Hounds Slow Down For Their Afternoon

After this morning's performance by the hounds, I could not expect something better. It was only their energy level that was high this morning and I knew if they were anything like me, it would not be an all day affair.


Soon after I posted this morning's blog post, I took all of the hounds outside to do whatever they needed to do before being left in the house while I drove around locally with my camera in hand. While they wandered a little in the field I cleaned my camera from the small view finder attachment to the inside of the lens hood.

The truck pictured above was one of two trucks I saw making a very slow right hand turn from the highway to the country road within view of my desk. It's pretty amazing they could fit something that long into a narrow road without cutting down a utility pole or a mailbox, yet they did make that turn without damaging anything.

Since the two trucks were blocking the roadway I could not get much closer than where I took the picture. It looks like they are rebuilding a small bridge that I found was closed last summer during one of my local drives through the country.

The older farm house above is about 1.5 miles behind my house. The picture is a little crooked but was holding the camera up pointed out the window as I drove by. I still don't feel good taking pictures of other people houses, so there will not be anymore. I passed on some real gems during my short drive today.

A lot of the roads near my house are a lot like this, although this is one of the few flat roads. It is one that I ride my bike on during the summer.

I did take pictures of those closed businesses in town. I have downloaded them but this time I am going to do some online research before I post, hopefully finding some history to each of the business I am going to talk about.

After that I took a drive across the highway for some more pictures of the old steel bridge. Not much had changed in the two years since I was there last. I'll make a post later just about the bridge itself and the updated pictures I took this morning.

Somewhat different driving the Mini Countryman All4 drive compared to the Toyota FJ I had before. This car sits about 4" lower in ground clearance but with the manual transmission I can see getting about anywhere I want to go off road. No ... I am NOT saying this is off-road.   LOL

I do like how those red mirrors stand out surrounded by all of the greens. My house is setting there to the left in the middle of the woods from the way it looks. The 7 acre field behind my house seems to have disappeared.

You would think after looking at this next picture my house is in the middle of the woods with nothing but trees around it. There isn't a clue there is a field anywhere near the house.

That small field across the highway seems like a waste of time to plow, to plant and to harvest ... but really it's much larger than meets the eye. I forget that the tree line in back is not the bank to the small creek that moves under the bridge ... but just a small wooded area between the front and back of this one field.

After they turn left after that wooded area straight ahead of the tractor, it moves into a much larger field to plant. This next picture is toward the left, next to the road I took to the bridge. You can barely see my house on the right side of the picture.

The field then spreads out to the north for quite a ways. As you can see, the field that I look at every day is a very small portion of the total size of that field. It makes sense now why they spend their time farming that area.

Before taking pictures of the bridge I stopped in the landscaping business to check on buying more rip rap. I have one more spot I want to add to the bank. It's a large hole in the side of the bank where the large sycamore tree once stood until June 2008. It was as large as the sycamore tree still standing.

The straight line winds pulled that 125' tree out of the ground like a weed. It fell through the fence and was tall enough to almost cover the width of the yard. You can barely see the large hole in the bank where the tree was. It is just left of those rocks you see in the center of the picture. It needs to be filled.

That is my driveway under the tree. The rest of the tree almost reached to the other side of the front yard. My bloodhound at the time, Bertha, was checking out the damage, barely seen to left of center. Sadie did not arrive until two months after this happened.

The Directv satellite dish did not survive the tree limbs. When they came to reinstall the new system I had him move the dish up to and bolted into the front of the house. That prevents wind damage and is hidden by the Yews planted a few years later.

By the time I returned from my local drive, the hounds were ready not only to eat but take a mid-afternoon walk. It was a slower pace this time and all three hounds spent the rest of the afternoon in a solid deep sleep.

Heidi was passed out on the couch, Stella stretched out on the floor behind my desk chair and Sadie moved back and forth from "her" large leather chair in the living room to her dog bed in the corner of the bedroom. All the windows were open with a nice breeze so it was great sleeping weather.

I was pretty sure that Heidi was going to make the afternoon walk. It was above her 70° threshold, sitting at 77°. She looked motivated within her first few steps outside.

You can see how much hair has grown back in on her front leg and paw and she does look a little heavier than last fall/winter.

