Mother's Day and Rain!

We finally got the much-hyped storm yesterday.  Finally!

Rain fell early.  By sunrise the rain came in rhythm.  It continued at a gentle pace until it stopped shortly after 9am.  I took that opportunity to walk the dogs down the maintenance road for two hours.  More rain was coming from Sonora, with a dark cloud slowly moving from Naco.  I could see and hear distant thunder and lightning.  I gave myself two miles at a quick pace before more rain fell.  Minnie is scared of thunder and lightning and I wanted the pack back safely in the car.

It was still warm and muggy in the morning.  The dogs were excited to get out, and I was just as excited to get back home before the second, more intense, volley came just before 10am.  This rain lasted for six steady hours, soaking the yard and rehydrating dog shit I didn't realize was hiding in the tall, dead grass of our back yard.  It's as if the dogs have been hiding their poop all this time.  When the rain finally ended after 3pm, I gave up all hope of hiking up Carr Peak and instead focused on the back yard.  My goodness, there was so much rehydrated dog shit hiding in tall, dead grass that I started wondering if I was dragging shit back onto the patio instead of mud all this time.  I try to do a good job de-shitting the back yard every day, but my discovery kept me busy for an hour.  I also used this chance to pull more weeds from the same area.

Temperatures cooled 20 degrees by the early evening.  This is so unusual for May, one of our hottest and driest months.  I stayed in the rest of the day to avoid puddled, muddy trails. 

Eric called me in the early evening to wish me a happy Mom's Day and we chatted another 25 minutes.  He revealed that he and an old high school friend, Derek, are seriously thinking of opening a brewpub somewhere, but want to research where they can do so without breaking the bank.  What town isn't already saturated with breweries and brewpubs? Derek is already the head brewer at Goshen Brewery in Indiana (an hour southeast of South Bend).  I do wish both men well.  I would love to be their favorite customer!

This morning was ten degrees colder than previous mornings this past month.  It was a chilly 48F and I wore a second layer as I paced the pack three miles before heading for the high school.  This is the last full week of school.  Seniors graduate on the 17th. The BLM/CFN stock pond where I let the dogs refresh themselves after a walk didn't look any fuller from yesterday's rain. It still smelled damp from sage and creosote.  Rain was forecasted at 30% and the sky was clear.  By 1pm the sky was mostly cloudy.   

Temperatures will slowly rise again to the upper 80s this week, and nighttime lows will return to the mid 50s.  Meanwhile, northern Indiana and the Southeast are getting more than their share of rain.  Texas alone got enough rain in four days this past weekend than they normally get all month.

Doris Day, a popular actor of the 1950s and 60s died earlier today at her home in Carmel, CA.  She was 97 years old.  She lived the last five years in seclusion, taking no interviews.  She was a big lover of animals and lobbied for more humane animal shelters in California, which she accomplished.  I even thought of her this past March when I hiked in nearby Garland Ranch Regional Park with Zeke.