The Hounds Love This Weather

Those scattered thunderstorms in the forecast never showed up over the weekend but it made me, the farmers and even the sparrows busy trying to get things done before it rained. Before I could finish breakfast on Saturday they were preparing the field to plant later that afternoon. So far this spring has not been "wetter than normal", yet I am mowing my yard every 3rd day to keep up.

Last year the sparrows built their nest in the upper corner inside my carport. I left the nest there for their return but they had different plans for 2018. It's small but in a perfect spot I guess, on top of my electric power meter.

With the great weather where you can sleep with the windows open in 50° weather, the 2nd hound walk of the day is in the 70's and nice enough to get a 3rd walk in by the late afternoon. Stella is staying around on her own without wandering off. She has trotted at times but no longer runs full speed.

Sadie will be 10 years old this June and she always gets in some running every time we walk. When her ears can lay flat on top of her head ... she is at max speed.

Sunday after their lunch I decided it would be a great time to brush out some of the winter coats of all three hounds. I start with a hound mitt and finish getting the rest of the undercoat with the normal small steel brush. By the time I finished setting up the operation Stella decided to move first in line and took over my area. Brushing her makes her fall a sleep.

Heidi likes the mention of three things, a bath, toenail clippers and getting brushed.

All of the rain scheduled for Saturday afternoon kept pushing out 8 hours ahead. With no rain after midnight Saturday night they were ready to add some fertilizer on Sunday afternoon. With a spreader that wide it did not take long for him to cover the field ... that is until he ran out.

Yet, with modern technology of a cell phone, he could get replenished right where he was without going anywhere. This is the first time I have seen a truck with this arrangement of liquid supplements for a delivery service. He backed next to the tractor to fill it up.

Every morning walk starts with Stella staying behind to eat some fresh wet tall grass. I don't have to call her to catch up with us. The past few weeks she has decided that is what she wants to do on her own.

It usually happens on Fridays but yesterday morning the sky will full of contrails. These were taken around 9am. Military or commercial aircraft ?

Hound walks No.2 and No.3 of the day always has Stella walking at a very slow pace. Most of the way she will not get off our path.

As you can tell the field right behind the house, has the tallest grass in the field. Two reasons for that, bloodhound natural fertilizer all winter and 7 acres of underground water that migrates to this area of the field. With great weather recently it is strange that I have not seen nor heard any ATVs in the field.

This gives you some idea how nice the weather has been everyday.

With the nighttime temps dropping into the low 50s every night, we start our walks in a field that is so wet with morning dew you would think it had been raining all night. My North Face snow boots keep my feet dry and warm. My hiking boots become so saturated on one of the walks from the heavy dew that I had to put them back on the shelf until July. My feet were soaked before we barely started the walk on Saturday.

The other day I thought it was a scampering rabbit that led Sadie into the woods on a sprint and down over the edge toward the gully. This morning I found out it was not a rabbit but a sparrow launching from ground level. She was sure she had found their nest and was very interested in heading back into the woods as I kept telling her 'no'.

It's hard to see with the camera but along this edge of the woods there is a narrow single path of worn grass that goes all the way to the first turn on the walk. Stella has been following that path of scent every morning. How many deer walk through there on that path while the hounds and I are inside for the night?

Not even a 1/4 of the way into the walk and my boots are soaked to the top of them.

Lately Stella has been taking a shortcut on the walk. Luckily instead of wandering over to the woods behind the neighbors or even the next house over, she will gradually angle toward our return path to meet Sadie and I on the way back.

By the time we finish walking the back edge of the field, turning for home ... she meets us in the middle of the field.

Sadie pays no attention to anything or anybody on her walks most of the time. Her nose is too powerful to let her get distracted.

Stella might try to walk further north across the path as if I do not see her but once Sadie gets near, she knows that we are on our way home and will wait for us.

As usual the morning walk ends with two noses checking out that scent that walks into the backyard, following the tree line.

I admit even in this great weather my to do list has barely been touched. Maybe I am waiting for the extreme hot weather, where it's too hot to be outside after 10am, I don't know. Besides the three hound walks per day, all of us (Heidi included) spend a lot of time just sitting outside without the camera enjoying the sunshine. The Z4 is being driven more than the FJ in this weather and there enough different roads we can drive where each daily drive is not the same. The Z4 runs smooth and quiet as if it were a new engine.

I am still using DuckDuckGo for my default search engine and have not moved from Apple's browser  Safari. I'll use about 8% more data per month without Google Chrome but I know that Safari does less data harvesting. The only junk email I am getting now with those changes are from me signing up on the Bob Vila site for a free washer and dryer. I have a 'junk' email address I use for times like that so I can see just how much junk mail I have generated by signing up for something.

Well it's time for a morning drive and I can get back just in time to hear Heidi (barking) and Stella (howling) telling me it's time for their lunch.

Fantastic weather lately in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Friday Packed With Activity

You may have noticed some of the recent photos I posted of farm equipment passing by the house. Just like my outdoor schedule, their activity is also based on possible rain. Consequently I mowed the yard this morning a few hours earlier than I planned on, even with the grass a little wet. Luckily I had my camera on Wednesday as I caught this great looking Ford passing by. It's locally owned and is seen on the perfect weather days.

