A Beautiful Saturday Morning

I stepped outside with my first cup of coffee this morning wearing cargo shorts and a sweatshirt only to see the old thermometer showing 46° ... but the sun was out.

Not a cloud in the sky and it actually felt like what I call "football weather". Looking at the print out tv schedule today, and yellow highlights of the games I want to watch ... not as many as past weekends but some good games that will fill the day and night. Basically that means I won't have to watch a lot of different games at once. Each good game will be on a different time without running into each other.

I had not finished my first cup of coffee yet when I glanced over from my computer desk to see Sadie sitting 'at attention' giving me the stare down to let me know it was time for a walk. Yet, from our first trip outside I knew the field was soaked and wetter than normal, with heavy dew and at 46° my wet feet would be freezing.

I grabbed my last cup of coffee .... THEN IT HIT ME ... A BRAIN FLASH!!!

I have had shoes in my closet for years, in brand new condition because they were made for hiking in the snow. They are The North Face Northortic Pro 2.0

They would keep my feet not only dry but warm. They are extremely light and I had only worn them outside during the winters when we walked in the snow or I shoveled the driveway. Why not give them a try?

So I changed from my old New Balance 'yard shoes' with a mesh outer shell, into these boots that came just above my ankle. I do have some brand new, never used, hiking boots on that closet shelf ... sitting up high to prevent Stella from inspecting them, but I thought these boots would fit the situation with the wet grass.

The hounds didn't mind the wet grass ... they were off in many different directions, almost in a hyper state of mind. Luckily with the dirt piles from moles being more wet than fine powder, neither were interested in having the dirt for a snack.

We had a couple of hawks flying above us but they are hard for me to catch with a picture ... this was the only picture worth posting.

It was a day where Sadie didn't want Stella to get away with something she might like and vise versa.

With all the scents deep into the brush along the fence line in back of the field, Stella recently has been going deep enough into that brush where at times you cannot see her. There is an old fence to keep her out of the field behind the field we walk but is low enough for her to jump if she saw deer.

A little different path on the way home. As we were in the section of field directly behind the house walking back to the house ... both hounds moved to the far left exploring the area we walked through to start the walk.

Even after arriving at home they still had to explore the field near their yard, the north border then the backyard instead of walking with me directly to the house.

In the meantime the North Face boots worked out perfect. They were very light in weight, very comfortable and kept my feet dry. I have no idea why I didn't think of them before today. They are now lined up with my other running shoes I wear for the afternoon walks and will be used every morning if the grass is wet.

My day of football starts in about 10 minutes but we will fit an afternoon walk in later today. The three hounds will assume their normal spots around the living room to sleep while I watch the games. Although Stella does not like it when I am yelling at the referees on tv and will wake up on occasion whining if she hears me ... LOL

A beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Survive Rain

Somewhere we lost a day this week. I have had a hard time believing today is already Friday.

There was a reason we didn't blog on Thursday. For most of the day we were shut inside with the surrounding area above the saturation point.

Each time I would step into the yard yesterday, water would come up around the edges of my shoes. Throw in the temperatures in the high 50s and it was a pretty easy decision to stay inside. It all started late Wednesday afternoon right after the hounds started home from visiting a friend.

About 15 miles from home it started raining at blinding speed and didn't stop. Later that night storms knocked out not only our internet signal for a short time but Directv was lost for about half of an inning in the Dodger/Cubs game.

Consequently Thursday didn't bring much action besides this. I guess the hounds didn't like feeling the water come up the sides of their paws. Heidi was not available for photos since her trips outside were an immediate right hand turn behind the yews and under the roof overhang each time she needed to go outside.

Today was a different story with sunshine trying to break through the overcast skies. Sadie and Stella were not outside long this morning before running to get back inside for their morning siestas.

Stella was still trying to wake up here this morning with her eyes closed.

It wasn't until a few hours after lunch, with hopes those extra hours would help dry the ground, that we had our first walk in two days.

With their fast start telling me the ground was okay to them ... we took off ... while water squished along the edges of my shoes with each step. The strange thing is, it gets wetter the higher the ground goes towards the back of the field.

