Rain

It's raining, it's pouring and the old man is snoring....

Well, actually he's up, but it is raining! We've received 1/2 an inch so far and they are saying another 1/2 before it's over. It's too late for some of the farms to the south of here, their crops are too fried to come back. There are a record number of forest fires burning to the north of us, the fire fighteres will be doing the happy dance right about now, they are getting the bulk of the rain.
Before we moved here 5 years ago, we lived 200 miles to the south in an area where drought was not uncommon. Down there if you got 2 bales of hay to the acre you thought it was wonderful, up here if you get 2 bales you disgusted by how bad the crop is!
Drought is such a horrible thing to watch, the fields dry up, the crops don't grow, the pasture doesn't regrow after the cattle have grazed it, the waterholes slowly begin to dry up and there is nothing you can do about it. In 2002 we went through a bad one down there, we managed to get through it but it was hard on the nerves, that's when hubby started talking about moving further north. It remined me of the pictures of the "dirty thirties and the dust bowl days", blowing dirt all day, cattle looking poorly and farmers standing out in their fields, hat in hands staring at the sky looking for a cloud.
When this spring, we didn't get any moisture for 2 months, I could see that "look" on hubby's face again. This morning he's got a grin from ear to ear!!