Blog Sidebar & NC Hurricane Survival

Just a short post this morning to show we still have a pulse and I have made some changes to my blog sidebar, plus adding more posts to fill in the empty space that was created with the long list of "blog topics". I will go through and decrease that list to something more readable. 

This was Walter a year ago, so you can see not much has changed the past year as far as morning routines. I will post later today with hounds and dogs photos but just wanted to get this post out this morning as an update. 

I May Ruffle Feathers Today

I am talking off topic today. Long and Rambling Nothing about yard work where we need rain badly and nothing in the forecast for weeks. Nothing about hounds or dogs besides Ava is growing and Henry's growth on his tail is not growing. We go to the vet on Monday to get a second opinion. What I may talk about may ruffle feathers and my policy always has been when I write that way ... I don't care.

I Do My Best Work Supervised

Walter came out to check out the activities Friday morning. The yard still needed another day to dry out but I had other projects to do. In the U-section in the back I had started the annual weed pulling. I needed to get up a look at my gutters in that section because of the rain water coming over the edge last week that I photo'd here. With gutter guards I couldn't imagine what had slipped inside the small holes to plug up the two downspouts.

Perfect Weather For The Hounds & Dogs

Perfect weather today for the hounds, dogs and I. They played most of the morning while I rested horizontally most of the morning. Not sure why but I am dragging in the mornings any more. Coffee isn't helping so I will have to change to a different brand. Mowed the yard again, which happens about every four days this time of year. No plans tonight but watching a little of the Reds game. The scheduled starting pitcher drives me insane so I may be moving to a book or a movie soon after the game starts.

The Hounds Love Ava

I think Ava is growing by the hour. Again this morning she sprinted for her food bowl while Watson took his on the left side of the room. It was a cold and rainy day, much like the PNW days I experienced on Whidbey Island many years ago. Walter is becoming more active with photos below. The hounds love Ava and she loves them. She is such an easy puppy to live with. [Comments have to be moderated for a short time. Blog hit by spammers. Just post your comment once, you won't see it post because I will have to approve it before it is seen. Thanks]

Some Old Hound And Dog Photos

It might say it's 51° this afternoon but it still feels cold while having a day of light rain off and on with an overcast damp feeling to the air. So when I checked the photo import folder for recent hound and dog photos, I did not find any new ones since my last post. I felt like blogging today so I went back into my photo library and found a few older ones.

This is Heidi in July 2011. It was one of her photos on her adoption ad at Basset Hound Rescue. I made arrangements to drive up to met the foster mom and her in a parking lot in back of shopping center in Merrillville Indiana. She was happy to sit on the extended bed in the passenger seat for our 4 hour drive home.

First Snow For 22-23 Winter

We were warned Thursday when it was 79° that snow was possibly a week from Friday.(18th). By last night's tv weather news, they changed that forecast to snow starting around 4:00am this morning and stopping before daylight. He was right and wrong. It did start around 4am but it has not stopped snowing a little more than 4 hours later. Will it start melting this afternoon when the temps are in the mid 30's for the high temp of the day?

If you look really close to the left side of the photo, just left of the fence post is Watson outside at 5am checking things out. 26° was too cold to stand with the door open to take photos.

Fall Has Arrived

It doesn't matter if I like hot weather. Fall temps are here, it's cold in the mornings and I have already broken down in early October turned he heater on just long enough to heat the house a little to take the edge off.  It will take all day outside to get to the predicted high of 78°.

Leaves Hounds & Walter

 

Blogger is at it again as it listed my photos in reverse order than I sent them. In this post that will not matter because it's going to be all photos about Walter, the hounds and leaves. Leaves are starting to fall and change color. As you can see Walter was not interested in getting his photo taken.

It Was Paint Primer Day Today

With rain yesterday morning before we woke up that lasted until 10am, painting the porch was not an option. Now today some readers might think I am insane deciding to paint today because our weather was going to be in the 90s today and Wednesday and then on Thursday the temps drop to highs in the 70s. I started today thinking I could get the primer on the porch before 11am when it would be hot and then in the afternoon I could move inside and start painting my living room while in the AC air.

