A Few Hours of Sunshine

We had a few hours of sunshine this morning, before clouds rolled in and the next wet storm descended on us.

This storm is not from Alaska but from the Pacific Ocean so it will bring a lot of rain, and wind, but no snow.  The horses are back in the barn, standing in their straw or in their run-out, under the barn eaves, watching the rain fall.  Tex and Flash prefer to stand outside, Lucy and Pistol prefer to be in their stalls with their noses poked out the door.

This yellow willow tree is native to our area and was most likely planted by a bird.  When we moved in, it was a bushy, formless shrub.  It has grown, and I have pruned the shrubbiness away, and now I love the tree.  In the fall, the leaves are a bright yellow against the drab dusty ground.

And we have three or four massive oaks (and countless smaller ones).  There is this one, and a couple back by the dressage court and in the back pasture.  We lost the largest oak on the property a few years ago.  We still mourn its loss.  This one is around 300 years old; according to the best guess of a local arborist.