The Hounds Have Moved

No ... they haven't moved from 'the tropics' but they have changed blogs.

For those of you that come to the blog only to see the photos of the hounds (that's what I would do) instead of reading my rambling on different stuff ... I've sat up a new blog for just the hound photos and only a one or two sentence intro to the photos. They will be posted there on a regular basis.

That link to their new blog is here:  https://myhounds.wordpress.com.

For example as a reason or reason(s) for doing this. I mentioned in my last post here that time was turning into a factor of less blogging on this blog in great summer weather. That post with 17-18 photos took 1 hour and 3 minutes from the time I slid the camera card into the computer to download the photos all the way to the 'publish button.

Today on that new blog I posted 17 photos that look better in appearance because they are sharper, but it took only 11 minutes!!! That includes large photos and only a couple of sentences as an introduction.

Another reason I changed to the Wordpress format, I had a few blog readers that were on my Facebook list that liked seeing the one or two photos I would post there on occasion. After I deleted my Facebook account I decided to put a blog up for those friends that didn't read my blog but wanted to keep seeing photos of the hounds and not have to read about what we were doing.

If I was going to do that, then I was going to do it on Wordpress because I like the different templates, but most of all, I can see and have been told the photos I post look much sharper with a better quality photograph.

I'll continue to post here on occasion but those times might be few and far between. Only time will determine that. Here are the photos from our walk today at 4:06pm. The hounds didn't want to wait two more hours for the temps to cool down ... they wanted to go now.

Heidi stayed at home while the bloodhounds and I walked. I let her do what she wants, I'm not going to make her walk if she doesn't want to.

Stella lagging behind as usual.

She then decides it might be time to sprint a shortcut to get back to us instead of following our path.

Beautiful hot hot weather today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Take A Late Thursday Walk

Due to the temperature today we decided to take the early evening version of the "Daily Hound Walk". Maybe I should change the title of the blog to that.

Reason being, I haven't discussed my RV thoughts nor had the urge to buy one in so long I can't remember the last time. As far as the other part of the title "Other Stuff" I haven't had the urge to blog lately including my last post on Sunday.


As with all past summers, when great hot weather arrives I find myself doing more things outside for most of the day instead of being in front of a computer. Before I know it the the time is near 8pm and I don't have the urge to blog. A few weeks ago I was blogging early in the morning and even later that day but the early mornings now are me taking the Z4 out for a drive while the temps are cool and the air is cleaner. I love those morning drives.

We've been getting in our hound walks a couple of times per day but even some those walks were all 'natural' without bringing the camera. Overall though, I just haven't felt like blogging the past week or so. There is less computer time available with me doing other things. The things I do during the day is just not good blogging material ... it's just life in 'the tropics'.

Tonight it felt cooler than the temps being listed on WeatherBug and the hounds were happy with that. I was happy there wasn't any gnats to bother me and that the tall grass was dry.

The hounds did a lot of sniffing around but they were always too late for the rabbit or the bird taking off from ground level. Here Stella is in the exact spot the rabbit ran into but a few minutes too late. She can smell the rabbit but cannot see it.

I finally got her to start in our direction and we all moved on.

Once again they are a couple of minutes late to see the bird taking off right in front of me, close enough I almost stepped on it. They were excited but didn't see anything so they headed home.

I know it's getting hot when Stella stays on or near the path I am walking, plus her pace is slow ... all she is thinking about is getting back inside the house where she will lay down and fall asleep literally within minutes.

About the time the last bloodhound walked through the door tonight, Heidi decided it was time for her to go outside ... although she turned down my offer to go outside as we were starting the walk. Her times outside have mostly been long enough to pee and poop ... but there were a couple of days this week where she went to the door to be let outside and then laid in the sunshine without the bloodhounds nearby.

She is doing well. It's been 10 days since her last Epsom Salt soak and as a test I have not applied any of the water/vinegar mix since then. I started seeing new hair growing, plus first thing in the mornings her skin was looking great so I thought I'd go with just the food and nothing else. She is back off the grain free food and is eating kibble with chicken and rice ... showing no signs of skin allergies due to the dog food change.

