A Beautiful Saturday Morning

The day started with one of the strangest dreams I've had in a while. Maybe it was because it woke me up, but I remembered a few of the details of the dream.

It was so strange because I was confused why I needed to go to a job from 25 years ago. I was late for work and couldn't figure out why I was even going to work, since I thought I was retired.

I had some of my past hounds playing in the house with none of them being bloodhounds. It was so weird to see the old Winston wrestling with himself as a puppy. The other two basset hounds were laying in the sunshine sleeping and I was still trying to figure out why I was going to work if I was retired. Had something changed?

So I was more than happy to open my eyes to see Sadie standing next to the bed staring at me at eye level with that look she has every morning "I have to go outside". The bedroom was so full of sunshine I had no idea what time it was and from the dream I wasn't even sure that day it was. To say I was confused would be a compliment. I knew I needed coffee and I needed it as fast as possible.

I could tell it was extremely cold outside as I changed into my clothes, because the storm windows were covered with frozen ice. As I walked through the kitchen to let the hounds outside, my iPhone weather app told me it was 13° with hopes of getting all the way up to 38 by this afternoon.

The hounds made their normal first trip outside while I poured their breakfast kibble. Once inside Heidi sprints for her bowl, Stella starts howling with excitement and Sadie goes into her hopping up and down routine ... to bad that exercise does not help her lose weight.

I have to have both of their bowls of food sitting high on a shelf because I cannot have them on the floor when they walk in ... each bloodhound will do anything to eat both bowls of food. Yet, they never both Heidi or her bowl of food.

By 10:30am it was up to 21° although the 'feels like' was only 9°. A perfect time for a walk.

The field was covered with frost, the air was crisp but it did not feel as cold as 9°, in fact it felt a little warmer than yesterday's morning walk. With the down parka and ski gloves I was very warm.

I would really like to find out what is buried so deep inside those frozen leaves and grass that Stella and Sadie find so interesting. The times I have walked to where they have their noses plastered to the ground, I don't find anything most of the time.

Sadie turned one last time to see if Stella was coming and then took off for her walk. She is the perfect hound for walking. She keeps up, still wanders off following her nose, yet never falls too far behind ... and will come when called. Even Winston use to lag way behind at his own pace and at times in June before they baled the field he would get no further than the corner of the house barking the whole time we were gone. I still miss that hound a lot.

At this point I am almost to the corner of the field where we veer right. I could tell by Stella's lack of movement it was be the same for her as it has been the past week or so. She will not get as far as the first corner and will walked toward the neighbor's wooded area without heading our direction.

An interesting leaf ... makes me want those 100° days in July.

The cold weather had energized Sadie. She was running everywhere and at times faster than I could keep her in the view finder of the camera. The camera caught this strange stance ... she was actually moving at the time.

She tracked a lot of area today but never stayed long whenever she stopped.

In the meantime there was still no sign of Stella as she was off in her own little world.

Hard to believe I walked into the same pile of frozen dirt causing me to stumble forward with the same sore toe from previous accidents. I was still able to hang onto the camera and decided it might be time to move back to the steel toe hiking boots in our next walks.

As I was about to make the final turn toward home, look who I see up on the horizon staring right back at me. Does she come when I call her name ... not a chance. She went right back to eating deer scat.

Sadie decided to go check on Stella without me saying a word today. I kept walking and knew I'd have to walk over to Stella before she would move. I can't say that I am a big fan of her recent routine and can't wait for it to change.

I kept calling her name as I got closer. I might as well kept my mouth shut from the response she was giving me. Not until I got within a foot of her, did she left her head and walked over to me. I guess she expected me to hook her up to the leash, but I never took it out of my pocket.

It didn't matter what she was doing, at least the morning was beautiful with bright sunshine, clear blue skies and higher temps on the way.

The highway in this picture is a lot further away from her than the picture shows. I'd guess Stella is about half way between the highway and the path I am on ... that's a lot of field between us.

I don't care for Sycamore trees in general but this one is still nice to me. I had two more like it on the bank along the driveway until the straight-line winds pulled them out of the ground like weeds in June 2008. After they fell they covered all of my front yard.

When the ground is really saturated and winds get up in the 60mph range I wonder if that tree will fall like the others did. I hope not because if it fell due north like the others, that will be right down the center of the house.

It might be time this summer to have a crew come in and trim the top 25% off but I always hate seeing that happen to trees. If you look at the far right tree you will notice it does not go as high as the other 3 limbs.

The top of that limb was struck by lightning in that 2008 windstorm and fell onto the corner of my carport. It was long enough to be sitting on the ground at an angle, damaging the corner of the house and a good 6' above the roof.

By the time I almost to the house, the hounds were happy to go inside where they instantly fell asleep, which will last until lunch kibble is served.

No plans today but continue reading my books. I guess I should start giving some of the books I read a title and author. I guess today I will take the chance of hearing some sort of backlash and tell you what I am reading. In today's world on social media, phone calls with old friends or those that have family dinners ... hardly anything can be discussed anymore about current events without an argument starting.