She then bolted to the right and took off running around the front of the house for a lap. As she returned on the back side of the it was a reminder of #9 on my to do list this summer ... install new brick edging between the river rock and yard. The same bricks as in the front. I still have a lot to do before I get to #9.

I asked her one more time if she was going on the walk and she gave me a solid no. She stood looking away and never moved. I got her answer loud and clear.

Stella let me know early in the walk, that the fast pace she did this morning was not going to be an afternoon thing for her. She was back to being slow and after looking at that picture I could swear the grass grew another 6" after this morning's walk.

Four Five perfect, nothing out of place, dandelions. (thanks for letting me know about my error)

There are times I wished I was paying attention in geography or geology class ... one of those non-sports classes in school. I'd love to know what these are and who makes them. The liquid mud formations fascinate me.

Sadie warmed up a little in her search ... but then again, she never slows down and is always active in her walks. A totally different energy level than Stella's.

I was about to call Stella's name ... but she started heading my way on her own. Not fast ... but in the right direction.

Both of them decided they had enough fun for one day and slowly headed down the path back home.

Another one of many farm equipment traveling south down the highway today.

Just one more thing to check out before their siesta.

Sadie was walking behind me until she saw Heidi up by the house. As always she took off sprinting, and touching noses with Heidi just to let her know she was back.

While Heidi found a way to cure her itch ... Stella walked slowly around her without stopping to even say hello.

Now ... she looked ready for a walk as she started barking at me.

Even after a couple of glasses of freshly brewed cold ice tea, by 3:30 that thought of a siesta sounded like a good idea. It didn't help much with three sleeping hounds but I was able to resist.

Those 6 days of rain forecasted out of the next 9 days have been blown off the map. No rain today and now it's only 3 of the next 9 that has a possibility of rain. Plenty of good weather for me to get back on that 'to do' list.

Do I like my Mini Cooper Countryman? --- yes
Do I miss my blue Toyoto FJ? --- yes
Would I like to have my old white 1994 Chevy pickup truck back --- yes
Do I need the seldom driven Z4? --- yes

This is why I need 4 different cars but only have 2.

I have found that a printed out 'to do' list is much better at keeping me focused on the job at hand, rather than checking a list on my computer, on my iPhone or in my head.

Those tiny things you think you feel crawling on your legs or neck are back ... ticks.

Stay tuned for a post, with pictures, about the steel bridge that is at least 70 years old and the local business that are now closed after decades of serving a lot of local people and are missed today.

It was another nice day here in 'the tropics of southern Indiana.

Hit By A Bolt Of Energy & Color

I can't explain it. I didn't sleep any better last night than I did the night before. Only this time I did not get up at 5:15am. Yet, I could feel and see that things were a little different today, by the way the hounds acted and the way it looked outside.


The field of yellow across the highway looked brighter than I had seen it this spring, even the dirt in the field next to it looked browner. Was the small window of sunshine showing through the clouds the cause of it? Or was it something else?

Sadie is always fully charged from the time she gets up first thing in the morning so that was not different. Stella acted like she had my first cup of coffee instead of me and Heidi was barking for breakfast kibble, something she never does. What was going on?

It was obvious by the time of day and the location, the hounds had found a spot in the yard that the big blonde field cat must have sat last night while we slept. They locked into that spot in the yard and didn't move, while I took pictures and started my walk back to the house. I had to call them to get them to leave.

Although Sadie was wanting to walk at 8:00am, she had to wait until I had at least one cup of coffee and the time for me to do some quick reading. We took off a little after 9:08am and right from the start I could tell this walk was going to be different from the recent ones.

As I turned to look for Stella like I always do at the start, she ran past me and caught up with Sadie. They took off in a semi trot increasing their lead in front of me. That was the fastest Stella had moved in months.

By the time I would stop to take a picture they were another 30' further in front of me. Besides the brightness of the yellow field I mentioned above, this 7 acres of field we walk in twice per day and sometimes three times per day, looked greener than I had seen it this spring. It was much greener than even yesterday and it was hard to believe ... but it looked like it had grown another 6" overnight.

Stella continued her trotting along with Sadie. She had not been at that pace in so long I can't remember when it was the last time she had this much energy. By the time I had snapped a couple of pictures, with a 200mm zoom, they were heading around the first corner and out of sight.

