Stella Sneaks Off In Seconds

I was tired of seeing these two doing this over the past few days, if not weeks. I knew they would both prefer to be outside exploring and tracking all those scents their powerful noses pick up. It had not rained this afternoon so we had a little break in the weather so to speak.

I pulled out another pair of socks to get wet and a dry pair of shoes to sacrifice for the cause ... an afternoon walk for the hounds. When I asked Heidi if she wanted to go, she jump off the couch and sprinted ... to the bedroom ... I took that as a "not interested".

Today had a little added flavor to the walk, unexpected and somewhat of a surprise. I didn't see any kind of warning signs during the walk to tell me it would happen ... the surprise that is.

I am not sure what these orange flowers are. There are not many of them but they brighten up the field and the butterflies love them.

Stella having fun bouncing all over the place while Sadie is way out in front of us.

Sadie has been the one lately to run toward that part of the field in the far right corner. That use to be Stella's favorite for most of the year, but not lately.

I like the bright purple in a field of green.

I'm not sure what has Stella's interest in this photo. Sadie is way off in the right hand corner.

Stella eventually ran over to meet Sadie as she ran to catch up to me ... but she never moves quickly after she decides to explore.

I like the slight change in color. Maybe fall is on the way.

We are past the halfway point of the walk. No surprises so far. No deer had been seen. Nothing out of the ordinary at this time in the walk. Things changed though after I snapped the photos of them on the hay.

Sadie and I were walking, heading home. Based on past experience I figured that Stella was walking behind me like she does at this point of the walk if she is too hot or tired. I didn't know what she had done.

I turn around just to check to see where she was ... Stella was no where to be found. Totally out of my range of site. She was gone just like that and I never heard her howl or bark, if she did. I called her name but never saw her. I knew there was only one place she could be but I didn't expect her to be this far away.

This is WAY OUTSIDE her boundary. The bad thing was for the first time that I can remember since I got her almost a year ago ... when I called her name, she heard me, looked my direction ... then turned and started trotting toward the rolls of hay and toward that red brick house.

Like any breed, once they get to a certain point, they will eventually press that envelope a little further next time. This house to much closer to the highway than my house is and I definitely don't want to start a habit where Stella decides to go visit neighbors when she has the urge.

With Sadie trotting toward her and me yelling her name ... Stella finally started to come our direction. She knew she was in trouble or knew she had gone to far. Once inside the house, she was slowly wagging her lowered tail as she looked at me sitting at the desk. She slowly walked my direction and let me know by poking me with her nose, she was in the wrong.

The local tv weatherman said we had over 3.5" of rain in the past 24 hours. That is not much considering what they are getting in Louisiana but for this area it is above normal for August. Add that to the months of June and July where we averaged over 6" of rain per month ... it has been a pretty wet summer.

He let me know that I will have a couple of days to mow the yard before it starts raining again this weekend. That seems to be the typical schedule this summer and why everything is so green.

Those domestic things on my list I mentioned in this morning's post did not get done today as planned. There is always tomorrow, and the next day and the next day .... you know how it goes, if you are retired.

17 days till IU football here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Crosses "The No Fly Zone"

The blog starts off strange today when I open the bookmark to the blog and the title is in a different font ... how does that happen? A cache problem?

The early morning walk is now part of the daily routine. Sadie is the leader basically and knows the routine has changed. The second time they go outside, they don't take off for the field with their noses to the ground like they use to do until a few days ago ... they stand and stare at me ... I know what they want from that look they are both giving me. So a walk it is.

The air was cold but at least the strong 30-40 mph winds had died down sometime last night about the time it started to rain lightly. I have a lot of sticks to pick up today out of the yard and add to my burn pile.

With blue skies and a lot of clouds, we took off. Although we follow the same path, now twice per day, every walk is different. Each walk has different things happening within that 20-25 minutes. It didn't take long today to see that, when Stella was walking on the return path out away from the brush line.

When I said "Stella, come on" ... she went trotting over to Sadie ... back to the normal trek. Today she decided a break in the walk was needed so her and Sadie could play a little. Due to the short distance between my zoom lens and them, I was unable to fit them into a lot of photos.

In a split second, they stop playing and start walking together.

It is routine for her to head right after the area of what I think is the deer sleeping area. Only today she was all the way to the corner of the field after making that right turn ... each day she had been going a little further out. It wasn't a big deal because she always comes running when called ... just like today.

When I started letting Stella walk with no leash a few months ago I knew there was a possibility she might take off sometime and I would have to run to get her. No ... in fact I knew it was a sure thing, that it would happen eventually. It wasn't that big of deal, it was just the shock of turning around and not seeing her. The last time that happened was a few days ago when she had ran and snuck up behind me by the time I turned around.

At the place we turn to take the return path she has always wandered to the right toward that big tower holding the power lines ... even when she was on the 25' retractable leash, that area was always an interest to her. She will always hangout in that area as Sadie and I continue walking. I can then turn around and get some photos of her running.

Something different happened today though.

I turned around and didn't see a bloodhound anywhere. I checked behind me to see if she had snuck up on us ... she wasn't there, only Sadie. I was pretty sure I knew where she had headed. In prior years I had seen groups of deer running north and then jumping over the fence into the woods. I was hoping after I crested the small hill that is where I would see her.

As you can see in that last photo ... she is WAY outside of her boundary. 

I wasn't in shape nor the mood to be running through the woods trying to find her. Luckily as I crested that small hill, my camera picked her up sniffing the ground a long way off but at least not in the woods. I yelled her name and she came running ... almost knowing she may be in trouble because she had crossed "the no-fly zone".

When I said "lets go home" both her and Sadie trotted out in front of me for the slow walk back to the house. Each time she started to veer off the beaten path, he would return each time I said "no". They took their time but ended up making it back to the house with Sadie finishing with a short sprint.

With the temps in the high 40's and well below Heidi's 70° threshold, she remained in bed sleeping while the bloodhounds and I walked. The two walks per day should help Sadie lose some weight this spring, summer and fall.

It's another beautiful morning here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.