The Hounds Quit Facebook

I'll get to the Facebook story later, but the hounds are no longer on Facebook.

The past two days here in 'the tropics' have been about the same ... overcast skies, then dark with rain and a little bit of sunshine.

Basically if Sadie had not talked me into a walk this afternoon I probably would not be blogging again today ... that is just how slow life in 'the tropics' has been this week.

So I decided this afternoon we were going for a walk no matter how wet, nor how muddy the field might be. The field was pretty dry yesterday before the rains came.

By this afternoon that freshly planted field has multiple spots of standing water. One good thing about the rain ... the high 80's turn into the mid 70's. One bad thing about the rain ... I can't keep up mowing the yard. I don't like to rake after mowing and I don't like to see clumps of mowed grass laying around after mowing ... so I guess there is a decision to be made.

I'm not sure what is here but this has been Stella's favorite spot for the past two days ... over by the burn pile. Really with the weather being the way it's been the past two days, she hasn't gone out into the field except to dump her tanks.

Finally with a restless Sadie I decided to take the walk no matter how wet it was. With my Merrell's shoes smelling like new since they were washed yesterday ... they have been retired from doing any walking in the field when there is the possibility for them to become soaked. I moved my "yard shoes" into "wet field shoes" where it doesn't matter what happens to them.

Both hounds were happy to get out of the house knowing we were going for a walk and not just to stand around in the backyard. Can't you see the excitement??

With all the rain and wind blowing the tall hay in different directions, our path was once again barely visible.

The rain and a little sun though is great for the wild flowers growing in the field.

With the hay being the tallest near the yard, my shoes and legs were soaked by the time we finished the short distance to the shorter hay. Water was squishing between my toes, my shorts were wet but with the camera held high ... we continued on as promised.

Neither hound cared about getting wet ... they just wanted to explore the field.

Sadie and Stella get some running in.

This field looks like they will be getting a bumper crop of hay this year, it's the best I've seen for a while but not as good as ten years ago when it was almost all grass with no weeds.

I am going to have to find and download a free bird book so I can start identifying what I am seeing taking off from ground level driving the hounds insane. The bird is small, not a bluejay but a very solid dark blue color.

I walked again today giving them both free reign where they could go where they wanted and at their own pace.  During this time the only time I am stopping is to take a photo.

This is their same favorite spot they had a few days ago when they refused to move. Today I told them to "come on" and they both took off running for the house.

Here are the New Balance running shoe that was designated my "yard shoes" 2-3 years ago. I didn't buy them at the time to run in, I bought them for comfort. I found out later that the sole design was perfect for yard work, where I would not slide on wet grass, could keep stable on the side of the bank and were ... comfortable.

Now for some ranting.

I've never been a fan of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, but I found his site convenient over the years. It was a good way to keep in touch with some old friends far away. It was also a good way to keep up to date with my interests in sports, bloodhound groups and basset hound groups. It was even fun sharing photos.

Yet the guy has been nothing more than a greedy prick.

I've deactivated and even deleted my Facebook account more than once over the years. The 14 day period gives everyone a chance to log back in and keep their old account intact but once that 15th day appears your account is permanently deleted.

I started getting a little ticked off when last winter he, Microsoft, Google, were all bashing the government on their "spying" on US citizens ... while it was known by their own admissions they did the same thing ... only they were doing for setting up advertising and generating billions of dollars in profit for themselves.

Yes ... they pay taxes, and they donate millions of dollars to charities but that's not my point.

Zuckerberg liked making comments about the wall being built on the Mexican border yet the asshole has a huge wall around his property and in the past week it has been announced that not only is he buying his neighbors out for their land but a few will get a new house built on his dime.

If you don't like walls, don't build them. But I let that go and kept reminding myself why I used Facebook. A couple of days ago news hit airwaves that Facebook was doing more than just spying on what their clients did on Facebook ...

They are in your smart phone as long as it's turned on and you have not changed any of the default settings. They are in your tv if you have the internet connected. They are everywhere in your life because Mark decided a long time ago that he would share your life all over the world so it can be more open and connected, then we can all be friends, a nice globe full of "safe spaces" and the skies will fill up with rainbows and unicorns.

One big happy family. You didn't even have to ask, Mark decided to do it for you!!

Now for me personally, Facebook is probably not in my life too much, besides what groups I 'liked' or the photos I posted of the hounds and the few comments I made on Facebook. Deleting my Facebook account is a good start of getting that creep away from me and the hounds.

Why??? Because I haven't had a smart phone since November 2015 and I don't have the internet hooked up to my large screen tv. When you pay for limited monthly internet data ... internet on the tv is a huge waste of data and I'll not pay for it.

So, for me deleting my Facebook account is mostly on "principal".

Don't shout to the world that Trump is wrong with his idea of building a wall on the Mexican border when you have a huge wall around your private residence. Don't shout to the world that it's terrible and unfair that NSA is "spying" on everyone via their phone and computer ... when you are doing the same thing plus more at Facebook.

