How’s your summer break coming along? Ours has been interesting so far.
See this? Those are rain clouds. Usually a very rare sight here in Nevada. Usually.
We’ve had them everyday for the past two weeks. I love the rain. In Georgia I used to curl up with a good book, a big bag of peanut M&M’s, and read all day long while listening to the rain splatter the window pane. Lately though this rain is not welcome.
Look closely at this picture. See those brown stripes out in the field? That’s alfalfa hay. It’s been there for two weeks because of the rain. We have over 1,000 acres of ruined hay. We can’t cut the rest because it’s too wet. We can’t get this stuff off the field because it’s too wet. The hay that has been cut is growing like crazy because of the cooler temperatures and lots of moisture. There is no end in sight. The trusty Farmer’s Almanac predicts this same weather until the end of July. Ugh. I reminded Mr. Ferrero Rocher one day while he complained about the hay that we prayed for rain. We just didn’t specify when or how much. ☺ He didn’t think that was too funny.
There have been several perks due to the rain.
1. The humidity has caused my hair to be curly like it was when we got married. I had beautiful, naturally curly hair until my first pregnancy. Then it went completely straight. My kids say I look totally different, not like their mom, but Mr. FR and I are loving it.
2. Our garden has taken off! This is perfect weather for plants to grow. Not to hot, plenty of moisture. Of course, keeping up with the weeds takes quite a bit of time but that is also very therapeutic. We’ve eaten fresh garden peas with several of our meals. They taste so good!
3. As with the vegetables the flowers are blooming and beautiful. We have yellow roses, red, coral, pink, and white poppies, pansies, daisies, vinca, and sweet william. The sunflowers are growing taller every day.
4. We no longer live in beige country. A variety of green hues surround us in the desert and on the mountains. Did you know that if you aren’t color blind you see more shades of green than any other color? Green is my favorite color so I’m loving the views right now.
Even with our hay ruined and the potential that half our year’s income will be gone because of the rain we have a peaceful assurance that all will be well. I can’t explain the feeling. I just know that God, in His mercy, is letting us know that we are in His hands. There is no other place I’d rather be.
Beautifully written, we should all want to be in God’s hands.
I’ve never seen our mountains so green. We haven’t had water to the yard for two weeks, but you can’t tell – the rain has come nearly every day.
Bummer about your crop!
We’ve had a lot of rain and T-storms here. J’s games have been rained out a lot, but its so nice to not have to run my a/c or sprinklers yet!
We’re getting lots of rain too! I still take my hoody out most days. That is unreal for southern Utah! I want to tell you that I completely understand that feeling of peace that you have! We were recently given an answer (not something we would have chosen) to the possibility of being laid off. Now that we have a “plan” we are very comfortable. Glad to hear that you are being comforted too!
You are so good at finding the positive! I needed that, thank you!
How exciting to have curly hair again! I bet that is a lot of fun.
I want to see the curly hair.:)
You are one of the most positive people I know. You and your family are such amazing people. Your faithfulness is a wonderful thing. You are such examples to so many. Thanks for that.
can you bail some of it once it dries out and sell it for mulch hay? around here everyone uses mulch hay in their gardens. Or pig farms? Don’t pigs eat anything. So sad to see all that hay go to waste!
The weather has been very strange! We are still wearing long pants and often a sweatshirt around here. We aren’t getting big storms but it is very cool for this time of year. I am enjoying it. We go on hikes and play at the park a lot when usually this is the time of year we stay inside with the A/C until we head out to the pool or something.
It is good to see the positive in everything. I wish I had curly hair and a garden to eat fresh vegetables out of.
As for the difficult parts…. You have a great attitude. At times like this all we can do is pray and leave everything in the Lord’s hands. He has never failed us yet. Somehow everything works out.
you always have such great perspective. pics please, of the curly hair!
Oh, I remember my dad cursing the weather because it never rained until the hay was cut! I’m so sorry about your hay.
Isn’t the peace of the Gospel amazing? It makes no sense, but it’s real.
We’ve got the rain too and my hair is once again curly. My Dad said he feels like he’s back in Germany with the green mountains.
We had a 15 acre field of alfalfa in MI and the rain made it really tricky. My Dad had us picking the bails up and stacking them by hand because he thought it would build character. I remember once doing it past midnight by the light of the truck just because there was an unfavorable weather forecast.
Your perspective is great though! We had our own disappointments this year and I’ll tell you the lessons learned are of far more worth than any $$$ lost. Nice and refining.
I enjoyed your words of wisdom. I esp love the list of things to do in the rain. We’ve had our almost daily storms here.
We wrote about similar things today. I like your optimistic attitude.
I just started reading your blog and I was excited to hear that you live in Nevada! I am LDS also and we moved to Northern Nevada 1.5 years ago. We’re originally from Oregon. Anyway I just thought I would say “hey” to a fellow Nevada-an/LDS-er/blogger!! I’m sorry about your crop but inspired by your faith!
This is something that people who are not farmers just don’t understand. I can’t imagine the stress my parents went through as farmers – now that I’m a parent and am the one worried about paying the bills and feeding the kids. Farmers are the back bone of America and don’t get enough credit. Our prayers will be with you!
Hey, I just found your blog over at Old Fashioned Motherhood. One of my favorite reads too is Just David. It is such an unusual book that I didn’t think many had read it. Nice to meet you.
The rain hasn’t stopped here in utah either. I feel like I moved to Seattle and nobody told me.
It’s been very rainy here, too. My daughter’s prayers lately have gone something like “Thank you for the rain to help the flowers grow. Thank you for the sunshine, too. Please help it be sunny sometimes so we can play outside.”
It’s been really rainy here too until this week. I’m so sorry about your hay, but thank you so much for sharing that last paragraph and your feeling of peace.