Hounds Relax On Sunday

The "cold front" that moved through on Friday night has made a world of difference this weekend. With temps in the mid to high 80's and the heat index not much higher ... outside is once again tolerable.

Not much was planned for the day. The hounds would sleep, a drive through the country for me with the top down, and possibly some ice cream later in the afternoon. The mood to drag out lawn care tools wasn't there ... the trimming of the yews sounded like a good idea for Monday.

Once again earlier in the morning, Sadie and Stella went into the field long enough to dump their tanks and didn't have much interest to roam or explore. Both of them came back running to the house shortly after they were finished. I am beginning to think they like the air conditioning as much as I do.

Since they had breakfast around 9:30am, their lunch was not served until almost 1:30pm. It didn't matter to them. Anytime kibble is in front of them, or baked chicken breasts, they are always interested in eating.

Heidi decided to take a trip to the backyard for the first time in weeks. She didn't move more than a foot into the yard where she found her spot to lie down and soak up some sunshine.

I think you might notice that a lot of hair has grown back on her legs and paws. It's not the normal thickness but does cover them. Also no redness like she has had in the past a lot of times.

Sadie of course cannot find it relaxing just to lie down like Stella and Heidi, she is always on the hunt for something.

Whether it be on grass, hay or gravel, Stella always enjoys taking a nap in the sunshine. She was so sound asleep that she did not hear my camera beep when the autofocus locked in. Normally that beep would have woke her up.

The day progressed kinda slow the rest of the day. I watched a little Reds baseball, surfed the internet, read my book and by late afternoon we decided it was time for the trip to Dairy Queen to pick up one of those large blizzards that had our name on it.

With the first NLF pre-season game tonight at 8pm local time, I decided it was time to fit in the pregame walk ... but they were not interested!!!!

Stella only wanted to chew grass. Sadie wanted to track the mole traffic. I took all of these photos with the 55mm-200mm zoom lens.

Sadie found out that sometimes that dirt from the mole tracks doesn't taste as good as it looks.

Stella is more than happy to eat grass rather than walking today.

I always like it when I catch Sadie staring off into space. I wonder what she is thinking about?

I stood up right after I snapped this photo sitting down. I thought they might beg to go for their walk but both of them sprinted to the house, came inside and were asleep within minutes in the cold air.

Ed had a comment on my post yesterday, a little confused on what a "strom" was, thinking it was some kind of local language. I looked through my blog via the search box and for some odd reason nothing showed up after using 3 or 4 different search terms. I could have swore I posted a photo of a strom in the past. The word strom is a shorten version of the word stromboli. Although they are made different, depending on where you order them. Here is a photo of one that I took last fall, another one of my addictions.

Inside that italian bread is pizza sauce, a lot of cheese, Italian sausage, mushrooms, some chopped tomato and toasted in the oven. I'm told by the bartender I am one of the few he has seen that can finish the 12" strom. Usually by the time I drive the 25 or so miles home, a siesta takes place soon after my arrival. For years I have always finished the whole sandwich.

Life is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... the Colts first NFL preseason game is on tonight.

The Temps Drop a Little

I would like to say my blogging absence has been because of laziness but it's a combination of things. Sure the heat index has been a factor but it's really more than that.

Most everyone knows what it's called. It's when the motivation is not there to do anything. Some of my warning signs were things like , the sports car doesn't get out from under the car cover on sunny days, taking photos decreases from close to a hundred per day to five to six. Some days even a daily hound walk doesn't happen with all kinds of different justification.

You would think that eating habits would change and take over but that's hard to do when you are not hungry for anything, no interest for a strom at your favorite place in Bloomington, no urges to do anything besides hanging inside, keeping cool and really no thoughts about anything. Hibernate.

For me those times are nothing new ... it's been a life long issue. Today though I can feel some things changing for the better ... maybe it really was just the weather ... or maybe not. Anyway it's nice to get back to normal, so to speak.

The yews that were planted just a few years ago, in hard clay type of dirt have grown beyond my expectations and those of the owner of the landscape business just down the road. He didn't think they would last due to the soil.

The front of them will be trimmed back even with the landscape edging. This group will be shortened to remain the same height as the ones across the porch and just below the living room windows. It will happen either today or tomorrow.