The Dog Bone Story Continued

The thing about puppies, there is never a dull moment. When two hounds have decided they are friends and are attached everywhere they go, there is never a dull moment. So when Walter woke up behind my computer desk chair this morning and went running for the backyard I KNEW something was going on with Henry and Watson. What could it be now? The bones they fought over are still inside and up high, out of their reach. They have no interest in any of the bones I had before this past Monday.

They have a toad cornered and neither of them wants to share what they have found.

Henry Unafraid Of Thunder

While the winds picked up Friday afternoon it looked like the storms were blowing north over the Huachucas and we'd miss some rain we needed. The loud thunder was rolling and it was a true test to see if this new puppy was going to be afraid or be a storm trooper. Henry passed with flying colors as he roamed the backyard while Stella, Heidi, Walter and I sat on the patio enjoying the breeze.

People have asked what he is doing in a yard of nothing but rocks. His nose is superb and he is finding every piece of small wood that Walter missed a few months ago. At times he will just lay there and enjoy the warm rocks. Back at the ranch his outdoor kennel had stone just like this yard. Once he walked back through his doggie door it was cold air conditioning.

Blogger is acting up again putting the photos in reverse order ... I'll wait a while to finish this post and see what happens later.

 

While rained outside Walter and Henry had a very active wrestling match inside. It's good to see Walter take it easy with a puppy that he could smash if he wanted to. He does exactly what Stella did to him a few weeks ago ... lets Henry pull and chew at his excess skin, climb all over him and keeps him playing when you think they are finished.

They played until totally exhausted. I saw Henry getting a little more aggressive toward the end. Once he gets a little bigger it could be interesting.

Finishing this post Saturday morning ... Blogger put the photos back in order when I loaded them but then it went back to it's new way of spacing between photos and the paragraph. You can see the difference between the starting paragraphs and the ones after my Blogger announcement. It might not bother you but that kind of stuff drives me insane. 

I'll let you know if I stop blogging here and move. It never changes and Blogger has had MONTHS to get this crap fixed.
 

A Trip To See The Puppies

I had reserved a time for this morning to drive over to Old West Bassets and see the litter of 10 puppies a few days shy of 4 weeks old. There are five males and five females. I had decided before I sent in my deposit I was looking for a mahogany and white male. With hopes of one having a laidback attitude and not the 'king' of the litter. It took about an hour and a half to make the trip and the morning weather was perfect to drive with all the windows down.

The bassets are living on a ranch about 6 miles off the paved road. Beautiful country and a place you'd think you could camp but this is all privately owned land. I had looked at the route on the satellite map last weekend to get a good idea where I was going. My maps on my iPhone were pretty accurate if I were to follow the verbal directions. Out of all the puppies I have brought home at 8 weeks old over the years, this is one of the few times I was able to see, pickup and hold, talk to and look into the eyes of the puppy I thought I wanted. But there were a few things that would have to fall in place for me to get that. I was #5 in line to choose out of the 10 buyers and am #2 in line for those of us that wanted males.

Before entering the area of the puppies and their parents I scrubbed the bottom of my shoes on a rubber mat that had a disinfectant and water. This would prevent any chance of me bringing parvo to the litter from the ground I had been walking on back at home. Most were sleeping as I accepted the invite to sit in the box with all ten pups if I wanted. The male I wanted is that mahogany and white straight ahead in the photo at the bottom of the picture with a little black on his tail. In the upper photo he is the mahogany and white in the middle. I thought I had taken a lot of photos of him today but when I got home I found out this was the only one ... instead I had a lot of hands on time with him.

One of the people that wanted a female had changed their mind and chose a male. They had chosen the male that the person before me wanted. So I figured my chances just got better. If they wanted a tri-color (black and whites at this age) then most likely they would want that one on the far left against the little boy's hand. That would leave me next in line to choose and I'd have the pup I wanted since the first day I saw photos of the litter.

1 week old -- since they don't have names, they are called "color of their collar male or female" Tan Male was my guy. They were a laid back group of puppies. Not fighting, no yelping but all of that might come next week as they get older. As I sat down on the wooden ledge 'tan male' walked right over to me, I picked him up and our eyes met. All of the puppies had beautiful markings. All of them have all the attributes they are suppose to have, even long ears at 3.5 weeks old. When I held him with his back against my hand he didn't fight to get away or move. He just laid there relaxed. While talking to Michelle he fell asleep in my hands. He reminded me of a basset hound I had once before. Some of you know who that is.

