The First Wordpress Post Since The Move

This will take a little getting used to since I am moving my main blog to this one. Originally I set this blog up in 2016 to post 6-8 photos and only a paragraph of content. I deleted that one after a few months, only to come back and design it again. Now after 6 months this will be my main blog, with more photos and more content on each post.



I'll be spending today working on adding some of the same pages from the old blog but not all of them. I am going to change this template so I can put my widgets of info on the left or right side instead of the bottom of the blog. I hope to find a theme (template) that has the sidebars but also the short summaries with 'read more', for listing posts on the main page.

We still started our day the same as always. Hounds get their breakfast, while I get my two cups of strong coffee. While they nap I read sports, blogs, twitter and my Feedly account. Usually by 8am we are off for our first of two to three walks per day. The only thing different today at 8am, it felt cold at 68° The strange thing for today, August 4th, the high is predicted to be 71° after a summer of high 80's and mid 90's. I'll take those cool temps but only for a few days.

It looked like rain, felt like rain in the air and it wasn't long before I could feel drops of rain hitting my bare arms. There wasn't any rain in the forecast until Sunday so this was all typical weather here in 'the tropics'. Wunderground is usually pretty accurate.

I have no idea what these flowers are. Are they wild or are they annuals, perennials? Maybe I should move them from the field to my developing flowerbeds in front of the house. The more I look the more I like that all of those Yews were pulled out of the ground and taken away after 5 years of growth.

Stella is starting her 4th day of anti-inflammatory meds. I'll not say what she is taking but they do not have long-term side affects, are not filled with heavy chemicals ... but they seem to be working. You'll see later on that she was running fast enough that the camera caught both of her rear paws in the air at the same time.

Both of them were in the search and identify mode this morning. Noses to the ground most of the way and not a lot of eating that "natural protein" they like to add to their diets.

When I felt rain drops hitting my arms not quite halfway through the walk, I told the hounds "come on, it's raining" ... they both started jogging.  Ha

Ah I found the quick and easy way of making the photos larger while I write. I'll still change the size in the default settings after this post.

Even though those unexpected rain drops were consistent and the skies looked like a storm was seconds away ... that doesn't mean the hounds stop their exploration for the morning. There are still plenty of scents to identify, no matter how fast I want to walk home. Rain probably would not change their plans or their pace.

This is the normal look they have when deer is in the area but I did not see anything on the horizon in any direction. Then I remember that they can hear 4x better than me and their noses are 200x better than mine. Something toward the north had Stella's attention.

Without any warning and without me saying a word, they took off running. This is the fastest Stella as moved in many, many months. Maybe the two doses of meds are working and her hips/lower back are finally feeling better.

Her curled tail is another sign that she is feeling better. I hope you don't mind the 'rear end' photos but many times they are out in front of me because they are always on their own pace ... not mine. So I don't have a choice if I want to take a picture of them trotting or running.

Just because we are getting closer to home does not mean their exploration ends or slows down. They gather info with their noses all the way to the house. What they do with it after that is beyond me. At least they don't watch the news on tv ... all of those channels are blocked by the parental settings that DirecTV offers.

Yes, Heidi is in her normal morning position after her breakfast ... sleeping until lunch is served.

I've always liked that WordPress does not compress my photos when I post them. That means I no longer have to go in and change the HTML for them to be a sharper looking photo. They do have a lot more templates to choose from than Blogger has. WP calls them themes, not templates.

Like I mentioned, this is not a final design. Like always I will spend whatever time it requires to get the final design as soon as possible. Luckily the yard is mowed, laundry and dishes finished with nothing a real priority on my 'to do' list. So that means I can mess around with the blog for as long as I want today.

For those that you that have arrived after getting my email of explanation, I think this will work out well for me. There are a couple of readers of the old blog I have not been able to get in touch with and for reasons I discussed in the email,  I will not be making an announcement on the old blog telling them I have moved. I believe I have received a response for almost all of those that were sent an email invite.

No doubt I will lose some readers in this move, some of them long-time followers. It's sad in a way that I am leaving a place with 6 years of photos, stories and information but it is still accessible, just not convenient to go back and forth. Clicking a link on the side is much faster.

Speaking of links, I will not be including a Blog List on this blog. In fact I may delete some of the links at the bottom of the pages, soon to be moved to either the right or left side of the blog.

Let me know if you find or have any quirks on your tables or phones when looking at the blog. Here with just a click of link in a down menu I can see what the post will look like in desktop, tablet or phone mode.

