The Rain

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain coming down, a wonderful sound!

We had a lot of snow this winter which melted slowly and soaked into the ground giving us good moisture to start the spring, but since the beginning of May we've had no precipitation. After a normal start to the season, the temperatures remained cool or should I say cold - it froze at night right until the 1st week of June - then turned abnormally hot and windy.
The pastures have begun to show stress and the cattle are running low on grass, something that doesn't happen usually till August. The lawn which I cut every 5 days or so hasn't needed cutting for 10 days now, only the dandelions are having a hay-day cause they have such long roots. The grass has turned brown and is crunchy, the garden isn't growing either. I did water the it a couple of times, but it was from the well which has very cold hard water - not something germinating plants like. I did notice yesterday the potatoes are beginning to poke out of the ground, but the peas which are usually up within a couple of weeks have made no appearance yet, the spinach either. I've been suffering too with patches of red itchy dry skin (I refuse to think it might be something associated with getting old *sigh*).

The sound of the rain this morning when I woke up was so relaxing, it's only a short shower, probably only a 10th of an inch but it is a start. It seems once the cycle of dry is broken it will keep raining and they are forecasting showers for the next 4 days.

I really feel guilty complaining, we have friends to the south, only about 100 miles away who are in much worse shape. They had no or very little snow this winter, no rain and are having to sell cattle because they have no pasture left and the watering holes are drying up. A person can always buy feed to get you through a dry spell, but when there is no water you have no choice but sell off your herd.

The rain has stopped now and the sky is beginning to break up to the south, but it was lovely while it lasted and the air smells so fresh!