Sadie's Butterfly Chase Started Early

Sadie's morning started really fast as she sprinted as soon as her paws hit the driveway. I don't know what she had seen but whatever it was by the time I focused the camera, she thought she had it surrounded. She was beside herself with excitement ... chase butterflies ... or track strong deer scent? Might be too many photos this morning ... 29. Plus a little rambling at the end of the post.


You can barely see a black butterfly just left of her nose.

She did nothing to the butterfly except give it her stare down.

Evidently these morning butterflies decided that hiding at ground level would be better than trying to fly away from Sadie like they do in the afternoon. She was sprinting from one spot to another to stare down butterflies.

Stella was on her own path and it was obvious she was not looking for butterflies. She was smelling fresh 'natural protein' ... who knows, maybe that stuff is helping her gain her weight back.

With a light rain all night I knew the field would be wet today, maybe a little more than the normal heavy dew. I remembered to apply some mosquito repellant this time so I had a very nice bite free walk. I did notice one mosquito fly up under my ball cap bill but flew away. The stuff works ... 25% DEET. I have tried all the natural stuff and it just not work for me.

I am going to let this flower grow a little longer before I confirm what it is from Google Images. It is the first time that I have seen this flower.

Sadie had moved from chasing butterflies to strong deer scent. I wasn't able to get a good picture of her taking a few steps into the thick brush where the deer had worn down some of the brush. Stella was equally interested.

My very first time I was able to capture some of that 'natural protein' that both hounds enjoy adding to their diet.

While Sadie headed for the far corner of the field where the deer hang out, Stella thought about running that direction but when I yelled "over here" she stopped and only stared then walked back along the trial.

The one thing about Sadie that I have said before. I can let Sadie stay behind as long as she wants, she will ALWAYS run to catch up to me. On the other hand the two times I have tried that with Stella, it was 30-45 minutes later when I had to go back out to this far corner to get her to come home. One of those trips last year, I drove my FJ back to that area to get her.

Sadie getting a lot of running in this morning. When both rear paws are off the ground that is some pretty fast running.

Sadie heading for the back edge of the field trying to get Stella to follow her.

But as we all know, Stella has her own GPS and will come and go as she pleases, at her desired speed. That is one thing that makes her a great bloodhound.

Stella did find strong deer scent here. In this exact spot I have seen deer in the past, up to 5-10 of them, run and jump over a small hidden fence into that soybean field to Stella's right.

She was stubborn on this spot ... I had to walk back and get her with a gentle tug of her collar. There are times she will try to resist my tug.

At the same time I had Stella back on the path, Sadie took off sprinting and Stella tried to follow. She didn't sprint but moved faster than a trot.

Not sure what Sadie was sprinting for ... that seems to be a common theme for her today ... running is good for her.

As the both looked toward that woods to the north of us, I had a feeling they would love to go check it out. We usually don't extend our walks out that far. I guess we could and start getting a longer walk in but I'm not sure Heidi would complete it. It's best to keep the walking path as routine as possible, with a ocassional exploration trip over there with Sadie and Stella.

More things for Sadie to chase ... where did she come up with all of this energy this morning. Maybe it was the temp being only 72° during the mid-morning.

Stella decided it was time to start her slow trek home.

Sadie came running up behind me at full speed. She always likes to brush the side of my knee just to let me know she is back. Stella is starting her path to the single pole at the north corner of the property line.

I would guess in this part of the field there is probably some deer scent but also the field cats that are rarely seen out during daytime.

It might take some time but they finally make it back to the yard. All on their time, not mine. I can see that Sadie has lost some weight (good) this summer because I see her waistline and barely see her ribs. Stella is getting back to close to that.

Well another week of low temps for August. My 10-day forecast shows temps no higher than 81° in the month of August. That is just hard to believe.

Today I might transplant those wild field flowers I spoke of yesterday. One thing I noticed this morning, even with the rain with my extra wide overhangs the Azaleas and Dallies do not get the water they need from the rain. The ground around them is dry.

I had a call from my old college friend last night telling me that he was able to check out in person a trailer that I might be interested in. They manufacture in only two locations, Denver CO and Indianapolis IN. You can check out their trailers here if you are interested. It is definitely a possibility and a close call betwen the two now, with the Taxa Trailer I spoke of a few weeks ago on my old blog.

I joined the Facebook owners group for Taxa Trailers a few weeks ago and have noticed a couple of problems that owners have to fix themselves with company pdf instructions. I just joined the owner's group for the HikerTeardrop Trailers so I can track any issues they may have.

