A Great Deer Sighting ... Right In Front Of Us

Sadie is not looking for rain but suspects mole traffic in that part of the yard. She is right as it's pretty 'swampy' over there as I mow the yard. Last week thunderstorms were in the forecast starting yesterday. Didn't happen. They have been moved out to this afternoon so will will find out if Sadie gets her walk or not.

The only routine not normal this past week or so has been the times we take our first walk of the day. A few weeks ago it was at 8am and the past few days it's been near 11am. Sleeping with the windows open has my sinuses plugged by 3am so it takes a while to get to sleep.

Stella actually trotted pretty fast this morning to catch up with Sadie. They had found very strong scent in this area. It was strong enough that both hounds disappeared into the heavy green brush. Instead of standing there taking photos of their disappearance I took off running toward them yelling "No".

I forgot to mention the other day as we started an afternoon walk I heard a large loud cracking sound and then a tall large tree falling amongst the other trees. I have yet to find which tree it was so I can get some pictures of it ... the sound was loud and eery enough for me to look at the tree tops to see if one was heading my direction.

I can't see that Stella is gaining weight since her last weigh-in at the vet in June. When I pet her she still feels pretty skinny, much like Heidi use to feel. Now Heidi is getting big enough that I might have to put her on a low cal diet.

Evidently most of the July 4th celebrations were done over the weekend for families. I took the Z4 out for a short drive and ended up driving though a couple of small local towns and both places had parks that were completely empty. I was curious enough to check to see when they had fireworks in the town I live in and also a large parade in a town nearby.

Fireworks were last night for the town I live in. I usually see them from the house but not this year, too many trees in the 3-4 mile distance. The big parade also took place yesterday on the 4th.

The drive was nice but with the top down you could feel the heat in the air as the Z4 cut through the mugginess. Yet, it's summer in the Midwest so nothing different should be expected. It's nice the bugs and mosquitoes have disappeared.

I let Stella do what she wanted today. No 'herding' her with me constantly saying "come on". I had a feeling on our way back that she would eventually start heading our way and that is what happened. By that time it was hot enough that Sadie had stopped roaming and was walking right next to me.

Once Stella figured out we were headed home, back inside that cold air conditioned house, she became somewhat motivated and trotted for a few steps.

You can always tell by looking at her face and seeing the pace of her walk, just how hot it really is.

I could tell after a late lunch for the hounds nothing was in store for this afternoon. With rain on the way and a lack of good sleep last night, what a perfect time for a siesta. Heidi made it outside long enough to be caught in a some photos.

The summer sunshine has not killed the cut weeds on the driveway like it has in the past. I think long time readers can see that Heidi has filled out quite well compared to a picture a couple of years ago after she had lost 13 of her 45 pounds.

 I can see it's time for her bath. Still, no itching, no raw spots on her skin.

After a pretty long siesta this afternoon, we woke up to no signs of rain. The radar was showing storms all around us but nothing major.

I wasn't sure I was going to post anything tonight. It was getting late and what I had posted and saved before lunch didn't sound like much after I read it. I was so low energy that I had decided that Sadie was not even going to get her 2nd walk of the day.

It must have been the heat and humidity I felt on the first walk that killed that idea.

Then things changed. Pretty close to 8pm I decided that Sadie and I would sneak out of the house for the short 12 minute walk. Heidi was sound to sleep and I've had the feeling for a while that Stella is in pain her 2nd and 3rd walks of the day, maybe not, just a gut feeling.

So Sadie and I took off for a fast paced walk. Final time was about 5 minutes faster than normal. I didn't take the camera with me. With overcast skies and only one hound, I didn't see a reason to carry the camera. I wanted to get back as soon as possible to see if Stella found any of my fruit, or if her nose got her into anything.

We were on our way back on the walk, not quite to what I call the first turn when a large deer jumped out of the woods behind the neighbors house and sprinted across the middle of the field not more than a 100' in front of me.

Sadie didn't notice as she was way behind me eating something she had found. It was another time I wish had a camera with me since it was one of the best shots of a deer running I've seen since living here ... it was that close.