There were plenty of deer scents to keep them interested but neither one stayed in one place for too long.

Stella follows a deer path in the thick brush.

Sadie continues to wait for me but I can tell she is anxious to keep moving on  ... she has places to go.

Then the normal nose exercises for each hound while Heidi stayed back inside with the temps barely crawling over 60°.

This is along the back edge of the field. Sadie is okay, but Stella tries to quietly sneak away into her 'no fly zone'.

Looking dismayed as usual, she returns to the house at the end of her walk.

With the overload of carbohydrates for lunch, it wasn't long before the hounds and I were down and out for an afternoon siesta for a few hours.

I will say the energy I felt with the Paleo Diet I followed for 16 months with meat, fish, chicken, eggs, fruits and veggies has disappeared with a large increase in carbohydrates, no meat, no fish, no poultry of any kind. It's been six weeks of a Vegan Diet and I am looking at making some adjustments.

We might see the World Series before November. It's one of my pet peeves when MLB runs too late in in the year. (Follow The Money) It will either be a good book, or a possible college football for tonight's entertainment.

In the meantime Sadie is letting me know we need to go for a 2nd walk to make up for the lost day yesterday. She has stood in the doorway staring at me the time I have taken to write and post this.

The fall temperatures are here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Enjoy A Day Off

After the big day yesterday fighting fires ... there were no plans for today except kick back and relax.

That sounded good over coffee but it wasn't long before Sadie demanded to take the morning walk.


The temps (low 70's) are perfect and they look to continue for the next week or so ... except for tomorrow where the high will be 59°. Sadie was more than happy to get started and always starts the walks by grabbing my left hand by her mouth as if she were leading me out into the field.

Stella veered off left almost immediately but was only looking for a spot to dump her tanks ... then ran back to join Sadie.

Recently there seems to be a lot more scents making them more active. When I see them moving like that I make sure my camera is ready to take any pictures of deer jumping out of the woods or running in back of the field.

I let both hounds roam without calling them. At the point where we turn to head home, I stood and waited for them to finished their exploring.

Before I turned around, Stella was trying to sneak off into the 'no fly zone' ... yet, she came immediately when I called her.

With Heidi back at home outside I decided to check Sadie to see if she could find her when I asked "where's Heidi".

I could see Heidi up by the trees wagging her tail when she saw us. She will not go on walks with us but likes to hang out in that part of the yard while we are gone.

Sadie meets Heidi.

Here Stella thinks she is going to escort Heidi back inside but Heidi had other ideas.

The sky looked like rain was on the way. The radar showed some small storms a state away so I figured I had time to rake the leaves from the bank or fence line up to the middle of the gravel driveway ... where I burned them. There wasn't much of a chance of the fire spreading, in the middle of gravel ... but I did keep my eye on it.

Since there are still a lot of leaves on the trees I am not concerned about getting every leaf right now. It was good we burned them when we did because by 2:15pm it was pouring rain.

Some suggested I brush the hounds weekly to cut down on the amount of dog hair caught in the FJ. I use two tools on all three hounds. Sadie has the softest coat of all and I can practically brush her non-stop with the rake and the mitt, never running out of hair. There is not one time I move that rake lightly through her coat that I don't get some excess hair out of her.

Heidi rarely sheds any hair and it doesn't matter what the season is. Using the rake very lightly across her coat, I might get just enough to cover the tips of those metal prongs ... with the mitt, close to zero amount of hair.

Stella loves to lay down and get brushed anytime that I want. For some reason she also rarely sheds hair. If I run the mitt across her coat multiple times ... I get nothing. If I move the rake across her coat a few times lightly ... I will not even fill the rake with hair.

Sadie is the dog hair culprit in the FJ.

We are going to wait a few hours to see if it dries out a little more before we take an afternoon walk. Last night our 2nd walk of the day included the 25' retractable leash on Stella and no camera.

As I write this it's a little past 4pm and I can feel a siesta coming on.

Another good day here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.