Heidi Makes It Outside Today

After a late finish of college basketball, past midnight, the hounds and I woke up to temperatures near freezing. I am still standing by my "winter is over" announcement of a few weeks ago.

You can see the yard and field is not only getting very green with the recent rain, but heavy frost this morning. Sadie and Stella were not out much longer than to sniff a couple areas, dump their tanks and head back into the house for that morning nap.

By noon, the temps were nice enough for Heidi to make her grand entrance outside. As the weather gets warmer she will come outside more often and stay longer. Her skin is still looking fairly good but found out this past week that her skin breaks out with peanut butter and strangely enough ... carrots.

About 9 days ago I started her on a no grain, venison, lamb meal, no potatoes blend of kibble. Last year the vet recommended duck or venison as her protein source. I don't know why I still look at different foods, she has eaten all kinds and her skin basically stays about the same. Anyway she enjoyed checking out the driveway today.

Sadie let me know the field was dry enough for a walk. We thought the chance of deer two days in a row were slim. Plus I was hearing heavy machinery in the field behind us where the deer were yesterday ... doing some logging. We headed out leash free, the 200mm lens on the camera while Heidi stayed back to lay in the sunshine.

It wasn't soon after we started that Stella found something that interested her so much she wouldn't leave. Once she saw that Sadie and I had made the first turn she decided she might want to catch up to us.

She finally caught Sadie but stayed near me on the path for most of the way to what I call the half way point of the walk, where we turn and head home.

Both of them decided to see what I would do if they hung back and ignored me calling their name. Once they saw that I was going to keep walking, they started jogging toward me. I really think that both hounds like going at their own pace, hanging behind then and getting in some good runs ... it's good exercise for them.

Upon our return Sadie and Heidi checked out each other, neither nose was sunburn after today.

I might go out and get a little fence repair done this afternoon. Only two NCAA basketball games tonight and tomorrow, so I will tune into those. My book reading has taken a backseat recently. For some reason I don't have the same urge to read that I had last month. It is just too quiet today.

Not much going on today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Sadie's Afternoon Game Of Fetch

Needless to say after Friday morning's excitement around noon with their workout of chasing the deer, the rest of the day for the hounds was anti-climatic. The hounds were fed, they napped, they did nothing ... remember they are retired, just like me. I started the afternoon walk aware this time. I made sure I had the right lens attached (200mm), I put the 6' standard leash in my back pocket in case I needed it and I looked ahead to make sure the coast was clear.

After Stella finally caught up with me and Sadie, she immediately started tracking the path of the deer this morning and was heading for the 'no fly zone'. I called her, she stopped and I put the leash on her .... just for a short distance. After I unleashed her, she stayed in front of me most of the way home.

I needed to wrap up some laundry I had been doing, plus finish some games of Mahjong ... all with the purpose of "wasting time" until my IU game comes on at 10pm. The game before starts a little after 7pm, which I planned on watching so I am basically trying to find anything to waste time until the games come on.

The day turned out to be so nice that I decided it was time to play some fetch with Sadie ... she loves it ... Stella has no interest, at least not fetching balls or bones. I hear that Frisbee is her specialty.

I feel fortunate that everything worked out for Stella and Sadie, before - during - and after the deer chase. I was relieved I didn't have a long trip trying to find them once they got away this morning. Probably good that Sadie is a little older and Stella seems to like staying nearby.

Another night of March Madness and all is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.