I increased my walking speed a little, anxious to see where they were at. By the way they were acting it would not have surprised me if they had shot down the side of the field and turned into the far right corner toward the "deer highway" down into the gully.

I was happy to see that Stella had stopped soon after the first corner and was enjoying a meal of tall wet green grass. Some would say she is eating that because she has an upset stomach while others say she just likes grass. I'll agree with the latter in this case, since she has shown no signs of an upset stomach.

Sadie was beside herself with what she had found. She had sprinted to the corner about to make the turn right, then turned around and ran back along the edge of the field on the path worn by deer traffic. You could not see that path today due to the taller grass.

After a quick analysis, she literally hopped into the air and jumped into the the thick brush of thorn bushes and wild vines.

She had found where the deer had been spending time but didn't stay long because the scent led her in a different direction.

About the time that Sadie jumped back out of the brush, Stella trotted to catch up and they took off around the corner, sprinting as they made the right turn.

It was good to see Stella back to running, and showing no signs of walking so slow that she would drag her feet. I had not seen this much energy from the hounds in a long time.

Sadie made a quick search along the back edge of the field, while Stella stayed right at the entry point of the "deer highway". I didn't say a word, I wanted to see what she would do today on her own. In the meantime Sadie could not stop moving. Whenever you see her tail curled like that and her nose toward the ground, she is totally locked into something.

Wunderground weather warned me of a high allergy count this morning due to trees, not pollen. My eyes had been watering from the time I stepped outside and my left nostril was itching to the point of near insanity during this walk.

Besides all the increase in colors, the hounds having more energy, the dew was heavy again this morning ... it's the main reason I wear the waterproof hiking boots for these early morning walks.

I didn't have to say a word for the hounds to take off down the back side of the field. Once again they moved out way in front of me. I walked my normal pace and let them go. Obviously they were on to something again and I wasn't going to stop them.

These pictures stop their action but in most cases both hounds are moving quickly when I push the shutter.

Sadie had moved out so far in front of me I had to max out my zoom lens. She was giving me a check look to see if I was watching her while thinking about running off into the 'no fly zone'. She stayed in that one spot as I caught up with her and made the final turn home.

I think you can see during the previous pictures just how much the field has grown in the past 24 hours. With a day full of sunshine today, the growth will explode. I might not be able to wait 7 days until I mow my yard again.

I had not quite walked to the last turn yet when Sadie takes off sprinting down the path with Stella right on her heels. They were going at full speed and I wished I had captured that speed with the camera. All of these pictures were taken with the lens zoom'd 135mm and above, just trying to keep up with them.

What was it they had smelled to take off like that and not veer off the path?

As long as they stayed within my view and Stella did not take off right for the woods, I was going to walk my normal speed. Sadie did not move from that spot in the next picture. Stella and I just caught up with her.

Again, I cannot get over the energy that Stella showed this morning on the walk. It also looks like she is finally gaining some weight back, less ribs are showing. With her normal 'hound look' and personality it is hard to tell if/when she is feeling bad, if she is at all.

I didn't say a word toward them the entire walk. They moved on their own and when they wanted to. Right after this next picture, they moved right behind me and followed me on the path home. What had gotten into them this morning?

The highway traffic seems to be energized more than normal today. While I wrote this post I have seen more farm equipment traveling on the highway and trucks pulling trailers than I have seen cars.

My curiosity has got the best of me about the two trucks that turned onto the country road within view of my house, towing a trailer with either very long steel beams or wood trusses. I am going to hop into the Mini Countryman later and head down that direction to see what I can find with my camera.

With the colors brighter than normal and the increased activity of the hounds this morning, I had taken 47 pictures during this session. That is about 10-12 more than I normally during the morning walk.

With a lot of those downloaded for this blog post, it looks like it might be a two post day today. It feels like a lot is going on today. I also have the urge to take some other pictures around town I have been wanting to take for some future non-hound blog posts.

It might also be time to take another trip out to the Tulip Train Trestle and walk over to see the old steel bridge across the highway behind the fields, since it has been two years since the last trips.

I feel like doing a lot of picture taking today and nothing that is on my 'to do' list here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.