Work and storms

Well, yesterday was supposed to rain, first in the AM and then in the afternoon/evening, and by golly it did! (I love Weather Underground - FAR more accurate than the Weather Channel -who diss us in the flyover states- or local advisories.)

So I was down in the basement all morning, testing and repairing Christmas streetlights (look, the Village takes a whole DAY to set up alone, with the train and all) and reorganizing my craft bucket while I was doing laundry. Ever wash 'snow'? well, my snow blanket had to be washed, and the miniature skating pond had to be finished, and I am working on a ceramic water feature for Enid (shhhh) using seashells and ceramic pixies. I've got all the 'plug-in' lights for my ceramics in one central place, as well as all of the feathers and ready-to-use decorations for the mistletoe balls and baby wreaths. I then put together another wizard and a dragon.

Then I made a big lunch, and carried the old door outside to set up for Mike to work on. We have a lot of old doors and trim and boards to play with, and the door into the basement from the outside needed replacing. It faces North, the side that takes the most wind, sand and snow in the winter. So we had a nice solid door downstairs, with good sturdy panels - all it needed was to have a new doorknob and some faults repaired and to be planed and sanded down a little. So I put it on the back of the pickup for him(wide area, easy to stand next to and work on), and Lake was in the corral looking depressed. I got the curry brush and went into the corral and started brushing her. Within 5 minutes I was surrounded by horses! Everyone wanted attention too. I felt like a teacher in a schoolyard - no, wait your turn, Lake gets hers first! Pretty Boy and Snip kept nuzzling my neck and elbows and back, while Willie just stood there patiently. There are honeybees everywhere, and a group of them decided it was time to harass the horses. There were four that stayed around Snip, and they were flying toward his legs, butt-first, to sting him! There was some kind of residue on the horses; like thick sticky pollen, and all I can figure is that the horses found a honeybee nest and had plowed through it. It was a little difficult getting them all brushed with them stamping and biting at the honeybees, but I did it. They all got their 'love' and neck cuddles and - then I went back to the laundry and the basement.

Mike called me when he was done and we took the door to the basement doorway and hung it. Then I had to take a break from the basement work - the door needed paint. So I got my white paint and the red for the trim and went to work. By the time I had gotten the first coat on, it started to cloud up - from the southwest, big black dark clouds. Arrgh. So I put the second coat on, and scurried back inside.

The wind picked up to 40 mph, and the warm air inside the house dissipated quickly as the cold wind blew through it. It was lovely and cool inside, and blustery and stormy outside. The lightning was incessant and the thunder rumbled across the hills, echoing. We got a little hail for about 20 minutes, and then the rain came. The wind was blowing so hard out of the West that it made a mist out of the rain! After about two hours, the rain stopped, the thunder faded into the east, and all was silent except for the slow drip-drip of water from the trees.

So today I'll put another coat of paint on the door, and drain the water barrels from last night. It is lovely and cool and clear this morning, 63 degrees, and no rain is predicted for at least 5 more days.