To Blog Or Not To Blog

I am pretty sure today's blog title will drive a lot of traffic to the blog. It always does, right along with the titles that include 'deer', 'rambling', 'winston', 'stella ...'

But I don't blog to drive traffic. I don't do anything suggested to drive traffic to my blog. I has not been nor will ever be a blog that pays me with affiliate links. That's hard work and my blog traffic is nowhere near the total that would be needed to make some monthly cash.

No, this blog started out only as a journal as I started to explore the life in RV travel. Once I made the decision I would not be traveling with three hounds at the time, different than the three I have now, the blog turned into one about the daily lives of the hounds living here in 'the tropics'.

All of these pictures are ones taken today but I'll be talking about the why's and why not to blogging since it seems to be a popular topic recently from the list of bloggers on the left sidebar. Anyone that currently blogs has always thought about whether to stop or not. I even deleted this blog a few years ago but was able to reactivate it with all the pictures because I did it within a certain time period.

Chinle Miller was the first I guess of recent talk of blog closures. She spoke of internet addiction, getting back to old types of communications, etc. All good points for people to consider and probably really good for her. I was going to link her discussion from a few weeks ago but found her blog was set to private sometime since her announcement. You can find her here: Spotted Dog Ranch in case she comes back to blogging.

Kim over at The Travels of Kimbo Polo made her announcement the other day that she was going to leave blogging. I always enjoyed reading about her travels in a Class B RoadTrek. That might be a future option for me once the hounds are gone.

Mark over at Box Canyon Blog came back to make an announcement he was attempting to stop blogging. He had not blogged since he read Chinle's blog post a few weeks ago. He has always had great photos of hiking the mountains in Colorado, the BLM lands in Utah and mountain biking pictures. He has reasons to stop blogging and many of them are the same that most bloggers have asked themselves over the time they have blogged.

I've gone all through that mental torture trying to decided to get off the internet or not, stop blogging or not. I did stop for a time or various times in the past five years of blogging. I might cut down on the frequency of my posts from time to time but it is something I enjoy and more important fact to remember ... there are readers that like the pictures of the hounds and even some of my rambling about living in 'nowhere usa'.

A lot of them have told me they don't have blogs of their own. Some have never been to the Midwest and find the pictures of the field in different seasons interesting. Some just scroll through the pictures and want as many as possible. While all or some of them enjoy reading about what it's like to live somewhere they will never have the chance to see.

I find those reasons enough to take the time to blog and post pictures of the hounds or even me and my August 2015 Weed Pulling Project that for some strange reason turned out to be a blog 'hit' with a bump in traffic numbers.

Due to the fact that I do enjoy writing, I have two other private blogs that I write on not daily but frequently depending on what is going on in my life or the hounds life ... out of the ordinary.

It might sound strange but I write in those other two blogs to help documenting things that I might not remember in the future as my memory gets older and possibly not as accurate. For example it is always nice to go back to check if that water spot on the ceiling is something new or has been there for years.

Or maybe when you swear the field is slowly moving earth underneath toward and up against your house. When I can go back and look at the same pictures five years ago to compare, it can let me know if I am going insane or it's a legitimate concern.

There are always times you will have pictures that are not really for public consumption on a the blog but is nice to see and document as a record.

I also have a personal type journal in a private blog. I like the blog format better than using Word on my computer. There is nothing there that would cause me trouble if it were hacked and published. I doubt that Wiki Leaks would be interested in that information, then again it might be a book that's a best seller, so who knows.

I tried and have another blog here on Wordpress that has only a couple of sentences before 6-8 pictures per post. Some blog readers here take a peak over there at times but hardly any at all. I keep it because I like it, in someways better than this blog, it's easy to maintain and to post on. Meaning, it doesn't take a lot of time.

Time seems to be the major reason for stopping a blog. It does take time to take pictures, download them from the SD card to the computer, then edit them and in my case with an iMac ... export the pictures I want on the blog to a separate folder outside of my Apple Photos program ... then from the blog, uploading the pictures from that folder into the blog.