I know it may be hard to understand for those that read blogs but don't blog themselves, and there's nothing wrong with that, but for example it has taken me 1 hour and 3 minutes to get this far. That start time was from the time I slide the camera card into the computer to download the photos. Lately, even an hour is more time than I want to spend in front of a computer when it's still nice outside. So I guess time will tell if the urge to blog more will come back.

I could blog on a weekly basis or even on those days where I am "rained in" but I do know when the sun is out and the temps are high ... it's just hard for me to sit in front of a computer very long. I like being outside doing something.

The weather has been great this week in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Was Fine While I Was Gone

All of the storm predictions didn't happen Saturday but it did rain hard and long with raindrops going straight down. With added wind I was happy that I had decided to put the car cover on the Z4.

With that type of day, the hounds and I hung out inside. They slept, I read books, played Gran Turismo 5 and watched the IndyCar race in Detroit.

I didn't take hardly any photos and there was nothing really blog worthy yesterday. Today was a 'normal' day and nice enough to get outside. The hounds were up early, like before 7am wanting to eat. You would think I was starving them by the amount of excitement and energy they have when I get ready to feed them.

I decided today to get in a hound walk before their lunch and before I took a nice Sunday drive with the top down under overcast skies. Heidi still did not want to go for the walk and she had moved all of her blankets into a prime location ... she has been 'living' there the past week.

Even with the chance of a wet field Sadie, Stella and I were on our first walk of the day a little after 11am. Rotating two different pairs of shoes is working out well with the field wet almost everyday until early afternoon.

With all the rain we had yesterday I was expecting possible muddy areas and wetter than normal but that didn't turn out that way. It was much wetter last Thursday morning.

As usual the hounds were happy to get out and had their noses buried in the deep hay all the time. I let them go at their own pace and where they wanted. Both of them did very well running loose and I didn't have to yell to keep them from running off.

Out of curiosity I changed my camera setting before these next photos. I wanted to see if it made a difference. So, with a few clicks on the menu I went from Auto-Area to Single Point. I think I can see a slight difference in the focus of the hounds instead of the surrounding area ... like the tips of the hay.

Sadie found something she that was so good she didn't even look up at me when I walked by her. I did not turn to see what it was as I walked past her.

I was in the process of getting a really good photo of Stella running ... the SD card was full. So we finished our walk this morning with no other photos. Since I have them backed up on my computer plus a external hard drive ... I reformatted the card after downloading the photos on this blog so far. With the size of photos, the 32Gb card holds about 8,000 photos. My file date showed me the last time the card was full was last November.

I had planned yesterday while it was running that I was going to take the Z4 out today for a drive. It would be another test for Stella's separation anxiety although the last 7 out of 8 times she has been perfect. I still set up the room for her to succeed though, taking no more chances with her escaping.

I was back home after a drive lasting an 1 hour and 8 minutes. Nothing had been destroyed, chewed on or moved in the bedroom. With the cool temps in the low 70's today, I left both windows open about 3" but I also put a pedistall fan in front of one window in the rotating mode and moved the bed out to the center of the room with the small camping locker blocking the bed from the other window. They had plenty of room left to play, move around and for Stella to stand on her back legs and look out the window.

Stella didn't have a way to stand on the bed and crawl out a window. They had fresh air, water and all their Kong balls and bones. It may have helped I fed them lunch right before I left so most likely she and Sadie slept the time I was away.

Heidi's skin looked really good this morning, maybe the best it has looked in many months. The strange thing is after I gave her the Epsom Salts soak this week I did NOT apply any Water/Vinegar mixture. I am going to give her another soak and see if those weekly soaks work better than apply that vinegar mixture.

I've played a lot of Gran Turismo 5. I have regained my 'touch' and am at the Professional Level which is the 3rd of 5 different performance levels. As you play, money is earned for new cars, tune ups, modifications plus you can win free cars that you may need to qualify for different races, even at the Beginners Level.

It will be a week of beautiful weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.