Saturday Morning Showers

A loud roar of thunder and lightning bright enough to light up the bedroom woke me a little after 6am. From what I could tell neither hound moved or sat up in the corner of the bedroom where they share a spot to sleep. I knew that I was not getting up that early again today and was back to sleep in seconds. Would our morning walk be rained out ??

The field was not as wet as I anticipated but it took forever to get Stella from the corner of the house, then into the yard and then into the field. She must have been remembering the hour before when I let her out to start the day and it was dark and pouring rain. She is not a fan of any kind of rain. Once she started the walk in the field she was okay as we continued on with an occasional rain sprinkle hitting my hand.

I couldn't capture this fast enough but she was tangled up in the thorn bushes. Bloodhounds are not problem solvers and their only response to a puzzle like that is just apply more force to tear away. That type of movement has resulted in a trip to the vet only one time in 21 years. Sadie sliced the inside of her ear open when she was a puppy by a razor-sharp thorn.

We are supposed to get almost 2" of rain today but it will be hit or miss as the thunderstorms roll though the Ohio Valley. I hope that does not cancel the Reds game at 2:10pm today. Currently there is a huge storm that won't miss us, southwest of us in Missouri.

Only two basketball games tonight as the single elimination tournament slowly reduces the 68 team field to four teams after this weekend. There have really been some good ballgames this year if you are a basketball fan, some questionable calls by the referees and some exciting last second finishes.

You might be able to tell I am grasping at straws this morning for something to write about. I've tired of the political scene and understand we have moved into the next Plan B in Democratic Party strategy. It's a long way to November 2020 and I've had enough of the political bullshit I could puke. So the tv stays off the news channels, in fact none of them are even programmed in my tv remote control.

I'll glance at the headlines online but that will be about it.

Stella continued her policy of not getting her feet any wetter than necessary and walked just off the edge of the path. I didn't feel the same saturation I felt this last week on the walk. That was strange because I saw more spots of standing water from the storms last night, which Stella and I walked around.

I had another good day of following my eating plan. I could not wait until Monday morning to see if I had lost a pound or two these past 7-10 days so I hopped on the scale this morning before I did anything. It was nice to see I had dropped two pounds and that is right on schedule for weight loss ... actually the experts tell me to expect to lose 1-1/2 pounds per week. I can live with that.

I'm going to leave you with the photos of the rest of the walk and step away from my computer. I'm not sure what I will be doing today. Due to weather I might be reading a lot today. I think a little 'cabin fever' has set in plus ... the words are hard to find this morning.

Heidi has the best plan of all for surviving a crappy weather day. I still say she is the smartest of all three of us.

It's still good though, in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Start Off Strange

As I start writing this morning the day is a little over 3 hours old for us. Stella was determined to wake my up in the dark as her whine was the loudest I had ever heard as I tried to comprehend what was going on. That isn't the strange start that I am speaking about in the post title though. The normal routine is me turning on the light then BOTH hounds run to the door to be let outside because they know that as they are reliving themselves I am pouring their breakfast kibble into their bowls.

So strange and it had to be a first ... ever. I am at the door having to wait for both of them. For some reason Heidi had sprinted around the corner to the living room and was on the couch, Stella was standing looking at me as if she was trying to figure out why did she have to go outside. Compare this to their normal running to the door ... that is a strange start to the day. It wasn't raining and it was a little after 6am, normal time for them.

It didn't end there.

For some strange reason I was ready to go and wanted to start the walk a little earlier than normal, at 8am. Stella was sitting in the open area in my small house which is next to the kitchen island but right outside my computer room. With her front legs crossed, she didn't have any plans of going anywhere. After all she had not drank her water yet before the walk.

I had to stand at the door, holding it open, telling her to "come on" and could barely get her out of the house. So strange !!!! As I took my daily photo of the field across the highway from my carport step, Stella sat in the middle of the carport and wasn't moving. As I was taking my first step in the field, she was standing at the corner of the house not wanting to go anywhere, acting as if it was raining.

It had rained a little over night but there wasn't standing water anywhere, nor was the yard or field that wet but for some reason she did not want to take the walk this morning. Maybe she didn't like me choosing the time we walk?