When we took our first trip outside this morning it felt 15° cooler, a lot less humidity, yet still an August summer morning. You can never escape the mugginess in 'the tropics'. Seeing the heat index was only 91° at 11am, I decided it was time for a long overdue morning hound walk. You can see from the field overgrowth you can't see our path anymore, but it's there.

Where did all that nice tall grass go?

I think you can probably tell its more weeds than before when they cut the hay in June. I can't remember it being this bad in past years but I'll have to take a look back in the blog to confirm that. I doubt that they will, but I'd love to have them cut this field again this fall for a 2nd time. They have before but didn't last year.

The hounds were ready to go for their first morning walk in weeks if not a month. We have been taking them in the early evening but even at 8pm the index was still around 100° most of the time. This past week or so they have not gone more than a few feet into the field to dump their tanks and then headed back to the house to enjoy the AC where lately, never stops running.

I've gone back to reading book that I have read a few times. It reminds me what these hounds are really doing and not what I think they are doing. My nose and their noses are not nearly the same nor do they have the same purpose.

I've mentioned the book before, it's called Inside of A Dog, by Alexandra Horowitz ... "what dogs see, smell and know". It explains a lot about what these two and even Heidi does during just a routine hound walk.

It also gives a different perspective on why they eat what they do ... even when you don't want them to.

Making the infamous 1st turn. Not a lot of stopping so far today, it's almost like they are on some sort of mission with predetermine spots to sniff.

Stella tried to veer to the left a few times but always came back in our direction when called.

A lot of different things growing in the field right now, since they baled it in June.

Stella is back in her favorite corner and having her favorite natural food supplement.

Sadie and I kept on walking, knowing Stella would eventually catch up to us.

From the way the fields of corn and soy beans look, the farmers should have a 'bumper crop' this year and that will be good for their accounting bottom line.

Stella is doing one last check of the edge of the field before she starts running back toward us.

She started following the path that Sadie and I had been walking. She was running so fast that the camera could not catch all of her run.

With the high temperatures she has not been running at all on the evening walks. By the halfway point lately her and Sadie were dragging their feet behind me to finish the walks. It was too hot.

That pile of hay the farmer left in June is always a stopping point for both hounds.

I am not sure what that green plant is in the bottom half of the photo but it is all over the field right now.

Both hounds at a good pace in this morning's walk. Neither one is showing signs of being tired. That 10° drop in the index is huge for them.

I think I count 4 butterflies on the orange flowers. Can someone tell me what those are called?

This photo was taken right at the edge of the field and my backyard. Those leaves have taken over most of the field behind the house.

You can see my weed pulling by hand project last summer in the driveway, just made them grow back twice as much this year. I think most of that is crabgrass.

I mentioned some low points at the start of this post ... mental low points. I forgot to add all the things Stella has been up to. While mowing the yard the other day I thought I had "baby proofed" the house pretty good for them to stay inside to enjoy the AC temps while I battled potential heat stroke outside.

To my dismay I came inside to find my ankle brace laying between Stella's paws while she chewed away. The interesting thing is, with the 'new' hole she put in the brace, it fits better and does not cut into the back of my ankle. I may not have to replace it.

That is not all she has been doing. One of her old issues must be coming to the top since she is getting more and more comfortable with her home of 1 year on August 30th.

She is showing me that she is a great "counter surfer" ... in the past few weeks her collection has been: my sandwich, from the fruit bowl - mangos, pears, apples, THE WHOLE BUNDLE OF BANANAS .. there was one left by the time I caught her. All the fruit eaten was done while I sat at my desk on the computer ... so she doesn't even hide her addiction anymore.

Her separation anxiety has improved though.

How's Heidi ???  Like I have mentioned before in the winter months, her threshold seems to be 70° before she stays outside to wander and I think that also holds true in the hot summer months. She stays inside and sleeps most of the time ... in three different spots she likes.

I also have come to the conclusion that heat and humidity irritate her skin more than anything. So she has had the best summer I can remember as far as normal color skin. Hair continues to grow back on all her paws and legs. She had an epsom salt soak yesterday and her skin is nice and soft today ... supple. All of this while eating kibble with chicken and rice.

So that's our update. Sorry for the absence and hopefully we can get back to daily blogging, no matter how slow it might be here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

I think I'm going to head out for a drive in the Z4 with the top down.

