Take a walk with me...

Today is Friday, April 29, and it is gorgeous outside. Cloudless, windless and while not warm, it's sunny and that's half the battle... But it's too wet to work out in the garden. This morning I puttered with the plants under the lights, checked their germination rates (about 90% of the seeds I've planted have sprouted. I think that's pretty good) and watered them. That's about all I can do for now. The headlines in our local paper this morning was that we've officially broken the record for wettest April. Over 10" of rain has fallen on Charleston this month. Here, in Hutton, I've measured 11.5" of rain since April 1. It's rained at least a half an inch of rain a day for the past seven. I've never seen anything like this, coming from the arid country of Colorado as I do. The ground is saturated, and it can't hold any more water. We're supposed to get more rain Saturday night and Sunday, but hopefully it won't be too much. I'd like to get back out into the garden. 

Our road, looking east.

One of the problems with having satellite internet is that when it's raining, we have no internet signal. And with the constant rain of the past week, I haven't been able to get online to post. I hope you hadn't given up on me! (More post after the pictures...)

Some wild asparagus growing near the garden.

Our branch of Hurricane Creek, leaving our property.

...and coming out the other side of the road.

Almost to the end of the walk...

There are little creeks everywhere!

The field at the end of the road.

The gorgeous tree that marks the turn-around spot.

The thunderstorm on its way...

Wednesday morning, I took a walk with my camera down to the end of the road. The week before, while my friends, Tony & Annie, were visiting with their kids, Isabella & Bruno, we took all three dogs for a morning walk down our road. It's about a mile or so back and forth, up and down a number of hills, surrounded by woods and farmland, and dead-ending at a lovely field of yellow flowers. I thought I'd like to take ya'll on that same walk. The conditions were nearly the same as they were the week before: a little cool, sprinkling and just beginning to thunder... I hope you enjoy the pictures, and hopefully I'll be back in the garden planting (and weeding...it looks like the weeds have really taken off!) next week. By the way, if you're in the area this Saturday, don't forget to check out Herb Fest in Mattoon. I'm pretty excited about it. There'll be master gardeners from the University of Illinois there, selling herbs and other gardening supplies, answering questions, and celebrating spring! Hope to see you there.