I Guess I Needed A Blog Break

I'm not sure why but it was not only me that experienced some low energy the past few days but also the hounds. Sadie and Stella didn't play. Heidi felt good but didn't attend any of the daily walks and Winston ... well he is just Winston and he never changes from day to day. In fact he was probably wondering what was wrong with the rest of us.

Usually with a full moon the energy levels are high around here ... but not the past few days. Even Stella was not waking up at 6 or 6:30am to go outside ... it was Winston but that is normal for him. A few times she would not even go out into the yard, just turned around and headed for the house then back to sleep. All of us were not getting up and active until 9:30 and sometimes not until 10:30am.

Of course Sadie rarely relaxes when she is outside. It's not in her DNA. A different breeder of bloodhounds that I got to know after she bought Sadie's father, told me she gives a test to her puppies at 45 days old and can tell which ones are "couch potatoes" and which ones are "trackers". She asked me 5 questions over the phone and 4 of the 5 were positive answers, showing Sadie was a tracker, not a couch potato.

That is interesting because at the time I had picked a different puppy from the litter. It was only when I took Winston out to see the puppies that I changed my mind about which puppy to take. Sadie was the only puppy out of her eight litter mates, that followed Winston around the yard wanting to play with him. Tia told me a year later during our phone call it was a sure sign that Sadie had strong tracking instincts. She also said if it was her litter, I would have been given a different puppy. Strange how things work out sometimes.

It was great weather until this morning. It was a great weekend of football games, both college and the NFL ... with some great games to watch. At the same time there was a little excitement in the area outside the norm.

A little past my post on Friday I heard some loud semi-truck action out on the highway from my computer room in back of the house. Traffic was backed up both directions so I knew something was going on, hopefully not a wreck of some kind. I could see something huge through the trees. I grabbed my camera and headed out to see what was going on.

There is construction going on just south of my house where they are rebuilding a bridge, so there is only one lane available.

There are plenty of warning with signs posted in advance in both directions but it's amazing the number of cars and trucks that still pass my house at 65+mph heading toward the construction stop light just a few hundred feet further. The local small town police are making a bundle of money this month catching people speeding above the 45mph limit inside the construction zone. You've seen the signs, with warnings of double the fine and possible jail time. The guilty cars usually pull over just past my house where there is room off the highway. I wonder how much those tickets are costing speeding drivers?

That "one lane" is where the problem was and what was causing all of the late Friday afternoon excitement. Luckily the transporter had the typical pickup trucks with the flashing yellow lights way out in front of them ... so they found out in advance the load of the transporter was not going to fit on a one lane bridge. Their last chance to turn around was just a couple of hundred feet past my house or they would have to spend time backing up on the highway.

So where does this large monstrosity turn around? Someway somehow, they turned left onto a small country road, then backed across the highway into the dirt road I took photos from and walked down last spring when I took photos of an old iron bridge. I was amazed the truck and trailer were able to fit on that dirt road just past a small portion of asphalt.

After a lot of slow maneuvering they got the truck turned around and headed back north in the direction of my house. I knew it would be hard to do from my location to get a clear shot but I was able to get a couple of photos of the large load. I am not sure where they were headed because there isn't a body of water around here to handle a small yacht. Their detour was going to be a lot of additional miles out of their way to get back to their original travel plan.

Saturday came and went ... along with Sunday ... with no words coming to mind to blog about, nor a lot of hound activity to take photos to post on the blog. They never stayed outside long, sniffed the yard, and headed back for the house. We did go on the daily walk but they spent most of their time sleeping inside. Monday they didn't do much more than this on a beautiful sunny day.

Stella

Sadie

With the rain today ... their activities haven't changed much.

I've had computer service with the slow speeds I spoke of last week when I had reached my monthly data limit of 15Gb on my home computer. When that had happened in the past I never saw my speeds go as low as they were. So I started checking all of the connections, unplugging them and then plugging them back in, just in case it would help ... what I found on the coax cable that comes from the satellite dish to the modem was almost indescribable ... I still don' t have an answer for it.

The coax cable was barely screwed on the modem connector. I mean barely when I say that. So the question of the day is ... how? How does a coax cable that is originally screwed on with many turns and ends with a 1/4 turn with a adjustable wrench, become so loose that the cable was barely on the connector?

After I screwed the coax cable back on the connector finger tight and then turned it a 1/4 turn with my small adjustable wrench, my internet speed went from .5Mb to 5.35Mb for the rest of the day. I am almost sure I did the same process with the adjustable wrench when it was hooked up in June 2014 because I do that will all the coax connections.

My new billing period started yesterday so I am back to full speed ahead that is normally around 15Mbps ... even as it rains today.

I was motivated yesterday around my short morning internet time, a lot of time playing Mahjong Deluxe (addicted) on my computer, to back away from the computer and get some house cleaning done. The laundry was taken care of on Sunday. Some final touch ups will happen today and I'll be caught up in that department for a while.

Yesterday afternoon while at my laptop on the kitchen table where I have the best view out a very large window ... the farmer was bringing in his equipment to pick corn in his small field. That was a sign that rain must be on the way, I had not checked the weather forecast the past few days. His other field that was full of the yellow weeds I took photos of last spring was washed out by May and June flooding, so he had lost most of his soybean field. It was interesting to watch them get corn out of this small field, one that is not really level.

By the time they finished they had loaded four semi trailers full of small kernels of corn. I don't know how much that much corn is worth but it must be worth it to plant year after year. Of course that small field is just one of his many fields scattered in the area. Just four miles west of here, the fields are flat and are quite large compared to the ones that run along this highway.

I am going to included some photos of the hounds, taken Friday afternoon after I had posted my last blog post. Like I said then, I'm not finding a lot to write about recently. Add in the fact of the hounds low energy levels and it's hard to come up with writing material sometimes.

It's a day of dark skies and continuous light rain in "the tropics" ... a nice change of pace in the weather.

Notice The Spider Caught In A Web

The Reason I Added Those 6 Tiles A Few Years Ago

Yes, I am still thinking about traveling. I've been looking through my past blog posts of January and February of past years, about single digit temperatures ... I'm not sure I want to stay in that again this winter. I also noticed looking through the different posts of past years I have a lot of the same thoughts during the same time of different years. I also made the mistake of going back through my financial spreadsheets covering 8 years and seeing how money I had pissed away ... something that no longer happens. It was fun though, but was a startling figure.

All is good though being retired ... possibly the best decision I've ever made.

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.