Fall Has Arrived - Hopefully, That Means Rain

Good News! - -
The weather is predicted to get cooler as the fall weather pattern arrives. Lower temperatures means less money spent on electricity for air conditioning. That is great news! And, no, it does not mean higher energy costs to warm the house: we burn wood for warmth.

The cooler weather allows us to put the dead wood in our woodlands to good use. This has the side benefit of reducing the wild fuel supply which could feed a wildfire. Because of the ongoing drought, the county has had a burn-ban in effect for almost the past year.

Better News! - -
We got 1.4 inches of rain! Of course, the very dry ground instantly turned into a big mud puddle. The ground is so dried out that the rain has trouble soaking in. The forecasters are predicting rain for the end of the week and throughout the next weekend.

The rain will be arriving just in time. Our pastures are dry and quite depleted. We are also out of hay. Looking at the local advertizements, no one is selling hay at a low price at the moment. It only takes a few days for the East Pasture to green up!