Water, Water Everywhere...

We have tadpoles swimming in our backyard. I really can't believe it. I stand in the dining room and look out into the middle of our backyard and I see what seems like hundreds of tadpoles swimming around, sometimes even leaping out of the water. The kids think it's fabulous and have taken to wading in with Jordan's butterfly net to catch them. Yes, the marsh is now covering about half of our yard, the new compost pile is completely underwater, and the willow tree we planted on what used to be the edge of the marsh is drowned under several inches of water. A family of geese (mom, dad and three babies) has made our yard their home (ie. toilet). Yet I can't find it in myself to be upset. Our home has been spared unlike so many others, and the kids are having a blast. Plus I can get a lot of weeding done in the garden while they're tadpole-hunting. Life continues to surprise me. And speaking of surprises, when I checked my email yesterday, I discovered that I'd made my first sale on Etsy. So exciting! My crafts business is (sort of) taking off. I sold one of my small drawstring crochet cases and am now listing them as a custom item - size, color and type of yarn your choice. Check out my shop at www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I like rain. Actually I love rain. It makes me moody and happy all at once. One of my favorite feelings. I love to watch rain, listen to it, stand out in it, smell it. I just wish my backyard wasn't full of it. The marsh behind our house has officially taken over our yard. Last year's compost pile is a foot under water, and the new one is well on it's way to being submerged. While I was fine with losing about 8 feet of the the thistle field that was the back of our backyard, losing approximately half of the back yard to water is a bit much. Actually the front yard is pretty much one giant puddle too. Ah, well...not much I can do about it. At least we don't have to go far to find wildlife to expose the kids too. Last Thursday afternoon two of my less squeamish sisters came over to play Frog Hunt with the kids. Jordan, Sasha and our neighbor Abby were thrilled to see and feel a toad, a pine snake, several frogs and some giant earthworms. Even I, who as just about everyone knows, am "such a total girl", was pretty excited by the nature extravaganza. Two of the frogs even still had their little tail stumps. So cool. Especially when the girls put one in our (overflowing) rain barrel so we could get a close up look at the frog in action. I just hope that my garden keeps growing and the new willow trees we just planted survive the deluge.