Rain Rain & More Rain

After a beautiful weekend of weather, it started raining sometime late Sunday night and hasn't stopped as of right now, Tuesday at 8:51am.

It may have stopped a few times yesterday but every time I took the hounds outside for a break, and the time I sprinted to the mailbox, there was light rain at a minimum.

This morning it was raining so hard that Sadie and Stella ran to their spot to pee and then sprinted back to the house. Heidi made an immediate right turn just outside the door and scooted behind the Yews and under the roof overhang. I could tell not only by the sounds of the wind last night (strong) but looking at the Countryman this morning that it had been windy and raining all night.

When it gets this much water I know there has been some heavy rain the past 24 hours. It looks like I will have to spend a few days resetting the edging brickes since the ground has pushed them forward. Ground swell is a killer around this house.

The hounds and I have a little bit of cabin fever this morning. Wunderground is telling me this rain will finally be over today at 11:00am, then we will have three days of sunshine to make sure the ground will be dry enough to handle the predicted 1"-3" of snow on Saturday. Throw in the time change late Sunday night, moving an hour ahead ... it should be an interesting week.

The few times they have predicted snow this year in 'the tropics' it has turned out to be not much more than ground cover. There might have been a day or two with an inch or two of snow but nothing that I can remember.

Looking at the heavy amount of water falling on that red stone tells my my gutter is plugged up with something and not able to drain down the gutter spout. Hard to imagine what that might be since there are no leaves, and I cleaned out the gutters in the fall and on a nice day in January. It might be that the water is backed up due to the large amounts of rain at one time.

I will get up there this afternoon and unplug whatever is the cause. At least the lawns in the neighborhood are getting green. I've never seen as much lawn damage by moles as I have this winter. For the first time that I can remember in 19 years, they have moved to the front yard.

I guess it was the perfect time to play around with blog themes on Wordpress. I changed mine three or four different times on Monday. Looking through the 189 free Wordpress options, I soaked up a ton of data usage. Not this blog, my other one on the sidebar.

When it was all done ... I went back to the same theme (template) I started with over a year ago. Since I have deleted that blog a couple of times and rebuilt it, I don't have many posts there right now. I do have a slide show of 40 photographs of the hounds.

I usually don't watch much tv besides ballgames and an occasional movie. If something shows up interesting on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel then I'll tune in. I have my DVR set to record the new shows as they return to the tv schedule.

One show I really like is Dr. Jeff Rocky Mountain Vet on the Animal Planet station. He does some amazing work and a large amount of customers. I watch my taped version but I think this show is on Saturday nights 9pm eastern time.

Yesterday and today are times I am happy I moved the Z4 to the inside parking space along with the car cover. It was so windy last night the only way the cover stayed on the car was the bungee cord under the car connecting the two grommets on each side of the cover.

So after watching the one hour show of Dr. Jeff, I caught a show I had not seen before but found out later it was in it's 2nd season. They were showing The Last Alaskans, one show after another. I set the DVR to tape them and then after the first hour show I started watching the taped version so I can fast forward through each commercial.

The show was so interesting that I watched 4 straight hours while hearing the wind howl outside and rattling the storm windows. For those of you that live in or travel in small fiberglass trailers and combat those 50-60 mph winds out west ... you are to be commended. In fact any size of RV in those kind of winds at night, you should be commended for what you go through.

Still raining fairly hard at 9:15am.

Sadie of course is sitting at the door way of the computer room, giving me the stare ... wanting her morning walk. But with the amount of rain in the past 24 hours and right now, I believe her walks will be held off for another day. There is nothing good about two bloodhounds with muddy paws that go past their ankles. (About the time I posted this blog post, her kong ball rolled over and hit my chair leg ... the game of fetch had started)

She will toss me one of her bones or balls today to play some indoor fetch. That seems to help with her cabin fever. Heidi has been back in bed since just after her breakfast kibble (normal) and Stella is working out the Nyla Bone before she starts howling for lunch around 11:20am. I'm serious when I say that, she does howl for breakfast and lunch. Maybe sometime I can figure out how to post a recording of her howling here on the blog.

Just to show you the hounds are alive and well ... here are a few pictures of them on Sunday. Heidi made an appearance outside and stayed out while I sat in a chair enjoying the weather and the bloodhounds roamed the field. The biggest news of Sunday, it was hound toenail day. Sadie finally let me cut all of hers in one setting. There is never a problem with Heidi or Stella getting theirs cut because they lay down and roll on their back for me to cut them.

