We're Back And Rambling

Who knows what it is. It's not depression, it's not 'writers block', nor is it boredom ... it's just something I do almost annually and usually during the winters.

I delete this blog and my social media accounts.

A lot of the post today might be repeated information for long time readers because in my fading memory I do remember in past years writing about the same reasons and justifications that I will throw in here today. Addiction ?  Maybe and if so, then a large percentage of the USA is addicted along with me.

But really, addiction is not the reason. I enjoy writing, enjoy taking the hound photos or just photos in general and all of that is just to strange to blog to yourself. Plus to some readers, they look forward to not only seeing the hounds but what I am talking about, which for me is hard to figure out what's so interesting in that.

Maybe that first picture in the upper left corner is the reason, or the temperature dropping to a daily normal way below my comfort level. Yet, that is part of living in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana and luckily much further south than the snow I watched in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Chicago yesterday on tv NFL games.

So the only logical explanation for deleting this blog, my Twitter account along with my Facebook account ... is the dark, dreary skies with freezing temps. That sounds good enough for me and it's the story I am going to stand by.

Besides the normal routine for the hounds, they do change their points of interest, their demands and ways of testing  my patience. Heidi moved into her winter hibernation mode weeks ago and only shows herself to eat, to relieve herself outside and if she smells or hears that I might have food.

I think you can see how steep the drop off is in the woods straight out from the house. It's just one of the reasons I try to keep the hounds from walking into that wooded area. I found out years ago after my bloodhound named Bertha went to the bottom of the gully ... the bottom of the gully was about 2' of mud, year round.

One of the last signs of fall. Still September already seems a lifetime away already.

Back to the hounds testing my patience. For the past week on every walk we take, with or without the camera, Stella is on her own schedule and does not hear a word said ... even when I bribe her with yells about food. She is the most stubborn hound I have ever had and that goes back to 1987.

As other mornings since our last blog post here, I've let the hounds do what they want, at their pace, but I would always walk to where ever Stella was to get her to walk home with us and not leaving her outside alone.

Sadie never cares what Stella does ... she likes to explore and will always come when I call her. She doesn't like dropping back to far.

I am noticing she is gaining some weight even though we have not changed food, nor the amount and we do at least two walks per day. Maybe she is naturally building fat for the winter.

Sadie and I had actually walked far enough where Stella was out of sight and standing at the same spot the 2nd picture in this post. I was a little surprised to see her running to catch up with us when I made one more check before taking the first right turn on the walk.

Every day there are just more new scents than their noses can handle.

Just because Sadie takes off for the far right corner of the field does not mean Stella will ... after all, she is on her one schedule and will do as she wants, on her time not ours.

I had already walked along the back edge of the field and was about to make the turn home. This gives you a good idea the hounds are on their own, you can see they are on each side of the picture.

I took this same picture a few months ago and said in a couple of months this will look the same but only about 50° colder ... we're there.

I had decided by this time I was going to continue my walk with or without the hounds, head back inside and see what they would do. I was hoping I would not have to drive the FJ back to this corner to remind them to run to the house ... but I was going to find out today.

Once that Sadie glanced up and saw where I was, she came running as fast as she could and then slammed into the side of my left knee, right after I had taken my eyes off of her run.

Stella ?? Not a chance.

As Sadie and I continued our march back home, with my freezing hands inside my overpriced and worthless "TheNorthFace" gloves, I was unsure what Stella would do ... but once again, she surprised me.

Even on a full speed run she can always find some scent that she has to slam on her brakes to check out. When those sudden stops occur all of that loose skin moves forward.

By the time I got back to the corner of the house, I could tell they were not ready to come inside. Especially since Sadie raised her head, looked right at me and then her nose went back to the ground. That gave me time to go inside, take off the down jacket and put the SD card in the computer to download the pictures.

It wasn't long before I heard something hit my screen door. Both of them were standing at the step wanting back inside. It had to have been Stella's nose. Anytime she wants something she will poke it with her nose or use her nose to try and open doors. Thankfully she is not a 'jumper' so she does not jump up on the doors or people.

Heidi in the meantime does this now most of the time. She has moved her sleeping area from the bed to the couch this winter.

After a few days I did reactivate my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I don't live on them all day and in fact I am away from the computer, iPad and iPhone most of the time. To use up my monthly allotment of data from my Exede Satellite service, those 15Gb's can't go much over 500Mb per day for the month. I've been under that for the past 45 days.

I was hoping all the 'noise' of the elections would quiet down but I knew that wasn't going to happen and in fact it will continue for the next 4 years in my opinion, as usual. I can control what I hear by not tuning into any of the major news stations on tv ... in fact those channels are not on my programmed remote. So if I want to see those channels of bullshit ... I have to type their number on my remote to get those channels.

As far as online, I'll click different news sites but I have found just looking at the headlines and not reading the articles is a lot more enjoyable.

When I failed to get the news that my local university had fired their football coach unexpectedly and friends were texting me asking 'whats up with that' I knew I had to reactivate my Twitter account for that up to the minute sports news. I deleted all the people I followed during the campaign that dealt with politics after the election. I find Twitter is also very good for storm warnings and updates from my local small town electric company ... even faster than getting notifications on Facebook.

