our' storm move into their area.

These past few weeks, maybe a month, I have had Stella smell the rolled up 6' leash I carry in my pocket. I don't have any idea of that makes a difference to her but I cannot remember the last time I had to use it. She has been coming when I call her. If she lags behind she will trot a little on the path to catch up.

Sadie is just Sadie ... same routine on the walk every day. She is serious and is only doing it for one reason ... to track scents.

The dark spot on her lower front leg is a place that she likes to lick. She has been doing it for years and it doesn't matter if the brand of dog food is changed nor if the seasons change. Her vet checkups have had perfect results, so maybe it's just a habit.

I have to admit I am a little concerned about Stella's lack of running. She use to love running in the field. I'd have to go back through past blog posts or past photos to find out exactly when she stopped her running at full speed in the field. She might trot a little when she needs to catch up but no full speed running. Also, she has not tried to get Sadie to wrestle with her nor playing like they did last summer.

Since her facial expression rarely changes, unless she is being fed kibble or there is food of mine that she thinks is hers. Therefore it's hard to tell if she is feeling good, normal or bad. I have felt around her hips, shoulders and stomach. I have not felt anything abnormal nor has she let out any sounds of pain or shown signs of discomfort.

I wonder if it is just being a year older and her joints are starting to bother her? I may start giving her a joint supplement and see if that makes a difference and/or have the vet give her a blood test to see if something is going on inside of her.

Sadie has never been bothered by those sharp thorns when it comes to walking through thick bushes. As a very young puppy she laid open the inside of her ear and it looked like she had been cut by a razor blade. That is how smooth the cut was. That required a few stitches and the scar looks very clean almost 9 years later.

She was focused on deer scent today. I wonder if Stella would run full speed if deer suddenly appeared?

I was letting Stella do anything she wanted on the walk today. She could go anywhere at her pace. Every time she would catch back up with Sadie and I, then would continue her slow walking.

While Sadie had moved up along the edge of the field in back, Stella was taking her time slowly walking toward me ... that is until she heard that gunshot from the farm behind those trees.

She has always been 'gun shy' when there have been gunshots in the area. She didn't sprint out of control and take off but before I could get my camera up and focused she was walking right beside me. For most of the walk from that point forward she didn't get more than 6" away from me.

Sadie??  Doesn't bother her.

As I stepped off the path to get a side view of Stella for a picture, there was another gunshot. You can see her reaction by the way her ears are folded. By this time she is in a slow trot along the path.

Before she finished her walk home, she needed to take one final look toward the neighbor's wooded area behind their house ... I had a feeling she was 'looking' for that big blonde cat we saw the other day.

Checking the Intellicast radar I see our first storm is over by Effingham, IL. The forecast says we should expect strong thunderstorms in the afternoon with high winds. That is typical Spring weather here in 'the topics'.

With the world of sports kind of calming down to just one sport to follow, there is now enough time to attack the 'to do' list. It seems like it's a feeling I get every April but not until college basketball's Final Four is over, where I am motivated enough to get started again on annual house maintenance that needs to get done.

I'll work around the weather in the spring and then around the hottest temps in the summer. I had a list of 15 things to do a few years ago but I don't have that many different jobs to do this year. There are a couple that will take a week or so to complete. The time I pulled every weed by hand that was in my driveway made it and the fence line look really good ... I'll have to be pretty bored to do that project again.

That blue sky with sunshine has turned to overcast skies and there is now a feel of rain ... the hounds are telling me it's time for their lunch here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Farmers Are Busy Today

With the change of the weather forecast shoving the rain out of the area for a few days ... the local farmers are busy today and it actually started last night.

I was reading, the hounds were sleeping a little past 8:30pm last night ... when Sadie and Stella jumped up out of a dead sleep, running to the door barking and howling. I thought for a second I was having some rare company pulling up the driveway but it wasn't that. Two tractors pulled into the field across the highway and started disking.

By the time I got up and grabbed the camera I just barely caught them starting their job. It reminds me of mowing my lawn.

Even with two of them working at the same time, they didn't finish until after dark close to 10pm.

In the meantime Sadie and Stella thought they would find out what had taken place during the short intense afternoon thunderstorm. We lost internet connection for a short time as the skies turned black and the winds picked up. Less rain than predicted and the reason they could disk their field last night.

While Sadie and Stella searched around the fallen leaves from the storm, they kept disking across the highway.

Stella wasn't really interested in the tractors but Sadie was so interested she stared at them and then started moving toward the driveway. I had to tell her to stop.

It is actually a pretty big field but I only capture a small part of it with my camera. It fills in a lot of land to the right behind those trees and probably goes as far north as 3-4 property lots along the highway.

By the time the hounds and I were outside this morning a little after 7am, the field looked like this for their first of two rounds of disking. Tractors were parked, not knowing last night it was going to be so nice today. Rain forecast went from 50% to 10% in a matter of eight hours.

This shot through the trees reminds me of the time I lived here before June 2008. The fence line was solid trees all the way back to the burn pile. It was so thick with trees and green leaves I could not see the highway or the fields from my house.