For the new readers, in June 2015 I made a trip with one bloodhound (Sadie) and two basset hounds (Winston and Heidi) to tent camp in Colorado and Utah. I answered a lot of questions I had with that trip. The following August 2015, two months later, I thought long and hard before deciding to go pick up Stella who was being listed as a "re-home".

I knew at that time IF I chose a 2nd bloodhound, then any travel plans would be put on hold. Until you try to walk two large bloodhounds with a leash or leashes, you have no idea how strong they are and how they like to go in different directions. Basset hounds don't mind walking next to each other wearing a splitter to one leash.

Good news ... I see the sun breaking through the clouds.

I hope to get two things done this week ... not required just an urge. With a new printer cartridge I need to reinstall the printer software so my 2 month old iMac will recognize it. I may be able to use bluetooth or wi-fi instead of a usb connection.

The other 'big' goal is to look at my manual settings on my Nikon D3200 camera and check out different ways of taking photos with the dial at 'P', 'S', 'M' and 'A'. Of course the computer inside the camera might be better than my adjustments, for the better picture.

As far as games go ... I started winning at 2048 too much on both my computers that I went back to playing Mahjong. Remember that when I transferred my files from my 6.5 year old iMac to a new iMac in May ... it cleared out my Mahjong results and I had to start the 160 games over. I now have all of them completed under 4 months with some of them finished under 3 minutes. I might get an hour or two of playing that game today while I sit looking out the large window and seeing all of those having to drive to and from work.

Heidi was sound to sleep in the corner of the living room. That spot is available since I moved my bicycle that is on an indoor trainer. When I first moved in this house in 1997, my bloodhound Max use to like to sleep in the same corner as a puppy.

I can tell it's going to be another great week here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Makes History

I would have to do some deep digging back through Heidi's folder of pictures to see when the last time she made two complete walks in the field on back to back days. I know my short term memory might be on shaky ground at times but I am positive it's been YEARS since Heidi did two walk in a row. Today she even led the walk.


While I sat in front of my computer most of the day trying to find just the right blog template that I wanted, the skies never changed, it never rained and the best decision of the day was keeping the Reds game on tv in the background. After returning from our afternoon walk, the Reds were behind 13-3 with 3 more innings to go. It took little effort to press the "off" button on my Directv remote.

During the normal trip outside after the hounds had their lunch of kibble, Heidi had moved back to her regular routine of walking along the side of the house where the Yews use to be, then darting or jumping out into the front yard to relieve herself. She was moving so fast the camera barely caught her running from the yard to the driveway.

With the driveway incline that would put me in fantastic shape if I spent time just walking back and forth up the hill a few times daily ... Heidi went from a fast run to a slow walk. She had other plans for her energy that I was not aware of.

By 3pm I had come to a final decision on the blog design, answered some emails and replied to blog comments ... Heidi thought it might be time for our afternoon walk. She stood and thought about her plan before making any abrupt moves.

Within seconds of being outside Sadie was already running through the field chasing butterflies and Stella was slowly walking up the path trying to get the walk started. I think she would have liked to stay inside and sleep.

I could tell soon after stepping into the field it was going to be one of the biggest challenges of my week to keep these three hounds moving in one direction. I think it all has the possibilities for a super bowl commercial some time.

Here is one butterfly that ignored Sadie's fast running and jumping at air trying to catch them. She stayed here and enjoyed her meal on the Butterfly Milkweed. (Google Images is a great invention)

I was still in shock that Heidi was not only on the walk but was not lagging back with other interests such as following her nose. She acted as if she was on some sort of mission today, she had a plan.

With the start of the walk is a slight incline almost all the way to the first corner, there was no running involved. That would be using energy that she planned on using later.

While I was looking in both directions you could tell that Sadie and Stella had joined as a team to cut this exploration today into an effort of more coverage in less time. When they are in this kind of pose there is only one thing that will break their concentration ... mention the word 'food' or anything that is food.

As with any basset hound worldwide, anytime you are looking at pictures you can't tell by their legs if they are running ... but their ears are a dead giveaway.

I did not even call her when she was running ... it was just part of her plan.

While I was waiting for her to catch me, I had noticed that Stella was walking away from all of us in a northern direction which would be toward the center of the field. After taking this picture of Heidi I turned my view towards the middle of the field and Stella was nowhere on the horizon. Zip, nada, ... gone!!

Some how in a short period of time Stella had changed direction and went the opposite way, moving behind me either running or trotting and letting me find her not in the field but up in the far right corner and heading into the gully where the deer migrate.