1 week old face

Two weeks old -- I still wanted to look at the other males and even the females. I wanted to see how they reacted when held, or petted. Would they stay around or try to get away. ALL of them stayed around and enjoyed the attention they got. I saw again that I could never be breeder because I could never sell the puppies ... I'd want to keep all of them.

2 weeks old face. Looking directly in the camera for the 2nd week in a row is a plus with me. It's not for blogging purposes although I bet he will love getting his picture taken in the future. He didn't seem shy and that is another plus with me. He wasn't the litter bully which I saw in a bloodhound litter once. Yet he was active while a lot of the others were still sleeping.

3 weeks old. The camera setting were a little off in that weeks photos. He was not that light of mahogany and after a half week most of the black you see was gone. That is normal for mahogany colored bassets.  All bassets should have a white tip on their tails. It is to see them better in a field when they are tracking rabbits and you cannot see them through the tall grass. It is the correct asset for a basset, the white tail tip.

3 week old face. Again not quite that light but looking directly into the camera again, something that a lot of the ten puppies did not do.

While I sat watching and touching different puppies I had two of the females lay next to my shoe to sleep. One put her head in the dog dish filled with kibble and slept. Would I have a 3rd dog in the house with the same shade of red/tan/mahogany? I would if I decided to chose "Tan Male".

Well I was 100% positive of the pup I wanted. It was the real reason I made the trip today. THEN she said "I have something that might confuse you a little in making a decision. I have a female from another litter of 4 that was born a week before. One person chose this female and then decided to wait until the next litter."

As you can see, she is beautiful. Her dad is all black like that. Some of that black on her hips will turn the same color as her head. As soon as I picked her up and she didn't fight to get away ... I thought I as holding a "mini Heidi". I began to wonder if I wanted her instead of the tan male. It was a good thing that Walter was at home, not that he would have not liked being here ... but if I did not have Walter I have no doubt that I would have taken this female and the Tan Male I came to see.

About the time I was getting ready to leave one of their 'pet' basset hounds was barking at the cows to stay in the shade and give me room to turn around.  As I drove slowly past the basset after making a looping turn, I saw the basset hound walk away from the cows toward the house ... he/she had done their job I guess of controlling the cows.

The person on the list before me had not chosen yet but Michelle had left a message for them. She also thought they would chose the black collar male. I told her I had some things to think about on my drive home .. which pup to choose when I thought for sure I knew which one I wanted, until I saw that female. I already knew which one I should choose. I had already picked a name even before the litter was born. I wanted him the first time I saw that 1 week old picture. Plus the way he walked right over to me when I sat down inside the box. All the signs and energy were there to make the choice pretty obvious.

Of course when I got home after being around a total of 14 puppies, 6 adult basset hounds and their one spaniel all three of mine attacked at my shoes, ankles and hands with their noses trying to identify all of those hound smells left on me. Water was trying to wag his tail but he doesn't really have one to wag so Heidi and Stella made it up for him. Their tails were going a mile a minute as their noses were pressed against my shoes, or ankles.  After things settled down, Stella decided it was perfect time and temperature for an afternoon siesta. Too hot for Walter so he didn't last long.

I'm not sure for how long but all of us fell asleep on the floor in the computer room. I sat on the floor with all of them because I had to explain to them where I had been and what was going to happen at the end of August. While I was "passed out" on the floor, Michelle had sent me an email telling me the person in front of me had chosen the pup we thought they would, the "Black Collar Male". So "Tan Male" was mine if I wanted him. She said I could have a couple of days to think about it since the female from the other litter had come into play.

While the hounds slept, I spent another hour looking through photos of both the female pup and the tan male. Would two males in the house get alone? I have had three males in the house once and they all got a long and they did not have contest marking their spot all over the house like I expected they might. I doubt that Walter cares what the pup is just as long as it can keep up the pace when playing. Walter will be a few days shy of 7 months old with the 2 month old basset walks into the house.

What will Heidi's reaction be? Will being the same breed make a difference to her or is she just a 100% loner? I still knew which pup I should and wanted to choose. About an hour after she had emailed me I replied back to her that I wanted the Tan Male.

