As Usual Sadie Wins

They proved once again they know what to do before the rains come and delay their harvest by a week or more until the fields dry out. I had started my 'thorough' detailed house cleaning Saturday morning to burn off some nervous energy I had for the football game kicking off at noon. The farmers had moved their equipment into position sometime Friday night. With a chance of rain today they were going to finish picking the back half of the cornfield that they replanted in May after the flooded area dried.


Depending on the direction of the winds, there is always a chance of dust from the corn picked and loaded into truck trailers might blow my direction. That's never good when I have all the windows open. Luckily as I glanced at the first load of corn being loaded I could see the wind was blowing north, parallel to the house ... all the windows stayed open while I cleaned.

By the time I was finished and was ready for 14 hours of football on tv, they had completed their job. The field that I can see from the house is only the far end of the field. It curves right behind the trees and goes for almost a 1/4 mile behind the houses of my neighbors.

So after a bright sunny day on Saturday ... this morning had other plans with gray skies, rain off and on and those temps in the upper 70's yesterday had dropped to the low 60's for a high today.

All of that doesn't matter to Sadie. She doesn't want a lot in her daily schedule but food, sleep and a few walks. So after the strongest storms blew through around 8am, with little rain for us, Sadie sat in the doorway of my computer room giving me the stare down to let me know it was time for the fist walk of the day.

It was raining lightly outside by the sound of it hitting the leaves. I waited a little longer while she didn't move and kept her eyes locked in on me in front of my computer. I'm not sure she even blinked the whole time she stared at me.

She won ... just like she always does. Those eyes of hers and persistence are pretty convincing. The map of the weather radar had our location pinned right in the middle of greens, yellows and some oranges showing us it was rainy or could rain. I slipped on my snow boots that double up as rain boots, a light rain jacket ... hearing Stella howl and see Sadie hopping up and down when they saw me put my ball cap on. That's cap is confirmation their walk was going to happen.

As with any time after a rain there is a lot more exploring by both hounds. Heidi had already cancelled her day with the mention of the word rain or the sound of rain outside the open window. She was stretched out as far as a basset hound can stretch, on 'her' leather couch sleeping. With a look at me that I was to wake her when lunch is served, but in the meantime she was sleeping.

Stella didn't feel like wandering this morning and stayed either close behind me or with Sadie.

With the raindrops getting larger and more frequent but no more than a light rain ... I cut our turn short in back of the field and took the recent path created by the ATV traffic from the neighbor. There really isn't a lot of difference in distance of our walk by doing this but always feels like a shorter walk.

Stella was almost positive with decision to take this path meant she and us were going straight ahead ... where she ran off to last Thursday, back into those woods up ahead. She is hoping for that anyway.

When I said "no, over here" she immediately walked in front of me pouting like she does when she doesn't get her way.

My camera was barely able to catch the high speed ATV on Friday afternoon but this gives you an idea of who and what has made the new worn paths that may be a thing of the future next spring and summer. We cut our walk short when we heard the sound as I can't afford an accident to happen with the hounds and a speeding ATV. Especially since Stella and Sadie show an interest in chasing that new unidentified vehicle.

This morning though as the rain increased they were just happy to jog to the house with a few stops in between.

I wouldn't have taken a picture of my boot and this leaf until I saw how bright and colorful the leaf was. It might have the most color we see this fall unless we get a string of days with bright sunshine.

As the sound of the rain hit my jacket, Stella walked slower toward me in no hurry. Then looks at me as if to question why am I trying to get her to walk faster.

It's because these clouds are west of us, coming our way and the rain drops are now starting to fall faster.

Sadie was also walking slow not wanting her walk to end. Yet, within minutes of returning inside, she was sound asleep protecting her water bowl from Stella sneaking in and drinking 'her' water. Stella and Heidi share their own water bowl in a different room.

It's very very rare when both hounds lead me back to the yard at the end of the walk so I had to take a picture of this historic event.

It's feeling like a quiet Sunday is ahead of us with a few NFL games scattered around a siesta later this afternoon, a couple more hounds walks and food. I might even read my owners manual on the Tamron 18mm-200mm lens I use to see what I have forgot or to find something I have missed with hopes of better quality photos in the future.

Hard to believe it's the middle of October here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Day 7 - A Little Rambling & A Winston Update

Well sometime in mid-afternoon yesterday Heidi came over to me and let me know she was thinking about going outside for a little bit ... if I would open the door for her. If I had not stopped her on her way back to the door to go inside, that "little bit" would have been about a minute in actual time.

With some coaxing she turned toward me but decided at the last minute, sunshine or no sunshine she would not be going out into the yard. Remember last fall I talked about her 70° limit. At the time I said that jokingly but I am beginning to wonder if that is pretty accurate with her.

From those photos she looks like she has been gaining some of her unexpected weight loss back from last summer. Those toenails are being cut today no matter what nor how much she resists.

Since Stella showed up August 30, seat availability in the living room has been at a premium. Musical chairs are usually a nightly game. There has never been any fights but the two bloodhounds pout if there isn't room on the couch. In Sadie's case, also the large chair.

