Summer Still Trying To Hang On

High energy right there

Even though the overnight temps are in the 40's and 50's ... daytime temps have been perfect here in the tropics. These next few days we will see high 70's and one day in the 80's. Because of that I put the jeans back in the closet and pulled out the summer cargo shorts and a t-shirt. I'll help all I can to keep summer around.

Those three things I listed on Monday that I planned to do ... never got started, except I did run out to replenish my coffee supply. Priorities right? With the simplest of tasks not getting started you can tell this has been a pretty laidback week so far.

The hounds played a little but not a lot. Winston has already started his winter hibernation activity ... a lot of sleeping. When they have come outside this week, they are mostly in the search and destroy mode. As you can see the frost last weekend killed a lot of the wild flowers in the field.

Heidi, that's normal for her. It's only been a few days since I changed her food back to include rice, barley ... all the good grains. I actually think I can see a little weight gain around her ribs. If so that is great news.

With the change from "no grain" dog food, her skin rash has not increased. In fact since I started adding the Probiotic Miracle to her food a few weeks ago, her skin has continued to improve and at the least has stabilized.

That tells me what I always thought, what my last vet thought back in February ... her skin problem is caused by environmental allergies, and is not a food allergy. I just hope these next 6-10 months she can regain her weight that was lost this past spring and summer.

Sadie and Stella had a short burst of energy this morning, but it didn't last long and within minutes after coming back inside, they were both in a deep sleep. Their inner clocks will get them up around 12:30pm, and they will let me know it's time to eat. Stella is doing more and more begging for food and is quite jealous in the attention department. She will do anything, anywhere, to get between me and Sadie when I am petting her.

I thought a few weeks ago I had mowed the yard for the last time. I had lowered my mower the next level which was a mistake. I've done that before and said it was a mistake. So today I am going to mow again, raising the blade back to the higher level. I have some grass in different spots that need mowing, plus it will mulch what leaves are on the ground.

I am still thinking about if I am going to leave for the winter this year. I have to admit, some days the urge to travel is there and some days it's not. Single digit temps later on may make that decision much clearer.

That's about all from "the tropics" today.

Stella's Personality Begins To Show

One of the most important tools for a sports addict that does not have enough televisions to keep up with all the football and baseball games that are currently shown at times simultaneously ... is the tv remote control. In my case it is the DirecTv remote control. Believe it or not, from the photos, this remote control still works perfectly and will be used until it doesn't. Then a quick call to DirecTv's customer service and they will ship me a new one free of charge, no questions asked.

It all started sometime Saturday as I was sitting at the computer. Both bloodhounds were in their normal positions on the floor next to each other, chewing on various dog bones that have been bought over the years. There is a familiar sound when they are chewing on nylabone or a real bone. So it was pretty obvious to me when I heard a different sound, something was up and that sound made me get out of my desk chair to investigate.

What I saw shocked me!! I mean she is 6 years old and this was something you would see if she was 6 months old maybe. That DirecTv remote was held between Stella's two front paws and I could tell she was enjoying how the soft plastic felt as her large molars bit down. There was enough force from her jaws that both halves of the remote had popped open. My only concern was, did the remote still work before the games started within the hour, since I had 14 hours worth of games to watch and needed to be able to change channels from my seat on the couch.

I took the remote from her, said "no" loudly and gave her one of the dog bones, which she started chewing immediately. If you could have seen her face when she looked up at me with the remote between her paws, there was no way you could be mad at her.

I snapped the two haves of the remote back together, wiped off the bloodhound drool from the sensor in front of the remote and gave it a try. It worked perfectly.

Wasn't it just a few days ago I had mentioned I was waiting for her to do something, anything bad? I see now I should not have said that. It's like going on a long trip hoping and verbalizing you hope you don't get a flat tire and then for the first time in years, you have a flat tire on the trip.

I wasn't mad at her because she is simply a great and well mannered bloodhound. Every day or at least every week, as time passes ... Stella's personality continues to show. Just like any dog that is in a new home, it takes a while for them to get use to their new environment and routines. She is now whining to go outside when she needs to. Just today before I wrote this blog post, she started that bloodhound howl when I asked her if she wanted to eat.

