Friday?? Really??

First of all if you glance left, you will see that I have decided to track the number of ticks I pull of me and the hounds. I won last years contest by a landslide and am off to a fast start in 2016.

Having the house and yard so close to the field, it doesn't matter if I spray the backyard. Plus I don't follow all of the tick laws. I don't tuck my jeans in my socks ... how would that help my waistline or neck? I do wear a hat though and as the temps get higher I also wear cargo shorts as we take our walks through the field and I know that is against the rules. So anyway, out of curiosity I am counting ticks this year, all the way to December 31, 2106.

I really didn't have any idea it was Friday when I started my day. That is a common theme while retired, losing track of days. In the fall it is easier to keep track of the days due to my addiction for college and pro football ... even though anymore you can see a football game almost any day/night of the week.

Warning - It's Friday and that means a LOT of photos and a LOT of rambling. Click any photo for a better/bigger view, scroll through them to the bottom, or grab something to drink as you read along.

Early on it looked like rain but nothing was planned on the two weather stations I follow online. Sadie and Stella didn't stay out long on their first trip. Heidi has gone outside every time the bloodhounds have gone ... that's a nice change.

A little after 10am, she made her next trip outside. Where I had clouds to the west but blue skies to the NE, I decided it was time for a walk. My long sleeves were off and it was t-shirt weather even at 60°.

Just past that edge where you see green under the fallen tree ... goes straight down.

Looking left I caught something in a tree, not sure what it was since I was not wearing my glasses. You can see the zoomed photos here. I wasn't sure what it was, nor did I know it had "landed" until Stella took off in a very fast sprint. By the time Sadie arrived I saw the hawk (?) taking off from the ground, kind of running into the woods.

When I got back to the house, I checked google images to see what it might be. I am not a 'birder' so if any one knows please comment below and let me and the other readers what kind of bird that was. The best I could come up with was some kind of hawk.

In the past I have seen them fly up out of the ground, hawks do that. I have also see skeletons of them in the field. So I think it is safe to add the hawk scent to many spots in the field that the bloodhounds are too interested in, besides just the deer.

Both, Sadie and Stella, were not into the running mood this morning, the were mostly slow paced besides the sprint to the hawk. Sadie spent most of her time walking next to me on the way back to the house.

A different type of photo than I normally take, but thought the leaf was an interesting shot for this time of year. Not a lot of weeds growing in the field this spring like I remembered last year, so they should get some pretty good hay in July.

I guess since it's Friday, Stella deserves to be a little low key after another fast paced week as a bloodhound.

Heidi stayed near the house outside as the bloodhounds and I walked this morning. Once inside she was wagging her trail and trotting under and around the bloodhounds to growl to herself and scratch each side of her mouth. She seems more active today, so the Epsom Salt soak must have helped. I'll give her another one this weekend instead of waiting for her skin to become irritated.

The biggest decision of the day was trying to decide how high to grow the lawn. In the past out west where I never saw a yard mole, I could cut the grass down to the ground and have it look like a fairway at Augusta. Here due to the bumpy surface, small dirt piles or rises from mole traffic plus hotter summers, I've had to cut the lawn taller.

I think I have it about the right length for this area but I haven't really measured it ... some say to let it grow to 3". If so, I need to raise my mower blade another notch higher. I may try that just for a change of pace ... kinda like driving the Mini Cooper instead of the FJ or using Firefox instead of Google Chrome.

Or like today I decided to list ALL the labels I have used the past 5+ years instead of just the 200 or so of the ones I edited. I had plenty of room to run over 500 of them down the right side ... does anyone click them to go to a specific topic?  I have no idea.

At least we don't have to schedule a meeting to decide those things ... that is all I remember about my working career ... meetings and power point presentations. Did I ever tell you how much I hate Microsoft Office Power Point?  LOL

It wasn't too long after their lunch, the three hounds decided I needed to mow the yard today. Before that, we hopped in to the FJ and took a trip downtown to the local feed store. An establishment that opened in 1938 and is still owned by the same family. The times I've gone in to buy dog food, I noticed they had bully sticks.

It's either cash or check there, so I robbed my trash fund and left $2 for my next trash run. The balance of $6 was going to the hound's bully sticks. I bought 3 of them at a $1.86 each ... $6 with tax. They were long and cost less than the once I bought yesterday but didn't last as long.

Not to worry, I have used only half of 1 stick, while I was out mowing the yard. Once again Heidi, grabbed her portion and with her tail wagging, trotted off for the far corner of the living room which is another favorite stop of hers.

I'm really out of shape but know my wind will improve the more I work outside. Today instead of mowing back and forth across the hill in the front yard I wanted to mow a different direction ... that meant pushing the mower up my hill every other turn. It was too soon in the "mowing season" to be doing something as strenuous as that.

Each time I mow, the hounds like to come outside and inspect my work. The inspection didn't even get started today ... Stella found a nice spot to take a nap ... she seemed to have lost interest as an inspector.

You can tell by her mouth that she was getting warm in the sun. Her jowls were wet and she was panting. Sadie looked over and knew she was staying near the shade where I was.

