Stella Starts A New Week

With the cold temperatures settled in Stella has not officially named it winter yet. There are a few days next week she will be back in temperatures of the high 60's. In either kind of weather she is still the best 'beggar for food' that I have ever seen. She is quiet about it and that look you see in the above photo is her patented "I'd like to have that" look.
My curiosity increased enough today that I did a search on Google for the winter weather predictions here in 'the tropics'. I found sites that cut their detail into my zip code. All I will say is, it was good to see no temperatures in single digits. That is good enough for me.

Stella showed once again this morning that she continues to improve from last spring by running more, acting more like her old self inside and outside. I had planned again to let her do her own thing on this walk this morning and she was more than interested in keeping up with Sadie.

Even though ... Sadie was beginning to wonder if Stella and I were ever going to get started on this walk or not.

Once Stella saw how far Sadie was, who had disappeared around the first turn, she took off running to catch up. With Sadie out of view she obviously had found something very good, something that Stella could not ignore.

By the time I reach that first turn whenever the hounds have disappeared, only one of two things normally happened. They have stopped like they did this morning ... or they are running full speed toward the back of the field tracking a deer scent.

No deer this morning though. They had come and gone hours before we made it outside. I am beginning to wonder if the light ATV traffic has scared most of the deer away? I haven't seen one deer since the ATV traffic increased, although it does not happen every day.

I see where a few of the bloggers I follow are doing their annual migration to warmer temps in the Southwest. Some of them have already arrived. I've talked before that when I made the decision to give Stella a new home that my traveling plans would change drastically with two bloodhounds.

We made that trip to Colorado and Utah for a week in June 2015 but that was with two basset hounds and one bloodhound, Stella had not arrived yet. Big difference. It took some work with only two hands and three hounds but overall it was workable with two smaller basset hounds.

Yet Sadie did what any normal bloodhound would do when she smelled an animal near the tent. She dug so hard at the corner of my tent to get out sometime around 4am to see the antelope, it made a hole in the seem right above the floor.

The reason I know it was antelope that was driving her crazy, I saw more than five of them the next morning waving goodbye to us as we left our campsite. Sadie was loud enough trying to get out of the tent that she woke me up, along with Winston and Heidi.

With two large, strong bloodhounds, then Heidi ... I've always thought this field is the best place for them. I've tried walk Sadie and Stella before with two separate 6' standard leashes like I would have to traveling ... it's not possible once they find a scent that makes them take off running.

Stella is a good FJ rider but once she is outside the FJ in a different place than home (the vet) she gets quite skittish and tries to run away. She literally freaked out the last time I took her with me to buy dog food at T&T Feed & Seed.

Due to staying up late last night watching one of the wildest baseball games of the World Series, I see that my mind is all over the place writing this post. Sorry for all the misdirection but I really have no idea what to write about this morning.

So I think I'll stop babbling and post the photos I have left from this mornings walk.

I think this is about all of the fall colors we will get this year.

Haven't moved from the time I approached them, walked past them and made the final turn home. I had to walk back to tug at Stella's collar to get her to move back to the path with us.

They seemed to think it was another successful walk this morning as they trotted ahead. They prefer the alternate path home we started last month.

Stella was looking serious this morning as she finished her walk.

Sadie needed to check out one more thing before she walked into the yard.

Stella hears the St. Bernard barking at her from across the highway. So far in the 26 months I've had Stella, she has never ran across the highway to check out the huge dog barking at her.

Time to get warm, take a short morning nap and wait for lunch to be served.

The time has been flying with baseball, football and now college basketball being on tv almost every night of the week. I can still get a couple of things checked off of my 'to do' list before bad weather arrives. Otherwise, remaining items will be moved to the 2018 To Do list.

I now hear rain outside here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Can The Hounds Handle This Pace?

Just a couple of months short of 3 years, "we knew the job would be dangerous when we took it" ... retirement that is.

I knew I would be leaving days full of meetings, and deadlines to becoming a full-time 'doorman' for the hounds. Their day might change a little, while mine would be changing a lot. There was Winston at that time, no Stella. Only one bloodhound unlike now. Yet, Stella has adapted to the fast pace of retirement very well.

Long time blog readers know there isn't a lot of change from day to day here in 'the tropics'. This fast paced lifestyle even bores me at times and I find it hard to blog about it. Seeing all three hounds everyday is a motivating factor to keep blogging. Seasons determine how much gets done around here. One of four of them will determine if we are hibernating or doing new projects outside ... with some of those projects happening every spring. As long as the weather is good, we get two hound walks in per day.

