Bloodhounds Play

It didn't take long this morning for the sunshine to disappear, with a short period of time of overcast skies. Rain is predicted for later this afternoon but when I saw the sky like this I thought it was a good time to fit in the daily hound walk before any rain.

Before I get started on this morning's events, I want to let those of you that either have tried to subscribe to my blog using the block in the upper left, or have followed by email before and may not be getting email notices when I post a new one .... I found the problem was on mine side of the blog and fixed it this morning. I thought I had done the correct procedure when I changed my url back to the free Blogspot domain a few weeks ago but I was way off. I had forgotten that I needed to go to the Feedburner site to make that change. It should work now, it does for me. If not, please email me and I'll see what I can do to find the correct fix.

I felt I had better be on the lookout today when walking because right from the start Sadie and Stella seemed a lot more energized, highly active and always way out in front of me. Consequently I had to keep looking ahead for possible deer and use a lot of voice commands to keep them near me as possible. Or at least in the general area.

For some reason on the way back ... Stella took off kind of spooked toward the house. She kept looking at the FJ parked in the driveway and then veering to the right of the house somewhat afraid of going to the driveway. I guess she was confused about a car in the driveway. As you can tell she was a good distance from Sadie and I.

By the time we got near the house, Sadie went sprinting toward Stella who was standing by the corner of the house. They met chest to chest and the bloodhound play went into action.

Believe it or not, there has never been any growling, biting, or yelping in pain when they play like this. With their ending being a face to face acknowledgment that they are done, within minutes of going back inside, they were both sound to sleep.

This morning before the hound walk I had some minor repair to my gutter downspout on the front corner of the house. I didn't realize until I was mowing the yard yesterday, the storms we had on Sunday night had pulled the downspout away from the gutter (screwed in) and then pulled the whole piece of downspout out of the house, which is connected with two long screws. I found the gutter downspout laying in one large piece in the side yard yesterday.

Luckily the wind was able to maneuver that long piece of aluminum around both of my satellite dishes used for tv and my internet. Pretty amazing that I did not hear any kind of sound telling me there was a problem, nor did I lose any tv or internet reception during that time.

The next project for today is fence repair. I didn't get that done the other day but need to before it rains today. It will not take that long to complete.

Even with rain predicted, it's a good day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Spends Time Outside

The day kept getting better as it went along. The hounds had an early lunch and with the weather so nice we went straight into the walk. As you can see Stella was anxious to get started.

They each put their noses to the ground and we were off.

If you look close in the next picture you can see what kind of drop off there is just on the other side of that ridge. I'd like to get back in there to take a better photo but the hounds would follow me and once they did that, they would do it in the future on their own. I don't want them that far into the brush.

The closer we got to the corner where we veer right, the wind was picking up and when we turned that corner it was a strong wind blowing into our faces from the NE. The hounds lifted their noses and took off, just like that they were heading toward that back field. I scanned the horizon and didn't see any kind of deer activity. The definitely picked up a scent with the strong wind blowing into their face.

Sadie made a left hand turn in the far back of the field and followed the bush line in a fast trot, acting like she had found a strong scent. Stella didn't want to be left behind and started running to catch us. Then again, she may just like lagging behind so she can get more running in during the walk.

When she headed a little further than I like in the 'no fly zone', plus ignoring me, I pulled out the 6' standard leash from my back pocket and hooked her up. She didn't mind it. After 30'-40' I dropped the leash to see how she would walk. She stayed near me, until I unhooked her completely and then she took off along the brush line on the way back home.

I knew during the walk that I was going to mow the yard when I got back. As a test I left all three hounds shut in the bedroom, with the windows open to see how Stella would do inside for about an hour. It is so much easier to mow the yard when they are inside instead of having to keep an eye on them while I mow. They like to wander off when I am mowing and they are left unattended.

After an hour, Stella continued her streak of no damage ... that's encouraging. When I said "lets go outside", Heidi went running for her blankets as if she was going to pass on the offer. When I told her she was not spending the summer in bed and to get outside, she sprinted for the door ... it must have been my tone of voice.  :)

Like always, once she was outside she enjoyed herself. While Heidi sniffed in the backyard and even laid in the sunshine for a while, Stella did her normal inspection of the freshly mowed yard and it looked like she approved.

Sadie rarely relaxes the sun. She either has to be exploring the field or chewing up sticks 1" at a time, but never eating them.

No matter how nice that warm green grass feels to Stella, for some reason she still likes to lay on the gravel driveway.

We had a good day today. It's nice to have all the windows back open. Does it look like Heidi has gained some weight? I think I'll take her over to the vet to put her on their scales and then find out if I need to give her more of the supplement called 'Hema A Spike'.

Cool breezes in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.