Some Sunday Rambling

By 10am it was time to sneak out of the house with the bloodhounds for their morning walk, another late start seems to be the norm recently. As you can tell Heidi didn't have any intentions of taking a walk. She had been outside first thing in the morning with the bloodhounds while I poured the breakfast kibble. After that meal she assumes her daily position on the couch until it's time to eat lunch.

As I opened the door and stepped outside I could feel the heat and humidity in it's slightest form, letting me know it was going to be a hot muggy day today. Perfect for staying inside with the AC on and two baseball games on the tv screen this afternoon. I also heard what sounded like a Harley but after looking at it when I downloaded the photo it was hard to tell, but I could barely see one tucked inside all of the other stuff. I was told once by a motorcyclist that the highway in front of my house was one of the most popular in the state of Indiana to ride on. It's also one of my favorite routes in the Z4.

I cannot say why our morning walks have started later this summer. Like always I am extreme one way or another. We use to get our walks in by 8am, photos edited and posted with a morning blog post finishing sometime between 9:30am and 10am. Anymore it seems I don't start my second cup of coffee while reading the internet sports news and blogs by 9:30am ... or I am up outside doing a task from the 'to do' list by 9am. I guess it's good to have variety in a pretty mundane daily routine.

Every morning walk is now drenched in heavy dew where the shade is in the field. So every morning without asking I wear the North Face snow boots, that double as my rain boots, to keep my feet dry. This morning was no different than any other morning ... soaked boots dry feet soon after the start of the walk.

That doesn't bother Stella though. Whereas Sadie rarely if ever changes her path in the field, Stella likes to change her routine every couple of weeks. Recently she likes to veer off into the middle of the field, make a couple of complete circles before deciding the most perfect place to fertilize the 7 acres of wild flowers and little grass.

I might have to say "come on" a couple of times to get her headed in our direction. She will walk directly to the path I am on but never directly to the voice she is hearing. While this is going on, Sadie is nose to the ground trotting or stopping to investigate a scent near the edge of the field and wild bushes.

She never changes her walking area in any of the walks we take. Lately we have been able to squeeze in three walks per day and still get back in time for the first pitch of the Reds game, which is usually at 7:10pm local time.

I saw nothing through the woods and down over that ridge into the gully but from the loud sounds of tree limbs breaking I could only guess it was a deer and not a rabbit running away. I'd have to look at past photos to see if we have seen deer in the summer months ... honestly I can't remember.

It is said that bloodhounds can hear 4x better than the human ear. You would have assumed they also heard the breaking of tree limbs with 'something' running through the woods ... but you would have never been able to tell looking at them. Deer scat is much more important sometimes. I wish I knew why it was so addicting to them. Getting them away from it is like taking a container of Ben&Jerry's ice cream away from me ... not going to happen.  LOL

I've mentioned somewhere that I have felt twinges of motivation recently but that doesn't mean anything is getting done. I went to the lower driveway yesterday to apply my drop of Trimec weed killer on the driveway, by the mailbox pole and the left side culvert. Whatever was killed before has grown back to the point I am thinking I bought the wrong kind. I needed the blend that also kills grass because that was what I was seeing the most of. I see signs of dead weeds at the top of the driveway but nowhere else ... it was grass.

I had thought of turning the driveway to asphalt years ago but every asphalt drive I see that is on a hill in the vicinity of my house, has cars parked at the bottom of it during winter snow storms. I'll stick with gravel.

A friend that is in his 4th month of retirement asked me the other day if I was doing what I had planned on when I retired. He too is wondering "if this is all there is", yet he plays golf, lives in crowded southern California with a much higher cost of living than I. I told him I was doing what I had plan, in a way. I was either going to travel in an RV of some sort or stay where I am right now. Traveling was not an option once I decided having three hounds was too hard with two hands. Some might that that is a cop out, but they don't have two bloodhounds.

I told him that I am doing exactly what I thought I would be doing if I stayed in this house in this location. I knew that I would extend the things I did on weekends or after work into a daily routine, which I have. Of course we are all different. He is married I am single. I am a loner he is not. He was somewhat mystified that his old co-workers don't stay in touch with him like he expected where I knew and guessed I'd never hear from mine again, just like I wanted.

For some reason though, recently my friends need to have me notify them someway by text or email that I am up, have a pulse and I am alive because ... because ... I don't know. Do we all become more concerned after our 65th birthday that death is right around the corner. I don't think that way nor feel that way. So I have tried to explained to them I do not feel I need to text that I am awake and alive every day just because I live alone with three hounds.