I forgot to mention that during our one hour visit, she mentioned that both of her breeding females came from a basset hound breeder in Indiana. I had never heard of the town she mentioned so I looked it up when I got home. It is in northern Indiana, small rural town. I lived in the southern part of Indiana. The mom and dad of Tan Male were laid back and friendly bassets. They were also LARGE size bassets, bigger than Heidi and Winston. When she let them out to visit me they came right up to me to get petted and get some attention.

Walter spent the rest of his day chewing the last small piece of his cow hoof. It's almost too small and I am going to have to throw it away before swallows it. Yes that small piece is hidden in his mouth in all of his photos.

So it turned out to be a good day. I got to see a LOT of basset hound puppies, met the breeder and a couple of her kids that gave all the puppies as much attention as they wanted. Stella got to sleep under the sun, Walter got to chew his hoof in private and Heidi got to sleep all afternoon in the air conditioned bedroom besides having lunch. My Reds finally hit a baseball and won a game. I had a big thick steak and enjoyed the fairly strong wind out on the patio.

I will say I was impressed when I stopped for gas at the intersection of Hwy 90 and I-10. It's a good size gas/mini mart and busy. EVERYONE that was out of their cars either filling their vehicles up with gas or going inside to shop WERE WEARING A MASK. Maybe that is why Arizona is seeing a decrease in positive cases and hospitalizations. Whereas my friend went to Sam's Club in Indiana which started their state wide mandate this past Monday and NOBODY was wearing a mask.

I tried the downsizing and minimal living a few years ago. It felt good to get ride of a lot of stuff I had stopped using. But when it comes to dogs, bicycles and cars/trucks it's never been that way. I didn't last more than 10 months with just one vehicle in 2018. I think the last time I had only one hound was in 1990 when Harry and I roamed the PNW and Colorado before moving back to Indiana. Soon after I had a 2nd basset hound and a bloodhound, living with 3-4 hounds  since 1995. 

I guess our dog walks next fall when it's cooler and the two pups are big enough to go with Heidi and Stella will be very interesting and I'm sure there will be a few people that will want to stop us and meet all of them. I am not sure what my 'plan of attack' is to walking 3 hounds and a dog with retractable leashes. Ha Ha

A great sunny day today but I hear thunder now and an alert just told me that lightning is 10 miles away ... all is good in the 'Wild West'.

Walter Keeping Us Active

Walter still fits under the coffee table but just barely. He seems to think that is the best place to cool off after playing with Stella or I. He does like the cool tile floor but I guess there is just something about sleeping on wooden slats that feels better. It wasn't soon after I took this picture that his snoring became stronger and louder. It shows again there wasn't much going on around here. Some baseball on tv and reading books ... plus a lot of time sitting outside enjoying the view behind my house.

I can feel my blogging moving a little later in the day compared to the past week where I was posting something around 8pm or so Eastern time. As the weather becomes nicer I am finding a opening a little after 7pm local time, where I feel like putting something together. Look for the posts to be about this same time of night on the days I post.

Walter is a big talker. More than any bloodhound or basset hound I've had in over 30 years. He likes to growl and bark at himself and many times when I look to see what he is barking at ... he is laying down about to go to sleep. He has learned to let Stella sleep after breakfast which means he heads to the bedroom and drags every one of his chew bones and blankets out into a pile and plays with that stack of things. He will run back and forth in the empty dog crates during this time. I can no longer keep the kitchen towel on the dishwasher handle otherwise he will drag that out to the middle of the backyard.

Heidi has seemed confused this week. She will make a million trips from her bed in the bedroom out to the living room, not staying long in either place before she turnes and goes back in the opposite direction she came from. If she didn't start her day barking and hopping in the air, I'd think something might be wrong with her. Appeitie is normal.

I shot this from inside the bedroom through the screen window this morning. This view never gets old.

While Heidi and Walter started their day I had a text from my friend in Indiana with some computer problems. It's weird because I had a strange thing happen to my iMac yesterday that made me wonder what had snuck it's way into my hard drive. For my compouter I ran Bitdefender to check for any malware and it found nothing. I run that program weekly just to make sure. Her desktop is a Windows PC and will probably need replaced based on what she told me it was doing. She could buy it online but had to make an appointment to pick it up locally at Best Buy.

