It's Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm local time. It is still raining and it started sometime Tuesday night. Luckily it is off and on this afternoon and should be over by midnight. Once the hounds saw standing water in the gravel driveway they thought they might have to put some plans together so I could build an ark. They had heard somewhere about arks and high water. Thankfully for me they decided they had a better option.
Unlike them, the squirrel as been busy the past few days in the middle of rain. I hope that doesn't mean his increase in activity means we are heading for a colder than normal winter.
Stella heard rain drops, turned and came back inside to do this ... no time to supervise building an ark.
Heidi had already seen enough outside that she thought this was her only option. She still cannot figure out why I fold her blanket into a square and put it on the floor. I should know by now that a neatly folded blanket is not that comfortable. She always fixes it to her standards.
I am not sure movement while sleeping counts towards an aerobic activity but that is the only form of activity Stella did most of the afternoon yesterday and today. When you miss four walks in two days she had to do something to stay in shape.
The one time she ventured off of the carport late Wednesday afternoon she looked at me in disbelief, wondering how she got talked into walking that far out into the light rain.
Two separate photos minutes apart but she was still in shock and hadn't moved.
This morning we wake up to the same sound as Wednesday ... pouring rain.
Stella decided after lunch she was going no further than that ... she was out in the rain in the dark at 6:30am before her breakfast and to her that was more than enough. She wasn't crossing the river coming from the shed across the carport floor.
The view from my laptop computer at the kitchen table. Games of Mahjong for a short break from my book reading marathon.
Luckily he got his corn crop picked weeks ago but the farmer waiting on combining soybeans will have to wait a few more weeks before that field is dry enough for his heavy farm equipment.
Once the rain stops, and the sunshine comes out it looks like I have some leaves to get rid of. It will depend what I am in the mood for, but I am liking that idea of mowing the yard in one direction blowing all of the mowed leaves towards the field. That method worked very well a few weeks ago. Raking leaves takes too long and equates to too much Motrin later on. Using a leaf blower on a yard is only a joke and never works like the tv advertisements. (Ask me how I know)
I wasn't quick enough with the camera but that squirrel jumped to the ground from the middle piece of the fence and headed over that bank. I thought I caught is tail but I didn't.
Since there isn't much going on here today and won't be the rest of the day, I am posting just a few photos of Heidi after she first arrived in June 2011. Then a few of Stella that the previous owner sent me when I was trying to decide if I could handle two bloodhounds and then drive down to pick her up.
I bought Heidi a brand new dog bed at Costco the day I picked her up in June 2011. I had forgot about the one hour time difference in the NW Indiana area near Chicago so I had some time to spare. So I picked up a new dog bed and bought some chew toys for her. (Winston took her toys - She took his bones)
Her first afternoon was the only time she slept on the dog bed. Sadie used the 'Bloodhound Property Laws' and claimed the dog bed was hers that night. Sadie slept on that dog bed for the next 7 years while Heidi led me to believe she had been sleeping on a bed not made for dogs, most of her life.
Like I said before in other posts, she came to me with the reputation of being "a runner" and instructions on her adoption paperwork said that she needed to be leashed at all times. So she had about 40' to roam from my hand to her collar. She loved the mowed field but never showed signs of running off. That strict leash policy wasn't implemented but a couple of days.
Winston thought she might need an escort since she might take off running.
A month or so later during one of the hottest Augusts in history, she still wanted to take the afternoon walks. This is the only way she thought of cooling off. The AC just wasn't enough for her.
Stella was living at the time on a large horse farm in Kentucky. The Facebook Bloodhound Group ad said .. Need a 'rehome', severe separation anxiety, an expert in escaping and a fear of storms. Preferred someone that was familiar with the bloodhound breed (meaning she was just a normal obnoxious bloodhound) and worked at home. (meaning she needed 24 hour supervision)
That sounded like me. After a week of analysis I decided I would become her 4th owner in her first 6 years. She has been here 3 years and 2 months and had adapted into the perfect indoor bloodhound.
She looked like she had a sense of humor in this photo, could supervise a leaf raking project and liked other dogs.
In fact it looked like she liked a lot of different dogs. That is a black boxer, and three herding dogs. Obviously with her tongue hanging out to cool off it was just as hot in Kentucky in August as it was in Indiana. She loved her 4 hour ride in the back of the FJ on the way home. She spent the first 30 minutes of the drive trying to poke the windows open with her nose to escape ... then decided I needed helped driving and climbed in between the front seats to sit in the passenger seat at 3rd lane freeway (interstate) speeds.
Stella and I just went outside to check the weather ... basically she decided she couldn't hold it any longer and rain or high water she had to go to the field for a quick break.
Evidently those leaves needed some water to change color. While Stella was busy in the field to the left of me I took a couple of panoramic shots from behind the burn pile to the left.
It wasn't possible to get a photo of just how high the water came to the side of my boots but I was able to catch the water as it was moving back into the ground. The backyard is pretty saturated and by the way the mole tracks feel, they won't be back for a while.
Slow light rain ... but she still took her time.
Two days in a row with no walking makes for some long days for a bloodhound. Sadie use to like to play fetch inside during weather like this to burn off some of her tracking energy. These two hounds look at me like I am crazy when I toss a bone across the room for them to go get and bring back to me. They'd rather sleep or beg for my food.
The rain is decreasing ... that is only about 5 minutes worth while I stood in the yard waiting for Stella to finish.
The official flood plane is across the highway so we are still safe here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
