Waiting in Line...

We had hard rain in the middle of the night--early in the season the sound of the rain on the roof is pleasant and soothing. This is not the case later in the year when the sound of rain on the roof in the middle of the night brings unprintable thoughts involving wet boots, wet umbrellas, wet dogs, mud and general dreariness. But the first rain is cleansing and refreshing, and last night's rain brought a clear dawn with fluffy white clouds and intermittent showers.

The birds must feel the same way about the first rain, because the feeders and the birdbath were at capacity. Determined to get a bird picture, I set up a chair outside, chasing them all away temporarily, and sitting quietly until the braver ones, who had been watching from the tree, decided the coast was clear. Once the first ones returned, the air was full of small red and yellow breasted finches vying for feeding positions. The sound of their little wings as they hovered was quite extraordinary, and I think I captured it in this picture. At least I made up in numbers for what I lack in close-up ability. The angle of the feeders shows the wind blowing another little squall of rain.

Poor Ozzie has lost his bearings as we are all out of routine and out of character. First thing in the morning, distracted by the rain,  he apparently forgot why he was outside, because by the time Oilman dropped us at #1 Daughter's , Ozzie was doing everything in his power to tell us that he had now remembered. We finally got the message and took the dogs for a walk. They make quite a picture together--the large, black Labrador and the small, tawny mini wire-haired Daschund. They had a grand time running around while #1 and I discussed furniture placement and admired the view of the clouds.

Meanwhile, OilMan successfully downloaded and delivered another useless pile of papers, discussed numbers with all the appropriate people and returned quite pleased with himself. After lunch with #1 we returned in a downpour to Sebastopol, where it didn't appear to have rained at all, and are now enjoying the birds and blue sky.

We seem to have earned an email from our SR realtor ending with "remember....BREATHE!",  and a peaceful afternoon.