Storms??? What Storms.

The rain and winds picked up around 1:30pm yesterday. When the storm windows started rattling I knew the wind speed was up higher than normal. It was a good thing that I changed the screen windows for glass windows on the outer storm windows before the storm. There was enough activity in the sky that interrupted the Directv signal and my HughesGen 5 signal. By using the WeatherBug app on my phone I was able to track the storms by radar. Sounds like we got a break again ...

Whether rain or snow, it doesn't matter what month it is ... most of the time those storms heading our way from the west or southwest seem to split up at the Indiana - Illinois state line. They will then follow I-70 that is north of us or the Ohio River south of us.

Yesterday was different. Counties 6 miles south of us were in a 'Tornado Warning' not a 'Watch'. IU 1pm soccer game was cancelled and their early evening basketball game had a 45 minute delay to the start due to the tornado warning. At no time did I hear the siren warning from town two miles away. I can usually hear that when they sound it off.

Stella did a little analyzing when she heard the loud rolls of thunder and exploding lightning that sounded as if it was right outside the door. The hound that came with a reputation of 'scared of thunderstorms' in August 2015 ... decided the best alternative was to sleep though all of the weather outside.

So much for those 'severe weather warnings' we had yesterday. I'm not complaining by any means and I am always happy to see us miss the worst of them. This was the only thing I saw that needs repaired, raking the mulch back even and add some new ... besides getting on the roof again to blow the leaves out of the gutters with my smaller leaf blower.

As with any rain, the next morning always seems to bring an increase of the number of scents as well as a stronger smell because Sadie and Stella go crazy tracking them. By the time I took my daily second photo from the corner of the house, Sadie was already halfway to the corner of the field.

You can see her just to the right of center while Stella runs after her.

You would have thought since they were together and in the same spot that they'd wait until I caught up ... not today. I was not even close to them when they both took off running, leaving me behind.

Since Sadie had disappeared so fast around the corner I thought she was probably just on a scent and not chasing deer. I saw nothing on the horizon. Stella was to my left up ahead finding a favorite spot to dump her tanks. Did she wait on me?

Not hardly. Whatever Sadie had found Stella couldn't miss out on.

It looks like the photographer did not have a steady hand today shooting 'single point' photos.

Don't let these photos fool you. Some of you may have dogs that walk right next to you without a leash or have been trained to heel on command and obey any kind of verbal request. These two have a mind of their own just like they are bred. Potential owners are warned by the AKC that the bloodhound breed is stubborn (understatement) and is oblivious to anything around them when tracking a scent.

It was really the perfect weather to walk this morning. The temps had dropped 20° from yesterday, although I had no complaints of 70° weather in early November. There was some wind but not as strong as yesterday and the field really wasn't that saturated with water after all the rain we had Sunday afternoon and last night.

I didn't see Stella heading that direction until I uploaded the photo above, then I barely caught her on the left side of the photo.

While Sadie took the back edge of the field ... Stella had to check out the entry of the gulley where the deer move back and forth into the field. There is now a nice path made by numerous trips of an ATV by my younger neighbor, that has small field cameras in different parts of the field and woods.

He told me he saw my bloodhounds one time last year on his cameras mounted in the woods to the north of us, just past the 'no fly zone'.

You can barely see each of the hounds on both sides of the photo. I wanted to get them in the same picture to show how far away they are from me and each other.

Stella had taken about two steps toward the gulley down over the hill. As I kept yelling 'NO' and running her direction she finally decided to give me a break ... turning around and heading my direction. Again ... her look of disappointment.

Sadie was in continuous motion on her own schedule and scent.

I guess they found out if they teamed up on the scent that would be better than solo tracking.

Any dog owner would like to think as you say "lets go home", seeing the hounds head that direction running together is because of your verbal command ... but really they just want to get to their next spot of interest before you can catch them.

It's been a while since Stella has been able to really check out the woods behind the neighbor's house. That huge yellow field cat lives in that woods from what I am told and what I have seen. I'm sure that some days the scent of that cat drives Stella bonkers with anticipation.

Yet, when I tell them 'over here' and 'let's go' ... they agree and slowly head for the house.

They will not miss an inch of the field when they are in the mode of exploring.

I was hoping to see those two trees to be leafless today after the storms and high winds yesterday. It looks like the tall Sycamore on the left side has a ways to go, where I might be raking leaves in late November. The Mahogany trees are close to being empty and they are the main source of my leaves.

This gives you a better idea of my leaf project. I'll wait for them to dry out this week and then spend a few hours for two days, raking every last leaf toward the burn pile at the opposite side of the yard. I think I am going for the clean look again this year instead of mulching them and leaving some behind.

In this mall area it's so tempting to rake them into a pile and burn them along the small bank ... but that did not work out well the last time I tried it. You cannot be lazy when it comes to burning leaves I guess.

The Sacramento State ball cap hangs inside the house. It was declared my "yard maintenance" hat in February 2016, after I walked into the house and saw that Stella had chewed the IU Football cap with that job description. By the way they have been playing this year, maybe it was good she destroyed it 18 months early.

The cap usually dries out after a hot day of mowing the yard but the strange thing is, at times hanging in this same position inside the house, the cap changes from being dry to quite damp, like today. Is that from too much humidity inside the house?? So today with a nice breeze that is not strong enough to blow the cap away, it's hanging outside to be thoroughly dried out. I need all the equipment in working order for our Leaf Project 2017.

My slower internet speeds are still working out well enough that I can do all I need to without pictures stopping midway when I upload them into the blog. I can read and send emails without issues. So I am happy I did not pay for more data just because of speed.

The time change is still in the adaption phase with the hounds and I. They want to eat earlier than the clock says and for some reason I seem to be sleeping later based on the new time showing up on my watch.

Too wet to rake leaves today ... seems like the perfect day to get some house cleaning taken care of and decide it I going to continue scanning my old photos into digital files or put those packages of photos back in the drawer.

I need to go ... the hounds are letting me know it's time to eat lunch, even after a late breakfast. I wonder how they would do on 'free feeding' ???  LOL I'll never try that will a bloodhound since they are prone to bloat.

The sunshine is out here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.