The Hounds Get 2 Walks Today

A nice surprise to have cool temperatures today. We will have a few hot days in the next month or so but days like these are great to have.

Even with the heavy dew still visible we took off for our first walk of the day. Since it was after 11am, sunny and not a real great time to take photos, I decided to use my lens hood that came with the Tamron lens. I've never used them before but thought I'd give this a try to see what the results were. So these morning photos are 'under the hood'.

As fast as the hounds took off I was sure deer were in the area or had been in the area. Sadie and Stella had their heads down and tails up as they trotted along worn grass where the deer have walked.

By the time I got to the first turn, they were both way out in front and almost to the back of the field. Yet, I didn't see anything that would cause them to take off.

Stella was pretty keen on the left side of the path and different times would stop to sniff the air. Just as quick she took off running to catch up with Sadie at the back of the field.

Sadie and I had almost made the turn to head home when Stella saw us and ran to catch up. By their nose activity there had to have been a lot of fresh deer scent, possibly from just this morning.

At this point, by the way Stella was looking, I was sure she was about to take off sprint. I have to remind myself even with that kind of look from her, it's not what she sees but the scent she smells and just how powerful her nose is.

Instead, she turned with Sadie and headed home on the path I was walking.

These are not going to last long. Just in the past 18 hours I had seen a lot of the purple flowers had dried out and died. So fall is hear and all of this landscape is in the process of changing.

Heidi greeted us when we got back. She was sitting in the sun next to the house but needed to sniff Sadie and Stella when they returned. I can see in this photo where the lens hood had an effect because the drive is never that dark in the middle of the day.

After channel surfing during the commercials of the football games I was watching, I could see again today that we would walk at halftime of the game we were watching. Today that was the Colts game. I did not use the lens hood on the following photos.

They did not start off as fast as this morning but their hunting was just as intense. Usually when they get two walks in a day, their pace is pretty slow for the second one. That proved to be true today.

At a slow leisurely pace, we finally made it to the back of the field. Each time they got to far ahead of me, they would wait for me to catch up. They probably think that I am the one that is tired, not them.

As you can see they stayed together this afternoon.

I'm wasn't sure if there was something wrong with Stella but she sat down suddenly on the walk back. She had not been running, wasn't panting, she just decided to sit for a minute.

All was good and it was time to get back home and back to finishing the nap she was taking.

They both walked it into to the yard and slowly headed for the door.

I think I can see a difference in the photos between using a lens hood and not. Of course it was a different time of day, different lighting but I like the photos without using the hood.

After the last game of the night, I'll be back to play around with Google Photos and Flickr. I did load all of the photos I took today, more than the blog photos, into Google Photos automatically but I doubt that I put them into their albums. I sent just a few good ones to Flickr.

With good weather tomorrow I am going to wash at least the Z4 but last time I did that with the Mini Cooper I ended up detailing both the Mini Cooper and the FJ ... the FJ needs to be cleaned up.

It was a quiet Sunday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

Google Photos vs Flickr

Well I had to do it. I couldn't leave it alone because what I thought I saw in the photos in Flickr was much different than what I saw in the photos I had uploaded into Google Photos. It kept bugging me, even as I add photos daily as a backup to Google Photos. It's a simple process now that everything is loaded, with some of it being an automated process.

Do I add photos to this post from my photos library or do I just write, like when I started this blog in 2011? Feels strange having a blog post without 15 or more photos. Hopefully I'll have an answer by the time I finished writing this.

Anyway, back to the differences between Google and Flickr.

The differences bothered me enough to really check it out. The trigger point last night after all the football games I watched, put me past 1am by the time I sat at the computer. Since I am now use to staying up all weird hours of the night, I was awake enough to check out my information.

I knew before I started Google Photos there might be a slight difference in picture quality between the two from what I had read. For the unlimited free account, photos would be compressed to a 16 mega pixel limit in Google Photos. It was said unless you were a professional photographer, you would not see the difference.

I'm NOT a professional photographer but I could see a difference and can today ... I double checked this morning after a cup of fresh coffee and a clear set of eyes. Yet, picture quality was not the only difference that made me curious. I had read something wrong about Flickr before starting to play with Google Photos. I thought I was going to have to pay to be able to continue to use my free Flickr account I started in 2014.

That was not the case for a manual upload ... only for automatic uploading. So Google Photos wins that area with free automatic uploading.

No, the 'trigger point' for me was all of those 70 plus albums I had manually set up in Google Photos. One for each hound, past or present. One for each old VW bus I had owned, or tour I had taken, one for friends or different trips I've taken ... you get the picture, so to speak.

In Google Photos ... pictures uploaded or moved into Albums were not sorted nor can they be sorted in anyway. Users are still complaining in forums after 7 months of nothing being done, with all of the "google expert" posters saying we should use Picasa in the first step because it will load all the folders without issue and in some sort of order into Google Photos. Tonight I found a way to sort photos within the albums on Google Photos.

I will not be doing that. I mean how many times can you upload the same 22.4Gb photo library? That's around 30,000 photos.

