Walk #2 Was Diverted

In a short period of time this afternoon we had a lot of things going on. Nothing extraordinary by any means but a lot of different pictures and a surprise I remembered I had bought myself only on Monday. We tried to take our walk but plans changed midstream. There is still time for walk #3 a few hours from now.

While I was out spraying water on these brown spots in the front lawn, I figured the hounds had broken free as they walked outside after their lunch. When I didn't see any of them out front watching me I had a vision of all three hounds sprinting through the field to the 'no fly zone'. If's it's not going to rain I guess I'll have to water this area.

To my surprise as I walked from the front yard and stepped around the corner of the house, I saw Stella and Heidi immediately doing what they normally do on a day where the sunshine is just right, with no mosquitoes nor humidity.

Sadie also did her normal thing if I am not around, by hitting her 2nd most favorite spot not too far from the yard. So they had not taken off for the 'no fly zone' like my wild imagination had me believing.

Once Sadie saw that I knew where she was, she went back to doing what she does ... eating.

I slowly walked around Stella and saw her stomach moving very little with each breath so I knew she still had a pulse. There was no eye movement ... she was out cold.

Heidi had already figured out she sleeps better inside with the AC on ... she demanded to go back inside.

Sadie wasn't sure but she thought food might be involved so she came sprinting toward the house. How did she know I was going to fix myself a snack?

Stella may have looked as if she was in that deep sleep but with Sadie making noise as she approached the house and with me talking to Heidi ... I noticed just ... barely ... some eyelid movement.

Still she did not get up to follow us into the house. That was fine, I was going to fix some a snack anyway.

Look who has woken up and is standing at the screen door looking inside ... wanting inside ... She was acting like she was asleep just two minutes ago. They say a Bloodhound can hear 4x better than a human. Add the factor of food or the smell of food with their 200x better nose and this is what you get ... A bloodhound wanting to come inside.

I took my small bowl of fresh pineapple with cottage cheese and proceeded to add a couple of new things to the blog. If you notice along the border under Stella's picture I have added two pages "Bloodhound Property Laws" and "Favorite Photos". I also added some links to the sidebar under the heading "Other Stuff".

By 3pm I was ready for an early walk, our 2nd of the day. This was going to be more of a picture exploration for me rather than a hound walk. They would be happy just wandering along our path as I looked for things to take photos of.

Once again there were 4-6 butterflies on the Butterfly Milkweed.

With my new reference on my other monitor, called the 42 butterflies of North America ... I am pretty sure this is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

Sadie was also not into chasing butterflies for the 2nd afternoon in a row. Not one flew off the Milkweed as Sadie walked by them.

Not pictured but hidden in this group is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail as it flew away when I walked by. My first guess of the three black ones are Polydamas Swallowtail with a maybe a Monarch on the far right. Any corrections are welcomed.

Every time I walk out in this field it looks like it has grown since the last walk only hours before. Stella's in deep in thought.

Sadie letting me know she is not eating what I think she is eating. Her left ear gave it away that her head at just moved up from the ground.

Stella made the slow trek around the flowers, around any butterflies and off the path at times to catch up with me.

I'm glad I was wearing shoes because I almost stepped on this bee.

It looked like more ATV activity than I remembered this morning. A sound nearby confirmed the kids were out enjoying the great weather. I didn't know yet if we would finished our walk or have to move in a different direction. Most likely nothing bad would happen but two possibilities could affect them and me wishing I had made another decision.

That's a dad doing the driving. I hope they ladies to the left holding those smartphones are using them as cameras or shooting video and not texting.

I decided I would prevent the bad possibilities from happening. Sadie was showing a lot of interest as she looked at them. She has never seen a 'live' ATV. Luckily Stella was way behind me doing her own thing. I decided it was time to take a different direction.

We slowly walked by a Ornython Swallowtail and another Eastern Tiger Swallowtail heading for the north corner of our yard. There was something I wanted to take a picture of in the field to show you and remind me what it would look like if they had not cut the field in June.

Could this be a Viceroy?

The hounds were confused when I told them to turn around. They finally caught on that we were going to be walking a different way. It took some coaxing to get them headed in this direction.

I'm guessing here ... the Emperor Swallowtail

As we neared the post that is the north corner property line, I saw more Milkweed that were full of butterflies. It's no wonder they call those orange flowers the Butterfly Milkweed. Sadie left them alone as we walked just past our yard to get our picture.

Normally they will cut down over this hill and even bale what they cut but this time they left the side of the hill uncut. So this is what the field would look like if they had not cut it in June. Not bad really. I could live with it if they decide not to cut it in the future.

A different view of my little used north side yard ... I had put my high pressure washer away after washing the fence along the driveway last spring and then remembered I forgot to wash this one. IF I don't pressure wash it within the next three weeks, the task will be moved to my 2018 To-Do List.

I had to use the flash on this picture because even in the middle of the afternoon it was almost pitch black when you looked into the woods. I always tell people, if you come out to see me after dark and drive up my driveway, don't hit that mysterious man standing in front of the woods.

I get little to no visitors after dark ... LOL ... I wonder why.

For weeks I have been fighting off urges for junk food, ice cream and candy. I eat and like fresh fruit but sometimes that is not good enough to kill a craving for sweets. Monday while grocery shopping I walked by something that brought up a memory and it could work for killing a sweet tooth ... Stauffer's Original Animal Crackers.

Low fat, no trans fat, no cholesterol and if I stopped at 13 crackers it would only be 100 calories. I found them in my cabinet today, up high and forgotten about only 48 hours after buying them. They worked for killing the craving for sweets.

Even the hounds will get one or two ... but it makes Stella drool too much so I have to stop giving them at 2 each.