Recently Heidi decided all the action is out here in the living room at night ... not off alone in the dark sleeping. So she has decided that as long as there is a blanket spread out across that ottoman that is her seat.

Now Stella is a different when it comes to pouting. She is more determined than the other hounds and usually one way or another in the end she gets her way and her seat. She will use different strategies. Her favorite is to stand in front of the couch, glare downward squinting her eyes and go into her statue mode. She will never look up at you in this strategy. I am expected to move the other hound out of "her" seat.

I don't always do that ... so she has two options.

She can and at times finds a place on the floor to lay. She is never in that spot long before she comes back into the statue mode, squinting again and not moving. Or ... she gets drastic and demands me to yell "stop", "get down", "Stella" or even some words that are not good for public viewing. What would she do to get that kind of response from me?

If there is an area on the coach as small as 4 inches by 4 inches, she visions herself in placing all four of her paws in that space and use her butt to sit on the offender, thus they move. Another favorite is she will JUMP up over the offender to stand over them or sit on them until the other hound wakes up and tries to move.

Now ... before the pet police come after me, those last two moves are stopped before they happen 99.9% of the time. They have happened at least once ... otherwise I would not be able to describe them to you, would I?  :)

But with Winston gated on the blanket in the corner, Sadie and Heidi on the chair and ottoman ... Stella has the space next to me all to herself.

Over the years I have found they only prefer the furniture mostly in the winter months. Obviously they go by seasons in their analysis and not by outside temperature. 51° on Christmas morning in the Midwest is not winter. So they must be using seasons to base their decisions on.

Winston Update

Yesterday started out being a good day starting at 6:00 am and continued up through and past 11:00pm. He might have tweaked his back a little around 9:00 pm but did not yelp, or moan at that time.

From the time he woke up officially along with the other hounds around 8:30 am until 3:40 pm, he did nothing but sleep, drink water, go outside to dump his tanks, eat lunch, go back to sleep. He didn't lay anywhere but on the floor inside the gated area on the corner of the living room.

My spreadsheet to track his movements or issues is color coded red for improvements and blue for negatives. All of yesterday was noting but red notes scattered throughout my notes.

• Every time we went out I put my taped rolled t-shirt under his hips and as he walked ... he was wagging his tail!!!
• Before I could stop and carry him down the two steps into the carport he was already down those steps and was 'prancing' toward the backyard with me holding his hips up.
• Unlike Wednesday, he only whined when he wanted to go outside. He seemed to be turning more to his left and right to lick his tail.
• While I was rubbing his rear leg, in the muscle portion, his leg flinched going from a bent let to one straight out ... stretching it as if it felt good. When I stopped he looked at me wanting more.

So what happened at 3:40pm?

I decided since he has been sleeping so well that the spot on the corner of the living room in the middle of all activity in this small house, he would not be move to the closet area I had set up, or to the bed, or the couch. This gated blanket area was his place for recovery.

Well at 3:40 pm Sadie, Stella and I tried to sneak out of the house for a daily walk through a saturated field from all the recent rain. When Stella's tail swung and hit Winston's choke collar that was hanging on a door knob, that woke him up and he KNEW what we were doing ... going on a walk. He only wears that collar on daily walks to trips to the vet when leashed. The three of us tried to get out of the house fast, closing the door behind us and then I heard it .....

Winston was barking to go. It's the first time I've heard him bark since the back problem started on December 19. He is not a barker to begin with unless it's missing a walk or joining the other hounds in demanding dinner.

By the time we got back he had calmed down enough to be laying down but when he saw me as I glanced in the door window to check him, he immediately moved from laying to a sitting position and his ears perked.

As the night got longer he started to move into some positions he had not been able to. Like laying on his left and right sides. For the past few days he could only lay on his stomach. He was able to turn and move either direction on his blanket while in the past few days it was only to his left side.

Then about 9:00 pm I noticed he was sitting still not looking at me or the other hounds, just staring into space. It was at that time I think he may have tweaked his back someway I didn't see because I was sitting on the couch.

After that he was back to gingerly lowering himself onto his stomach, one front paw at a time. He decided it would be really nice if he could use my sleeping bag. His patented move is to nose his way under the bag, turning inside to curl the bag around him and taking it from you, before dropping into a sleep position. Last night since he was having a hard time moving after 9:00 pm, he did the nose dive and laid straight. If you follow the tail showing on the left you can see the outline of him under the sleeping bag.

He did return it to me when it was time for sleep.

He did sleep soundly though until 3:09 am, when he woke up, had some water and we went outside. I decided to carry him since it was dark and early in the morning. He dumped all his tanks in the back yard. In one of his efforts I pulled his tail off the ground out of the way and I swear he raised his hips and stood every so slightly on his rear legs!! I hope I am not wrong on what I thought I saw.

We came back inside, he laid down and went back to sleep. Of course when we got up to go outside the bloodhounds sleeping in the living room now, heard us and escorted Winston and I to the backyard. They also returned to the house and was back to sleep in record time. 

The hounds fell asleep and I was wide awake. One of those deals you know if you stay up it will catch up with you eventually later in the day but at the same time a cup of coffee would taste good even before 3:30 am.

It was 53° today at 3:09 am here in the "tropics" of southern Indiana.