Summer Routine Is Back

I always say "it will never happen again" ... but it does. The other day after mowing the yard and trimming along the small brick edging, I sat my lithium battery for the weed eater on my FJ bumper ... again. I do that when I am putting each item back into the small shed that stores my lawn mower. But a few days had passed before I realized that expensive battery had made another 25 mile trip and was waiting for me on the FJ bumper as I returned with a shopping cart full of groceries. Right where I left it on Sunday.

Using that same word "again" I decided this morning I'd let Stella follow her nose on the morning walk. After all it's the middle of the week that some employees call "hump day" and are overjoyed their work week is half over. In retirement it feels the same as any other day and our only interest seems to be in the weather changes. It will change today from great weather to thunderstorms.

Stella didn't disappoint me as she took off in the opposite direction from Sadie and I. She has been good lately by not wandering off except that one time last week or two. She might require some of my verbal herding but for some strange reason she has been responding and obeying to certain words. No, not those words.

So while Sadie and I followed our normal path I kept glancing over at Stella to see if she was heading our direction or was taking off for the neighbors backyard, where there is a scent of a cat that keeps her interested. It was good to see Stella might meet Sadie and I by the time we were at the first turn.

Sadie was going to make sure Stella would follow us and made such a fast run over to her to lead the way, it caught me and my camera off guard and we missed the command that Sadie was giving her, but Stella got the message loud and clear.

Without cutting the field a second time last fall, there is a lot of grass replacing the wild weeds we saw last year. Last summer was so dry and hot that the field really didn't need cut a second time but if that Farmer's Almanac is right this year, with "a wetter than normal summer" ... they might be baling the field twice. The ticks are not as bad as a few springs ago when I kept a counter in the upper left corner of the blog,  updated after each walk. Yet I am finding a few of them on me after our recent walks this week.

I know there are heavy chemicals in Nexguard for killing ticks, fleas and mosquitoes but in this area of the USA it's needed. In the past two summers only one dose has done the job for the rest of the summer. Yes, I have tried the different natural remedies and I have not found them to work in this area.

I've gone back to Facebook but still using my own previous policy of having no Facebook friends listed. No offense to them and there were only a few of them I listed, but I use Facebook only to read updated information about the groups I follow. I capture a lot of good information about the Toyota FJ, updated sports teams news, and even tornado tracking. I do not follow any groups about bloodhounds or basset hounds.

I have also made some changes to my internet browser and search engine. It probably doesn't mean anything but I guess it's best to take advantages of different browser and search engine options. I went from Google Search to DuckDuckGo for more privacy. I also went from Google Chrome back to Safari, which runs faster and smooth on my iMac and MacBook Air.

With their latest updates they automatically block 3rd party tracking and that results in having a lot less if any advertising showing up in my inbox or on the websites that I visit. The new Firefox Quantum browser is nice but is just too much of a data hog and my budget allows me only 20Gb per month, so that is not an option for me.

Motivation has been at a low point at times, in attacking that 'to do' list. I have spent more time just sitting outside enjoying the hot weather, reading a book or watching the hounds as they roam the field. Plus we are taking 3 walks per day, except Heidi. She prefers to wander the front yard, the top of the driveway and lay in the sun in the backyard while the bloodhounds and I take our walks.

Monday was hound toenail cutting day. Sadie was good once again and will let me cut hers as long as she can stand up. Stella will always lay down if I show her and let her sniff the clippers. Heidi was more than ready to get her long nails cut and laid down in the grass as soon as she saw (smelled) the clippers. I cut hers back the shortest I can remember they have ever been ... without cutting the quick. I could tell she felt a lot better after her manicure.

Stella jumped out ahead of Sadie and I this morning. I was positive she was heading for the 'far right corner' of the field. Yet, lately she has responded when I tell her "over here" ... she then turns and walks toward our direction. What has gotten into her obeying verbal commands?

Sadie is just Sadie ... every walk, morning, noon or late afternoon she follows the same directions with her nose to the ground most of the way. That's her tracking personality coming out.

Stella was pretty sure that recently deer had gone straight into that brush and up over the small wire fence. After spending a few minutes staring in that direction, she finally gave up and slowly started following Sadie and I along the back edge of the field.

With rain in the forecast this afternoon, tonight and the next three days, this farmer got his planting finished yesterday just in time. Based on how the field looks, in my NON expert opinion, I am guessing he planted soybeans this year instead of corn.

Stella checked to see if she could get away and head to the north woods before I would notice her. She stood there watching me as I walked 30 yards away from her and past her, as Sadie and I headed home.

Sadie never barks but lets her know it would be best if she started following me and her toward home.

At no time during these last photos were any verbal herding involved. They slowly wandered back to the house.

I think in the last part of the walk, they are following a scent of the field cat that I have only seen a couple of times. At least the cat is good at keeping the mice traffic to a minimum around the house. I can't remember the last time I've even seen a mouse in the house.

After 14 months the change in dog food to Sportmix, manufactured by the same company that makes Earthborn Holistic Pet Food, continues to work well for all three hounds. It solved Heidi's skin problems from a few years ago, put weight back on Stella and keeps Sadie lean and mean.

Due to increased soil erosion after I cut the taller grass around the old fence post and bank, I am letting that corner grow back to the height and thickness it was. The water has decided to follow that slightly indent in the yard, making a right turn and goes down the bank toward my house. I have changed that direction of water by a little digging out and modifying that corner close to the house at the bottom of the bank. Feel free to make any suggestions that might help.

