Back On Facebook - I Must Be Bored

The rains arrived as predicted. It was one of those rains that was steady, quiet, straight and strong enough at times to block all satellite connections for my tv and internet services. Maybe it was because I was bored while it rained, or it might have been because I really did miss some of the services I had with a Facebook account. I've RE-started a new Facebook account this morning and am slowly building it again with photos and the few friends I have scattered all over the USA and Canada.

Some of the groups I use to follow did not have a Twitter or Instagram account. A few local pages were nice in case of weather or electrical emergencies and were helpful. I use Twitter to get all of my up to the minute sports news. I opened a Instagram account months ago because a few bloggers had moved there to continue their blogging as well as some old friends that have photos of their dogs. So I guess social media is nice to have as long as the verbal wars and disagreements stay away. Most of my friends are not local so it's a good way to stay in touch. I have a few friends only on Facebook that enjoy photos of the hounds there but rarely if ever come to the blog.

If you would like to add me on Facebook, here is a link to my account.

https://www.facebook.com/steve.floyd.31105

I do post a few photos of the hounds but none of them are different than the photos you see here on the blog.

I was so busy trying to rebuild my account, I worked right through the time I normally feed the hounds at lunch. They did not bark, howl or whine for food today ... they slept right through lunch with the sound of quiet rain creeping through the open windows. With the rain, none of them were going further than the roof overhang to relieve themselves ... except Sadie. She wasn't in the yard long before she sprinted back to the door to be let inside. She waited for Stella and Heidi to join her.

Heidi moved so fast after her bathroom break that I took four different photos and only this one came out clear. She ran to the living room, dove onto the floor and started her daily rolling on her back while growling at herself. She was sleeping soon after her burst of energy.

Even with a lot of good rain ... none of it reached my flowers and plants in the flowerbed, which you will see below.

We didn't do much Sunday so we didn't blog. I found out how out of shape I am in when I woke up Sunday with very sore muscles in the back of my legs just from my activity on Saturday. It was nothing strenuous. I did a lot of bending over while I was on the roof cleaning a couple of gutter downspouts, pulling weeds in the front flowerbed and finished by washing the Z4 which sits low to the ground. Ibuprofen was my best friend on Sunday. All outdoor tasks were cancelled.

The hounds felt the same way. They spent most of Sunday sleeping but still got their two daily walks in. Heidi felt like I did ... she wanted to do nothing and did nothing.

By accident this morning I think I have found Stella's allergy source. This is her itching yesterday. It was also a day where I kept taking allergy tablets myself. That is just a hint of what may be wrong with her, that will talk about below.

We had a lot of good solid rain last night but I never heard it while I slept. This shows why my plants do not get rain water. I planted each plant in the middle of the flowerbed so when they are fully grown they will not grow past the landscape edging. Also, the corner where the edging turns left is the approximate location of my septic tank inlet. That area would need to be dug up for them to clean my system, if it's ever required.

Therefore I still have to water my plants even if it rains. You can see that one Azalea has been brutally beaten down by a sub zero winter and a hot summer. I am not sure it will recover and continue to grow. I have two more on the other side of the porch and each of them look more like the full leaf green one.

Sadie wasn't sure we were going to really go for a walk through the wet field this morning. I could tell there had been a lot of rain by the way the ground felt, very soft. Also my yard was turning green before my eyes. It's amazing how much it changed in a 48 hour period. Just last week I considered bringing out the lawn sprinklers to water the yard if I was not going to get any rain.

I have no explanation for Stella. This morning she started walking on the path in her slow pace but the difference was ... she never stopped walking. 99.9% of the walk she walked with only one time she stopped for some deer scat. She never lowered her head to the ground but that one time during the walk ... it was like she was walking in her sleep.

She walked and walked ... LOL

Sadie was doing what Stella normally does. But I don't have to call Sadie catch up as she does that on her own.

You can barely see Stella hidden behind the brush.

This is the only time she stopped walking during the half mile walk.

With thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon and the dampness in the air, my painting project is on hold until the weather is dry and hot again.

Yes, Stella is still walking in slow motion. She is walking along the overgrown ATV path from last summer that runs parallel to the back edge of the field but much further left of Sadie and I.

She almost stopped as she circled something that interested her. About the time I started walking her direction in case I needed to get her to move ... she took off walking again towards our return path by the last turn of our walk.

You can barely see the path we take, which moves right next to the right of the roll of hay. Stella has crossed the path waiting to see if I tell her to stop and turn around.

I did tell her 'no, come here' and she was about to me when she dodged to check out one more thing before she started her walk home. Yet, she never put her nose to the ground.

Sadie was on her own and always ran to catch up to me.

Notice that Stella is in the exact same pose as she walks ... I should have shot a video of her instead of having the camera catch her in stop action. No, for those that are wondering, this will not turn into a Vblog.

A little verbal herding kept Stella headed in our direction. She would love to go over and visit the neighbors backyard and check for any food that might be out for the wild field cat.

Instead of sitting and scratching this morning when she returned to the yard, she stood and waited for me to take her picture. Then she turned and started walking toward the house. She has NOT scratched at all this morning inside or outside ... and I have not had to take any allergy tablets today, with all the windows open due to the low temperatures.

Have you figured out what I think may be Stella's itching source???

Pollen.

I look at Wunderground every morning to see what kind of weather I have to look forward to. This time of year I look at their block for Precipitation and Pollen. When I started thinking about it I remembered noticing that Stella does not scratch all the time and even not every day. Just like I don't take allergy tablets every day or all the time. I also saw that Wunderground's pollen count was pretty accurate and I can usually feel it in my sinuses first thing in the morning when I look at their site.