That takes more time than I like but with only 15-20 pictures in a blog post it's not that time consuming. I edit all of my pictures taken at the same time as the ones I export to the blog.

So another reason for my blogging is loading the pictures of the hounds with a little commentary, for those that enjoy seeing them and for me to look back on when I am at the age of drooling from my mouth and possibly not remembering my name ... lol

Now one difference in the three people that announced they were not going to blog any longer, they all have one thing in common but not with me ... they travel. They write about those travels. So take all of the time I mentioned above about just putting a blog post together and try to put that into a day, a week of when you are traveling. I would NOT want to blog if I was traveling.

In fact that week the hounds and I went out to Utah and Colorado in June 2015 I did NOT have any time available to put a blog post together. Not only that, I did NOT have the urge to blog during those days. I did not miss television, I did not miss watching baseball games like I do here at home, when I traveled that week. I did NOT miss the internet as far as surfing the net.

I used my internet connection for looking at maps and tracking that one storm that was moving our way in Utah, more than anything.

Now if I were staying in one spot for couple of weeks or longer I could see myself blogging while traveling, but not a lot.

One thing about this next picture. I am sure as I usually do with pictures of Heidi, that I will get at least one email telling me she looks so sad, that something has to be wrong with her. The fact is, the camera cannot catch her tail wagging non-stop nor her barking at me and Sadie right after I clicked the camera.

She wanted to go inside because it was 50° or 20° below her self imposed threshold.

So as far as the internet and blogging I am not changing my current lifestyle, daily schedule, just because I want to spend less time on the internet or the blog takes too much time.

Neither of those, internet or blog, has ever been the #1 priority of my life. I have never asked myself "would this make a great blog picture" before I take that picture. I take the pictures and decide later if it's a blog picture.

I have the ability to turn off the internet when I want. For example I track my data usage daily and plug the running total from my Exede page and log it into an Excel spreadsheet with a bar graph ... just so I can see if I am going to have to pay for more data at the end of the billing period.

For 24 hours yesterday I used a total of 19Mb ... 19. Showing I was not on the internet longer than a few minutes. I went online to print out my tv schedule of football games for Saturday.

So I am not really addicted to the internet nor need to run from it. It's a fantastic place for reference. It's a great way to stay in touch with friends that live 200-3,000 miles from me. I can get fast news and sports on Twitter than I can anywhere else. I also find Facebook a good too to keep in touch with friends that live far away from me. I post two or three pictures on Facebook of the hounds most everyday ... but mostly the Facebook pages I follow there keep me updated on bloodhound groups, basset hound groups and my sports teams.

I DON'T log my life on Facebook like millions of people do. In fact by choice I think I have only 27 friends on my list, not hundreds or thousands.

In the summer when I spend all day outside doing yard work or house maintenance I am not missing the internet nor do I have my iPhone on my hip so I don't miss anything ... it's inside on my counter while I am outside. There are some times I even turn that off to get away from the electronics of today.

Finally, any blogger that has decided to stop blogging, all have good reasons to do so. No one should feel any kind of obligation to blog only for their readers while it takes away from part of your life where you want to do something else. There are a few blogs I still have listed on my left sidebar that I loved reading and following ... they disappeared without any kind of announcement but that's okay, after all it's their blog, their life ... I was just an online visitor to their blog.

If I ever feel I am taking away time from my hounds, or things that I like to do such as reading or bicycling, or other people in my life then I'll stop blogging. In the meantime I have "tons of time" on my hands and I enjoy the picture taking, and the writing it takes to put a blog post together.

Thanks to all of you that stop by ... the hounds love the attention !!

Cold and sunny here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Are Happy It's Friday

First of all thank you to all the readers that are veterans of the US military. They make or have made a lot of sacrifices to fill those positions.

Well it's been quite a week to say the least. I am happy to be back to just looking at news headlines and not reading their articles while I move my focus back to sports, hounds, blogs, and a little house maintenance to prepare for winter.