I have never been sick. I do not have what they call a family doctor. I keep track of my eating, my blood pressure, resting pulse rate and the Garmin watch can tell me within a tap what my pulse rate is walking with the hounds or mowing the yard. Everything is below the limits of someone my age. Nothing to worry about in my eyes ... but not theirs I guess.

To change the subject ... it's still hard to believe these flowers are poisonous.

You can barely see Sadie's lump on the right side of her stomach. It has not changed in size although from that angle it looks bigger. From different angles you cannot see it at all. It has not gotten softer or harder. I feels just like her stomach feels on her left side. She has never shown any signs of pain. She still runs as fast as she can when she needs to catch up with us.

As I approached the backyard I could see a butterfly fight going on.

They ended up close to each other but on different flowers.

Stella seems to think the pollen count is high today. You wouldn't know that as she sleeps right behind my desk chair right now. She stopped two times on the walk plus in this picture, to scratch herself. I have some dog shampoo that is suppose to stop itching. I know that is only a marketing ploy on the label but since she likes the bathtub I'll give her a bath today and let the hot sunshine dry what I cannot with a towel. If you can bathe one hound you can do two ... so Heidi will get one today also. Sadie ??? LOL ... no way. She gets hers at the groomer.

I will say at times it's hard being a loner. Not for me but for the few friends that cannot even comprehend what it's like nor how could I ever be happy. They are flabbergasted at times. I can tell when I talk to them on the phone. The general consensus is I need to travel more, I need to get out more, I need to do this more ... yet they have all known for years that I am out of touch at times. They also know and joke about the dates of August 30th to April 4th, give or take a few days, that I spend my time watching college football and college basketball.

Only one friend understands why I live where I do and that I have lived here for 20 years. Others think I must have taken residence on Mars and cannot even understand why I like it here. All of them have been at my house in the past year or two.

The request for daily communication, the opinions on what I should or should do retired does irritate me at times. I like a content, quiet, no visitors kind of retirement. What does it take to convince them of that in a respectable way? My daily, mundane to some, routine is perfect for the hounds and I.

The hounds tell me it's time for lunch.

Even with that little amount of drama from friends, it's another fine day of retirement here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Pace Of Bloodhound Living Is Fast

As you can see the pollen count was higher today, with Stella scratching more than she did the past three days, where she didn't at all. Wunderground says it's "Moderate" but I have not had to take any allergy tabs for myself. I can say the little study I am doing with the pollen count, Stella's scratching along with my tablet intake is proving to be true. Stella's itching is from pollen, mostly grass and ragweed.

I seem to have been busy this week but when I look around I didn't get that much done. The yard was mowed yesterday afternoon for the first time in weeks. Nothing on the task list was done but I did think about a few things. I've watched a lot of baseball games, some movies and caught up on my lack of sleep. Basically nothing we have done is blog worthy.

So for a change today I thought I'd start the blog photos from right after lunch. At first it looked like there wasn't going to be anything to blog about today either, but after taking the camera with us on the afternoon walk, things picked up. Nothing exciting, but I found some butterflies willing to let me take their picture.

As you can see from the 2nd and 3rd photos, not much happens right after lunch. Heidi will head for the front yard, Stella rarely gets off the carport floor unless she feels like napping in the sunshine (today was hazy) and Sadie will inspect the driveway to make sure I have not missed any weeds with the weedeater, which are still plentiful.

Stella was not interested in walking that soon after lunch nor was she interested in checking out the backyard. She likes to sleep after she eats.

Heidi will and has spent time in the backyard this week, usually alone, just sitting and enjoying the sunshine while I am inside. Even with the field cut in June, she has shown zero interest in taking a walk. It is being a year older? Does she feel bad or just happy to hang out in the yard and inside instead of walking?

Saturday will be nail cutting day for all the hounds. I always do that outside and for some reason today I am lining up a lot of things I want to get done tomorrow, not today.

She didn't go next door but Sadie was very aware of the Yard Sale going on next door. The new neighbors have been there around a month. It seems like the neighborhood will remain quiet and like all the rest of us, they are pretty private people.

By the time Stella finished her carport inspection she was sure there had been a cat or raccoon around checking out our trash can.

Heidi got a little stretching exercise today but that didn't mean she was going anywhere. In fact she led me and the two bloodhounds back inside. She sprinted to the living room, dove on the floor and started growling at herself ... a daily routine for her, right before she sleeps the afternoon away.

It has been a bad allergy day for Stella. I've washed her face a couple of times this morning and by the time this photo downloaded to my computer I could see she needed her eyes cleaned again with that cool wet washcloth.

