The Hounds Check Out The Mini Cooper

What a day!!! I didn't plan to have all of this happen in one day but it did and most of the action I am sorry to say was not photographed due to the requirement of me sprinting after the hounds.

I took a trip out of town this morning, the new 'Countryman' drove fantastic. It's quiet, economical and fast when I need it to be. I'm getting 34.5 mpg for all types of driving. By the time I returned home the hounds ate their lunch and it was perfect timing for a walk. I still needed a jacket but the weather was fantastic.

I would have liked to have seen this machine in action. I guess the tree cutting job from two days ago wasn't all that was in their plans.

It was warm enough I thought Heidi was going to turn and go with us. She got about two steps into the backyard as we were leaving ... then turned and sprinted to the house. I went back to let her inside to keep warm while the bloodhounds and I walked.

Once again Stella had a good walk. There was just one time she lagged behind but about the time I turned to check on her she came sprinting by me to catch Sadie.

Sadie is the one that always her tail curled upward when her nose is on the ground.

While she was behind, Sadie had her nose to the path and took off sprinting . I didn't see any deer on the horizon. She ran non-stop all the way to the back of the field, then along the path we follow all the way over to the large electrical power lines tower.

I guess she had seen enough or found her answer, as she glanced up then turned and headed my direction at a full speed run.

This is where Stella sprinted by me to catch Sadie and they took off for the corner.

Stella came our direction every time I called her.

On the way back I saw something going on in the part of the field that I can't see from my house nor do I photograph this part of the field across the highway.  I was pretty sure they were laying some new underground drainage.

Looks like I guessed correctly. The last system them put in, within view of the house, in fact it's in the first picture of the day every day, has worked very well for them with little to no flooding.

The past couple of days I've thought about testing the bloodhounds inside the Mini Cooper S Countryman. For those that are unfamiliar with the model, it is bigger inside than their smaller convertibles or hardtops. It's their version of a SUV, similar to the BMW X-1. With the seats folded down I have 41 cu inches for storage or hounds riding.

I wanted to make sure they fit in the back for the times we go to the vet for regular shots and checkups and hopefully never an emergency. The back seats laid down but there was a large gap between the seats so I'll need to fill that in with an extra rolled up blanket.

It is 43" wide, no wheel wells to worked around and is 5' from the back of the seats to the back door. Remember I did not buy this car to take cross country with the hounds like we did in June 2015.  Otherwise I would have kept the FJ.

Sadie was inside long enough to turn around, sit down for one second and not any longer, then decided she had seen enough. She had plenty of head room when she sat down but I couldn't take a picture fast enough. She wanted the FJ back.

Stella was like 'a bull in a china shop' ... she danced a little in the back and then jump up into the front passenger seat checking out all the new places she could sling her drool. She wouldn't come out the back, I had to open the drivers door for her. By that time she was moving to the driver side and didn't care what she was stepping on ... as usual.

It was a good test and definite confirmation that the hounds will only go in the car the times we need to go to the vet. Plus when I bought this I no longer planned on taking them everywhere like I did in the FJ. Too much hair over a period of time and too much drool.

The excitement of the day, month or even for the year 2016 took place not long after the hounds jumped out of the car and went back to the field. While I was vacuuming what dog hair had migrated like a magnet to the black cloth interior ... plus wiping off all of Stella's paw prints from the front seats, sunglasses case and the driver seat .... they were back in the field doing what they do best ... exploring.

It wasn't more than ten minutes when I last checked them and it was just pure luck that I checked them when I did. They were gone, I couldn't believe they had disappeared that fast unless they saw deer or another animal. But I didn't have my glasses on and things in the distance are not that clear.

Well I see something in the wooded area and instantly I thought they were hunters. I'm not a hunter so I don't know if it's hunting season but that was my first impulsive thought. Then I see what I think are Sadie and Stella.

In the 19 years and 10 months that I have lived here I never seen anyone in the wooded area directly behind my house. So I wasn't sure what was happening.

My next thought was wondering what they were going to do to the bloodhounds since they were probably as surprised as the hounds were. About that time a dog runs out of the woods flying ... looked like a Springer Spaniel. Of course Sadie and Stella are chasing it full speed with no chance of catching them.

My concern once again is having the hounds in their state of "being oblivious to anything" and running into trouble. This time they had gone further than they ever had as far as houses along the side of the road.

The neighbor that owns the field lives two houses away and on occasion will drive his pickup truck around the edge of the field to look around, as he did two days ago. I found out the people I saw were his his older son and grandson. We walked together to their house wondering how far both of our dogs were going to run to. They are from Houston Texas, visiting for Christmas.

So instead of hunters it was only neighbors taking pictures and walking with their dog not knowing they were going to run into Sadie and Stella. When they saw me arriving they ran over to me acting proudly of their discovery and were anxious to get back home. I walked as they trotted way out in front of me .... then straight to their water bowl once inside.

My next plan of the day was to rearrange my computer room plus a couple of different closets. I wanted my computer room back to where ithad very little in it plus some things in a different location. That took the rest of the afternoon ... it was very good that the computer booted up and worked after turning it off, unplugging everything and moving it.

