Stella Runs Away Further Than Ever

Tonight I thought I'd be writing about about our morning walk plus a few photos of the lunch break for the hounds ... one of the times that Heidi makes an outdoor appearance and a chance to photograph her ... but the afternoon walk went beyond distances we had ever traveled ... at least the three of us. Stella took off running and didn't come back ... until Sadie and I finally caught up with her.


For some reason I've been very motivated today and still may not be finished. I have time to do a few more things between the time I post this and the Cubs/Nationals baseball game at 8pm local time. I've done one load of my laundry, washed three of Heidi's Mexican blankets, stored the two window AC with hopes of a new central air unit by next June, vacuumed the house and cooked a large lunch. All while deciding to request some friends to comeback to my new Facebook account and not just keeping it a 'reading' account for me.

The fields are still pretty wet I'm sure based on how my yard feels from all the rain but with cooler temps some might have a changes to combine their corn or soybeans. I barely caught these two passing the house while I was outside with the hounds.

These were the two best photos of Sadie and Stella from this morning's walk.

I was so energetic today that I went outside to seal around my windows and to fill with silicone the hole around the new satellite coax cable they inserted through the 20 year old hole on the side of the house. They peel out the old calk silicone every time they install a new system for the internet and tv. I always fill the space back up to keep it dry under the house. That cable runs under the house from the satellite dishes to the tv and further back to my computer room.

This is Stella starting the normal afternoon walk ... where it looks like she can barely walk another step ... so slow she drags her paws. No excitement was expected at this point.

I was not even close to the first turn when two red bloodhounds ran by me at full speed with no intentions of slowing down. All of the photos were taken with the lens set at 200mm, so that gives you some idea how far behind I was.

By this next photo I knew for sure they were going to be out of my sight and I might even have to do some slow jogging if I were to catch them. I saw to new ATV tire tracks in the large path they wore down this summer ... I was pretty sure where the hounds were heading ... way ... way past 'the no fly zone'.

When I saw what Stella was doing on the right side and how fast she moved away from Sadie ... I knew she had plans of her own ... she was on a mission.

Sadie decided if she was going to enjoy this adventure she better put it in high gear to catch Stella.

Doing her best effort to catch Stella.

If nothing else ... both hounds were getting some great aerobic exercise while I was huffing and puffing in a slow jog 75 yards behind them.

When I caught a horizon with no hounds in view, I picked up my pace and started yelling Sadie's name since she was the nearest to me. I knew Stella was long gone.

After a slight diversion, Sadie changed direction and headed the way Stella was last seen.

Still shooting photos with the 200mm setting but I am getting closer to that large electrical tower.

As I change the name of the hound I am yelling for ... Sadie stops to wait on me as I start yelling 'Stella'. Sadie was positive that was the direction she saw Stella heading.

So we are now approaching the farthest corner of the field behind the house ... those tracks will veer to the left into the woods of the next property owner that is 4 houses north of mine. It is also the new path that 8th grader Christopher takes across the field into the deep gully where the deer hang out.

Just to make sure I made one final glance to the left, looking at the 'northern woods' for Stella before running into the next field.

Sadie has stayed by my side this whole time since I caught up with her. She waited for me and then trotted along side of me. As we turned the corner into the woods ... who did we see up ahead ... ????

When Stella is locked in this pose, not moving .... she either sees, smells or hears ... deer, dogs, cats, people, or ATVs. I was hoping she would go no further and come back in our direction.

Once she heard me call her name and see Sadie running after her to rescue ... she acted as if she was afraid of what she had found and was happy to be running back in our direction.

Sadie did what she always does when she finds Stella in the field or when Heidi comes inside after a short trip out at night ... she taps noses.

With Sadie's 'nose tap' telling Stella we are going home, both hounds ran past me, following the path we came in on and headed home.

Stella may have thought she was in trouble but she wasn't. I wasn't mad and only called her name loud in hopes that she would hear Sadie and I were coming to find her. Then again after all the running she did to get her, she may have been tired and had decided to walk home.

Yes that is drool hanging from the bottom of her mouth.

Once she shook her ears out ... she was ready to cruise back to the house for an early evening nap.