While I am trying to keep Stella and Sadie from going down into the gully through that overgrown brush ... in fact I am running in their direction calling their names for them to stop ... Heidi continues her pace and is way out in front of all of us ... she is leading the walk!

Somehow, some way I was able to get Stella and Sadie out of the brush and headed in the right direction. After all the running I did chasing them, I guess Sadie had to check to see if I was okay and not laying on the ground somewhere.  HA

I don't feed the brand name 'Milk Bone' but one similar that has better ingredients. But I do say the brand name "Milk Bone' because they all respond to those two words and know they will be getting something to eat. Here Stella is asking if she just heard what she thought she heard ... "did you say Milk Bone?"

When Heidi heard those words she took of running, Stella kept walking her slow pace as usual and Sadie was about to fly by my knee in a full-out sprint. They all had a new focus now and it wasn't walk or searching ... it was food.

They still know it doesn't matter what they do, that once I say those two words they will ALWAYS get their treats and it doesn't matter if don't they come as fast as I want them to.

Heidi was wagging her tail headed for the door. She was already barking for her 'Milk Bone' by the time Sadie and Stella reached the house.

How can a hound look so sad when there is food involved?

Some readers in the past have asked me if having three hounds make times noisy around the house. It's just the opposite. Once they get their walk finished or meals, they fall asleep and the only noise I will here will be a ocassional snore or breathing behind my desk chair from Stella.

With the change to this blog I am now posting photos to only one site instead of two blogs and Facebook. It makes it much faster to post and gives me more time away from the computer. I keep finding things to use in the background to use for the blog and as I use this platform more, the easier it is to post.

Like I said at the start of this post, I have finally decided on the blog design. I liked having that header image where the other blog did not have that option. I like the home page where you can still see the 12 previous posts with a clean modern look to it. The pages are where I wanted and once I found out that all the links I used in the sidebar of the previous blog design this morning, would be there once a post was opened ... then I knew this was the template (theme) I wanted to use.

The name of this free Wordpress them is "Baskerville 2".

Speaking of change ... I forgot to mention the change Apple made to their new iMacs has not turned into the hassle I thought it would be for me. When they made the computer thinner, the slot for the SD card moved from the side to in the back. How inconvenient could that be?

I thought I might have to use an older adapter that would take five different SD card sizes but after 3 months from replacing my almost 7 year old iMac, I find having the SD card slot in the back not a problem at all. I do have to lean a little further from my chair to reach the back of the iMac, but not a problem.

Of course there is always something I wanted to say at the end of the post but by the time I get there, a lot of times I forget what it was. For example I've been wanting to talk about that SD card slot for weeks and finally remembered today.

Is is just me or have the first 6 days of August flown by? I don't want summer to end. The other night at 3am when I woke up to shut bedroom windows because the temps had dropped into the 50's ... it hit me that fall was just around the corner.

I'm not ready to put jeans back on, along with a jack or coat.

It's nice to have all the changes finished these past few days. It's been a 'wild' 30 days when it comes to changing stuff.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

It's Almost Too Quiet Today

Living on a hill a hundred feet from a major highway you get use to the traffic noise after residing here for 20 years. It's not evident until Sunday mornings, where it is so quiet around here that you could hear a pin drop. This morning was one of those days with a light rain mixed in.


As I was standing at the corner of the house taking my daily "2nd picture", I felt some light rain. With a forecast of a good chance of off and on rain throughout the day, increasing tonight, I knew our chances for three walks today might be slim. Sadie thought otherwise.

As soon as she saw that I had gone into the house to grab my light rain jacket, she was more than excited that we were going to take the chance of getting wet on this walk. The weather radar was solid with colors signifying rain. She went immediately into the tracking mode and followed the same deer scent along the tree line as she did Saturday morning.

Both of them were not into any kind of eating 'stuff' this morning, just Sadie inhaling deep enough with her nose pressed to the ground. I could hear her jowls move as she gathered all the information she could about who and what had been in 'her' field while we were sleeping.

Stella on the other hand didn't have time for any kind of work. She was into a casual morning stroll like she didn't have a care in the world.

Yet, Sadie was more intense than ever, collecting all of the information left by the scents her nose was picking up. When she has her ears out sideways from running to the next spot, you know she has too much work and not enough time to finish it.

Still, Stella was having none of the high intensity that Sadie was showing. She will and would walk at her own slow pace. When I mentioned the possibility of rain and we needed to get home ... she walked even slower.

She then decided that she would let me know that she was still in charge of this walk, by lagging behind and ignoring anything that sounded like me calling her.