The dog food containers have been moved out of the way, of coarse the water bowl and food dishes will remain in the same spots to prevent any confusion for the hounds.

We tried another walk late in the afternoon but didn't get much further than the first corner with the camera. Stella heard gun shots, maybe an early Christmas gift or just practicing. It doesn't matter what it is, she is not a fan of gun shots.

So the camera was turned off, the 6' leash pulled out of my jacket pocket and we did the rest of the walk with her on a leash walking as close to me as possible since the rounds were being fired most of the way. She was so close to me walking I doubt that I needed to put the leash on her for her own protection.

Here she hears her first shot.

Since I moved the indoor bicycle trainer out of the computer room ... I am going to assemble that to one of my road bicycles and start riding indoors this winter. It attaches to the back axle. The mountain bike is ready to go for trips through the field in back, without the hounds. I am not sure how that is going to work out.

Heidi is eating as much food as ever but not gaining weight that can be seen by the human eye. She doesn't seem to mind and has her own routine and that has never changed since the time I got her in 2011.

She came with no records since she was a multi visitor to her local shelter as a runaway. Of coarse when she went to GABR basset rescue they had the vet do a thorough exam and he thought at that time she might around 2-1/2 years old. So we have always named December as her birthday, which means she was 8 years sometime this month.

Beautiful weather here today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella's Back On Track

The day started early with Sadie waking up and wanting to go outside at oh-dark-thirty in the morning. Let just say it was a quick awakening standing outside with her in those low temps.

It was okay though, I had a couple of things I needed to do and wanted to get to their offices when they opened at 8:30am. That gave me time to get a couple of cups of Seattle's Best coffee into my bloodstream, let the hounds out a couple of times, check weather, news, sports and texts from friends.

It looks like they have left some pretty good wood behind. I don't know if they plan to let it lay there and rot or have friends come in and cut it up for their own use.

Over towards the corner of the field, it looks like the tree clearing was contracted out by the local utility company, maybe AT&T. Their phone lines and utility power lines follow that gravel road to the closed steel bridge then goes across the creek to the main road on the other side.

I drove over to one of two local BMV's (DMV to some) and registered the Mini Cooper S Countryman this morning. The office in my town cut back their office hours to two days per week a few years ago, so I go to another small town about 12 miles away that is open three days per week.

I guess the man that owns the dealership where I bought the Mini Cooper knew what he was talking about when he said I could use the truck plates from the FJ on this car. The title listed it as a "Wagon", not a passenger car while the VIN online shows it's an SUV. The AWD had nothing to do with it. Because it was a 'wagon' I can use a 'truck plate' that I have transferred over the years from truck - FJ - FJ - Mini.

I only renewed them to my expiration date in April 2017 because I am not sure if I'll keep the 'truck' plate on the car but I do know that I don't want the new 2017 Indiana plate they voted for this past summer. Indiana is one of the few states that change their license plate design every 5 years. Most of the best designs always get discontinued.

At the same time they are also one of the few states that give you over 30 different plates to choose from where your additional payment of $40 is donated to that specific organization and some of it to the state. So between now and April I'll decide if the 'truck' plate stays on the Mini Cooper S or I buy a specialty plate or a personalized plate.

I also stopped by the court house on the way back to check on my property tax as well as some explanation on what is the correct property line. There is no issues with the property line but everyone involved seems to have their own idea. At this time of day, the BMV and Court House did not have waiting lines so I was back home by 9:03am.

It was time for a walk, earlier then normal. The hounds agreed and we were off a little before 9:15am for the first walk of the day. Heavy frost made the grass and leaves on the ground even louder with each step. No wind made it nice and Stella continued walk along with us without a leash.

There were a few "come on" and a lot of "good dog" along our walk. She is now sitting beside me at 10:54am wanting to be fed her lunch a few hours earlier than normal. I say a few hours earlier because I normally feed them at 11:30am  but she has been letting me know she wants to eat since 9:30am this morning. As I wrote this, she had not got to the stage where she howls ... but if I don't have the kibble poured out soon, that will be her next step.

I don't really celebrate Christmas anymore and haven't for years, so that may be the reason it doesn't seem like Christmas yet this year. Yet, I usually get a feeling of the holidays even though I don't do much out of the ordinary. So far not this year it just hasn't felt like Christmas is this close.

I was hoping to use some new 'used' cross country skis here in the field this week. A couple of weeks ago the forecast looked like it was going to snow this week. That weather outlook has changed to rain and high 50's by this weekend. Plus we never got the snow last week that was predicted. January and February could be a big month of snow this year.

I watched my last show of the season last night on the National Geographic channel. It's called Continent #7, with a team of scientists from New Zealand doing research and collecting data from the purest environment on the planet as well different wales. It was amazing to see how such small sample sizes could be loaded into a computer to download data, videos and how they collected this data.

The planet is getting warmer based on all the data they have collected over the years in Antarctica.

