Walter and Henry Moving On

First of all I realize that this does not happen to just me. That it happens or has happened to all dog and cat owners, any owners of pets. My old friend from high school just put his old boxer down days before Stella. He has had boxes longer than I have had basset hounds (1987). So we all know how we feel and when I am on the other side I never know what to say to a friend when it happens. There are not any words although well intended, that makes things feel better ... time and good memories are about the only thing that gets you through the time after putting down your best friend. Today I posted at the top of the blog "Stella's Story" with close to 100 photos included. I guess it's a little like therapy but also a tribute to a hound that many loved and many wanted to see on this blog.

When I returned home Saturday morning without Stella, Walter ran from room to room then out to the garage looking for her. He made her his best friend when he arrived that night in April 2020 at 8 weeks old. Even before Stella left for the vet he did his normal morning routine of cleaning her ears, her eyes and her nose. She would always hold up her head and lean for areas he would lick clean.

Saturday afternoon he found the perfect spot under the high ceiling fan that was blowing cold air from the AC down to the floor. He prefers inside and the AC when its 93° and humid outside.

Another Great Day For The Hounds

After lunch today we spent some time sitting outside. I could feel it was getting really hot and knew the hounds wouldn't stay outside to long. Stella couldn't decide whether to take a nap or go back inside. Her answer is shown below. Even with the window shades closed the AC was still working overtime this afternoon. As a test I turned it off and within 30 minutes the temperature inside the house increased by 6°, just a little before 1pm.

I fast forwarded through today's stage of the Tour de France. I thought of taking a drive somewhere but couldn't decide where to go. I thought about reading but didn't complete a page. I was hungry for lunch but couldn't decide what to eat. I guess it's one of those days for Stella and I, trying to decide what we want to do, with no answer.

After lunch photos are below.

I am going to go against what I read a month of so ago in that DYI article. I am not going to wait for low humidity. Right after the hound walk on Monday morning I will start on my long list of 'to do'. I am feeling motivated enough that I might not wait that long. The TOF is over Sunday morning so my mornings will be free when the temps are cooler.

It will be another night of baseball games on tv tonight.

August is just a few days away here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Have A Good Week

It was nice to feel the temps slowly crawling back into the 80's this week. I can't say we were fans of the humidity though so a lot of mid-day to early evenings were spent inside where it was cool.

For some reason all the hound walks were done without taking the camera. I must say for some reason and it's probably just a coincidence, Stella was behaving much better just walking and no photos being taken.

The camera didn't miss anything exciting but me being inside almost did. I was at the kitchen table playing my games of Mahjong close to 9pm one night ... when I glanced out the big window I saw 8-10 deer across the highway running along the edge of the field and trees.

By the time I snuck outside quietly, keeping the hounds inside the house, all of them took off sprinting across the field out of view. During this time was one of those times the lens was not getting enough light possibly and wouldn't focus so I could get the photos.

About the time I was giving up, one deer came back alone to check out the recently planted soybean field. Sorry but this was the best I could do zooming. I didn't want to walk out into the driveway and spook her since she was lifting her head each time she heard the camera's beep when auto focused. Even then the photo of her wasn't clear and sharp.

That was the 2nd time in two weeks I've been lucky that the hounds either didn't see the deer across the highway or were inside the house at the time. There is no way they can afford to run across the highway chasing deer ... that highway is never good to runaway hounds.

We moved through a pretty slow week, between thunderstorms to light rains and periods of sunshine all in the same day at times. Overall the weather was nice enough to take the hound's walks in early morning and then around 8pm. Between that, they did nothing but sleep inside with the AC running nonstop.

Today was nice and for the first time in a long time they both headed straight back into to the field instead of going north and on the outer edge of their boundary.

By late afternoon it was perfect to sit outside, listen to the birds, enjoy the slight breeze and the sun sneaking in and out of the clouds. Sadie and Stella didn't get out of the backyard while we were out. Stella enjoys the SW breeze.