It wasn't long before Stella woke up and moved to the shade but the spot wasn't as comfortable as the one she had. She didn't lay there long either.

In fact she decided the best option was going back inside the house with a cool breeze coming through the open windows and taking a siesta.

That is what all three hounds have been doing since I came back inside. Since mowing the yard, my sinuses have been going crazy. I think that might be the cause of some of Heidi's skin allergies becoming active that would lead to more chewing and itching.

I have already had my Dairy Queen Blizzard for the day, so it looks like the rest of the night is water and some baseball on tv.

I still cannot believe it's Friday night, here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Is a Happy Hound Again

FINALLY -- Heidi returned to being a happy basset hound yesterday, like her old basset hound self.

Where has that been after months and months of little activity and more hours of sleeping than I care to count? No, it's not the food change. I did give her a portion last night when I got home for her 3rd feeding of the day. She had the new Earthborn Great Plains Feast for breakfast this morning. It's WAAAAY to soon to show any kind of changes in her due to food.

It might be the Epsom Salts soak she had on Wednesday. That usually takes a couple of days after the soak for her skin to really calm down. Since that soak she has spent a lot of time in her old favorite spots in the living room instead of hiding out in the bedroom. Her spots in the living room are usually where the sunshine hits the floor or couch, while shining through the window.

It started when we got home yesterday from our 60 mile round trip where we bought the Earthborn dog food. She didn't want to ride in the FJ, plus the last couple of local trips she has acted car sick although she never got sick. So she stayed at home while Stella, Sadie and I headed to T&T Feeds in Bloomington Indiana.

To keep the bloodhounds occupied on the return trip I also picked up a couple of slim bully sticks, 2 feet long. I thought they would probably be gone by the time we returned home. As I opened the back of the FJ, Stella took off to the backyard with about 6" left in her mouth.

Sadie headed for the house with nothing. Since she had spent most of the return trip standing and looking out the window I had a sneaky suspicion that only one of those bully sticks were chewed and the other was somewhere in the FJ.

I was right. One of the two had fallen down inside between the front seats and the folded down back seats. So I cut the remaining one in half and gave each piece, about a foot long, to Heidi and Sadie. Heidi started wagging her tail as I handed it to her, trotting off to one of her spots on the floor. She never stopped chewing until the bully stick was gone.

I was only able to get a few photos plus every time I thought I had a good shot she would move, so these are the only ones I could come up with.

Afterwords she takes off sprinting in around the house, barking, going from room to room wanting me or Sadie to chase her. We did, without my camera in hand. Stella in the meantime had finished her bully stick and was standing outside the screen door wondering what all the excitement was about.

By the time she had wore me and Sadie out, she nose dived into the living room floor, wiping each side of her jaws of any left over drool from chewing the bully stick. She was growling to herself while cleaning the sides of her mouth.

While barking she rolled over on her back for a good long scratch, barking and growling at herself .... finished ... hopped up on the couch in the sunshine and thumped her tail against the back of the leather couch.

I am thinking her lack of activity was a combination of not feeling good and boredom. Even though there a LOT of balls and different bones to chew on ... she never uses them. She might feel those belong to Sadie and Stella. Yet she rarely played with them after her first few months of arriving in July 2011.

She obviously liked the slim bully stick and maybe that helped getting her out of any bored feelings she may have had. She has been going outside these past few days more and more, snooping around ... so hopefully she was just feeling the "winter blues" these past few months.

It was great to see her finally acting like she felt good and being the basset hound I remember before her skin issues started to get really bad. Maybe it's the warmer weather like I predicted a month or so ago ... that she likes it when the temps get above 70°. Hopefully we are close to where she will join us in the daily walks that she use to like so much.

An order for a bigger quantity of bully sticks will be placed this morning from Chewy.

We will see but I can tell from her activity yesterday she was feeling good, here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Dog Food Analysis Again For Heidi

It turned out to be another beautiful day here in 'the tropics of Southern Indiana. I am not sure why but after getting up and staying up this morning the hounds never begged to go walking. They had breakfast and slept almost to the time of lunch.

During that time I started going back over my notes and spreadsheet where I have been tracking Heidi's skin issues, and what kind of food I was feeding her. I've been tracking that in a spreadsheet since last summer. She was doing pretty well and then a few days ago broke out bad enough that she was chewing her paws down inside her pads, scratching her armpits, skin became irritated.

Paws and armpits led me to believe she had a yeast infection ... although she did not have that yeasty smell nor did her ears have any yeast smell or infection. Reviewing some notes I took last year and some websites I saved I was reminded to keep her from eating grains, potatoes or sweet potatoes.

Well a lot of the grain free food I have been giving her had sweet potatoes. Then when I moved to Fromm and Diamond Naturals, those had grain but I knew that and was trying to put weight on her.

Then last night in the Bloodhound Group on Facebook that I follow, someone had posted photos of skin issues on their bloodhound that looked just like Heidi's neck. Multiple answers below were calling it a yeast infection. So from that I thought I was on the right track.

Here is the confusing part ... my spreadsheet shows her skin was the best these past 9 months when feeding her the Fromm for Large Breeds which has brown rice, oatmeal, but no potatoes. The times I fed her grain free food, the average rating for the month was not as good as when I was feeding her the Fromm food with grains but still below 3.

