Sadie Goes On Night Patrol

The walk through the wet field today with the ground fully saturated really started about 13 hours ago ... sometime a little after 1am this morning.

Why?

For someone that doesn't usually walk after a rain and doesn't particularly care about getting his feet soaked, why would he be outside in the dark with his flashlight, walking through a wet field at 1:15am???

I was ready to go to bed and Sadie wasn't around. She had not returned to the door to have me let her inside after her normal last trip of the night outside. That was very unusual. I wasn't too alarmed by her change of routine, so the only question really was whether to put on shoes or try a hopefully short walk in my Nike rubber sandals. I had an idea where she was.

I chose the sandals, turned on the small camping flashlight that is very bright when turned on and scanned the horizon over the field ... hoping to see two eyes looking back at me. Total darkness ... so the walk was on.

Those eyes never showed up, even after calling out her name. It was dark, wet and the only noise I could hear was the squishing of wet ground, wet grass below my rubber sandals. This wasn't something I was enjoying in the middle of the night.

I had a feeling where she was ... a spot she stops at on the walk to eat deer droppings. Anywhere besides that place would mean she might be in trouble and I was in for a long walk.

I followed the path with my hand raised so the flashlight could cover more area. I wondered how many people were up at this time of night. How many had their windows open and could possibly hear me calling her name?

As I walked straight along the path we take during the daylight hours, I kept calling her name ... no eyes were visible.

Just as I veered to the left to follow along the tree line of our walk ... there they were ... two eyes showing up in the dark, reflecting off of the light from the flashlight. They were about the right height but they were not moving.

Then, they started walking slowly toward me and continued to follow me back to the house. I was happy she was found and happy I could get some sleep. The rain came minutes after I shut the lights off. There is nothing like sleeping, with the windows open and the sound of rain hitting the leaves of the mahogany tree outside the bedroom window.

Looking over the weather forecast while drinking coffee and seeing more rain is on the way today and a lot of it tonight ... I decided that if I could get wet last night in my walk then I could today. I decided to get the walk in prior to their late lunch, before the rains come.

You could see how hard the rain was last night by the flowers being beaten down at angles facing the ground. Some of those tall stems had also been bent over. Plus the ground was totally saturated with water from the hours of rain.

I glanced back before making the turn toward home, to see where Stella was ... she was already running towards Sadie and I.

But in midstream she found something she had to check out along the way. She wasn't there long before she turned and continued her run toward us.

With the rain, the temperatures dropped to 71° today ... the heat index is the same, even with 100% humidity. Feels nice enough today to open the windows and turn off the air conditioner.

They were both on the prowl today in a lot of different areas.

Stella is the one wearing a collar. I took Sadie's collar off weeks ago because it had become too small, with no more adjustments available.

Stella kept veering away from us. She would show up back at the house eventually but I don't want to leave her, and take the chance that some great scent leads her into trouble. She always came when called ... although not happy about it.

You can see how some of the wild flowers have been beaten down by the hard rain last night.

I think I am going to have to break down and use weed killer to get my gravel driveway back. I've never seen it overtaken with weeds like this. Most of it is crabgrass.

Well Stella is howling for lunch and Heidi has joined her by barking ... late breakfasts lead to late lunches. They don't seem to understand that concept.

The temps are cool and more rain is on the way here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Have Been Binging

Okay I'll admit it ... the hounds were not the one "binging" ... I'm the guilty one. Some time around 6:30pm last Tuesday I decided that I was going to "binge watch" 44-45 hours of a show called Breaking Bad. It was a show I did not watch nor have any interest in watching when it was on tv but I was hooked after seeing the 1st season on DVD a few years ago.

Before I get started justifying my insanity I will let you know that the hounds never missed a meal being served on time, they didn't lose any sleep and even had their daily walk ... every day.

Me ... not the same. I didn't eat, rarely slept, never shaved but did brush my teeth on a regular basis. If we were not on the hound walk, if I was not feeding them or catching a couple of hours of sleep ... I was watching the show. That is what "bingers" do ... no excuses.

