In my 65 years I don't think I have ever experienced such a wet summer as this one. Hardly a day passes without rain, usually torrential. Last week Thursday we had a storm that ripped through the district with winds that uprooted huge trees and dumped 65mm of rain, (almost 3 inches) in about 40 minutes. Yesterday afternoon we had a torrential downpour that started at about 4:30 and only stopped 6 hours later. At the moment 5pm, thunder is rumbling in the distance.
For weeks now I've been unable to take my dogs for their daily walk. For me it's no problem put on my water proof boots and plod through the mud. My dogs though, get covered in mud. If Tombi sees a mud puddle she literally wallows in it like a pig as does Lady, they just love it. Sissie is not much better, only Bruno steps fastidiously around the mud. Back home I have to try and clean them up before I can let them in the house.
On Sunday afternoon I did take them for a walk and they did get covered in mud, Tombi promptly lay down in the first mud puddle we came across. We walked down to the largest of the farm ponds and the dogs just charged into the water. All the swimming washed the mud off and on the way home I made sure they kept out of the mud by walking through the soya bean fields. Hardly home and the heavens opened again.
While at the pond I managed to take a few photos.
A Red-knobbed Coot chick. This little baby is hardly bigger than my thumb.
One of the parents keeping an eye on junior, just of picture to the left.
Three juvenile Egyptian geese with their proud mom upper left of the photo. When I got here last October these guys were just balls of fluff, now they are ready to face the world.
Rain, rain, and more rain. This year our spring rains started very early and has continued steadily, some places in the Eastern Cape province had a years rain in one week. Here in Estcourt this weekend was the cherry on the cake. On Friday morning we measured 47mm, (almost 2 inches) from Thursday. Saturday morning the rain gauge stood at 50mm. It rained for most of Saturday, Saturday night saw violent thunder and lightning storms with torrential rain. Sunday it seemed as if it would clear but by 12:30 the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets.
This morning the sun is shining and everything is green bright and clean. As a result of the rain the roses in our school garden have been particularly beautiful. This morning I came very early to see if there were any roses worth photographing. The storms of the weekend have battered most of them but here and there there were still one or two. As a result of the good rains the rose bushes are full of buds. I will bring my camera to school every day this week and try and get some good photos.
Click to enlarge.
Sparkling with drops.
Bowed down but still good to look at.
Pure white.
Bright yellow among the green.
New buds, by tomorrow the one in front will be perfect.
Sunlight shining through a petal.
