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Sheee’s BAAAACK!!

April 13, 2014 /

I feel like dancing…

Singing…

Just lying down and kicking my feet like an excited kid….

Our yearned-for follow-up rain has arrived.  Mother Nature remembered us… FINALLY!

I have been loathe to get TOO excited by the delicious 74mm that fell two weeks ago.  Because we were so desperately dry, that EVERY single drop of that rain soaked right into the ground. Nothing ‘ran’ – you know, when drops become trickles and trickles become rivulets tracing tracks of least-resistance down through paddocks, cattle pads, and roads.  That didn’t happen then.

And everyone who knows ANYTHING about managing grassland country said “We’ll be right if we get some follow-up before winter”.

Which meant “That was nice for the first inch or two of grass growth, but you are still stuffed for fodder if you hit cold weather before some more rain lifts that sub-soil moisture.”

We would have been in what some call a ‘green drought’.  Where the grass is green but there is just not enough of it.

So we welcomed the strange April humidity, heard about rain falling in nearby shires, and watched each and every cloud and storm, as it looked us over and skimmed off into the distance… rain_3976 e

Like these awesome clouds, coming in from the west (where much of our storm activity arrives from)…

rain_3972 e

It rained out there…

rain_3974 eBut not at our house… NOT. ONE. DROP.

I got all superstitious once more.

I refused to look at forecasts again, and ALMOST stopped taking pics (hence the sad lack of posting here!).

clouds_3345 f

I said ‘almost’…

I admit, sometimes Mother Nature teased so much with her cloud formations, I gave in and picked up the Nikon…

clouds_3311 f

See what I mean…

And then, today, as we prepared to muster in some bulls, it happened. Sprinkles of rain arrived.

And as we drove the truck to our bull paddock, we noticed ant nest erupting from the road. (Ones that were not there two days ago!).

rain_3993e

And then the drizzle continued as we mustered (and got very wet jeans)… you’ll have to believe me – I was on a new horse and the bulls were frolicky. It was no time for a camera too, in the rain!

As we drove home … water running down the road (almost as entertaining as the frisky cows and calves!).

rain_4012 e

And after early feeds for our horses and dogs, fresh pikelets and brewed coffees (and hot milos for the kids)… we relaxed.

rain_4023 eAnd looked site out at our driveway, which seems just a bit more lush and magical tonight.

rain_4030 eWelcome BACK Mother Nature…

♥

©COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All images and words belong to author of Bush Babe of Oz, Amanda Salisbury. Please do not take them without permission. Images are for sale, please email Amanda for details.

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9 Comments

  • KAddy
    April 13, 2014 at 10:47 pm

    So glad someone is getting it! We need follow up rain. Rode around out little block this morning and we still have plenty of dead patched amongst the green shoots.
    Dance away – as some is definitely better than none. xx

  • Nancy in Savannah
    April 14, 2014 at 3:23 am

    thank the rainy heavens you finally got what you’ve been waiting so anxiously!!! Did you all run out into the rain and frolic?

  • Colin Huggins
    April 14, 2014 at 5:33 am

    The grass looks pretty good – the “dancing” cows and calves photo. A good follow up of a couple of inches would be some good icing on the cake! That would have everyone dancing in a frenzied fashion – humans,cattle,horses and dawgs!
    Those darn ant hills are all over the lawns around here – quite funny seeing them. I wonder why ants do this?

  • ubobohobo
    April 22, 2014 at 6:43 am

    What an enjoyable read. You have captured so well the joy and relief that came with that follow-up rain. Our country is now looking a picture…need sunnies when you step outside the grass is such a brilliant green (although it is running to seed now).