A Catching-up Post

 So many days of rain! Sunshine early in the week and the garden starting to dry out, with a 'crust' of soil, weeds that have had a field day while it was too wet to work.

On Tuesday I labored with my garden fork to loosen clumps of dirt, then scratched away with a hand 'digger' to tweak out weeds.

There is always a cat or two for company.

Nellie settled himself in the scented depths of the catnip.

Although I had planned to put down mulch I left my labors late in the afternoon to travel with Jim to deliver a tractor he had refurbished and sold. 

Wednesday's forecast called for rain to move in by evening.

I worked through the day with an eye on the sky.

Jim broke up the weedy ground between rows of veg with the big tiller and I followed behind sifting out the churned up weeds. I work on my aging knees, clearing a row to right and left.

I managed to weed the hills of cucumber and melon, then green beans on one hand and 4 tomato plants and a planting of beets on the left before rain began to spatter down.

The photo above was taken Thursday morning after a night of rain and prior to a thunderstorm that rolled in at breakfast time.

A corner of the flower garden with an Impressionistic blur of rain.

Fog rose from the creek across the road, the sky was grey after the thunderstorm.

I slogged down the lane to check on the goats.

All were safe, though protesting the wet.

Their 'keepers,' the three Pyrenees dogs, bounced, barking, along their separate fence lines, their coats clotted with damp. 

Each pasture has a shelter should goats and dogs be inclined to get out of the wind and rain.

For a few minutes a patch of pale blue showed in the sky.

The billy goats have realized [after nearly three months!] that there is as yet no upper fence to separate their long narrow pasture from the area directly below our garden.

They discovered this during Tuesday night.

Jim escorted them back down the lane where they settled for a companionable snooze in a favorite spot in the willows.

About noon I looked out the kitchen window to see that the pair had taken up residence in the end stall of our three-sided stable.

Our renters [who own the goats] have been called away for awhile, so we are sharing goat care with the two young Amish women who arrive promptly each morning to milk and  feed the goats.

We keep an eye on things and feed the baby goats in the evening.

The garden is so muddy after a second deluge today that I can only take photos from below the retaining wall. 

I have more to share, hopefully tomorrow.

Sometimes life becomes too busy to document day by day.