Ballgames Make Me Hibernate

With all of these MLB playoff games on tv at the same time as NFL and College football it's hard to see all of them of course. The college football games I'll sit on the couch and watch every play, game after game. The MLB games I'll have on tv in the background but will go outside at times, take the hounds for a walk but will always sit and watch when there is some sort of action going on.

This past weekend, including today, about all I have done is sleep, eat, watch games, walk the hounds and take just a few photos of them. With that type of schedule there is really not much to blog about.

Here are some photos of the hounds Saturday and Sunday.

Heidi decided to get out of the house Saturday morning. Her skin continue to look better, yet by 8pm at night there is enough redness you wonder if something inside the house is the cause of her allergies.  By the first thing the next morning her skin looks great. She sat outside for almost an hour by herself, in the sunshine on Saturday.

Sadie and Stella play quietly in the house, almost in slow motion ... yet when they get outside it was full speed. They seemed to have their seating figured out this past weekend and understood that no matter what ... I was allowed my seat on the couch.

Winston didn't do much besides telling me he wanted to go outside about a million times per day. He would spend most of this time laying in the sunshine when outside and would sleep every minute he was inside.

Back to the baseball game and a Monday Night Football game. Great weather today here in "the tropics" ... cool, windy enough some of my tree leaves were blown out of the yard.

Hounds Warm Up Before MLB Baseball

I was wrong yesterday when I said that MLB was taking a day off so I would have time and room on the tv to watch two different football games on Thursday night. Right after I posted yesterday's blog I saw that one game was already completed and another to be played last night. I caught last nights game between commercials of the Indianapolis Colts game.

I decided to tape the Washington - USC game while the Colts game was on. I also decided NOT to look at the game at anytime, stay off my twitter sports and Facebook sports so I would not see the score. I didn't want to know who won before watching the tape.

After the surprise victory by the Colts, the hounds and I went outside for them to do their final job of the day ... while I look into the sky for stars and airplane traffic flying into Indianapolis 70 miles away.

The hounds headed to bed and I turned on the Washington game. It was after midnight but I knew with fast forward during commercials and halftime, that 3+ hour game on tv would be a little over an hour long. Another surprising victory by the Dawgs ... so my night ended with both of my teams winning.

The problem, I was wide awake and these past few days I have been back to staying up late (3-4am) and sleeping late (10:30am). I don't care for that routine but that is what's happening.

Winston and Heidi decided to call the day off today due to overcast skies and have been only awake to eat and to go out one time. Sadie and Stella are both sleeping next to my desk chair but as you see they had a good workout this morning, sprinting, running in the yard and field, some wrestling and then final a break.

I need groceries but with 4 MLB games back to back to back today and tonight ... I'll sneak out of the house Saturday morning to replenish supplies before college football starts at noon.

Here are the bloodhounds playing at full tilt ... but their sudden burst of energy didn't last long.

Stella In Full Sprint Mode

I Think Sadie Has A New Friend

Headed Back Inside To Sleep

I do remembering posting in various posts over the years on this blog that I am a "sports addict" ... this time of year proves it, living in "the tropics" and cool weather on the way.

It Took A Lot Of Hours But Finished

Sorry I don't have much to blog about today and only have 3 photos of the hounds. Those were taken today ... maybe I'll go back into the photo archives and post some past photos of the hounds down below.

Anyway I found out just how much work and how many hours it takes to update things when you make the decision to change your home email address ... an address that you have used for a lot of years. I almost changed it in April 2014 when I retired, kind of a 'fresh start' kind of thing. I then realized by looking at my list of passwords and all of the different emails I receive daily because they have that email address ... that in April 2014, I decided not to change it.

For some reason this year, that email address was sold obviously by some website(s) where I had used it. The amount of junk mail coming to that account was amazing and never stopped. I did all I could to block them. I had a pretty good idea of the cause just based on the increase in junk mail after I would list something to sell on Craig's List or the times I would sign up for a new newsletter from someone. I'm not positive it is the reason, but it was a fact that junk mail increased tenfold during the times I had things for sale on Craig's List..

The junk mail seemed to happen more and more, even with the business websites where I had used the address. So I decided last night I'd start the long process of changing everywhere that old email address had been used and then delete the account.

Honestly, it took me almost 7-8 hours of solid work to get those updates done, including rechecking those sites where changes were made to make sure I could enter them again with the new email address. I also wanted to make really sure that I received email notices from my banks, credit cards, internet company, cell phone company, and electric company if nothing else.

Who knows, just by doing that I may start receive a new batch of junk email ... hope not.

So I'll not keep boring you with the details ... but just to let you know, if you ever decide to or have to change your home email address it is very time consuming to update before you pull the plug on the old account.

The hounds did their normal daily stuff inside ... a lot of sleep, the bloodhounds played, shared bones, found a new bone that was hidden somewhere and all were very interested in the lunch I fixed ... even Heidi.

For the first time Stella "whined" to me about the time I normally put their food out. I guess she has decided to start acting more like a bloodhound and has adjusted to the move.

Here are some photos from today ... while I'm off to find some older photos to post that you haven't seen yet.

Early this morning Stella didn't even want to go out into the field to snoop around. She sat there and stared at me the whole time we were outside this morning.

 Winston did his normal early morning search for any yard moles that he never tries to catch but seems to smell a lot around the yard.

Sadie decided she was going to do her normal morning routine and it didn't matter if Stella came with her or not. She didn't go too far and was back in the yard looking bored. So we all went back inside and I went back to the computer.

