Heidi Continues To Improve

The weather in "the tropics" of southern Indiana is simply amazing right now. Everyday is sunny, highs in the low 80's with a nice breeze and lows in the 50's. The hounds love this weather as much as I do. Heidi in particular. I hope I am correct in thinking that the more she wants to go outside shows she is improving.

I think it's been too soon to expect any kind of skin improvement after a week of half doses of Probiotics, when they said it would take almost five weeks to see any changes. Still some customers have seen skin changes after a week. Is she one of those customers?

As you can see there is no redness, swelling or raw spots. Her front paws are almost full of hair finally. Her stomach is normal skin color and tone. Her skin yesterday and today looks better than it has been in some time ... many months actually.

Since I live near a high speed highway, just down the hill, the hounds have never been allowed to roam in the front yard. 99% of the time they follow that. Heidi rarely goes further than just inside the flowerbeds. Yesterday was different.

While the other three hounds were enjoying the sun after their daily meal that is usually between 1-1:30pm, I couldn't find Heidi. She wasn't in back, wasn't at the door wanting to go back inside the house nor was she sitting or walking near the Mini Cooper S. As I turned the corner to go to the front yard I see this:

She has been there before in the past even though she has heard me tell her 'no' before when I have seen her walk that direction. That just seems to be her spot outside. She has never gone down by the highway but at times will walk around the north end of the house.

Are You Going To Make Me Move?

Of course after about an hour of not seeing Heidi, Winston decided to see where she was. The concern among the other hounds is that Heidi is getting her additional kibble when they are not around. Now, Winston also knows he is not suppose to be in the front yard but this week he has declared it "Ignore Him Week" ... so he proceeded to walk to Heidi, check to make sure she was ok and then walked past her to explore new smells in the front yard.

Winston has been down to the highway ... at 10 weeks old ... stopping traffic as he was laying in the sunshine on the hot pavement in the middle of the road. Luckily highway drivers showed enough concern to stop and try to rescue him. Lesson learned.

Sadie and Stella have made it their daily ritual this week to start playing just a few steps outside the door. That usually happens during their 2nd trip outside, after Sadie comes to tell me she wants to go outside. Those play periods don't last long before they return inside to fall asleep soon after.

Of  course before Sadie went back inside she had to have a breakfast of dirt. She picked up that habit from Winston. I am not sure what the attraction is.

Later in the afternoon for a short break it was another chance to enjoy this cool sunshine.

Sadie Is Always To Busy To Lay Down

It's really hard to blog right now because I am not doing anything ... literally zip, nada ... just hanging out enjoying the weather. It's going so slow that I might start raking leaves as they drop to the ground instead of waiting for all of them to fall, then deal with extremely large piles of leaves. There is always hope that high winds will blow them out of the yard, but that rarely happens.

That's about it for today in "the tropics".

Other Blog Photos Make Me Want To Travel

Winston Wondering If I Will Pull Weeds Again

It's been great weather here in "the tropics" but I seem to be wasting my days away. We spend time outside but not all day and not working projects. The trips are based on when the hounds or I want to go outside. The camera is usually taken and sometimes I'll get some shots that are unique.

Yesterday was one of those times. I took 31 photos of all four hounds lounging in one spot in the yard. Unlike the first group photo where I could barely fit all four hounds together in one photo, this time they stayed in a group and slept some. Here are a few of those. I posted a new album of all 31 photos on my Facebook page. Later tonight after midnight since I am short on data, I'll post all 31 photos to my Flickr account that is linked in the upper left of the blog.

Hard to believe all four hounds stayed in this formation without moving, long enough to take that many photos. You can tell which hound has a hard time of sitting still for any length of time as her nose is working fulltime all the time.

Of course the day started with Sadie and Stella playing as soon as they hit the yard around 9am. They barely got out of the house before they started "attacking" each other. Stella has the black tipped tail and brighter red collar.

For the 2nd day in a row, Heidi came out with the other dogs, laid in the backyard and for the first time that I can remember ... she went on the walk and led the pack for the 2nd day in a row. Even after the bloodhounds and I went inside after the photo shoot of them laying around, she and Winston slept in the grass for almost 30 minutes longer before they came inside. I would think she has to be feeling better if she does that. Her skin is growing new hair on her rear legs and shoulder ... it's a slow process but it is coming back.

We start the 2nd week of her taking a the new probiotic today.

First it was just one hound, then two, then four .. they enjoy that sun after they eat around 1pm, as long as the temps are no higher than the low 80's.

