Hounds Go For A Ride

I was right ... once the bloodhounds heard me grab the FJ keys, they were up, awake and excited. They have become to like the short trips around town.

Heidi heard me but tried to ignore me and wouldn't move. She will not hesitate once I get her moving off of her blankets, becomes active and does what Sadie and Stella do ... it's just a matter I guess of getting her started.


She did a pre-trip pee and jumped up into the front seat of the FJ and proceeded to take her normal position of riding 'shotgun'. Sadie and Stella were already in the back and waiting to go.

I didn't know where we were going, so I thought I'd take a look at the old steel bridge across the highway. I wanted to see what the water level was like after the recent rains compared to last May when I blogged about it here.

This area looks a lot nicer in May when plants have bloomed and the scenery is green instead of the dead look from the midwest winter.

I knew when I left the car that Stella would jump into the front drivers seat so she could keep an eye out for me. I also knew there would be bloodhound drool involved ... and there was. It comes with the territory when you own a bloodhound.

She doesn't seem to like it when I get too far away from her eye sight. She always has to move to where she has a better view of me walking away from the FJ.

In this area the terrain is hilly, small fields are scattered anywhere a tractor can get into where they can plow, disc and plant the field. I guess a lot of small fields add up to a large field of crops when it comes to making money.

Here is a photo of my house from across the highway. Notice how the field behind my yard all moves downward toward my bank for all of that underground water.  That bank in 2008 was filled with 3 more of those large sycamore trees and solid with smaller trees.

The neighbor's house has been for sale since July 2014. That is the month and year the current owner bought the house. That does not include the year before that the previous owner had it for sale. Both owners want about $40K more than what it is worth. It has not been lived in since July 2014.

From there I crossed the highway and went straight ahead. This road is just a few hundred feet from my house. Part of the land borders the field that we walk in every day. I did not want to take any photos of people's houses along the way but I wanted to capture some of the wooded, hilly terrain.

That yellow sign stated Do Not Enter to keep the area contamination free. Those smaller barns must be where the turkeys are first raised. Owned locally but part of Perdue Farms. I was tempted to drive to the top of the hill but we turned around in the lot to the left.

Another older steel bridge is closed.

Last month a man in a natural gas company truck stopped by the house to give me some information about converting from electric to natural gas for power. With the EPA laws that may or may not change, my electric bill may increase more than I want. All of the major power plants in Indiana are coal based and future laws will dictate if my electrical power stays at a reasonable cost.

You can see here where they are installing new natural gas lines. There a lot more of these around the area that I did not take photos of.

Every road we drove on was narrow, hilly and pretty empty. I met a couple of pickup trucks along with way but you could tell it was a quiet Sunday. In the direction we were going I knew that we would be driving through the covered bridge that I took photos of in October 2014. I didn't know how the hounds would react but they ended up not saying a word.

Heidi spent most of her time standing with her nose out the window to pick up the scents of turkeys, horses and cows along the way. I had Sadie laying down in back with Stella standing to the left of my head, panting enough to where I could smell bloodhound breath ... it was great to be able to leave the windows down.

This company is still open but I thought their old building with advertising on the side of it was kind of cool looking.

We had driven in a small circle from the house but as we left town and headed home, the hounds recognized this highway as the way to go home ... they started whining, knowing where they were headed. All of them were pretty happy to return and wanted back inside the house so they could finish their naps that I cut short. They were all sound asleep within minutes.

It was a shorter drive than planned. My bladder dictated just how long the drive was going to be. There is not a lot to see around here. It's a small rural town. The county is large and has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.2% and a lot of the area is what I called 'depressed'.

It's very wooded and hilly here but 4 miles west it is flat, where fields go as far as you can see. The hounds and I will try to drive in that area this week.

It was a very relaxing day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

A Beautiful Sunday Morning

It's so quiet right now you could hear a pin drop. Hounds are in their deep sleep mode until they decide it is time for lunch. Normal routine.

It's beautiful outside today and I find it hard to believe by later this afternoon we are suppose to be hit with thunderstorms. They were wrong the other day so maybe they will be wrong about those today. That is the way the weather can change though in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... it can change quick.

