Hard for me not to blog : )

At first morning light, the view outside seemed veiled, muted by fog, reminding me of what its like to look out of mosquito netting, a bit like an impressionistic painting. Slowly, as if to sneak in, the rain arrived, the sky darkened to night time proportions. The yellow glow of lights in neighbors windows shown forth in this morning darkness and then the rains came, first steady but light, but now its pouring cats and dogs. No pitter patter of rain drops on the roof, just loud drumming, peppered with the rolling sounds of thunder. I smile thinking about the weather mans forecast of a "slight chance of rain". There are chores waiting to be done. Hungry goats and chickens. I will get soaked if I head out to the barns now, so I will wait a bit, have some coffee, read a bit, smile that I am blogging when I promised myself to take a break from it. But there are times when I just seem to have to write or I will pop. Thoughts and words overflowing from my brain.

This morning I planned to wear my long old fashioned prairie style dress, spend the day quietly doing my housework. With the rain, comes mud and with mud comes dirty floors so it will be a floor washing day. Today will be a fine day for stepping back a bit in time, listening to the sounds of nature, no music playing, no man made sounds, just quiet so I can be enjoying the reality that I am living my dreams. There will be some time for reading, some time to chat with Melissa, who has started her studies to go from her present degree to a degree in nursing. This will be a very intense year for her. Only a handful of applicants are accepted into this program from the University of Wisconsin. The cream of the crop. I do feel almost smug when I think about all the negative comments from family and friends about our choice to homeschool. Seems like its worked out just fine in so many ways.

The storm is letting up some...I am however thankful for the rain for the garden. Just as I typed the phrase "letting up some", the heavens once again opened up and it began to pour.

Night before last something got into the hen house and killed my white duck, Larry. I was so sad. We spent part of the evening last night fixing the two weak spots where we think some critter was able to get in. I had smelled a skunk in the middle of the night so am wondering if that's what got Larry. Skunks are not good climbers but Lurch and Larry always slept on the floor of the hen house. There were two eggs set on a barrel ( they had small cracks in them so I just put them aside to later get rid of them) in the feed room of the hen house and they had been eaten, another sign of a skunks visit. This morning I found Lurch dead, something had killed him too. I just have no idea where this "something" is getting in. I feel like we need to just make our hen house a bit like Fort Knox ! Think perhaps its time to make a trip to the dog shelter in search of a good puppy that has the makings for a farm dog.