 I lost the first two years of photos for Sadie due to my own mistake, thinking I had my hard drive backed up. I am not sure how old Sadie was in this first photo but she was letting me know that chair was hers.

She has always been able to sleep anywhere but usually preferred no blanket of any kind. She is about 3 years old in this photo.

This is Heidi after we had spent all day driving down to Arkansas to pick up the Lil Snoozy Trailer before I changed my mind in the middle of the night. She really liked that grass lot but it wasn't a few minutes later she snuck off out of sight and a feeling of panic made me forget about the 98° and humid evening.

When I brought Winston home at 8 weeks old in 2004, he wasn't much bigger than a bottle of Pepsi.

Stella's previous owner use to dress her in a polo shirt and take her to work on Fridays. I could tell by these photos she was a laidback bloodhound. That last photo is Stella's first night here, probably really confused and shy ... it didn't take her many days to move from that spot on the floor to the couch every night.

I have a college football game to watch tonight, with my Dawgs playing down in smoggy Los Angeles starting about an hour after the Indianapolis Colts kick off for their game in Houston. That means one game will be taped on the DVR but will be looked at during the commercials of the other game. Thankfully MLB has the night off. I always say I need a few more tv's mounted on the wall.

Overcast in 'the tropics' this morning but it never rained ... then the sun popped out for another great day of retirement.

Even The Hounds Have Low Energy

It must have been wishful thinking when I put that title on yesterday's blog post. I glanced through some photographs dated last October and things were not finished until the end of October. So I'll probably have one more cut on the yard before I put it away for the winter.

The hounds must be in a 'low energy' mode this week. They didn't do much as far as adding photos to this blog today. We took a walk earlier in the afternoon, with Heidi deciding to join us.

I didn't have the motivation to rake the yard. I almost started later in the afternoon but decided to prepare dinner early so that took me away from any yard work. Speaking of yard work, the weeds in the gravel driveway are coming back ... I'll not be on my hands and knees pulling them again.

Someone was saying today that the lack of color in the leaves this fall is from all the rain we received this spring and early summer. By this time last year there were a lot of bright colors along the driveway and the same trees that are in these photos. I don't see the bright colors happening this year.

Here is an updated photo of that buried animal holder for the tethered rope I have used for years. I mentioned before that the only way this comes out of the ground is with the help of a vehicle or a tractor pulling it up.

I'll leave some photos we took today but we did absolutely nothing again today. We will be watching the Cubs - Pirates baseball game tonight. I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan but will be watching Kyle Schwarber on the Cubs. He was playing at IU just two years ago. I am a baseball fan but don't watch every game due to the number of games in a season, but it is really enjoyable watching playoff baseball especially in a one game playoff ... you either win or go home until next season.

That's about all there was going on today in "the tropics" today. Retirement life is great!!

Was Today The Last Time I Mow In 2015?

Another beautiful cool day here in the tropics with blue skies and a bright sun.

With the temps feeling cool, even at 79°, I fired up the lawn mower, lowered the level one notch, put the hounds in the bedroom since Stella will open the door and come outside when I am mowing and took off mowing for an hour.

I wish I could mow the yard at this level all the time, but with a field next to me, moles that love my grub worms and plenty of strange seedlings in the air to infiltrate the grass ... I'll have to work with what I have. In the past I have used all kinds of lawn food, different grass seeds, grub worm killer and weed killer ... but it's a never ending battle, an expensive one.

With the grass cut one level lower and some leaves that were mulched along the way, I hope to get out in the morning and rake the whole yard, thinking the smaller mulched leaves will be easier than a lot of regular sized leaves. I have the electrical leaf blowers, but they are very loud and may actually take longer to move the same amount of leaves that are raked. Of course the leaf blower is easier on the muscles than the constant movement of raking.

I do plan to put on some Scott's Winter Fertilizer in November.

Some time before I finished my first cup of coffee this morning, Stella and Sadie were enjoying some mild wrestling inside the house. Every time I grabbed my camera, they would stop and stare at me. Consequently I have no photos of inside play nor the times they lay side by side chewing on the one nylabone. That was the time to go outside.

Tails Curled - Ready To Charge

Winter must be around the corner because Winston is going into hibernation mode and sleeping more than normal ... which is basically more than a lot. Stella continues to move when I do and follows me most everywhere I go. She is starting to feel at home though and will go outside and come back to the door to be let inside without me with her.

For the first time in over 20 years I have taken the tether up from the connection in the field ... stored for another time. It's the first time I've had all my hounds not needing to be tethered while outside roaming the field.

Heidi's skin is improving after the 2nd week giving her a different kind of probiotics. More hair continues to grow back on her paws and rear hocks ... still she is very skinny. The more I feed her the bigger the pile of poop is so I am not sure feeding her more is the correct answer for gaining weight. One vet in June was afraid it might be cancer but 4 months later she has more energy than ever, feels better, plays more ... but her weight is scary low.

The hounds didn't seem to be in the mood for anything when we went outside late in the afternoon. As you can see all afternoon bloodhound aerobics were canceled due to lack of interest. It was a good thing that I did go outside for a few more photos though ... look what I left on my bumper? At least I found the battery now instead of 25 miles down the road.

Stella Loves The Sun

Battery For The Weed Eater

Well, time for some Mahjong, then the daily hound walk, some salmon and veggies before a 1 game playoff in baseball tonight. Such is life in retirement.