The Hounds Speak

Heidi … it’s ‘oh dark thirty’ and you are doing the full body shake with flapping basset hound ears??? That seems to be the new alarm clock. The only problem is, I stopped setting the alarm once I retired. It’s okay though, 6:30am isn’t that bad … plus once Stella wakes up she lets me know it’s time for breakfast by her howling.



I don’t have a lot to say this morning but the hounds seem to have a lot on their minds.

Heidi …

I know he used that photo of me sleeping yesterday, but it’s what I do and it’s what I’ve been doing this morning. The slave is wanting to wake me up to grab those blankets to add to the wash this morning but I’m not moving and I’m not giving up any blankets. The toenails?? It’s manicure day … he pulled the clippers out while we were all eating breakfast … LOL … Sadie took off to hide in the bedroom so I walked over to her bowl and ate what little food she left in her bowl, before Stella could figure out what all the noise was about.

Blogging?? I did receive a few emails asking where ‘my’ blog was. IT’S GONE!!! My blog presence lasted but a few days before the slave changed his mind about giving us all a blog. I KNEW it wouldn’t last so I wasn’t that excited about it … He changes his mind all the time … it’s what he does … I live with it!!

No plans for me today. It may have looked like I was sleeping but I heard him say he was giving me a 30 minute soak in warm water with Epsom Salts today. That warm water up to the bottom of my chin feels good. It has to be that deep because I have skin issues on my neck … then he will cut my nails afterwards. He doesn’t have any treats to give me to bribe any of us today … I saw him putting the box of treats in the recycling bin last night.

I’ll come back here at times and talk … I never liked that blog of mine anyway … I just like to sleep. Photos? eh … could care less. I wasn’t born to be famous, I just wanted to be a lazy basset hound.

Those antibiotics the slave gave yesterday worked. No eye gunk today and my eyes are red and clear just like any other basset hound you may see. If you had eyelids like mine, your eyes would be red all the time too.

Stella …

Ah what a day. I just woke up from my morning nap. As you can tell I am not really motivated too much on this Saturday morning. It’s a cold day but I hear it should be 58° later today … LOL, right. It’s 37° right now, a cool breeze hitting me in my face from the south. My nose is picking up a LOT of scent as I sit there.

I think it’s those cows I can barely see. I hear them at night sometimes.

Sadie is already stressed out this morning. The slave tossed out the nail clippers on the floor early this morning … WHY THEN? … I have NEVER seen her leave food in her bowl but she did … sprinted for the bedroom, hiding behind the side of the bed. By the time I figured out what was happening, Heidi was already at Sadie’s bowl with her head buried deep in kibble. Not really … there were only a few pieces of kibble left but Heidi made it out to be a big deal … “Look what I did”

It’s Saturday so the slave won’t do much more than watch ballgames. I think “my” game is on at 2:15pm, so I am hoping for lunch at 11am and our afternoon walk around 1pm. BTW … I LOVE walking in the field with no retractable leash hooked to my collar. I’m not making any promises though on that “no leash” policy … if I see any deer in that field or down in that gully … I’ll BE GONE!!!

Then we will find out who can run and who can’t … any bets??  LOL

Sadie …

Can’t believe what a day I’m having and it’s only started. As you can see I don’t even want to go into the yard or field I am so mad. The slave tossed out the nail clippers onto the floor while we were eating this morning around 6:30am. Besides making me mad because he is cutting quantity of kibble in my bowl … he wanted to ‘torment’ me while I am eating?????  Really???

He could have waited, after all it only takes me 45 seconds to engulf 2 measured cups of kibble. FORTY FIVE SECONDS!!!! Hello … nail clippers????

I didn’t hesitate … heard them hit the carpet and I was GONE….sprinted from my dog food bowl next to the slave’s computer desk toward the bedroom. I HAD to JUMP over those clippers to get by them. I slid into my normal hiding place as I ran by the corner of the bed … laying on the floor as low as I could get, keeping as quiet as possible, between the side of the bed and the wall. He will never get me to move. I’ll play “dead weight” if he shows up.

So today should be exciting. I did let him cut my nails last week … why do it every week?? The slave says a little bit per week to get them back to being puppy short. He cannot bribe me today unless he pulls out those skinless chicken thighs he cooked last night … our treats are gone because I saw him flatten the box and throw it into the recycling bin. Sooooooo chicken it will be. I will put up a fight though, when it comes to cutting my nails.

I got a lot of emails last week asking where my blog was. Readers liked the red/green design. They liked hearing my point of view on things. It’s not going to happen though … it’s gone, not saved and not going to resurrect itself. I’ll miss it for sure. I loved blogging. I had big big big plans for my blog …. and now I am stuck blogging under the slave’s rules, no control of what is being said or what photos will be used.

Is there a union for bloodhounds?

Stella Passes Her 2nd Test

I really didn’t have any doubts that Stella would do okay off-leash during our walks. Of course there has not been any surprise deer jump out at us. We are also walking now mid-day, not late afternoon. Sadie was ready to go when she heard the word walk … she is waiting for Stella and I to catch up.