The easiest way to keep track of posting is probably signing up to follow by email, especially if you do not have a WordPress dot-com account or blog. I may at times post more than once per day.

Well it's time to start my ice tea drinking early and get to work finding the right blog design and do a little tweaking. Yet, it's cold enough for coffee instead.

I can see it's going to be another great day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Hounds Enjoy Their Walk

It's a great time to walk in the morning with the temps in the high 60's. While Stella took her normal time, Sadie bolted ahead. She was excited to see what she might find today. Stella went her way with Sadie and I going our way. They always meet up by the end of the walk.

REMC Tree Crew Shows Up

The tree crew from the local utility company showed up mid afternoon on Monday. Sadie and Stella let me know that something big was backing up the driveway with that loud piercing beeping sound that probably drove the hounds insane. I was very surprised that they cut more than I thought they would and was happy with their job.

When they started I had one small branch touching the transformer and a few others very close to the power lines. I wasn't sure how much they would cut back but I gave them an offer to cut the whole tree down if they wished. I've been quoted $1,300 to take it down.

The young kid that was in the bucket and going to do all the work looked familiar when I asked if he mind that I take pictures during the operation. He didn't mind and said take all I wanted. I still couldn't remember where I had seen him before or had I worked with him somewhere? I found out after he was finished, he also drives the tractor that cuts and bales the field behind my house.

I was happy to see they were cutting the limbs from the tree trunk and not just cutting the ends of the limbs. I now have only a few limbs hanging over my driveway. Basically any limbs pointing toward my house they didn't touch ... if they pointed to their power lines, they were cut down.

I might have that wrong but from these 5 cut limbs while leaving 1 seems to back up my theory of them cutting only those that pointed toward their power lines.

It looks a little strange with that big open spot  but they are Sycamore trees, the most worthless tree on the planet. Although they do a good job of shading a lot of the driveway.

Nothing is near the transformer or power lines and we are good to go for another ten years I guess.n That poor transformer has been struck by lightning a few times, had tree limbs blown into it during storms and exploded once a few years ago when a huge power surge took place.

What I did not know was that they would be leaving any limbs they cut with me to figure out what to do with them. I thought it was strange that a chipper truck pulled in behind the large truck with the lift/bucket but I didn't see either truck pulling the chipper. Nor did they say anything.

After they left I called the office and she said "I must have forgot to tell you it was your responsibility to get rid of the limbs, the other day when we set up your appointment".

It's not a big deal to me. That is just more fuel to my fire next fall or spring. These limbs are so green that I may not burn again until next spring in 2018. I'll use my lopper to cut a lot of them up into smaller lengths. Anything I cannot cut I'll pull them back into the woods.

Of course the curiosity of Stella was too much for her while she stood inside at the door watching. During the process she opened the door with her nose joining me and the supervisor in our conversation. Sadie never comes out of an unlocked door but she could not let Stella get all the attention, so today she lowered her head and pushed the door open to come outside. They were both very popular with the tree crew.

With Sadie and Stella inspecting the work after they drove off, Heidi decided it was time for a little relaxation in the sunshine and the soft grass.

Life is pretty rough when you are a hound in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

An Afternoon Full Of Butterflies

For some reason I rarely post pictures on this blog anytime after our morning walks. So today not only did I take the camera with me but I am also posting the best pictures I took of the butterflies in the field during this afternoon hound walk. I took over 50 very good butterfly pictures and these are the best of those.


Lately the hounds have been breaking away from me as we get near the yard at the end of the walk. Stella likes to come in from the north side of the property and Sadie likes to enter the yard from the middle. Heidi???  She's inside sleeping with the air conditioning on.

A Cool Morning To Walk

While Heidi slept in her new favorite spot, curled up in the corner of the living room, the bloodhounds and I took off for our morning walk with the temperature at 67°. Nice.

Heidi's Gotcha Day Was On Saturday

I did not forget the day for Heidi but I did not blog about it. 6 years ago last Saturday I drove up toe Merrillville and picked up Heidi in my 2010 Toyota Camry.

She really has been a great basset hound.

She came with a reputation of a 'runner', had to 'be leashed at all times'. Not here. She does not even wear a collar except when we go to the vet. She had meds to take and skin allergies. She did have a couple of years with terrible skin that 4 different vets could not figure out.

She has been healthy this past year, gained her lost weight back. She is back to being a basset hound again. She was really depressed in the 2016 spring. Could it have been Winston's death that bothered her?

No pictures and not long post but I wanted to mentioned for the record (to me).

It was 6 years ago on June 30.