Stella enjoying Sunday afternoon while Sadie runs to her spot out of bounds before I can call her back. I guess I cut back too much of the brush last fall, giving her an open area to access the wooded area.

This was the only picture I took of the hounds on Monday ... light rain, so we were not outside long.

With the weather, not much is planned outside today. I hear the dishes screaming at me, so they will get washed today while the vacuum is yelling behind the closet door. Washing dishes and vacuuming will be the highlights of the day.

Sadie or Stella can change those plans at anytime with more exciting things to do. If that happens the Nikon D3200 will be in my hand recording any interesting things they do.

Thanks for stopping by to check on us. At least it is warm in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana today.

Stella's Out Of Bounds

As we stepped outside in freezing air this morning it was nice to remember this would be the last day of cold weather for a few weeks if not longer.

We took the morning walk between my two cups of coffee. I had all of my internet reading done faster than normal, staying away from any news websites. Of course after Sadie and Stella came back inside from the trip they make after they eat breakfast ... Sadie sat in the doorway giving me the stare that she wanted the walk right then. I had to have at least one cup of coffee before we could do that.

The grass was frozen and I could hear the crunching sound as I walked into the backyard. Slight winds out of the north which is opposite than the normal air flow. That didn't bother either hound this morning. Although I didn't sense the intense focus like they have had these past few days.

I had decided while putting my down parka on that I would let them have total freedom on the walk this morning. I was going to walk my pace, take some pictures and hopefully both of them would be close to me as I returned homed.

I could tell soon after starting the walk that this would be a morning where Stella was in her own little world. Nothing needed to be said because any words from me would be ignored. I kept walking ... it was colder than I had planned for. The coat and gloves were great but the jeans were not keeping the cold air out too well.

As I was about the make the first turn of the walk Stella confirmed she wasn't interested in walking today. It was going to be a morning of protein supplement in the natural way. I didn't want to think about it. Besides, the air from the north was freezing ... wasn't it just a week or so ago I was out in cargo shorts and a t-shirt?

After downloading the pictures from the camera this morning into my Apple Photo program on my iMac ... I wasn't really happy with any of them. Even after editing a little, the colors were pale, nothing stood out from the hounds being active ... all of them seemed dull to me.

Yet, the sky was blue, sunshine and a slight breeze ... it's a nice day without the pictures.

Sadie decided it would be a good time to get some running in. I wasn't to the back of the field yet but close. She sprinted all the way to me, hitting me in the knee with her nose ... letting me know she was there. That is good exercise for her.

There was no sign of Stella anywhere. My eyes scanned the field toward the wooded area behind the neighbors house and she wasn't seen. Although it might look like the field is flat, there is some slight inclines. This morning I found out just how steep some of those inclines are.

I asked Sadie "where's Stella?" ... little did I know at the time she was looking in the right direction but in an area that is way out of bounds for all the hounds.

Finally 'out of the ground' pops Stella. She had walked much farther past the wooded area and was in an area that is definitely out of bounds. The only time she had been this far north was chasing deer and chasing the surprised dog that was walking with my neighbors in the wooded area behind my house last Christmas.

I had no doubt she was scarfing down something as fast as she could before I could get to her. She didn't move and was eating as fast as possible. The closer I got to her, the more leash I was pulling out of my pocket.

It looks like she has a mouthful of something.

She wanted to show you she could still scratch with a leash on.

After walking a few feet, I took the leash off of her and let her slowly walk back to the house. Sadie couldn't figure out what the problem was, but there was still something interesting in the other direction.

I'm not sure what's up for today. I have nothing to do outside but have the urge to go somewhere. At the same time I am not sure I want to fight the traffic. Friday traffic always seems to be a little worse that during the week.

The Mini Countryman is still working out well and I am pleased with the change in vehicles. It is still running at 31mpg for all types of driving. There are times I do wish I still had the Toyota FJ but when you drive as few miles as I do in a year's time, it really doesn't matter what vehicle I have.

I am happy to be back blogging on Wordpress. I found out what may be the problem with my blog traffic although it is a new blog and it takes a few weeks for the search engines to index it. The keyword of 'bloodhound' in the search on Wordpress lists all kinds of blogs for everything that had the word 'bloodhound' in it ... but none of them are about dogs.