As I post this at 8:33pm, it has not rained yet and the experts are saying sometime after midnight the skies will open up.

Still a nice day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

To The Hounds Everyday Is A Holiday

I knew when I retired in April 2014 that my life would not change much from a weekend routine if I stayed where I have lived now for 20 years. Traveling was an option, but I did not have my answer about traveling with hounds until after our trip in June 2015. What I did not know was that I would become more like the life of a 'hound' ... it's not bad really ... stress free, relaxing and no schedules.

You might tell from the opening paragraph I am in the mood to do a little rambling about life in general here in the tropics, minus political or religious talk. Commentary will not go with this morning's pictures of our walk. I will warn you that Heidi is not photo available since her new love is the air conditioned living room while setting records for continuous sleep on the couch. She gets up only to eat and drink water.

With a little rain scheduled for tomorrow, which may or may not happen based on recent forecast, the yard will be mowed today no matter what. With the new Indiana state laws starting July 1 I was happy to follow one of their newest laws ... an additional 10 cent tax per gallon of gas. Luckily I was filling up a small can for my lawn mower and not my cars. The Countryman was filled up on Friday at 12 cents per gallon lower than today.

Indiana may only have 3.5% income tax but they don't miss a beat on that 7% sales tax. I've paid higher in other places I have lived but Indiana taxes everything imaginable and I'm guessing that is why the state has billions of dollars in their accounts. Still I live in a low cost area, so it all evens out.

In the above picture Sadie was positive she was inches away from finding a deer. Stella trotted behind her but never got into the full running mode like Sadie did all over the field.

After looking at past blog posts for this time of year in past years I realized that July 4th weekend was no different this year than in past years, even before I started blogging. I can't remember being into parades, crowds or carnivals even at a young age. I might have been forced to go to them at an very young age but my mind was somewhere else ... most likely the ballgame I was missing on the radio or tv.

So the hounds and I are more than content to sit outside with a large glass of ice tea watching traffic go by with a highway full of camping trailers, boats and a few dangerous drivers that you hope they get back on the road before mowing down your mailbox. I am out of the hole digging business just so I can plant a new pole to mount a new mailbox on ... 99.9% of my mail now is just recycling material.

I am an addict with no possible help when it comes to college basketball and college football. Yet, I cannot remember the last time I watched a complete NBA game. I watched part of their Game 7 but not all of it. I do like to follow what certain players are doing ... so this week has been rather eye opening since they started their free agent signing period.

I'll not go into detail but in summary, when a player that I never heard of in college, is only a role player in the NBA and doesn't score much more than 5 points per game ... is signing for 8-10 million per year ... something is out of whack. The stars of the league are signing for $20-40M per year ... when does it tap out?

If I count my neighbors in a half mile radius there are 7-8 houses. All of the owners living in those house drive a pickup truck as their main vehicle. I live in the land of pickup trucks. That got me thinking the other day just how versatile a pickup is. I should have never sold my 1994 Chevy V-8 with the heavy duty shocks and springs for towing. It was not driven much but was always there when I needed to bring home some landscaping mulch, river rock or building supplies from Lowes or Home Depot.

Like I have said recently I am very happy with the Mini Cooper Countryman. It has done all I expected it to do plus more. It's very comfortable over long distance and since it's bigger (800#) than the smaller 2-door coupes, it does not have the 'go-kart' feel to it. So, I really don't have any intentions of make a trade for any kind of vehicle right now. Once the hounds pass on and I decide how I want to travel, I will decide what vehicle I will use.

Stella does not do full speed runs like she use to. She has been trotting more these past few days but I was pretty sure I saw her flinch a couple of times over the weekend when she started to trot.  The vet approved  of me giving her 700mg of buffered aspirin in her food twice per day, based on her weight. We will see if that works instead of moving on to something stronger.

She stopped this morning to sit and face the neighbor's house with the pool. No one was out swimming that time of morning, nor were they bbq'ing but she was smelling something ... I was wondering what they were preparing for a possible cookout later today or tomorrow ... Stella can smell food a mile away even while sleeping.

