Stella RUNS !!!

It was 53° at 10am when we headed out for our walk. Sadie took off running immediately and after Stella ate some wet morning grass, she came running around me to catch up with Sadie. Each day she is looking more and more like her old self. By the way she acts I can see she is feeling better. It's Football Saturday but another beautiful fall day on the last day of September.


I've done nothing but feel Stella 4c of kibble, split in in half for two feedings per day. I noticed that this brand of dog food put weight on Heidi and it has on Stella also. As I glanced back at her I was going to let her be on her own this morning.

Then ... there she went tearing around me and sprinting toward Sadie. My camera didn't catch them running around the first turn. They were long gone by the time I make the turn and out of view.

I thought they would stop at their normal deer scat area on the right side of the field's edge but they were long gone. Here is Stella way past the roll of hay and running toward the 'no fly zone'. I could not believe she was that far ahead of us. She was tracking deer scent ... Sadie was further behind her but up near the back edge of the field path.

Thought the 200mm zoom lens I could bare see Stella on the horizon thru the tall grass. She heard me calling her name and looked up at me with her head and ears perked up. To my shock, she came running back toward me along that back path.

With her nose to the ground, tail up in the air and running ... it was like 'the old days' with her tracking scent and running by herself. I cannot tell you just how good that is to see. She must have been really sick from February to May.

Once I had started walking the back edge of the field path, Stella runs to keep up with Sadie who is also excited with fresh new deer scent.

It was nice to do the walk without tugging on her collar, constantly saying 'come on' or her ignoring me. Both hounds were doing their own walk way ahead of me.

I was planning on veering right and taking the 'alternate' way home toward the north property line pole ... but Stella followed that path on her own before I could get there.

That did not mean the walk would continue to be fast ... oh no ... it was time for them to do some thorough investigation. There must have been a lot of animal traffic in the field last night while we slept.

I was up late last night watching Wazzu beat #4 USC 30-27. By the time I went to bed it was already 2:24am. I got about 6 hours of poor sleep due to bad dreams again and a little indigestion (apple juice?). With the windows open it was cold enough to cover Heidi up with one of her Mexican blankets.

This is the hounds during "Football Saturday". All photos taken with the iPhone 6s. After the last iOS update to 11 it sure seems like the phone camera takes a better quality picture.

It's another good day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Downtown Street and Highway Resurfacing

After a summer where they backed up traffic west of town for many miles while they installed the 'mysterious' one lane 4' retangle about every 10' ... within the past two weeks they have dug up and graded the work done this summer, to look like this, preparing to lay new asphault ... AGAIN.


The annual Apple Fall Festival is in 11 days, which brings in a lot of traffic from all over southern Indiana. Traffic will be backed up as people look for parking space throughout the town. So at least it is likely all the new road surface will be completed by then.

Coming into town from the south since last Friday, they have completed the grinding all the way over to the curb and swept up the residue. That goes from the first bridge south of town all the way to the major rebuilt downtown intersection.

I was unable to get pictures of the two new redesigned corners that were widen and also new large sidewalks installed around each corner. Those are located on the left and right side of this street. It gives semi-trucks more room to make left and right hand turns with traffic and parked cars nearby.

It also looks like they have installed new poles holding new stop lights and new highway signage.

With the flagman holding traffic back to town I took a couple of photos of old early 1900's signage built into the building on the west side of the square.

Just past the right turn up ahead and down the hill a little to the Petro gas station and the east edge of the town park (where they festival will house all the booths) ... they are grading the highway down and filling dump trucks with all the ground up asphault.

The strange thing is, they just installed new asphault on that flat looking highway past the last hill. Then on the other side of the bridge west of town, they have graded the highway down two lanes, erasing all of their work done this summer ... to lay new asphault.

With the highway ground and swept I will venture to say ALL the new surface will be completed by this Thursday or Friday. It will be nice because the town main street needed it and I'll never complain with a new surface on the road I take to get to town or head west.

It's hard for me to take pictures on the move but I couldn't resist this house. It is IN town.

Those dark spots in that picture are not from my camera lens ... but a dirty windshield.

I stopped by the library but did not find anything new to read. I still have books on my shelf at home I have not read that I want to ... 4-5 of them actually.

All is good today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... time to feed the hounds.

Hot and Muggy Early

Stella continues her new routine ... walking north, scouting the middle of the field and then gradually walk over to our path trotting around the first corner. I'm fine with that as long as I don't have to walk her direction to get her. I could feel the heat last night at 11pm with the bedroom windows open, trying to sleep. This morning as we started our walk after 9:30am, the humidity was already thick.

Sadie did her normal start, following the deer path. I started my normal walk by thinking what would I be doing today. I've decided I need to make a grocery run at Walmart.

I didn't sleep well last night, tossing and turning. My guess it took me almost 2 hours to get to sleep, sometime after midnight. I felt tired this morning before coffee. Breakfast was three soft eggs and coffee.

I'm not sure what is going on with my camera. I am not getting the 'sharp' focus like I should be. I hope my lens is working properly since I really don't want to buy a new lens. I might try the old Nikon 70-200mm this afternoon as a test. Although that lens is broke and will not focus higher than 70mm.

Slowly but surely Stella is making her way toward us. I did not adjust this photo ... notice how the house is crooked? The 2nd picture shows the trees are straight though so maybe I am getting some last second shakes at the time I press the shutter.

She followed the wide path made by the ATV ... at least she is headed in the right direction.

It's good to see her trotting every day.

Both hounds sprinting to deer scat. I was told by Dennis last night that it has molasses in it, it tastes sweet to the hounds. No wonder they are addicted to it ... it's like candy to them, just like I guessed a few months ago.

I continue to walk as always. Stella and Sadie have found their 'morning treat'.

I never saw the truck and trailer, I didn't hear a truck and trailer ... but sometime after 4pm last night they moved the rolls of hay. What was strange I didn't see any truck or trailer tire tracks through the field back to Jim's driveway. I wonder if they will be mowing the field soon? They did last year the last week of September.

At first I thought this was a creepy crawler but as I looked at the picture it was a dead bloom ... but then I see a smaller creepy crawler in the picture.

This roll of hay was busted they day they wrapped it. They would have lost that on the highway going back to their farm, which I think is a good 10-15 miles north of us. They moved it into the wooded area of the field. I wonder if anything will use that hay for winter food. Do deer eat hay?  I don't know.

I've made the final turn of the walk and the hounds are more than content ... they did not come when I called them. I had to walk over and pull Stella by the collar back to the path ... she was very very stubborn today.

It was slow but they finally headed home.

I updated the iPhone to OS11. I am not sure what all of the improvements are but I swear they did something to the camera and also the quality of the photos. I took this next photo with the iPhone yesterday.

Taken after I mowed the yard. This has been a good ball cap. I wonder how many other people wear a SacState ball cap east of the California state line?

The hurricane this week wiped out the electric grid in Puerto Rico. They estimate that no on will have  power for the next two to three months. The worst hurricane ever for them. Also on top of a terrible economy the past 11 years. That country is almost destroyed now.

With all the hurricanes it will be interesting to see how much my house insurance increases in May 2018.

Last night after talking to Dennis in Alamogordo NM, I looked at his house that he wants to sell for what he owes. But as I looked around the town again at house for sale ... I no longer want to live there ... too much sand, not enough grass.

Another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.