It's Summer Again In 'The Tropics'

I knew when Heidi jumped off the couch, rolled once on the floor and popped right back up barking to herself, that summer had come back for one final time and it had to be above 70°. With an overwhelming demand to be fed lunch kibble, it was served almost at 1pm in preparation for the time change in the near future. I hope by the time it gets too cold to paint, I finish my paint prep, put on some primer and paint the trim in the carport. Probably tomorrow after lunch in the sunshine it will be "Operation Dog Nails" and Heidi's will have hers trimmed back as much as possible.

Stella is never too anxious to do anything after lunch. She does not even follow Sadie into the field nor Heidi who takes a lap around the house. All Stella wants after she eats is to be back inside for an afternoon siesta.

When the weather is warm Heidi likes to find a spot in the sun, away from the bloodhounds where she can relax, sleep and soak of some of the sun's ray's. She would for an hour today, doing just that, while the 3 of us were inside.

With perfect weather outside I formed up a game plan over a few games of Mahjong. I improved my times on three different games, getting each of them completed in less than three minutes and one finished in 2 minutes 47 seconds. Since I knew I could not beat that time today ... it was time to take Sadie and Stella for their afternoon walk ... then mow the yard.

The butterfly population double today to 2. I couldn't catch the other one with my camera but I was able to find one. It spreading it's wings to my camera lens never worked out today ... poor timing.

When it's 75°, a slow walk and nice green grass, Stella can always find time to sit for a quick scratch.

Sadie got a little extra exercise in this afternoon with some hard jogging.

I never found anything too scary about my lower lip becoming numb. 200mg of Ibuprofen fixed it. I heard that my friends Apple Mail that disappeared last night finally finished synchronizing with Gmail and so far everything was working again.

I think it's encouraging when I type a question into search on the internet, to see there is usually another million people that have searched the same topic you have, even it is a problem where a solution is needed.

The yard looks good again, cut even. Since I reinstalled the older blade, that terrible sound with my mower I had last week was gone today. So instead of buying a new mower next spring it sounds like this one is good for another ten years.

It's too nice to be inside writing this ... so I am stopping here and heading back outside to sit and contemplate whether I build a huge fire tomorrow by burning the tall pile of dead tree limbs and leaves that went with those tree limbs. I imagine the final decision will be made by which direction the wind is blowing ... I want to burn only the pile of limbs, the the woods behind it.

You cannot beat this 75° weather today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Day Out Of Routine

It mysteriously started last week when I was no longer getting up between 6:30am - 7am and starting our first walk at 8am. Allergies also started acting up more and more, expected this time of year. Maybe it was having a holiday on Tuesday where the public started celebrating the prior Friday or it could have been all the rain forecasted for over a week that never showed up, at least in our zip code. Whatever the reason, today continued to be slightly off track.

With rain at the right time, humidity and sunshine, it's been the perfect storm for everything growing at a rapid rate and keeping everything green while starting the mid-summer period. Above you can see the annual wild ragweed that I am not a fan of, burying my large burn pile.

Below you can see just how fast weeds are growing this summer or maybe how lazy I have been recently. I usually let the weed eater take these weeds down to ground level and then let the sunshine kill what is left after they are cut. This is only two weeks of me not taking time to cut them along the driveway. I usually cut them once per week, using a couple of days due to only having one battery for the weed eater.

Remember in August 2015 I was on my hands and knees for 4 straight days pulling out every weed in the driveway and a long the bank. Click here to see how nice it looked.

With all the green sometimes there will be leaves of different colors. Not many of them but nice to see when they are around. Although it was not as hot today, it felt warmer than 78° but very nice under the shaded area under the Mahogany trees.

While Stella stayed at the corner of the house and scratching continuously, Sadie decided to follow me around the yard just to see what I was taking pictures of. Stella has had another bath. I did not find any fleas on her, no hot spots and nothing being scratched off her skin. I hate seeing her scratching this much.

Even though we took a walk just about an hour or two earlier, I could tell looking at Sadie that we were going to take our 2nd walk of the day, like right now. Last night we didn't take our third walk until after 8pm.

So with camera in hand, I told Sadie and Stella "let's go" and we were off. I was going to let Stella go anywhere she wanted today. I didn't think she would get too far away since she does not run anymore and with the field cut I could see where she was.

About the time we started, a roll of thunder passed through. Stella stopped walking immediately with past memories of her bad experiences living outside in a kennel during one tornado and a few thunderstorms ... a couple of owners before me. I decided we would keep walking until I felt the first sprinkle then turn around. .... I never did and completed the full walk.

I have no doubts that if we were to take a new walk every 15-30 minutes (not possible), that Sadie would be just as excited as she is with every new walk we take. She loves taking walks and tracking scent in this field.

In June 2015 while camping for one night at the Rifle SP, just north of Rifle Colorado she barely moved when I put her on a leash so she, Winston and Heidi could walk over from our campsite to their boat launch. She acted anxious, panting a lot with her tongue hanging and her nose no where near the ground. Counting that trip and the one in September 2013 to Arkansas, she proved she was not fond of traveling.

I remember the first place she went after I unpacked the FJ was to the field and started exploring with her nose pressed to the ground.

Today when I glanced back at Stella, she let me know that Sadie and I could go on and she would catch up with us on the way back.