Basset Hound blogs seemed to be more popular but a lot of them started and then stopped blogging. From all the 'pros and cons' I read about yesterday, comparing which platform to use ... Blogger or Wordpress ... for what I am doing on this blog I can just stay here.

It was fun playing around yesterday looking at different templates. They call them 'themes' on Wordpress, and so many more to chose from.

After being up for 2-1/2 hours, Sadie has decided this is the day she is going to bug me, bother me, beg for stuff ... she seems restless this morning ... I don't ever remember basset hounds being as driven for attention as bloodhounds are, but that might be because I have two bloodhounds.

I might blog later but right now things are pretty quiet here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Love The Interent

What do I mean the hounds love the internet??? Not really ... the hounds have no idea about the internet nor do they realize just how popular they are online and Facebook. All they care about is food and scents to track.

Their owner?  That's a different story. He doesn't love the internet but he is addicted to it. This morning proved my point once again.

There will be times when the weather is warmer and I have things to do outside where very little time will be spent in front of the computer screen. I have had days in the past where only 200Mb of data have been used in a 24 hour period. So maybe it's not really an addiction but more of a routine.

The hounds didn't mind what I was doing this morning while sitting in front of the computer monitor. Once we head outside they are always ready for another walk. Actually their excitement starts when they see me putting on my coat. Today the down parka was needed. I can't wait to get back to a t-shirt and cargo shorts.

Stella had to stop for a scratching session. This is happening too much lately and I wish I could find out the cause. No fleas or skin irritations have been found.

Once she stopped she was right up there with Sadie. They were really active in their walk this morning and stayed out ahead of me for most of the walk. A couple of times I wondered if they were going to take off on me.

Sadie was sure she had deer scent but her nose couldn't pick up deer near us. I wonder what she heard during the time she stood and stared motionless.

Stella was her happy-go-lucky self this morning. Nothing bothers her. I started to say that nothing excites her but then I remember the times she has chased deer baying all the way and the daily howls when breakfast / lunch are served.

Sadie locked into something strong and was moving so fast in all different directions I was barely able to catch her on camera. She was doing multiple figure eights.

Stella had other ideas, on her own path. I hope to see her ribs disappear in the coming weeks with the recent change in food and increased quantities.

At this point I was almost positive both hounds were going to take off on me. Sadie stopped for a short glance back at me and then took off again.

I yelled pretty loud to get them to stop. Once again they looked in the direction they wanted to go and then back at me. Both of them decided to meet me at the final turn toward home.

Sadie still had the whole field to work as we walked home. She was moving nonstop so the scents must have been strong this morning. The weather was crisp this morning. Although the sun was bright, you could not feel any warmth from it.

When Stella is looking this way, it's not so much what she sees but what she smells and hears.

She finally decided it was time to go home disappointed and there would be no deer chasing today, at least not this morning.

Sadie on the other hand was going to track stuff all the way to the house. Neither one stopped to eat anything again this morning. That is a nice change to the daily walks.

It's cold today, mid 30's but as you see it's beautiful again here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Back to my internet discussion ... my plan today was to spend all day away from any electronics. No computer, no iphone, and no tv.

After the first 15 minutes or while making my morning coffee I thought to myself ... why?? What's the point?

The fact is I will do other things on the computer today while NOT connected to the internet. At the same time I have some questions today that I know a quick search on the internet will give me not only answers but a long list of sites where I can read more information.

The thought of 'taking the day off' from the internet might be from the book I am currently reading called The End of Absence by Michael Harris. I have not read that far into the book but it discusses the changing world of being constantly connected online and how to reclaim what we are losing or have lost.

I had another idea this morning of moving my blog to Wordpress. That did not work out well the last time I tried to move 6 years of posts. They have a different platform than Blogger, different coding. It is almost impossible to move to their .com site yet if I were to buy a domain and use their .org side of the house it's pretty easy to move everything. Yet it does work if you transfer a Wordpress blog to Blogger.

Just like everything else, I like parts of each blogging service and I dislike certain parts of each blogging service. So unless I get really bored today and decide not to read books I might give it another try and see what happens.

