Rainy weather

I tried to schedule this post, writing it at the beginning of the week.  With rain every day and night this week, I keep having to edit it to make sure that it's still true.  At one point I said that the rain did only good stuff for Edmonton.  With parts of the river valley underwater (including a few neighbourhoods), that isn't strictly true.  And with Yvon's office smelling of sewage and the drywall that may need replacing possibly containing asbestos, it's not true even in the north end of town, far from the river. 

This rainy weather has done a few good things for us.  That remains true. 


Here, it has swollen our river and overflowed it into a few neighbourhoods. 

Oh yeah.  The good stuff.  It has made our parkland lush and green.  It smells wonderful down in the river valley.

I have hardly had to think about whether or not the seeds would germinate.  God did the watering for me, and never too much.   (Although my carrots -- why, can't I grow carrots?  They are very sparse as usual. Next year I try the tip of covering the row with burlap during germination.)

Finding time between rain showers to weed is the tricky bit.  I spent hours on our sunny Saturday in the back yard.

And it has sprouted mushrooms.

These are growing where a boulevard tree once stood in our yard.  They popped up almost overnight.

Does anyone know if they are edible?  They are so big and meaty looking.  I'd love to throw some in soup or on a grill. 

And now the rain can stop, or just fall every few nights.  The chicken run needs time to dry out, I need to find some dry soil for them to dustbathe, the back yard smells like a farm, the weeds and grass are finding time to grow but not dry out long enough to cut them back, the grass clippings I spread as mulch smells of sewage and needs time to dry, blah blah blah whine whine whine (and yes, I'd love some cheese with my whine, thank you!).

And isn't it time to go camping?   Without fear of being rained out?  I think so.