Not Bad For A Monday

It is pretty well set in stone that if I don't start doing something outside right after the morning hound walk, it most likely will not get done. Unless it's mowing the lawn. Otherwise I fall into a routine of downloading my photos into my computer and editing them right after the walk. They might go into a blog post and all of them will be exported to and saved on Flickr. A blog post may or may not be written. IF I move into some other activity besides the computer right after the walk ... it's a productive day.

This gives you a pretty good range of the different flowers, weeds etc that are growing in the field right now. The field is so much different than it was when it was cut in June. At that time it was almost all tall grass.

Since my plants in front of the house are too far under the overhang to capture the rain water, right after my hound walk I stepped inside to set the camera down, pickup the 3qt pitcher for water and headed back outside to water the Azaleas and the flowers that I cannot remember their names. Since my hose only goes so far I use the pitcher for the last three plants by the tv and internet satellite dishes.

We started the walk early but that humidity never left overnight. The old thermometer in the carport was a mark under 90° this morning and the air was thick. Low 90's were predicted highs but high humidity makes it feel much hotter. The hounds didn't mind, it was much cooler in the shade as we took our walk. For some reason Stella joined us right from the start this morning.

Knowing it was going to be watering day I was pretty sure I might get some things done before it gets too hot by 1pm. I use to paint houses in this kind of weather centuries ago when I was 19 or 20. Now I have a choice on whether I want to do anything outside in this heat. Lawn mowing is about all I'll do now, when it's hot. It's too wet to mow in the mornings so I don't have a choice but to mow in the afternoons.

There were two things I wanted to get accomplished this morning. The tires on the FJ needed some air. Little did I know just how hard that task would be. Since I was past the 15 days for returning my TV I decided it was time to recycle that huge box the TV came in. Of course to do that I had to take out all of styrofoam packaging because that is not recyclable. Since it wasn't I was going to end up doing something I had not planned on but it worked out well.

I didn't hear any tree limbs breaking this morning as I walked past the woods. Evidently Sadie did. She was almost in an agitated state of mind while she looked into the woods, running back and forth to get a better view. Finally she decided she had better things to do than run through thick brush and thorns just to see what she had heard. She turned and went back to her exploring in the field.

Stella was in the mode of continuous non-stop walking. If I was in the way she would walk on my foot and would never even look up at me. She just kept walking. Maybe she had already decided it was going to get hot today and she wanted to get back to the house as fast as possible. I am never sure what her reasoning is.

With a nice wind from the southwest, I knew if I burned anything, the wind would keep the smoke away from the house and from me. Some readers may cringe and cuss at me under their breath as they read this ... but yes, I burned that styrofoam along with the case I received last December when a Christmas present arrived in dry ice.

With a fire going strong and that terrible black chemical laden smoke blowing toward the northeast, I ran in the house to get the trash can under my desk that includes nothing more than all the street addresses I cut off of my mail before recycling the mail. Since I am a fire lover at heart (not a fan of the forest fires out west though) I grabbed all of my old business records and slowly fed them to the fire. I could have recycled them but it would have been too time consumer of deleting addresses and bank account numbers from the paperwork. Six years of business records went up in smoke, not a trace of them anywhere.

By noon the three hounds outside while I burned paper, were begging to go back inside where the AC had cooled the house the past hour or so. I did not have a camera handy to take my proof but Stella not only had another large drool this morning, but she had been eating dirt. What do you get when you mix water and dirt .... MUD ... hanging from both sides of her jowls. Where's the drool rag?

It was close to lunch time for them and hot enough that I knew once I went inside feeling that nice cold air I wasn't going back outside for a while. Probably not until after 8pm, when it is nice enough to sit outside. Like I said the other day, for some reason there has not been a problem of bugs, gnats or mosquitoes this summer, so sitting outside is enjoyable that time of day.

I have been able to hold off lately and fight through the cravings for ice cream, cookies or candy. I'll eat healthy throughout the day and early evening but by 9pm it is pure insanity craving sweets. Eating sweet fruit does not solve the craving ... drinking water does not either ... only ice cream, cookies or candy will work. Each night is a battle.

Stella has started to get a little more kibble in her bowl starting yesterday. I am going to see if I can put some more weight on those ribs that are showing. She was a lot skinnier than that in February 2017 but gained a lot of her weight back this spring. She weighed 79 pounds in April.

It might look like two butterflies but it's only one this morning. This flower is about 10' from the yard and at the end of our walk if we take the alternate path. I let the bloodhounds decide which path we take and believe it or not, they don't choose the same path all the time.

I didn't get any photos of the hounds after their lunch. What you saw yesterday is the way it is every day. None of them stay outside long and seem more interested in getting back inside to sleep than anything else.

Last week while Sadie was checking for any kind of spilled kibble around the sealed lid container, she not only moved the 25# dumbbell that holds the container in place, but dug out the old Coleman sleeping bag (for the hounds) in the closet to check under it. Then she decided if she would spread it out with her front paws it would be nice to take naps on ... just like the camping trip. She spends every afternoon on that sleeping back for her naps.

Stella had one thing on her mind this morning when walking ... getting into the shaded backyard as soon as possible. It's rare that she is the first one back to the yard, but today was one of those times.
 

I have to admit that shade this morning felt pretty good. It was at least 10°-15° cooler than the field. She still walked without stopping all the way to the carport/kitchen door to be let back inside.

With it being a 'low' pollen count today, she did not stop to scratch herself in the shade nor did she scratch herself inside ... she laid down and went to sleep, which is her second favorite activity right behind eating food.

I almost forgot ... how hard it was to air the tires up. It wasn't or isn't the process of airing them up. It was finding the air pumps to do it. In this small town three mini mart/gas stations have air pumps. One of those accepts debit cards, which is what I live on. I rarely have cash let alone quarters. Well the first pump I went to did not have a sign on it telling me that debit cards were not working. I won't tell you how many times I swiped my card, then slide the car into the slot before figuring out it wasn't working. I also won't tell you the words I was mumbling to myself during that time.

I go to store #2. At least it has a large page sign on the machine telling me it was "Out of Order". I was down to one last chance, otherwise I was on a 25 mile round trip drive just to put air into some tires that were low and needed air as soon as possible. Of course that machine only took quarters. Unlike last time, last year, their ATM machine was working this time so I could at least get some cash without driving around town looking for an ATM machine that worked.

Pretty soon, even this small town will be on nothing but electronic payment. I am not a fan of Apple Pay yet. Anyone else use electronic payment with your smart phone without any kind of issues??

I was successful getting the tires aired up. I passed on their candy, fresh oatmeal cookies and they didn't have Ben&Jerry's ice cream in their (minimart) freezer ... so I got out of the store with 6 quarters for the air pump, some dollar bills for my next trash run and a ten dollar bill for my next fast food run.

All in all, it was a nice day in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana today.

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.