FINALLY, SOME RAIN

The weather forecasters have been teasing us for weeks (or is it months now?) that there was rain on the way, but this time it has actually panned out. The normal course of the week's forecast is to start talking about rain for the southern prairies on the weekend, showing us their projections of where the moisture will fall. For some reason it's always supposed to show up on the following Thursday - I think it gives them time to slowly put those animated maps in retreat so that by Thursday morning they have disappeared completely. And then, come Sunday morning, they start the whole ruse all over again aiming for the next Thursday.

But, finally, the skies have clouded over and we've had a little over a half inch of rain since noon yesterday. It's a nice start, and we'll take anything we can get, but two inches would be what most folks would be asking for if Mother Nature was filling orders. Most of this year's crop is in the ground to take full advantage of the rain, and the pastures and hay fields have been just crying for something to green up on. I don't know what the cattle were going to be eating this summer if this rain hadn't come along.

Another couple of weeks and we'll be putting the cattle out on the pasture (that's right, we've still been feeding them winter hay rations and it's almost the end of May - to put them out on those dry pastures would have put extreme stress on what green plant life there was out there). We bought two new bulls this spring to renew the genetics in the herd so there will be a big sorting job to be done before they head out of the corrals. The smaller bull will be put with the first year heifers - we really want to avoid the calving problems that we had this spring - and the other cows will be put with a new herd sire that doesn't happen to be their sire too. Record keeping from year to year is pretty important to keep this all straight. We will be shipping our oldest bull, too, although Glen hates to see him go. He's been a great asset, but he's older now and his feet are giving him problems. I keep telling Glen that we can't afford to keep a bull just because he's a good "petting" bull.

I managed to get my whole vegetable garden planted yesterday before noon. Mind you, when your husband gets up at 4:30 to get his chores done before he leaves for work, that gives everyone a pretty early start on the day. This rain is going to be fantastic for the germination out there! From the moment the seeds hit the earth, the anticipation for fresh veggies starts. We have been eating our fill of asparagus this past two weeks - the taste is divine!

The advantage of putting metal roofing on your house is that it amplifies the sound of the rain. Maybe, if it rained all the time this would be a bad thing, but believe me, it sounds better than music when you've waited this long for it. I think I'm just going to stay home, make a pot of stew and a batch of buns, and listen to Mother Nature play her own music all afternoon.