A Late Morning Hound Walk

The streak of good weather here in 'the tropics' is off to a great start. As we stepped outside for the first time today, the skies were blue, scattered white puffy clouds and the hounds had their noses were to the ground immediately.

Like I predicted yesterday nothing happened the rest of the day. The highlight of the cold afternoon was a trip to the China House downtown for their $7 all you can eat buffet. It's so good that I could almost eat there on a daily basis. Of course whatever is in the ingredients led to a late afternoon siesta.

Stella just stopped by the desk to let me know it was about time for lunch.

I let the bloodhounds roam the field this morning. It was time to load my one load of 1 39gl bag of trash and the one trash container for recycling. Our county recycling program has a deal where nothing has to be sorted so it makes it pretty easy to recycle. No sorting? You cannot get easier than that. For a $2 fee they will also take my 39gl bag of trash.

The bedroom was 'childproofed' for Stella. I decided today that Heidi would come with me. A little bonding between her and I without the bloodhounds trying to get all of the attention. Plus to let her see that every trip in the FJ does not mean a trip to the vet. The trip was successful and she was pretty happy has we drove up the driveway when we got home.

It was so nice around 10:30am, it was time for a walk. Sadie and Stella sensed that we were going and of course that brings excitement with Stella howling and Sadie bouncing up and down with her front paws off the ground. A LOT of photos today.

The other day I looked through my collection of baseball caps to possibly find a replacement for the cap Stella chewed up last week. I thought I had thrown this cap away in 2013 but found it among all of the MLB baseball caps I had bought on my 2 week baseball vacation I took in 2003. One of the best trips I had ever taken, 14 cities, 13 MLB games and one day at the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. So I pulled out the following "ex" yard ball cap that I thought I had retired.

The green paint on the bill is from painting the house in 2010 and the destruction of material happened when I was changing oil lines on the 2003 Coachman Class C rv in October 2013. It worked out well today during the walk so it will be the "new" yard work cap this summer.

Stella took off immediately on the walk and then turned to wait on Sadie and I as Sadie was doing her normal dragging me to start the walk. I could tell by the way they started, their speed, they would be ahead of me most of the time. Stella stopped on her own to see where Sadie and I were.

They took off around the right corner and never stopped. By the time I got to the corner they were way ahead ... plus they were both looking into that gulley. I yelled "hey" and they both came back out into the field so I could see them. Both of them were coming when called today. Stella might have strayed off like she normally does but came when called every time.

 

I yelled "hey" and them came back out to the field together

Right after that they took off for the two spots they always stop at. One doesn't want the other to get it all.

As they sniffed that line of bushes I tried to get ahead of them and prepare the camera to take some photos of them running toward me. The only problem was, the camera was ready but as I turned they had sprinted to catch up and were standing right behind me. One of those situations where one bloodhound didn't want the other getting the attention.

I really think Stella likes to get way behind so she can run to catch up with us. Basically most of the places she stops are the same day after day.

Sadie waiting for Stella to catch up

The sunshine made it feel warmer than it was. As it was a nippy 38° during this walk but felt much warmer. After telling the hounds "lets go home" they both came together on the path and headed home. At the very end they still found a couple of more scents they needed to check out ... but came when called.

It's a beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... gotta go ... Stella is howling for lunch and now has Heidi barking along with her.

A Slow Cold Morning

The 2" of snow predicted never showed up. Most of the snow was north of I-70 as usual. Still the house was cold when we got up this morning. The temps outside were not that bad, especially since we know that warm days (60's) are just a couple of days away.

This photo of the field that I usually post as a starter photo is facing west and yes, I take a photo of that every morning. It's interesting to see the changes of weather when all of those photos of the past year are lined up in sequence. The photo toward the tall power tower in back of the field faces NE ... those look like snow clouds this morning and luckily moving in the opposite direction from my house.

The hounds have been low energy so far this morning. They slept late, were excited for breakfast of course but after that not much ... even when they were outside. They have not even 'requested' going outside like they normally do.

The Nikon D3200 has worked perfect today, both lenses ... so the mystery continues. I can tell there isn't going to be much going on here today. The field is too wet from the rain yesterday to the hound walk. I have lost interest in the Area 51 book and haven't read it for days if not a week. I am basically hiding out on the internet reading ... or playing Mahjong, the best 99 cent app I've ever bought. I rarely buy apps.

Although my LG flip phone is working out well and saving me about $37 per month, I still at times think about going back to an iPhone. I miss the camera and the note program. I have tried a smaller camera as the replacement but I am not sure if the 10 year old (already) Nikon 3100 QuickPics takes photos as good as the iPhone 5s that I had. I still use the note program on my iMac and it of course synchronizes with my MacBook Air laptop ... then I print the specific note to take with me if I am shopping.

I guess we are talking 'convenience' with the iPhone ... I had always used it more for the other features besides just a phone. June is my upgrade month so I have plenty of time to decide.

Even with freezing temps, I guess the warmer temps last week made these start to bloom. It will be interesting to see if they survive the freezing temps last night and today.

My 'burn pile' was nothing after burning last spring. This pile of sticks and a long tree limb have all come from the yard this winter. I may need to let them dry out over the summer and burn next fall. Now there's a major retirement decision. I still have to pinch myself at times when I realize again just how nice this retirement stuff is.

Hounds were fed a late lunch. All three were out and back inside in a matter of minutes today.

It's a quiet day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It's Cold & Rainy

After the great weekend of weather, the hounds and I have been on a gentle slope toward snow tomorrow. It's been a slow process, first the temps dropped, a day later the sun disappeared, last night it started raining and today it's been 'freezing' around 40° and a constant rain.

