Hounds Get A Second Walk In Today

Surprise, this is my 2nd post today.

I had no doubt the hounds would get their 2nd walk in today. They always get two but lately the afternoon walk has Stella leashed, so no camera is taken.

Today I wanted to take some photos and hid the leash in my pocket just in case Stella became so stubborn where she wouldn't move. It was not planned but I ended up taking most of these pictures today at 200mm lens setting.

Like I said, I am going to have to find another dog food for Stella because recently she has been scratching more than she ever has. Does that mean it's the food or something else? Maybe the food is okay.

This is the tree I spoke of this morning. The high winds blew it over in February 2009. The sound of the tree snapping made it over quite a distance to the house, through closed windows, over the loud noise of the winds, plus the volume of the tv. The limb that is being stripped of its bark is the lower left, barely visible.

Stella was showing some great motivation this afternoon, attempting to keep up with Sadie and I. Something to consider, almost all of these photos were taken with the lens set at 200mm, so it's not like she was that close to us.

She was moving right along until she stopped and faced toward the wooded area behind the neighbors house. Looking through the view finder I could see her nostrils moving and thought she might take off sprinting any second.

She stood that way for a couple of minutes while I tried to decide whether to pull the 6' standard leash out of my pocket and prevent a sudden change in schedule of our walk. I decided not to put her on a leash and see what happens.

What a shock to see her start walking toward us. But that didn't mean she had lost all curiosity. She had not walked 10' when she stopped again to look in that same direction where she was so curious.

In the meantime Sadie had moved ahead of both of us and was enjoying running around the field. Once Stella saw that Sadie had found something, she ran to catch up ... there was no way Sadie was going to get something that Stella would miss out on.

I continued my walk to the back edge of the field. Turning to check the hounds, Stella had not moved. Remember all of these pictures this afternoon are 200mm zoom.

Sadie had found a new spot, one that she did not want to share.

I am not sure what these are but I can assure you that when the ground is frozen with temps in the 20's, where you might not be paying attention as you walk in soft toe shoes, they feel like a concrete wall when your foot accidentally hits them. They don't break either. Luckily I didn't drop the camera as I stumbled.

Another one just in case I missed the first one.

I'm on my way back and the hounds have not moved.

And they won't move either ... no matter how close I get or if I walk past them.

Finally they decided they were finished and were ready to get home. Both of them came running past me, only to stay on the path and slow their pace to a slow walk.

A whole field to walk in and they have to walk in front of me, slowing up my pace.

Sadie had one more thing to check out before she officially finished her walk. For some strange reason, Stella had sprinted ahead and was waiting at the house.

It was good to feel my 18-20 hour digestive problem was gone today. I felt good enough to load the car with the one 32gl container of recycled stuff and head to the recycling center. I needed another supply of books so I stopped in and picked up an old novel by John Grisham and another political book off of the "New" shelf. The Grisham book will be my first book with large print (LP).

I did think more about starting a new Wordpress blog when I sat down at my computer. The thought of a different subject blog flew through the brain cells for a nano-second and then the urge for any new blog immediately disappeared.

I think its more of wanting to play around designing a new website or blog, more than starting a new subject to write on.

The hounds are sleeping in the sunshine that has warmed the house up. They always like a nap after a walk.

Nothing else to report from the 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

The Hounds Had A Day Off

The hounds did not know they were getting a day off yesterday. It was one of the prettiest days of 2017. It wasn't up to them and wasn't their fault.

Sadie really missed her two walks, begged at times but she knew something was wrong. I moved into the 'hound mode' and was forced to hide in bed for all of Thursday. Let just say that the BRAT temporary diet worked well. By this morning I was feeling like new.

I could tell very soon after waking up today that the hounds would get their two walks in today plus they would be given total freedom to do what they want and walk where they wanted. I also had a feeling with all of that freedom, that Stella wouldn't be completing the walk based on her recent pace.

Although Stella did take the lead at the start of the walk. It was cold, like 21° cold but luckily there wasn't much wind.

This tree limb has been sitting there since February 2009. How can I remember that date? It was an abnormal warm February night. I was inside with all the windows shut of course watching a ballgame when I heard that tree limb crack and break ... it's the limb I showed a few days ago here where some animal has been eating all of the bark. It was also a limb that is pretty far from house, at least too far to hear that cracking sound as loud and clear as I did that night.

That February night, the wind was stronger than normal high wind was. Based on my straight-line wind damage the previous June I must admit I was a little concerned from what I was hearing but it was so dark outside I couldn't see anything.

I continued to watch the basketball game and was surprised that Directv was still giving me reception. By the next morning I saw just how strong the wind had been. Two houses down down from me a power pole had been broke in half and later that day as I drove around I saw tornado damage to some stores downtown. In February??

With the day off yesterday, Sadie was in full tracking mode. She was loved being outside again and there were smells she did not catch on Wednesday, so she had a lot of scent to catch up on. As I kept walking the path Sadie would move from way behind me to in front of me ... Stella had moved into the wooded area out of sight the last time I looked.

"Where's Stella?"

Once Sadie couldn't see Stella, she turned and came running for the first turn. She had other things to find and no time to wait for a bloodhound that might not catch up with us.

I am not sure if you can tell, but once again I am trying to show just how steep this gully is from the path we walk. I am not sure the hounds could climb back up in muddy to very soft ground if they ever went down that far.

