The Hounds Get Their Wish

I heard the sound of a tractor slowing down on the highway from my computer desk this morning. It looked like the farmer that bales the field behind the house but they were going the opposite direction for getting into the field. The hounds were about to take their first walk of this morning and I never have walked them while they are mowing the field ... I decided to take a chance today.

About the time I had changed into my hiking boots and stepped outside into sunshine for the first time in two days, I saw the old tractor with the mower on the back, making a turn to head past the house heading north. From the sounds I heard as we started out walk, it certainly sounded as if the field was going to get mowed today. Stella didn't show a lot of reaction to the noise but Sadie was more than curious.

It was heading along the north edge of the field so we continued walking. I knew which way he was going to go and figured by the time the hounds and I got near the back edge of the field we would meet. So before that happened I guided both hounds toward the middle of the field so we could watch him pass, keep the hounds out of his way and follow his mowed path back home.

At this time both hounds were off leash but I had the 6' standard leash in my back pocket for Stella. I was pretty sure what Sadie would do but not Stella, once the tractor drew near. Like many of you, he wanted to see the hounds. So right after he went around the edge of the "far right corner", he pulled his mower up off the ground and started driving our way.

Am I seeing this correctly? Reading a text from his smart phone while mowing the field???   LOL

Mowing along the back edge of the field almost to the far right corner.

Not only to see the hounds he wanted to know if I had the tether attached to the 'spike in the ground' so he would not mow over it. They always check with me every time before they mow along the backyard. When the tractor was coming right at us as we stood in the middle of the field, Stella sat down next to me and Sadie stood in front of me not really sure that thing was coming towards us.

As he pulled away and headed around the first turn, Sadie wanted to run after him but with a loud "no", she trotted back toward me and walked just in front of me. Before the tractor drove over to meet us I had put the leash on Stella's collar. She acted as if she had been around tractors before in her earlier years.

With a nice path mowed why walk through the taller grass on the way home?  It was great to walk on the mowed path of the field.

The last of the yellow flowers. It will dry out all day today and rolled into 2,000 pound rolls of hay tomorrow or Monday.

He is over by Stella's all-time favorite place ... the wooded area behind the neighbor's house.

One last look at the flowers before they are mowed.

Later on he will come back in the opposite direction to cut the edge of the field, just like trimming your driveway or sidewalk after mowing your yard.

Once he finished cutting the field, since the hounds had their lunch we went outside to enjoy this great weather. It's such a change from the past two days of dark skies and rain. While I cut some weeds, Stella decided to nap under the sun.

Sadie was more interested in exploring the field now that it was cut. Heidi was laying about a foot away from Stella but out of camera range. Anytime I pointed the camera at her, she would get up and trot away. She might be tired of blogging, who knows?

I whacked weeds until my batter died. It was a great time to take our first walk in the mowed field. It makes a lot of difference because I can see where the hounds are at all times plus I find there are less ticks on me after the walk.

Stella took her time soaking in every inch of mowed grass.

Sadie walked along the very edge of the field and thought there might be a chance to curl up to the far right corner since it was cut. That is where she saw the one deer the other night.

Stella did not run fast but it was more between a run and a trot. She had not been to the far right corner in a while and was happy to head that direction.

I am hoping now the field is cut that she will start running more like she use to, but that will be up to her.

Too many deer scents to walk away.

Sadie and I headed off along the back edge of the field following a path created by the mower. I don't want to mess up their rows of hay that will be raked up tomorrow before they bale it ... so we stayed on the same path going out and coming back home.

It looks a lot different once the field is cut ... much more enjoyable doing the hound walks. Once everything is raked and baled, the path we walk every day will show up in dark green from the grass that has been mashed down as I walk.

We picked Stella up on the way back.

The last of the yellow flowers until next year.

Although the high temperature was only low 70's today, Sadie had enough exercise exploring the field plus a lot of running full steam trying to catch sparrows while I was cutting weeds. I was on the north side of the yard at the time with the weed eater and did not have the camera to show how far she was running to get them. She had never ran further or faster chasing sparrows until today.

It started last night when I tried to reply on a couple of recent blog comments. Blogger would not load my box to reply in, then did not recognize my user name. After a few attempts I decided I'd try to clear out 'cookies' and erase all the built up data. I hate doing that because that means I have to re-sign into all the websites I use that require a user name and password.

After doing that, I was able to reply to the comments and thought clearing out the cookies of the browser Google Chrome fixed the problem. This morning while starting this post it was even more messed up. It was trying to load all of my photos in their original size instead of the smaller version like the settings I have. So I rebooted my computer thinking I might have a network problem with just Blogger.