After a lot of verbal convincing, she slowly stepped slowly in the yard and it was like she was taking her last steps as she entered the field and walked passed me. I could almost hear her dragging her paws on the ground because she was walk that slow.

It's a good thing when my boots built for snow are used more after rain. Looking back at this past winter here in 'the tropics' we really did have a pretty mild winter. We had very few days of single digit temps and really only one period with some substantial snow but that was it. I might have to check out the Farmer's Almanac and see what the weather prediction for this summer is.

While I enjoyed the warm morning, Stella moved over to the old return path and was on a deer scent. Things had flipped to normal just like that. I was finished with verbal suggestions for her today so I let her go at her own pace as long as she was within my view. I had to stand waiting more than a few times for her to proceed through the walk.

I did not finish watching the Oregon - Virginia basketball game last night. I had seen enough by 11:45 pm and went to bed. There were some pretty good college basketball games last night, a couple of upsets all after an afternoon of watching baseball. I will follow that same routine today ... but I still feel slightly motivated for some reason today.

Besides vacuuming the house and doing some dusting, I might hit the yard after this post and start the process of picking up all the small sticks throughout the yard and add them to my burn pile. There are a ton of them laying in the backyard and front yard all the way down to the highway.

The eating plan still continues to be successful. Every time I wanted something sweet yesterday I ate an apple or a bowl of mixed berries. I buy the large bag of  blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. That solved the urge for something sweet. It was not intended but it turned out to be a "meatless" Thursday. I followed recommended portions on everything I ate except the size of my lunch salad. Those salads have always been large.

I almost forgot, but we had some major excitement yesterday in the 'hood. I heard a pretty loud, low flying helicopter as I was watching baseball. We do have helicopters pass the house but never this loud and never that low sounding ... I headed outside and grabbed the Nikon D3200 sitting on the table.

I was right. As the helicopter was leaving it was barely clearing the tops of both trees down by the highway. Across the highway on the single path road next to the field that leads to the old steel bridge, were two state patrol cars, three and then a few minutes later four county sheriff cars and SUVs.

I have no idea what was taking place. I didn't see anyone apprehended but about an hour after they all left, the local town police pulled into that road and drove all the way down to the steel bridge.

That was the excitement for the day until the end of the Reds baseball game.

As you can see, Stella was in her detailed investigation mode this morning.

I was curious if she would go all the back to the back of the far right corner of the field. She has not been in that area more than once since Sadie left us. It has not been the first time I have thought that Sadie basically took care of and and led Stella on the walk ... getting her to keep moving, to track scent and cover a lot more field than Stella has since last September. Sadie use to sprint to catch up to me, Stella never does.

This is about the best I can do making a panoramic photo of the field, as I stood next to Stella in the southern corner of the field. I can see our path, and have for years, on Google Satellite ... pretty interesting.

It was good to see some small green buds on the bushes in the background ... another sure sign that spring is near.

I want to know what came out of here and where did it go?

have not viewed any tv news since early Thursday morning. The silence is fantastic.

When the camera catches Stella's paw in the air while she is walking, does that show just how slow she is walking ... one step at a time, in slow motion. No time table and definitely no schedule for her.

She didn't stop to look today but did glance over toward the neighbor's house just to make sure things were fine over there.

This morning's strangeness continued as she did NOT check out the corner on the right, nor did she sniff along the edges of the fence line and around each tree. Maybe it is because she heard me tell her "I have to go buy dog food" and decided it was best to get back inside as soon as possible.

own I only closed the door with the baby gate as a backup. I wasn't going to be gone for more than 5-7 minutes.

It was good to feel a dry door knob when I got back because that meant she had not tried to open the door while I was gone. I also commended myself as I walked in and out of the local hardware store with only a 40 pound bag of dog food on my shoulder and not Baby Ruth candy bar in my pocket nor did I stop for a free warm bag of popcorn that they make in an old popcorn popper. All of these activities were finished by 8:35am.

It will be interesting to see if the strange routines from this morning will take place tomorrow morning.

Otherwise, it's a great day for baseball and baseball on tv here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.