Don't let that slow paced walk fool you. I knew that as soon as we were out of her sight that she would most likely turn left and head for the woods that sits behind the neighbor's house. For her to get that far while we walk, she would have to trot, not walk so slow that she drags her feet. That would be the woods I saw the deer jump out of last night while Sadie and I were walking.

I found it strange that neither bloodhound got excited today by deer scent either in the field where the deer ran from one woods to another, nor at the entry point of the deer into the front part of the woods that is the first part of the walk. To them it was like the deer I saw less around 19 hours ago, never happened.

While I turned to walk along the back edge of the field, smelling the hay that is parked and rolled into large rolls, I turned to see Sadie but nothing of Stella. You might notice there is a slight hill and it is actually steeper than you would think. The field is not flat like it looks in most of my photos.

As I made the last turn toward the house but a good distance from the house I looked through my 200mm zoom lens to see if I could see Stella anywhere. Just about the time I thought she was nowhere to be seen ... I spot a little red/tan in all of that green, at least I thought I did.  Dead center in the picture ... just barely.

Once I my walked took me to over the small incline I could see her over by the woods behind the neighbors house, although that was not even close to where I saw the deer run out of last night.

I thought before I'd walk out of my way to go get her, that I would yell telling her to "come on, get over here". To my surprise, she started walking my direction.

Back to the slow pace as if she can barely take another step ... yet for her to go to that area from where I last saw her, she would have had to almost trot to get to the other wooded area.

Those ugly Maple trees that were cut back a few weeks ago are trying their best to grow some leaves. The tree company did come back last week and grind out the remaining stump of the third tree in the middle.

While Sadie and I waited ... Stella slowly made the trek home.

It's been pretty hard lately to come up with enough words to write a post. As you can see the past few posts, there is not a lot going on around here. No projects have been started, nothing exciting and actually quite boring writing about the thunderstorms not showing up or how we have moved to a new routine.

I haven't been in the movie mode lately either so most of my tv watching has been Reds baseball, a couple of shows named The Deadliest Catch and Homestead Rescue. I tried starting a new book but sat it down after the first chapter with a lack of interest.

We are on a very slow and uninspiring pace recently here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Demanded a Walk On Friday

While the hounds were outside after their Friday afternoon lunch, I had a change of plans. It was time to take off the Z4 car cover and take a drive. While I was taking the cover off I decided I did not want to wait for dinner and the Chinese Buffet, although it is open during the day. I was going the opposite direction for some Amish food buffet.

It was a beautiful drive to and from. It wasn't warm enough to put the top down but the scenery through this curves and hills of southern Indiana is great to see. As usual the food was great, seafood is always a special on Friday, great salad bar and coconut pie that you can't pass up.

I had left Heidi alone to protect the house with Sadie and Stella sleeping in the bedroom with the door shut. It's normal for Heidi to bark when I get home to let me know there were no problems while I was gone. Then she likes to stand up on her back legs with her paws on my legs to greet me.

Today was a little different. After she hopped down, she started barking non-stop and ran toward the door. I let her out, then went back to open the bedroom door to let the bloodhounds out. Grabbing my camera I knew the hounds would be ready for a walk. Would Heidi?

From the way that Heidi was barking I had a feeling that is what she wanted to do. When it is warm outside and she is feeling good, it's the way she acts.

She alternated from trotting to walk to stopping for a deeper smell.

Stella charged out of bounds, through the wooded area to the right of us and attempted to go down into the gully. She came when I called her but with three hounds going three different directions, Stella had earned "temporary restriction".

Heidi has never liked getting her feet wet, especially on a walk. So once the path started getting wet as we neared the back of the field, she tip toed away from the path, slowly looking for some dry ground.

When I bought her from the GABR in June 2011, she had a reputation as a 'runner', to be leashed at all times. She just needed some room to run because a few weeks after she arrived I could see she would not need to be leashed all the times we were outside. She has never gone near the highway nor has run off when she is let outside on her own.

She still has one of the better noses among the hounds.

Stella figured out she could still scratch her itch even with the 6' leash dangling from her collar. She had been dragging it from about the first turn to the back of the field. It was taken off right after I took this picture.

Heidi was enjoying her own pace as was Stella. My problem was up ahead ... Sadie had taken off running toward the neighbor's woods. It had to be the big blonde cat she smelled.

Before I could go get Sadie I had to get Stella ... she started running toward me when I called her name. Heidi kept walking on the path.

I finally got all three of them herded into one area ... just like cattle. All their noses were headed in the same and correct direction ... a successful walk.

I still have not made it over to vet for annual checkups and a rabies shot for each. I'll take Heidi first and then maybe the bloodhounds at the same time ... that should be a great picture of both of them in the back of the Mini Countryman when it happens.

Heidi has filled out a little around all those bones I felt last fall and winter, so she has added some pounds. She does not have any irritated skin but some areas where the hair will never grow back. All of her skin is soft and her coat is smooth and soft. The change in dog food helped.

She wagged her tail most of the way, stopped for a few places of interest and acted as if she was enjoying her afternoon outside.

It wasn't five minutes inside the house where all three had found their favorite spots and were out for their afternoon siestas. Another successful day in the life of a hound.

Warmer temps have arrived here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.