Walter still is cracking me up when he has to smell something because he will tilt his face so he can press his nose flush with whatever he might be smelling. I have noticed his right front foot is starting to turn a little outward. No signs of any kind of skin allergies so I guess he does not mind his protein being chicken. He looks very healthy. He didn't mind having his ears cleaned with baby wipes the other day.

We are past the periods of rain for a while. I see nothing but sunshine icons on my iPhone weather for the next 10 days. When I say it's perfect weather, that's an accurate description. I like the hot afternoons and cool evenings where I can sleep with the window open.

Is that a litte rain I see down on the border? ... Bisbee to the left.

Last night after Walter and Stella had played for over any hour, wrestling with some chases from the living room to the computer room, Walter was trying to cool off. For a second I thought he was going to sleep on his back as he kept kicking Stella in the head as he tried to find the perfect spot. Once again it wasn't long after I took the picture the loud snoring began.

My friend and I finished talking about her computer problems and moved into diets. She was born a vegetarian and has been one all her life. The interesting thing is the book about Blood Type Diets says that is the correct way for her to eat based on her blood type. As I mentioned the book this morning she said she and her friend in San Diego was talking about the same book last night. A few years ago when I followed that diet I made a spreadsheet of course..

I listed in categories all the food it suggested I eat and colored the food highly recommended in blue. On the other side of the spreadsheet I listed in alphabetical order every food that I could remember buying at the store. It was a long list but I color coded the foods that give me indigestion. Then as I went through the book at that time, I greyed out those foods it told me not to eat. Guess what? It named over 90% of the foods I had already color coded that I had trouble with.

Did I need anymore proof than that?

There is no reason to shove a diet down your mouth if it gives you problems the majority of time. That does not mean I will be eating every meal at The Diner in town or at Sunny D's in Huachuca City, although I'd like to, but it does mean I can add lean beef, skinless chicken and fish back in my diet. Dairy is not a good idea for me and I can attest to that and agree with what the book says. I ate like this a few years ago and felt great with no digestion problems. I'll write about any updates I find in the next month as the way of eating goes into action. I guess I'll find out in 4 months when I have another bloodwork done and I can compare the numbers to last December.

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving early for a roadtrip of an hour and a half. It is out off the grid to a ranch that has the 10 basset hound puppies I am choosing from They will be 4 weeks old this weekend. Since its a reasonable distance I'd like to meet them in person, talk to the breeder and see what kind of reactions the two or three that I have picked out.

I might have mentioned in the past, when I did that with Sadie, I took Winston with me to see what he thought of a bloodhound puppy and what the one I had in mind thought of him. He was only 4 years old at the time. I didn't know it at the time but what I read as a good sign was not what it really meant. A professional bloodhound breeder told me a few years later why I was having problems with Sadie as a puppy.

I thought when she followed me and Winston everywhere we walked, that it was a good sign. The professional breeder told me that meant she was a tracker and would have been adopted out to search and rescue if it was her puppy. And she was a tracker as she explored that whole 7 acre field behind the house daily for the next 10 years. When I was at work, she would get bored and destroy things. She could bend those thick black wires on the largest dog crate like nothing ... I could not even bend them back with a set of pliers. When she was old enough to be left in the house, anytime I was gone over an hour I would return to a house that looked like it had been burglerized.

Another time I read things wrong looking at a young basset hound. He was always away from his littermates. I took that as 'independence' being a good thing. He would not be clinging to me all the time for attention. Little did I know that it meant for the next 13 years he would wander miles away before someone would call me and say that Harry was in their house sleeping. He would bark at the door until the strangers would let him in. LOL Luckily his dog tag was still attached with his name and my phone number.

The Out West Bassets breeder has told all ten of us that she will be able to tell us the puppy's  temperaments and personalities this week. Hard to believe there could be that much difference between littermates but there is. I'll post about my trip with some photos tomorrow.

My zip code is showing the number of active positive COVID cases has decreased a lot the past one to two weeks. We are back down to 47 active cases where it was 81 just a few weeks ago. The mask mandate must be working and at the same time there have been "testing blitzes" for an increase in tests done.

The hounds, the dog and I are fine in the "Wild West".