I barely caught him flying by the house as the hounds and I were just finishing our walk. It looks like a shipment of brand new John Deere mowers heading to a dealership somewhere south of us.

I am more in the mode of being outside now, reading a book rather than working on that 'to do' list. How long will I wait to get started?

It's been a week of very enjoyable weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Pace Is Fast And Furious

With nice weather yesterday there were a lot of farm equipment just like this on the highway in front of the house. With rain predicted for Monday, farmers were plowing, spraying anhydrous or fertilizer on their fields. Due to the two fields within view of the house being in an official flood zone, they usually don't start any kind of work until later in the spring. Here at home today a lot of things could be happening inside and outside ... depending on my motivation.

Before I could barely get outside this morning Sadie was already checking out the field drainage ditch that moves behind my burn pile. I have never seen water in this ditch but based on the dugout shape of it, there must be some kind of drainage from the field.

I could tell early on that Stella was going to march to her own drum beat today. I let her do what she wanted during the walk Sadie and I took. At no time did I call her name to follow us or to verbally herd her in the direction of the house ... she was on her own clock.

Although it was warm enough just to wear a light jacket, Heidi was back in bed sleeping after her breakfast with no intentions of walking this morning nor getting her picture taken. She also is always on her own schedule.

While walking I was going through a list of things to do today in my head. Like always what gets done will be determined by the time of day or night. I have a baseball game to watch at 2:15pm, an IndyCar race to tape and watch after the ballgame sometime and a Pacers NBA playoff game to watch tonight. A DVR makes all of that convenient if I decide to chose to work the 'to do' list during the daylight hours. I'd also like to take another drive in the Z4 today on one of the many routes we can choose from.

Like I said ... Stella was marching to her own drum today.

No, I never called her name ... I just kept walking with Sadie.

Sadie may not pay much attention to Stella during the walk unless she sees her getting out of bounds or heading in the opposite direction of us ... then she takes the supervisory role.

I mentioned I had added the free Flipboard to my reading list. You can chose which subjects you want to follow and Flipboard does the rest by supplying you articles that are not listed on the mainstream media. In some cases the topic might be the same but are written by web authors not associated with newspapers or magazines.

Tijuana is a town I use to spend a lot of time in when I was 40 years younger and living in Southern California. There were a lot of things to do there from places to eat, their horse race track or enjoying the entertainment the city provided. It was shocking to see today on a headline in Flipboard that since January 1 of this year 650 people have been murdered, related to drug cartels fighting over neighborhoods.

It was also shocking to see on tv the other night where a California senator was talking about the gang problems in a town called Oceanside California, a place I either lived in or 5 miles away in Carlsbad for close to 9 years. It is hard to even imagine either of those two stories being possible in towns where you could walk or drive in while feeling safe.

That's what makes living here in 'the tropics' so nice. The bad thing is, this town is usually closed for the night by 9pm, nowhere to get something to eat ... yet low to zero crime.

Looks like the neighbor finished plowing his large field yesterday. A sure sign that Spring has officially arrived ... finally.

As I looked for Stella along the wood line to the left of me, I couldn't find her. Then out in the middle of the field there she was with her head down and walking fast, heading north, as if she knew exactly where she was going. Without me saying a word, she stopped and stared right at me.

When she decided to ignore Sadie and I, heading her own way north ... that is when Sadie decided it was time to step in to let her know that was the wrong thing to do ... running after her to get her headed back in the direction of home.

I did not say anything to Sadie either ... she did this on her own.

I have thought more about moving again, only this time with a change in strategy as far as looking at houses. One of the main hold ups is me not wanting a mortgage payment for the rest of my life, since it's been years since I have had one. I never planned on having a mortgage payment during my retirement years. That might be too 'old school' in theory.

So the other night I started looking at houses in the town out west, that might need some work, a little paint or yard cleanup and even some new flooring installed ... all for a lower price range than I had been looking at and where it would be an even swap financially if/when I sold mine.

I came up with some new houses to look at and some of them had been remodeled inside, where the only thing I would need to do is paint outside in a color I like and work in the yard installing a 'desert landscape' so I would not have to spend time mowing grass.

All the same questions linger in back of my mind on the decision to move. Those have never changed really since this blog started in October 2011. Although at that time I was thinking of traveling full time in some sort of RV and with only one bloodhound since Stella had not arrived yet. (2015)

Some people say if you can't make a final decision then you need to stay where you are. Others say if the urge is there, then move even if you are undecided and things will workout once you get there. I use to put very little thought into moving decisions and it always worked out but as you get older I guess that 'free spirit' becomes hard to maintain.

Of coarse this field is perfect for the hounds and it would be hard to leave just because of that. Not only would they have to turn into 'city' hounds but I would also have neighbors living within 25' of me ... could I even handle that?

It never changes over the years, I always run different possibilities in my mind and usually decide to delay my moving or traveling decision until after the hounds pass.

There are definitely other things I enjoy about this area besides just this field for the hounds. If I had things I didn't like about it, I would have never stayed here 20 years. So we will see what the summer brings.

That is about all I have for this morning. I might post some photos of Heidi on my other blog later today. That blog is on my sidebar here called "It's A Hounds Life".

As you can see Stella decided to take a detour as Sadie and I walked into the yard.

She teaches me to relax about things ... nothing is really that important. You can tell by the look on her face she is giving me a teaching moment on patience.  LOL

It's almost too quiet today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.