Heidi Spends Time Outside

The day kept getting better as it went along. The hounds had an early lunch and with the weather so nice we went straight into the walk. As you can see Stella was anxious to get started.

They each put their noses to the ground and we were off.

If you look close in the next picture you can see what kind of drop off there is just on the other side of that ridge. I'd like to get back in there to take a better photo but the hounds would follow me and once they did that, they would do it in the future on their own. I don't want them that far into the brush.

The closer we got to the corner where we veer right, the wind was picking up and when we turned that corner it was a strong wind blowing into our faces from the NE. The hounds lifted their noses and took off, just like that they were heading toward that back field. I scanned the horizon and didn't see any kind of deer activity. The definitely picked up a scent with the strong wind blowing into their face.

Sadie made a left hand turn in the far back of the field and followed the bush line in a fast trot, acting like she had found a strong scent. Stella didn't want to be left behind and started running to catch us. Then again, she may just like lagging behind so she can get more running in during the walk.

When she headed a little further than I like in the 'no fly zone', plus ignoring me, I pulled out the 6' standard leash from my back pocket and hooked her up. She didn't mind it. After 30'-40' I dropped the leash to see how she would walk. She stayed near me, until I unhooked her completely and then she took off along the brush line on the way back home.

I knew during the walk that I was going to mow the yard when I got back. As a test I left all three hounds shut in the bedroom, with the windows open to see how Stella would do inside for about an hour. It is so much easier to mow the yard when they are inside instead of having to keep an eye on them while I mow. They like to wander off when I am mowing and they are left unattended.

After an hour, Stella continued her streak of no damage ... that's encouraging. When I said "lets go outside", Heidi went running for her blankets as if she was going to pass on the offer. When I told her she was not spending the summer in bed and to get outside, she sprinted for the door ... it must have been my tone of voice.  :)

Like always, once she was outside she enjoyed herself. While Heidi sniffed in the backyard and even laid in the sunshine for a while, Stella did her normal inspection of the freshly mowed yard and it looked like she approved.

Sadie rarely relaxes the sun. She either has to be exploring the field or chewing up sticks 1" at a time, but never eating them.

No matter how nice that warm green grass feels to Stella, for some reason she still likes to lay on the gravel driveway.

We had a good day today. It's nice to have all the windows back open. Does it look like Heidi has gained some weight? I think I'll take her over to the vet to put her on their scales and then find out if I need to give her more of the supplement called 'Hema A Spike'.

Cool breezes in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Move Back To Old Routine

Yesterday didn't consist of much. I escaped from the house for over an hour to replenish my food supply. I looked at some different dog food without buying any ... and that meant Stella was left at the house with Sadie and Kong balls stuffed with treats.

She had been on what I call a 'hot streak' recently when I have left, by not having the separation anxiety where she would be destructive. By the way Sadie was panting when I got back and her dog bed moved to a different location on the floor, I suspect they had a long period of wrestling. Heidi stays in the living room while I am gone, for her own protection against possible rough bloodhound playing.

It was good to see Stella roaming and slowly inspecting the field yesterday afternoon. It was nice enough to sit outside in sunshine while the hounds, including Heidi, moved about the backyard. We did take a walk but without the camera this time. It was strange to see them walking close to me most of the way.

It was around 8pm when I glanced outside to see this. Another beautiful sunset here in 'the tropics'. Spring is one of my favorite times to live where I do. Since I like hot weather, there is really only about 3 months out of the year of bad weather for me.

Once the hounds woke me up this morning, it felt like it was later than the normal time of morning. They were about an hour early and of course wanting to eat breakfast more than they wanted to go outside. Still they go outside before eating breakfast for a very very short trip before they are back at the door wanting in because they know I've been pouring out dog food.

As it looks, a nice day is on the way. Temps in the low 30's and heavy dew, with a predicted high of the mid 60's. It looks like from the reflection from the sunshine I will be mowing part of the back yard and all of the front yard.

"The routine" came back today. Both hounds had deviated recently where they would just stand in the yard staring at me and wanting their walk at 7:30 or 8 in the morning. They use to slowly roam the field exploring while I was inside making my coffee. Today that routine returned. By the time I came back outside Stella had already completed her loop in the field to the north side of the yard. Notice that she always glances back to the neighbor's yard where she visited the drainage ditch a few weeks ago.

Once I said "come on" she came trotting to the house. Within minutes inside both bloodhounds were laying next to Heidi sound to sleep until the first walk of the day. From the amount of dew, it may not be dry in the field until after noon.