So the book I started reading yesterday afternoon and couldn't put down, forcing myself to turn off the lights and go to bed at 3am is by Roger Stone -- "The Making of the President 2016". It's a great book and shows just how close it was to having a different result in this years election, plus all the action behind the scenes you never read about.

I tried to head a different direction in subject matter yesterday in the library, but I pulled this off the 'new' book shelf. After this is finished sometime today or tonight, I'll flip into an old John Grisham novel for a change of pace. I still have plenty of books on my personal bookshelves that have never been read, yet some have been read three or four times.

No plans today except reading and another late afternoon hound walk. Did you like two posts in one day or prefer one long post showing up in the 6-7pm range?

I have stated in previous blog posts that I am a football addict but it's the same this year as many years before ... I don't watch nor read anything about the upcoming Super Bowl. I'll not turn my tv on until the exact time for kickoff and will not only turn down the sound but will turn the tv off at halftime of the game. I really wish we could separate sports and politics.

I figure by Monday I will be back at the library to turn in the two books I have now and search for more reading material. I am addicted to reading right now. Any suggestions for good books to read, any of your favorites?

I am happy and the hounds are happy today in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Get A Second Walk In Today

Surprise, this is my 2nd post today.

I had no doubt the hounds would get their 2nd walk in today. They always get two but lately the afternoon walk has Stella leashed, so no camera is taken.

Today I wanted to take some photos and hid the leash in my pocket just in case Stella became so stubborn where she wouldn't move. It was not planned but I ended up taking most of these pictures today at 200mm lens setting.

Like I said, I am going to have to find another dog food for Stella because recently she has been scratching more than she ever has. Does that mean it's the food or something else? Maybe the food is okay.

This is the tree I spoke of this morning. The high winds blew it over in February 2009. The sound of the tree snapping made it over quite a distance to the house, through closed windows, over the loud noise of the winds, plus the volume of the tv. The limb that is being stripped of its bark is the lower left, barely visible.

Stella was showing some great motivation this afternoon, attempting to keep up with Sadie and I. Something to consider, almost all of these photos were taken with the lens set at 200mm, so it's not like she was that close to us.

She was moving right along until she stopped and faced toward the wooded area behind the neighbors house. Looking through the view finder I could see her nostrils moving and thought she might take off sprinting any second.

She stood that way for a couple of minutes while I tried to decide whether to pull the 6' standard leash out of my pocket and prevent a sudden change in schedule of our walk. I decided not to put her on a leash and see what happens.

What a shock to see her start walking toward us. But that didn't mean she had lost all curiosity. She had not walked 10' when she stopped again to look in that same direction where she was so curious.

In the meantime Sadie had moved ahead of both of us and was enjoying running around the field. Once Stella saw that Sadie had found something, she ran to catch up ... there was no way Sadie was going to get something that Stella would miss out on.

I continued my walk to the back edge of the field. Turning to check the hounds, Stella had not moved. Remember all of these pictures this afternoon are 200mm zoom.

Sadie had found a new spot, one that she did not want to share.

I am not sure what these are but I can assure you that when the ground is frozen with temps in the 20's, where you might not be paying attention as you walk in soft toe shoes, they feel like a concrete wall when your foot accidentally hits them. They don't break either. Luckily I didn't drop the camera as I stumbled.

Another one just in case I missed the first one.

I'm on my way back and the hounds have not moved.

And they won't move either ... no matter how close I get or if I walk past them.

Finally they decided they were finished and were ready to get home. Both of them came running past me, only to stay on the path and slow their pace to a slow walk.

A whole field to walk in and they have to walk in front of me, slowing up my pace.

Sadie had one more thing to check out before she officially finished her walk. For some strange reason, Stella had sprinted ahead and was waiting at the house.

It was good to feel my 18-20 hour digestive problem was gone today. I felt good enough to load the car with the one 32gl container of recycled stuff and head to the recycling center. I needed another supply of books so I stopped in and picked up an old novel by John Grisham and another political book off of the "New" shelf. The Grisham book will be my first book with large print (LP).

I did think more about starting a new Wordpress blog when I sat down at my computer. The thought of a different subject blog flew through the brain cells for a nano-second and then the urge for any new blog immediately disappeared.

I think its more of wanting to play around designing a new website or blog, more than starting a new subject to write on.

The hounds are sleeping in the sunshine that has warmed the house up. They always like a nap after a walk.

Nothing else to report from the 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Had A Day Off

The hounds did not know they were getting a day off yesterday. It was one of the prettiest days of 2017. It wasn't up to them and wasn't their fault.

Sadie really missed her two walks, begged at times but she knew something was wrong. I moved into the 'hound mode' and was forced to hide in bed for all of Thursday. Let just say that the BRAT temporary diet worked well. By this morning I was feeling like new.

