"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Last week, we got 4 days and nights of rain!!

Not the hard ground beating rain, but soft and steady, soak in the ground kind.
Some people get frustrated with me when they ask me how many inches of rain did I get.................I don't bother to measure..............except for my own way................so here goes
SPIT BATH:  If the vehicles have brown spots all over them and the ground looks like it has freckles, but is still hard and dry.............
A NICE SHOWER:  If the patio is wet and the temperature has dropped down a few degrees...........the ground is wet on the surface, but dry when you dig down.
A GOOD RAIN: If there is a mud puddle in the drive way, the flowers are bent over from the heaviness of the moisture, ........... the rain buckets are full..............and the ground is wet all the way down and I don't have to water the next day
A SOAKER:  when the rain falls softly and steady and lasts for a length of time............ toads appear from nowhere and croak all night............... the rain buckets are over flowing and the ground is so soggy that your shoes makes weird noises and scares off the chickens
Those days of rain were wonderful. The temperature was almost like fall. Yet, when the rain ended, I did not see a rainbow...............but I did find this colorful fellow enjoying my flower gardens........even though he's a pest............he is very pretty!
 
 
One thing has always amazed me............although I know it is the most common thing...........the ground here can be hard packed and dry for months...........even years...............with nothing growing on it. The creek beds can be all dry as well as the ponds...........both natural and man made..............
yet when the rain comes and rains well, toads of every shape , size , and sound, appear.............filling the night with their loud croaking.
 
 

Along with the toads................come the toad stools..........

which are always whimsical to me.

Even moss on the gnarled, hard, mesquite trees come to life with brilliant color.

I call this old tree in my front yard.............The Sleepy Hollow Tree.........it is twisted and bent...........
it has even survived a lighten bolt. I planted pumpkins underneath it so that I can enjoy looking at them from the porch............. the rain has encouraged them to spread farther and farther across the yard.

They are getting larger. I cannot wait until fall and hopefully these will be orange and gigantic!
How about you?
How is the weather in your area?
I know some of you are getting really tired of the rain..........
What are you growing in your gardens?
I would love to hear!
 *** Don't forget.............I have a cooking blog.............
just click onto the link

I have just posted a wonderful hearty soup recipe there!


16 comments:

magnoliasntea said...

Hi Kathleen, it's good to hear you had a 4-day soaker last week. We are mowing like crazy still from all the rain, but I'll not complain.

Love the colorful grasshopper critter. Your pumpkin looks great. Hope you have a bumper crop.

We didn't plant a regular garden in the spring, but we plan to have a fall garden as the bugs don't eat everything in sight in the fall.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Thanks for the bean soup recipe, Kathleen. Right now it's too hot to think about soup but later in the fall I'll start again. Also that was such a colorful critter and your toads look like the ones we often see in our flower beds.

Cindy said...

I love your categories of rain! I just might use those:) Glad to hear you got that good rain. We did too and now the temps are in the 70's. Won't last long though. It should be in the 90's again soon.

Laurie said...

We finally had a good rainfall yesterday, enough that I don't have to water for awhile. It also brought through an awesome cold front, I can actually go outside and breath now. I don't have a vegetable garden this year, but have been enjoying my flower beds. I love this post Kathleen, it brought a smile to my face. Love how you describe your rainfalls!

lil red hen said...

So happy you got rain! Let's see ~ last week we had a spit bath, showers, and one good rain, totaling almost two inches. Soakers really revive our spirits don't they.

That grasshopper is one I've never seen and he is gorgeous! And, I love toads, especially baby ones around the back porch.

Dreaming of Vintage said...

Hi Kathleen! I always enjoy your posts! You live in such a magical place. One day I'll live in the country.....sigh.....The weather here in Northern Illinois is lovely right now, lower 70's. We could use a little bit of rain right now, hopefully Friday. The hubby and I didn't do much of a veggie garden this year.

Betty Lou said...

Loved this post, beautiful pictures and so descriptive. We were fortunate to enjoy that lovely rain also.

Connie said...

Wonderful post, Kathleen! So happy for you that you got such a terrific rain! :)

Anonymous said...

Your blog is precious.

Blessings!

Sue

KathyB. said...

I love rain, and your descriptions of the different "types" is spot on ! It really is amazing when you see such differences cause animal and plant life to appear that you normall don't enjoy. Makes you wonder where they are in the dry times and how they survive when the dry times last so long.

God created them perfectly for where they live though, our amazing and awesome God.

It is so good to see more of your garden and your old tree is one I would appreciate seeing too. It is a wizened tree that looks like it might have a story or 2 to tell.

Unknown said...

What is that multi colored "bug" in the photo...very interesting.

A Colorful World said...

Reminds me of my pumpkins last year! I ended up with one HUGE one, and the rest never got beyond that small size. It was fun growing them, and I have waited too long I think to try again this year. I am having such a time with the garden this year because we had an unusual spell of triple digit weather in June for about three weeks and everything was struggling through that because they weren't big enough plants at that point to be well -established, plus I had ants in my corn. But, I keep plugging along.

Michaele said...

I am so glad you are posting about the rain this year and not the dry. We have been getting the "just right" amount and don't let any of these grouchy farmers around here tell you different!

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Oh, goodie! I am so glad you got a really good spell of rain. We've had some, too, and it was glorious. When you're as dry as we've been .... rain is just heavenly.

Love your photos. Keep up the great work!

Brenda Kay Ledford said...

I'm so glad you've gotten rain. I like the photos very much. The toadstools are amazing. Your pumpkin looks great. We didn't have a garden this year, but I enjoy the photos of my blogger's and their gardens.

Anonymous said...

We finally received our first rain storm last night. It has been ages since our last rain storm.

Blessings in the rain!

Sue