I'm so tired of mushy ground! We had several weeks of respite, when everything froze solid, but other than that it has not truly dried out here in probably 6-8 weeks.
And now more rain is coming.
In an effort to overcome my increasing grumpiness this morning, I'm starting a list of reasons to be grateful for the rain. Feel free to join in with me in the comment section!
1. Rain fills the creeks and rivers and lakes, cleaning things out.
2. When the creeks, rivers, and lakes are full, kayaking is more fun! And we now have kayaks!
3. Rain gives the earth a drink. More rain gives a deeper drink.
4. Rain makes the bare trees in winter look black against the gray skies and muted landscape - one of my favorite vistas.
5. Some people actually pay for mud treatments. We can get all we need for free.
6. Horses and ponies love to roll in mud. Little donkey boys not so much.
7. We have cats lying about all day long in the living room. Sleeping cats are peaceful cats.
8. The sound of rain can be meditative.
9. While basic barn chores still get done on rainy days, many things get postponed, which makes the rainy days good for writing novels.
10. If you're smart enough to park your car outside the garage during the rain, it will get washed off.
11. Rain falling is better than no rain at all.
That's about as far as I can get this morning. I had to stop myself before I put number 12:
Sometimes weather forecasters are wrong!
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
12. Rain not only washes off dirty cars it washes off muddy horses.
ReplyDelete13. Rainy days make it easier to relax and read a book or get some things done around the house.
And since I'm superstitious and can't leave it at #13 -
14. Rain, rain go away come again another day little '______' wants to play...
Billie, I've thought and thought and rubbed my ears on the fence to stimulate creative ideas and for the life of me I can't think of anything. Except for being inside and hearing the rain on the metal roof and knowing it can't get at me...I believe donkeys are more of an earth sign rather than aquatic.
ReplyDeleteArlene, great additions. We got the latest Harry Potter DVD in the mail today so I think tonight we'll all watch it together and enjoy the wood stove (when husband gets home and gets it going!) and some dinner.
ReplyDeleteSheaffer, the nephews definitely agree with you. They look like little sad faces standing in the barn doors gazing out.
ReplyDeleteThis morning our neighbor walked down the drive with a big white umbrella and Salina went marching out to the end of the paddock to supervise this odd creature bobbing along.
Usually the donkey boys are by her side but when I looked they were standing in the barn, side by side, ears at full alert, but dry. LOL!
Oh, wonderful list! I think I eventually concluded that I needed a rainy day list, as well as a good weather list. The other thing I did was made myself put on all my rain gear, including rain pants, and tromp around in it. Movies, books, woodstove, and catching up on household chores are all great ideas, but the one I like the most is writing...going to have to put the fingers to the keyboard a bit more! :)
ReplyDeleteI like your version of Thankful Thursday! The rain puts me in a calm and introspective state. Your dvd and wood fire night sounds like heaven to me!
ReplyDeleteWendy, I have good muck boots, a hat that keeps my head and ears and face warm and dry, and usually I just wear a coat that will repel the rain somewhat - I agree that having the appropriate gear makes life in inclement weather so much more bearable!
ReplyDeleteI was looking at farms for sale last night and drooling over the ones with indoor arenas. I don't care so much about being able to ride no matter what, although that's a huge plus, but being able to turn horses out for exercise on yucky days would be wonderful.
The farms that had good indoors plus good outdoor arenas were my favorites, and there was one that had: 10 stall newer barn, matching indoor arena (that wonderful design that lets you see out all the way around, not completely enclosed), an older barn with huge loft, great pasture, a huge pond, the yellow house, an artist's studio, the original farmhouse (redone), the log house, the stone house (a duplex), a workshop, and two huge storage buildings with cement floors and doors wide enough to drive delivery trucks into for unloading.
:0 I was having fantasies about going on my writing retreats right there on the property!
Some rainy day fun fantasizing... :)
Michelle, we had a little bit of a wild interlude in the middle of the movie. I'll do a new post later today.
ReplyDeletebillie,
ReplyDeleteI am so having indoor-arena-envy, and always get the newest property magazines at the grocery (they're free) on the way out - always looking to see what's out there. The good news for us, is that I believe that I have room for an indoor on the back 10, and part of my goal this summer will be clearing trails to the spot and begin clearing (it's partially returned to young woods). The idea is to keep clumps of birch, and rows of white pine around rock focal points, and keep it feeling like young forest pretty much to where the indoor would go, only with small meadow/pastures tucked into it.
Then we'd have to survey it, and level an area - combining fill and scraping etc...too big to contemplate too deeply right now. By then I will have to have a mechanism to plow, as the arena would be about 1/2 mile from the house. But the meditation house would be right there with a couple of stalls and smaller pastures all linked via gate systems to the main pasture.
Rainy day dreaming, for sure!
Wendy, that sounds delightful. On this property we have now, I'd probably convert our current arena to indoor since it's right by the barn and try to fit a smaller outdoor on the back of our property. It's fun to think about.
ReplyDeleteThere was one farm in the listing I was looking at that had a covered arena, a covered round pen (it was sort of sacred geometry style, and quite beautiful), and an indoor "paddock" that connected to the barn.
I didn't like the location of the farm at all, but loved the lay-out of the equine stuff. One thing I'm seeing though, is that none of the farms I'm finding for sale have the intimacy with the horses that we have here. Everything is sort of split up - house and barn very separate, and barn usually not attached to pasture so they can come in and out at will.
I always thought it would be wonderful to have an arena tucked in the woods somewhere, so that to go to "work" you hacked there first, warming up and just enjoying the path along the way. :)