We never take our camera with us on walks #2 and #3 but today I thought I would, thinking I might see some butterflies and/or a few more photos for blogging. I felt like writing today but I admit the urge to blog lately has not been there. Stella always does this for her afternoon walks lately, one of her new routines she has come up with. It will change in a week or two.

She takes her time getting onto the path but eventually shows up. I think she just likes to see how I will react if she walks the opposite direction.

I was a little surprised that the butterfly stayed there as Sadie walked right past her.

You'll notice the is not much difference between the morning walk and the afternoon walks. There is better light for taking photos, some of those white flowers are closed and there is definitely an increase in butterfly traffic. Stella might even walk a few mph slower than she does in the morning.

I am still using the macOS beta version in 'dark mode' and am pretty sure the 'dark mode' is going to be a permanent feature with me. They had an update to the OS a few nights ago as they get closer to their official release this fall to the public for Apple users.

There are still some of the same idiosyncrasies. Safari and Google Chrome will have me log into the the blog each time I go to the home page. Once I sign in, it takes me automatically to the blogger dashboard where I can start a new post. Yet when I click to reply to a comment it logs me out. Only on Firefox Quantum can I reply to a blog post comment.

Firefox Quantum still uses more data than Safari or Google Chrome. Safari does not track you but testing by the geek websites say that Google Chrome is still tracking you even with their privacy setting that you can change to prevent it. Safari is burning around 2Mb per minute when surfing the internet while Google Chrome is using around 1.6Mb per minute, with Firefox at a high of 2.3Mb per minute.

The weather is starting to heat up again into the high 80's low 90's. The humidity has not been that bad but I am finding out I sleep better with all the windows closed and the AC set at 76° before it turns on. Instead of the windows open and the outside temps in the 60's.

Stella's collar will be included in the next load of laundry I do. Being retired and living in cargo shorts with a t-shirt, I do a lot less laundry than when I worked. It's not that I wear the same shirts every day it's just I can go longer between laundry than I did before. Some of you may remember the problem I had that one time with my washer drain tube overflowing with water all over the floor ... I almost bought a new washer before I figured out it was the drain and not the washer. Since then I have not had the problem show up again.

I'm happy with the tv purchase from a few weeks ago. With the larger screen those four small screens show up very nice, clear and sharp. I've used that feature a few times watching four different baseball games at once.

Not all of these flowers were closed in the afternoon but the majority of them were.

Yesterday when Stella did this, I let her go and followed her. I stepped off the path on our way back home because I was curious where she was going or what she would do. She walked almost to the far right corner of the field, circled an area with her nose to the ground and then wanted to eat whatever she found. That is when I called 'the game' off and led her back to our path to get home. I could not believe we walked all that way just for her to do that.

Today she tried the same thing but turned and came back to the path when I yell her name with an added "no". She is a pretty smart bloodhound when she wants to be. She is possibly the funniest hound I have had in 31 years of having them.

It was getting hotter this afternoon but she was slowly making her way to the house.

There is a small butterfly somewhere on that flower. Can you see it?

While I was busy looking for and taking pictures of butterflies ... Stella decided to take a break.

Sadie in the meantime was ignoring both of us and was way behind us.

I might replant these orange flowers in my yard.

It's the first time I have caught five butterflies on one flower.

This butterfly seemed to be following us to the yard. As we reached the yard and was in the shade it found a shady spot in the field just on the edge of the yard.

This has to be Stella's All-Time Best Drool ... luckily it was gone by the time we walked onto the carport and back inside. Otherwise I would have had to get the 'drool rag' to clean off her mouth before she went back inside the house.

For anyone wondering if I am really using my turntable playing old vinyl LP's ... yes I am. In fact since I bought the new turntable I am playing those old record albums more than I play CDs or digital music on my computer.

I did start a new Facebook account a few days ago but have not been spending that much time there. I wanted to use the Facebook Market Place. I have had too many people tell me that is where they sell more than anywhere else online. It's free, and local pickup so there is no shipping charges and I don't have to collect sales tax. I have a lot of stuff I want to get rid of with my annual spring cleaning that will take place in late summer. It's still cash no matter what time of year it is.

That's about it ... retirement life is good ... nothing going on that is really blog worthy ... I still have a pulse, low blood pressure and a low resting heart rate.

29 days until college football here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Does A Little Stretching

After a lot of time spent on the couch day after day it is good to stretch a little. This didn't mean Heidi was going to go on a walk with us. It just meant she was outside to check the temps and didn't like anything flying around and landing on her. She sprinted to the living room and headed for another afternoon siesta.