2" of rain overnight

We woke up to what seemed like greener grass in the paddocks. Coffee wasn't in bed but was instead drank while watering the indoor plants and posting a blog. S checked the rain gauge and discovered we had received 2 inches of rain! It was a welcome surprise, and we felt fortunate for it and no hail. When I went out to assess any damage to the yard, I found the neighbor's cat had returned. I caught him and placed him in a kennel for them to collect later. A sunflower had been knocked down, and about 30 apples were strewn from the trees. We were indeed very lucky, no hail here and so much damage around us. S opened his belated birthday gift, which might come in handy today—an automatic rain gauge. Meanwhile, I started tackling the considerable amount of laundry from the weekend.

S hurried to town around 10:30 to retrieve the ranger we had left at the rodeo grounds. The ranger was fine, but the town had suffered damage to trailers and many trees were shredded. I realized I needed a blog post for my paint contract and thought I had prepared one, but I hadn't. So, I quickly wrote one about Kaylin's and Nathan’s dining table, sent it in, and then shared it with all sponsors and on paint-related pages. My neighbor Brittany came by at 11:30 to pick up "Tony," the cat. During her visit, we chatted about the eventful weekend, especially since her middle child participated in the very wild horse races.

Sheldon returned home with the ranger and Opa for lunch. Afterwards, he took a nap in big brown, unwinding from the eventful birthday rodeo weekend. Meanwhile, I worked on catching up with blog posts, trailing by about five days. Later, I ventured out to tend to the garden, harvesting a big tub of peas and eliminating around 50 cabbage worms. Unfortunately, my kohlrabi leaves have been ravaged. S spent his time indoors, fine-tuning his birthday gift and discussing his astonishing truck appraisal with friends, which came in at $63,500—a welcome surprise indeed.

He chopped mushrooms and an onion for me to prepare his favorite mushroom soup. I started it for supper, adding fresh garden thyme, along with cooking the last GF meal - fennel pistachio pork pasta. He said both were delicious. We folded towels and hung the jeans to dry since there was no solar energy today, and using dryers would be costly. The remaining laundry will wait for a sunny day. I ventured back out to do gardening.

Britt and Cooper arrived to feed the horses, and S was now out to work on the swather, having acquired a new belt and parts for it earlier. As I stopped to check on his progress, Tony, the cat, peeked around the corner. He seems to have taken a liking to our house, although he's scheduled to be neutered later this month. I wonder if that will deter his visits. Mark came to retrieve him shortly after I texted that Tony had returned once again today. Britt and Cooper headed home while I resumed my weeding, poop scooping, and worm picking. Around 9, it began to drizzle as we both headed indoors, but it stopped shortly thereafter. Our day concluded with the season finale of House of Dragons.