Stella's Personality Begins To Show

One of the most important tools for a sports addict that does not have enough televisions to keep up with all the football and baseball games that are currently shown at times simultaneously ... is the tv remote control. In my case it is the DirecTv remote control. Believe it or not, from the photos, this remote control still works perfectly and will be used until it doesn't. Then a quick call to DirecTv's customer service and they will ship me a new one free of charge, no questions asked.

It all started sometime Saturday as I was sitting at the computer. Both bloodhounds were in their normal positions on the floor next to each other, chewing on various dog bones that have been bought over the years. There is a familiar sound when they are chewing on nylabone or a real bone. So it was pretty obvious to me when I heard a different sound, something was up and that sound made me get out of my desk chair to investigate.

What I saw shocked me!! I mean she is 6 years old and this was something you would see if she was 6 months old maybe. That DirecTv remote was held between Stella's two front paws and I could tell she was enjoying how the soft plastic felt as her large molars bit down. There was enough force from her jaws that both halves of the remote had popped open. My only concern was, did the remote still work before the games started within the hour, since I had 14 hours worth of games to watch and needed to be able to change channels from my seat on the couch.

I took the remote from her, said "no" loudly and gave her one of the dog bones, which she started chewing immediately. If you could have seen her face when she looked up at me with the remote between her paws, there was no way you could be mad at her.

I snapped the two haves of the remote back together, wiped off the bloodhound drool from the sensor in front of the remote and gave it a try. It worked perfectly.

Wasn't it just a few days ago I had mentioned I was waiting for her to do something, anything bad? I see now I should not have said that. It's like going on a long trip hoping and verbalizing you hope you don't get a flat tire and then for the first time in years, you have a flat tire on the trip.

I wasn't mad at her because she is simply a great and well mannered bloodhound. Every day or at least every week, as time passes ... Stella's personality continues to show. Just like any dog that is in a new home, it takes a while for them to get use to their new environment and routines. She is now whining to go outside when she needs to. Just today before I wrote this blog post, she started that bloodhound howl when I asked her if she wanted to eat.

It's usually Heidi that barks to let me know it's time for the hounds to be fed and she was today ... Stella decided to join her.

Not a lot going on but a lot planned. House cleaning, doing just a few dishes from last night, maybe some laundry today, but probably tomorrow ... the most important ... a run to the store to pick up some coffee and sugar.

Temps have been in the high 50's and is again today. Heidi was shivering when she came outside this morning. Still after the brunch, she came outside to lay in the grass in the sun. All four hounds seem to find the sun on a regular basis.

Stella and Sadie have been so focused on being fed today, they have not even played at all today. Currently all the hounds are asleep since they have been fed and made their after meal trip outside. Normal routine for them.

Here are a more photos from this weekend and today.

Heavy frost Saturday morning

Winston is eating dirt like pictured below

What is it about this dirt he likes to eat it so much????

"I wasn't doing what you saw me do"

Some Saturday morning playing ... then just like that they stop and go off searching new smells.

Some Monday early afternoon sunshine.

Stella even has Sadie laying down now ... she never did before

While I raked leaves in the backyard again Sunday, Stella stayed in this position for the hour. I had to rake around her, she never moved.

Another fast paced weekend in "the tropics".

The Fast Paced Life Of Hounds

I debated whether to wait until Saturday morning to post these photos instead of making a 2nd post for today. Most bloggers post once per day, a few I follow post numerous times per day ... so here is my 2nd post of the day.

About the time I opened the door to go outside, Sadie locked into a squirrel that was standing on top of the fence that runs along the driveway. She took off sprinting after her target with Stella following her just as fast. Winston took off but had no idea what the excitement was about. The squirrel climbed the tree in the center of the photo. It should be a fun fall with the squirrels back in action. They are checking after the fact that it really was a squirrel on their property.

Friday afternoon turned out to be too much for the hounds. They spent most of the afternoon doing what the photos below show ... up until the daily walk. Heidi decided to stay inside for both adventures and was not included in this afternoon's photo shoot.

Only one MLB playoff game tonight ... a little rest for all of us before the sports marathon that happens every fall weekend in my house.

There are too many smells outside that make Sadie's nose work on a constant basis ... she would never have time to lay and sleep in the sun.