I could tell very soon after waking up today that the hounds would get their two walks in today plus they would be given total freedom to do what they want and walk where they wanted. I also had a feeling with all of that freedom, that Stella wouldn't be completing the walk based on her recent pace.

Although Stella did take the lead at the start of the walk. It was cold, like 21° cold but luckily there wasn't much wind.

This tree limb has been sitting there since February 2009. How can I remember that date? It was an abnormal warm February night. I was inside with all the windows shut of course watching a ballgame when I heard that tree limb crack and break ... it's the limb I showed a few days ago here where some animal has been eating all of the bark. It was also a limb that is pretty far from house, at least too far to hear that cracking sound as loud and clear as I did that night.

That February night, the wind was stronger than normal high wind was. Based on my straight-line wind damage the previous June I must admit I was a little concerned from what I was hearing but it was so dark outside I couldn't see anything.

I continued to watch the basketball game and was surprised that Directv was still giving me reception. By the next morning I saw just how strong the wind had been. Two houses down down from me a power pole had been broke in half and later that day as I drove around I saw tornado damage to some stores downtown. In February??

With the day off yesterday, Sadie was in full tracking mode. She was loved being outside again and there were smells she did not catch on Wednesday, so she had a lot of scent to catch up on. As I kept walking the path Sadie would move from way behind me to in front of me ... Stella had moved into the wooded area out of sight the last time I looked.

"Where's Stella?"

Once Sadie couldn't see Stella, she turned and came running for the first turn. She had other things to find and no time to wait for a bloodhound that might not catch up with us.

I am not sure if you can tell, but once again I am trying to show just how steep this gully is from the path we walk. I am not sure the hounds could climb back up in muddy to very soft ground if they ever went down that far.

Many years ago Sadie went to the bottom when she 1 or 2 years old. She walked out from the bottom to the road, with mud up past her legs, all over her stomach and neck. It took days and a lot of shampoo baths to get that smell off of her.

About the time I thought Sadie was heading for the right corner of the field, she turned quickly and took off. I did not see anything that would have mad her move that abruptly.

I'm not sure what she had found but she was moving fast enough that some of the pictures are not in good focus.

Where was Stella through all of this excitement? Like she had been doing the few days prior, hanging way back and then gradually moving to the center of the field and not even up to the first corner. She did glance up to see where we were and then went back to eating deer scat.

Once again I told Sadie "go get Stella" and she took off with her nose to the ground. Instead of getting Stella back on the path before I got there, she also found something worth not leaving.

At least Sadie got her sprint workout in for the day.

As you can see Stella didn't move the whole time Sadie ran toward her. I am still pretty far away when I took these pictures with the 200mm zoom.

This is where the pictures ended. I turned off the camera, moved the lens back to the shortest position and tucked it under my arm. I reached into my left pocket to pull out the standard 6' leash to attach to Stella because that was the only thing that would get her to move. She even fought me to keep her mouth to the ground while I clipped the leash onto her collar.

After taking the shortest route home, she still had to stop a couple of times. I had unhooked the leash soon after I got her off of that spot, so she could walk back to the house on her own.

Here are a few pictures from our morning walk on Wednesday. I did not take the camera on the afternoon walk because I was wanting Stella to get a full walk in without spending most of the walk in one spot eating whatever she would find. So she was leashed with the 25' retractable. She is one stubborn bloodhound.

Sadie's nose keeps her busy.

For the first time in along time both of them were in the far right corner of the field in an area where the deer walk to and from the gully.

When Sadie is in this pose I know she is serious. LOL

I had to walk over to call for Stella. She was on her way down the path into the gully. I was happy that she changed her mind when she heard me calling her name.

I think she is starting to gain some weight back. I've changed to a different kind of food with more protein and fat for her. I never use nor have been a fan of dog food for seniors but what I had been using for the year for the bloodhounds didn't seem to work for Stella any longer.

She must have thought she was going to miss something on Wednesday morning because she rarely runs to the house at the end of the walks. Her normal pace is a very slow walk, dragging her front paws with each step.

I feel a lot better today than I did 24 hours ago so that's a good sign for a Friday. By late Wednesday night I had finished my 2nd book checked out from the library. I need to change the subject matter to something more light ... I think I am going back to fiction for a while.

I deleted my Wordpress blog a few days ago, maybe last week, I can't remember. Just like always this morning I wished I had that blog back. Wordpress is different than Blogger when you delete a blog. They do not give you the 60 days or so to change your mind. Once you delete your blog from their .com site, it's gone.

It's no big deal really. It had the same pictures I took for this blog. What was nice it was only a few sentences of content and then 4-10 pictures. It was fast to post, I liked the themes Wordpress offers much better than Blogger and a clean look. But it rarely had any visitors. How many blogs can someone have with the same pictures, so I deleted it.

I have the urge to build another Wordpress blog. You know how I like to change templates sometime, I guess this is one of those times.

It might be cold but the sunshine is out and that is always nice here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana especially in February.