Other Blog Photos Make Me Want To Travel

Winston Wondering If I Will Pull Weeds Again

It's been great weather here in "the tropics" but I seem to be wasting my days away. We spend time outside but not all day and not working projects. The trips are based on when the hounds or I want to go outside. The camera is usually taken and sometimes I'll get some shots that are unique.

Yesterday was one of those times. I took 31 photos of all four hounds lounging in one spot in the yard. Unlike the first group photo where I could barely fit all four hounds together in one photo, this time they stayed in a group and slept some. Here are a few of those. I posted a new album of all 31 photos on my Facebook page. Later tonight after midnight since I am short on data, I'll post all 31 photos to my Flickr account that is linked in the upper left of the blog.

Hard to believe all four hounds stayed in this formation without moving, long enough to take that many photos. You can tell which hound has a hard time of sitting still for any length of time as her nose is working fulltime all the time.

Of course the day started with Sadie and Stella playing as soon as they hit the yard around 9am. They barely got out of the house before they started "attacking" each other. Stella has the black tipped tail and brighter red collar.

For the 2nd day in a row, Heidi came out with the other dogs, laid in the backyard and for the first time that I can remember ... she went on the walk and led the pack for the 2nd day in a row. Even after the bloodhounds and I went inside after the photo shoot of them laying around, she and Winston slept in the grass for almost 30 minutes longer before they came inside. I would think she has to be feeling better if she does that. Her skin is growing new hair on her rear legs and shoulder ... it's a slow process but it is coming back.

We start the 2nd week of her taking a the new probiotic today.

First it was just one hound, then two, then four .. they enjoy that sun after they eat around 1pm, as long as the temps are no higher than the low 80's.

There are photos that I do miss though. Like the deer the other day. A lot of photos of Sadie and Stella inside doing things together because they seem to move or stop what they are doing once they see I have the camera on them. Like right now they are laying next to each other chewing bones, a few that Sadie hadn't touched in months/years but Stella found them and put them into a pile.

It wasn't all about hounds yesterday, nor photos ... a lot of it was me thinking about RVing. Yes, that urge hit again yesterday stronger than ever. I thought back to our trip in June and by the way the hounds acted yesterday relaxing together quietly ... I could see they all could do well traveling again.

I don't know what brought on the RVing urge. It could have been all the travel blogs I read and probably their beautiful photos of the places they are. It might be the things I see in the house and yard or even the driveway ... that are a never ending maintenance effort. I also wondered how much electric power will increase once the new EPA laws are put into place for coal based power plants.

My local utility company co-op is very concerned about that and all that means is a large increase in cost for electrical power in the future.

I thought back to the first time I read about Glenn at www.tosimplify.net, who is now traveling in a VW Vanagon. I also read a few blogs where the travelers live in converted vans for long periods of time if not fulltime. I know a van is not a good option for me with the hounds, nor is a truck camper that I thought about a few years ago. Yet those blogs remind me of the trip this summer, the time in the 70's I also lived in a VW van by choice in Southern California along the beach. Or the summer trip riding my bicycle cross country and then up the west coast to Seattle.

When I read about people repairing their large Class A or Class C ... I wonder how much those repair costs are. Probably none of my business but it would give people besides me that are on the fence of which RV to buy, an idea if they can afford a used RV if they knew the actual repair costs. Those few bloggers that have posted their monthly expenses after a year of full time travel show me that I would need to sell my house to travel the majority of time.

Yet those photos of the SW, Glacier NP, all the Utah NPs, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas are a major draw ... having me wanting to travel. Like I said the other day, the urge is always there and will be always there.

I know it's best for the time being for Heidi to remain here under a routine to help her heal. She is slowly getting better. That's not using her as an excuse for not traveling ... it's just a fact. Sure she would jump in the FJ right now if I decided to leave but down the road under her current condition it wouldn't be good for her. She was not skeleton skinny when we traveled in June.

I also wondered what we would be doing if I had kept the Coachmen Class C and still retired when I did in April 2014. I would not have been towing a car/FJ. All the four vehicles I had at the time were NOT potential toads for the Coachmen. After finding out the seller lied about the year and the reason for the discrepancy in the year showing on the paperwork, the Coachmen had a smaller engine than what I thought I was getting. I should have been smarter than that and checked the VIIN for size of engine and the real year of the RV but I did not know how to do that at the time of purchase.

While I slowly climbed the mountains in Colorado this past June in my Toyota FJ, I knew then the Coachmen Class C would have had a hard time towing a vehicle up and over those mountains.  It would have been hard just for it to get over them, although many people do travel all over the west in Class C's towing a car. So how well would that have worked out with the Class C being the only vehicle and 3-4 hounds?

There were not then and are not now any regrets selling that Class C in 2014.

