My Blog Has A Special Reader

First of all I am going to include some photos of the hounds that were taken this morning. They have nothing to do with this blog post but there are a few good photos of them, if I do say so myself. It will break up the paragraphs of this LONG blog post.

Sadie Letting Me Know That Stella Is Outside Of Her Boundary

I am sure that most of us that have or had blogs, never realized where our words or photos on our personal blog would reach. We don't even think about how far away readers come from or the total number of readers that would return daily, hourly or with every updated new post. Many of you made a blog just to add photos of your travels for family and friends so they could see and keep updated with your travels. My blog started October 2011 about the RV lifestyle I had just found out about and I was interested in doing that. Over the years it changed direction and moved to more about my hounds instead of RVs.

A couple of years ago I even stopped and deleted the blog. I shut off the domain name. Due to blogging being an addiction to someone like me, I brought the blog back in time to recover the same domain name and Blogger could bring all of my blog back online. Sure they deleted a lot of my photos but it didn't take that long to reload the photos.

Anyway ... where was I? Stella just came over to my desk chair doing her Phase I of begging to have her lunch at 11:35am ... you would think she would at least wait until after 12 noon. She hasn't started howling yet, that is usually her last resort. (~smiling)

I think some of you might find this to be a very heartwarming story ... but also show bloggers, like yourself, you never know what your words or your photos may do for someone that is having a bad day, a bad month or even a bad year. In my case it is a mom that read my blog to her disabled son, who laughed at all the hound photos and for some reason became quite attached to Winston.

He is my blog's "very special reader". -- {I forgot to mention that all quotes were pre-approved by mom & son}

This past fall as I did less yard work outside, most of my blog posts and photos, if not all of them ... were taken in my backyard with the hounds roaming the field by day and sleeping on the couch at night ... I was becoming a little bored with it. I was sure if I was bored than the blog readers were becoming bored, with some of them not coming back.

So last month on December 11, 2015 ... I made a post telling everyone that I was making the blog a 'private' blog, where I could document the hound's lives for only me to see. More like a personal journal instead of a blog. Later that I afternoon I received an email from a reader that 'blew me away'.

"Winston, he stole my heart, they all did actually. My son, who is disabled, really enjoyed me reading your blog to him and he would look at your hounds photos and laugh out loud when he saw the action photos. He misses your hounds too."

I am not really sure why I went with my plans of shutting the blog down from public to private, but I did. I guess my feelings were too strong, that I no longer wanted to write about my boring life for all to read. I was being selfish and looking only at me and not the 'big picture'.

During that next week I received a lot of emails wondering if I would reconsider putting the blog back online so all could read. There were more people than I had ever imagined, telling me they loved coming to my blog just to see the photos of the hounds, and it didn't make any difference what they were doing.

So December 22, 2015 I sent out a few emails to some people, including this mom, saying that I was going to bring back my blog to a public status, where everyone could read it. This was also only 3 days after Winston had hurt his back. Not only did I want to document what was taking place to help him recover, I wanted to post photos I could use as a reference during the process.

I also felt after all the years of my blogging and all those readers that came here only to read about the hounds and see the photos, deserved to know what happened to Winston just 3 days prior and would want to follow along during his recovery process.

I felt more than any other reader, that one "very special reader" needed to know what happened to Winston.

It was a short time after I sent out the 'reopen' emails that I received this from the mom that read the blog to her disabled son.

"That is the BEST news I've heard. We sure do miss the hounds"

That's not all though ... these next few quotes will show fellow bloggers just how much influence your blog may have on someone's life.

After I broke the news on the blog that I had to put Winston down, I heard from the mom.

"My son stayed sad ALL DAY and then last night he asked me to print out pictures of the hounds. He had me write all their names on the pictures EXCEPT for Winston's name. He went to his room came back with the Best Buy advertising flyer, took my scissors off my desk and did his best to cut out the word "BEST" then took tape and used almost the roll to tape the word "Best" on the bottom of Winston's picture, THEN he had me write the name "Winston" after the word BEST. All the hounds are taped to the wall right now. Winston's is face level to him. He has leaned his face against Winston's pic a few times. I am so shocked how he took to Winston like this. Especially since he has not ever saw the dogs.  I am suspecting Winston may have reminded him of a stuffed puppy that he had when he was a young boy which had the big ears and close to the same color as Winston."

I cannot tell you how many times I read that paragraph over and over. As bad as I was feeling about losing Winston just the day before, this "special reader" was feeling even worse ... a million miles away.

Like any good idea ... I had one pop into my thick skull, just out of nowhere, it was just there. For this "special reader' I wanted to tell him all about Winston, the hound he fell in love with. I wanted to show him when Winston wasn't much bigger than a 24oz plastic Pepsi bottle. I wanted to show him that Winston use to have a huge bloodhound named Bertha, bigger than Sadie, who taught Winston everything because she thought Winston was her puppy. She even taught him to be a squatter instead of lifting his leg.

As I went through my photo file of Winston, picking out certain ones to load int the blog, I started feeling better. The more I wrote, I felt better, so I couldn't imagine but was hopeful it would make this "special reader" feel better also. By the time I was finished I had uploaded 121 photos for "Winston's Story", linked at the top of the blog page.

Sadie, Stella and Heidi had just returned from a short fast trip outside ... when I had this in my email inbox ---

"The boy is in love all over again. Ran out of ink printing out the Winston puppy pics. And, he has someone looking through a HUGE stove box full of his stuffed toys, he pointed to Winston's photo and they are looking outside in the shop through that box for his stuffed puppy. That baby pic did it. My son knows he has a puppy like Winston."

Then the next day ... something else ---

"We are still looking for his beagle stuff dog, it was black with brown and had big ears."

The latest news from the mom arrived this morning ... "We now have Winston wallpaper. It is not too bad for cost, under a $100 and will cover a wall space of 4 feet by 10 feet!"

Winston would have been happy to have this "special reader" as his friend. He would would have given him "that look", as he looked up at his new friend, wagged his tail back and forth ... waiting for his new friend to pet him ... or give him a treat to eat, or maybe some of his pizza crust.

I am watching college basketball and the NFL Playoffs this weekend with hopes I'll start feeling a little better. That prediction the weatherman made yesterday of 51° and sunny is a little off today with 47° and a lot of rain here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana.

Stella Goes To The Dog Food Store

I was starting to get low on dog food for Sadie and Stella.  Heidi eats a grain free food for her allergies and a 28# or 30# bag will last almost 58 days for her. As usual when I get low on dog food I always look at Heidi's Skin spreadsheet where I track daily and rate her skin condition from 1-5, with 5 being the worst. I also list what dog food is being used and the main protein ingredients. I just want to check to see if I should change her food.

For some reason Heidi has been itching almost out of control these past few days. Yet when I look at where she is itching, the skin is perfectly normal. So I am going back to Earthborn No Grain food, and a blend I have not tried yet ... Primitive - turkey, chicken with whitefish meal.

Before I left though, Sadie and I had a nice inside game of fetch. I was at the kitchen table on my MacBook Air, taking in the great scenery outside a large window ... when I hear the bone drop on the floor next to my chair ... Sadie was looking up at me asking for a game.

Stella does not fetch a bone but the previous owner told me she does like to chase and catch frisbees. We will try that next spring. Consequently Sadie had the game of fetch to herself.

Stella has no interest in chasing a bone.

You might remember that I mentioned a few weeks ago that Stella was showing separation anxiety while I was gone. She was perfect from Aug 30 - Nov 24. I got over confident and went down to see a friend and his wife for a "day trip". I was gone about 12 hours and came back to a bedroom that was destroyed. The worse damage by a hound I had seen in the 28 years of having them.

She DID have the reputation and I knew that when I picked her up. Anyway that is a different story. BUT, because of that I decided why not ... I'll take her to the dog food store today because they allow dogs inside and there would be no chance of her destroying the seats in my FJ, if I were to leave her outside in the FJ.

You would think with a hound that loves to eat as much as she does that she would have LOVED that store. They have the open boxes of bone treats in bulk she could at least smell before I bought them. I was even was prepared to control her from eating the bone treats out of the box ... That was not a problem.

