Thursday, June 6, 2013

A Welcome Sound...

I wrote this on Monday, but time is getting away from me. Still, I wanted to get it on record. :)

Last night I fell asleep to the sound of rain falling! I lay in bed and tried with all my might to stay awake for as long as I could just so that I could listen to it. I'll admit that I fell asleep with tears falling onto my pillow...very quiet, happy tears. Tears of praise and thankfulness.

                       

DH was out the door by 4:30 this morning and he dumped an inch from the rain gauge. When I peeked out, I heard the gorgeous sound of frogs...lots and lots of frogs...errr...toads. I call it a froggy serenade and posted about it here. That was back in July 2009, and I do believe that may have been the last time we heard it. That lovely sound means we have tank water!

                       

We're excited about our inch. DH is hauling cattle to the sale barn this morning, but this afternoon we'll get around while we feed and see what the storm brought on other parts of the ranch. They were going to sort in the Petty Pens, but they were under water so they hauled the cattle to our pens at headquarters. What a great problem to have!

                        

My old trusty pal and I went on a walkabout before 6 this morning.

                                      

We had places to explore:

                       

Gus is our 15 yr old cow dog and he's a great companion who has earned his retirement:

                       

Splashing in a waterhole is pretty much the perfect way to start the day:

                         

We stumbled upon this little nest of eggs:

                       

 They are Kildeer eggs:

                           

The rain paints such pretty patterns in the sand:

                                   

This shot looks like it's upside down, but it's not. It's just reflections in the water:

                          

I flipped it and now it's upside down:


These muddy puddles may not be blog worthy for many of you, but for us, well, I can't think of  a prettier picture:

                                           

It doesn't take long for this country to green up, but it will take more rain for it to recover from the extreme 3 years of drought we've had.

But right now, this particular rain came fast and hard and it filled most of our dirt tanks! Some are more full than others, and some are overflowing! All but 2 were dry before this rain so you can bet we're breathing a little easier

This inch is a far cry from ending the drought, but it is our saving grace. Praise God and thank you for all of your prayers. Keep 'em coming!

As for me, as much as I hate to, I've got to make a trip into town this afternoon. We're working cattle on Tues and Thurs and it might behoove me to have something other than bread to serve them.

I'm whipping up a batch of our boy's favorite cookies this morning and sending him a package when I go to town. I figure you're never too old for care packages from home. Gosh, I miss those kids!

I imagine there will be lots of happy faces on the farmer's and ranchers in town today as well as at my dining room table at 4 am tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see those muddy boots walk through my door!

22 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

so glad that you have had rain, I didn't realize it had been 3 years of no rain for you, that is a long time and here i had though our 10 months last year was long of course here in Arkansas where it is so much greener we normally get a lot more rain than you do in a regular year - this year it is green

Nancy said...

What a great post - so glad some rain fell in your area.

Your walk photos are wonderful images of the rain's aftermath.

Anonymous said...

That's great! Although, wish ya'll would have shared- We got hit by the worst sand storm of the century, from the North last night... and that was it. We watched that cloud with anticipation, and talk about a let-down when all it produced was wind and dirt. :(

Shelljo said...

I know EXACTLY how you feel! We just had 1 3/4" on Tuesday night. It was the first rain we've had all spring! Granted, we are still woefully behind, but our toads also woke up! THey usually are out and about in April and here it's June! I'm anticipating tadpoles in the pond in a few weeks!

Here's to rain!

Libby said...

Truly indeed a great post ~ I am so glad ya'll did get some rain ~ Here's wishing you more ~ great pictures too!

Judy said...

Wonderful and I thank The Lord for you. I read each line of your post and enjoyed each picture. I pray more rain comes your way.

Gwynette in NW Arkansas said...

Loved the walk about with you and Gus. NEVER under estimate the power of prayer!!

Jan Baker said...

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will become a regular occurance for you.

Judy Laquidara said...

So glad you got rain. I never appreciated rain til living in the drought and it makes me think of all the other things I've always had in abundance . . things that I would miss terribly if I didn't have.

As always, your pictures are so pretty.

And, yes, I know what you mean about missing the kids. Your son will be so thankful for those homemade cookies . . maybe one of those things you never know you'll miss til you don't have them very often.

Pauline said...

Wonderful rain! So strange for me to see how water collects on the land. Guess you're flatter than we are on our hill. Love your pictures. We're hoping for some more rain tonight. Our "catch tank" is still about 500 gallon short.

laverne said...

Praise the Lord !Glad to have your blogs again!Got a nice 1.9'' here in Archer Co of N texas.Praying you get some more.LOVE your old dog!Do you ever get horseback by the way?

Michigan Gal said...

Doing the Snoopy dance with you! Your drought reminds me of the story "Holes," when the parched land gets rained on.

I sent a care package off to my soldier yesterday with some of his favorite treats too--and one to the far flung kids in MO. Everyone likes to have a little mail once in a while. :)

juliehallfeldhaus said...

It's good to know prayers get answered!! The picture of the dog in the water reminded me of the movie Old Yeller "get that dang dog outa our water hole" and then Arlis rocked Travis:) I love that movie. I know I have problems LOl

Mary E. Stephens said...

This post brought some tears to my eyes too. I know how it feels to get rain "finally" after a long dry spell. I just praise God on your behalf. What a wonderful blessing! Of course, our drought here in Texas was not a long as yours, but still....there are few things in this world that sound prettier than rain after a drought! It has been blessing my heart to see more cattle in the pastures here this year! :-)

Sarah said...

Yay for rain! I understand the five years of drought. We had that in Australia ending in 2009. Do you have to buy feed in drought years when there's not enough grass around for the cattle to eat?

Kelly@ Charming Chatter said...

What a beautiful post - loved every bit of it. Funny how something that can seem so small like rain, can be such a blessing. You have such a beautiful place - and an awesome family! Hugs to you!

Nancy said...

What a blessing to receive rain after such a long drought. Wonderful! There's almost not better way to fall asleep than listening to rain on the roof.

It's interesting... what some take for granted or even complain about, others desperately want or need. I'm glad your rain was gentle and consistent, Karin. I hope you get more.

Chiska said...

What a wonderful blessing! Thank you so much for sharing it in such a beautiful way.

Dar said...

Enjoyed your pictures so much and what you wrote with them. Gus looks like he enjoyed the rain too. We will keep prayer for more rain so you can relax a bit longer.

Denise :) said...

I am so *very* happy to see this post of answered prayers!! God is *so* good and faithful! What a 'shower of blessing'!! YAY! Enjoy it, my darling friend! :)

Doniene said...

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!

Karin said...

I love reading your post - and really missed it. Beautiful pictures as always. So happy for you that you finally got some rain. Sadly we had more then enough, Bavaria had huge flooding problems the last few weeks :(

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