To give you an idea how different the weather is this morning, not even the enhancement button could help this photo in lighting it up or making the sky blue again. The butterflies were gone this morning so the mosquitoes moved back into town. After three quick unexpected bites, I remembered my new can of repellant sitting back at home.

These rolls of hay told me a story this morning, showing that I really am aging through all my denials. It's why you see old men wearing their ball caps crooked ... because they feel like they are on straight. I notice that sometimes with mine if I look in the rearview mirror before driving.

Lately when I edit my photos I notice that things are not straight as they should be. Luckily in the cropping section of Apple Photos, you can turn a photo any direction to make them straight. These rolls of hay helped me straighten the picture out and remind me that my balance is a little off today. I'll not tell you just how much that editing adjustment was.

As I continued to walk home with not a drop of rain anywhere, the hounds lagged behind enjoying all the scents this field gives them. Bloodhounds can smell scent up to two weeks old, even in water. I always wonder what their noses tell them with 7 acres of wild stuff growing, deer traffic, and a cat or two.

I didn't have to bribe them this morning with a treat when they got back home. They seemed to be finished with their exploring for this morning and could feel it was time for their daily morning siesta.

Who would have ever thought those pretty white flowers really are weeds, and not good weeds either. While looking up their pictures on Google Images this morning, I clicked the button "view page" and ran into a blog named Dave's Garden writing about "weeds in my lawn". He has the same problem I do with moles and weeds in his yard because we both live next to a field.

Who would have ever thought something as pretty as this could have such an ugly but factual writeup. I guess I will NOT dig some of them up and plant them in my flower beds but then again if their seeds are viable for decades and they will fold around a fence or other plants ... maybe they would be good to hide my old cast iron railings in front of the carport.

Here is what he said about what I call "that white flower":

“The prettiest, but most annoying weed is the Convolvulus arvensis also called Field Bindweed or Swallowtail's Dress, as we call it in Romania. It chokes the plants and is one of the most invasive species. I am pulling out thousands of Field Bindweeds, not to mention how many times I have to unfold them from the fence or from my plants. The roots are deep, but sometimes they come out easily; still they have rhizomes which produce more sprouts. I've found out that their seeds are viable for decades and only one plant can produce 500 seeds."

Don't feel sorry for Sadie and Stella by the looks on their faces. They sniff their way all the way to the house, on EVERY walk. They walk into the house quietly not wanting to wake up Heidi after EVERY walk in the morning. Sadie jumps in her big leather chair with the ottoman to sleep and Stella lays down behind my computer desk chair so close that I can barely roll the chair back enough to sit down.

They will sleep almost to lunch time. If lunch is not served on time, Heidi will start barking and that leads Stella to howling or vise versa. Sadie does not bark or howl but stands right in front of the food container waiting me to pour kibble into their bowls.

I am about to post this and with the windows open I can hear how wet the highway is by passing cars and trucks. There still isn't much traffic as most people are in church. They have a lot of churches in this small rural town and almost as many bars ... I guess you have to even life out someway.

To long time readers this will come as no surprise. To new readers I might let you in on a secret ... I change my mind a lot. I don't have a lot of history on this blog to show that and back up the facts but long time readers can attest it's true.

So as I turned on my computer this morning and as always Google shows me 12 websites that I go to often, the small picture icon of this blog was one of the 12. Here is the problem ... I liked the way the blog looked in that picture better than my current blog home page.

Yet, that other one had all the links of information in the Footer of the blog and not on the Sidebar as it is now. I need to find a template (WordPress Theme) that has the look of the other one I used on Friday with the Sidebar I have today. With a day of rain in the forecast what better time than to look through templates again, using all of my data left with 4 days to go on my billing cycle ... and find a template that I like.

Luckily I have listed those I previewed and added an asterisk or a number of them to the ones I liked. It also occurred to me this morning when looking at my categories, I had nothing written here about the "Other Stuff" part of the blog. All of that history is on my old blog.

I could import all the posts and photos to this blog from the 6 year old blog on Blogger but the last time I tried that a year or so ago, there were a lot of issues between the different blog platforms. Blogger and WordPress don't play well together.

I'm okay with starting over, with what I consider a new blog. As I write about that "Other Stuff", categories will be added. But right now it's time for just one more cup of coffee and back to looking at templates.

(note: I know I shouldn't start a sentence with the word "But" and I also know I should place the period or question marks inside quotation marks) ... but to all the grammar police and spelling bee champions out there, I like starting a sentence that way and putting periods outside of quotation marks ... plus the spelling here will be only as good as the WordPress spellchecker. I am not a professional writer so you might find a mistake here and there when I write.

Yet, even on rainy days, its great living in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.