Blustery Winds, Thundering Hooves, and Sleeping Lettuce






  


It rained yesterday, just as the weatherman said it would.  I can't say I was sorry to see it.  We are still woefully low on water in our rivers, lakes and streams.  We need all the rain God will give us.  I was sorry that the humidity crept upwards and the air felt thick and too warm.  It is mid-October for goodness sake!  Let's have a bit of cool weather...That's what I thought.

I woke about 1:30am last night to hear the rain coming down yet again.  I deeply regretted not moving the beets onto the porch.  Too late and too wet and too dark to think about it, I decided the best course of action was to roll over and go to sleep and forget about it.  Apparently I didn't need much encouragement on that score! lol

I woke this morning and the house felt fairly warm...but as I went about the bedroom and bath picking up I heard the wind pounding the end of the house...I know that sound well.  It is the sound cold fronts make coming in over our hill.  I was happy to find that indeed the air was noticeably cooler when I went out to feed the dogs and cat.

I checked the plants on the patio...The beets were looking more than a little too wet.  I drained the pot as best I could without damaging my plants.  And noted that some of the carrot seeds that had not  germinated decided to sprout over night in the midst of all that rain.  Go figure.



The wind was blowing a misty rain over the porch, making it a little chilly for sitting to read my Bible.  I can see these days of quiet time on the porch are coming to an end.  I'll still go out, because Maddie will not eat if I do not stay there, but I shall be bundled up and more than ready to get back indoors once she's done.  No lingering and contemplating the wonder of the Word and the natural world around me.

We planned our trip to the more distant grocery for today.  John had his paycheck mailed to the house this week and we had our Harvest time yesterday afternoon.  So today was grocery day.  And true to our usual pattern, it was also the day we travel North to the hill country for groceries.  I do believe that every year we've done this the day has been blustery, wet and chilly.

It was just a grocery trip but the ride is lovely.  Rolling hills that get deeper and more rolling as we move northward, trees of many different colors.  Today the pines on the distant hills looked black.  And that made the color of the hickory and oak and sweet gum stand out that much more brilliantly.

I won't detail the grocery store here.  It's just a grocery store, not one we have in this area and not unlike others.  So we'll  skip that.  Suffice it to say that I'll share my bargains later in the week.  We enjoyed our walk through the store.  John was in a more playful mood than usual and I had to concentrate extra hard now and then, but for the most part, my list was flexible, my budget needs about normal and so I didn't mind the distractions.  The nicest part of the shopping was the warm cup of coffee we bought at the grocery deli counter and sipped as we wandered about the store.

We took longer than I'd imagined doing the shopping.  The views home were just as lovely as the drive up had been, and just as overcast and misty and blustery.  It was nice to get in the house and out of the weather.  Putting away groceries was about the final task today, and then I settled into my chair with a cup of coffee (yep still another one) and a fresh Apple fritter that was without a doubt the BEST apple fritter I've ever had.  Crisp outside, light as a feather inside.  Oh my!

Nothing much to report about our afternoon in honesty.  Just hanging about the house doing as little as possible.  The sun began to play peek a boo with the clouds.  I checked the weather report just before going out to feed the animals and decided it was worthwhile to bring the pots onto the porch.  The peas, the beets (and carrots!), the radishes, even the rose that I rooted earlier this spring all came up on the porch where they'd be out of danger of any frost.  John brought the pot of lettuce from the back deck.  I covered it all with clear plastic.

Just about dark I heard thunder...Or what I thought was thunder at first.  But peeking out the front door, I discovered my cousin's horses grazing on the front lawn.  We restrained Maddie who usually thinks the horses are her sport. Oddly enough, horses out of the pasture and on her front lawn, made Maddie,(and Trudy and Misu) very nervous.  They didn't mind staying on the porch with us, but we felt we needed to be there just in case she felt a bit like 'helping', which was something I am sure my brother and cousin did NOT want!

Trudy, while on the porch, spied the plastic draped pots and decided that of all the places on the porch the very best spot to rest would be atop the lettuce.  Really?  I think NOT spotted doggie!  John mentioned to Mama just yesterday that I had cooed and talked  and cheered on those vegetables the past few weeks.  He said something along the lines that the reason the lettuce was so tender was because I spoke so caressingly to it, lol.  Let a dog lie down upon it?  Oh NO.  I remedied that pretty quickly by setting the feed bucket under the lettuce pot, raising it too high for Trudy to climb onto and found her a rug to lie upon. 

We were on the porch well over an hour...horses are even harder to round up than cows.  The four horses would get close to the gate then suddenly whirl around and run back up here to my yard.  I think they chose this area because it's nearer their favorite grazing and dusting area and looks familiar to them.  Finally the noises of feed buckets and gates and thundering hooves died down and when all was quiet we turned Maddie lose once more.  Trudy seemed more than happy with her rug.  Here's hoping the lettuce remains safe for the night.


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