Once I yelled at her "come on let's go" ... she started the slow walk to the house. She is on her own time, not mine. The great news today though was how she did NOT tear out the window screens while I left her and Sadie in the bedroom when I went to town to buy gas and dog food.

I FORGOT to close the windows to prevent her from tearing out the screens and jumping out the window like she did twice in past years. I did not realize I had forgot to close the windows until I opened the door to let them out when I got back. It was fantastic to see that I still had window screens.

It's been around 7 months since she had any kind of separation anxiety and damaged anything. I wonder if she had figured out she is okay and I'll be back since, she has lived her 2 years this August.

The weekend was very relaxing, no drama, hot but not so much where you couldn't go outside and the humidity was a low 64%. I don't know where the gnats or other flying bugs went but I am happy that I can sit outside and read without battling bugs ... plus I can see where the hounds are as they roam the field.

Sadie turned to look this morning to see if Stella was going to make it back to the yard sometime before lunch. She too cannot understand the slow pace of Stella but will aways wait for her to catch up.

Notice the dark spots on each leg where Sadie licks. Is it seasonal allergies? She seems to do that more in the summer and spring compared to the fall and winter months.

I guess the highlight of today will be mowing the yard. That will get my pulse rate near 170 even if I am not panting or out of breath. It will be a good 47 minute workout.

The Garmin VivoSmart3 has done exactly what I wanted plus a couple of features I had not counted on. It's very accurate about my sleep patterns, right down to the very minute I lay down to sleep at night to getting up. I guess I am not the deep sleeper I thought I was as I only get 1-2 hours per night of deep sleep.

With the combination of the Garmin, no fast food runs or junk food, and Sadie dragging me outside for 3 walks per day ... I lost 5 pounds in June, an inch around my stomach and 3mm of fat pinched between the calipers. I am a couple of pounds away from the weight I was 18 years ago.

I've also been doing some low effort bicycling both on my mountain bike rides to town and my road bike out into the country at a faster pace. Still not anywhere close to what I use to do but enough to get the pulse rate up.

I'm sure there were other things I was going to talk about but have forgotten them.

I'll have to get on Google search later on and find out how to adjust my exposure setting on my Nikon camera. It does talk about 'exposure' in my owners manual but nothing shows me where and how to adjust it. {Found it and adjusted the exposure compensation to -3}.

I am not sure why but comparing my photos to those I took the first week I owned the camera ... there are major differences in quality. Those pictures taken when I first bought my camera were so much better in color and depth.

Oh, I did find out from another Countryman owner on the Mini forum that our black cars with the red mirror covers, JCW inserts on the sides and red brake intakes ... were an option that came out for the 2012 model (my year) and still available on his 2016 model. I might have the dealership or a local body shop install the stock red stripes again. Not sure.

I'm off to mow the yard while the hounds sleep until their lunch.

Still great weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Present A New Problem

As with anything in life, changes present new challenges. It's nothing new and it happens every time the field is mowed. The challenge during the multiple daily hound walks changes from trying to see them in tall grass to now watching for and preventing them from eating what they find.

It's the point in time of dog ownership where we find out they really are just dogs and not what their owners wish them to be. They might seem just like children or grown people as they sleep on couches, eat people food, toss things at you to play and understand what you are saying.

They are all of those things but one act they do proves they are still dogs. They can eat the grosses stuff when they find it. After a fresh cut field that includes dead mice and an occasional dead bird that was caught under the mower. Deer scat is the furthest thing from their mind when there is other stuff to try to devour before I scream "NO".

As Sadie and Stella walked mostly along the edge of the field after making that first turn, I could see a worn path right where Stella stopped, signifying deer traffic. You can kind of see the path right above her head that would lead into the gully.

She was positive the deer had gone that way and was about to get deep into the brush and down in the gully until I told her to get out of there. I am happy to see she knows what that means when I say it. An example of when hounds act like people.