This morning Stella continued to be out front for the walk. She showed no urge to lag behind in those spots she would never leave just a few days ago. Also neither one headed for the far right corner this morning.

They almost acted as if they were getting cold and wanted to get back to the house ... just a guess.

Some of the pictures this morning were edited, while others were straight from the camera and not touched. I think in most cases I like the UN touched pictures the best.

I actually thought when we started the walk there might be a good chance to see some deer. I have no idea what hours they are out but 9:15am seemed to be a good time this past summer when we did see them. A few days ago about a half mile down the road in a small field I counted at least 10 deer grazing as I drove by.

There is always a difference how each hound positions their tail when their nose is buried to the ground. At times it is the only way I can tell which is Stella and which is Sadie in some pictures.

As we made the turn for home, they both ran past me and took off.

One more short stop on the way though. When they saw me walking by them, the decided to move too.

The could have swore they heard me say something about food when we got back to the house ... it stopped them right in their tracks.

It seems like every day I am adding something new to my Spring To-Do list ... it could be a busy spring and summer this year, unlike 2016.

A cool but sunny day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella Does A 180° In Attitude

The logging operation finished late this afternoon. What was pretty neat about this, the same machine that was moving and loading the cut trees, was also the same that cut the tree trunks to those lengths right before he loaded them.

After lunch the temps had increased to 23° and it felt nice enough to take the hounds out for a walk. Only this time I was putting Stella on the 25' retractable leash. Maybe that would help her remember how to walk again. She never minds it and will always run toward me when she sees I have the leash, then wait for me to connect it to her collar.

She took off walking as soon as I connected her. She followed Sadie and I on our walk, had 25' to explore and rarely stopped to eat anything. In fact she spent most of the walk leading Sadie and I. Along the walk I kept giving her positive reinforcement whenever she did something correctly.

So with our 2nd walk today, in mid-afternoon, it was a good test for her even thought the walk with the leash was only a couple of hours before. What would Stella do off leash now?

She and Sadie had been out in the back of the field for about 10 minutes while I put on a warmer coat, grabbed the camera and came out to let them know we were going for a walk. Sadie always sprints to me every walk, this afternoon was different.

As I started up the path, Stella came running toward me like Sadie does on every walk, so it was a surprise to see her do that. She must of thought I had the leash with me. I can't remember the last time she ran toward me to start the walk when I didn't have the leash with me.

She must have been happy that she was not going to get connected to the leash because she turned almost immediately with Sadie and took off ... it was the first time unleashed that she did not hang back like she has for weeks, if not a month or more.

It was good to see her follow Sadie along the path.

I can't describe how much warmer it felt during this walk at 36° compared to yesterday in the teens. It almost felt like a day in March, not December. A 20° jump in temperatures will do that. We are suppose to reach the lower 50's later this week.

As we made the first turn, Stella was walking just the way I wanted ... wander nearby but keep up the pace that Sadie and I take. It does give them time to check out areas and I'll stop during times like that ... as long as they are moving.

She still kept the lead whenever Sadie caught up.

I was curious if they were going to head right to the corner but they followed the direction of the path I take and headed for the back of the field.

Once again she wandered off a little to the left but also turned and trotted toward Sadie as we approached the final turn toward home. It was just like she had done most of her walks prior to a month or so ago.

As all of us made the turn for the final leg of the walk ... Stella trotted around both Sadie and I ... taking the lead again.

They both trotted away from me, all the way up to that first corner ... nothing needed to be said to get them to follow me home. I was shocked in the difference in Stella's attitude.

As we approached the backyard, they both continued to walk toward home. I really couldn't believe in the change they both had on this walk. It may have been a month or longer since Stella has walked off leash the whole walk instead of hanging way back and then meeting us at the first corner to turn around and come home.

Does that picture look like a day in December?? Of coarse I remember last Christmas Day in 2015 it was in the 50's if I remember that correctly. Although at the start of the walk 36° didn't feel too bad, by the end of the walk it was freezing.

The hounds were not the only surprise of the day. My brain was. The light bulb in my mind flicked on as I stepped inside the door and out of nowhere I knew exactly what I had to do to my old door so the new door knob would fit. That doesn't sound too out of the ordinary but I bought this new door knob over 3 years ago.

I didn't install it then because the hole in the door was too small to fit the new door knob. I pulled out some sandpaper, a small wood chisel and a pencil to mark just how much bigger I had to make the hole in the door.

I didn't have a drill with that diameter and I realize that would have made it much easier and faster. The one I did have was too small, was one that I had used for the shower faucet years ago. Anyway I made the hole large enough to fit the mechanism of the new door handle, with what I had.

It works perfect.

What got me thinking about fixing it, was the other night I could barely slide my key into the slot to unlock the door and at the same time this morning I could barely turn the lock from the inside to lock the door. Too old, too flimsy and too much movement while even jiggling the key would not work. The locking mechanism was just too old.

My decision to trade the FJ for the Mini Countryman must have been a good one ... not a sliver of 'buyers remorse' has floated through my brain cells.

The temps are suppose to continue to climb here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana and that's always a good thing.