The two partners in crime ... NEVER a dull moment when you have bloodhounds ... LOL

Evidently the Equifax breach of personal information has had an affect on me. Added to the OPM in 2015, Yahoo in 2016 and Equifax in 2017 all of my information for the past 20 years is now in someone elses hands. Actually it probably doesn't mean anything in my case ... I'm a 'nobody' really, and do not a lot to offer financially or in assets to any hackers that are interested.

So in that case I am more open online ... screw it.

People now know exactly where I live, even strangers. If you look close you can see in this blog the exact name of the town I live outside of, and I am back on Facebook ... 'the king' of spreading your private photos and information on 'their' website to all parts of the world to make us all just one big happy family ... worldwide.

I guess you can say I no longer care about online security.

So the temps are cool, the windows are open, Sadie is snoring while sleeping in 'her' large leather chair, Heidi is passed out on the couch and MLB playoffs are on a little more than 2 hours from now.

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

Stella Had Her Best Day Yesterday

First of all ... to all the people that follow this blog "by email", getting new emails in your inbox each time I make a new post ... I APOLOGIZE !! One of those 'followers' emailed me yesterday to let me know that she had 56 new 'blogger emails' in her inbox for some reason ... finding out as she opened them plus reading my Tuesday blog post where I said I had gone back into my files and added 'old' post to fill in the blog date gap from August 2 - October 8.

I wasn't thinking at the time I was digging back into my blog backup file and adding those post ... I did not even realize that each time I posted an old post that you would receive a new email in your inbox. Almost like a blast of 'spam mail'. Believe me, that was not my intention. I just had a mental short-circuit I guess as I posted all of those old posts on Monday.

With my local electric company shutting my power off so they could move my service to their new lines they built last summer, about all I had to pass the time until my afternoon trip to help a friend out ... was taking these photos on the hound walk and playing Mahjong on my laptop.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing before Sadie, Stella and I left for our morning walk under gray skies and cooler temps ... sweatshirt weather. Stella was nudging Sadie inside the house trying to get her to play/wrestle like she did last year. Sadie wasn't accepting the invitation because she was more focused on me getting ready to take the morning walk.

But once we hit the yard and Stella finishing her short pee break ... she came running after Sadie and I just like 'old times'. She is definitely back to being close to her old self after not being well from February to sometime early this summer. Each day she is doing more running, playing and acting like she did when I first got her in August 2015.

With the distinct taste of a new bag of Seattle's Best Coffee #5 running through my veins, I was able to keep up with these two bloodhounds. They didn't realize it but the hounds were also in for a little surprise like those blog followers by email ... later on last night.

After ignoring Stella's invite to play inside, watching me put on the old green Sac State basketball cap, Sadie knows it's time for a walk when that hat is on my head ... along with the camera. She forgets about Stella and moves right into her exploration mode to track the latest deer scent.

Stella may have started running our way when she started her walk but her nose once again took over and she wanted to take her own path ... with the direction she was headed I could tell "some herding" was going to needed. As I continued to yell her name and saying "over here" ... she slowly gravitated toward Sadie and I. She will always test me to see if she can sneak away.

Once she decided she wasn't going to get her total freedom ... she SPRINTED past me and her and Sadie took off around the first turn. I was very very happy to see her running for the second time on this walk, only a 1/4 of the way complete.

Most of the time they ran so close to each other as they explored, their bodies would bounce off one another in full stride. They might share the scent they track but that doesn't mean they don't try to get there first.

As we all approached the final turn toward home ... Stella jumped into Sadie's chest telling her she wanted to play. It was her 2nd attempt in less than 15 minutes.

For the 2nd time since Sunday Stella was back to playing/wrestling ... something she had not done since last January.

They always stop immediately to look just like this when they play. There is nothing to see or hear in that direction because its the same pose they do in the backyard when they wrestle ... it's just a move by each trying to get the advantage with their next wrestling move.

Just as quick as they stopped ... they started playing again.

Then it was the sudden stop stare down ... letting each one know that the match was over and they had other stuff to do.

Off they went ... again happy to see Stella running fast enough that both of her rear legs are off the ground.

A good example of running so close to each other they bounce off of each other in full stride.

Tuesday night I had a call from my old friend that is semi-retired ... he had been spending the past month configuring his trailer from carrying two canoes to the original Laser sailboat. He is selling both and had the trailer finished but was needing one more person to help him lift the 135# sailboat up onto the trailer. His wife was busy with work ... his son that lives in town is even busier with a job plus bicycle racing and he thought I was too busy watching MLB Playoffs, College and NFL football that he ask me. I offered to help and I had an 'itch' for some kind of road trip.