So I was curious enough last night or very early this morning to take a look at my Flickr account that has about 2,300 photos total with 800 or so available for the public to see. I have less than 20 folders in that account, but TWO BIG MAJOR DIFFERENCES ....

In Flickr you can "bulk edit" photos and albums AND you can sort pictures within those albums 4 different ways. To me those were huge differences. Then throw in the file that shows your photos in a larger mode and much more CLEAR AND SHARP than what Google Photos had done to mine by just a tiny bit of file compression ... I had sold myself that Flickr was the way to go.

There was that much difference in the way my photos looked. It was just as fast, possibly easier to upload photos and bulk editing or bulk sorting hundreds of photos at at time was fantastic. Flickr also uploads the photo after you have edited it in your own editing program --- Google photos uploads the original with an editing program built in.

I noticed that last point of editing on my iPhone photos yesterday after they were uploaded automatically to Google Photos as soon as I took the picture. It was also a big trigger point because the quality was not even close to the great quality of those same photos on my iPhone.

So besides just looking at what I had uploaded last winter into Flickr ... I did a small batch of 15 photos from my computer to Flickr. Within the same amount of time it takes me to upload and move to Albums in Google Photos I was able to upload, sort, write a title and description for all the photos at once in Flickr ... with a sharper, better quality image.

To keep my head straight in the future and help those of you that are curious or interested in using a 'cloud' photo storage program ... I'll list the advantages of each FREE account.

Google Photos

• Unlimited storage with a 16 mega pixel limit per photo.
• Photos can be loaded automatically from a computer, tablet or smart phone.
• Photos can be deleted after upload from smart phone, tablet or computer by clicking one link and freeing up hard drive space.
• All of your photos can be seen anywhere, on any device as long as you have an internet connection.
• Photos can be moved into albums
• Will automatically sort your photos into their albums labeled places, things, friends, and videos.
• Can make collages and will suggest photos that can be used to make albums or books.
• Groups photos automatically and shows them in a past of "one year ago" format, similar to what Facebook does.

Flickr

• 1 Terabyte of free storage with original size and quality of photos.
• Photos are sharp and clear, shown in a larger format.
• Bulk edit of title and description for each photo before uploading.
• Sort photos 4 different ways within an album.
• Can choose which photos are private or for public viewing.
• All of your photos can be seen anywhere, on any device as long as you have an internet connection.

I am sure there are more features than these listed for each program. I listed only what I have personally worked with. I admit I am hesitant to continue to use Google Photos for ALL of my photos as a backup. Picture quality and being able to have photos in a specific order are huge to me.

Because it makes the process simple to delete photos off of my iPhone and a laptop to free up hard drive space with just clicking a link I will use Google Photos for photos taken by my iPhone, although my total library of photos would not take a 1/3 of my current smart phone hard drive.

I am going to go back to using Flickr as my main 'cloud backup', only I'll work a little at at time uploading all the photos I have into Flickr or like the friend that suggested Flickr to me ... I'll load only my favorite photos into Flickr while backup my my total library on external hard drives.

In the meantime, the hounds and I are going to get out and enjoy the rest of the morning with a walk through the heavy wet dew before we continue our football marathon today on the professional side (NFL). It will not be shown live because tv stations have to break for commercials during the playing of the national anthem ... but today in particular will be interesting for those players that want to protest by sitting or kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. Who could ever forget September 11, 2001.

I'll leave you with this observation if you have made it this far ....

• Bloodhounds DEMAND more attention than basset hounds
• Stella has to have ALL the attention
• Sadie and Stella move between me and the other to get that attention
• They don't bother me when I am giving Heidi attention
• The Bloodhound Laws listed on the right sidebar still apply

No photos in this post this morning ... The hounds will have their photos posted this evening.

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

A Typical Fall Saturday

The rains didn't show up in force like predicted. It rained a little but not a lot as every thing blew northwest of us.

That did not change the daily routine of the hounds though. We even got a evening walk in without taking the camera last night. Due to the time of day I was a little concerned about deer showing up and didn't have the time to let the hounds chase any deer if some showed up.

With each day, colors are changing. By then end of the month that field will be harvested, the corn in the back field will be picked and all the leaves along my driveway will be yellows and reds. It's hard to believe summer is over ... doesn't feel it lasted long.

The hounds didn't do much first time out this morning. They usually explore the yard a little, and go into the field long enough to dump their tanks and then will be trotting back to the house to nap and for me to drink coffee.

That's a pretty tough life ... lol

After 5 hours of football we were able to get our daily walk in during the halftime of the IU game. It was perfect timing and by the time we returned, they were starting to play again.

Our path this year is not straight. I walk around the flowers, the hounds walk through them but rarely do any get mashed to the ground.

Pretty windy today during the walk and the hound were off in their own separate world.

I am not sure what this is but it's the first time I've seen this kind of tree have that kind of growth.

Stella stayed on our path on the way home but you can see with the overgrowth the path is hard to see. She was taking it pretty easy even in the cooler temps of the 70's.

Slowly but surely she made it home.

I am still very pleased with the new Tamron lens I bought. Back to watching more football as some new games have just started. The Oregon game is not starting until 10:30pm my time, so it will be another late night.

