Stella Helps In The Kitchen

From the sky and feel, rain was almost certain this morning. A quick look at Wunderground proved otherwise. It's the return of high humidity that gave it the feel.

Nothing more than a 25% chance of rain for the next 7 days. Once again the hounds started their day off the same as recently. Neither stays out long ... Stella heads left and Sadie goes straight out into the field to dump their tanks. Quick return inside to sleep until an early walk or lunch is served.

For two different breeds that are noted for wandering off or taking off running at a strong scent ... I am pretty lucky that all three of them can wander around the yard and field without a leash or tether. Heidi had the reputation as "a runner" when I bought her from GABR and no bloodhound owner recommends leaving a bloodhound leash free ... ever.

You are now witnessing Heidi's normal path to finding that perfect spot for dumping. Unless it's raining, then she heads behind the yews next to the house.

It felt nice enough late morning to head out for a walk. The field was not as wet as it had been the past few days. My shoes were wet but not squeaky saturated like before. I didn't get the camera clicked fast enough in this next photo ... for the first time that I can remember, there were pure white butterflies next to these while flowers. They flew away while the camera focusing.

Stella started out the leader of the walk this morning but she gets distracted easily ... there are just too many scents for her to inspect and she drops behind pretty quickly.

As well as Sadie. But that is their job, their habit and excitement ... scent tracking.

Could it be rain is on the way? A lot of wind today with overcast sky.

Not sure what it was but Sadie decided she had to roll on top of it before Stella could eat it. Nothing was visible on Sadie as she jumped up and took off running.

And run she did ... took off around our first corner and never stopped until she was in the back of the field.

Stella was somewhat shocked by Sadie's response and wondered if Sadie might be getting something that belonged to her.

By the time Stella and I got to the back of the field, Sadie was finished with whatever she found and was waiting for us.

It felt like rain with heavy air, a strong wind ... the hounds decided it was time to head back home.

Stella kept trying to wander off and disappear ... but I called her each time I caught her and she would slowly head our direction.

Since we left Heidi outside while we did the walk, when I got back to the yard I asked Sadie "where's Heidi" ... she put her nose to the ground and was headed around the corner of the house until I called her. She was right though ... Heidi was around that corner ... just further down in the front yard.

It's interesting that she will never walk across the lawn directly back to us but will head across the lawn to the lower part of the yard to walk up the driveway. Nothing is fast with her ... her pace is consistently slow.

It was around 11:43 am and Stella was howling to let me know that she wanted lunch served early today. That might because her breakfast was a little earlier than normal ... or it might be and probably is just because she loves to eat all the time. She has gained weight over the past year that I have had her,  a year next week.

You may have noticed you have not read the word "tick" in many months. Back in April they were so bad that I added a "tick counter" in the upper left corner of the blog but once the count for me went over 100, I took the counter down ... headed to the vet for some NexGard and that worked fantastic. I only had to use one dose for the summer.

I rarely have the ticks on me after a walk, where I use to have 4-5 on me after each walk. The hounds stopped having them once the NexGard was used and yes that is the correct spelling. Another thing that has not been as bad as the past are mosquitoes nor the biting flies. So spending time outside reading a book has been enjoyable this past week of cool weather.

My book reading has blocked out all of the "noise" of terrible news reporting and politics. The tv is only turned on for a ballgame or movie ... such a relief. We have taken drives around the local area with the windows down. I don't believe Sadie or Stella are interested anymore in local trips, since they lay down and sleep most of the trip. Although they are really excited when they can go in the FJ. Heidi maintains "shotgun" and will lay down to sleep, depending how long the drive is.

I decided after the hounds were fed lunch that a short drive in the Z4 was a good idea. Powerful and quiet at the same time ... a smooth ride.

Not much went on during the afternoon. I had some baked chicken breasts on my George Foreman grill for an early dinner. Obviously Stella decided I need help in cleaning the small drip pan sitting under the front edge of the grill.

With the hounds acting like they wanted to go outside, I grabbed my ice tea and camera and headed for "Winston's Patio", which fits just my chair on those 6 red blocks by the corner of the house. Sadie was giving me that look of "lets go for a walk" ... but I could feel that things had changed in the heat index from this morning. Too hot for a walk.

I had not checked for the official temperature but you can see from the ragweed blowing, we had some pretty strong winds from the SW. Later I found the temperature at 5pm to be 87° and an index of 101° ... those cool temps a few days ago were nice while they lasted.

This same spot seems to change color first every year.

Facing the wind, Stella decided no walk was needed, she just wanted to kickback and enjoy the strong breeze. Clouds were moving fast in the sky. I found out later there was tornado activity again on the NW side of Indianapolis just like last week. This activity was a little further NW from the area last week.

After Sadie did her new morning loop through the field, she was ready to go back inside. But she had a scare right before she got to me.

Something landed on her back and she jumped about 3' into the air turning at the same time. After twisting and turning she couldn't reach what had landed on her back and she was freaking out. At first I thought it was a huge horse fly ... then I thought it was a butterfly ...

Only to find out it was a small leaf. I didn't get any of the action shots because I was laughing too hard to take photos.

In the meantime, while I was taking the leaf off of Sadie's back ... Stella was wanting to go back inside where the air conditioning was back on and the house was much cooler.

Then she disappeared while I had my back turned. I didn't see her in the field and doubted she would have headed that way. Maybe something got her interest in the front yard but that would be very rare for that to happen. She was right where I thought she was ... standing at the door waiting to be let back inside.

Not much planned tonight, maybe I'll pull a movie off the self .. otherwise it was another successful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Caught Stealing ... Again

The excitement for Stella happened Monday night around 6pm. Today "my" fruit bowl has been under heavy protection.