So I was planning to take off for his house around noon yesterday. I had these photos for the blog but no electrical power at the house due the utility company's repair work. The FJ needed a good road trip going the same distance and place my Z4 did at the end of September. I was hopeful I could return without having a plastic grill dragging the ground. (joke)

It was also another chance for Stella to show me that she was completely over her separation anxiety since I was gone for a solid 9 hours. It's been since December of last year since since she has done any damage while being shut up with Sadie in the bedroom. As I explained in November 2015, that room is the only room in the house that I have the least amount of things that she could damage and all of it could be repaired. Any other room has items I own that if damaged, would not be repairable but would need replaced, bought again.

Just like two weeks ago she did fantastic, nothing chewed up, no window screens tore out (windows were shut closed), no digging through drywall, and no moving the bed and furniture around so she could climb up on and crawl out the small window.

Yes ... she did try moving furniture and climbing on top of the bed or end table so she would be at the same height as the small windows for her escape. She didn't escape that time, her first time where I was gone over 8 hours in November 2015 only 3 months after she arrived here.

The surprise for the hounds that I mentioned above was due to my mental short-ciruit. With their excited routine when I returned home, it's was the same routine they have when they are hungry and they are wanting lunch. I did not remember that I had already fed them lunch before I left, sometime around 11:30am. So just as I sat the 3 bowls of kibble down in front of each of them ... different areas of the room ... it dawned on me they had already had their normal two meals ... this would make their third of the day. Living proof they could eat forever if 'free fed' ... all dog kibble was gone in less than a minute.

With only one MLB game, winner take all to move to the next round, tonight at 8pm ... I have some time today to finally do a little house cleaning and post here later tonight of the pictures of the hounds I am about to take on our first walk of the day.

Again ... I'm sorry for those emails sent automatically with each old post that I added to this blog. I would not be happy seeing 56 new emails in my inbox all from the same sender.

It's cold enough for shorts and a sweatshirt on the walk this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Stops The Rain !!

Heidi refused after lunch to go outside which is normal procedure anytime the hounds have a meal. The rain was light at that time but she knew what she was doing. She jumped off the couch around 5pm when I announced to her that Sadie, Stella and I were going for a walk ... the sun was out. 

I knew the field would still be wet but that didn't matter ... rain clouds had blown out and the sky was clear and blue ... we were off.

As you can see I've been a little lax on my landscaping lately ... three is always another day and the weeds will pull out easier tomorrow morning after today's rain.

Stella snuck over to her new spot to pee ... north side of the yard and down over the bank from my position in the field. You can barely see her head in the middle of the picture.

She tried to escape with her solo walk by taking the north but stopped when I yelled her name and said 'over here'.

She stood and thought about what I was saying to her, almost turned north but then just as abruptly turned around and head our direction. She had new plans ... to lead the walk ... get out in front of us ... and do her own thing.

It was only when she smelled some deer scent that she stopped and checked out one of their entry/exit points to the woods. I heard nothing running but she evidently smelled and heard something pretty strong.

Then she took off for the 'no fly zone' ...

I yelled "over here" and once again she turned to join Sadie and I ... that is really strange, her obeying  voice commands.

She fell back into her afternoon walking stroll ... laidback, relaxed, no cares in the world.

I took this picture on purpose into the sun, with a lens hood attached just to see the bright blue sky and bright sunshine after a full day of rain.

As the two bloodhounds and I walked into the yard from our northern path ... Heidi was waiting for us. She might look sad in that picture but she was wagging her tail and the camera just caught it in stop action.

She was happy for us to be back ... get back on the couch and prepare for more televised baseball games.

When I restarted the blog on Sunday I had a huge gap between posts (Aug 3 - Oct 8). I had the previous posts from the deleted wordpress blog on my master copy plus any posts during that time I made of the hounds .. so yesterday I dug through the files and posted as many as I could find onto this blog ... so the archive on the sidebar shows more posts in August and September filling in that gap.

You have already read most if not all of those posts because they came from the Wordpress blog.

Well there's a rain delay in Chicago but sunny here ... I'm going outside to enjoy the rest of the day ... maybe even pull some weeds.

The sunshine is back in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.