Typical fall Saturday here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Ask Where's The Rain?

All my photos have been copied to Google Photos as of 4am this morning. That time also includes the time it took to move photos from the main library to individual albums ... that I call folders on my hard drive.

That meant I got to bed early and gained an extra hour of sleep. The plan for today was getting the yard mowed sometime after I woke up and before the rain was predicted to arrive around 1pm. By the time I was up moving around and realizing I was alive for another day ... the storms arrival had been moved out a couple of hours to 3pm. Coffee is the greatest invention ever!!!

The skies told a different story.

Luckily I was able to gas up the Craftsman 6hp engine, set at a 3" level and get all of the yard mowed, with a push mower ... just before the sun came back out with no rain in sight.

With it feeling like 90° while mowing I had to have some recovery time before taking the hounds out for a walk. That included a lot of ice cold water, laying down with a small fan directly over me ... while keeping Stella and her drool away from me and letting her know that I was okay and did not need medical attention. She seemed concerned something was wrong with me.

So with a little sunshine peeking through the clouds .. Sadie, Stella and I took off. The both were on a mission today with their noses to the ground, following out path most of the time and stay out in front of me. Heidi??? Above 70° has her enjoying the AC as she lounges on the couch or on the bed.

The temp may have been in the mid 80's but it fell like triple digits. The yard work had zapped some of my energy and the hound walk was feeling more like a chore than enjoyment. Basically I couldn't wait to get it over with and get into the shower.

I can say that I am really happy with the new lens and it's only been a couple of days but it has out performed the two Nikon lenses that came with the camera in the short time I've had it. All of these photo are untouched, no editing.

I can thank ZippyPinHead for his recommendation a few months back on the Tamron camera lens.

I was a little surprised that neither hound took off for the far right corner of the field like they always do. Yet they are only following the strongest scent. There must have been a lot of deer traffic on our path last night ... they didn't wander too far off today.

Stella is already thinking about that cold AC running back at the house. She agreed with me, the walk can't end soon enough.

On the way back to the house I assumed incorrectly that both hounds were right on my heels following me home. I turn to check different times and of course today with the heat making the walk miserable ... I have only ONE hound behind me. I'll let you guess who has snuck off.

I looked everywhere and didn't see any tan or light brown color among the greens and purples. Had Stella gone to the "no fly zone" to check things out? I wasn't going to backtrack after her, she always shows up eventually.

I scanned the field with the lens set at 200mm and look what I found in the photo above. Sadie and I turned and headed for the house ... we wanted AC and we wanted water.

Stella caught up to us by the time we stepped into the yard almost at the house. She had ran pretty hard to do that.

Overall it was a nice walk though and I'm glad we got one in today.

Blogger is still having problems with blogs on the blogroll or lists .. for all those that use Blogger. Al thought it was just Wordpress it didn't like but he and I have a lot of blogger blogs at the very bottom of the list like I mentioned before. They are updating with new posts but not moving up on the lists.

Some of you may have noticed I have taken the word 'RV' out of my blog title. A few years back an irritated reader made a comment or sent me an email, I can't remember which, telling me I needed to because my blog was nothing about RVs, no travel, blah blah blah ....

At that time I decided to leave it the blog title for a couple of reasons. It was part of my paid domain name at the time. I had about 2 years worth of posts where I spilled my guts on different thoughts I had about RVs, which kinds, what I had found ... just a lot of research ... and for some, too much info and anxiety.

I almost changed the title back in January after Winston (I miss him daily) passed. I could tell the blog had gradually changed direction to where RVs were rarely if ever mentioned anymore. Hounds were mentioned all the time .. it has turned into 'their blog'.

I know one reader is very very happy with the new name and in fact I have liked that blog title name for quite sometime.

I tried a Google Photos feature last night. I "shared" a folder with an old friend that I went to college with. He had sent me some photos years ago that I kept on my computer ... so with one url link to that album, he was able to see it without having to log into or sign up for Google Photos.

Now with all my photos loaded manually except for a few from the iPhone ... I will start automating as much as I can. I will clear off my SD card in my camera to prevent Google Photos downloading another 3,000 photos that I have already put into the Google Photo system. Then after that card is clean, each time I slide the card into my computer, Google Photos will download the new ones automatically based on me changing my settings for the camera/card.

Sure I could do this all on iCloud and keep my Apple devices synchronized ... but iCloud doesn't have a lot of free storage and I never pay for storage.

The NFL finally starts the regular season tonight. It's a good thin because those meaningless pre-season games that only puts money into the NFL owners pockets were injuring important players at a rapid rate ... some are out for the year. At the injury rate was going, used car salesmen are turning into NFL defensive backs.

No I did not watch anything political on my tv last night nor will I in the future. The media spin for the past year has made me dizzy enough to make me puke anytime I hear anything, anyone or see anything political.

Sports ... sports ... hounds .... books ... yard ... camera ... more sports ... is all I need ... food and sleep are optional.

Will the rain arrive tonight here in 'the tropics" of Southern Indiana?