I'll start paying more attention and see if what I said here about Stella's allergies proves to be fairly accurate.

This is not the pose I wanted of Sadie when I took this picture but she moved at the last second and turned her face away from the camera.

With the Reds and Cubs having the night off from baseball, it might be a night to catch a movie on tv or a DVD off of my shelf. I don't watch hardly any prime time tv shows but I do have my DVR set to automatically tape new and older shows. That library is building up fast. I am going to have to change the settings to only 'new' episodes.

What might some of them be?

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is one of my favorites. There is some great food on that show and luckily he has stopped a few places in Indiana within driving distance. I like watching Mexico Life, Caribbean Life, Beachfront Bargins Hunt, Mountain Living, Building Off The Grid, F1 Racing, IndyCar Racing, Hometown, Dr. Jeff Rocky Mountain Vet, and Comfort Food Tour. I also have various college football programs that include the Pac12, and the BigTen.

Luckily I put the car cover on the Z4 Sunday afternoon while it was sunny. Rain was predicted for Sunday night, which did happen. It's good to keep the rain, pollen and dust off of it when it's parked.

For those readers that use Apple products I still like the new macOS on my Mac and laptop. I have not put it on my iPhone and won't until it is officially released this fall. I am currently using the 'beta' version on my computers.

So ... not much going on today. Rain off and on, at times very heavy. Temps are still cool, no AC and the hounds and I are enjoying this weather rain or shine here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Bloodhounds Supervise My Saturday Morning

Stella did not run off during the 4 hours she was outside while I worked. She started by sleeping in the sunshine on the backside of the house, moved to laying in front of the Z4 to nap while I pulled weeds in the flowerbeds, then moved to the deep corner of the shaded carport while I washed the car. By the time I took this photo she was ready to move back inside for her afternoon nap, laying right in front of a floor fan.

By 1pm I was finished with a few things I wanted to get done. I washed the Z4 in the shade but pulled it into the sunshine after I dried it off so the top could be completely dry before I lowered it on my next drive. Since it's washed it will go under the car cover when it's not on the road. Actually all three hounds were outside for most of the morning. Right after the morning walk I pulled both vehicles outside so I could get the ladder out of the shed, for me to use to get on the roof.

If you remember Sadie cannot just lay down outside and relax like Stella. Her nose keeps her active but even she did not wander out into the field after our morning walk. While I was on the roof she inspected the burn pile. While I pulled weeds, she went back inside to see if there might be some bits of kibble that may have been missed for lunch. While washing the car she stood in the shaded carport watching my every move and finally gave final approval of my sweeping the Z4 parking spot. She never laid down once in the 4 hours were were outside.

We had an early walk this morning for the first time in a long time. I was up early because I went to bed early (11pm is early). At no time during the day did the AC ever turn on with the thermostat set at 74°. All the windows were open to pull in the cool temps.

I knew as soon as the morning walk was over I was going to get on the roof to check the gutters since I had some rain overflowing the side of the front gutter. The downspout was plugged with wet leaves on each side of the house so that was an easy fix. I also like to inspect the roof at times since my shingles are getting near their shelf life. I think they can make a couple of more years before I need to have a new roof put on.

From the way it looks, from 9am to 1pm looks to be a great time to finally get some things marked off on my 'to do' list. If the weather continues to be as good as it has been and as good as predicted I might get everything finished on that 'to do' list before my first college football game on September 1st. My world basically stops once college football starts and will start spinning again normally after the Final 4 game in college basketball next April. So things have to get done between April 7th an September 1st every year.

Stella was pretty active this morning with her nose. She didn't run anywhere nor trot but a few spots during the walk grabbed her attention. Of course verbal herding was needed to get her to move to get Sadie and I back to the house.

Sadie was of course herself just like every walk she takes. A million scents to check out and only one nose within our half mile walk.

Stella was positive there was something she just had to eat buried under a clump of mowed hay (June) and possibly at dirt level. She pawed at the spot first then moved her nose to get as deep as possible. I am not sure what it was because I saw nothing below her nose on the ground and when she raised her head she had nothing in her mouth.

Getting back to those weeds in the flowerbed. I never sprayed them with the weed killer I had because I had planned to always pull them out by the roots. With the base of cedar mulch and the black landscaping ground cover below the mulch ... pulling all the weeds out was pretty easy. I have changed to watering the Azaleas and the other flowers I planted last year (can't remember their names) in the mornings now instead of late afternoon/early evening. They are so far under the overhang they don't get a lot of the rain water when it rains.

As you can tell, Stella was in no hurry this morning. The temperature was cool, in the 60's, so she was going to take her time getting back to the house.

By late afternoon I had watched the last real race of the Tour de France that was taped early this morning. Tomorrow is the last day but is more of a ceremonial trip in Paris. Then I took the Z4 out for about an hour drive through the hills and curves on the highways in my local area. I have a lot of different routes I can pick from and a couple are fantastic sports car roads. The car ran as smooth as it ever has. Not bad for 15 years old car.

Early game tonight in Cincinnati, so it might be another night of getting to bed early, at least for me. I am thinking that tomorrow morning after the hound walk, I will finish a job I started in May 2017 but didn't finish due to hot weather last summer, then college football season on tv, the the frozen winter ... that is scraping the trim where needed all around the house, apply primer after that and then paint the trim color on Monday morning. Most of that work will be inside the carport.

The days continue to be fantastic weather for this time of year in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.