By the time I'd glance at the clock it was usually past 7pm and not enough time to take and edit photos and then blog. I believe the frequency of posting is going to be reduced for a while since the weather is so nice outside. I'm thinking maybe 3-4 days per week, instead of daily or twice per day.
I also realized that all I seemed to be blogging about was Heidi's skin and the Bloodhound walks. Both of those are not really adventurous topics, yet I have had enough readers let me know they like seeing photos of the hounds, and some like hearing about the slow life in 'the tropics' ... so it may not be boring to all.
As an update, Heidi's skin continues to look good after the water vinegar mixture. There was one day I only did one application. Once again to see if food makes a difference I am giving her kibble that has chicken and rice and after 2-1/2 days she has not shown any kind of skin reaction. She had a skinless cooked chicken breast on Sunday without any kind of reaction. I am hoping the added carbs will help her put some weight back on.
I had the yard mowed Sunday by 2pm so I could watch the last day of the Indy500 time trials at 4pm. As with every lawn job, Stella is my inspector and will let me know if I've done a good job or not. I think she was pretty happy with the cut on Sunday.
After a short nap early Sunday evening ... she decided she needed to expand her inspection to something she had not done since arriving back on August 30th.
That felt so good I guess that it was time for a spine adjustment with a full-body shake. Then ... into the house for some water and some more sleep.
Stella passed a HUGE test today concerning her separation anxiety. It's been so long since she has damaged anything while I am gone I can't remember the last time she freaked out. She has had a long string of good results during the times I have left for an hour or two. Today I was gone for over 4 hours. Expecting the worse I slowly opened the bedroom door to find it just as I left it ... except the treats were eaten.
We waited for the temps to drop a little and then took off for an early evening walk.
As you can see the hay continues to get thicker and taller. Based on what I see as undergrowth, they are going to get a good supply of hay in July as they roll it into those large 2,000 pound rolls. Last year they had 16 of those rolls and I see them getting a lot more than that this year.
Stella stayed, what I would call "nearby" most of the way. I had to call her a couple of times to keep her from going up into the far corner but she didn't have a problem with it.
Not sure what kind of flowers these are but they look nice so I took a photo of them.
Every spot had to be shared today ... no way one was eating something without the other.
They both came running when I called them and if you look closely you will see both of them have their ears flopping and folded over the top of their heads.
This is where Stella debated whether to ignore me calling her name and veer right or decide to obey and follow me and Sadie.
She ended her walk with a short trot at the end to the house. Then ... more sleep was taken as soon as she came inside.
Under the "other stuff" part of the title, it was time for a new toy. I had not bought anything in almost a year or longer with the Nikon D3200 Bundle being the last thing purchased. No need for new computers, I don't miss the iPhone but during the past few months or so I had thought of trading my Mini Cooper S or selling it. The FJ is here to stay because I love driving it and it's the perfect vehicle for the hounds and any traveling.
When I saw an old photo of my 2003 BMW Z4 I had a few years ago, I kept thinking to myself I wish I had not sold that car on an impulse. I only drove it on good weather days, so not a lot of miles per year, but it was fun to drive down the highway with the top down. I sold it during a time I was downsizing everything ... I always regretted getting rid of it.
For a couple of months I had been glancing online off and on to see if anything interested me. It wasn't until Friday night when I went to my friends car lot website where I have bought almost all of my cars, that something did interest me. There it was ... a silver 2003 Z4 3.0i.
I started doing some research on what it was worth, it's history (CarFax) and looked at other's that age within a 500 mile radius. This was a good deal, with low mileage and only ONE owner for the life of the car. It was serviced on a regular basis at the BMW dealership ... it all seemed good.
Time to spend the weekend talking myself out of it and reminding myself all the reasons I didn't need it. But that's too logical and I've never been logical ... I like having fun.
So after going to bed last night saying I wasn't going to trade for that Z4 ... I get up this morning and after only one cup of two coffees ... I call my friend and to tell him I'll be over to test drive it. Quiet, purrs like a kitten and a nice smooth 6-speed manual transmission.
So I gave him my 2006 Mini Cooper S he sold me a little over 3 years ago and he gave me this:
I always knew there was a reason I kept the car cover for the Z4 instead of including it with the car when I sold it. It's good to be back in a real sports car instead of a gokart. Mini Coopers are great cars and I enjoyed mine but it was time for a new toy.
Everything is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.