Hard To Believe It's Friday

Most of the days seem the same during retirement. I remember while working that Friday was a great day because it was the start of a weekend and I LOVED weekends. It always 'felt' like Friday. Not anymore. That's fine though because I enjoy each day with good health and freedom. I guess you could say in some way for the past 18 months I've been living a "hounds life".

Our routines are consistently the same, most of the time. I admit though I do ask myself at times if I am living or just existing. I had plans after retirement when I first saw Glenn's article on Yahoo Business page, on a Friday in October 2011. I knew people traveled all over the place in RVs, many of them pass by my house. What I did not know until that day was just how many people lived full-time in their RVs and how many people traveled full-time in their RVs. The more blogs I read after that the more I wanted to do it.

So as I read more blogs, my retirement date changed from 'whenever' to the age of 62. Instead of staying where I am now, I started getting plans to travel, maybe sell out and move west where I had spent 20+ years of my life. Long time readers of my blog remember all my ideas, going back and forth on plans, etc. I'll not bore you with the details. For new readers all of that is documented in my past posts listed on the right side under 'Archives'.

So yesterday afternoon was just like most afternoons in my schedule. No plans, just do things at random. As I took the hounds outside after their meal, camera in hand, I thought I'd get the rake out of storage just in case I decided to rake some leaves. I sat the camera down and by the time I got to the backyard I decided to rake a small section. That lead to the whole back yard. That's how things go most of the time in my life of retirement.

There wasn't that many leaves but still quite a few. Unlike last year when I left them until the end after all the leaves had fallen off the trees. Last year at times I was walking in piles of leaves that were over three feet tall. It turned into multiple days of work to get rid of all of them.

I had a thought this year of doing a little every day. It only took 55 minutes to rake the backyard and burn those that were collected. There are still more leaves on the trees than on the ground so I know there is a lot of work ahead. I may have raked them yesterday but I might end up using my leaf blower next time and either mulching them or blowing them into a pile to burn.

Stella seems to influence the other hounds into laying in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Always before Winston and Sadie were always in the searching mode but while I raked the backyard yesterday all four hounds laid in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Heidi enjoyed it so much she stayed outside in the sun until I went out an hour later to bring her inside.

This morning was the same normal routine. Is it living or existing? With a college football game not starting on tv until 10:35pm last night, I was up until 3:30am and basically forced myself to go to bed instead of staying up all night. The game was over around 2am but I stayed up after the game to read news, sports, blogs then some of my book. I played around on my blog and changed the profile pictures of three of the hounds. I started to change my profile but I don't have any idea what to write, so I stopped where I did.

It's another beautiful day today, just like this past week. I am happy where I am, I enjoyed the trip we took last summer and know there are more trips planned in the future even with a 4th hound. There will be a few adjustments for storage as I had planned even before getting Stella. I might also get a bigger tent, one that I can stand in and a 8'x8' floor. I'm not sure when that will happen. Weather and finances will most likely dictate my decision.

Speaking of finances, I see where I will not be getting a pay raise this year with social security nor my government retirement check. The 'experts' claim the price of gasoline has decreased enough to validate that decision, that it cost less to live this past year so we can pay for that next year. Yet, I see the price of groceries, eating out, non food essentials going up in price every few weeks when I shop. How do they account for that?

Stella has been here long enough she is now starting to demand things like any good bloodhound does. She whines a little when she wants to eat. She will sit by my desk staring at the wall with her eyes barely open when she wants something. She is jealous and wants all the attention when I pet the other three hounds. She has claimed the couch as hers and I should feel lucky I have somewhere to sit while watching ballgames. Here is a photo of her "wanting something".

Back to that question of living or existing. Sure my retirement life could be a lot more exciting. At the same time it is exactly what I thought it would be before I read or even knew about any RV blogs. I've made the decisions I've made for some reasons I discussed here on the blog and a few reasons that are private. Basically I enjoy every day whether I do nothing but hangout or I decide on spur of the moment to go somewhere or rake the backyard.

In retirement it's the freedom that is enjoyable ... whether on the road traveling ... or doing what you want when you want at home living in a stick's 'n bricks. To me, that's living ... not just existing. I'm sure the hounds love their routine, their sleeping spots that never change, and dinner time the same every day. They have enough area in back to exercise their noses and stimulate brain cell activity ... this photo of Sadie shows there is a LOT of brain cell activity going on.

The two bloodhounds are finding out they need to play everyday ... inside or outside. At least three of the hounds crave that daily walk with Heidi doing the walk only when she feels like it.