Not only did that not work but when I clicked the link to edit the post I had started, my Activity Monitor graph I have open on my other monitor, started to max out and I was going through data like water while the page was hung up trying to load. I shut Google Chrome down and tried using Safari.

My blog loaded fast the morning photos loading without any problems, almost instantly while using only 5Mb of data. I have been using Google Chrome the past few weeks for their Data Saver app that seems to work based on the decreased amount of data I am using in a 24 hour period.

The major plan for today was cutting weeds on the driveway until the battery died. I'll probably wait until tomorrow to mow the yard making sure the sun bakes out all of the wetness from two days of rain.

Since he turned around soon after passing the house I had the feeling he may have been doing a test drive before buying the old tractor. I didn't know of any tractor shows going on locally but I think I remember seeing this tractor for sale a few days ago when I drove to town.

It's back to great weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Rain Halts All Activity

The rain started sometime yesterday and will continue throughout the day until early this evening where the chance of rain drops below 25%. When that happens everything seems to stop. Less things to blog about, less photos are taken and no desire to blog about any of it.


The hounds seemed to sense yesterday that their daily walks would be cancelled until further notice. We got in the early morning walk yesterday but that was all. Sadie was begging in the worst way to go on one late Thursday afternoon but it was just too wet.

Today has been constantly light rain. It's blowing from the Gulf, flowing a NE tract. About the time it stops and it looks like we can get outside for some walking or wandering around the yard ... the drops start falling again.

Heidi of course is only going out long enough to dump her tanks and then is back at the door to be let in. The couch with a nice breeze flowing through the house is her favorite spot.

Stella has not requested her usual number to go outside. She has been spending a large amount of time on the cooler bedroom hardwood floor sleeping. For some reason she has decided that is the best place to be.

It's good to see those ribs are disappearing. We are just a few days shy of using the Wholesomes SportMix dog food for 4 months. I am not positive that is the only reason that Heidi regained her weight and has a coat of hair that has never looked better ... but I'm not changing the food to find out.

It is manufactured by Earthborn Holistic Pet Food and is rated high by Dog Food Advisor. I am hoping the slight gain of weight by Stella keeps going with her eating this food. The vet said to wait 16 weeks after a change of food before making another change. This seems to be working for her also.

Sadie on the other hand ... never changes. It doesn't matter if it is raining heavy or light, sun or no sun, 98° or 7° ... she just loves to be outside giving her nose and legs a workout.

Yet as active as she is outside, she is always sound to sleep within 10 minutes after returning inside. She can sleep long and deep as well as the other two hounds. As far as food, it doesn't matter to her what she is fed ... everything works.

Here are some of the highlighted activities of the hounds these past few days. It will give you a good idea what they do when they are inside.

For me nothing has changed much with the change in weather. I'm reading my books more than usual, taking a siesta when the urge hits and thinking of future plans. I've been camped out at the kitchen table with the laptop when I am on the computer.

It's interesting see what kind of trailers are being towed. There are definitely more trailers towed than Class A or C RVs. I rarely see any Class C's passing by on the highway but a lot of long and large 5th wheels and trailers going both north and south.

I've written this post but not sure that I'm going to post it. It's hard to blog on days like this.

By tomorrow we will be back to 5 more days of sunshine here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Sadie Sneaks Up On A Deer

Just as I unhooked Stella from the retractable leash late yesterday afternoon, I glanced ahead at Sadie and saw a large deer in the far right corner of the field munching grass. Stella went nowhere, but Sadie was sprinting as fast as possible through the tall grass ... tall enough the deer did not notice Sadie was running at her.

By the time the deer was aware what was going on, Sadie was within 4' of her and I actually though she might catch her. What would Sadie do if she did? I don't know what she would do. The deer made a sound and took off down the 'deer highway' into the overgrown gully ... Sadie moved around the far corner area to check out other possible deer scents.

I apologize I didn't have the camera to catch all of the action last night but we have been taking a walk or two in the afternoons and early evening without a camera. I'll plan to go out against tonight at the same time as last night and see if the deer come back. It was a few minutes past 6:30pm.

It was good to read this today, click here ... so it's just not me that feels like they are going insane owning a bloodhound ... LOL.

This morning was different though ... no deer but plenty of sparrows for Sadie to chase. I took a chance at the start of the walk to see what Stella would do. As she was still in the backyard, Sadie and I walked into the field. It was a nice surprise to turn and see her trotting into the field to catch up with us ... I didn't catch her trotting but the first picture shows her just starting the walk.

