Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

Last year at this time, it was very very hot, and very very dry. The temperatures were in the triple digits, our garden was slowly burning up, and the crops in the fields around town were drying up. The ground was so dry, it was driving the temperatures up, and we were in the epicenter of a catastrophic two year drought.

Today, it is pouring down rain. We have a 70 % chance of rain and thunderstorms, and have already had over three inches of rain. Though the Lower Colorado River Authority warns that we could be back in a mild drought by the middle of summer, right now, things are looking pretty good and very green!

What sort of changes has drought brought into our lives?

My kids have learned not to complain about rainy days. Rainy days are to be celebrated and enjoyed to the fullest! This includes rain dancing, breathless games of soccer or frisbee, running around in the rain and laughing, and then flopping down on the ground panting just to enjoy the feeling of rain pattering on our skin.

We're not doing that today, though, thanks to the thunder and lightning!

It's 8:50 a.m. here, but it's so dark, you'd think it was 5! Part of me wants to go back to bed, but my brain is in "awake" mode, so... *shrugs* So, instead, I went outside and laid out my rain necklace to charge. It was way overdue, poor thing, because instead of being cool and soothing to the touch, it was dry and almost hot! This is the first good thunderstorm we've had in ages, so I'll leave it out for a few hours and let it go. It was made by a dear friend many years ago, and I have kept it carefully in its little bag, only taking it out on special occasions. I like to look at the bag from time to time, because she put so much work into it and it's truly beautiful. Perhaps I'll take pictures of them later to show y'all.

As you can probably tell, I'm in one of my moods. Probably because I was a bit "writing deprived" yesterday. The Husbandly One killed the computer's mouse night before last out of frustration, because the thing was seriously on the fritz. It was a wired mouse, and the wiring had frayed where it connects to the mouse, and this made the use of it erratic at best. With no mouse, the Mac was useless, and though I have a laptop, I don't do any writing on it that I can't save to a USB drive (which are all full) because we take the laptop with us when we go on trips.

The kids kept me busy and distracted, but... oh, how I wanted to write!!

We now have a Magic Mouse, which happies me greatly! No more wire, no more struggling to keep the wire from getting caught in the tray or the keyboard shelf, or away from the cats, or the kids... I love my Magic Mouse!! Hee!!

That's all for now. I mean, it's been a busy few days, but for now, I want to sit back and contemplate the things I'm working on, and see about writing something I can post maybe later in the week. I also owe someone a drabble.

*picks up Coke and leans back to look out the window at the rain while pondering stories*

Last night, a big old thunderstorm blew in, fierce wind, heavy rain, hail, you name it.  The Husbandly One ran round before it it, making sure the kids' bikes were put away, and that there was nothing around that could turn into a missile and crash through a window or something.  I was talking on the phone with my best friend when it hit, and boy, didn't the house shudder when that first big blast of wind slammed into it?  Not long after, our power went out, so I got off the phone and went into the living room and sat down with my family.

"Good thing you took the umbrella down off the table on the deck," I said as I sat down.

The Husbandly One stiffened and looked up at me, then groaned.  "I KNEW I forgot something!  I walked by it three times thinking I'd better take that thing down, and I kept forgetting!"

"I know," I said sympathetically.  Because I knew why.  The kids kept derailing his train of thought, of course.  

I went to the back door to look out and was stunned to see our heavy metal and glass patio table lying on its side in the yard with the smashed remains of the umbrella underneath it.

!!!!

The wind had evidently hit us as a downburst, swept down OVER the roof and UNDER the market umbrella, lifting it, AND the table and sweeping it completely up off our deck and throwing it onto its side in the yard.  

And no, the glass isn't even CRACKED!!!

The umbrella, however, is done for.

Thankfully, the storm was short-lived and passed quickly.  And that seems to be the only damage we had.  Quite lucky, we were!