Double Rainbow and Hail

We stayed home from the farm on Tuesday. It had been kinda rainy and Rick and I needed a day off. Wednesday I had to work late, but it had cleared up a little, and we needed some farm time. When we arrived, we saw that the hail and rain had knocked down some fruit. This just saves us from having to thin.

So we drank some beer, let the chickens out, using Rick's new chicken ladder! It's very cute. I'll get some pics of it today to post. It was pretty cold, so Rick C. made a fire. The sun was out, but dark clouds were all around. After a little while, we heard a big peal of thunder. Rick C got nervous, and started riding his bike home. We decided to wait it out. Sure enough, a big cell moved over, the temperature dropped by 15 degrees, and it began to hail. We scurried around getting the chickens back in and everything battened down, then ran for the playhouse to wait it out. Afterward, we were rewarded with the most amazing double rainbow. It's hard to see in these pics, but the rainbow went all the way across, and was fully double.

We just stood there amazed. I had read an article in Edible Shasta magazine, which Catherine had picked up, where a market farmer in Round Valley was talking about how each spring is a gamble about what crops will perform the best. But she ended her story with these words: "We don't have to win the lottery. We have a farm in springtime." That's what I felt, looking at this amazing sky, in our little farm.

We wished Rick and Catherine had been able to see it, but you know how it is: some people have enough sense to come in out of the rain.