A Typical Saturday For The Hounds

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When you are retired the isn't a lot of difference in routine between weekends and weekdays. There might be a few differences but I find in the life with the hounds ... nothing changes much. Weekends mean ballgames start earlier. That covers football, basketball and baseball. Therefor with good weather the hounds and I try to get that daily walk in earlier in the day if not try two walks for Saturday and Sunday. 

This morning started with temperatures back in the low 20's. Heavy frost on the ground. It didn't matter to Sadie and Stella ... their noses always go to the ground immediately. They didn't stay out long on that 2nd trip of the day, right after their breakfast. Yet I noticed it was a day they were into ignoring my calls to 'come on'. They were more interested in checking out all the new scents.

I think Stella's new bright orange collar is showing up well in the drab background.

By 11:00 am or so, the temps had moved up close to the 40's, sunny and it was time for a walk. The ground was a little more saturated than it normally is, so certain parts of the path were muddy. I could tell right from the start that deer scent was stronger today just by the speed and action of the bloodhound's paths.

Just after starting they both took off, not waiting for me.

Stella decided today that she would wonder deeper into the wooded areas throughout the walk. There were a few times I wondered if she might take off but as I stepped in that direction to see if she would follow me, she would usually turn and knew she was a little outside her boundary.

When they didn't wait for me before they made that first right hand turn - where the deer hang out - I knew the scents were really strong this morning. Stella had already moved deeper into the bush area than I like ... it makes it too easy for her taking off down into that gully if she thinks something is down there. In one of these photos you can barely see her tail among the bushes.

She then took off running for her next favorite spot. Whatever was there in the wooded area, she did not want to share with Sadie.

They followed the treeline and once we make the turn left we are on the 2nd half of the walk, heading for home.

Only today on the way back, Stella decided whatever she found on the way out was good enough to go back and check again. You can barely see her standing by one of the trees. In that area there is a place flattened, so deer do sleep there at times.

She doesn't look happy that she has to stop her exploring and head back down the path to the house.

Her and Sadie found one more thing to check out before they finished their walk.

As you can tell the daily walk doesn't deviate much in scenery or different action shots. It's midwinter, the trees are bare and drab. Very little color to add to the photos while in the field. It could be worse though, at least we are not buried in white snow.

Not much will be happening the rest of the day. It's a full afternoon and night of college basketball, some book reading between the games I want to see and I am sure about the time I post this, Stella will be howling for lunch and will try to get Heidi's bark to join her. Yes, it's that time of day again.

It's a lazy Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Nothing But Photos & Jif Peanut Butter

After the hounds finished their afternoon nap by waking up at the sound of crackers being opened for peanut butter ... Sadie, Stella and I went on an afternoon walk. Later, after I had finished the last of the peanut butter, Sadie cleaned out the top half of the Jiff jar then let Stella try getting the hard to reach peanut butter in the bottom of the jar. She decide that if she could just chew the jar to make it shorter, it would be easier for her tongue to reach the bottom of the jar.

Nothing but photos ... you can click the top photo to see the slideshow.

Most of the time it's movies at home on Friday nights in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Dog Food Changes & Stella's New Collar

Woke up to a bright and sunny 21° here in 'the tropics' this morning. Some of the rooms were in the mid 50's, it didn't seem that cold when we went to bed. It was time to buy gas and dog food, so I knew I was going to get out of the house today ... with a possible road trip, depending on what kind of dog food I was going to buy.

Over a cup of coffee I decided that Stella needed a new leash, one to give all of us a better chance of telling Stella and Sadie apart in the photos taken. Another factor in the possible road trip was if I was going to change brands of dog food for a final time.

Diamond Naturals is located right downtown at the local 'feed store' where the Fromm for Lrg Breeds was 25 miles away. I needed to buy only 2 more bags to get my free bag of Fromm. No doubts that all of that dog food would eventually be consumed in this house. I had just written last week sometime that I was happy with the Diamond Naturals for all the hounds ... over the time it took for them to eat the 40# bag, things changed.

Heidi was itching so much on clear skin ... it was past the point of obsessive. Stella was fine. All their coats are soft and they shine. Sadie started doing two things, one of them she had done before when on Diamond Naturals ... at night she was frantic to get outside, then sprinting to the field and eating grass, a LOT of grass. The new thing she was doing ... licking her lower leg about 1"-2" wide ... fully saturated but no hot spot, nor any chewing. She licked as much as Heidi itched ... Stella had no issues. To me that looked like they had issues with something in the food.

So like changing my blog back to Blogger for a final time ... I put Heidi back on Earthborn Grain Free and the bloodhounds on Fromm for Large Breeds. The Earthborn for Heidi has a min of 20% fat which is really high and protein of 38% but I think with that much fat and feeding her twice the recommended amounts, it would help her add some weight. Yet, maybe not, as some here have said she might have a metabolism issue, therefor cannot keep weight on ... whatever the case she will be getting better ingredients with the Earthborn no grain food.

Right after this post is published it will "Toe Nail Friday" ... where I will be cutting a total of 64 toe nails counting their dew claws. I look at it only as 3 hounds. Stella's toe nails have always been the perfect length and she doesn't mind getting them trimmed. Since I started just cutting a little bit every Friday/Saturday - Sadie's and Heidi's are slowly being decreased back to a shorter length. The sound of a dremil tool turns all the hounds into sprinting champions so that is not a possibility. Nail clippers are my only option.

Heidi made it out not only for the 1st trip of the day but she came outside voluntarily after lunch. She sprinted back to the concrete after I had carried her into the field. Maybe when it is warmer she will be more interested in getting back into the field.

I took Stella with me to T&T Feeds in Bloomington to buy her a new leash and pick up Fromm dog food. She stayed in the FJ this time instead of following me into the store.  I wanted to see what she would do if I left her alone in the FJ while I was inside shopping. She passed that test with flying colors. She loves going for rides and she did not bark or howl when I walked toward the store. Last night I was gone an hour and a half ... she had not damaged anything but she did move the chest of drawers enough to reach the drywall next to the door. There was nothing on the floor to show she had been digging at the drywall though. So she is on a winning streak of a few days/nights where there have been no damages when I am gone.

Those are lizards

I would have preferred a different color, further away from Sadie's red one but the choices were slim. The ones I liked were sold out in her size. Anyway we should be able to tell from now on, which bloodhound is Sadie and Stella. I didn't care for the faded pink one she came with.

Faded Pink One

The new one besides Sadie's red one. After the manicures we'll take off for a Friday afternoon walk.

In the meantime, with 99lbs of new dog food - a new collar ... all Sadie wants to do is go for a walk.

It's a beautiful Friday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.