She must have thought she was going to the vet. Or maybe she thought I was taking her somewhere and was going to leave her. She jumped out of the FJ, attached to the 6' leash in my hand and was nervous right from the start. Then she wouldn't go inside the store. Once I got her inside just enough to close the front door ... she sat down and refused to move. I got her to move and she was skittish, scared as we walked in the back part of the store to grab the bag of food.

Stella loves to ride ... even laid next to the bag of Heidi's dog food and slept some on the way back. She was THRILLED to be home when she jumped out of the back of the FJ ... with that familiar howling bark. So, she must have thought she was going somewhere to be left or I was giving her away. I guess we will have to take more trips.

Still no playing by the hounds outside today. There was light rain and they have no interest in staying outside very long.

They did notice people down in a building in front of the field I take photos of on occasion. It could be interesting in the future, depending on how much noise there will be. The new owner is converting a duplex apartment into a child daycare center ... with a little rural touch. So I am not sure how much noise of excited and happy kids playing outside will carry up to the yard but that will definitely peak the interest of two bloodhounds that love people.

On the afternoon trip outside, Stella thought there might be a chance for another ride in the FJ and was a little disappointed we were not going anywhere. She ended up back inside taking an afternoon siesta.

Of course her paw was touching her bone just in case Sadie decided it was hers based on those Bloodhound Property Laws I mentioned the other day. Sadie thought we should negotiate whether she was coming back inside. She refused to move for longer than I had expected. I finally won the argument without offering any bribes.

Here are a couple of photos of the past, one of Heidi about a week after I brought her home. She was healthier than now, very pretty, with some minor documented skin allergies. She is laying on "her" brand new dog bed I bought the day I picked her up from Guardian Angel Basset Rescue. She was unaware of the Bloodhound Property Laws until Sadie decided that was her bed. Heidi decided sleeping on my bed was a better deal anyway.

This next photo is of Maggie. You may have seen her name mentioned in the Winston Bio page or in recent posts. By the time this photo was taken she was full of cancer. You can see the swollen lymph nodes under her neck. She also had tumors inside her lungs. It wasn't a week after I noticed them until I had to put her down. I brought her home from the vet that July 4th weekend so she could enjoy a couple of more days at home. Surgery was not an option due to her weak condition. When it was over, the vet staff was crying in front of their next customers as we carried her out to my 4Runner.

I might start something new on this blog, like ending my posts on occasion with a "blast from the past", and show some photos of the past basset hounds I have had. Maybe today could be a start for that to happen.

Oh, I almost forgot another photo. For the 2nd time in 3 days, an Indiana State Patrol car was heading my way, parade speed down the center of the the highway. I grabbed my trusty Nikon D3100 to get a few photos of the monstrosity loaded on the back of the flat bed trailer. A line of cars surrounded it. I don't really know if it was coming from the 3rd largest military base (inland) in the USA or it was some large farm equipment. My camera didn't know either since it decided for the thousandth time not to work. By the time I turned it on and off, then took the lens off and back on ... this was the only shot I could come up with. I'll not repeat here what I said to the camera.

The weather never changed today. It may have been dark overcast clouds, with drizzling off and on rain but the high temperature still hit 51°. It will be the same temperature tomorrow only trading dark clouds for sunshine. Don't pack you bags thinking you want to move to the "tropics" of Southern Indiana because of the great weather ... by Sunday the high is suppose to be 28° and snow by next Wednesday.

I think Sadie and I need more games of fetch to pull me out of the ditch here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana.

I Haven't Adapted Quickly

Something wakes me. By the time I get my bearings I realize it's in the middle of the night. I'm guessing between 3am - 4am. The times just 4 days ago I would hear a whine from Winston out in the gated area of the living room. That would wake the other hounds one by one. I'd put my shoes on as fast as I could, grab my coat, prop open the door, get the t-shirt harness and catch Winston on the move to slide it under him.

Now, it really wasn't a whine that woke me. A whine you would do anything to hear again ... even if it were to take place at 3:30am. I almost beg someone or something to hear it again. I lay there in the dark and my mind takes no time to wake up and is going at speeds of an Indy500 car going across the "yard of bricks". An overwhelming feeling of sadness comes over me. Even the word sadness is not a good description, this feeling is worse.