As we stepped outside this morning it was in the 40's, heavy frost, the sunshine slowly rising ... and the sound of a thousand birds singing. After what happened with the deer a few days ago, you might find this as being a "close call" this morning. As I was about to focus the camera on Sadie and Stella ... I caught a glimpse of one deer running through my neighbors yard just over the bank from me.

I saw the large white tail jump into the wooded area and then heard tree limbs breaking as the deer was running full speed to get away from my two deer hunters, Sadie and Stella. As you can see below ... neither one was aware that a deer was in their local area ... what I call a "close call" close to home.

We waited a few hours before we did the morning walk. That time is spent with me having my daily two cups of coffee, internet reading and answering emails. The bloodhounds join Heidi for a couple of hour hap. Lately it's also good to let the field dry from the heavy dew ... but recently, even by 11am, it is still pretty wet. I like that I found a new place for my one trash can and the other empty trash can that I use to carry limbs, leaves or any other yard material.

Sadie and Stella were not overly excited but I could tell they were a little more aware this morning of deer traffic from last night. I decided then to keep an keen lookout for any kind of deer movement as we walked ahead.

This is where I was sure we were going to see something or someone. First Sadie stopped and perked her ears up and then Stella stepped into the direction of the "deer gully".

One final check of the far corner by Stella ... nothing important so she started running to catch up with Sadie and I.

They were just sure there had been deer here earlier this morning.

I'm told those 3 turkey barns produce 40,000 turkey every 3 months ... I might be wrong on the time period, but I don't think it was monthly. I like the purple color of the field that will soon be plowed and planted in a couple of months. I think it's corn this year ... but once again my memory fails me on that.

Sadie and Stella checked out a few more of their favorite spots. They basically would come back to walk on the path homeward most of the time and the rest of the walk was uneventful ... but it was simply a beautiful morning.

The hounds will wake up when they hear me grab the FJ keys. The can be in a deep sleep but keys and the refrigerator door wakes them up faster than any alarm would. It's time to take the hounds, the camera out for a little drive around the area to see what the camera can find.

It was great yesterday afternoon sitting in the sun and falling asleep in a chair while two bloodhounds were asleep in the grass at my feet. Heidi? She never left her blankets inside except the one time after lunch that I posted about yesterday.

Sunny 62° now and thunderstorms later this afternoon in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Makes It Outside Today

After a late finish of college basketball, past midnight, the hounds and I woke up to temperatures near freezing. I am still standing by my "winter is over" announcement of a few weeks ago.

You can see the yard and field is not only getting very green with the recent rain, but heavy frost this morning. Sadie and Stella were not out much longer than to sniff a couple areas, dump their tanks and head back into the house for that morning nap.

By noon, the temps were nice enough for Heidi to make her grand entrance outside. As the weather gets warmer she will come outside more often and stay longer. Her skin is still looking fairly good but found out this past week that her skin breaks out with peanut butter and strangely enough ... carrots.

About 9 days ago I started her on a no grain, venison, lamb meal, no potatoes blend of kibble. Last year the vet recommended duck or venison as her protein source. I don't know why I still look at different foods, she has eaten all kinds and her skin basically stays about the same. Anyway she enjoyed checking out the driveway today.

Sadie let me know the field was dry enough for a walk. We thought the chance of deer two days in a row were slim. Plus I was hearing heavy machinery in the field behind us where the deer were yesterday ... doing some logging. We headed out leash free, the 200mm lens on the camera while Heidi stayed back to lay in the sunshine.

It wasn't soon after we started that Stella found something that interested her so much she wouldn't leave. Once she saw that Sadie and I had made the first turn she decided she might want to catch up to us.

She finally caught Sadie but stayed near me on the path for most of the way to what I call the half way point of the walk, where we turn and head home.

Both of them decided to see what I would do if they hung back and ignored me calling their name. Once they saw that I was going to keep walking, they started jogging toward me. I really think that both hounds like going at their own pace, hanging behind then and getting in some good runs ... it's good exercise for them.

Upon our return Sadie and Heidi checked out each other, neither nose was sunburn after today.

I might go out and get a little fence repair done this afternoon. Only two NCAA basketball games tonight and tomorrow, so I will tune into those. My book reading has taken a backseat recently. For some reason I don't have the same urge to read that I had last month. It is just too quiet today.

Not much going on today here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.