With the field cut it was still a little wet this morning in the shaded areas but nothing like it is with tall grass. Now we can venture up into the far right corner adding a little more time, more steps and a longer walk ... and without getting soaked from the tall grass in the shaded area.

Here is Sadie about to act like a hound and not a person. It's a time where her nose is just too good. Luckily she dropped what she had found when I said "drop it". In the past about the time I would say "drop it", Winston would take one big gulp and it was gone. He never got sick but it made me sick seeing it happen.

There were a few times this morning that Stella broke into a trot that was a faster pace than previous weeks. I get the feeling she likes having the field cut.

When the hounds are in the searching mode it's a constant battle to keep walking forward while turning to keep an eye on them. They never drop anything they find on their own, only when I tell them to. Luckily on this morning's walk, they did not eat anything they found and followed my commands of "no" or "drop it".

Sadie was walking very slow as I took this picture. You notice she was able to curl her paw as much as she could with each step. It was like she was walking in slow motion.

Looking at the rows of drying grass, flowers and weeds it does not look like they will get their normal 16-18 rolls of hay. The field needed to be cut but I could tell during our walks that much of the field was not real tall nor thick like it has been in the past.

Even with the sunshine out early this morning and covering most of the field, Stella did not like walking over the rows that were still wet. Once she stepped into the yard she trotted to the door. She needed water and a morning nap when she got inside.

The afternoon turned out more productive than I had planned. One thing led to another and before I knew it 8pm was just around the corner. All three hounds made an appearance after their lunch. It didn't take long for Heidi to head back to the couch for a Sunday afternoon siesta while a cool breeze blew through the house. Sadie and Stella let me know that I probably should mow the yard.

By 12:30pm I was able to sit down for lunch and watch the IndyCar race. That followed into a Reds game. Since they were winning today instead of that loss on Saturday I watched most of the game but not all. I had the sudden urge to take the Z4 out for a nice 50 mile drive. It's perfect weather right now at 75°.

I was going to wait until there was more shade on the front yard but after I finished the mowing the backyard I kept going. It might rain tomorrow and there's a very good chance for the rain to return this week from Tuesday through Thursday.

Once again this week the Garmin VivoSmart3 shows I went over my max heart rate while mowing the yard. It wasn't that hot nor was I going that fast but much more effort mowing with a push mower than I ever suspected. Following the 'old school way of figuring the max heart rate, mine is 160. That is taking 225 - my age. There is probably a more accurate way in today's math but we used that formula for years while training for bike races.

The Z4 doesn't get driven much but when it does it runs quieter and smoother than any car I have owned.

After three hound walks today, the hounds are beat and were in a deep sleep by 7:30pm.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Get Their Wish

I heard the sound of a tractor slowing down on the highway from my computer desk this morning. It looked like the farmer that bales the field behind the house but they were going the opposite direction for getting into the field. The hounds were about to take their first walk of this morning and I never have walked them while they are mowing the field ... I decided to take a chance today.

About the time I had changed into my hiking boots and stepped outside into sunshine for the first time in two days, I saw the old tractor with the mower on the back, making a turn to head past the house heading north. From the sounds I heard as we started out walk, it certainly sounded as if the field was going to get mowed today. Stella didn't show a lot of reaction to the noise but Sadie was more than curious.

It was heading along the north edge of the field so we continued walking. I knew which way he was going to go and figured by the time the hounds and I got near the back edge of the field we would meet. So before that happened I guided both hounds toward the middle of the field so we could watch him pass, keep the hounds out of his way and follow his mowed path back home.

At this time both hounds were off leash but I had the 6' standard leash in my back pocket for Stella. I was pretty sure what Sadie would do but not Stella, once the tractor drew near. Like many of you, he wanted to see the hounds. So right after he went around the edge of the "far right corner", he pulled his mower up off the ground and started driving our way.

Am I seeing this correctly? Reading a text from his smart phone while mowing the field???   LOL

Mowing along the back edge of the field almost to the far right corner.