No ... it's different now. That wasn't a whine I heard to go outside. There isn't a reason to rush out of bed and get outside. It's a feeling that makes you wonder how long is this going to keep coming back in the middle of the night.

I reach my arm to the right and feel a sleeping Heidi buried under her two Mexican blankets. I hear Sadie snoring from her stretched out position on the floor, her body half on the floor and half on the dog bed. Stella is so quiet you don't know she is there, rolled into the tightest ball ever, sleeping.

Soon after my thoughts move down the avenue of doubt. Did I do something wrong? Did I give him enough time to heal? Did I misread what I thought were signals from him telling if he was in pain or not? How could this had happened?

Those feelings and questions don't only happen in the darkness of the early morning. They happen at the most unexpected times. Maybe while walking the bloodhounds, realizing you are standing in the middle of the house during the day with no intention of walking anywhere, looking at a photo ... even looking into the eyes of Sadie, Stella and Heidi.

This is only the 3rd day --- it feels like a lifetime. How great would it be if people adapted to life changes as fast as a hound does?

Watching ballgames doesn't help. I can't focus at all, let along finish the book I was reading on December 18. Walking the hounds only delays the next rush of bad feelings. At least the hounds are enjoying it as they deserve to. I thought writing, posting to the blog was helping but really that is also just a delay mechanism.

I took off driving yesterday thinking that a roadtrip of some sort just for a couple of hours would help. Six miles later I make a u-turn and come back home.

Then I remember Winston's last 12 hours ... how he turned down water, sniffed my hand of kibble then looked up at me not eating any of it ... or how he had to lower himself one small step at a time with is front paws to get into the position to lay on his stomach .. how he could barely sit up from that down position ... the yelp ... and his looks at me. I know, as hard as it is to accept ... I made the right decision and in time I will feel better again.

I continue to get blog comments, emails ... more than I ever expected. I look at blog traffic numbers and am surprised again on what has taken place. All the blog comments and emails help me during this time. I know eventually things will get better and I never expected a fast resolution ... but it feels like a lifetime.

It's dark, dreary and rainy here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Adapt Quickly

While we should be putting on boots, gloves, hats and a ski parka before taking our walk for the day ... I'm not ... Don't have to. With the temps at a 'blazing' 51° here in the tropics, all I needed was a 4 season jacket over my sweatshirt. Nike shoes instead of boots ... and we were off.

It was -7° on this day last year.

Sadie, Heidi and Stella seem to be back to normal activity.  In fact Heidi is getting out of bed when the other hounds do and has made it outside today on 3 different occasions. That, is totally unheard of for her. She was awake and outside by 6:03am today.

She normally goes out to the front yard, does her thing and then immediately back to the door to be let inside. Today after letting her out I headed in the back to take some bloodhound photos but more importantly to monitor and yell at them to stop eating the deer droppings. THAT is all they want to do outside.

So it was pretty shocking to see Heidi running down the side of the house, coming from the north. That means she ran completely around the house instead of heading for the door.

After she was inside, I grabbed my camera and decided Sadie and Stella might be more interested in a walk instead of digesting deer stuff. I was right. Who says that hounds cannot see? About 50' away I hold up the retractable leash for Sadie and Stella to see ... not saying a word ... they come sprinting to me because they know that means walk.

Stella is the only one that is leashed. I figure at Sadie's age and weight, she might chase a deer but not for long before she would be out of breath and I could then catch her. Stella is a different story I think, so for her protection and my sanity I put the 25' retractable leash on her.

As you'll see, the first half of their walk their noses rarely come off the ground ... that is all deer area.
Here are some photos of their walk today.

A Short Note Tonight

I added a page about Winston's life that includes around a 100 photos +/- a few. One is at the top of the page called Winston's Story and the other is on the left side under "My Favorite Sites" called Winston's Biography.

I am happy to see at the other hounds adjust quickly to normal life. Heidi has the chair full time now, although Sadie seems to have liked it the past few weeks.

The "twins" are back to demanding being fed on "their time", with threats of Stella howling for food if I don't feed them when they want. Regular feeding times do not matter to them.

