A wet summer

This has been a really wet summer.  We have had a number of drenching storms where the rain just falls and falls and falls.  Early this morning another such thunderstorm hit.  

On the news this morning they showed where the worst of the weather was and our house was smack dab in the center of it.  They reported upwards of two inches of rain per hour fell and the storm went on for hours.  We knew it was bad because our larger dog, who is usually very carefree was crying loudly that she wanted up on the bed.  My husband picked her up and she snuggled in between us while the rain smacked against the windows, the lightening lit up the room and the thunder boomed.

This morning when I came down, it was still drizzling outside.  I put on my raincoat and went out to open the coop.  I could see from there that the pond was way full.

I walked closer to check it out and saw that the water had overtaken the dam and was flowing freely over the hill to the road.  It was so muddy and full of debris too.

Not only was the pond full, but the pool was actually overflowing.  Amazing, I've never seen it that high!  From the looks of this, we probably got close to 8" of rain.

You know the weather is icky when you look out in the yard and don't see any chickens!  Most chose to stay in the coop, but some came out and sought shelter elsewhere.  There were a bunch hiding under trailers, some on the workshop's covered porch and a few under the lean-to by the garden.

We were glad that we finally got the gutter system completed this week.  It's muddy around the coop because we need to plant grass, but it's not under water so that's good progress!  We need to start fencing off portions of the area and planting grass seed.  It's so hard to get anything to grow with those birds always scratching at the ground.  It's gonna take some real patience to do it in chunks and let the grass get established before we move the fence and start a new spot.

The ducks, on the other hand, were exuberant when I let them out.  They came charging out into the rain, flapping their wings and gleefully running about.  They promptly buried their bills in the mud, foraging for insects and yummy morsels in the soft ground.  It only took about two minutes for the ducklings to turn brown.  I guess playing in the mud is fun for children of any species!