The Rains Came

"The Rains Came," 1939 movie with Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy, and George Brent.  Great flick.  Don't bother with the 1955 remake, "The Rains of Ranchipur," with Richard Burton (made a terrible Indian; the turban did nothing for him), Lana Turner, and Fred MacMurray.

The first order of business yesterday was a joyride on the oak leaf slip-and-slide down to the edge of the woods to retrieve the trashcan lid.  Why is it that the hill back up is much steeper than the way down?  It's not often I see my house from this angle with the outside view of the round room.

Thankfully, the terrific winds of the day before had died down and I was able to tend to morning barn chores without problem.  Lest I be accused of animal abuse by doing nothing about the hole in the barn roof, that gaping space is not over any stall and even with some spray hitting Inga's room, she has the biggest stall and plenty of dry area in which to lie down.  I did a further assessment of damage to the property and found, happily, only more downed branches.

And then the rains came.  The weatherman had said there might be a few showers during the day.  He was wrong.  On the off chance, I'd closed the big door to the hen house and left the play yard open for the girls.  In early afternoon, the sky simply opened and dumped water in torrents.  The rain came so hard and fast that the gutters overloaded and even tore away the downspout.  It went on and on without letup, and I was so reminded of that movie.  Sitting on top of the hill, there was no worry about flooding at the house, but I was concerned about the barn at the bottom.  It was still pouring at nightfall and I will admit to reluctance at the thought of going out in it, but one does what one has to do and I tucked everyone in.  Needless to say, all critters were happy to see me.  Back at the house, my quickly stripped-off bibbies and socks were hung over a chair in front of the wood stove.  They still aren't dry, they were that wet.  The word is that we got over three inches of rain yesterday.  We need rain, yes, but spread out would be better than all at once.

There had been a slight problem with the stove earlier when I tried to put in a chunk of wood that was a tiny bit too large and the door would not shut.  The part in the stove had caught fire, so there was no taking it out again.  Smoke billowed out and one by one smoke alarms went off down the hallway.  (Nice to know they work.)  Opening doors and calming the dog and cats, I finally got the log pushed all the way in and the stove closed.  Once that crisis had passed, I went down to drill some holes for The Project.  Yeah, how's that working for ya?  The battery had died again.  This is turning into an exercise in futility bar none.

It is said that hope springs eternal.  Given the gorgeous sunrise this morning, I am hoping for a better day today.