It's reminded me of my time in the PNW, experiencing the winters on Whidbey Island for ten years ... cold, dark and rainy. Therefore, I've had more than my normal two cups of coffee today. I have read all kinds of new blogs on new topics. I've looked at houses on Zillow, checked a few old neighborhoods on Google Satellite Maps ... basically have just hung out inside.

The hounds haven't done much at all and certainly nothing to blog about. Heidi will only go out twice on a day like this. Remember she has a threshold of 70° for a lot of outdoor activity. She is older and she knows when to let me know when she needs to go outside. Otherwise I can find her hidden in blankets in her spot on the bed.

Stella and Sadie went outside numerous times but never stayed long even when I was willing to let them roam. They did what they had to do and came running back to the house. They napped most of the day. Those times they wrestled inside my favorite camera ... the Nikon D3200 ... failed to work again to get the photo of them.

I am not sure if it is the lens or the camera but I do know that I am tired of trying to figure it out. NO, I will not send it back in to the repair center. They had their chance, it worked for a short time. Plus I read on the Nikon D3200 forums that I am not the only operator that has this problem. Not sure what my next camera will be nor when I'll buy it ... I might go an entirely different direction this time in choosing one.

Heidi's skin has improved today, after I wrote about how red it was yesterday. It's a very light pink and I am not sure if that is even an accurate description. Let's say it's close to a normal skin color with just a little tint of faded red. My attempt to capture that photo to show the color was a failed attempt with the Nikon 18mm-55mm lens.

So by the time I grabbed a different lens, lock and loaded the camera ... Stella and Sadie were willing to pose for a photo.

The other day while finding new blogs or articles to read I came across a different way of budgeting. Currently I have the 8-9 different categories that Dave Ramsey recommends, filled out on my spreadsheet where I have been tracking my expenditures since 1999. The different kind of budgeting recommended only 3 categories and percentages 50/20/30 of your take home pay.

I follow a pretty tight budget because basically I am probably what some have called me ... cheap. At least I know where it went and I always have some money left over every month ... so it's good. These new categories gave me some breathing room. In areas I thought I was spending max amounts under Dave Ramsey's ideas, I was well within range of the 50/20/30 percentages. It didn't matter if I was eating out or buying groceries, it was just food.

If you have read this far and someone interested in budgets ... Let me explain more in detail.

Do not include or count any of your income that goes to investments, 401Ks or IRAs that are taken out of your pay check before taxes. Do not count anything that is withdrawn from your gross income, such as medical, taxes or social security. Just take your net income and work with that amount. The 50/20/30 are max spending limits.

50% is for "Fixed Spending" -- these are monthly payments that will not change until they are paid.

• Mortgage, Auto Loans, Insurance, Utilities, Water, Phone, Internet Provider, Trash Pickup, HOA Fees, Rent

20% is for "Financial Goals" -- only 3 categories here, pay off credit card debt, saving for emergency fund or retirement

30% is for "Flexible Spending" -- Other stuff you buy during the month where spending amounts are different.

• Groceries, Dining Out, Gas, Hobbies, Shopping, Other Fun Stuff

I found that once I sat up a spreadsheet and plugged in that information, I found out that I was better off than I had been thinking I was. It gave me a little more flexibility financially ... some breathing room. I guess I can go back to the Casino and put my money played on the craps table in the "Other Fun Stuff" category and still be under my 30% limit.  :)

Also a little side note. For those that have this site bookmarked with the .net domain ... stop, don't do it anymore. Due to the large amount of uncontrollable hacking attempts on that domain, I have changed the settings of that .net domain to "park"... it will not bring you to this site anymore in the next few hours once the servers are reset.

On Wordpress I was getting a large amount of spam hits on the domain even after being online just a day. In that case I was able to install a WordPress plug-in to block them and their comments. On blogger I have yet to find a way to block ALL spam attempts. My Blogger traffic reports show the .net is the source of a huge amount of hits, outside the normal numbers. Based on the countries those hits are coming from, I know they are spam attacks.

So ... you can bookmark or add to your blog side bar the .com domain but delete the .net domain. I have no plans to renew either domain this year so this blog will eventually go back to www.bhounds.blogspot.com. If you want to just bookmark that url, that will work also.

So ... really not much went out today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Was More Active Today

Less than 24 hours after Heidi had her 20 minute soak in warm water and Epsom Salts, she seems more active. I have not done this on a regular basis because each time the skin on her legs and paws look irritated with redness. A lot more redness than what was there (none) before the soak. I don't think I will give her those soaks with Epsom Salts again.

Yet, she has been a lot more active inside and outside since her bath and nail trim. She's back to doing her sprinting around the inside of the house and spent more time being social with the bloodhounds. After lunch today she went outside and toward the backyard on her own, she usually heads to the front yard. I thought there was a chance she was going to spend an hour or so in the sun, but she turned right around and headed for the warm concrete floor in the carport.

Stella in the meantime had been pushing her nose on the door knob inside to let me know she wanted out. It didn't take more than a step into the yard when she decided it was the perfect time for a short pre-walk nap.

Sadie convinced her they needed to walk. I decided I would only take photos of "highlights" during the walk today ... as you can see there were no highlights.

Approaching the house I thought I might see Heidi laying in the backyard. When she wasn't on the carport where we left her, I thought she had moved to the door while waiting for us to return. She wasn't there either. I glanced out front and didn't see her ... but she never runs away. As I walked out to the front yard, I see her on the other side soaking up some sun.

I wonder what happened to her reputation she came with from the rescue service ... "must be leashed at all times" or "she is a runner" ... but that was more than 4 years ago. I guess that shows she likes living here. She has never stepped a foot in the direction of the highway ... still, I don't leave her out there alone like this, at least in the front yard.

As you can tell from the sunshine, it was another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.