A river runs through it

Or past it...

It rained most of the morning. There was some sun when I first got up, but it got darker and darker, until it was more like 8:30 p.m. than 8:30 a.m., and I had to turn on the light. Then it started to rain. Gently but steadily. Okay--it's been dry and we needed it. (After all that rain we had, I can't believe I'm saying, "it's been dry and we need rain"!) It rained most of the morning.

Then the sun came out. I took the dogs out--it wasn't too wet--but we came in after about half an hour because it was humid and buggy.

Later in the afternoon I was lying on the couch reading. I'd sort of noticed it was getting a little darker, but it suddenly broke through the words that I was hearing rain. So I ran outside to get my knitting and the cushion off the swing. It rained. And then it rained harder. Water ran down the side street. It looks flat, but it must slant slightly to the south, because the water ran fast and steadily, like a river. Then I heard a sound that made me think a car was coming, and I waited, and nothing appeared, and finally I realized I was hearing the rain, which had ratcheted up and was just pounding down. Then it eased up, and 5 minutes later the sun was out. Now it's overcast again.

I've put a couple of chunks of suet in the bottom of the new suet feeder, and a couple of birds have found it, including the downy, which I'm delighted to see back again. None of them have actually gone into the cage part, though--I think partly because they're all very alert and fly away whenever a vehicle drives by. I can see one going in for suet, a vehicle driving by, and the bird panicking and not being able to remember how to get out, so I'm not sure this will work for us. They are interested--they land on the outside of the cage and lean in as far as they can. I'll leave it up for a while and see.

I did a little clicker-training with the dogs this afternoon, since it was obvious we weren't going to get back outside. We worked on closing the kitchen cabinets. Timber pretty much has the idea; we just need to refine it. Taenzer, bless her heart, tries and keeps trying, but today we just got to the point where she was almost but not quite touching it with her nose. I wish I were better at this, I think she'd be more confident and get it sooner. There wasn't quite as much extraneous behavior, less walking around, than last time, so that's a good thing. I'm thinking, she knows how to nose-touch a sticky-note; maybe it would help her if I stuck one on the door.