Bran the Border Collie, unconcerned by a little ...or even a lot of rain, bounded effortlessly through deep puddles and sticky mud to leap into the big old farm Chevy. Little Luke, shorter legs, center of gravity ( and everything else !) much closer to the ground was much more reluctant to leave his warm fuzzy bed and even less reluctant to scramble his rotund little body up to join a very impatient and vocal Bran, ready and waiting in the truck. It didn't take too long for me to recognize that, despite the multiple layers of clothes I was wearing, I had a serious wardrobe malfunction....I was warm (for the moment) but sadly had neglected to pay attention to the difference between "water RESISTANT" and water "PROOF"......and my water resistant was, in the face of the deluge of Biblical proportions that we were experiencing TOTALLY and completely ineffective. Bran immediately headed for the comparative warmth and security of the barn kitchen, Mr. Luke made his way ( avoiding puddles and newly formed creeks running through the barn yard) to his cozy little man cave nest in the hay pile. Tiger and Shy the resident barn cats had apparently left their refuge on the top of the haystack to lurk around the feed room door for just long enough to research the possibility of their food bowls being replenished before they resolutely headed back to snooze out the storm in the warm dry cedar barn. The sheep unashamedly crowded in the back of the stall...not one little sheep nose volunteered to venture out and test the storm. Misty Moo and Bella the Jersey cows hesitated in the cow barn but Daisy Mae the black Dexter momma, dripping wet and feisty in the relentless rain joined little red steer Sirloin in vocally demanding food...attention...a bull or all of the above. Horse rugs, still sodden and muddy from yesterday found their way back onto their respective owners and one by one our equine family trudged through newly sprung rivulets, mud banks and murky puddles to spend their day, butts turned into the wind and possibly thinking "this REALLY shouldn't happen to a horse". By the time the last sheep had been ushered out, the cows were all meandering very reluctantly down Cow Lane, The horses were all safely (if not happily) out in their submerged pastures and I had discovered that I had no milk in the barn kitchen with which to infuse my coffee...(it was clearly 5 o'clock somewhere but not Vaughn WA )and I had long since decided that days like today were not good for my health, worse for my peace of mind and clearly only good for ducks...who obviously didn't know better! Now where is that hot mulled wine?
Take care, keep warm and dry. M