Even while looking at the photos on all the blogs and seeing great places .. I also remembered my thoughts I wrote about on this blog, where I was sitting in a great State Park north of Rifle Colorado with great views. I had fed the hounds, they drank all the water they wanted, the tent was set up and they were sleeping in the shade ... while I sat at the picnic table thinking "what next" and a slight feeling of boredom. Would that feeling gone away the longer I traveled? Was my only enjoyment planning the trip and driving?

So for all the pluses I was feeling yesterday I remembered the negatives. Later those thoughts went away as we sat in the sunshine and later doing the daily walk through the field on a beautiful afternoon. Heidi and Stella were leashed, the other two roamed free and Winston was slow as usual ... but he's over 11 now and I have to remember that. We all enjoy living here but it's probably time for another short vacation or roadtrip.

On a side note, over the years, a few times I have even stopped this blog and almost shut it down ... thinking the less RV stuff I saw would make the travel urge go away. It would only be weeks later that I would return to reading all the blogs and start blogging here again. I drove some readers crazy with my decisions going back and forth. A couple even were angry ... lol

No, I am not having any second thoughts about not selling out and traveling. I'm fine with the decisions I've made. Plus the 4th hound, Stella is not a factor ... she is simply a great bloodhound that is willing to go anywhere I want to go. The word "go" even gets her excited. I had to fight to keep both bloodhounds from jumping into the back of the FJ as I unloaded my groceries the other day.

Well it's that time of morning where Sadie has come and nudged my forearm as I type to let me know it's time to go out for them to play and search the yard and field for any animal intrusions while they slept. Maybe I'll get something done today ... all three things I would have to do while traveling ... cleaning, laundry and maintenance.

I am trying to decide whether to continue to blog first thing in the morning with photos taken the previous day or blog later in the afternoon or evening with photos taken during that day. A typical tough decision in the life of retirement.

It's still great weather in "the tropics" and the day has just started.

The Hounds Never Stop Surprising

First of all before I get started writing about the hounds, I have to say I experienced great Exede Satellite Internet Service (ViaSat) .. customer service again. In the past 15 months I haven't called them that much but the few times I have, every time they provide something extra. The other day I told you since I was at my monthly data limit, speeds would slow except I would get the high speed between Midnight - 5am.

It was after midnight and my speeds didn't increase. You forget how different the modern day speeds are on your internet connection until you are churning less than one megabit per second. The lady on the other side of the phone saw that my connection was "congested" even at 12:35am, but if it continued the next day I was to call before 9pm so I could talk to the technical reps.

In the meantime she gave me a free Gb of data so I could check it out during those prime hours of 8am-9pm. By yesterday morning I was back to speeds of 12-15Mbps. I will also say to those readers that may find this information by searching, I've rarely had any downtime even during the worst of thunderstorms. When I did, those downtime periods were less than one hour, not days. Exede Satellite is good internet service. It's too bad they are not in the mobile market.

A short blip for the camera readers ... I am at one week with ZERO issues after I did the firmware update and a lens software update on the Nikon D3200 site.

Now on to the hounds.

It's not only Stella that is amazing me and I must admit she has sent me off the charts with surprises ... all good ones. It's the other three hounds that have had a little disruption to their routines, at times couch space, shared bones, shared water ... they have adapted like all hounds do, no matter the breed. While Stella has gotten more comfortable in her new home, the hounds have also become more comfortable with their new housemate.

Grass Is Too Wet To Lay Down

Where Is Winston Going?

Nothing Like Late Afternoon Sunshine

Heidi knows that Stella can touch her nose without feeling intimidated and can nap next to each other. Winston knows he now shares his couch space at night and can use Stella as his pillow and vice versa. Sadie knows that "her" water is also Stella's water, as well as her bones. She also knows she can play and run as hard as she wants with Stella. They practically do everything together now, even walking near each other on the daily walk.

Stella has not been here a month yet. The first month will be completed on the 30th of September. She is only on the leash during our daily walk. She knows her new name and responds to "no". She also has her favorite spot in the backyard in the sun to nap.

Stella is just as good as her previous owner told me she was ... if not better.

Heidi's skin continues to improve, although she is not gaining her weight back. She will eat non stop if I would supply that much food. Once again she went outside once the sun was up, every time the other hounds did. The big news ... she wanted to lead the pack on the daily walk yesterday. That is a sure sign she is feeling better. Her coat has never been better since changing to the Earthborn Holistic Dog Food.

Winston was testing me yesterday with his stubbornness. He was finding things to eat in the field yesterday, that's never a good thing and he would ignore me when I told him to stop multiple times. After the long walk yesterday where he goes at a speed that is slower than slow, he decided to wander off after I took off his leash/collar. He never left the backyard but decided he wasn't coming inside until HE was ready. He also refused to face the camera during the photo shoots.

Sadie is the same daily ... no changes. Her and Stella played hard, did some sprints, sat together inside next to the same bone and shared the dog bed in the corner for their afternoon siesta.