There are photos that I do miss though. Like the deer the other day. A lot of photos of Sadie and Stella inside doing things together because they seem to move or stop what they are doing once they see I have the camera on them. Like right now they are laying next to each other chewing bones, a few that Sadie hadn't touched in months/years but Stella found them and put them into a pile.

It wasn't all about hounds yesterday, nor photos ... a lot of it was me thinking about RVing. Yes, that urge hit again yesterday stronger than ever. I thought back to our trip in June and by the way the hounds acted yesterday relaxing together quietly ... I could see they all could do well traveling again.

I don't know what brought on the RVing urge. It could have been all the travel blogs I read and probably their beautiful photos of the places they are. It might be the things I see in the house and yard or even the driveway ... that are a never ending maintenance effort. I also wondered how much electric power will increase once the new EPA laws are put into place for coal based power plants.

My local utility company co-op is very concerned about that and all that means is a large increase in cost for electrical power in the future.

I thought back to the first time I read about Glenn at www.tosimplify.net, who is now traveling in a VW Vanagon. I also read a few blogs where the travelers live in converted vans for long periods of time if not fulltime. I know a van is not a good option for me with the hounds, nor is a truck camper that I thought about a few years ago. Yet those blogs remind me of the trip this summer, the time in the 70's I also lived in a VW van by choice in Southern California along the beach. Or the summer trip riding my bicycle cross country and then up the west coast to Seattle.

When I read about people repairing their large Class A or Class C ... I wonder how much those repair costs are. Probably none of my business but it would give people besides me that are on the fence of which RV to buy, an idea if they can afford a used RV if they knew the actual repair costs. Those few bloggers that have posted their monthly expenses after a year of full time travel show me that I would need to sell my house to travel the majority of time.

Yet those photos of the SW, Glacier NP, all the Utah NPs, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas are a major draw ... having me wanting to travel. Like I said the other day, the urge is always there and will be always there.

I know it's best for the time being for Heidi to remain here under a routine to help her heal. She is slowly getting better. That's not using her as an excuse for not traveling ... it's just a fact. Sure she would jump in the FJ right now if I decided to leave but down the road under her current condition it wouldn't be good for her. She was not skeleton skinny when we traveled in June.

I also wondered what we would be doing if I had kept the Coachmen Class C and still retired when I did in April 2014. I would not have been towing a car/FJ. All the four vehicles I had at the time were NOT potential toads for the Coachmen. After finding out the seller lied about the year and the reason for the discrepancy in the year showing on the paperwork, the Coachmen had a smaller engine than what I thought I was getting. I should have been smarter than that and checked the VIIN for size of engine and the real year of the RV but I did not know how to do that at the time of purchase.

While I slowly climbed the mountains in Colorado this past June in my Toyota FJ, I knew then the Coachmen Class C would have had a hard time towing a vehicle up and over those mountains.  It would have been hard just for it to get over them, although many people do travel all over the west in Class C's towing a car. So how well would that have worked out with the Class C being the only vehicle and 3-4 hounds?

There were not then and are not now any regrets selling that Class C in 2014.

Even while looking at the photos on all the blogs and seeing great places .. I also remembered my thoughts I wrote about on this blog, where I was sitting in a great State Park north of Rifle Colorado with great views. I had fed the hounds, they drank all the water they wanted, the tent was set up and they were sleeping in the shade ... while I sat at the picnic table thinking "what next" and a slight feeling of boredom. Would that feeling gone away the longer I traveled? Was my only enjoyment planning the trip and driving?

So for all the pluses I was feeling yesterday I remembered the negatives. Later those thoughts went away as we sat in the sunshine and later doing the daily walk through the field on a beautiful afternoon. Heidi and Stella were leashed, the other two roamed free and Winston was slow as usual ... but he's over 11 now and I have to remember that. We all enjoy living here but it's probably time for another short vacation or roadtrip.

On a side note, over the years, a few times I have even stopped this blog and almost shut it down ... thinking the less RV stuff I saw would make the travel urge go away. It would only be weeks later that I would return to reading all the blogs and start blogging here again. I drove some readers crazy with my decisions going back and forth. A couple even were angry ... lol

No, I am not having any second thoughts about not selling out and traveling. I'm fine with the decisions I've made. Plus the 4th hound, Stella is not a factor ... she is simply a great bloodhound that is willing to go anywhere I want to go. The word "go" even gets her excited. I had to fight to keep both bloodhounds from jumping into the back of the FJ as I unloaded my groceries the other day.