Winston is just Winston ... he never changes from one day to the next. He has been as laidback as he is now since the day he showed up at 8 weeks old.

Heidi is feeling better and is looking better. Even though it has not been the recommended 5 weeks before improvement can be seen using the probiotics supplement. I see that her skin is looking better plus her energy levels is getting back to what she was last year before all of these health issues. She is spending more time outside.

I was thinking last week that a possible reason she is not gaining her weight back is because of her diet. Her diet of no grain food. I thought of my diet change in May when I went back to eating red meat, fish and chicken along with veggies ... but no grains. I lost weight and have maintained that 20 lbs loss after 5 months. "No grains" ... If I lost weight and maintained that loss, maybe that is why she is not gaining her weight back as her skin and health improves.

I have a close friend that emailed me yesterday after seeing Heidi's picture, saying that maybe she would gain weight by putting her back on a dog food diet that included the rice, barely ... other good grains. We were thinking the same way.

So I am going to give that a try. I've started the diet change immediately after going out to get her some Fromm dog food that includes grains with duck and duck meal as the main protein source. The other 3 hounds are on Fromm's Senior food to maintain their weight. I wanted Heidi to have a lot of fat in her diet along with high protein.

I'll note any changes in my spreadsheet along with photos. She is feeling better and is also returning to be demanding as the hound that barks for lunch for her and all the other hounds.

Another great day in retirement, even in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.

First Morning In The 30's

I will say that I am not a fan of cold weather but I do like a morning like today where it's high 30s, sunny, crisp cool air and a hot cup of coffee. That is what it was like this morning with Sadie, Stella and I making our first of many trips outside today. The basset's made the early trip to dump their tanks but not the 2nd trip. Evidently they can feel that winter is in the air.

It didn't matter that it was 37°. As Sadie was running in from the back of the field, Stella met her head on and the playing began ... wet grass and all. They can be going full out effort, trying to get position on the other, pulling on ears and skin but never growling ... then stop immediately and the session is over. They've come back inside and are asleep probably until brunch is served around 1pm.

Yesterday was warmer, a great weather day. Stella and Sadie got a little pre-game exercise in the morning. That seems to be their normal routine.

Once again I didn't do much, at least nothing to write about. Read my book, played some Mahjong and then tuned into the Toronto - Texas MLB game around 4:30pm. I grew up with sports and remember watching the only game of the week on tv in black and white ... Saturdays ... it was always the New York Yankees. I remember parts of the World Series in 1958 (?) with the Los Angeles Dodgers. So I've been watching sports for a pretty long time.

Yesterday in the 7th inning of the Toronto - Texas game, I watched one of the strangest innings of baseball that I can ever remember. I'll not go into details but it lasted 53 minutes. It had one of the strangest, correct called plays that lit the Toronto fans up with enough anger they were tossing cans of beer onto the field and some on the fans below them from the upper deck.

Needless to say, the scene was ugly, disappointing. It's baseball after all, not hockey.

Anyway it was a great game to watch. I watched every play of that game and then the hounds and I took the daily dog walk. Heidi stayed inside and Winston had be woken up from a deep sleep, but he always likes to on the daily walk. I also watched every pitch of the game last night between Houston and Kansas City. Since the pitcher of KC was a long time pitcher of my favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds, until this past July. Why is he in KC? ... economics of modern day professional sports. I hate that part of it.

We were able to still fit in time outside and the daily hound walk before the first game and between games.

During the night game, Winston headed to the bedroom to sleep in the dark, Heidi took the big chair and both bloodhounds were on the couch with me. Last month sounds from the tv during the game would startle Stella and last night she slept solid through all the turmoil on tv.

It looks like I might make a 2nd post later today, not sure. If I do I will label it in the first sentence so you will know there is also a new post below that one. I might pull the rake out today and rake some leaves. They would be easier to rake now while they are damp but would be hard to mulch them.

I added a new blog to my reading list late last night, over on the left side. It's called Dirt Roads & Dogs. All smaller dogs than mine, can walk without a leash and camp in tents or a Toyota 4Runner when the weather is bad. Reading through some of her posts and looking at her photos gave me a little urge to travel again. Then I see the hounds in their environment this morning and think I need to stay here. Nothing changes.

The sun is out, blue skies ... another great day here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.