As far as Facebook, as I have said before, about the only thing I do there is post 3-4 of these blog pictures of the hounds when the urge hits me. Friends that don't read my blog like to keep updated on the hounds through Facebook. I never tell people where I am or what I am doing on Facebook, neither will I have it linked to my location. Still it is a good way to keep up with old friends that are scattered around the USA.

While the blog was in the deleted status, I have gone to the local library a couple of times and am firmly back into my winter mode of reading books every day plus have added the DVDs they have. Checking out their movies has saved me quite a bit of money and shelf space.

I think it is safe to assume that there are not too many blog readers here that like my blog over on Wordpress. It's only a few pictures and usually a couple of sentences as an introduction. I like the format, the ease of using it but essentially that blog gets very little to no visitors.

Like I have said before and even in the last month ... all bloggers go through times where they wonder what they are doing, why do they keep blogging and even ask themselves if the internet has taken over their life. Very few quit and most come back to blogging and social media. I am going to stop trying to figure out the reasons and just go with it.

Before I go, I had mentioned the hounds testing my patience ... that is mostly Stella. She and I continue to debate what time to serve lunch. I finally have it as the same time as I fed them before changing to Daylight Savings time ... but she doesn't like that either and continues to beg for that lunch to be served as early as an hour or two after her breakfast. That is one war that she will not win.

I've seen her do it every since she came here in August 2015. At first I thought it was clumsiness but it isn't that at all. Stella just doesn't care. She not only walks on my feet at times but she will walk on Sadie's feet or on Heidi. If we are in her way, she will walk into use or on us to get to where she is going. If her seat is taken on the couch by Sadie, Heidi and I  ... she doesn't care, she will climb up, stand over either one of them until they move. If they don't move, she sits on them.

Last night Heidi decided it was time to reverse the roles and jumped up in the center of and on a sleeping Stella, then squeezed a spot in for her nap. I was happy to see Heidi fight back taking her spot on the couch. Stella never felt her and continued to sleep through it all.

So that's enough rambling this morning .. it's already past noon. I might try to get a post in later today with some afternoon pictures ... the sun is trying it's hardest to break out.

Things are good in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Are Surviving All The Football Games

This morning's skies were not much different than yesterdays ... dark, dreary weather. Yet, this morning the light mist was not around and at 41° it felt warm outside as we started the first walk of the day.

 The only thing planned today is the "greatest weekend" in college football. It really started Friday with a lot of games between 'rival' schools and that will continue today and tonight. Once again it will be a case of not having enough tv's for all the good games shown at one time ... the remote will get quite a workout today ... the hounds will do their normal viewing routine of sleeping through most of them.

We were outside early this morning for their trip after breakfast. They were more than ready to take the walk they missed yesterday but no day starts until coffee is consumed. That rule outlaws all of the Bloodhound Laws.

Stella was not real thrilled when she found out it was not time to walk yet ... coffee had not been consumed at this time. But she came inside anyway and slid next to Heidi for a short morning nap while I read the internet and refueled my caffeine levels.

Once that walk started both Stella and Sadie were pretty happy since we had to take an unexpected day off yesterday. They couldn't stay in one place very long ... too many things to smell and identify.

With the ground soft from the rain two days ago, you could see the occasional prints of deer hooves. With those and the new deer scents the hounds were going crazy with their non-stop motion. The pictures did not capture any of their quick movements.

They took off around the first turn and never stopped ... only my 200mm was able to catch them in these next pictures, I was that far behind them.

The last I saw of Stella she was sprinting following the path we take and have worn down, even veering left but as I reached the first turn she made an abrupt right turn and headed to the far right corner where Sadie was already deep in the deer scents.

They never stayed in one spot too long and proceeded on their walk staying together most of the time.

At their pace I was almost certain they were going to out run me and head for the 'no- fly' zone without looking back. They had locked onto a strong scent and were running as fast as they could while their noses were dragging the ground.

Tandem exploration.

For some reason they turned when I did to follow the path home and stayed so close to me most of the way, where the 18mm setting still couldn't capture them walking next to me as they were that close behind me.

Toward the end they slowly branched out but trotted non-stop back to the house. By the time I sat down at the computer to download the pictures into the computer, both hounds were sound to sleep next to my desk chair while Heidi was still sleeping on her pile of winter stack of Mexican blankets.

Hard to believe that November is almost over. It seems just like yesterday it was in the 80's mid summer. I've been making a list of "to do's" for next spring as I think of them or see something. It looks like it's going to be very busy compared to 2016.

My Apple iMac has finished it's 6th year. I've had zero problems with it except the time I did not read the information correctly before trying to activate File Vault to encrypt my hard drive ... only to find out later that program could not be loaded onto a hard drive as old as mine. So that was 'user error'.

Following advice of the MacGeeks on the MacRumors Forum, I have never used virus protection but I do a regular scan with BitDefender Virus Scanner to check for any malware, viruses on my hard drive. So far so good in that department with my hard drive being clean and sober for it's entire life.