It's good to see everything so green. The old dead vines and stems in the field have disappeared, replaced by growing green grass. During the walks I can see a lot of new growth instead of a lot of weeds. It will grow until July when they make their first cut of hay. I hope as it gets warmer this spring that Heidi returns to participate in the daily walk. Something tells me that won't happen.

For people that blog on Blogger, a few days ago I mentioned I started loading all of my photos first, before a word is written. I am finding it much easier to write the post that way and it's faster. Very little format adjustments if any, to get the paragraphs spaced after the photos.

My other blog on Wordpress with just a few photos per post and only a sentence or two of content is working out well. I can post there multiple times per day if I want or just a photo and a thought. I can confirm for whatever reason, the same exact photos on each blog look different on the different blog platforms. Photos on Wordpress are much clearer and a sharper quality. I have that blog listed on my sidebar.

You can't beat the weather right now in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Survive Last Night's Hail

That beautiful morning I posted about yesterday slowly started turning toward the forecast. Stella, Sadie and I decided to go out to check the sky one last time late yesterday afternoon. You could 'feel' that rain was on the way.

Even Stella could smell rain was on the way. I was told when I got her that she was afraid of thunder. So far in the previous storms I haven't see any freaked out fear, just a little slow pacing.

She came and got me a little after 7pm. It was really dark outside and the storm had started. We were getting pounded with small rock size hail. I grabbed the camera to take some photos of how white the yard was becoming with hail ... battery light was flashing and no photos were taken. It didn't last long but it was strong storm.

This morning, the air was clean, the robins were singing their musical and the hounds cautiously checked out the yard and field for any damage or new scents. The sun was trying it's best to poke through the gray clouds.

We went back inside as usual. I needed breakfast and coffee, the hounds needed their nap. A few hours later it was back outside and it's the normal time for the first walk of the day but not today ... the ground is saturated with some water still standing. Sadie forgot her bone was left in the yard from the other day. It was spotlessly cleaned by the rain ... she decided it was time for some Monday morning fetching.

Remember that Stella doesn't like to play fetch and she hadn't wrestled in a while. Sadie was more interested in fetching not getting mauled by Stella ... they both lost interest in what the other wanted to do and went their separate ways.

The robins were out in full force this morning. The morning was filled with their music. They all sounded pretty happy to me and I was surprised that when they did their low level flyby's, Sadie did not chase them like she normally does. She was still more interested in her clean bone.

While I was walking around taking photos of the robins, Stella decided to sneak off. No doubt looking for new food sources. Yet, she came running when I called her. She knows that tether can be installed anytime I guess and enjoys her freedom instead.

Sadie in the meantime contemplates what she plans to do for today and this week. MLB starts in 7 days, she likes baseball.

A few off topic notes --

• 2 of the 4 college basketball teams playing this weekend in the NCAA's Final 4 are being investigated or have been punished for academic fraud within their basketball teams. The NCAA is a huge profit making machine with billions of dollars in revenue yet has a 'non profit organization' tax status. How corrupt can that be?

• I would prefer to use Firefox as my default browser but with all the built in security measures, it doesn't open websites correctly at times. Safari is faster today after the latest update last week but it has the same problem with opening websites correctly ... like my blogs. So I stick with Google Chrome, which is fast, and opens all websites without any issues.

• Can you believe it is only a couple of days from April? That seemed to be a pretty fast winter ... one where I saved a lot of electrical usage that will equate to my May bill being paid with the credit built plus a check for a refund of overpayment. I am on the monthly plan paying the same amount every month based on previous year's average and then settling up on the annual month of May.

• 19 years ago last week I moved into this house. I've never lived anywhere this long. I had only two basset hounds at the time, my first ever named Harry and another basset named Maggie. Both bought as 8 week old puppies and great bassets. I'll have to do some posts about each of them in the future. 

• Is anyone else not voting this year because there is not one presidential candidate to like? That is all I am going to say about politics on this blog. At this time I don't think I am voting this November.

• For a sports addict, I am about to move from a winter of basketball into a summer of major league baseball. Daily routines will remain the same. Life is rough being retired.

Not intending to but by looking through Facebook photos of the person that gave me Stella last August, I saw the name of her original owner off to the side of one of the photos where she had either commented or liked it. Her name was listed on the vet records that were given to me. I contacted her on Facebook thinking she might like to see that Stella was doing well with her bloodhound friend Sadie. She was happy that I contacted her and was happy to see her updated photos. Facebook and the internet make it a very small world we live in.

I have some errands to run today. Stella will get her chance to improve on her separation anxiety. She is on a 'hot streak' where there has not been any damage on my recent 'escapes' from the house. No matter what, she is still a great bloodhound. She will never get in trouble for what she does.

It's still trying to become sunny here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.