Nothing more than a 25% chance of rain for the next 7 days. Once again the hounds started their day off the same as recently. Neither stays out long ... Stella heads left and Sadie goes straight out into the field to dump their tanks. Quick return inside to sleep until an early walk or lunch is served.
For two different breeds that are noted for wandering off or taking off running at a strong scent ... I am pretty lucky that all three of them can wander around the yard and field without a leash or tether. Heidi had the reputation as "a runner" when I bought her from GABR and no bloodhound owner recommends leaving a bloodhound leash free ... ever.
You are now witnessing Heidi's normal path to finding that perfect spot for dumping. Unless it's raining, then she heads behind the yews next to the house.
It felt nice enough late morning to head out for a walk. The field was not as wet as it had been the past few days. My shoes were wet but not squeaky saturated like before. I didn't get the camera clicked fast enough in this next photo ... for the first time that I can remember, there were pure white butterflies next to these while flowers. They flew away while the camera focusing.
Stella started out the leader of the walk this morning but she gets distracted easily ... there are just too many scents for her to inspect and she drops behind pretty quickly.
As well as Sadie. But that is their job, their habit and excitement ... scent tracking.
Could it be rain is on the way? A lot of wind today with overcast sky.
Not sure what it was but Sadie decided she had to roll on top of it before Stella could eat it. Nothing was visible on Sadie as she jumped up and took off running.
And run she did ... took off around our first corner and never stopped until she was in the back of the field.
Stella was somewhat shocked by Sadie's response and wondered if Sadie might be getting something that belonged to her.
By the time Stella and I got to the back of the field, Sadie was finished with whatever she found and was waiting for us.
It felt like rain with heavy air, a strong wind ... the hounds decided it was time to head back home.
Stella kept trying to wander off and disappear ... but I called her each time I caught her and she would slowly head our direction.
Since we left Heidi outside while we did the walk, when I got back to the yard I asked Sadie "where's Heidi" ... she put her nose to the ground and was headed around the corner of the house until I called her. She was right though ... Heidi was around that corner ... just further down in the front yard.
It's interesting that she will never walk across the lawn directly back to us but will head across the lawn to the lower part of the yard to walk up the driveway. Nothing is fast with her ... her pace is consistently slow.
It was around 11:43 am and Stella was howling to let me know that she wanted lunch served early today. That might because her breakfast was a little earlier than normal ... or it might be and probably is just because she loves to eat all the time. She has gained weight over the past year that I have had her, a year next week.
You may have noticed you have not read the word "tick" in many months. Back in April they were so bad that I added a "tick counter" in the upper left corner of the blog but once the count for me went over 100, I took the counter down ... headed to the vet for some NexGard and that worked fantastic. I only had to use one dose for the summer.
I rarely have the ticks on me after a walk, where I use to have 4-5 on me after each walk. The hounds stopped having them once the NexGard was used and yes that is the correct spelling. Another thing that has not been as bad as the past are mosquitoes nor the biting flies. So spending time outside reading a book has been enjoyable this past week of cool weather.
My book reading has blocked out all of the "noise" of terrible news reporting and politics. The tv is only turned on for a ballgame or movie ... such a relief. We have taken drives around the local area with the windows down. I don't believe Sadie or Stella are interested anymore in local trips, since they lay down and sleep most of the trip. Although they are really excited when they can go in the FJ. Heidi maintains "shotgun" and will lay down to sleep, depending how long the drive is.
I decided after the hounds were fed lunch that a short drive in the Z4 was a good idea. Powerful and quiet at the same time ... a smooth ride.
Not much went on during the afternoon. I had some baked chicken breasts on my George Foreman grill for an early dinner. Obviously Stella decided I need help in cleaning the small drip pan sitting under the front edge of the grill.
With the hounds acting like they wanted to go outside, I grabbed my ice tea and camera and headed for "Winston's Patio", which fits just my chair on those 6 red blocks by the corner of the house. Sadie was giving me that look of "lets go for a walk" ... but I could feel that things had changed in the heat index from this morning. Too hot for a walk.
I had not checked for the official temperature but you can see from the ragweed blowing, we had some pretty strong winds from the SW. Later I found the temperature at 5pm to be 87° and an index of 101° ... those cool temps a few days ago were nice while they lasted.
This same spot seems to change color first every year.
Facing the wind, Stella decided no walk was needed, she just wanted to kickback and enjoy the strong breeze. Clouds were moving fast in the sky. I found out later there was tornado activity again on the NW side of Indianapolis just like last week. This activity was a little further NW from the area last week.
After Sadie did her new morning loop through the field, she was ready to go back inside. But she had a scare right before she got to me.
Something landed on her back and she jumped about 3' into the air turning at the same time. After twisting and turning she couldn't reach what had landed on her back and she was freaking out. At first I thought it was a huge horse fly ... then I thought it was a butterfly ...
Only to find out it was a small leaf. I didn't get any of the action shots because I was laughing too hard to take photos.
In the meantime, while I was taking the leaf off of Sadie's back ... Stella was wanting to go back inside where the air conditioning was back on and the house was much cooler.
Then she disappeared while I had my back turned. I didn't see her in the field and doubted she would have headed that way. Maybe something got her interest in the front yard but that would be very rare for that to happen. She was right where I thought she was ... standing at the door waiting to be let back inside.
Not much planned tonight, maybe I'll pull a movie off the self .. otherwise it was another successful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.