When I gave up 11 years of using Windows PCs in 2006 it had turned into a constant battle with Microsoft, malware, or viruses. I ran anti-virus protection and used five different programs to prevent, check or clean of any malware and viruses on a regular schedule.

The Tiny Homes still seems the rage but I have noticed since they have a couple of tv shows this year, and as popularity has grown ... the prices have increased to the level of ridiculous. I went to a 'tiny home' 25 years ago when I downsized to a condo that was 950 square feet and this current house 19 years ago that has only 958 square feet of living space.

Filling up with gas the other day, a man offered to buy my 2003 Z4. He didn't realize how old it was and thought it was a much newer model. I let him know he could find them for sale on a couple of websites, either by private owners or dealerships. I will continue to drive mine this winter as long as the roads are dry ... only with the top up. The heater works fantastic.

I am still reading about the Blood Type diet and can't make my mind up. I started the Vegan Diet September 7th and have had some good results, some I have mentioned in the past. There are some things I don't like about it thus I am continuing to read about different options.

Well it's time to get ready for the normal Saturday that is 14 straight hours of viewing college football games. When the games are playing at the same time they seem to sort themselves out by their score on if I watch them continuous or move into the "commercials game" ... meaning I switch channels to watch during commercials of my main game, while taping another for later.

So far we have had very mild weather here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

A Walk In Light Rain

The rain that was predicted started last night but was not as heavy as expected. You could 'hear' the wet pavement of the highway as cars passed during our first trip outside this morning.

The hounds started their normal routines but today it was a little harder to convince them to come back inside so I could start my daily intake of coffee. Even yelling the keyword "coffee" did not get them to respond as they normally do.

There is a cause to all of this ... they have a nose 200x stronger than people and a reputation of being stubborn.

It never fails that Stella will aways take her time, possibly walking even slower than she normally does, when she comes to my call and she doesn't really want to. If I were to mention any kind of food in my yell, she would be sprinting for the door to get back inside.

Just in case it would start raining harder later, I wanted to get at least one walk in this morning ... so I cut the internet reading short, waited to drink that 2nd cup of coffee when I got back and headed out. It was warm enough to switch from a down jacket and gloves to a all-season jacket, no gloves. Amazing how warm 45° feels with no winds.

With a light rain I put the lens hood on the camera to prevent any rain drops of hitting the lens. It wasn't a steady downpour but it wasn't a light rain. It didn't matter to the hounds ... they had things to check out, not waiting for me. The Tamron lens has worked every day since I bought it last summer. Thanks Tom for the suggestion.

About the time I thought they would head to the far right corner, they made a left to follow the path. It's hard to say what their noses picked up to make that decision for them. It was a good move since we were walking in the rain.

Whenever I go see what Stella is eating, there is nothing there. Her nose will have pushed the brush back to ground level and as you can tell, the brush is thick and deep.

The amount of rain drops stayed the same throughout the morning walk. Both were happy to get back inside where the dropped in their normal spots for a late morning nap. Life's rough as a bloodhound ... very similar to being retired.

Yesterday afternoon after a lot of demanding by Sadie's stare, then Stella's howling ... we took out for the 3rd walk of the day on Tuesday. It was still pretty cold but the sun was out and the skies were blue ... very nice.

It was Sadie this time that stayed back in the corner and then came sprinting ... great exercise for her at 8-1/2 years old.

You may notice she is down to just one front tooth. I guess that is what happens when you are a puppy and are determined to get out of a large indoor kennel while I was at work. She chewed and even was able to bend those heavy black rods that made up the wall of the kennel. I was glad to finally put that kennel away, never to be used again.

Tuesday afternoon.

Just a few years ago, the wild brush that grew around that 75 year old fence post and those trees to the right, was so high and thick you couldn't see it or the base of the trees. I'm glad I became motivated enough in April 2015 to cut, burn all of that out and plant grass seed.

The burn pile for 2017 has started.

Yesterday was colder but so much nicer than today. I knew it was going to be one of those kind of days where the light rain or drizzle would never stop. Yet, plenty to do inside. Some new books to read, college basketball games, some college football games with plans of a lot of food to eat stretched out over the weekend.

Heidi had her 20 minute Epsom Salt soak today. Once again she almost fell asleep with her head propped up on the side of the bathtub.

As the day moved along, it continued to rain and a little harder. So we didn't get another walk in and stayed inside except for the short trips outside for them to dump their tanks. I did more reading about the Blood Type Diet and of coarse with anything written in a book or online ... the reviews voice both sides. I go with my intuition after reading reviews from what kind of dog food, to electronics and/or diets.

Here are some pictures of the hounds during "Football Saturday" or even during the week while watching IU games. Very rarely that the bloodhounds argue about couch space. Mine is a little smaller than your three section couch, so this past Saturday we had a power struggle going on. Instead of Sadie moving over to her chair by the wall ... they decided sharing space was better.

Heidi decided to move out from the bed to the couch. It must have been that Mexican blanket I pulled out of the old FJ and put it back into the active stack of blankets. I am sitting to the left of Heidi and Stella.

Happy Thanksgiving from the hounds and I here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.