Be careful what your ask for.......

We've been asking for moisture for our pastures and last night it came, to the tune of 1-1/2 inches in approx. 10-15 minutes and also included was hail most of it was pea and marble size but there also were many that were ping pong ball sized and hard as rocks. If you click on the photos you'll see larger images. We did sustain crop damage, mostly shredded leaves and some broken vines on the squash, and cucumbers. The hoop house received damage as well, although only two or three through and through rips, the rest are just dents in the plastic. For the rips we're ordering plastic repair tape. Of course it goes without saying that it certainly could have been much worse, so we are thankful and the crops will pull out of the damage and still produce for us. All of our tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cantaloupe were spared any damage. The moisture was a definite answer to our prayers and has given us a much needed break from irrigating the pastures. There is just something about rain that makes everything green up and grow so much quicker. 

The larger hail is the ping pong ball size and rock hard. Thankfully we didn't seem to sustain any damage to our vehicles, windows or roof.

It looked like a river ran through it on our back patio and sidewalk! The rain was coming off the roof so fast it seemed to miss the gutter and what did go in the gutter was run to quickly to collect much in our rain barrels.

If you look you can see our sunken rows are totally flooded as are the walk paths. It drained away quickly because of our sandy soil.

This was our rainbow( actually there are two, you can see them both better in the picture below) after the storm passed over

                                  Does anyone else know what the promise was in rainbows? 

Moisture..... in the time released form

When we got up at 5:45 am this is what it looked like outside.

This is just a half hour or so later, and it's still snowing!

The hoop house had some build up on it because it is not heated, so Mike graciously went out at 6am and tapped from the inside to get it to slide down.

This at 7am and I'd just come in from tapping again on the inside of the hoop house to get the snow to slide off. It's still snowing, harder than at 6am.

This is at 6am, showing the snow accumulation and it is VERY moisture laden, which we need!

Here's what it looked like an hour later at 7am and again it's still snowing, harder than at 6am.

Poor Addy still hasn't calved and I'm praying she continues to hold off. This snow is only supposed to last today then it's fore casted to begin clearing off tomorrow and back into the mid to high 50'sF.

Well, the house needs cleaning and I have some organizational projects that need to be done, so..... today is a good day to get them done.

In preparation for this moisture, Cortney and I did get our potatoes planted, 138 hills of a mix of Russet and Caribe. We also got a few more flowerbeds cleaned out, baked our weekly bread, finished washing bedding and hanging it out, regular chores( barns cleaned, feeding, exercising the lambs, etc....) and fixed our pork chops and a few shrimp( for Cortney and myself), green bean, macaroni and cheese and leftover apple crisp ala'mode for dessert   :o)

May your day be filled with blessings  :o)

Like a chicken with my head.......

cut off....... Tomorrow my Dad and I will take Cortney to camp( 150+ miles
one way). She is so excited and has cameras for plenty of photo ops. She
has to check in by 3pm, so Dad and I plan to do a museum tour while in
Bozeman. They have a wonderful dinosaur display and it changes from time
to time, so it will be fun to see the new exhibits. They also have on sight a
original homestead house that is operational during the summer. They have
a blacksmith, and ladies cooking on the wood cook stove, a person who tends
a lovely garden in the front of the home. I love touring through it, even if I've
it several times already!

Today we're getting laundry done and on the line, packing and baking breads
and goodies for our first Farmer's market on Friday, 4-7pm. I will have some
produce; beets, yellow peppers, small salad sized carrots, salad mix, garlic,
cucumbers, dill, other culinary herbs and possibly raspberries. I need to make
tags for the baked goods, a sign with prices for produce and herbs, get the
table, chair and umbrella loaded in the car. I admit I'm nervous, I'm not a
people person and remembering names is my downfall. I remember faces,
but not names.*sigh*

Yesterday it was cool, into the mid 70's and in rolled the blackest clouds, so I
knew we were in for some moisture. BOY HOWDY! it started with a bang of
thunder, and came down like cats and dogs! It was steady the entire 25-30
minutes it came down. I looked out at the barn, thankful Mike and Jon had
gotten the new roof on and it was coming off the roof in a straight shot, like
an extension of metal to the roof. My thoughts were; Oh! No! Mo's stall will get
flooded, so I put on my mud boots, raincoat with hood and headed out to the
shed for a shovel. I knew I'd have to dig ditches to drain away the accumulated
water from in front of his stall door. I also needed to build a berm up in the
stall door to keep all possible water out.

Poor Mo was locked out of his stall, my Mom cleaned his stall and corral while
I was in the city picking up seals for some cylinders Mike is repairing for a
friend. She shut the top door to keep him out and let the stall air out, well....
I never paid any mind to it, until it started lightening and raining, by then
he was soaked.

After I'd dug a ditch and got the water draining away I built up the berm and
then let Mo into his stall, he was pleased to be inside away from the
lightening. Now that I was sure the water was draining off well enough I
indoors to dry off. My jeans were soaked and even the rain coat leaked
through, getting my shirt and hair wet. I looked like the proverbial drowned rat,
LOL!

Mike called from work and said he was late because they'd been hit as well
and the storage shed, where they keep their twine and fertilizer, the roof
was leaking so he had to move and cover items with tarps.

When I was changed into dry clothes I noticed something on the front porch...
it was a water puddle, which ran across the porch getting some items I had
setting on the floor wet. So... on clean up detail I went. It came through the
screen door and leaked in under the front door. It wasn't a huge amount,
but shows how intensely driven it really was.

When Mike got home he checked the rain gauge, it was reading almost
9/10th of an inch and the evening before we'd had a shower netting us
2/10th. It's a blessing for our pastures, but the garden, which is half
weeded is a sloppy, slick mess! Thankfully we have sandy soil so it
should be dried out enough by the weekend to get back to weeding.

Reminder; Click photos to enlarge*wink*

These are some pictures from this morning, it was misty at first but then
got very heavy and thick. Makes a beautiful picture though.

This is the front of the garden( potato patch) and it was just building in.
PTL! two of my rain barrels are once again FULL! You can see my

jimmy rigged set up for catching it from the gutter. It's not the most

efficient but it works until we can come up with something better.

Bless you in your day. We need to get a move on it to get clothes

washed on the line and dried before another suspected afternoon

storm rolls in.