Much Happening

The system sitting over California has been throwing thunderstorms at us for the past few days. They are coming up from the south. This was the view from my front yard yesterday afternoon:

We got quite the wild storm overnight. The flashes of lightning were almost constant and the weather station recorded 662 strikes. (I am unsure about the range.) It rained hard—the rain gauge measured half an inch—which is good for all the plants I put in yesterday morning. I am hoping to get out and finish planting this morning if the rain lets up. I don’t mind working in a light drizzle, but a steady downpour is no fun. The forecast is for cooler and rainier weather through Tuesday. We need all the moisture we can get.

If the weather keeps me out of the garden today, I will sew. I started a top yesterday afternoon and it’s about half done.

In other news, we have tree swallows nesting in boxes on the back of the woodshed:

The husband put up those boxes some years ago, but I can’t remember seeing birds nest in them before. Apparently, swallows prefer old woodpecker holes in cottonwoods, but if those aren’t available, they will nest in boxes. I see them swooping around the yard eating bugs.

The robins are back for round two. I spotted mama robin sitting on the nest again yesterday. I don’t know if my nerves can take it. 🤪 One of the babies from the first clutch was in the birdbath in the herb garden.

If the broody hen in the chicken coop is going to hatch out any chicks, it should happen soon. I know she’s been sitting on eggs for at least two weeks.

I spotted another garter snake in the garden yesterday morning. This one was bigger than the one I saw the other day. I am so happy they are out there.

Still no Charlotte. I am going to assume she found herself a nice quiet corner of the greenhouse and is hanging out there.

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The husband has a job to start up by Glacier Park, but the excavator hasn’t finished digging yet, so he and the guys worked on the deck project again yesterday. They are replacing “posts centered on concrete poured into holes in the ground” with sonotubes and bigfoots:

I teased him about making the new deck earthquake proof, but anything worth doing is worth doing in excess.