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When you start the morning chores and the sky looks this angry, you know you’re racing the clock. You think to yourself “just a few more minutes…”, but you know you’re not in control – nature is. After about 15 minutes, our luck ran out and the heavens opened up on us. We were both soaked. But that’s how it goes when you farm and there are animals to be attended to; sometimes, you get lucky and the rain holds off, and sometimes it doesn’t. And the chores still must be done.
It’s technically Fall, and yet, here, the temperatures are in the 90’s and precipitation has been nearly non-existent. The grass is dry and crunchy, leaves are brittle…it’s clearly a drought. The ground – clay soil – has contracted with the prolonged arid conditions and manifests large, jagged cracks. Is it crying out? I am: let summer end now!
A few more images:
Forecasts (at least in these parts) are fairly unreliable, and storms that were supposed to bring rain this month either petered out prior to arriving or only provided a teasing shower; temperatures are predicted to beginning falling precipitiously in a few days, and rain is supposed to make an appearance next week. We shall see…and I shall keep my fingers crossed!
It’s been very dry here – so dry, the grass is beginning to look like hay, wan and crispy. Clouds gathered this afternoon, angry and threatening, displaying the glowering undersides that portend storms. Unfortunately, we’ve had near misses with storms recently, so I refused to get my hopes up. And then, it came.
The forecasted storms have rolled in. We got a brief drenching yesterday afternoon, it definitely rained overnight, and the rain ramped up again this morning. Walking out in the downpour to shut the chicken coop door reminded me why rain is so important, in ways we take for granted.