The hounds hope to get a 2nd walk in today. We only did one yesterday but with the sunshine out and the ground a little more solid instead of muddy ... chances are good for another walk later this afternoon. The late afternoon will bring warmer temps.

The sun is bright right now in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Live Writer Update and Storm Preparation

It must be the weather, I feel like writing blogs today and this is my 2nd post of the day.

My quest to find out all the information I could about Live Writer was short and to the point. I had forgot from my previous research that it is a Microsoft PC based program, not for Apple Macs.

I did look at alternatives to Live Writer for Macs, plus something called Open Live Writer, but even at the end in the FAQ section they admitted their program was not fully coded for use on any Mac products.

I ran into a blogger that had just moved to a Mac computer from a PC after "living on Live Writer" ... he listed an app that would work for Mac's but it was internet based and when I tried loading my blog into the program, ScribeFire did not play well with Blogger and wouldn't load the blog for it to work.

He suggested what I always thought was the best solution for writing, editing and formatting blog posts offline ... Word. I have the Mac version of Microsoft Office for all the Excel spreadsheets I use, so Word is available. I have used that before, then you copy and paste into Blogger when you return online ... but it has problems with pictures.

I took this next picture not because of the trees or skies but for the first time in all the years I lived here (19+) I had not noticed the tall Sycamore tree with the bright white bark. Maybe I have and forgot but today that white tree trunk really stood out.

As I was reading about all the 16 different alternatives for Live Writer for Mac users, my thoughts turned to a new Wordpress Blog. It must be the weather, where I am stuck inside and have only a couple of choices of activity. I am always in the mood in bad weather to start a new blog and I love Wordpress templates to work with. I should have never deleted the blog I had there this year named Living with Hounds or Life with Hounds. Once you delete a blog on Wordpress dot com, you never get it back.

Looking at the weather site Intellicast, a huge storm moved south of us. The rain had stopped but I could still hear how wet it was from cars passing on the highway. The small forecast section said I was headed for damaging winds, large hail, and a possible tornado tonight. With those high winds coming from the south I am always concerned about the last 100' tall Sycamore tree that stands by the driveway.

The last 100' Sycamore tree that was pulled out of the ground like a weed in 2008, fell through the fence and was tall enough to reach the other side of the front yard. I looked at another weather site called Wunderground and saw that the next rain would be around 7pm with 44% chance of rain ... that's when I am tuning into the IU basketball game so there is a chance my Directv signal will be knocked out depending how strong the storm is.

Yet at Midnight throughout the rest of the morning into Wednesday, the 98% chance of rain and storms looks to be the time period for high damaging winds. I'd rather see them in daylight rather than after midnight.

As you see from the pictures, Sadie and Stella went outside to check the condition of the field. It looks dry but with the paws prints going across the carport floor I could see it would be too wet and muddy if we were to take a walk. While they did that I put the car cover back on the Z4, connected the bungee cord under it to each side of the cover to prevent it from blowing off tonight. I also put my chair inside so there is nothing that can blow around causing damage tonight ... just in case.

I'm sure Stella will do a little pacing tonight when the storms do start. In the past she has been pretty good and once she realizes that things are going to be okay for her, she has laid down and slept through most of the storms we have had.

I was surprised that Sadie did not give me the look or stare down telling me she wanted to go for a walk. Instead she trotted back to the house without any begging to stay outside.

It's close to lunch time for the hounds and I think I will spend the afternoon reading my two books from the library and may even look at Wordpress again and rebuild the blog I had before. It got very little traffic and I mean very little ... but I liked it because I kept the content to just two to three sentences and then 5-10 photos.

The quality of the photos were better compared to Blogger because Google will compress them once they are loaded into the blog. There were a few days it was nice just to post pictures and that was all. I thought it would work for many readers here because I think most come here to see pictures of the hounds instead of reading my rambling.

That did not prove to be the correct assumption.

Last week I was mentioning how great this weather was for February but I read my posts in February 2016 and the weather was almost identical on the same dates of the month.

Well Stella is standing beside my office chair with her head bowed to let me know she is hungry and she can't remember her last meal of 4 hours ago. Sadie is in the doorway giving me the stare that she wants to eat. I'll have to go wake Heidi up but once she knows food is involved she will be instant energy.

I hope that I DO NOT have any "post storm" pictures to post here tomorrow.

A Seattle weather day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.