I am sitting here wondering just how long can a blog post be, with it not being too long. I wrote a post yesterday afternoon with about 15 pictures, saved it with plans to add to it and then post it around 6:30pm. But the afternoon changed and I forgot about the post until this morning.

This morning started out as always. Yet it was about 10° warmer this morning but that didn't mean the hounds stayed outside any longer. They know how important coffee is to my start of the day so they didn't stay outside very long.

Once I saw the temps rise above 50°, we headed out for a walk. They didn't wait on me either ... they were off as soon as their feet touched the field.

They had already dictated they were going on their own pace and I was fine with that. I was enjoying the clear skies without a cloud anywhere, no humidity of coarse and the temperature felt about right.

With Stella staying pretty far behind Sadie and I ... it was quite a surprise to see her running to catch up with us. I'm not sure what her reasons were but she sprinted fast enough that my camera could not keep up to catch all of her sprinting.

Sadie took another look in back to see if Stella was coming or not. As soon as she saw that Stella had stopped again, Stella took off for the right corner of the field.

Then again ... Stella came running to catch up with us. I'm glad that every day is different with her.

During our afternoon walk yesterday I caught this.

Earlier while at the computer on Thursday morning, I heard the warning beeping sound of a truck backing up. I went out to the large window to see what it might be. Due to yesterday's fog I could barely see a State Patrol car blocking highway traffic but could not see what was backing up due to the thick fog.

It looks like this might have been some of the equipment on the move. It would have been too long to make a left 90° turn but with the dirt road going the opposite direction to the old bridge across the highway, something that long can make some 3-5 point turns to back in that road to make the left hand turn.

This is an AT&T tower that has been there for around 15 years and it will be interesting to see if they are going higher or just adding more equipment to the tower. It's strange that I my house is that close to a tower but when I had AT&T a couple of years ago I could only get 3 bars max for signal strength. Even a couple of weeks ago I was told by AT&T they could not offer any wireless internet in my package.

This is what I saw this morning so there wasn't much change. Maybe it is waiting for the next phase of either repair or installation of new equipment.

Once I mentioned getting some 'food' to the hounds when we got home, they both were pretty motivated to get home.

Yet, there were enough places to stop and identify before moving on.

I'll implement some of the post I wrote yesterday afternoon and take a chance that I have not make this blog too long. At least for those readers that just scroll through to look at the pictures (nothing wrong with that), they will have more to look at.

*************

Heidi made a rare appearance outside to walk around instead of just long enough to pee. Her skin is actually getting better with the places where she has bare skin or little hair, is becoming softer. More hair is trying to grow back on all of her legs and paws. It's been a while since that has happened.

She will be getting a bath today (Friday) and her nails cut.

Lunch had been served with the normal routine of going outside right after being fed. Something that was done when house training Sadie when she was a puppy. Heidi and Stella were brought home when they were older dogs, so I am not sure if that was their routine when they were puppies.

I was going to let the bloodhounds wander the field and keep an eye on them but I saw 'the stare' ... the one that Sadie gives me when it's time or she wants to go for a walk ... which is all the time.

Once she saw me walking toward the field with my camera in hand she came running to escort me on the start of the walk as she always does. She will actually try to grab my left hand with her mouth as she is hopping up and down in excitement.

I tried to keep the walk moving and Stella came with a little coaxing. I am sure if I had not said anything Stella would have stayed back for most of the walk.

Around that first turn and we were headed to the right corner of the field.

Today I decided I'd join them in the area of that right corner where there are a lot of signs of deer activity. While the hounds stayed and did what they normally do, adding protein of some kind to their diet, I walked toward the gully.

You can see the tall brush that has been mashed. I know nothing about deer so I am just assuming they might spend time here sleeping, not sure.

I have taken pictures before trying to show just how steep and deep this gully is but I'm not succeeding to many times.