The Hounds Hibernated Today

 I admit, we didn't start our day until AFTER 12 noon. It was still the normal routine though. The hounds had their breakfast around 7:15am and by the time they finished I was back in sleep mode. Why??

It all started at 3am last night where it was so hot I couldn't sleep. I got up and lowered the temperature for the AC to kick on. Normally I raise the setting while sleeping. I had to take a glance at Wunderground, then saw at 3am the temperature was still 76°.

This morning I could feel the rush of muggy heat hit me as I opened the door to let the hounds outside at 7:15am. I don't think they even go out to pee anymore ... they hang out by the door while I pour their kibble for breakfast.

With that late start they didn't have lunch until after 1:15pm. As you can see from the photo above Sadie and Stella were not real enthused about being outside.

Heidi made her daily trip around the Z4 to either the front yard or behind the Yews to dump her tanks. I prefer the yard because it's easier to pick up.

As I turned around from taking Heidi's photo, Stella decided it might be nice enough at 89° to lay in the sun for a while. Yet with the heat index at 110°, she jumped right up and headed for the house when I said "come on let's get cool".

Sadie thought about it ... a walk that is ... but she also wanted to go back inside rather than try to beat the heat. She is looking pretty good in this photo and I actually think she may have lost some weight this summer. She needs to.

For this time of year I think Heidi's skin is looking pretty good. There are some red spots but all four paws have hair now, her front legs have hair now whereas in the past all of that was sore, inflamed red skin. She has been on chicken and rice kibble, the same food the bloodhounds eat since late April ... so her problems were not a food allergy.

We went outside for the normal afternoon break for the hounds during 'bad' weather .. it was like an oven but not a dry oven. There will be NO walk tonight. Since there is not much more going to be gone on tonight, I'll post this a little bit earlier than normal.

That 'break' I was talking about is demonstrated by Sadie and Stella. They come to me when it's time.

Sadie is just making a check to see if I might be going back inside to change into shoes in preparation for a daily hound walk ... she is hoping for one.

She was very curious what Stella was eating but it was nothing more than some tall grass.

Notice that neither one is wandering off very far, maybe 20' from the yard but no way are they heading to the back of the field like they normally would.

"What??  No walk today?? Unbelievable"

A little rambling now ... all non-political.

I've added my own blog to my left sidebar as a blog I follow. I did that because a lot of times my recent blog post is NOT updated for those that subscribe by email for almost 18-24 hours AFTER I post a new one. Sometimes I've noticed it takes that long for it to update on blogs that have my blog on their sidebar. So to see if it made a difference, I added my own blog to the left sidebar.

I tried to quit but went back to Facebook. I don't have a lot of friends listed, by choice, and rarely post verbal stuff ... but I post a short partial sentence and a photo or two of the hounds. I have friends there that love the hound photos that don't read or follow my blogs. Plus I have a lot of different 'groups' that I follow and read.

My Wordpress blog doesn't get hardly any activity. It's listed on the left sidebar and there I have always had just one sentence and anywhere from 1 to 12 photos of the hounds. Most of the photos are duplicates from the ones I have here but better quality which I have discussed here before. I'll keep it going though since there is a few times I like to post just photos.

With my computer room set at the coldest temperature of all other rooms in the house, Stella likes to sleep either next to or right behind my desk chair. She never moves until I get up, always thinking immediately that I am getting food that she might get. She doesn't understand that all food in this house is not for her.

Although ... while mowing the yard last Thursday I left the hounds inside because it was too hot outside. It wasn't gone for more than 15 minutes. When I came inside to drink water after mowing just the backyard ... I noticed she was very intense while eating something held between her paws, that she never looked up ... she had 'counter surfed' and grabbed not one but two of my Mangos !!!!

By the time I saw her she was about the complete the 2nd one. I googled to see if mangos were okay for hounds ... skin and the fruit are okay BUT those tiny black seeds inside the large pit can kill any dog. Luckily the pit on both mangos were not cracked open. From now on, that bowl of fruit will be moved to the top of the fridge when I am outside mowing ... just one other thing I have to do to "baby proof" the house while I am away.

I think we are headed for Dairy Queen for a large "Hawaiian Blizzard" ... the hounds are a fan favorite at the local drive through, although I turned down the offer of single cups for for them.

It's been a nice day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.