Great Weather Makes It Hard To Blog

What can I say ... the weather has been fantastic which leads me outside more often and for longer periods of time along with the hounds. I find it harder than past years to sit down in weather like this and put a blog post together. So, just a warning, my blogging this spring and summer may be less frequently. The weather is not the only reason though.

I find I get more done on my to do list if I print out the list on paper and put one copy on my refrigerator door and one near my computer as a reminder, then putting a thick black "Sharpie" line through the task as I complete it. I have some of them listed on my 'reminder' app that came with my computer but the printed page shoves me into action more than an electronic list.

I have twice as many things to do as I did two years ago. With my font at 14 and spacing between lines at 1.5, I have a page full of things to do ... 26 of them. Nothing is hard but almost every one is time consuming. It looks like between getting some things done on the list, walking the hounds 2-3 times per day and watching ballgames ... it is going to be a busy summer.

I can tell the hounds like the warmer weather. Stella is trotting more and ignoring me more.

Sadie is add the 'far right corner' to her daily walks, morning and afternoon.

At this point when I saw both of them running toward that corner I was hoping they would not go down into the gully following the path and scent of the deer.

Stella was out of bounds and was in the thick brush heading deeper into the gully and further down the hill. I had to run after her to get her to turn around.

Otherwise it was a great afternoon walk.

It was perfect weather and a perfect time to pull the car cover off the Z4, put the top down as the engine idled and take a drive through the country. It was (is) another beautiful day.

The hounds are getting 3 walks per day in this kind of weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Fantastic Weather

Hard to believe it was snowing lightly just a few weeks ago. Fantastic weather this week but that does not mean Heidi will stop hibernating yet as she sleeps inside every afternoon.

Something Was Busy Last Night

These were scattered all over the field behind the house but not so much in the back part of the field. I have no idea how or who made these but something was busy last night. Too early for Heidi to walk but she will enjoy an afternoon outside that will be close to 70° today ... maybe some photos of her later today.

Just Missed Deer

As forecasted the sunshine disappeared yesterday to make room for light rain that started after midnight. That same light rain started again last night. It was still happening this morning as the hounds and I could wait no longer for a walk. With my North Face snow boots on I was able to keep my feet dry and a light rain jacket over a fleece jacket kept me warm and dry during the walk. The rain was more of a mist than sprinkle ... the hounds didn't care.

Sunday turned out to be a very productive day with some stray small twigs taken off the roof and out of the gutter. Within a hour and a half I had the FJ and Z4 washed and hand dried. By the time I did the short high speed run in the Z4 the convertible top was completely dry as I tucked it under the car cover with rain on the way.

This photo here pretty much describes what type of day we are looking at today. Unless the rains are harder, we will get another walk in this afternoon since both walks were cancelled on Monday. At least it is warm and that's all I care about.

With a lot of time spent inside yesterday, Heidi continues her sleeping marathon today, I continue to look at houses on realtor.com out of curiosity and brain cell exercise. I clicked off a few games of Mahjong yesterday under 3 minutes. I am still trying to get all 160 games of Mahjong completed under 3 minutes but there are a couple that I doubt that will ever happen.

MSN money had an article today on the best towns to live on in every state if you are on a fixed income of social security and a pension. It was good to see that a few of them listed were towns I had looked at in my search the past few years, but not the one I'd like to move to. I might take a closer look at one of them listed.

With the hounds having their noses to the ground for the start of the walk I wasn't thinking about any surprises today. That is their normal activity and we had not seen any deer in person since last November yet there has been a lot of fresh hoof prints seen on our recent walks.

For some reason Stella is in the exploration mode lately (weeks) rather than eating additional natural protein. That a good thing and what I like to see. I noticed on RVsue's latest post yesterday, a dog a the dog park she was visiting had an owner trying to break their dogs habit of eating foul stuff by putting an electronic collar on their dog.

I would never try that on Stella since I don't like any kind of 'shock' training for any kind of dog. Besides what I have read years ago on electronic fences, bloodhounds pain threshold is so strong that they didn't feel the electronic shock to keep them  inside the fence. I am glad we have the land around the house that the hounds can enjoy naturally.

Since I was not expecting any surprises, by the time I turned away from taking the above photo, realizing what my eyes were seeing, getting my camera in the shooting position and focused ... the two deer were about to disappear in the wooded area in the 'far right hand corner'. You will have to look close for their bright white tails.

I was sure that Sadie would lock onto their scent and take off toward or into that wooded area. i was prepared to run after her if I needed to.

She surprised me by showing no interest in heading that direction.

Of coarse Stella was in her own little world oblivious to anything around her.

She gradually joined up with Stella and I at the halfway point of the walk.

Sadie was more intent on exploring the back edge of the field like she does every morning. Deer was the furthest thing from her mind ... and her nose.

It's always hard to tell what Stella is thinking but she certainly has the look as a 'deep thinker' most of the time ... even when she sleeps.

The mist never got heavier, there was very little wind and the hounds had a relaxed slow pace walk. With them back inside and sleeping until their lunch, mostly likely it will be another quiet day inside while it rains lightly outside.

It might take a while but eventually they head back to the yard.  The last 1/4 of the walk may be the slowest of the walk we take on a daily basis.

Somewhat hard to believe that April is almost over. We are way ahead of our average rainfall 4 months into the year.

Not much going on today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.