At the time I was looking at 3 straight days of rain ... forecasted ... the temps were so hot and muggy that my AC kept turning on at 2am in the middle of the night. It was too hot to do anything outside, rain was on the way ... supposedly ... and I was tired of the internet. College football was still 3 weeks away so it was the perfect time to binge watch a show.

So I decided to binge. Alcohol was not involved. Two cups of coffee in the morning were, lots of water was consumed and iced tea.

First of all, the subject matter of Breaking Bad may not be acceptable by some or possibly most readers of the blog. The show did win many awards. The story line is great, acting is great, with a lot of drama, some humor and some high powered acts that could be questioned by some. I can see how it cost them 3 million dollars PER episode ... there were some amazing scenes.

I will not go into details of the show, but even though I had watched this show straight though in past years, I had forgotten a lot of the scenes so it was very enjoyable to watch again. I guess it was like reading a great book that you can't put down and then stay up all night to finish. By late Friday night, around 12:30am, we finished the show ... all 6 seasons.

As I opened the door in the middle of the night to let the hounds outside for their final bathroom break for the day ... the muggy warm weather hit me like opening an oven door. Miserable weather.

Earlier in the day we took off for our daily walk. All during the week the walks were not bad until about the half way point where the heat really picked up and you could feel just how hot it really was.

By the time Sadie and I had almost made the final turn to head back home, Stella had not been seen since the start of the walk where she stopped almost immediately and wouldn't come when I called her.

Sadie always ran to keep up with me, never falling to far behind.

As I glanced over to my left with my eyes searching for Stella I saw her running along the path that Sadie and I had taken. It's the same path every day. By the time she got to the corner of the field she was wore out from running ... she walked to me and Sadie taking her time ... it was really hot by then.

All of us walked back as fast as we could, without any photos. Getting back inside to the air conditioning was our only goal. The hounds stayed right on my heels the rest of the way home.

Those three days of forecasted rain? Never showed up. It did rain for a very short time yesterday but nothing like it was predicted.

It's hot and muggy here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Take An Afternoon Walk

A little after 4:30pm yesterday, the temps felt nice enough to take a walk. It was about 3-4 hours earlier than we had been going due to the heat index. Sadie gave me that look that she was ready to go and needing a walk.

If you remember back in June and how the field was full of tall grass, today it is so different with hardly any grass and almost all weeds of some sort.

That doesn't bother the hounds. It doesn't matter what kind of weather, what the surface is or how hot or cold it is ... it's the walk that they love doing.

I decided today that I would walk my normal pace focusing on photography and the hounds could go at their own pace. I didn't care how far back Stella would be today. It didn't take long to test that plan as she stopped soon after we started and didn't catch up to us until Sadie and I had made the first turn.

As soon as Stella caught us, she turned left and headed north. That was totally opposite from the direction Sadie and I were going ... the normal route.

Stella finds something else that holds her interest. This time she did not move until Sadie and I had already made the turn to head home.

We are on our way back and Stella is still in that one spot.

I thought this was a nice change in color. I am guessing the heat is the reason for that color change.

After standing for a short time looking around, Stella finally "sees" us and came towards Sadie and I. It was still hot by this time so when she started to run, she suddenly stopped and walked the rest of the way.

Sadie always has to make sure that the other two hounds are okay whenever they are away. She will do the same thing to Heidi after she comes back inside.

While Sadie was sniffing around and I was still walking ... Stella ran past me and was almost headed for the 'no fly zone' until I called her name.

At this time I thought they might walk all the way to the house with me but there are just too many smells between here and the house for them not to stop along the way.

You can barely see Stella off to the left side of the photo toward the power lines and Sadie is taking her time. I had time to walk down the drive to check my mailbox. By the time I got back to the top of the hill, both hounds were waiting for me and anxious to get back inside to the AC.

Today will be our last good weather day before the high probability of rain over the last few days of the week.

If it would stay mid 80's for the rest of the summer, that would be fantastic here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.