On the way back, Stella gave me a look that she had seen the neighbor. He was out on his riding mower sweeping up leaves in his yard. Their clothes were out drying in the sunshine so I thought she might take off again since she seems attracted to their clothes line.

Thursday afternoon turned out great with temps getting up near 60°.

College basketball starts officially tonight with regular games on tv instead of the exhibition games. Football of coarse continues through the first few weeks of January for colleges. I think I have my own little NFL boycott going on as I have been watching it a LOT less than I have in past years.

Another great Friday so far here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Hounds Love The Fog

I started to type this and realized from the clock in the upper right corner of my monitor, it was not even 10am. The hounds and I are still adjusting to the time change ... no big deal.

One thing I am not adjusting to is colder temps and knowing that winter is just around the corner.

It was quite a surprise this morning as I opened the door to let the hounds outside and freezing coolness hit me. I'm not a fan of that type of weather. The fog made it a nice morning though, a different feel to the day ... the hounds didn't notice.
 

They were ready to walk around 7:30am, I wasn't ... nothing starts until coffee is consumed in my world. I did not drink coffee until I was 40 years old but in the early 1990's living in the Seattle area, the addiction started. Small espresso stands scattered throughout my town of 10,000, even with a couple of drive-thru businesses.

With Sadie not adjusting to the time change at all, she was giving me the stare down to 'go walk' by 8:30am ... we started it a little after 9am. This fog and the temperature at 37° ... but didn't feel that cold.

Stella tried eating some wet leaves, then a pile of wet dirt and later some grass to add to her early morning snacks.

With their speed I became aware that deer might be on the horizon. Would they be in the woods waiting to jump out? Would they be in the far right corner not knowing that the hounds were on their way to that area.

Stella took off left and I thought she was gone. She stood and stared, looking north and I was sure that she was going to take off on a sprint toward potential deer. While I was trying to capture her pose, with the fog the lens would not focus ... luckily Stella turned around and headed back to toward Sadie and the normal path.

I decided that I'd let Stella have open range so to speak. I would let her come and go as she wanted unless .... she headed to the 'no fly zone'. That never happened, although she stayed behind so far that she could not be seen in the fog, nor could the camera lens focus due to the fog.

As usual Stella came sprinting to catch up with Sadie and I and both headed home at their normal slow pace.

Stella had one last spot to check before she came inside. Sadie and I had already returned inside the house and by the time I had hung up my coach, Stella was at the door to be let inside.

I mentioned yesterday that we would probably walk without the camera and maybe take the retractable leash but that did not happen. Here are some pictures of our afternoon on Wednesday ... another great day.

The process that started weeks ago on the highway, was started by the highway crew of grinding out the cracks in the highway in preparation for the filing those with tar what was pictured yesterday. Here is part of that right in front of my driveway. Luckily it was dried very very fast, with a truck trailing the crew and giving it time to dry. They did this for at least 12 miles of highway, maybe more.

The sun was bright for our afternoon walk but that sunshine did not equate to warm temperatures. I guess fall is here and the winter is hiding right around the corner here in 'the tropics'.

It's good to see Sadie's trim waistline and I hope she can maintain that even through the winter.

Well it is good that you can watch tv without the political ads during each commercial break. It's interesting to see the news commentary change since the election results. I guess the large crowds at the Trump campaign speeches, the larger ratio of Trump/Pence signs in yards compared to Clinton signs ended up being a pretty accurate indicator for what was going to happen.

I'm not a historian, and maybe some readers are ... if so, I am sure they also remember demonstrations in the streets after Nixon was elected, Viet Nam era, then against Reagan and 'the nukes' ... a few more demonstrations that I don't remember in detail. So, nothing really new, just more coverage on tv and also of coarse the internet and social media.

I may post again later this afternoon or early evening to get back on a schedule of blogging at the end of the day instead of trying to post photos and write about a 24 hour period from one mid-day to the mid-day the following day. We will see how that works.

Not much planned today, at least nothing that is blog worthy.

We are cold today here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.