My 1st Day Without Winston

First of all I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and emails. The number of them surprised me, yet they made a bad day feel a little better. A friend emailed me last night hoping my day without Winston had not gone too bad, although she knew it would be a tough one. After I sent her a response... she said it would be a great blog post for the readers.

So here is a brief update for my 1st day without Winston.

Before I post that below my divider I need to briefly let you know what changed with Winston and that for some reason after I posted Monday, Winston started going downhill for some unexplainable reason. I'll not go into detail but just list some of the things that told me it was time. I remember on my Monday post that I mentioned at 2:20 that he started whining a lot, with numerous trips outside (3 in an hour), with no results.

• Late Monday night after a lot of hours of sleep - struggles to get up in the sitting position 
• He yelped when I tried to help him   (a sign of a lot of pain)
• Late Monday night turns down an offer of water
• For 17 days he had been guzzling water at every opportunity
• Late Monday night turns down a handful of kibble
• For 11 years and 7 months he never turned down anything to eat .. ever
• Peaceful night of sleeping in bed Monday night - although struggles to lay down
• He was back to using short choppy steps with his front paws to lay down
• At one point stopped and could not lay flat
• Cannot sit up Tuesday morning
• Yelps when I try to help him up as he is struggling to get to his front feet
• Tuesday morning after I carry him to the gated area - with no gate - struggles to lay down
• Tuesday morning struggles to pee and has one very very small piece of poop
• Tuesday morning refuses his breakfast of kibble and water
• I knew from all of the latest changes and the look he gave me Tuesday morning it was time
• I just knew there was nothing else I could do

So here is how my 1st day went without my very best friend. I will add that Wednesday morning has not been any easier. I got 9 hours of solid sleep Tuesday night and feel like I slept 30 minutes. I have two concerned bloodhounds that follow me when I pace around the house and come running when they hear me at my desk.

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This was my email reply to her:

I guess it has gone as expected. It’s been too quiet. Not because Winston was noisy but the bloodhounds haven’t played, stella didn’t howl for lunch and heidi is always quiet. Washed all the Mexican blankets, the dog Coleman sleeping bag and put the barriers away of the gated area … I didn’t want to see it anymore.

Took a shower, shave, a nap, two different walks with the bloodhounds. I looked through all of his photos. I took the last 3 of him this morning. 

I remember how he felt this morning when I held him at the vet, while I talked to him. His coat was so soft. I remember after the sedation shot that he almost finally laid down with my arm under his head to hold him, when he sat back up, refusing to quit and how he finally laid down with his eyes barely open.

I remember after it was all done how the vet tech took his ears, spread them out on the table and she couldn’t stop petting them.

I know it was the best thing for him. I know I made the right decision but like you know and I know from experience, it’s just a hard thing to grasp and get through.

I keep looking back and wondering what the cause was. Was it possible he might have had an infection from losing 4 teeth in 2 days although the vet gave him antibiotics? Did he have a stroke type thing on his spine. Did he hurt his back by doing his normal morning jumping off the bed.? Did Stella accidentally fall or step on him as she ran for the door after waking up?

Then I remember the facts … it happened … he was old … he had a great life … and he was just a great basset hound … that’s it.

So I pet and rub the ears of the other hounds. I talk to them. Hug them and at times I pace the house. I think of him lying down at the vet’s right now to be picked up by the cremation company tomorrow and know they will call me next Wednesday to pick up his ashes.

I still see him wag his tail just like Maggie did .. right before they gave they a shot to sedate them.

Time will take away some of the pain away but some of it will never leave. I’m still sad at times for the basset hound that died 8 months after I moved here in 1997. 

He didn’t want to eat this morning and didn’t. He didn’t take hardly any water this morning, then looked up at me with those sad eyes.

I thought when Bertha died at home while I held her as she tried biting me was the worse I had ever felt … but it’s going to take a long time to get over Winston. He was the best of all the hounds I’ve ever had….the best.

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Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday morning when I got back. Heidi did nothing but her favorite hobby of sleeping. Sadie and Stella put noses to the ground looking for Winston when I came back. They both jumped into the back of the FJ sniffing as I took the dog bed out to return it to the house. They were unsuccessful in their attempts to find him.

eyes closed

Winston Was Put Down This Morning

May 2004 - January 2016