A Good Sports Day For An Addict

It wasn't long after this morning's post that I glanced to my right while on the computer and there sat two bloodhounds in stone silence, giving me the eye ... it was time for them to be fed. As usual it took longer to pour out the measured cups of kibble into 3 different bowls than it took for all three dogs to eat it. 

Heidi made her one and only appearance outside but unlike yesterday it was one of her quick out and back in trips and she called it a day. The weather was nice to get a walk in and Stella was so anxious about it, she took off running from the start.

One every walk Sadie will 'escort' me through the first part of the walk by trying to grab my hand with her mouth, similar to holding hands I guess. She soon realized that Stella might get something she would want so she left me and took off sprinting to catch up with Stella.

They stay ahead of me for the 1st part of the walk and then fell way behind. I didn't yell for them to come at all today ... I let them go at their own speed and I only stopped my walk when I took the photos.

Stella saw that I was not joking around and was going to leave them ... she came running. She ALWAYS will run following the path that I took, where Sadie always takes the short cut.

On the way, Stella found something else that was interesting ... Sadie and I kept walking, not even looking aback until this running photo was taken.

While Sadie walked to the house right next to me ... she had her exercise for the day ... Stella wandered off and found a 3rd spot that she wasn't going to leave. Once she saw Sadie and I get to the house, she decided she had better get home ... of course ... she took her own path.

They were in for a surprise. Heidi didn't want to go, but the bloodhounds were as excited about going for a ride in the FJ as much as they do going for a walk. Dairy Queen for lunch and back in time to start watching the Reds game at 1:10pm.

I know it's really really early in the MLB season but when your team is predicted to lose 100/162 games by the tv "experts" .. then starting the season 5-1 is nice.

By the time the baseball game was over ... it was a channel flip to CBS to watch the last 9-13 holes of The Masters. It was so nice and sunny in Augusta Ga that I wasn't paying attention to what was taking place outside my window ... until I saw lightning really close and a huge bang of thunder soon after.

Stella jumped from sleeping on the couch onto her feet, her ears back, tail between her legs and pacing in no specific direction. The storm was loud outside and something I never expected. While it stormed I was just hoping I would not lose my DirecTv reception, not only for the golf I was watching ... but I was also taping the bicycle race on NBCsports - Paris to Roubaix, racing over the cobblestones.

Although the storm was intense, I never lost reception. Stella went back to sleep as soon as I assured her the thunder was not inside the house. Heidi and Sadie never woke up.

So for a sports junkie like me, the day turned out pretty well ... I still have the bicycle race to watch.

Probably warmer outside than it is inside my house right now here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Are Slow This Morning

As you can tell from this mornings photos, the world has stopped here in 'the tropics'. The temps are up into the mid 50's, its not raining so that is good.

Maybe it's the overcast skies that laid out the energy levels for today???  I do know one thing and it's just not me but Sadie and Stella also ... today has turned into a slow-motion movie. They are taking the morning off so far ... but I know there is plenty of time left today to rally and make something of ourselves. What that might be is hard to imagine as I have my 2nd cup of coffee 3+ hours later than normal.

The first trip out every morning this is what they do ... not all they do .. but you understand that somethings they do are really not for public viewing. So these are the before and after shots. I have to wonder though, what is it that makes them so interested with their noses to the ground?

Is there really that much animal traffic at night in the field while we sleep that gives them new scents to smell? Or is it just that one cat that I saw months ago sprinting in front of me while I stood outside at 1:30am.

I think as you can see, they are not really energized this morning nor have I been. I've been back to that Apple site looking at comparisons between the new iPhone 5se and the older 6s. Yes ... I am considering going back to an iPhone for the camera, the GPS, a library of "notes" that substitute for my memory and a few other features. Notice I said nothing about phone calls ... rarely get them since the world is texting now.

We will get in a walk or two today but it's nearing their lunch time ... I haven't seen nor heard any begging for lunch so that confirms this day is definitely off the earth's axis.

Everyday cannot be exciting here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Late But Still Time For A Walk

Saturday did not turn out as productive as I had planned ... doesn't matter since there is tomorrow. Some say that is not guaranteed but I've been a procrastinator long enough to know that my chances are good.

As usual Heidi made it outside for a short time after their lunch. Her tail was up and wagging as she searched the area but every time I look at those rear hocks I can't help but think those have to be sore. Last month at the vet's I asked that question and was assured they were fine ... after some squeezing, rubbing, inspecting by the vet.

I have to remind myself at time that Heidi's blood work on March 5th was perfect, all systems were operating normal ... 

What you see in those last three photos were the extent of the afternoon. I did some research on online selling. The urge to go back into that type of work hits me at times. All of my suppliers are there waiting for my return. It might happen.

Then I watched a little baseball on tv, had some lunch and then I decided instead of hound maintenance ... a siesta was a much better option. I just didn't plan on that to last all afternoon on a beautiful day. By the time I woke the hounds, it was already past 6pm. The pace of retirement is really rough sometimes.