As usual the rain is anyones guess. It was suppose to happen Wednesday afternoon, putting these guys hard at work that same afternoon. The rain didn't show up. Then thunderstorms scheduled after midnight, didn't show up. Yesterday morning was to bring severe thunderstorms. The skies turned black, Stella whined a little while stood and moved to a different sleeping spot, but very light rain passed through.

Stella did not pace more than 3' away before she laid down and took a nap. The inside of the house was so dark you would have thought it was in the middle of the night. None of the storms bother Sadie or Heidi.

There will not be a field if bright yellow flowers (weeds) this year. He must know more than I do about the May weather or he is a gambler for planting this early. It does not take much for that field to flood and that has happened as late as the first week of June. A lot of the field was under water just a few weeks ago.

I was just happy to get the yard mowed before today's rain that was scheduled at noon. Yet as I started this blog post I took a look at Intellicast weather radar and there wasn't a cloud of any kind within 300 miles of me. So one of my major activities today was finished before 10am.

Finishing the yard that early confused all three of the hounds. They usually get a walk when I finish mowing later in the afternoons, so when I stepped inside the house to cool off and grab a glass of water Heidi started barking, Sadie started bouncing and Stella started howling. Those actions told me they didn't think it was time to walk, they thought it was time for lunch but that wasn't going to happen at 9:54 am.

After the brutal winter we had with almost a month solid of temperatures below 32° and a lot of nights below 0°, I am now declaring the Azaleas I planted late last July as being hearty survivors. The  four of them are centered in the flower beds across the front of house but that puts them under my wider than normal roof overhang ... so they don't get water from the rains. It will take a few years for them to get large enough where they can be seen 100' away down the hill.

Another sign that Spring is officially here ... this ladybug was patrolling the area around the house making sure things were clear of any kind of harmful bugs. Plus the sparrows have decided this year to move their nest back outside on top of the electric meter instead of the corner of my carport. I slid my hand up inside the nest and felt a perfectly formed cutout bed.

Heidi has been outside every day but most of the time that she is laying in the backyard enjoying the sunshine, my camera is inside. All of us have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the weather while Sadie roams the field. Stella is back to taking naps under the sun but Sadie is just too mentally busy with tracking to lay down and enjoy some time off.

Stella lets me know it's allergy season ... she itches more now than any of the other 11 months.

As you can see the field is growing by the hour. It will not be long before the hounds are partially hidden as we walk the field. Sadie seemed as if she was in a hurry this morning, she rarely stopped or look for me or Stella.

I've been keeping a keen eye out for deer in our early morning walks and the last walk of the day usually between 5p-6p. I haven't seen any ATV tracks nor have I see any signs of deer.

Stella again followed the "over here" command and headed our direction instead of the far right corner of the field.

Sadie still hasn't come up for air .... her nose was on the ground for most of the walk.

While Sadie trotted out in front of us on some kind of scent ... Stella was going to take her own sweet time.

They both seem pretty interested in the cat scent. They have been ending their walks lately by walking together and slightly behind me all the way to the yard. Of course that will change in a week or two since Stella never keeps any kind of walking routine.

I am not sure how many of you caught the shows the other night on the National Geographic channel with Katie Couric but both shows I watched were very interesting and informing. If everyone in the country watched nothing else but those two shows I think a lot of problems would be solved. The shows were about Immigration and Smart Phone Technology.

Stella is begging for lunch right now so I cannot stay long and have a lost my train of thought. I had some other stuff I wanted to write about but it has slipped away into that dark hole of my mind. One of Katie's shows talked about memory loss ... it made me wonder if all the hours on my computer the past 23 years is my problem or is it because I am getting older. Of course the concussions I've had in the past probably doesn't help.

I am glad to see that two local Farmers Markets are opening soon for this year. There is nothing better than fresh produce, fresh meats and fresh eggs. I can't remember the last time I bought a tomato at a grocery store that had any taste to it. Yes, I have the room to grow all of this myself with my own garden, but for me personally it's easier to let the experts grow what they do and let me buy it when it's ready.

It 'feels' like rain is on the way but the radar is clear and only a 30% chance this afternoon. That is one thing that makes living in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana so nice ... the weather is constantly changing except for those 30 days last winter.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... have a nice weekend.

Summer Routine Is Back

I always say "it will never happen again" ... but it does. The other day after mowing the yard and trimming along the small brick edging, I sat my lithium battery for the weed eater on my FJ bumper ... again. I do that when I am putting each item back into the small shed that stores my lawn mower. But a few days had passed before I realized that expensive battery had made another 25 mile trip and was waiting for me on the FJ bumper as I returned with a shopping cart full of groceries. Right where I left it on Sunday.

Using that same word "again" I decided this morning I'd let Stella follow her nose on the morning walk. After all it's the middle of the week that some employees call "hump day" and are overjoyed their work week is half over. In retirement it feels the same as any other day and our only interest seems to be in the weather changes. It will change today from great weather to thunderstorms.

