I didn't expect rain yesterday.
Even watered my plants, as you can see in the photo of Liam above.
Liam has invented a game to play every time I water.
At first, I didn't really notice because Liam follows me with his muffled bark everywhere I take the hose.
He is not allowed to hang with me unless he finds his ball and carries it in his mouth.
There's a reason to that strict discipline.
You see the hose is one more thing to herd, and, occasionally, Liam thinks he needs to charge the hose and take a nip at it.
Too close for comfort in my mind, so I figure if he's got a ball in his mouth, I'm safe from getting in the way of his teeth.
Liam can still bark with that ball in his mouth. Those Border Collies are pretty adept.
Anyway, one day I cued in to the new game Liam had invented all by himself.
The playing field includes the deck and front yard.
Liam's game begins precisely the instant I point the hose toward the flowers just north of the deck.
That is Liam's cue to begin his ever-widening circles, always with sound effects featuring barking with the ball in his mouth.
The highlight comes just as he leaps off the deck and tries to escape the water spraying from the hose.
Once he's made the hose pass, Liam races to the north, makes a bigger circle around the lawn, races back on to the deck and repeats the water leap.
Sometimes out of sheer perversity, I stand in front of his route, taunting him with the hose.
Liam can switch into reverse pretty dang fast.
After eight or nine of these hose passes, I tell him that's enough-----don't want the poor thing (who's been known for his stamina) to wear himself out.
Believe me, Liam would do that if I kept that hose spraying.
Now, back to yesterday's unexpected rain.
I had just collected some lovely lettuce from the garden and had decided to fix a chicken salad with the trimmings for last night's dinner.
Bill had gone to the woods with his chain saw.
And, then, the rain began to fall.
Bill stuck it out down in the woods as long as he could, but this soaking rain decided to stick around.
So, he returned to the house and while enjoying the fresh garden salad with sourdough garlic bread, we received a call.
Willie and Debbie and Emma and the the three grandpuppies, who had gone to Boise for the weekend, were having car trouble in Coeur d'Alene.
So, within minutes, Bill was on the road.
As the rain continued, I took advantage of another reading situation.
Kya, the main character in "Where the Crawdads Sing," is now planting a garden.
I'd really like to sit and finish this book, but I'm not only enjoying every page, I also have a few other things to do.
So, my plan is to savor each chapter for the next few days in between chores. Can ya do that with a book?
Anyway, last night's rain continued long past when I finally closed the book.
Suddenly, sun rays began to appear in the front yard.
Camera time, I thought.
So, out I went to the neatest treat possible after a good downpour: a beautiful rainbow across Taylor's field where cows were grazing on wet grass.
Soon, a second rainbow.
By golly, sometimes it's nice to get seconds when you're enjoying the magnificence of nature.
So, like my neighbor Janice, who snapped a prize winner of the rainbow and the Lockwood barn, I walked in the rain, with no coat or hat but with camera in hand snapping away.
Like Janice, I also fought the "raindrops keep fallin' on my lens" syndrome. But, by golly, they kinda add to the realism of a rainbow photo.
So, if you see spots, you know why.
The earth and its animals and my camera lens got a good washdown last evening, and virtually every scene was downright stunning.
Moments like that make wet pantlegs and water dripping down your face worth the effort.
So, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed the moments.
The rest of the local Love crowd, complete with dogs, made it home fairly quickly and with no more incidents.
Their car stayed in Coeur d'Alene, so they have to wait and see what gives.
Finally, do you wanna an impressive collection of North Idaho mushrooms?
My friend Connie and her family from Hope are mushroom aficionados.
Plus, Connie's published two blog posts in the past few days, so go check them out.
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