Well it's that time of morning where Sadie has come and nudged my forearm as I type to let me know it's time to go out for them to play and search the yard and field for any animal intrusions while they slept. Maybe I'll get something done today ... all three things I would have to do while traveling ... cleaning, laundry and maintenance.

I am trying to decide whether to continue to blog first thing in the morning with photos taken the previous day or blog later in the afternoon or evening with photos taken during that day. A typical tough decision in the life of retirement.

It's still great weather in "the tropics" and the day has just started.

The Hounds Never Stop Surprising

First of all before I get started writing about the hounds, I have to say I experienced great Exede Satellite Internet Service (ViaSat) .. customer service again. In the past 15 months I haven't called them that much but the few times I have, every time they provide something extra. The other day I told you since I was at my monthly data limit, speeds would slow except I would get the high speed between Midnight - 5am.

It was after midnight and my speeds didn't increase. You forget how different the modern day speeds are on your internet connection until you are churning less than one megabit per second. The lady on the other side of the phone saw that my connection was "congested" even at 12:35am, but if it continued the next day I was to call before 9pm so I could talk to the technical reps.

In the meantime she gave me a free Gb of data so I could check it out during those prime hours of 8am-9pm. By yesterday morning I was back to speeds of 12-15Mbps. I will also say to those readers that may find this information by searching, I've rarely had any downtime even during the worst of thunderstorms. When I did, those downtime periods were less than one hour, not days. Exede Satellite is good internet service. It's too bad they are not in the mobile market.

A short blip for the camera readers ... I am at one week with ZERO issues after I did the firmware update and a lens software update on the Nikon D3200 site.

Now on to the hounds.

It's not only Stella that is amazing me and I must admit she has sent me off the charts with surprises ... all good ones. It's the other three hounds that have had a little disruption to their routines, at times couch space, shared bones, shared water ... they have adapted like all hounds do, no matter the breed. While Stella has gotten more comfortable in her new home, the hounds have also become more comfortable with their new housemate.

Grass Is Too Wet To Lay Down

Where Is Winston Going?

Nothing Like Late Afternoon Sunshine

Heidi knows that Stella can touch her nose without feeling intimidated and can nap next to each other. Winston knows he now shares his couch space at night and can use Stella as his pillow and vice versa. Sadie knows that "her" water is also Stella's water, as well as her bones. She also knows she can play and run as hard as she wants with Stella. They practically do everything together now, even walking near each other on the daily walk.

Stella has not been here a month yet. The first month will be completed on the 30th of September. She is only on the leash during our daily walk. She knows her new name and responds to "no". She also has her favorite spot in the backyard in the sun to nap.

Stella is just as good as her previous owner told me she was ... if not better.

Heidi's skin continues to improve, although she is not gaining her weight back. She will eat non stop if I would supply that much food. Once again she went outside once the sun was up, every time the other hounds did. The big news ... she wanted to lead the pack on the daily walk yesterday. That is a sure sign she is feeling better. Her coat has never been better since changing to the Earthborn Holistic Dog Food.

Winston was testing me yesterday with his stubbornness. He was finding things to eat in the field yesterday, that's never a good thing and he would ignore me when I told him to stop multiple times. After the long walk yesterday where he goes at a speed that is slower than slow, he decided to wander off after I took off his leash/collar. He never left the backyard but decided he wasn't coming inside until HE was ready. He also refused to face the camera during the photo shoots.

Sadie is the same daily ... no changes. Her and Stella played hard, did some sprints, sat together inside next to the same bone and shared the dog bed in the corner for their afternoon siesta.

Sadie Has Always Loved The Field

They started the day by checking our 'their' yard in the morning.

When we went out after their lunch, they failed to see the 5-7 deer lined up along the edge of the field by the woods. By the time I quietly hooked up Stella to the tether just in case she would see them and take off, picked up my camera, they were all gone back into the woods. Needless to say later in the day when we walked by the area I had seen them ... all four hounds were going crazy tracking the deer scents.

The deer I spotted from the house were at the edge of the woods and field, just to the right of that corner. Just inside that wooded area it drops dramatically into a deep deep gully.

One of our trips outside in the late afternoon before the daily walk, Sadie was in the mood to play. I am pretty sure she likes her new friend as she has not been this active since she was a puppy 7 years ago.

Just another day in "the tropics".