Stella didn't disappoint me as she took off in the opposite direction from Sadie and I. She has been good lately by not wandering off except that one time last week or two. She might require some of my verbal herding but for some strange reason she has been responding and obeying to certain words. No, not those words.

So while Sadie and I followed our normal path I kept glancing over at Stella to see if she was heading our direction or was taking off for the neighbors backyard, where there is a scent of a cat that keeps her interested. It was good to see Stella might meet Sadie and I by the time we were at the first turn.

Sadie was going to make sure Stella would follow us and made such a fast run over to her to lead the way, it caught me and my camera off guard and we missed the command that Sadie was giving her, but Stella got the message loud and clear.

Without cutting the field a second time last fall, there is a lot of grass replacing the wild weeds we saw last year. Last summer was so dry and hot that the field really didn't need cut a second time but if that Farmer's Almanac is right this year, with "a wetter than normal summer" ... they might be baling the field twice. The ticks are not as bad as a few springs ago when I kept a counter in the upper left corner of the blog,  updated after each walk. Yet I am finding a few of them on me after our recent walks this week.

I know there are heavy chemicals in Nexguard for killing ticks, fleas and mosquitoes but in this area of the USA it's needed. In the past two summers only one dose has done the job for the rest of the summer. Yes, I have tried the different natural remedies and I have not found them to work in this area.

I've gone back to Facebook but still using my own previous policy of having no Facebook friends listed. No offense to them and there were only a few of them I listed, but I use Facebook only to read updated information about the groups I follow. I capture a lot of good information about the Toyota FJ, updated sports teams news, and even tornado tracking. I do not follow any groups about bloodhounds or basset hounds.

I have also made some changes to my internet browser and search engine. It probably doesn't mean anything but I guess it's best to take advantages of different browser and search engine options. I went from Google Search to DuckDuckGo for more privacy. I also went from Google Chrome back to Safari, which runs faster and smooth on my iMac and MacBook Air.

With their latest updates they automatically block 3rd party tracking and that results in having a lot less if any advertising showing up in my inbox or on the websites that I visit. The new Firefox Quantum browser is nice but is just too much of a data hog and my budget allows me only 20Gb per month, so that is not an option for me.

Motivation has been at a low point at times, in attacking that 'to do' list. I have spent more time just sitting outside enjoying the hot weather, reading a book or watching the hounds as they roam the field. Plus we are taking 3 walks per day, except Heidi. She prefers to wander the front yard, the top of the driveway and lay in the sun in the backyard while the bloodhounds and I take our walks.

Monday was hound toenail cutting day. Sadie was good once again and will let me cut hers as long as she can stand up. Stella will always lay down if I show her and let her sniff the clippers. Heidi was more than ready to get her long nails cut and laid down in the grass as soon as she saw (smelled) the clippers. I cut hers back the shortest I can remember they have ever been ... without cutting the quick. I could tell she felt a lot better after her manicure.

Stella jumped out ahead of Sadie and I this morning. I was positive she was heading for the 'far right corner' of the field. Yet, lately she has responded when I tell her "over here" ... she then turns and walks toward our direction. What has gotten into her obeying verbal commands?

Sadie is just Sadie ... every walk, morning, noon or late afternoon she follows the same directions with her nose to the ground most of the way. That's her tracking personality coming out.

Stella was pretty sure that recently deer had gone straight into that brush and up over the small wire fence. After spending a few minutes staring in that direction, she finally gave up and slowly started following Sadie and I along the back edge of the field.

With rain in the forecast this afternoon, tonight and the next three days, this farmer got his planting finished yesterday just in time. Based on how the field looks, in my NON expert opinion, I am guessing he planted soybeans this year instead of corn.

Stella checked to see if she could get away and head to the north woods before I would notice her. She stood there watching me as I walked 30 yards away from her and past her, as Sadie and I headed home.

Sadie never barks but lets her know it would be best if she started following me and her toward home.

At no time during these last photos were any verbal herding involved. They slowly wandered back to the house.

I think in the last part of the walk, they are following a scent of the field cat that I have only seen a couple of times. At least the cat is good at keeping the mice traffic to a minimum around the house. I can't remember the last time I've even seen a mouse in the house.

After 14 months the change in dog food to Sportmix, manufactured by the same company that makes Earthborn Holistic Pet Food, continues to work well for all three hounds. It solved Heidi's skin problems from a few years ago, put weight back on Stella and keeps Sadie lean and mean.

Due to increased soil erosion after I cut the taller grass around the old fence post and bank, I am letting that corner grow back to the height and thickness it was. The water has decided to follow that slightly indent in the yard, making a right turn and goes down the bank toward my house. I have changed that direction of water by a little digging out and modifying that corner close to the house at the bottom of the bank. Feel free to make any suggestions that might help.

I barely caught him flying by the house as the hounds and I were just finishing our walk. It looks like a shipment of brand new John Deere mowers heading to a dealership somewhere south of us.

I am more in the mode of being outside now, reading a book rather than working on that 'to do' list. How long will I wait to get started?

It's been a week of very enjoyable weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.