It wasn't until she saw that Sadie might have something she needed, that she decided she had to get up to check it out. I think both of them are more interested in the soft dirt that is pushed up by the moles more than anything else.

Although I cut the yard on Tuesday, one level lower than before, it has really grown back fast these past few days.

All of these photos today were taken with the 55mm-200mm lens. One thing you might have noticed, something that will make it easier to tell Sadie and Stella apart ... Sadie no longer wears her collar.

I noticed the other day it looked too small as her extra skin under her neck hung over the collar. That collar as been passed down among previous hounds. It was also on the last rung and could not be lengthened, so I decided she didn't need it. I have one she can use when she makes her trips to the vet.

By the time the next photo was taken, their tongues hanging out were telling me they wanted to get back inside to enjoy their air conditioning. They had enough of the warmer temps today.

After I took my coffee and the mail back inside, I returned to see that Sadie may have been having second thoughts about coming inside. She started sprinting toward the house though when she saw Stella running for the door.

Heidi is doing well although she doesn't spend a lot of time outside with us. She was out this morning while I was picking up some tree limbs blown down the other day by the thunderstorm. I didn't have my camera with me. She normally likes to sleep all day in front of the cold air inside. Sleeping is her favorite hobby besides eating.

Her skin is looking the best I have seen it in a while. All four of her paws have a lot of hair growing back but they are still not at the normal thickness of hair.

I spent most of my week surfing the internet looking at houses and land for sale in the states of AZ, NM, CO and UT. It's nothing new, I've done it before and saved a lot of those searches in the past. There were more houses than I expected still listed for sale 6-10 months later.

I don't have any immediate plans to move but I will in the future. I am also back to looking at RVs, trailers and forums. That will all change in about 8 weeks or so when college football begins again. I am addicted to college football and most likely need some sort of counseling for it.

Life is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Playing With Different Camera Settings

After feeding the hounds their lunch around 1pm, I put on a fresh application of the water, vinegar mix for Heidi. I found out that you don't even want to take a day off from doing that. By today almost all the improvement she had shown ... was gone after taking a day off Sunday from any mixture.

I continued to read that link from my earlier post this morning about different focus settings on my camera. I ended up taking over a hundred photos just playing around with different settings this afternoon.

Although we had taken a walk earlier, Sadie and Stella still wanted to get me outside again. Stella didn't hesitate one second on what she wanted to do ... lay in the sun. Of course Sadie is too active to do that and as you can see Sadie couldn't stand still.

Once Stella thought Sadie was getting something, it was worth standing up to see what she was getting. It wasn't anything beside Sadie having her nose in the ground inside the tall grass. Consequently she laid back down.

Stella didn't lay there for long though and was up making sure that Sadie had not found some food that she should be getting. She then started that slow stroll out into the field by the bush line.

In a split second as I turned around they were both gone, hidden by the tall grass.



You can barely see Sadie in this photo. Further out in the field the grass does not even come up to my knees and isn't as thick.

Sadie decided she was going to make a run for it while Stella stay in her favorite part of the 'backyard'.

There is a story about Sadie's missing teeth on the bottom row. While she was a puppy and I was gone all day at my job, for her own protection and my sanity ... I kept her inside, in the largest black kennel you've seen for large breed dogs. Plenty of room. Yet she spent all day trying to get out.

More than a few times she had grabbed those those steel rods that formed the cage and could squeeze them together with her teeth and jaws. I could NOT bend them back using pliers. Eventually her teeth became loose and fell out.

Stella still strolling and once I looked through the camera lens and saw her take a couple of steps inside that brush line ... I called her name and she decided it was probably a good idea to head back to the house.

Only at her own pace ... very slow.

It may say it's 62° but it feels like 50°. A day for lot of reading and more coffee to stay warm. Rain is on the way so a early evening walk tonight may not happen.

After all the different settings I tried on the camera, I can't tell any difference in these photos plus the ones in the pervious post showing our afternoon walk after lunch. Heidi decided staying in bed was the best thing to do with the cold temperatures.

When will it get hot in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ?