Sadie's Afternoon Game Of Fetch

Needless to say after Friday morning's excitement around noon with their workout of chasing the deer, the rest of the day for the hounds was anti-climatic. The hounds were fed, they napped, they did nothing ... remember they are retired, just like me. I started the afternoon walk aware this time. I made sure I had the right lens attached (200mm), I put the 6' standard leash in my back pocket in case I needed it and I looked ahead to make sure the coast was clear.

After Stella finally caught up with me and Sadie, she immediately started tracking the path of the deer this morning and was heading for the 'no fly zone'. I called her, she stopped and I put the leash on her .... just for a short distance. After I unleashed her, she stayed in front of me most of the way home.

I needed to wrap up some laundry I had been doing, plus finish some games of Mahjong ... all with the purpose of "wasting time" until my IU game comes on at 10pm. The game before starts a little after 7pm, which I planned on watching so I am basically trying to find anything to waste time until the games come on.

The day turned out to be so nice that I decided it was time to play some fetch with Sadie ... she loves it ... Stella has no interest, at least not fetching balls or bones. I hear that Frisbee is her specialty.

I feel fortunate that everything worked out for Stella and Sadie, before - during - and after the deer chase. I was relieved I didn't have a long trip trying to find them once they got away this morning. Probably good that Sadie is a little older and Stella seems to like staying nearby.

Another night of March Madness and all is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Take Off Out Of Sight

The walk started off wrong right from the start. It was 37° after I had declared "winter is over" just a week or so ago. We were starting the morning walk at the latest time ever, a little past 11:30am.

Then without looking, for some reason I changed lenses on the camera before we started ... thinking I was taking off the 18-55mm and putting on the 55-200mm. I didn't bother to look at the size of lens I was changing to.

At the beginning of the walk but too far to return, I realized I had the 18-55mm mounted instead of the 200mm zoom. Only later would I realized that was a BIG mistake.

The walk started normal, nothing out of the ordinary and even as we approached the first corner where we veer right I didn't notice anything unusual.

Nothing looked different .... but in this next photo ... they are getting ready to sprint. You can barely see along the bush line straight ahead about ... about "1 o'clock" position.

Then in a split second .... Sadie and Stella were gone!!!!

To give you some idea just how fast they were running (sprinting), I was taking photos as fast as I could and these are the only ones I could come up with. You can click the photos for a larger view.

Due to the small 55mm lens, you can barely see Sadie and Stella at the bush line chasing deer that by this time are too far ahead of them to catch.

I always thought it might happen. It did happen when Sadie was a young 1 or 2 year old in the dead of winter and deep snow back around 2009 or 2010. That time I never found her but she did come back to the house about 6 hours later.

Today it happened again.

As I watched them take off sprinting faster than you would ever imagine a bloodhound could run, I saw a least 5-6 deer at the back of the field by the high power tower, along the bush line we walk ... they were "flying" to get out of the area ... all headed to Stella's "no fly zone" she visited a month or so ago. I saw around a total of 10 deer split into two different groups.

I instantly had two thoughts ... I'm not going to find them and I wish I had my 200mm zoom lens on the camera. I actually remained perfectly calm during this whole evolution. I mean what else could I do?

I would not be able to catch them, so no reason for me to run after them. I didn't need to scream their name because they wouldn't hear me and besides, if they did their focus was catching those deer, not obeying "come here'...so I didn't yell either.

When the last deer disappeared and both Sadie and Stella disappeared over the slight hill by the high power tower I slowly walked up the path, thinking of my options. I had no doubts that both hounds would follow the deer to the back of the 'no fly zone', jump over or get over the fence someway and chase those deer into the woods.

So I walked up the path ... mentally conceding defeat ... that both of my bloodhounds were gone!

As I got close to the horizon I didn't see Sadie nor Stella. I wasn't mad, wasn't talking to myself because I knew it just happened so quick and they did what they are bred to do ... flush live deer out of the woods or track and find the deer that had been shot.

As I crested the small incline walking on the return path ... what do I see but Sadie and Stella !!!!

They had probably backtracked to check out the scent because by this time the deer were long gone into the wooded area north of the field. As I called out their names - they came sprinting to me - looking and acting proud of the way they had chased the deer out of "their" field.

With them wagging their tails of joy, I patted both of them telling them "good dogs" where they immediately headed down the path to go home.

They still needed to check out a couple of more areas on the way back but basically this walk was over.

Times are always exciting with the hounds in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Calls Off Walk

I have just enough time to get the post for the night finished before the first ballgame comes on in a few minutes.

When the winds started pounded the storm windows this morning, Sadie, Stella and I decided it was time to go outside and see where the rain was.

There wasn't any rain at the time but checking the skies to the SW, then the NW and the NE ... a lot of movement up there but no rain. Stella sat and enjoyed the wind ... she likes that for some reason. Sadie walked around not aware it would be raining within the next 30 minutes.

Stella moved out to the backyard to face that strong SW wind but all she saw were dark clouds. No rain drops yet.

Sadie gave the final okay to go back inside ... there wasn't anything to see outside.

The rains blew in hard and it lasted for a couple of hours turning into a light rain for the few hours after that. Yet, when you eat lunch and are use to going outside right after the meal ... weather doesn't make a difference.

Or maybe that rainy weather made a difference to Stella. She didn't like it but still had to dump her tanks as she was trained to do after eating.

While it rained all day I was able to get all of those things done that needed to be finished inside the house today and by 6pm, the hounds thought we might need to go outside and check the field to see if a walk was possible.

Stella started her inspection, but Sadie was not going to move out of the yard. In fact she stood and gave me the stare down, wanting to walk. That's the look you see.

After more inspecting further out in the field, Stella finally decided it was to wet and called off the walk for today. After the official announcement, she walked slowly back inside.

Sadie is still begging for a walk as I type this but I am minutes away from 4 college basketball games tonight that should finish around 12:30am local time. It is March Madness ... what did you expect??

Everything is green and we are now almost to the amount of rain we should have for this time of year.

All is good in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.