Shades of Ireland

Friday, August 3, 2012

Small Blessings

Last night, something woke me up just before midnight. It was THUNDER. I laid there for just a minute trying to decide if I was crazy or not when it began to rain. I could hear it hitting the roof....... I said a quick "thank you " prayer and drifted back to sleep. A week ago, I would have jumped up out of bed and fired up the computer to look at the weather radar and guess how much we might get. At this point, the heat and the drought are so severe that I am grateful for not only every drop of rain but also for any cloud cover relief from the sun.

When Neil checked the gauge this morning, we had only gotten 1/10th of an inch. Not enough to give the ground, crops or livestock any relief but just enough to kindle a little hope for us humans. Hope dies hard around here.......

Our farmer/neighbor still holds out for enough rain for the soybeans to make a few beans. If not, he will keep a close watch on it and bale it for hay. He also baled up his cornstalks and called to ask us how many we wanted.... That will pretty much save our cattle operation.

We have made plans to plant our field in alfalfa for hay next year....... we are optimists.

Seth and I have plans to work this weekend to clean out the spring so the cattle and goats will have a safe clean water supply for a little longer..... We are optimists.

I've worked out another agreement to borrow a bull from a neighbor..... we are optimists.

The boys and I have started gathering up rocks and calculating how much concrete we will need to repair the pond dam. When it does rain, we want to catch as much as we can..... we are optimists.

My hay guy delivered the absolute last bale of hay that he can spare for us...... and he still gave us a good deal. The price of hay has skyrocketed but he did not take advantage of that......and he could have.

We are more than optimists----- we are blessed.

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