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".

Stella Passes Her Last Test

It was earlier than I wanted it to be for a Saturday morning but it seems to be the norm lately ... woken at 5:30am by one or more of the hounds wanting to go outside. Of course since I am the designated doorman for them, they have to wake me up. This time, as I found out after it happened, a large bloodhound paw stepped on my ankle ... that woke me up.

By the time I had figured out what was going on ... one certain bloodhound was standing over me and staring down at me inches from my face. What??? Stella had jumped up on the bed, stepping on my ankle, and I guess needed to get outside pretty quick. It wasn't just her. She had also woken the other 3 hounds and now it was a joint effort ... it was time to get up with the clock saying 5:18am.


Outside we went ... it is beautiful that time of day, only today there was a slight drizzle. That's hard for me to say being a lifetime "night person". Yes, once again Stella goes sprinting into the field, as does Sadie. Heidi heads for her spot in front and Winston has his in the back. This wasn't the test that Stella passed, she already had yesterday by coming back to the house when she was finished, instead of running away following her nose.

No, today her final test was ... THUNDER.

Later Saturday Afternoon - Sun Is Out

That was part of her bio when I decided to bring her home to "the tropics". She had separation anxiety and was afraid of thunder. Well this morning not soon after the first cup of coffee was started, a nice loud piece of thunder passed through a little before 6:30am. My very first basset hound, Harry, was terrified of thunder and storms so I know what the worst looks like.

Stella didn't even pant in fear. She didn't whine, She didn't sprint all over the house trying to find a place to get out. She laid down behind my desk chair like she does every time I am on the computer (too much lately) and went to sleep.

There were more claps of thunder, some of it just faintly rolling in the background, but the loudest noise in the house at that time was Stella's stomach was growling as if she needed to be fed 7 hours early.

Stella and Winston found the wet tall grass very tasty so they added some to their diet for the day. The only thing Sadie wanted to do was get back inside the house. She wasn't interested in the dark overcast skies.

Sadie In The Lead

As far as the separation anxiety, I also have seen the extreme side of that when Sadie was a puppy. Stella shows none of those extremes while I have been gone. Of course she is now in a good sized room with three other hounds that are all free to walk, lay, sleep where they want, as is Stella. That probably makes a huge difference in her history of having separation anxiety.

It's another weekend full of college and pro football. The rain is scheduled for this morning but I can also see we are not getting much rain, nothing like the radar shows. That rain will be gone by late morning with a clear day afterword.

Here are some photos taken later Saturday afternoon as we took a break from football between games and prepared for the the daily dog walk.

Heidi is showing more energy lately. That's a good sign that she is feeling better. I have to thank a blog reader along with a local friend, both suggesting soaking Heidi in Epsom Salts for her skin issues.

Winston was back to his old self by last night. He wanted up on the couch and slept most of the night next to Stella and I while I watched a college football game and the Reds baseball game in Milwaukee.

Sadie is just Sadie. She spends most of her time at night in two different places. She either sleeps under the coffee table or takes the "big man's" chair. One thing I have noticed these past three weeks since I changed her dog food ... she no longer comes to get me, frantic to get outside ... frantic is the correct word to use. She would then sprint to the field and start chewing grass, or hay. I can only think it had something to do with the food I was feeding her before this month.

Reading some other blogs, some are seeing snow in the mountains, some are wrapping up their travel plans for the winter and have set their departure dates while others are stationary but have the ability to change locations since their homes are RVs. It will be interesting to see if the El Nino forecast will be accurate.

We will enjoy the next ten days or so with highs in the upper 70's, maybe a couple days in the low 80's ... that's some nice weather and the good thing is, it is just outside the door. I would be willing to trade a mountain for that corn field across the highway though.

That's about all that took place from "the tropics" of Southern Indiana on Saturday.