February 03, 2018

The Bloodhounds Love Morning Walks


Sadie and Stella react in different ways while I put on my jacket and gloves to stay warm during the walks. Stella nudges my hand with her nose, Sadie whines and bounces on her rear legs non-stop in excitement. They also differ in what kinds of walks they take ... these  photos are from this morning.





 --  Stella

A little different blog format this morning from 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

February 02, 2018

The Hound's Slow Friday


With Sadie whining ... Stella nudging me with her nose ... I could tell I was going to head out for our morning walk before I wanted to. I wanted to wait an hour or two for the temperature to increase from 16° and a wind chill of 0° ... but the hounds always get their way. We were off.


Since I had walked outside with Sadie and Stella after their breakfast while my coffee was dripping into the coffee pot, I knew they had to have some motive to get back outside besides relieving themselves. They had earlier. I also knew it was really really cold.


It was going to be one of those days where neither hound seemed to interested in walking.


The both were given total freedom to do whatever they wanted ... I kept walking.








I did a lot of out loud pondering while I walked. Do I want to trade this neighborhood for one that has actual neighbors living right next to you? Or will the field be taken over by a few ATV riders this summer?




It was good to see that Stella had not wandered off into the woods.



Stella was ready for a warm house.

I am finding out more and more about my housing search. It's like any other housing search ... it's always a pain buying and selling houses. No answers yet, I'll have my answer when I need it.

Sunny but freezing in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Bloodhound Speed

No need for words ... the pictures tell the story.

February 01, 2018

The Hounds Are Ahead Of Schedule


The weather was so nice yesterday that we ended up taking a total of 3 walks, the last one with Stella on the retractable leash. It might just me but with warmer weather I am seeing more of these deer hoof prints than I normally do. That may be the reason for Sadie's obsession of wanting to go outside all of the time recently.


Stella enjoy her leisurely stroll yesterday afternoon but it's always at a very slow pace and unlike her morning walks, she never hangs back. Plus she will never stay behind me ... walks by me on the path, gets back on the path I am walking then slows down so I can walk her pace. She is a funny bloodhound and very smart.


Not sure why but I was up and making coffee before any of the hounds even thought of getting up this morning. Once Sadie saw the kitchen lights were on, she was hopping up and down to go outside like every morning. Stella and Heidi joined her as they walk out into the dark while I poured their morning kibble. As soon as they finished eating they were back in the dark bedroom sound asleep.


I was hoping to download all of the updates awaiting me on my laptop, tablet and phone this morning. I had that 50Gb of free data available until 8am. I found my internet connection intermittent just like I left it last night. I was hoping while I slept they would fix whatever issues there were having. I decided to call tech support and found out that the HughesNet engineers were doing network repairs and it would be back up in a couple of hours.

By 8am this morning the HughesNet Gen 5 was fast and all the lights were green. While it down last night, it gave me a chance to use my iPhone hot spot and that tested to be just as fast as Hughes with a download speed of 48Mbps.


This morning just after daybreak Sadie took off tracking scent as soon as her paws hit the field. Stella decided again today to do her own walk and didn't cover much distance.






On our way back I looked to see where Stella was through my 200mm lens and could barely see her tail just a little left of dead center.




More fresh deer hoof tracks very close to the yard. Not sure if the deer were there first and then the ATVs rode following deer tracks last summer or the deer seem to be doing all of their running on the paths made by the ATVs last summer.



Another successful morning walk in the books. It's good to see 'February' has arrived. Hopefully that means just 28 more days of up and down weather. It was cold enough to wear a jacket on the walk this morning but warm enough not to wear gloves. Yet, we were at the highest temp for today at 7:30am ... we start the slow migration downward to 21° by tonight.

A few people have told me by email that I should consider whether my quality of life will improve if I move. My old friend that lives 90 miles away told me to ask myself if any move will be an improvement from what I have now. Those are both hard questions to answer.

Since it seems that more than a few blog readers thought I was buying a house site unseen, I was curious enough to do a google search on that topic  .... 19% of all new home buyers never see their house in person before they buy it. Some are investors, some are military families returning from overseas, some are too far away and other are just too busy. The one common denominator for all the articles I read was to have a very good house inspector look at the house and possibly a contingency walk-thru before putting your name on the dotted line.

My current home and the option of moving are basically 'neck and neck' in a race to the finish. Both towns are rated nice places to live. Both have things that attract you to live there. There are some houses I like and am following but this house has everything I need and it's a great location for the hounds. So who knows what will happen.

The week is almost over here in the face paced life of 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Bloodhounds Start Early

All of the hounds were surprised to have their breakfast kibble served earlier than normal. Their first trip outside before the meal and after waking up was in the dark. Yet, they did not hesitate to chow down once they came back inside. A short nap, and an early walk just after 8am. Same routine as this week ... Sadie tracked scent, Stella stayed behind in her own world.