Puddles!

 Yes, another weather post.  😄 Farmers and ranchers spend their entire lives watching the weather and around here we pray for rain as often as we brush our teeth. A few weeks ago we had 0.6" here at the house and then 0.8" again last Thursday. That doesn't seem like a lot to many of you, but this desert country responds quickly to moisture of any amount and it just encourages the growth that's taken place from earlier rains. 

And the smell when it rains in the desert! Our girl says where she lives, it doesn't smell like it does here when it rains. I wish I could bottle it up. I've told DH that heaven will smell like a good desert rain. It looks brown and dirty, but it smells fresh and clean:

The first rain came fast and hard, flooding the arena

Skeet came out to celebrate with me

The chicken yard floods when it rains like this, but DH dug a little ditch that allows it to drain overnight

The poor chickens were a bedraggled site. LOL

The rains have been spotty and we're in excellent shape compared to so many so we're praying for others who are struggling to keep their cattle.

I have spent hours and hours mowing each week. Some of that is due to the rain, but we keep the bunkhouse and house yard watered and I spend a lot of time hauling hoses and sprinklers around so it's a nice reprieve for a day or two when we are blessed with rain. Most of the mowing is outside the yard, around headquarters.

This past Friday was 'release the guineas' day

They are just like chickens and will wander back into the chicken yard at the end of the day although they prefer to roost in the dead mesquite tree instead of on the roost in the coop. 

                               

                              

There are some spots I don't mow in order to give them good bug hunting grounds

   

After a nice shower, the bugs are plentiful and the chickens and guineas are on pest patrol

While Skeet specializes in puddle patrol

 

And Oliver supervises weed whacking

I'm telling you, it takes a village! LOL I'm envious of the village inhabitants that find time to nap. As for me -  I have a mower waiting for  a dance partner. 😉

Celebrating Wet

 Two weeks ago, Sunday afternoon, we sat and watched this

A few days earlier we had two 0.6" rains and on Monday morning we added another 2.7". 

                                               

This is the first moisture we've had since September and we are over the moon grateful for every drop

Seems like most folks fuss about rain, but it's such a necessity for farmers and ranchers and out here in the desert, it's part of our daily prayer. I know that too much rain can be as much of a problem as not enough, but in 35 years of ranching, I've never seen "too much".  Skeet says this is just right

This means we can stop feeding cows, but we've exchanged it for this

DH is spending hours a day spraying Mesquite and looking for Cockleburrs. Through the years, he's been so vigilant about the Cockleburrs that there shouldn't be too many. A few years back I earned the Cockleburr Queen title:

We walked many a mile each summer in an attempt to eradicate the invasive weed and I'm hoping it paid off and there will be less this year

But right now we're too excited about the blessing of dirt tank water!

Sunday Morning Rain Run

 God is good all the time, whether it rains or not, but on Saturday He blessed us with rain. I can hear ya'll now: "Here we go again, another post about the weather!" LOL.

I'm sorry, but as ranchers, our life pretty much really does revolve around the weather.

After a Sunday morning breakfast omelet, DH and I headed out on a rain run. The rain gauge here at the house just had 0.2" in it, but around here, we are grateful for every drop. And as we drove east and then north, we began to run into water and DH laughed when I told him I needed a photo of a puddle:

I told him it was for historical documentation purposes. 😄

This rain gauge at North Camp made us dance a little jig:

Seems as if the rain ran across us diagonally and covered about 25% of the ranch.

We are desperate for it everywhere (as is everyone in the state), but the most amazing thing is, that we got the best rain right where the cattle are. I know that's not a coincidence. I don't believe in those. I know, without a doubt, that God's hand was in it. And I am a firm believer in prayer so to all of you who have sent prayers, THANK YOU! Know too that I am keeping those who are dealing with TOO MUCH rain in prayer as well. Our girl said she didn't think they were ever gonna dry out in OK. She was raised a desert rat so this has been a big change for her. It's rained so much there that she said she thinks she's beginning to mold. 😳

Skeet came along for the celebration too:

We drove up Sardine Mountain to get a bird's eye view of the dirt tanks without tearing up the roads:

These tanks were previously empty. Adobe Tank, that falls off into Adobe Lake was full. They're a couple of miles away:

Spotted Tank was full! This is a picture from 6 years ago. The one I took didn't turn out:

And Silman Lake was full!

any green you see, is mesquite, not grass. We also have a tank called Madison Square Garden (don't know who in the world came up with that one!) and it was full, but it is silted in and needs to being cleaned out and it can't be cleaned out until it's dry, but right now we need the rain more than we need the tank cleaned. 

No more feed runs! No more hauling hay!

Although we are very grateful that we were able to buy hay or we would have had to sell the 300 hd we have left:

Skeet will miss hay runs too - the calves come running when he hits the ground:

DH has been needing to visit with his brother and we've been praying for God to make a way for DH to be able to get away for a few days so they could spend some time together. Without this rain, he wouldn't be able to do so. Thank you, Jesus!

Cool, crisp, rain-scented desert air. The smell of coffee wafting from DH's cup. A happy pup:

Muddy roads:

This man by my side:

And when this song came on the radio as we ran across Sardine Mountain, I got a little misty-eyed:

 Pretty much a perfect Sunday in my book.

Rain From Heaven

With the kids home for a week and cooking for the crew for a week, I've not had the time to post about our big blessing. Those of you that have been here long enough know that weather is a big part of our lives. Farmers and ranchers are obsessed with the weather and when it rains here in the desert, ya'll know a post is going to pop up sooner or later.

On the night of September 30th we had a deluge

Yes, 4" is a deluge in the desert. It's been years since we had a 4" rain. And on Tuesday we added another 1". North and south parts of the ranch had between 6-8". The east and west sides had 8" in 3 rains. Dirt tanks that were previously completely dry are now overflowing

DH has been on chicken chore duty for 2 months since I've been out of commission and he went out the next morning and dug a trench on one side and built a drain on the other end to keep the chicken yard from flooding:

Since I'm still not completely mobile, I wasn't able to trot around and take a lot of photos, but when DH said he was going to check on the east side, I just HAD to join him:

We went all through summer (August and September are generally our monsoon season) without nary a drop and now we are praising God for this:

Yes, God is worthy of our praise every day, all day, rain or shine, but we are just over the moon when it rains.

Here's the most awesome part of the story. Our sweet neighbor. Grandma Lillian (whom I have talked about HERE, HERE, and HERE) passed away and her service was on Monday, the 30th. She was 95. Her grandson said the last time he talked to her, he told her that she needed to have a talk with Jesus when she got to heaven about straightening things out down here. Lo and behold if we didn't get this amazing rain that very night. I actually woke up in the middle of the night and lay there with a big smile on my face because I knew that precious lady was celebrating in heaven and she made sure we were celebrating down here as well.

So thank you Jesus...and Grandma Lillian because I have no doubt that she didn't waste any time when she arrived in heaven.

A Welcome Soak

Yep, we finally got that soak I mentioned we'd been praying for:

On Thursday we had 0.3 here at the house and 0.8 on the East end so this makes us pretty giddy:

Then we added this overnight:

                                                   

I almost hesitate to even post about it as I know many of you are dealing with rising flood water levels, but for us, it's an answer to prayer and it'll help get us through the summer. I think the chickens are the only ones squawking

about the fact that their yard has been transformed into a lake:

I think this desert is about to break out in a blaze of blooms and we are very thankful: