It's A Good Hound Day Today

As you can see another great day with cool temps and sunshine. The sunshine and clear skies is what does it. I am not a dark and gloomy weather type of person ... I need sunshine.

I was going to try something different today, go back to one blog post late afternoon or early evening. As long time blog readers know I change my mind a lot so we will see how long that takes place. It didn't last long ... lol.

That thought lasted no longer than the time it took to write this post and upload the photos. By the time I was almost finished writing this post I knew I was going to hit the publish button immediately.

I follow some bloggers that post weekly, or once a month, some post 5-6 times per day ... so I guess it's whatever the author feels.

It's was dead silence after we returned from our morning walk. I can hear my ears ringing ... is that a good thing? Although Sadie and Stella stood out in the field on their first trip outside, wanting to walk through the wet grass. I guess I may have to pick up some rubber shoes/boots to wear when there is heavy dew and start the morning walks at their request.

As you can see the daily activity never changes with them. Bloodhounds have the best nose in the business, up to 200x more powerful than a human nose and can track old scents up to two weeks old. Consequently the field gives their noses a good daily workout.

In the brush area just around the corner is a place I have to watch them. I don't mind them going into the brush but when they look like they want to go over the edge down into the gully, that is when I stop them. They usually come running.

Sadie decided to get a little jogging in ... she is trying to lose a few pounds this summer. I am starting to see a "waistline" for her, and I can feel some ribs, so that is good.

For some reason this morning they both seemed a little tired on the way home and followed our worn path back to the house. Within minutes inside the house they were both in a deep sleep. That will last until lunch.

It was two years ago tomorrow where I walked out of my office for the last time. I not only decided to retire on the 11th of April 2014, by giving them my resignation letter but after a day at work on the following Monday (14th) I decided taking vacation days up to my exit interview was better than working another 9 days just to get paid vacation days.

It was the best decision I've ever made.

I have enjoyed every day of it and have never tired of it. I thought I was financially prepared and I have found out two years later that I was. All of those thoughts in back of your mind wondering if you can live on a lot less income, proved to be just something to analyze.

Freedom is worth a lot more than making as much money as possible.

I know the hounds like it. They have a doorman to let them out throughout the day when they want instead of being shut up in a room for 9 hours while I worked. They get two walks per day instead of one in the late afternoon and their days are like a weekend.

I cannot nor will I advise someone what to do but I will say for me, a previous workaholic, deciding to retire was the best thing for me ... it's been great.

I think after these lazy hounds have eaten their lunch today, we will load up the FJ, take the camera and go for a little drive.

Great weather today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Enjoy the Change In Weather

The day was flying by and when I glanced at the clock it was already close to 4pm. While the water was rising south of me and beginning to flood the nearest field, the sun was out and it looked like we were at 60° using the carport thermometer. It felt warm ... so we started the 2nd walk of the day.

Before the walk, just after their lunch I fixed this section of fence again, didn't take along and should last until the next 40mph wind.

Looks almost like fall in this photo. I like how the red metal roof stands out in the background.

It was a great day to walk. Warm, no wind, the ground was still slightly soggy and became wetter the higher we climbed. The field has gradual elevation toward the back, then levels out at the fence line.

Sadie did take off over the edge toward the gully for the first time but turned around quickly when I yelled 'no'. If I let them go into the gully, most likely they would come back but that one chance that they didn't then puts them in range of a busy country road this time of day with people coming home from work. Also the smells of the landscaping business would lead them near the highway ... a disaster for a loose hound. So it's best to keep them on this side.

They both stay way behind and by the time I turned around to take a photo they had ran all the way back to me, then took off for exploring new ground.

Other than that the afternoon was pretty uneventful. All the hounds slept, I read blogs and articles on the internet, sat outside to enjoy the sunshine, had an apple and went into my thinking mode ... that's always a dangerous thing for me. It's days like today that remind me of Winston taking a nap in the sun, either in the yard or on the warm concrete.

A beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

All They Wanted Was Their Walk

Due to staying up too late watching baseball games on the west coast, this past week I've gotten up to let the hounds out and fed them breakfast every morning at 'their' normal time, but would go back to bed. Sleeping 2:30am - 7:00 am is never a good deal.

So this morning was no different and by the time the first cup of coffee was consumed the skies were clear blue and the sunshine had returned in full force. We start the slow climb to 76° these next few days.

The hounds ate their first meal as fast as ever and then immediately went into their 'stare down' wanting to walk. At 7am it was still too wet to walk anywhere, plus I was going back to sleep. Is that too much info?

As soon as that first cup was consumed both bloodhounds were standing like those bloodhound end tables you may have seen being sold on the internet. I knew they were ready to go ... wet ground and all. Yes ... it was still very saturated with all the rain we got yesterday. The higher we walked the wetter the ground became.

With the day off and all that rain to wash away the old smells and giving them new smells to explore ... the hounds were not only high energy, they were all over the place on this walk. So many places to go that they were almost in a frantic state as they scrambled back and forth along the walk.

At this point in time I was sure they had locked into something and would never stop running. Luckily I did not see any deer on the horizon but they had found plenty of the deer tracks to make them almost take off over the edge and down into the gully. A quick loud yell helped them change their minds.

Once again Stella had a mind of her own and I didn't even bother trying to get her to move. I just kept walking. Little did I know she would find another 3-4 places to stop along the way home.

They may have started running together but something caught Stella's interest ... over toward 'the no fly zone' which goes from the back of the field and anything past 10' toward the left if I am looking toward the back of the field.

This pose always confuses me ... since any bred of dogs don't see well, what does she see?? Or is it her nose that is getting her to pose like that?

Once again I was not going to even attempt to yell to come on because she was going to ignore me anyway. It's the DNA of the bloodhound breed. Sadie stood watch for a while, looking back at me and then back to Stella. She decided it was time to leave Stella and came running toward me.

As usual once Stella figures out no one was with her ... she came sprinting and just brushed up against my leg at full speed. I have to watch her up until the very last second and dodge if needed because she has at times hit me at full speed and didn't even flinch.

Living proof the walk was wet ... the Nike's are not waterproof.

I'll continue some reading about the online biz I mentioned yesterday but with weather being so nice today, I'll be outside most of the afternoon enjoying the weather. I need to get up on the roof today and check some spots after the high winds the other night. I also need to do a little more on that fence that I keep trying to repair.

Some things are changing in the online sales business that may make my decision pretty easy to not pursue it and continue to be a retired "slacker" ... which I can handle.

Amazon and eBay are in the process of making it impossible to sell products and have them drop shipped from the supplier. I always liked that type of drop ship business because I would have 3,000 - 10,000 items listed in both stores plus a separate website and would not have to spend a dime on inventory ... until a sale was made and then paying for only the item that had sold.

In addition to those changes, the NFL doesn't like their officially licensed merchandise being sold on Amazon and eBay, where it cuts in THEIR BILLION dollar business, so they are attempting to ban those sellers and threatening the suppliers. If one pro sport wins that battle you can expect the NBA and MLB to follow suit. Here is the article that discusses it. Sure counterfeit products are part of the problem but all of my suppliers are authenticated and legit.

So ... I am beginning to think it might be a lot nicer sitting back in the sunshine drinking ice tea after a fresh cut yard ... enjoying 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.