They are even into the Google game of tracking the websites you go to even when you are not logged into Facebook so they can gear specific advertising to your interests ... even if you are not on Facebook.

I got finally tired of Mark Zuckerberg's bullshit and will do the least amount possible for him to play his game with me and the hounds. I know it's far fetched but all of what's going on now was far fetched 5 years ago ... so ask yourself what is next ... if Facebook can access your smart phone, your tv and listen in on phone conversations and read all of your Facebook messenges, what keeps them from getting into your bank accounts later on ... then claiming it's all their part to make the world a smaller, safer, likable place.

I've said enough here in the sunny 'tropics' of Southern Indiana ... I'm going to hide in my "safe space".

Sadie Says It's Never Too Late To Walk

Most of the time that I was writing that last post about an hour ago, Sadie was either standing in the doorway or next to my chair ... letting me know there was still time for a walk.

As we stepped outside the temps were perfect. It felt like we had moved into summer just like that.

Both hounds were pretty excited about walking after all they had spent most of the day stretched out either on the kitchen floor or the hardwood floor in the bedroom sleeping.

Stella was all over the place, darting from one spot to another. Her nose couldn't get enough of the scents.

Sadie was on the lookout throughout the walk for any kind of birds that might takeoff from ground level. She doesn't know that bloodhounds are not 'bird dogs'.

Stella didn't spend a lot of time behind us. She must have been smelling a million new scents since yesterday's walk.

As I mentioned before the hay is getting taller and now in most of the field it's hard to see either hound and the path I walk on has overgrown just in the matter of days. It is still barely visible.

About the time that I was going to call for Stella to keep her near instead of veering off to the right hand corner of the field, both hounds took off sprinting ... but I had not seen anything liftoff from the ground, nor did I see any deer.

They were close ... it wasn't long after they walked away that a bird took off from the deep hay ... it was hiding right between them in this next photo.

After they took off on the run, Stella turned but she was too late. I saw the bird fly away minutes ago. They still thought they were on the path to finding it ... but like I said, bloodhounds are not "bird dogs" ... they just think they are.

It's the time of year when the hay is so high that you can barely see the bloodhounds, that I remember when Winston would usually stand at the edge of the yard and field but not go on the walk with us. I could hear him barking as we would leave and I'm not sure but I think he probably barked the whole time we were gone because I'd hear him when we returned.

He didn't like walking when the hay was this tall.

Since I am not a morning person, or one that gets up at sunrise for the best light to take photos ... this time of day seems a lot better to get better photos. The problem is I catch my hands moving a lot when I click the shutter button ... because I can see the movement in the view finder.

We were close to finishing the walk and going back inside when they found something they were not leaving ... not even after calling them, bribing them by yelling their treat. I had time to go inside, load the camera card into the computer ... go back outside and they still would not come.

I finally walked out to get them plus I wanted to see what they had found so interesting but I found ... nothing.

With the temperatures and lighting for photos almost perfect after 8pm or so "tropics time" ... I may be posting later starting tomorrow because of each of those reasons. I don't like changing time twice per year but I love daylight savings time in the summer months. Of course to west coast readers, it's never to late to receive the daily post.

It's late but I'm thinking of some kind of food run here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Heat Zaps The Hounds

I'm writing a little late tonight but it might be my attempt to return to the routine of posting at the end of the day instead of early in the morning. That routine seems work best for me.

You'll see from the lack of photos that the hounds and I hibernated inside today due to the temperatures in the high 80's most of the day. It didn't take that long to get that high as I felt the heat around 9am when I made my first trip outside.

Stella was wanting nothing to do with the sunshine, closing her eyes to let me know she was not happy and wanting to go back inside. Sadie on the other hand is thinking of walks 24/7, rain, hail sleet or snow.

By lunch I was loving the weather, nice and hot but the urge to walk mid-day wasn't there. As you can see with the rain over the weekend then two days of hot sun the hay seems to have grown another foot taller and my yard that I just mowed a few days ago could be mowed again in part of the backyard.

In some photos it looks like Sadie has lost some weight as she has been trying to do but just a couple of weeks shy of 8 years old, she is the normal big heavy size for a bloodhound. I think I can see some waistline though.

Someone asked what kind of bird is nesting above the power meter. I really don't know because it doesn't stay around long enough for me to get a good photo. I tip toed outside today, had focus on the bird on the nest and before I could click it flew to the tree limb. Most of the time it will fly away before I can zoom in on the tree limb. They were looking for their inside nest yesterday and seemed a bit confused with the thermometer off the wall.

Stella was outside just long enough to sniff some dirt that the moles have pushed up in a couple of different spots. I didn't have her this time last year so I didn't know she likes eating that dirt when she gets a chance. She stops when hearing her name.

Sadie was giving me one last stare down wanting to walk but it's never a good thing to be walking at 89°. It's 8:33pm now so we still have enough daylight to take off right after this ... I'll add a different post after we get back.

I forgot to add that it was ear cleaning and toe nail cutting today outside. All three hounds were cooperative in both exercises.

Summer weather has arrived here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.