The clouds were thick and the rain came down hard yesterday, causing flash flooding and chaos all around us (which we luckily avoided). I waited until the worst of the storm had passed before opening all the windows, listening to the thunder in the distance and the birds singing from their safe, dry hideouts nearby.

They sounded surprisingly happy about the downpour while I was more than a bit concerned. Mostly for Draco because he’s an idiot and will stand out in his pen singing (like huskies do) instead of going inside the warm, dry kennel or one of the many barrels full of straw like everyone else. I finally had to run out in the thunderstorm and make him go inside, just to shut him up. 😆

I was also worried about the garden. The chicken pasture, yard and all the flowerbeds can definitely handle a few extra inches of the wet stuff…

But too much water can be just as bad as not enough water in the veggie garden and things are just starting to take off, like the carrots and tomatoes…

I’ll have to re-fertilize the beds because the rain will have washed out most of what I put in there before.

The perennial beds should be fine, especially the elderberries, irises and this English ivy that somehow managed to survive winter when it really shouldn’t have…

It came with the wildflower seeds I’d planted there last year and I thought it was lovely but didn’t expect it to pop back up again and grow so fast like it has, so that makes me think it can handle just about anything.

The same with the other ivy we planted by the coop, which is a hardier variety that is supposed to withstand our harsh winters (and does)…

It has already reached the size it topped out at before dying off last winter and will probably grow at least two or three times as big this year. We’re hoping it really takes off and gives the chickens some nice shady areas on the hottest days which are on their way.

The same goes for the wall of willows in the back, which are already filled in and are growing daily. As soon as I can get to them I plan on trimming out all the dead and maybe taking some cuttings to start a new row down the side of our property.

Not until we have four more days of thunderstorms, though, according to the weather report. 😳

We’ll see if those little birds are still singing a happy tune in a day or two!