The van coming up the driveway had signage on the side of it that said it dealt with 'tech' ... I decided to meet them outside at the door instead of waiting for them to knock.

To keep the hounds out of the way, without thinking, I shut the inside door ... just like I would when I would be mowing the yard and leaving them inside. What started being a conversation about high speed internet service turned quickly into which tv satellite I had. I knew he was about to start his fishing expedition when he asked me "has anyone stopped by your house to help you save money on your satellite bill?"

Ironically the previous night I had seen my $20 discount that Directv had been giving me the past 12 months had just used it's last month ... but I had no interest in changing to DishNetwork. I've been with Directv since they bought out PrimeStar in 1999. It's known to be a little more expensive than DishNetwork but rated the best if you have a sports addiction like I have confessed to.

I was curious so I thought I'd let him continue with his selling points. It only mattered what I had now for him to decide which path he would try to lead me down. His polo shirt had a nice sewn logo "NFL Sunday Ticket". What was funny about that is, Directv is the ONLY service that has that program and I already had Directv. He needed to sell me to  move to DishNetwork ... NFL Sunday Ticket be damned. LOL

He was just about finished answering some of my many questions when it dawned on me that I had left Stella inside to roam the house. I KNEW EXACTLY what had taken place and only looking in the door window confirmed my horror .... She had employed Sadie and Heidi to help her devourer my fruit and veggies before I came back inside. They were all eating something as fast as possible !!!

Long story short ... he gave me a great offer to switch to DishNetwork, locked in for two years but I wasn't moving. During the last half of his sales pitch my mind was on nothing except the possible damage inside the house. I barely heard a word he was saying.

All three hounds were guilty ... each had pieces of evidence hanging from their drooling jaws. Total damage was some Roma tomato stains on the carpet (6 each), 5 bananas with skin, 2 red delicious apples, 4 nectarines without the pits ... and looks from all of them that said "what do you mean? ... we did nothing".

Today was just as nice as yesterday. There was a little less sunshine but not much with the same cool temps. We took our walk mid-day and the hounds slept the afternoon away under shaded windows.

While sitting at the kitchen table playing Mahjong I did catch Stella on numerous occasions walking around the kitchen counters and island with her nose pointed high sniffing and searching for more fruit or tomatoes. Luckily she never stood and put her paws on the counters to show me how she reaches for the bowl of fruit but I had the idea.

In the meantime, late last night I called Directv and was transferred to their retention department to see what they could do for a long term customer. They give the brand new customers fantastic deals but they can't seem to go that far with someone having 17 years of service. I was still happy with my new discount ... which they locked in this year for two years instead of one year.

With college football only three days away it's no time to try new systems or installing new equipment. Anything like that will have to be next April after college basketball is over.

As you can see the hounds were having a great walk today. They took the same path as always, stopped at the same spots as always but seemed satisfied in their exploration.

I didn't get much done today but right after this post I have enough sunlight left where I can mow the backyard, that needs it, after being mowed just four days ago. I'll leave the front yard for this Friday.

I hope to see them mow and bale this field again in September, even October but I doubt that will happen.

The partners in crime will be outside while I mow the backyard ... I still have a few apples and pears I'd like to enjoy in the next few days. If I were to hide that bowl of fruit on top of the fridge, Stella would just find something else to get into ... she's a professional in that type of search.

Heidi did not go on the walk today but she was explored the yard while we were gone. She has acted like the 'old' Heidi these past few weeks, with an increase in energy.

It was a pretty easy day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

It Felt Like A Monday

Sometime last night after 3am, the air through the open windows became cold enough that I got up and pulled out my sleeping bag to throw over me.

By the time the hounds had their breakfast you could tell it was going to be another fantastic day, with weather that couldn't be any better.

I will enjoy this while it lasts but I still feel summer is not over yet and we will eventually be back to hot humid weather sometime soon. The hounds were not too active this morning even with great weather. They were outside long enough to dump their tanks and get back inside for their morning nap.

I decided to pull the weed eater out and see if I could finish the last of the driveway bank before the battery wore out. I did that plus more and still had battery power left. While I was in front Sadie and Stella will stay at the top of the drive while they watch me. Winston did a good job of teaching them to do that.

With lunch served to them and me, and not much going on ... we decided to take our afternoon walk at 1pm instead of waiting for later. Each time the sun hid behind those big puffy clouds, you could feel the cool breeze.

I was surprised to find out how wet the field was, even in the sunshine and it being after 1pm. The only sound during the walk were my shoes squishing with water.

Stella likes to get deep into the grass and flowers to eat the deer droppings. I wonder if there is any protein value in that? I don't know what it is but they love it. The dog book I've been reading says "eating" foreign things is no different to them than smelling foreign things so they can identify what it is or who has been there.

Stella wanted to wander off a couple of different times but she came toward us when I called her name.

Can anyone name this flower?

I love clouds like this. The sky was full of them, every direction I looked.

Stella did catch up to us but she walked most of the way after she turned onto the path.

Sadie is doing the running today. It's good to see her get some exercise in being 8 years old.

There's not a lot going on today for a Monday. For the first time that I can remember since being retired, it actually felt like a Monday. All of us were basically shut down for the day by 1:30pm.

The three hounds slept, I sat outside reading a book and enjoying the weather. The neighbor that has the empty house for sale, had his yard crew mowing the yard. I'm glad to see it is listed at a very high price and still empty after two years. No neighbors is a good thing.

We might head out for a drive later on but no photos are planned ... just something to do and at this time I am not really sure where we would go ... so it may not happen. The next thing to do during this good weather is to get on the roof and clean out my gutters or at least check them, before the next range of storms.

Football season is about to start ... that tells me fall is right around the corner here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.