Before I got to the first turn she brushed past me again just like yesterday and trotted to catch Sadie. I'd call this the 2nd day in a row where she has shown some extra energy.

This is Stella hanging back before she turned to catch up with me at the first turn while I was taking pictures of Sadie chasing sparrows.

The thing was, Sadie ran north to chase the sparrows she saw but most of them were flying around at the back of the field, which is due east.

I let Stella go at her own pace but each time I called her, she would move in our direction. If I didn't call her I have no doubt she would just stay out in this part of the field like the other afternoon. I waited 15 minutes after Sadie and I returned home before I started to look for her. Sadie found her in the area we last saw her ... in back of the field.

I keep wondering when/if they are going to cut the field. It looks like we will have a full day of rain on Friday. Can they cut it, let it dry and bale it by Friday morning? I'm anxious for it to be cut. I will find less ticks on me after every walk than when the grass is short.

As I walked along the back edge of the field, Sadie was off to the races again chasing more sparrows. It's good that she can get some additional exercise during out walks. It also makes me wonder what she would do if I had a bird feeder or bird bath near the house.

She is certainly determined to catch them.

Evidently the farmer planted what I am guessing is soybeans in the back field without me noticing. The field was never plowed that I could tell. I never heard a tractor in that field ... but for it to be weeds, it sure looks to uniform in height. Can anyone tell by the leafs what is planted here? This is a 200mm zoom picture of whatever is growing.

It's good to see that Stella is getting more light running in ... every little bit helps.

Since the field was still wet and much more in the shaded areas of the field we take a path to the north corner of my yard so we can stay in the sunshine and it's a little drier on the hiking boots.

Stella is most liking finding out that black cat that I have only seen one time may have been in the yard near the property line pole.

What I thought would be a day of cutting driveway weeds and buying dog food, it turned out to be the short drive to town for a new bag of dog food being the highlight of the day. For every hour I could not sleep last night I made up for it this afternoon. With temps around a muggy 90° it feels like I didn't miss much outside.

What's strange it feels muggy but shows only 43% humidity. After not doing much all afternoon Sadie was more than ready for that late afternoon walk, she could not wait another minute, deer or no deer.

I let Stella do her own thing but soon after we started the walk she was trotting to catch up to us. It's been so long ago I can't remember the last time she trotted or ran in more than one of the walks we take every day.

By the time we made the first turn she was feeling the heat just as much as I was.

I was taking this picture to show just how hard it is to see the hounds now on the walk.  It was not until I was looking at each photo on the computer did I see the blue bird flying up ahead. With everything green except the hay, the blue stood out enough for even me to see.

By this point in time I knew that Stella was on her own schedule. I figured Sadie would catch up with me eventually and I'd find Stella on the way back. I turned and took off walking to get this one over with. That is how muggy and hot it felt.

Clouds were not in the forecast for today, neither was rain but it felt like rain was near. When we got back I checked the radar and saw four small areas about 50 miles west of us showing the reddish color for severe storms ... then clear skies for as far as you could see.

I glanced all over this area looking through my lens that was zoomed at 200mm and did not see Stella anywhere. I knew she had to be there somewhere but it's just hard to see the hounds on this walk as long as the grass is tall. I wondered later what would happen if they did NOT bale the field this year ... is that even possible? I cannot ever remember a year where they did not cut the field at least once.

As I walked toward home and the land starting going a little downhill I could see Stella off in the distance. She had not moved at all from the area I saw her last.

She did come my way when I called her but only at her speed. She wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere this afternoon. Sadie decided she had enough of the heat and walked right behind me most of the way home. Too close for pictures.

Stella decided she would take her time. Both hounds were back in a deep sleep within minutes after getting back inside the cool air conditioned house. Heidi????  Not even a chance of getting out of bed if that temp is not down to 85° or lower.

I didn't sleep every minute of the afternoon. I read a few pages of my book that is a pretty slow read. Then made a huge mistake but tuning into tv news for the first time in many months but at least that confirmed all the reasons I have for hating politics. I was back to a sports channel within a couple of minutes. I mixed all that exciting activity with some internet surfing and playing the 2048 game.

Sorry there is not much to report here today. I never thought buying another two week supply that's a 40# bag of dog food would be the highlight of the day. It was for the hounds also. They always sprint to the car to see what I have bought before I can bring it into the house. That scent of dog food coming for a new bag always gets them excited ... they think a 3rd meal of the day is a possibility.

It was another beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.