Rain on the way...

From Jim: The weather guys and gals are calling for a series of rain storms, starting Sunday PM and lasting for most of next week. Rats! I'd like a nice soaking shower followed by several warm days for, Oh, I don't know, say the next three or four months. Well, we're going to get a bunch of storms, all in a row. I better put the waterwings back on the tractor. Sunday I'm going to get a trailer and truck load of hay and get it tarped up. I'll need to open up all of the stalls in the stable. The barn, which flooded in the earlier storms, will just have to flood again. It's been too muddy to get the backhoe to work on the drainage. That will be a spring time chore. Maybe a late spring time chore? Maybe early summer? There's a cumulative effect of wear and tear on the sanctuary during winter. These wet springs can just extend and amplify the damage. Horses move a lot of dirt and mix up wonderful batches of mud and goo. Their hooves seem designed to pick up dirt with every step and masterfully blend it with H2O to a perfect consistency of muck. We have a number of greys and whites in the herd, but not that you would notice now. They are mud/pintos and muck/paints. I'm pretty sure they'll blame us for the incoming storms. The sanctuary has only so many possible critters to blame and usually we're it. I'll need to stock up on some diesel for the generator. and turn the wind turbine back on. The dogs will need a bunch of old saddle blankets and beach towels to get dried with. They will also blame us. The cats will just go on being cats. They may or may not blame us, as for the most part, other than a warm lap, we're not too noteworthy. The goats will shelter in and cry plaintively that the food they ordered in has not arrived. Yep, the weather guys and gals are calling for rain. Maybe they'll be a little wrong? Hey, it could happen. We need the rain. The hay crop needs the rain. The wells need the rain. I know all that. I'm thankful for the blessing of enough rain. Around August, I'll write about heat and flies. The weather guys and gals will be calling for days in the hundred and three range. I'll hope that maybe they'll be a little wrong then too.