Stella's Deer Chase In July

After giving an overcast day a chance to dry out the wet field after a night and morning of steady rain, I thought me might be able to fit a walk in before the next storms were scheduled to arrive around 6pm. After starting the walk it looked like the ground would be dry enough ... but my 55mm-200mm lens wasn't working smoothly when I tried to focus.

Right after this photo the hounds took off into a sprint, chasing something at ground level. I was too busy turning off the camera, taking off the lens and putting it back on, to see what they were chasing. Hoping that would get the lens to work properly.

I zoomed in for this next photo since they were way ahead of me.

As I approached the corner of the field I didn't see a bloodhound anywhere but at the same time I didn't see anything running on the horizon or along the edge of the field.

They were both pretty intense on what they were finding on ground. At times small birds would take off from ground level, where the hounds had flushed them out.

While the hounds explored their favorite spots, I saw this red leave shining bright from a distance away. Everything is green except this.

All of us headed along the path towards the turning point near the high power line tower. Stella trotted over to "the no fly zone" and when I turned around to see where she was ... I saw her in this stance ... I knew she had locked into to some deer over near the next wooded area where we never walk.

About this time the camera lens decided it wasn't going to work. It didn't move either way as it tried to auto focus. By the time I did the shut down drill and reinstall the lens I was way behind all of the action that had taken place. I saw deer hopping sky high as Stella and Sadie took off after them.

I headed over the small grade to see where the hounds were. No deer but they were double checking all of the deer scents that had just passed through that area. They had always came back to me so instead of walking all the way over there I headed back to the path home.

When I got to this point of the walk, I turned to check the horizon and didn't see a bloodhound anywhere, I thought it might be a good idea to start walking their direction just in case they had headed into that woods. I thought Sadie would have shown up by now, but she wasn't around either.

As I glance a little left, I see a deer sprinting as hard as it can, way before this photo was taken. I didn't see any bloodhounds chasing it though. Once again the camera lens decided not to cooperate so by the time I caught the deer in the next photo, she had ran through three lots of green grass and through the small woods behind my neighbors house.

By this time the hounds are not even close to the woods and the deer is already out of the woods to the north of my house and is headed into the woods where we start our walks.

This is the corner of that small wooded area behind my neighbors house. Stella has the right scent path of the deer but she was too late and too far behind to see any deer.

Stella was proud of her chase though. After all that deer was running for her life and Stella had flushed her out into the open field.

They both decided they would track that deer all the way to the house, even if the deer had cut into the woods nowhere near the house.

As I write this I have lost internet connection. The first clap of loud thunder was at 5:07pm so Wunderground was pretty close on the time of the next round of storms. It's forecasted to rain all day for the next 6 out of 7 days. Tuesday is the only day I'll have no rain scheduled, where I can mow the yard.

It's a hard downpour here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana tonight.

The Hounds Survived The Hot Temps

The 15° - 20° drop in temperatures these past few days have made 'the tropics' a great place to be. Beautiful weather where you can sit outside at night without bugs and the humidity.

The hounds have a few more days of these before we climb back into the 90's with a heat index over 100°in the early evenings. I like hot weather but I've really liked the temps in the 70's the past few days even better.

You may be wondering "where have we been" ... nowhere. Just like in the winters when they go into single digits, the hounds and I became wimps in the hot weather as we hung out as close to any air conditioned air we could find. Believe me, there wasn't much to blog about when the hounds become inactive.

This morning was a different story though ... for the first time in a long time they did a little wrestling as they headed out for their first of two daily walks. During those days of high temps we only walked early in the morning because the heat index was still over a 100° at 8pm, most nights.

I've been trying the camera at different settings in search of getting those clear sharp photos I remember seeing when I first bought the camera over a year ago. I've decided it might be my eyes because I cannot see any changes in the quality after I change settings.

For any photo or camera readers, I'm using a 18mm-55mm lens, single point focus and a quality setting of 'raw' for these photos today. It might be the lighting at 11am but I can't say I am thrilled with any of these photos.

There has been some major mole work since they cut the field. One spot in particular in the whole field. Luckily it's pretty far away from my backyard.

Stella continues to do her own thing on our walks. There have been a few times this past week where she had not moved from that favorite corner of hers by the time I returned to the house. Once she figured out I did not wait on her ... she sprinted from this area to the door to get back inside.

During the days where the temps were in the 90's there was none of that running at anytime. They both walked so slow you would have thought they were on their last steps. It was hot enough they had no problem following me and wanted to get back inside as soon as possible.

These past few days of cooler weather they have been back to their old routines. They seem to be pretty happy that the field was finally cut and baled.

I walked over here one day to see what all the interest was. There was nothing more than 3-4 small pebbles of deer poop. Sometimes it was nothing but bare ground, so it's hard to say what holds them in a spot for so long.

The corn in the back field seems to be growing by the hour. There has been just the right amount of rain in between all the sunshine we have been getting.

Stella started running this morning but I wonder if she has gotten out of shape this past week or two. She ended up walking to the path about half way to it.

Sadie and Stella head off to another one of their recent favorite spots.

Sadie can tell that Stella is headed outside of her boundary again. She has been spending a lot of time here on her first trip outside every day. I'd like for both of them to return to their habit of going into the field straight out from the house instead of in the direction of the small woods by the neighbors house.

As for Heidi, she has spent 99.9% of her time inside with her only activity moving from the couch to bed and her food/water bowls in between. She goes outside to only long enough to dump her tanks. The one time I carried her to the field in hopes that she would join the hound walk, she turned and sprinted for the house.

Her skin has stayed the same for months and at times I see it's better than last year in June when I compared photos. I did notice as the temps rose she itched more than normal and chewed a few new spots on her legs. After we had those temperature drops, her skin improved. Could heat really be an issue for skin allergies?

She did spend some time laying in the sun in the backyard the other day but I did not have the camera with me to record her historic event as I was putting away the lawn mower, weed eaters and cans of gasoline.

She seems to act her normal self and still has her huge appetite. At times I think she might still miss Winston and not having another hound that is at her eye level.

As I have mentioned in the past on this blog, there are times I feel there is not much sense in blogging when the photos are the same every day, the hounds even stop in the same places on their walk every day. I've been spending less time driving around since it was too hot to have the hounds in the FJ with the windows down. It's hard to blog when nothing is being done.

Stella had a few mysterious days recently where I was gone only 10 minutes each day and she went wild trying to dig and chew herself out of the house. Then the very next morning I leave for an hour and a half and she is the perfect hound, with no separation anxiety.

I am looking into using some scented oils that seem to work for hounds that are afraid of thunder, fireworks, gunshots and separation. I have also thought about buying the jacket that is used to calm a hound when they have a fear of thunder. Storms are not her problem though ... separation is her issue.

Her previous owner tried to kennel her while she was gone. Petsmart suggested their largest and strongest "Kong" crate ... Stella broke out of that her first day. I don't think crating her would solve her separation issue and I am not going to spend $500 on the "alcatraz" model to find out.

Without the long 'to do' list like I had last summer, it's been too laidback this year but the weather is beautiful in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.