After the Rain

Early Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of thunder and quickly realized a storm was on it's way. Since we had just had cool enough weather to turn off our air conditioning, I jumped up to shut the windows that were at risk of having rain come in. I still didn't realize how much rain we were about to get. It was sometime around 3 a.m. that I heard the storm start, and when I finally got up at 8 a.m. it was still storming.

The storms stopped shortly after 8 a.m. Despite it being wet and humid out, I decided I would go for a run before the sun came up and it started getting hot. I seemed to be in slow motion because it was close to 10 a.m. before I got outside and began my run. I almost stopped at the 6 mile mark thinking enough was enough, but I pushed on to complete my usual weekly long run of 7 miles (I alternate which run I do, I have 4 that I rotate through each week, the 7 mile run being my longest). I was beat!

Just after noon more storms started to roll in. This time we not only had thunder, lighting, and down pouring rain, but we also had hail! It's funny how the alpacas, many of whom will lay outside during a snow storm, all find their way to the barn just before any rain falls. They seem to know when the storm is about to start. (I don't know why I did not get any pictures of the hail).

As the storm slows down, some of the more active alpacas will start to wander out of the barn. I think they get restless, since there is hay and water in the barn, they aren't leaving out of necessity. Rose and Twilight are often the first ones to venture out, usually followed by Maddie.

By the time the afternoon storms began, we started seeing puddles and standing water in our pastures. This is very usual given how sandy our soil is. I have never seen such a sanding of water on our land in the 10 years we've lived here. (I never got any pictures of our standing water either).

Early this morning, Sunday morning, we had another smaller storm pass over. This time no standing water.

I caught these pictures once we put out fresh dry hay this morning. These girls act like they haven't have a meal in days!




I find our current weather usual for August. Usually August is hot and humid, and by now the woods is starting to brown up a bit (like grass often does by late summer). The last few days have been cool, humid and wet. The woods are still very lush and green, yet the temperature feels more like September than August. Makes me wonder what sort of fall we are in for. Will it be an early fall? I hope not, as I am one who enjoys the summer and dreads the long dreary winters.