Not only to see the hounds he wanted to know if I had the tether attached to the 'spike in the ground' so he would not mow over it. They always check with me every time before they mow along the backyard. When the tractor was coming right at us as we stood in the middle of the field, Stella sat down next to me and Sadie stood in front of me not really sure that thing was coming towards us.

As he pulled away and headed around the first turn, Sadie wanted to run after him but with a loud "no", she trotted back toward me and walked just in front of me. Before the tractor drove over to meet us I had put the leash on Stella's collar. She acted as if she had been around tractors before in her earlier years.

With a nice path mowed why walk through the taller grass on the way home?  It was great to walk on the mowed path of the field.

The last of the yellow flowers. It will dry out all day today and rolled into 2,000 pound rolls of hay tomorrow or Monday.

He is over by Stella's all-time favorite place ... the wooded area behind the neighbor's house.

One last look at the flowers before they are mowed.

Later on he will come back in the opposite direction to cut the edge of the field, just like trimming your driveway or sidewalk after mowing your yard.

Once he finished cutting the field, since the hounds had their lunch we went outside to enjoy this great weather. It's such a change from the past two days of dark skies and rain. While I cut some weeds, Stella decided to nap under the sun.

Sadie was more interested in exploring the field now that it was cut. Heidi was laying about a foot away from Stella but out of camera range. Anytime I pointed the camera at her, she would get up and trot away. She might be tired of blogging, who knows?

I whacked weeds until my batter died. It was a great time to take our first walk in the mowed field. It makes a lot of difference because I can see where the hounds are at all times plus I find there are less ticks on me after the walk.

Stella took her time soaking in every inch of mowed grass.

Sadie walked along the very edge of the field and thought there might be a chance to curl up to the far right corner since it was cut. That is where she saw the one deer the other night.

Stella did not run fast but it was more between a run and a trot. She had not been to the far right corner in a while and was happy to head that direction.

I am hoping now the field is cut that she will start running more like she use to, but that will be up to her.

Too many deer scents to walk away.

Sadie and I headed off along the back edge of the field following a path created by the mower. I don't want to mess up their rows of hay that will be raked up tomorrow before they bale it ... so we stayed on the same path going out and coming back home.

It looks a lot different once the field is cut ... much more enjoyable doing the hound walks. Once everything is raked and baled, the path we walk every day will show up in dark green from the grass that has been mashed down as I walk.

We picked Stella up on the way back.

The last of the yellow flowers until next year.

Although the high temperature was only low 70's today, Sadie had enough exercise exploring the field plus a lot of running full steam trying to catch sparrows while I was cutting weeds. I was on the north side of the yard at the time with the weed eater and did not have the camera to show how far she was running to get them. She had never ran further or faster chasing sparrows until today.

It started last night when I tried to reply on a couple of recent blog comments. Blogger would not load my box to reply in, then did not recognize my user name. After a few attempts I decided I'd try to clear out 'cookies' and erase all the built up data. I hate doing that because that means I have to re-sign into all the websites I use that require a user name and password.

After doing that, I was able to reply to the comments and thought clearing out the cookies of the browser Google Chrome fixed the problem. This morning while starting this post it was even more messed up. It was trying to load all of my photos in their original size instead of the smaller version like the settings I have. So I rebooted my computer thinking I might have a network problem with just Blogger.

Not only did that not work but when I clicked the link to edit the post I had started, my Activity Monitor graph I have open on my other monitor, started to max out and I was going through data like water while the page was hung up trying to load. I shut Google Chrome down and tried using Safari.

My blog loaded fast the morning photos loading without any problems, almost instantly while using only 5Mb of data. I have been using Google Chrome the past few weeks for their Data Saver app that seems to work based on the decreased amount of data I am using in a 24 hour period.

The major plan for today was cutting weeds on the driveway until the battery died. I'll probably wait until tomorrow to mow the yard making sure the sun bakes out all of the wetness from two days of rain.

Since he turned around soon after passing the house I had the feeling he may have been doing a test drive before buying the old tractor. I didn't know of any tractor shows going on locally but I think I remember seeing this tractor for sale a few days ago when I drove to town.

It's back to great weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.