Stella watch me walk to the mailbox and back sitting like this.

This week is 'flying' in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Have A Late Start

It doesn't matter what time the crew gets up and starts the day, the routine is always the same. It just means that everything happens an hour or two later. Sadie let me know I needed to skip my two cups of coffee I have before the morning walk ... that rarely happens. So she took a nap while she waited.

We slid out of the house quietly as Heidi as sleeping on 'her' couch. It was a little after 10am. We had better light for taking pictures, the sun was a little warmer on my back, the dew in the field was heavy.

Sadie started her walk with a fresh batch of powered brown dirt to eat ... Stella was eating tall wet grass, yet when I stepped into the field both hounds stopped what they were doing and ran past me.

Stella stretches this tall grass into her mouth ... almost like using it like dental floss.

Sadie was locked into deer scent and took off along the path the deer take at times.

I was willing to let Stella go her own way this morning but once again as I turned around, she was trotting behind me to catch Sadie and I.

The deer scent was strong, the 'natural protein' was fresh and I continued walking at my pace.

Almost every morning now Stella looks like her hips are feeling better as she trots a lot more each day.

By the movement of her ears you can see how fast she is trotting or how slow she is walking. The ears tell the story of what she is doing.

I was taking this picture in poor light of the ATV tracks, not the hounds. Those are from the owner of the field, who lives a couple of houses down from me. Sometimes he rides his ATV along the outside edge of the property, other times his grandson might use the field as his ATV racetrack ... the hounds don't care and the owner is fine with them taking 2-3 walks per day in 'their' field.

Both hounds headed to the far right corner in opposite directions, yet to spots they were familiar with. Sadie has been to this same spot daily for weeks and just recently Stella is back to being interested in the gully that I call the 'deer freeway'.

While Sadie chow'd down ...

Stella trotted through the taller wild flowers, weeds and grass ... in certain spots of the field they are growing fast.

As I walked along the back edge of the field I was happy to see the hounds were slowly 'herding' in my direction without any commands from me. They were on their own to explore.

I missed Stella running but as fast as she made it behind me ... she had to run to get there that quick.

Something is down in between those rolls of hay. That can't be anything deer ... what was it?

Sadie flew by Stella in an all out sprint, brushing the edges of the hay rolls and faster than I could catch with a camera. About the time I thought she was headed for the 'no fly zone' north of me, she turned abruptly and ran back to the edge of the first roll of hay.

She had missed searching the edge of the field and started the first roll of hay.

While I was focused on Sadie ... Stella slowly tried to sneak away into the 'no fly zone' and was heading toward those woods again, just like yesterday. Like I have always said, if I give her an inch, she will take a mile.

She conceded that she was caught again and came my direction when I called her, without any complaining. She is probably laughing inside telling me "that was only a test".

She is letting me know that she IS walking in my direction but only on her terms ... slow.

She was caught again trying to escape back to the far right corner of the field. When I yelled "Stella", she turned around and walked toward the path.

By this time I could really feel how hot it was on my back and neck. Yet, it will be another fine day with the temperature not getting any higher than 82°. Not one mosquitoe tried bititng me on this walk.

Stella decided she would not wait to get inside the house to lick and dry off her wet feet and legs from the dew. She started drying off her legs and paws just inside the yard.

Once she felt they were dry enough, only then she started her slow walk to the house.

Just about the time I opened the door I heard loud barking from a basset hound. Did Heidi have friends over while we were gone? She was 'passed out' on the couch when I we left 16 minutes ago ... that confused look is what happened when she heard my camera beep telling me it was in focus. She never likes her picture taken before 12 noon.

This morning the camera didn't bother her. She continued her morning yoga, and barking to herself ... going back and forth, side to side with her nose rubbing against the carpet. There were a few roll overs on her back but my camera was not able to capture a good quality picture. My "Reminders' App tells me it will be hound toe nail day tomorrow.

Some little unknown facts that have happened so far this summer with a month to go ... Due to diet changes a few years ago I continue to move to smaller clothes. My bike riding the past month is starting to accelerate that loss.

Also some bulleted rambling is included.

• Cargo shorts that I bought in the spring because the old ones were too big, are now too big. After 4 months I have lost another 2" in jean sizes.


• I can't remember the last time I fit into a t-shirt that was a size L ... but now I have room to spare and the XL's are too big.


• As you age weird things happen to your hair. Mine was always wavy and curly but the older I got and the grayer it got ... my hair changed to straight ... except the very back and down the center of my head ... its curly. Why???


• My Garmin tells me after 2 months of use I average over 7.5 hours of sleep per night, not including those occasional siestas.


• Stella's coat is starting to get back to being soft and that strange oil feel to it has disappeared.


• My 'to-do' list is in a holding pattern so I can finish all of it a week before College Football starts August 30. I do my best work under pressure.


• The Z4 has been driven less this summer than previous year, even with great weather. At least it's there when I want to drive it.


• Carbondale IL is the best place in the whole USA to witness the eclipse August 21st. Meaning, it will be darkest the longest, over 2:40 minutes ... they are expecting an increase of 450,000 people to their population during that time.


• I will not look at the eclipse with any kind of glasses or protection, but I can't wait to see the sky go dark and the temperatures drop if only for a few minutes ... how will my satellite internet signal react during that time.


• I have moved from Tricare to Medicare health coverage just because I turned 65. I never had to choose medcal insurance in Obamacare ... how do people ever know what to choose for health insurance under the current system? What does it mean when large medical insurance companies drop out of the market? Do people lose their insurance? Honestly, I don't know.


• How long will it take for me to buy a robot to be a maid?

That is all this morning from 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.