It's usually Heidi that barks to let me know it's time for the hounds to be fed and she was today ... Stella decided to join her.

Not a lot going on but a lot planned. House cleaning, doing just a few dishes from last night, maybe some laundry today, but probably tomorrow ... the most important ... a run to the store to pick up some coffee and sugar.

Temps have been in the high 50's and is again today. Heidi was shivering when she came outside this morning. Still after the brunch, she came outside to lay in the grass in the sun. All four hounds seem to find the sun on a regular basis.

Stella and Sadie have been so focused on being fed today, they have not even played at all today. Currently all the hounds are asleep since they have been fed and made their after meal trip outside. Normal routine for them.

Here are a more photos from this weekend and today.

Heavy frost Saturday morning

Winston is eating dirt like pictured below

What is it about this dirt he likes to eat it so much????

"I wasn't doing what you saw me do"

Some Saturday morning playing ... then just like that they stop and go off searching new smells.

Some Monday early afternoon sunshine.

Stella even has Sadie laying down now ... she never did before

While I raked leaves in the backyard again Sunday, Stella stayed in this position for the hour. I had to rake around her, she never moved.

Another fast paced weekend in "the tropics".

The Fast Paced Life Of Hounds

I debated whether to wait until Saturday morning to post these photos instead of making a 2nd post for today. Most bloggers post once per day, a few I follow post numerous times per day ... so here is my 2nd post of the day.

About the time I opened the door to go outside, Sadie locked into a squirrel that was standing on top of the fence that runs along the driveway. She took off sprinting after her target with Stella following her just as fast. Winston took off but had no idea what the excitement was about. The squirrel climbed the tree in the center of the photo. It should be a fun fall with the squirrels back in action. They are checking after the fact that it really was a squirrel on their property.

Friday afternoon turned out to be too much for the hounds. They spent most of the afternoon doing what the photos below show ... up until the daily walk. Heidi decided to stay inside for both adventures and was not included in this afternoon's photo shoot.

Only one MLB playoff game tonight ... a little rest for all of us before the sports marathon that happens every fall weekend in my house.

There are too many smells outside that make Sadie's nose work on a constant basis ... she would never have time to lay and sleep in the sun.

Hard To Believe It's Friday

Most of the days seem the same during retirement. I remember while working that Friday was a great day because it was the start of a weekend and I LOVED weekends. It always 'felt' like Friday. Not anymore. That's fine though because I enjoy each day with good health and freedom. I guess you could say in some way for the past 18 months I've been living a "hounds life".

Our routines are consistently the same, most of the time. I admit though I do ask myself at times if I am living or just existing. I had plans after retirement when I first saw Glenn's article on Yahoo Business page, on a Friday in October 2011. I knew people traveled all over the place in RVs, many of them pass by my house. What I did not know until that day was just how many people lived full-time in their RVs and how many people traveled full-time in their RVs. The more blogs I read after that the more I wanted to do it.

So as I read more blogs, my retirement date changed from 'whenever' to the age of 62. Instead of staying where I am now, I started getting plans to travel, maybe sell out and move west where I had spent 20+ years of my life. Long time readers of my blog remember all my ideas, going back and forth on plans, etc. I'll not bore you with the details. For new readers all of that is documented in my past posts listed on the right side under 'Archives'.

So yesterday afternoon was just like most afternoons in my schedule. No plans, just do things at random. As I took the hounds outside after their meal, camera in hand, I thought I'd get the rake out of storage just in case I decided to rake some leaves. I sat the camera down and by the time I got to the backyard I decided to rake a small section. That lead to the whole back yard. That's how things go most of the time in my life of retirement.

There wasn't that many leaves but still quite a few. Unlike last year when I left them until the end after all the leaves had fallen off the trees. Last year at times I was walking in piles of leaves that were over three feet tall. It turned into multiple days of work to get rid of all of them.

I had a thought this year of doing a little every day. It only took 55 minutes to rake the backyard and burn those that were collected. There are still more leaves on the trees than on the ground so I know there is a lot of work ahead. I may have raked them yesterday but I might end up using my leaf blower next time and either mulching them or blowing them into a pile to burn.

Stella seems to influence the other hounds into laying in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Always before Winston and Sadie were always in the searching mode but while I raked the backyard yesterday all four hounds laid in the yard enjoying the sunshine. Heidi enjoyed it so much she stayed outside in the sun until I went out an hour later to bring her inside.

This morning was the same normal routine. Is it living or existing? With a college football game not starting on tv until 10:35pm last night, I was up until 3:30am and basically forced myself to go to bed instead of staying up all night. The game was over around 2am but I stayed up after the game to read news, sports, blogs then some of my book. I played around on my blog and changed the profile pictures of three of the hounds. I started to change my profile but I don't have any idea what to write, so I stopped where I did.

It's another beautiful day today, just like this past week. I am happy where I am, I enjoyed the trip we took last summer and know there are more trips planned in the future even with a 4th hound. There will be a few adjustments for storage as I had planned even before getting Stella. I might also get a bigger tent, one that I can stand in and a 8'x8' floor. I'm not sure when that will happen. Weather and finances will most likely dictate my decision.

Speaking of finances, I see where I will not be getting a pay raise this year with social security nor my government retirement check. The 'experts' claim the price of gasoline has decreased enough to validate that decision, that it cost less to live this past year so we can pay for that next year. Yet, I see the price of groceries, eating out, non food essentials going up in price every few weeks when I shop. How do they account for that?

Stella has been here long enough she is now starting to demand things like any good bloodhound does. She whines a little when she wants to eat. She will sit by my desk staring at the wall with her eyes barely open when she wants something. She is jealous and wants all the attention when I pet the other three hounds. She has claimed the couch as hers and I should feel lucky I have somewhere to sit while watching ballgames. Here is a photo of her "wanting something".

Back to that question of living or existing. Sure my retirement life could be a lot more exciting. At the same time it is exactly what I thought it would be before I read or even knew about any RV blogs. I've made the decisions I've made for some reasons I discussed here on the blog and a few reasons that are private. Basically I enjoy every day whether I do nothing but hangout or I decide on spur of the moment to go somewhere or rake the backyard.

In retirement it's the freedom that is enjoyable ... whether on the road traveling ... or doing what you want when you want at home living in a stick's 'n bricks. To me, that's living ... not just existing. I'm sure the hounds love their routine, their sleeping spots that never change, and dinner time the same every day. They have enough area in back to exercise their noses and stimulate brain cell activity ... this photo of Sadie shows there is a LOT of brain cell activity going on.

The two bloodhounds are finding out they need to play everyday ... inside or outside. At least three of the hounds crave that daily walk with Heidi doing the walk only when she feels like it.

Winston is just Winston ... he never changes from one day to the next. He has been as laidback as he is now since the day he showed up at 8 weeks old.

Heidi is feeling better and is looking better. Even though it has not been the recommended 5 weeks before improvement can be seen using the probiotics supplement. I see that her skin is looking better plus her energy levels is getting back to what she was last year before all of these health issues. She is spending more time outside.

I was thinking last week that a possible reason she is not gaining her weight back is because of her diet. Her diet of no grain food. I thought of my diet change in May when I went back to eating red meat, fish and chicken along with veggies ... but no grains. I lost weight and have maintained that 20 lbs loss after 5 months. "No grains" ... If I lost weight and maintained that loss, maybe that is why she is not gaining her weight back as her skin and health improves.

I have a close friend that emailed me yesterday after seeing Heidi's picture, saying that maybe she would gain weight by putting her back on a dog food diet that included the rice, barely ... other good grains. We were thinking the same way.

So I am going to give that a try. I've started the diet change immediately after going out to get her some Fromm dog food that includes grains with duck and duck meal as the main protein source. The other 3 hounds are on Fromm's Senior food to maintain their weight. I wanted Heidi to have a lot of fat in her diet along with high protein.

I'll note any changes in my spreadsheet along with photos. She is feeling better and is also returning to be demanding as the hound that barks for lunch for her and all the other hounds.

Another great day in retirement, even in "the tropics" of southern Indiana.