Rain, Rain Go Away

Taken this morning 8-6-2013

For days now it's been raining every morning. It starts before dawn, and often it does not stop till the afternoon. Then it resumes again in the evening or at night. The effect has been very good for our fruit, so I am not really complaining, but for Bow it has been a trying time. A thunderstorm woke him in the night, and he was upset for a while. This morning, while it rains, Bow naps.

Outside the gentle drone of the rain's pitter-pat drowns out any other noise.

It has been raining so much that everything outside is getting greener and greener, like something in a tropical paradise. Even Bow's bench is turning a little green.

When he goes outside in the afternoon, during lulls in the rain, Bow is careful not to walk on the wet parts.

Taken yesterday afternoon -- 8-5-2013

He looks for safe place to put his foot down, on that is neither wet nor green.

Taken 8-3-2013

No matter what else is going on, Bow wants his feet to stay dry.

taken 8-3-2013

Puddles are starting to form everywhere. The ditches at the sides of the road on my property are full. A friend reported 2.5 inches of rain yesterday and another 2.5 this morning so far.She said the fish in her pond were hanging onto weeds to avoid being swept away.

A puddle on my property

Last year, we had a terrible drought that killed fruit trees and caused a shortage of hay for cattle and horses. Let's hope that this year's rain does not turn into a flood. It's good to have plenty of rain. But we don't want too much of a good thing.

Registering a Complaint Against the Weather

Bow is not shy about sharing his feelings. If he does not like something, he will let you know. This afternoon it rained and hailed and thundered, and Bow was not pleased. He does not let this kind of opportunity to register a protest against nature pass him by. After protesting for a while, he usually calms down and becomes more philosophical.

Raindrops and Brown Paper Packages: Bow's not so favorite things

Someone recently asked me what Bow and Lawrence talk about. They talk about whatever comes up. Yesterday, as Lawrence was coming back from lunch, a brown package was delivered by UPS to our doorstep. It was heavy, like a book. Lawrence brought it in and placed it on the coffee table in the living room as he was coming in to take my place with Bow in the pens.

I opened the package. It wasn't something I had ordered, as I always have things delivered to my PO Box. On the inside, it wasn't wrapped like a Christmas present, and there was no indication of who had sent it. It was a book entitled A Foreign Policy of Freedom, and it was by Ron Paul. Some anonymous donor had sent it to me. Maybe it had something to do with my recent post on PubWages.

Around three-thirty, when I was placing the chicken in the oven for dinner, Lawrence popped out from the pens for a moment. "Bow says he wants an apple," he said to me in passing.

"Well, there are plenty of apples," I replied, gesturing in the direction of the dining room table.

Lawrence selected a couple of apples and was going to return to the pens. But he remembered something, so he turned back to me and said: "Oh, and Bow also wanted to know what was in the package."

I smiled. "Tell Bow it was a book by Ron Paul."

"A book by Ron Paul," Lawrence repeated, trying to make sure he wouldn't forget before he got back  to Bow with the apples.

Apparently Bow did not have much to say about the book after that. Lawrence thinks Bow was probably hoping the package was a present for him. Later in the day, Bow became very agitated, and when Lawrence asked him why, he spelled: "I don't like rain." It was not raining at the time. About an hour later, it started to rain. It was quite a downpour, while it lasted.

Today, when I took Bow outside to the outer pen, he was very careful not to step into any of the puddles.  He really does not like rain.