With straight-line winds in June 2008, in a matter of ten minutes that seemed like a lifetime, every tree covering almost 80' of fence line was blown over or pulled out of the ground like a weed. Thus ... the open fence line.

Toward the back, the local utility company decided they would cut all trees under their power lines to my house, and ten feet to each side of the line to ground level. That took out another 40' of tree lined property, letting me see my neighbors house.

I'd love to have those trees back.

Yesterday morning a few minutes after 9am I took off in my new tow with the top down for my 40 mile loop that I drive through the country, coming home from the flat lands from the west side of town. It was the normal set up with Heidi protecting the house from the couch and the bloodhounds shut in the bedroom ... this time with both windows closed.

I could tell from the drool marks that Stella had been standing looking out the window she had escaped in a few days ago. My small camping gear locker blocked the bed from being moved again. Things were good. Yet, my curiosity got the best of me so I made a new spreadsheet to track Stella's anxiety attacks since I had her.

With date, time I left, time I returned, duration, set up and response ... I found no trends, nothing in common that set her off ... except I was gone. She and Sadie were happy that I returned 50 minutes later from my short drive.

With the sun shining there, on the back side of the house facing the NE, it was a different story. Storms to the north of us.

I decided it was time to put the car cover on because it was definitely going to rain later. There are grommets about half way, with a cord going under the car to keep the cover from blowing away in a heavy storm.

With storms forecasted for late afternoon Thursday, it was a surprise to see the skin turn dark a little after lunch. Intellicast radar showed it was going to be a pretty good thunderstorm. It was good to see Stella not pacing nor whining when loud rolls of thunder passed through the area.

My photos do not capture the intensity of the wind. I shut all of the storm windows in time and left the east side windows open so I could watch and listen to the wind through the big trees in back along the edge of the feild where we walk.

More wind with a light rain. All of those big trees are making a lot of noise with the winds ... scary to some, exciting to others.

Trying to catch the blowing trees and hay ... I guess if you look closely you can see the different directions they are blowing. All of those large trees are howling loud with strong winds.

Taking a break from reading, after opening all the windows after the storm, I checked to see if they had my 2006 Mini Cooper S detailed yet and up for sale. It was looking nice enough to go buy.  :)

While I was pouring more coffee this morning I heard a tractor fire up and thought I'd get some updated photos of them making their 2nd round of disking...but they were only moving one. While catching that, another local farmer from behind my property turned out on the highway headed to one of his fields to work before the rain this weekend.

It's not clear but that last roll of disks, does a final smaller cut with each pass. Those were spinning pretty fast when I took the photo.

Well it's time for another test with Stella. The sun is out and it's time for a morning drive. I'll post later what I found out yesterday about the history of my 2003 Z4 ... buying used cars are always dangerous in my book. There is a reason the dealer stresses "Sold As Is" in the paperwork you sign ... but I have found a hidden jewel in this 13 year old car from what information I received yesterday.

On a side note, I have already placed an order for new black lug nuts to replace those ugly rust color ones. It made me wonder when I first looked at the car where it had been since it had low mileage.

Will the rain stay away on Sunday for the 100th running of the Indy500?? Time will tell but I think it's looking better today than yesterday.

Another quiet Friday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi's Spends Time Outside - A Good Sign

So much for that forecast of 6 days of sunshine. I am not sure this field pictured on the left is ever going to get plowed and planted.

About the time it's dry enough to get the equipment in there, it rains. As you can see from the sky this morning, rain is on the way today plus we'll have more on Saturday.

Yesterday afternoon after my post things turned out to be interesting. Heidi did the unexpected and I really don't have an answer for it. Actually two things happened. First of all she went to the door wanting outside in in the middle of the day, not her usual time. She then spent over an hour outside by herself and I can't remember the last time she did that. Her and Winston use to do that on occasion.

She spent a lot of time enjoying the late afternoon sun while sitting on the driveway. The photo I took from inside the house of her laying down did not come out well, too blurry.

I didn't want to disturb her by taking photos because I knew she would get up and go back to the house if I went outside ... but she then went to the backyard and sat in the sun for quite a while. Later moving to the shade.

I kept the bloodhounds inside during that time so there was no chance for her to feel that she had to get up and move. She stayed outside over a hour and a half.

The second thing that happened wasn't a good sign. After her skin was really looking much better Thursday morning, it became bright red on her stomach, legs and paws. The hair that was trying to grow back had disappeared taken over by inflamed red spots. There was only one thing I did different that could have caused that.

I gave her the skin of my baked salmon as a treat. I didn't find anywhere in my other blog or spreadsheet that salmon had caused this type of reaction before. At the time of this writing, her skin is still red, irritate.

With the skies overcast and it being the end of another hectic week for the hounds ... Sadie and Stella are not showing much motivation today and even their walks are slow. I'm not sure what will happen today for us, except I'll be buying a new bag of dog food for Sadie and Stella.

I want the sunshine to come back ... I'm tired of rain.

It's Friday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.