Sadie not only gave me the look and hopping up and down to go outside but the weather was so nice, but cool, for an early evening hound walk. The lighting for the camera was much better this time of day ... almost 7:30pm.

By the intensity of Sadie and Stella's nose activity I was sure that deer was up ahead and mentally prepared myself for them running off. As they turned the corner on the run I was sure of it.

After they were so far ahead of me I yelled to "come here" and surprise surprise ... they both came sprinting.

After that I kept talking to them to stay close. I didn't feel like having to wait for them on this walk. They did most of the time but even toward the end there is always something they find too interesting to pass up.

Heidi is given the offer to go outside each time Sadie and Stella go out. She is also asked to go on the walk but would rather stay wrapped up in her stack of blankets. I think the warmer temps this time next week will lead her outside more often.

Not much on the agenda tonight ... maybe a movie from my collection or on Directv, I will definitely be starting a new book but haven't decided which one yet and it looks like as I post this, it is going to be a very nice sunset tonight for photos. I'll post them tomorrow or put them over on my Wordpress blog tonight.

A slow but good Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Enjoy Their Saturday Morning Walk

It was great to see the sunshine this morning even with temps near freezing. Both of my weather sites said it "feels like" 22°.

So I waited an hour.

I waited another hour.

It didn't change, it was still feeling like 22° but the morning was passing us by and we needed to get our first walk in for the day. With the bright sunny skies I had forgotten all about the rain yesterday. Luckily I had put on some other shoes besides the Nike's I wear almost all the time. The damp ground and heavy dew didn't bother me.

Yes, it's April 9th but that 22° number won over. I put on the Mountain Hardwear parka with a hood. I slipped on my left hand glove thinking I would leave my right hand free for the camera shutter button ... but these gloves were different than I wore before.

The rubber fingertips looked like they might work with the camera so I slipped on the right hand glove and tried taking a photo. It worked perfect. So I had my camera gloves all along and there was no need to make cutting modifications to the other pair of gloves I had wore.

There was little wind if any at all which made it much warmer as we stepped outside ... from the start Sadie and Stella were ahead of me and stayed way ahead of me unless they found something buried under the thick hay. As usual when they found something they ignored me.

They stopped briefly at the turn but not for long. When they took off sprinting I was sure they might take off outside the boundary of the field. I didn't know what they had found in their scent research but obviously it was strong enough to make them sprint to get there.

You can barely see Stella but she is just right of the center of the photo. I will scream, yell and sprint toward that direction if I ever see her disappear further into that brush and over the hill of the gully. Today was pretty close.

This morning wasn't for deer ... it was for birds that were either hiding in the deep grass or eating out in that field. On the very first trip outside this morning, Sadie flushed out a bird from the deep grass and both hounds were sprinting after it through the field, in the yard and all the way to the embankment on the south side of the property. The bird wasn't 6" off the ground the whole way.

Here is a fine example of ignoring me. In fact, Stella looked up and then took off for her 'no fly zone' while Sadie came sprinting to catch up with me. Once Stella saw Sadie was leaving her, she went into an all out sprint not to be left behind.

With different sprints throughout the walk, they were both ready to get back inside the warm (60°) house.

It looks like it's going to be an hour or so of hound maintenance today. That will be a 20 minute Epsom Salt soak for Heidi, then nail trimming for all of them. I hope that Sadie will be cooperative today, it's usually a fight for her to let me trim her nails.

I am not sure what started this blogging in the middle of the day just after our morning walks. Why couldn't it wait until early evening like before? I thought a little about blogging while we walked this morning and I think my posting twice per day most of the time now is because of the amount of photos I add to the post. Two post per day splits up the large number of photos I take during the day. Just a guess.

I've caught up reading all the blog updates for the RV side of the list. A couple of the retirement blogs are really interesting so with my morning coffee this morning I read a lot of their past posts.

Of course everyone writes different styles, different topics, but there is one thing consistent ... ALL of us have periods of time where we don't feel like writing, taking photos or whatever we blog about. Some of them stop and re-evaluate what their blog is about, like myself, because the direction has changed over the years. That seems to be pretty standard for all bloggers on both of my blogrolls.

I received my Indiana License Plate tags yesterday. They are the ones that I put over the previous year, a small decal, with the last two digits of the year in big font and the plate number in smaller fonts. I don't know who decides the color choices for these tags but they have to be the ugliest in the United States on a consistent basis. Orange decals with black letters do not go well with my Voodoo Blue FJ, nor with my plate on the Mini Cooper which has the state colors of blue and yellow. Ugly ... Ugly ... Ugly.

Major League Baseball back east and in the midwest continues to play their games in freezing temps, even some sleet last night in Cincinnati. Some games were called because of snow. Too bad they need to make all the money they do make, which means more games are needed to pay those outlandish salaries ... otherwise they could start later and end sooner, all in good baseball weather.

Well it's time to get Heidi's warm bath water ready. She doesn't mind it but that 20 minutes seems like a lifetime while I sit there to make sure she doesn't try to escape the tub.

Sunny skies makes it a beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.