July 4th rain

a few photos of the wonderful gray, drizzly Independence Day we had on Wednesday! It was really nice to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof and to enjoy the gray, overcast skies all morning long. (overcast, rainy days are truly a rarity here, so even though I never thought much about them back in Illinois, they are now a very pleasant event.)

we relaxed out on the patio most of the morning; Tom smoked a cigar while I read a book, and the dogs hung out and kept us company. (They don't like getting their feet wet, but I like to think they appreciated being outside in the fresh air!)

Above, Prescott and Bisbee appear enjoy a doggie air-kiss moment... (actually, I think he was trying to get her to play and she didn't want to!)

a bit later, they both went inside... Krista didn't quite know if she wanted to jump up onto the patio chair (it wobbles a bit), so I lifted her up onto it. She stayed there a while, but eventually she wanted down... again, it was wobbly, so she wasn't sure about it. (it took her a while, but she finally figured out how to do it!)

This is the aftermath of those 4+ inches of rain, the next afternoon-- these pictures aren't the greatest (if you click on them, they'll get larger), but they do show a bit of the mess in the wash that runs through our neighborhood-- the road was still technically blocked at this point, but it didn't stop this Jeep driver from blasting right through the water. (it wasn't that high, but the water was above the roadway, and it was still moving at a pretty good clip.)

this photo is a view north from the sidewalk... even though it's receded now, the water must have been pretty high, because it looks like the mud and muck had covered pretty much the entire wash from one side to the other. 

and I took this photo just because it was cool-looking, and I knew it wouldn't last. The thin coating of mud across the sidewalk had dried into something that looks like chocolate curls! (not quite as tasty as chocolate, though, I'm sure.)