Stella continues her new routine of walking with Sadie and I. She might lag back a little but now it's only for her to stop so she can scratch what is itching her. In between the walks all three of the hounds sleep most of the time, unless it's time for lunch. I read today the average amount of time a dog sleeps is 16 hours per day, that seems like a lot. They let me know when I have gone past meal time.

I'm not sure of the reason but it seems to me that both hounds have lost some of their energy lately. Is that because they feel it's still winter as they wait for the hot sunshine in the spring and summer to get them running more, playing more? We will see and it's something I have to keep an eye on I think. Otherwise they act normal for bloodhounds and bassets.

They didn't spend a lot of time in the far right corner this morning. Just a quick run through to check out some smells and they were back up with me. It was nice this morning, mid 40's, sun was out. There are many consecutive days in the 60's about 3 days away ... that should carry us through the month of February and very hard to believe after three months of winter.

It might be because they are female hounds but there has never been a fight between Sadie and Stella when they find the same thing in the field or eat the same kibble only a few feet apart. That's good because I am not sure I could break them up due to their size. Not only are they big but strong. Heidi holds her own when it comes to eating. Her bowl is a good 6' feet away from the larger hounds.

On the way back this morning I saw Stella behind us itching whatever is bothering her lately. Without calling her, she ran to catch up with Sadie and I. The leash has been in my pocket every walk but has not been used in a while. It would only take a deer chase to change this laidback pace.

I've had a slow leak in the rear tire of the Z4. I have been putting air into the tire on a more frequent basis, so I ran it over to the local tire shop today between hound walks to see what they could find. It was just a small bead leak and an easy fix.

Stella has been on a record pace lately as far as NOT causing damage while I am gone. It's been over two months now since her last separation anxiety attack. I hope she has realized that this is where she lives and that I will return after those times I leave the house. At 18 months living here, it is the longest she has lived anywhere in her 7 years.

To some it would be a pretty boring Tuesday but it's the norm around here. I have a lot of things I want to do this spring and summer around the house so it will be busier than last summer. With Stella's desire to 'drift away' while outside, I will have to put her on the 80' tether in the field while I work. She doesn't mind it.

This afternoon's walk was about as slow as you can imagine. Sadie walked close to me most of the the walk, not far enough away to take any pictures. Stella didn't run but walked most of the way a few paces behind us. I swear I can hear her dragging her feet when she walks that slow.

I've spent more time on the computer this week doing some reading and research, therefore my book reading has decreased a lot compared to the past two weeks. Maybe it's the subject matter that has slowed me down.

The reminder from the Cincinnati Reds page on Facebook tells me opening day is only 48 days away. Hard to believe they started spring training yesterday with pitchers and catchers, with the rest of the team starting in a few days ... with spring training games in a couple of weeks. It seems like MLB season gets longer each year.

The rest of our afternoon didn't change much. The hounds went back to sleep after their 2nd walk. I grabbed a salad and went back to reading on the internet while watching traffic on the highway outside the large window.

I was wondering if it will snow sometime in March? What did I tell you, it's a furious pace to try to keep up with.

One of the best winters ever here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hard To Believe It's Friday

Most of the days seem the same during retirement. I remember while working that Friday was a great day because it was the start of a weekend and I LOVED weekends. It always 'felt' like Friday. Not anymore. That's fine though because I enjoy each day with good health and freedom. I guess you could say in some way for the past 18 months I've been living a "hounds life".

Our routines are consistently the same, most of the time. I admit though I do ask myself at times if I am living or just existing. I had plans after retirement when I first saw Glenn's article on Yahoo Business page, on a Friday in October 2011. I knew people traveled all over the place in RVs, many of them pass by my house. What I did not know until that day was just how many people lived full-time in their RVs and how many people traveled full-time in their RVs. The more blogs I read after that the more I wanted to do it.

So as I read more blogs, my retirement date changed from 'whenever' to the age of 62. Instead of staying where I am now, I started getting plans to travel, maybe sell out and move west where I had spent 20+ years of my life. Long time readers of my blog remember all my ideas, going back and forth on plans, etc. I'll not bore you with the details. For new readers all of that is documented in my past posts listed on the right side under 'Archives'.

So yesterday afternoon was just like most afternoons in my schedule. No plans, just do things at random. As I took the hounds outside after their meal, camera in hand, I thought I'd get the rake out of storage just in case I decided to rake some leaves. I sat the camera down and by the time I got to the backyard I decided to rake a small section. That lead to the whole back yard. That's how things go most of the time in my life of retirement.