Many years ago Sadie went to the bottom when she 1 or 2 years old. She walked out from the bottom to the road, with mud up past her legs, all over her stomach and neck. It took days and a lot of shampoo baths to get that smell off of her.

About the time I thought Sadie was heading for the right corner of the field, she turned quickly and took off. I did not see anything that would have mad her move that abruptly.

I'm not sure what she had found but she was moving fast enough that some of the pictures are not in good focus.

Where was Stella through all of this excitement? Like she had been doing the few days prior, hanging way back and then gradually moving to the center of the field and not even up to the first corner. She did glance up to see where we were and then went back to eating deer scat.

Once again I told Sadie "go get Stella" and she took off with her nose to the ground. Instead of getting Stella back on the path before I got there, she also found something worth not leaving.

At least Sadie got her sprint workout in for the day.

As you can see Stella didn't move the whole time Sadie ran toward her. I am still pretty far away when I took these pictures with the 200mm zoom.

This is where the pictures ended. I turned off the camera, moved the lens back to the shortest position and tucked it under my arm. I reached into my left pocket to pull out the standard 6' leash to attach to Stella because that was the only thing that would get her to move. She even fought me to keep her mouth to the ground while I clipped the leash onto her collar.

After taking the shortest route home, she still had to stop a couple of times. I had unhooked the leash soon after I got her off of that spot, so she could walk back to the house on her own.

Here are a few pictures from our morning walk on Wednesday. I did not take the camera on the afternoon walk because I was wanting Stella to get a full walk in without spending most of the walk in one spot eating whatever she would find. So she was leashed with the 25' retractable. She is one stubborn bloodhound.

Sadie's nose keeps her busy.

For the first time in along time both of them were in the far right corner of the field in an area where the deer walk to and from the gully.

When Sadie is in this pose I know she is serious. LOL

I had to walk over to call for Stella. She was on her way down the path into the gully. I was happy that she changed her mind when she heard me calling her name.

I think she is starting to gain some weight back. I've changed to a different kind of food with more protein and fat for her. I never use nor have been a fan of dog food for seniors but what I had been using for the year for the bloodhounds didn't seem to work for Stella any longer.

She must have thought she was going to miss something on Wednesday morning because she rarely runs to the house at the end of the walks. Her normal pace is a very slow walk, dragging her front paws with each step.

I feel a lot better today than I did 24 hours ago so that's a good sign for a Friday. By late Wednesday night I had finished my 2nd book checked out from the library. I need to change the subject matter to something more light ... I think I am going back to fiction for a while.

I deleted my Wordpress blog a few days ago, maybe last week, I can't remember. Just like always this morning I wished I had that blog back. Wordpress is different than Blogger when you delete a blog. They do not give you the 60 days or so to change your mind. Once you delete your blog from their .com site, it's gone.

It's no big deal really. It had the same pictures I took for this blog. What was nice it was only a few sentences of content and then 4-10 pictures. It was fast to post, I liked the themes Wordpress offers much better than Blogger and a clean look. But it rarely had any visitors. How many blogs can someone have with the same pictures, so I deleted it.

I have the urge to build another Wordpress blog. You know how I like to change templates sometime, I guess this is one of those times.

It might be cold but the sunshine is out and that is always nice here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana especially in February.

A Quiet Tuesday

I was fooled this morning after glancing at two weather apps. Their "feels like" temps were ten degrees difference. I decided it was best to have some coffee and let it warm up a little.

Yet, when I stepped outside to take the first few pictures of the day, it felt warm, like 42° warm.

Sadie and Stella snuck over through the area I cleared last fall and down over a small bank into the wooded area behind our burn pile. If they go into that area 10', later it will be more and more and into a danger zone of leg deep mud. It was a different start to a new day.

Sadie begged at usual with her 'stare down' while I read the internet and drank coffee. This begging of hers seems to start earlier each day. A little after 9:30am, I dressed for 42°, grabbed the leash and the camera and took off for the first walk of the day.

The hounds were own their own. I remembered this morning it's just not them getting a walk in and I forget at times I am getting some pretty good exercise twice a day. The field looks flat but there is some pretty good incline from the house to the back of the field.

It didn't take long to realize that I had not put on enough layers of clothing ... Weather Bug was right, it did 'feel like' 33°.

I glanced back at the hounds to check their progress. If you would draw a line from the hounds to their right ... it would take you right to the skinned tree limb. Ed thinks it might be porcupines that are eating the bark and the limb itself.

Sadie didn't want to be left behind. Stella didn't care, as usual. Sadie was 8 years old last June but she is showing great speed in this sequence of pictures. I kept catching her in the downward part of her run but her ears were always up.

We whipped around the first turn, the winds picked up and there was no sign of Stella. She is on her new routine for the week. She will lag behind quite a ways and then slowly drift toward the neighbor's woods until I catch up with her.

While Sadie was having fun and having the whole field to herself ...

You can barely see Stella just to the right of the corner of our first turn.

I decided to see what Sadie could do, so I told her "go get Stella" ... off she went.

That doesn't mean that Stella is always going to follow Sadie back to the path. At least in this spot I always have to go get Stella and get her heading home.

She came back with me and Sadie to get on the return path, stopped a couple of times to scratch and then did her version of sprinting to the house when it looked like I was going to leave them outside. Warm inside is better than cooler outside ... they are smarter than the AKC rankings say they are ... LOL

I decided to have my one egg breakfast, grab a book from yesterday's library run and head for the couch. A perfect day to read.

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