I rate her skin on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the best.

Some notes I also logged on the sheet had "the best skin ever" ... but glancing a column over I saw that I was feeding her food with grains. So is it a yeast infection or is it because spring has arrived and the grass seeds and other plants are in the air?

This is nothing new ... I've asked all of the same questions before, over and over. Tested and used different foods, different treatments. After going back and forth most of the day I have decided to feed Heidi either Earthborn or Fromm Gold Adult.

I also need to stick with one kind of food instead of chasing her tail with different kinds while trying to find the one that works best for her skin. The 4 different vets I've seen over the past 18 months have different opinions on treatment and what food to feed.

I had someone ask me last night by email if Heidi's skin was normal above her rear legs. Actually that is normal Basset Hound skin but what makes it look so bad it is not covered by hair.

Here is the only photo I could find of her a few days after I brought her home in July 2011. You can see the folded skin on her rear hocks but they are covered with hair, as they should be. With her reputation of being "a runner" she was still being tethered whenever we went outside. It was not long afterward I found out that she didn't feel like keeping that reputation once she got here.

So mid-afternoon while Heidi slept in the sun on one of her favorite spots in the living room, Sadie, Stella and I jumped into the FJ for a trip to get Heidi's dog food. During the 30 minute drive I was still thinking which food to buy.

Between the email Fromm dog food sent me last spring about skin allergies, my previous notes and information I read this morning I decided to go with Earthborn Great Plains Feast (not affiliate link). With her thin build I want to build more muscle, hopefully some weight ... I also wanted:

• No grains
• No potatoes, no sweet potatoes
• No chicken or chicken meal
• I wanted a high percentage of fat and protein.

It is also the same blend of Earthborn dog food I bought last July for the first time. With 38% protein and 18% fat I am hoping that will put some weight on her. The 28# bag should last her almost 8 weeks. I plan to follow a suggestion and stay with this food for 16 weeks to completely cleanse her system of the dog food eaten in the past and will post updates.

Before that trip in the FJ though, we had our afternoon walk in fantastic weather. Stella was wandering at the back brush line when I came outside but when I started walking she came running toward Sadie and I. When I asked if they were ready for a walk, Sadie came trotting .. she was ready.

It was a pretty laidback walk, hardly any running yet they were panting a little bit with the temps finally over 70°.

I took some photos of the wooded area, plus what I call the gully, where I don't want Sadie or Stella running down to the bottom. That is a steep incline down through those trees.

This is the brush area where there seems to be a lot of deer traffic.

The base of those trees is still not the bottom of the gully as it curves to the left from where this photo is taken.

By the time we returned from the trip for dog food, Stella decided the best place to be was feeling the cool breeze and getting some more sunshine. She loves to ride and also lay in the sun.

I am happy the dog food decision is settled. With the $5 increase in price for the 28# bag it is still affordable for Heidi. I notice the recommended serving sizes are smaller than what I have been feeding her.

Another relaxed day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Photos ARE Blurry!

Mark over at Box Canyon Blog.com brought up something today that I have been mentioned a few times over the past few months. That being, the photos on the blog look blurry. His and mine, being specific to Blogger. One thing I did NOT notice though until he mentioned it, was when I click the photo to see it in Blogger's slide show software, the photos look as sharp as they use to. Click on one or all of the photos and see if you can tell a difference.

I even mentioned this in January when I moved the blog to Wordpress. From the first photo I posted there I could tell just how sharp it was compared to my old blog on blogger, some readers agreed seeing the difference.

Here I was about to buy a new lens thinking mine was messed up. When Apple changed their photo program last year from iPhoto to Photos, evidently is when something happened to the clarity of the photos downloaded to the computer. Even then I could tell a slight difference in sharpness from a photo on iPhoto and the same in Apples recent Photos program that replaced iPhoto.

I can tell a difference when I view those same photos on my Flickr account.

At least it is good to know it was not my eyes, nor my camera lens ... still it's sad with today's technology that something like that takes place after spending a lot of money for computers.

Right after lunch we went outside and spent most of the afternoon outside it was just that nice. Heidi is back to having some skin issues on her rear hocks, bare raw skin. She is headed for a soak in Epsom Salts right after I write this, which was around 6pm.

We did a late afternoon walk where I didn't say many words and just let Sadie and Stella do what they wanted. They both got a lot of running in during that time.

Here you can see both of them starting their sprint. They ran has fast as they could, up to the point where the deer usually hop the fence and take off through the corn field in back.

Stella started to dash into the 'no fly zone' but after a few minutes of observing and probably wishful thinking on her part, she came running with Sadie.

Sadie getting some good exercise that she needs to lose a few pounds.

Yes ... they were both asleep within minutes of going back inside. We took a little drive after lunch, taking the first older country road I had never been on and it eventually turned back to the highway. The places I wanted to take photos had no place I could pull off the road. With a 1.5 lane road, with deep ditches on each side and a lot of hills I didn't want to take the chance of stopping in the middle of the road, only to cause an accident.

This kind of weather is perfect in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.