There wasn't that many leaves but still quite a few. Unlike last year when I left them until the end after all the leaves had fallen off the trees. Last year at times I was walking in piles of leaves that were over three feet tall. It turned into multiple days of work to get rid of all of them.

I had a thought this year of doing a little every day. It only took 55 minutes to rake the backyard and burn those that were collected. There are still more leaves on the trees than on the ground so I know there is a lot of work ahead. I may have raked them yesterday but I might end up using my leaf blower next time and either mulching them or blowing them into a pile to burn.

Stella seems to influence the other hounds into laying in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Always before Winston and Sadie were always in the searching mode but while I raked the backyard yesterday all four hounds laid in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Heidi enjoyed it so much she stayed outside in the sun until I went out an hour later to bring her inside.

This morning was the same normal routine. Is it living or existing? With a college football game not starting on tv until 10:35pm last night, I was up until 3:30am and basically forced myself to go to bed instead of staying up all night. The game was over around 2am but I stayed up after the game to read news, sports, blogs then some of my book. I played around on my blog and changed the profile pictures of three of the hounds. I started to change my profile but I don't have any idea what to write, so I stopped where I did.

It's another beautiful day today, just like this past week. I am happy where I am, I enjoyed the trip we took last summer and know there are more trips planned in the future even with a 4th hound. There will be a few adjustments for storage as I had planned even before getting Stella. I might also get a bigger tent, one that I can stand in and a 8'x8' floor. I'm not sure when that will happen. Weather and finances will most likely dictate my decision.

Speaking of finances, I see where I will not be getting a pay raise this year with social security nor my government retirement check. The 'experts' claim the price of gasoline has decreased enough to validate that decision, that it cost less to live this past year so we can pay for that next year. Yet, I see the price of groceries, eating out, non food essentials going up in price every few weeks when I shop. How do they account for that?

Stella has been here long enough she is now starting to demand things like any good bloodhound does. She whines a little when she wants to eat. She will sit by my desk staring at the wall with her eyes barely open when she wants something. She is jealous and wants all the attention when I pet the other three hounds. She has claimed the couch as hers and I should feel lucky I have somewhere to sit while watching ballgames. Here is a photo of her "wanting something".

Back to that question of living or existing. Sure my retirement life could be a lot more exciting. At the same time it is exactly what I thought it would be before I read or even knew about any RV blogs. I've made the decisions I've made for some reasons I discussed here on the blog and a few reasons that are private. Basically I enjoy every day whether I do nothing but hangout or I decide on spur of the moment to go somewhere or rake the backyard.

In retirement it's the freedom that is enjoyable ... whether on the road traveling ... or doing what you want when you want at home living in a stick's 'n bricks. To me, that's living ... not just existing. I'm sure the hounds love their routine, their sleeping spots that never change, and dinner time the same every day. They have enough area in back to exercise their noses and stimulate brain cell activity ... this photo of Sadie shows there is a LOT of brain cell activity going on.

The two bloodhounds are finding out they need to play everyday ... inside or outside. At least three of the hounds crave that daily walk with Heidi doing the walk only when she feels like it.

Winston is just Winston ... he never changes from one day to the next. He has been as laidback as he is now since the day he showed up at 8 weeks old.

Heidi is feeling better and is looking better. Even though it has not been the recommended 5 weeks before improvement can be seen using the probiotics supplement. I see that her skin is looking better plus her energy levels is getting back to what she was last year before all of these health issues. She is spending more time outside.

I was thinking last week that a possible reason she is not gaining her weight back is because of her diet. Her diet of no grain food. I thought of my diet change in May when I went back to eating red meat, fish and chicken along with veggies ... but no grains. I lost weight and have maintained that 20 lbs loss after 5 months. "No grains" ... If I lost weight and maintained that loss, maybe that is why she is not gaining her weight back as her skin and health improves.

I have a close friend that emailed me yesterday after seeing Heidi's picture, saying that maybe she would gain weight by putting her back on a dog food diet that included the rice, barely ... other good grains. We were thinking the same way.

So I am going to give that a try. I've started the diet change immediately after going out to get her some Fromm dog food that includes grains with duck and duck meal as the main protein source. The other 3 hounds are on Fromm's Senior food to maintain their weight. I wanted Heidi to have a lot of fat in her diet along with high protein.

I'll note any changes in my spreadsheet along with photos. She is feeling better and is also returning to be demanding as the hound that barks for lunch for her and all the other hounds.

Another great day in retirement, even in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.