Sadie Has Always Loved The Field

They started the day by checking our 'their' yard in the morning.

When we went out after their lunch, they failed to see the 5-7 deer lined up along the edge of the field by the woods. By the time I quietly hooked up Stella to the tether just in case she would see them and take off, picked up my camera, they were all gone back into the woods. Needless to say later in the day when we walked by the area I had seen them ... all four hounds were going crazy tracking the deer scents.

The deer I spotted from the house were at the edge of the woods and field, just to the right of that corner. Just inside that wooded area it drops dramatically into a deep deep gully.

One of our trips outside in the late afternoon before the daily walk, Sadie was in the mood to play. I am pretty sure she likes her new friend as she has not been this active since she was a puppy 7 years ago.

Just another day in "the tropics".

Stella Is A Food Thief

As she continues to get use to her new home, she is starting to act more and more like a bloodhound. She is no longer laying next to me wherever I might be in the house. She will now go anywhere in the house that is comfortable and sleep there. She had shown signs of being a "possible" food thief ... last night she proved it 100%.  LOL

All the hounds were huddled around the coffee table as I was watching the NFL game Sunday night. I had decided to really fall off my diet wagon and order a pizza. It was a large, 8 slices and the plan is always saving some for some cold pizza breakfast or another lunch. Somewhere between slices 5 or 6, Stella decided she had enough observing me feeding myself.

I must admit, with the amount of space available to pull this maneuver off, I was really impressed. If only I would have had a camera nearby it would have been some great photos. To give you some idea of what she did, let me position each of the hounds for you.

I am sitting on the couch on the right end, Winston  is laying on the floor to my left between the couch and coffee table, Heidi has of course stopped sleeping and crawled out of bed because she could smell food, she is sitting to my right on the floor and Sadie is under the coffee table with her face/mouth in position for any quick pickups in case something drops to the floor.

Stella being new to our pizza evolution is standing to the left of me but behind where Winston is laying. She seemed like she was at a safe distance, I ate in peace. Without any warning, all I see is a blur, Stella has jumped over Winston in the area between the couch and coffee table, does a very quick swipe across the box of sliced pizza with her head ... but as she tries to run by me and jump over Heidi, she "fumbles" the piece of pizza .... upside down ... on Sadie's back, which was sticking outside of the coffee table.

The hounds cannot figure out what is going on. Stella stops in front of the tv looking back at the "fumble" and I stare at a piece of pizza upside down on Sadie's back. All in the matter of one minute if not faster. By the time Sadie could crawl out from under the coffee table attempting to get the prized piece of pizza,  I had picked up the pizza off her back without dropping any sausage or pepperoni ... and before Heidi could get to it. Winston was so amazed at what happened, he never moved.

It was tempting to attempt to "save" the piece of pizza with very little damage, just a few red bloodhound hairs ... but I decided it was best to throw it away. Needless to say, when as I walked to the kitchen towards the trash can I DID pick up the box of pizza that had the last two slices and carried them with me ... shoulder high.

After sleeping in a little, until sunrise, we were not outside long. Took a few shots. You could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. As you can see from the photos ... the hounds were pretty laidback today.









In this first photo you can barely see Winston inside the giant ragweed, center of photo.

Sadie returns from her morning restroom trip.

After lunch all of the hounds went outside as we normally do. Winston, Sadie and Stella weren't doing anything that was worth photographing, they were in the back ... I glanced around and Heidi wasn't around. She never runs off and is usually at the door waiting to go back inside. Today she wasn't there. As I start my turn around the corner of the house to check the front yard ... there she was, sitting peacefully in the sun watching traffic. Sorry for the poor photo.

Even after a little afternoon siesta ... you can take those anytime you want when you are retired ... the hounds evidently didn't get all of their sleep finished. Some late afternoon sun put them right back to sleep.

Winston's favorite spot.

This seems to be Stella's favorite spot ... Sadie is too hyper to sleep outside, she has to snoop everywhere.

Here are some photos from Sunday. Winston continues to make sure the bloodhounds follow the rules.

These past few days I've had to deal with extremely slow internet speeds, therefore it takes forever to upload photos into the blog. I reached my 15Gb per month a few days ago, way too early. My new cycle starts the 28th of September. I uploaded too many photos to Flickr, Facebook and this blog during "prime time" and those suck up data like crazy. I get free data between midnight until 5am.

Those hours use to be good for me to do any software updates and load photos but recently since I've been getting up between 5:30am and 6am, I rarely make it to midnight. No problem though. Even with internet speeds of POINT 48 or 49Mb ... instead of 15+ Mb's ... my current speed is still 500 times faster than the old phone dial up of 56 kilobits ... where you were usually in the 30's.

I hope to get out around the area this week and take some different photos ... I'm not sure the hounds will go with me. They get too excited when the FJ stops. They continue to do well on the daily walks though.

Beautiful weather here in "the tropics".