October 02, 2016

A Quiet Sunday

With two of three of my football teams winning this weekend, I guess you could call it a success. Besides the game, the weather was fantastic, no rain and even some thoughts of prepping the AC for winter.

Like I mentioned the other day, it's nice leaving the windows open but lately my allergies have been in the high range and drives me insane even after taking a tablet to control them. I saw today that Heidi's eyes were having the same allergy problems also.

I'm pretty sure the soy beans in the photo above and the rolls of hay in the photo below will be gone sometime this week. I hope to take some photos of the equipment that will do both of those tasks.


We were not outside long for time this morning. With the Indianapolis Colts playing in London England, their game was going to start at 9:30am which would just extend our day of watching football after a busy Saturday.


All the hounds came back inside to sleep until their lunch was served. They didn't seem interested in taking a walk that early in the morning.




By 3pm they decided it was time. It looked like rain but it was just clouds. By late afternoon the sunshine was out bright. It was another good walk.



You could tell Sadie and Stella were both on a mission today ... it was like there was somewhere they both needed to be.


By the time Stella hit this spot, she didn't leave. I caught her here between sneezes ... she must have snorted something as she sneezed 4 to 5 times.


But she didn't leave that spot while Sadie and I continued our walk. You can barely see her dead center of the next photo.


Sadie continued her walk with no problem. She would prefer to stay fairly close to me and rarely if ever stays as far back as Stella does.



Stella finally raised her head long enough to see Sadie and I were on our way to the house ... she decided she might want to head our way.


It was an easy stroll for both of them all the way back to the house.



Heidi was standing at the corner of the house wagging her tail as she was happy to see us. My photos never catch her tail moving from side to side but she does wag her tail a lot more than my photos show.


Due to health reasons an 'icon' in my small town is having to shut the business down. It's a feed store for all the locals that have farm animals, dogs or cats. It's been a family business for 75 years and really the main place I buy the dog food for the hounds. The prices rarely changed over the years and carried all of the different Diamond brand dog kibble.

It's not the dog food I'll miss but the conversation with the owner during the times I stopped there every 18 days for another 40# bag. It was also a place for the older guys to hanging out and chew the fat. It will be sad to see the doors closed for the last time.

Otherwise, besides those allergies ... all is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

October 01, 2016

Days Of Gray Skies & Low Energy

Those days of bright sunshine and hot temperatures seem like months ago ... it's only been a few days of change. Once those cool temps arrived they stayed.

After a lot of yard work done early in the week, the hounds and I laid low the rest of the week and didn't do too much. Photos were taken and uploaded into Google Photos and Flickr every night. Walks for the hounds were taken ... along with some siestas, some football and some reading.


It looks like rain is right around the corner but doesn't feel like rain. We took off for our walk close to noon, not knowing if we would take a 2nd walk later this afternoon either at halftimes or between football games.

Stella has been hanging way way back this week in each of her walks ... to the point that Sadie an I have already made the turn to head home. This morning was no different.


They started out together but Stella has found something in one spot that she will not leave ... so I don't yell for her to come with us.



Sadie never likes staying too far behind and she will always come running without me calling her. Seeing her waistline means she has lost the weight she needed to this summer.



As I approached the back end of the field, Stella was nowhere in sight.


About the time we were headed down the last half of the walk I was pretty sure that Stella may have ran into the woods for the first time. I was preparing myself for driving around the neighborhood in back of the house, to see if I could find her once I got home.

Then ... I see she is running trying to find Sadie and I.



Once she saw us, she slowed to a slow trot and all was good.


She really wanted to head north. She kept veering away from me and Sadie but would come toward us each time I called her. They both headed back home.



Almost to the yard.



I took the Z4 out for a road trip yesterday, even with the forecast of rain. I decided it didn't matter if I drove it in the rain or not ... it's an easy car to wash and clean up. I did hit a couple of intense storms to and from my visit. As usual the I6 engine purred like a kitten.

One good thing happened besides a great visit with my old friend ... I was away from home for almost 8 hours ... Stella did not damage anything while I was gone. That is the longest I've been away from her and having no damage to the room she stays in with the other two hounds.

Not much in store but an afternoon and night of college football. Most of the games I am interested in don't start until 3:30pm eastern, so I'll post this earlier than I normally do.

The summer is gone in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

September 28, 2016

Cool Temps Arrive

After a full day of activity outside yesterday, we went the opposite direction today. Not a lot happened and some of that was due to the light rain this morning.

It was easy to see and feel that today was not going to reach 70° and luckily with no real plans but the normal 'hanging out', it wouldn't matter if we took another day off.

Sadie and Stella were pretty energetic their 2nd trip out, right after their breakfast of morning kibble. Yet, they didn't go anywhere, just around the yard.


After the hour rain, the sunshine broke through but the temps still remained in the mid-60's. It felt like quite a change from a few weeks ago but all the windows remained open for the day. There was enough chill to the air I almost traded cargo shorts for jeans. It has to be pretty cold for me to make the change.


Heidi wasn't interested in taking the walk today but explored around the house while we were gone. At times she walks as if her hips hurt. It's hard to tell, so we may head to the vet and see what he/she has to say. I did find out in my internet searching last night for dog food to help a hound to gain weight, it suggested a food with 30% protein and 20% fat. That is hard to find, even with some of the more specialty blends of kibble.


Even with the light rain, the ground was wet but not bad enough to where we would have to cancel it. No wind, just cool temps ... a perfect time to walk.


With tails up and noses down ... the hounds were 'off to the race's as some people would say.


Stella glanced up and saw Sadie may have found something she needed. She didn't hesitate in sprinting to where Sadie was to check it out. It must have been good because she stayed behind as Sadie and I continued the walk.



By the time we got to the first turn, Stella was still not in view.



As always Stella came sprinting up behind us before we got to the back of the field. She loves to run so maybe she stays behind on purpose so she can do just that.


The is the edge along the back of the field and from their activity today, there must be some heavy deer traffic when we are not around. I could barely get them to leave that area.



There must have been at least 5 stops along that back area.



Stella tries to gradually drift off to the right away from us and towards the 'no fly zone'.


After being called a few times Stella took her own time getting back to the yard. It is temping to let both of them roam the field since I can see where they are ... but both of them are still on 'adult supervision' until they can show me they will not head to the neighbors yard on the north side of our house, or too the left side of the photo below.


Stella never looks happy when she ends her walk, but doesn't hesitate to head to the house and start her afternoon siesta.


For a change I did not do any 'enhancements' of the photos taken today. Just straight shots from the camera without any kind of editing in Apple Photos.

The day was full of a lot of book reading, many games of Mahjong, trying to get more games completed in less than 3 minutes and 15 seconds. I guess the highlight of tonight will be a rare occurrence with me tuning into a prime time tv show at 10pm, named ... Designated Survivor.

Cool temps and some rain is the forecast for the rest of the week here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.