We are off for a Friday afternoon walk – Sella is not leashed.

 It seems like that same corner every time – Stella will stop and wait for Sadie to catch up.

 The follow their own same path every day, whether Stella is leashed or not.

Stella decided to stop in the same spot as yesterday. I walked on as fast as I could because I wanted to see what she would do once she realized how far away I was.

 Once she saw how far out in front Sadie and I were, Stella came running. Interesting that she didn’t run directly to us but followed the path that we take every day. I can even see a faint picture of the path on Google Satellite.

 As Stella turned the corner to head back to the house – She decided it was time to play.

 Although there are teeth exposed at times – there has never been any biting or growling.
There are times though that Stella starts to get a little rough, so I have to stop them.

Once I said “let’s go home” they both took off down the path.

 By the time we returned to the house they were ‘walking’  and were asleep within 5 minutes after going inside.

Heidi made her one and only trip outside right after lunch. With the temps below her 70° threshold, she shivered, raised her font paw – telling me she was ready go go back inside.

It was a quiet and relaxing day here in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana

Heidi Is In Hiding

I don’t believe Heidi was feeling good yesterday. Her activity level was even lower than her normal one. Her stool late evening looked like she might be sick. This morning she was up before anyone, with a full body shake with flapping basset hound ears waking me up as daybreak shined through the window.

The bloodhounds and I chose not to get up at that time, nor do a full body shake.

Later, daily morning routines were followed. Seems just like another day, but it’s Friday. That use to be my favorite day of my work week. Now in retirement every day is a Friday to me … it’s great.

While Heidi stayed in bed, the bloodhounds did their 1st thing in the morning search and destroy mission. They always like to see who or what has been in their yard, field, under the cars, or behind the chair. I suspect it is the cat I see at times in the field past midnight. Her eyes shine bright when the flashlight catches them.

As you can tell from the photos, Sadie and Stella didn’t do much. Where are the days where they would start wrestling or playing as soon as their paws touched the yard?

Instead Stella started off with long scratch.

Sadie went looking for her first diet supplement of the day, while I walked across the frozen grass to the piece of land I cleared just last April and is now a part of the yard. I’ll set a chair out there this spring, even though I hate having to mow around things. One of the reasons my yard is pretty plain.

I had my first test this morning to see if the “new policy” was going to work. Sadie had found her first ‘dietary supplement’ today.

While Al, over at The Bayfield Bunch said last night that snow is in his Congress Arizona forecast, I am looking at sunshine and temperatures to hit the upper 50’s today. In the Midwest. In the month of January. In the middle of winter.

As you see in these last photos, the hounds are heading for the house. Not one minute was spent on playing … that started as soon as they took a step inside the house. It never lasts long before they stop with Stella chewing her Nylabone and Sadie laying in the corner of the living room, with her back against the vintage 1975 paneled wall.

Before I go I want to talk a little about Internet Browsers. My satellite internet account started the first day of the billing cycle yesterday so my speeds were back in the 12-14Mbps range. I had 15Gb on the counter for the next 30 day billing period. Once I hit my limit of 15Gb per month of data a few days ago, my internet speed reduced to the “old days” of dial-up connections. I was turning a .44Mbps for the last couple of days. Yes, that is a ‘point’ you see before the 44.  :)

So I keep a close eye on my data’s burn rate, tracking it daily in an Excel spreadsheet. (of course). I also have an Activity Monitor open at all times on my 2nd monitor just in case a file downloads that I am not expecting. I have ALL automatic updates turned off. I also have caught those unexpected downloads before, that can burn a Gb of data in a matter of a minute.

But that does not stop Google. I glanced up at that Activity Monitory last night, I’m not sure why. What I see sent me into a panic state but I’m still thinking clearly. I have been through this drill before … the Activity Monitor chart is maxed out in blue … something is downloading and taking a 100% of my cpu. I tried to force quit … it was relentless. I ended closing Google Chrome and the file went away.

By the time I got the file download stopped, a day’s worth of data had sprinted thought my hard drive. Gone! Just like that.

I do a quick search on the file name and find it its an update by Google for any Google products you are using, even if they are closed on your computer. Different articles were saying the same thing “it acts like a virus” but it’s only a Google update for all of their programs downloaded on your computer.

As much as I like using Google Chrome as my browser, after that I decided it was time to change. Firefox or Safari. All my bookmarks (favorites) are the same on all three browsers. Safari is faster, Firefox is more secure. I’d love to use Safari but I cannot stand the gray tabs and the bookmark bar. Gray gray gray … give me some color. Give me those website icons across the bookmark bar, for the sites I’ve added as a favorite.

So this morning I am switching back and forth between Safari and Firefox. Everything is updated. Firefox updated to 44.0 yesterday. Safari seemed faster last night but today Firefox is fast so that is my browser choice for today.

In the meantime, Google Chrome has been deleted, uninstalled … whatever from my desktop computer as well as my laptop.

My data meter is looking great this morning, as the sun is shining in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana.