Diamonds on the soles of my shoes

It rained last night! And that means two things: we got some much-needed water, and I went out this morning and took many, many pictures of raindrops on everything! I apologize in advance if this post runs a little long. I couldn't stop! This is also my entry to Wednesday Walk, by @tattoodjay. It was a short walk in terms of distance, but took me almost an hour.

I started out trying to take pictures in the flower garden, but it was 7:00 in the morning, and the puppies were excited about me going outside because they thought maybe I was going up to the barn to milk, and they get breakfast after that.

They kept jostling my arm, and knocking the water drops off the plants, so I gave up on the flower bed and went out to the regular garden, which is mammal free at that hour.

That last one was an asparagus frond. They are beautifully ferny after the harvest season is over.

The last time I did the water photos, the grass seed heads were still closed. Now they're open, and have a new kind of charm when they're covered in tiny diamonds.

The last round of these were almost all green, so I tried to mix in a few colors this time around.

Even the dead weeds have their charms.

The goats are loving their new snacks, by the way. I realize the narrative with these photos is a little boring, so I will try to give you the news. Today I added a piece of fence for the small herd, after pulling the rest of the bracken ferns. With gloves on this time!

My goal was to give the goats enough groceries to get them through the weekend. The family will be here for the holiday, and we will be at the family farm, so I wanted to clear my schedule as much as possible.

I will still have to go make sure they have water, baking soda and minerals every day, and check that the fence isn't sagging, but those stops are quick and easy and will give me plenty of time to hang out with the family and eat stuff I didn't have to cook. Best kind of weekend ever!

In spite of the fact that tomorrow is a major holiday that involves being outside, I am hoping we get a little more rain. It's terrible for Farmer Dan's hay and all the barbecues that are supposed to happen tomorrow, but we could sure use a little more.

As you can see from the above photo, the blueberries are starting to ripen! Another few weeks and we'll be in berry heaven!

I originally went out looking for spiderwebs this morning, since we've entered the season of webs in the face everywhere I go. I found a few, but not as many as I expected. This one was kind of a horizontal sheet that managed to gather quite a few gems.

This bit of moss has been baked by the sun and turned the most lovely shades of red and gold.

I went out to the flower garden after morning chores, when the puppies were safely in their food coma, and got a few more. Somehow there are still a few blooming bleeding hearts. They've been going for months.

This is actually a weed that I should have pulled long ago, but I can't do everything, so some things always fall through the cracks.

This is a garlic whistle. Years ago we planted tiny garlic bulbs around the rose bushes because they are good companion plants. We never dug them up, so every year they come up and do their thing. I can't tell if they're helping the roses or not.

Okay, I just have a few more and then I will stop.

I can't believe I've lived in Oregon, where it rains most of the time, for my entire adult life and much of my childhood, and it never occurred to me to photograph the rain. I guess I didn't think about photos as art until I started posting on Steemit, and got inspired by all the fabulous photographers I've gotten to know here.

Here's one more. I promise tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled programming!

Good night, everyone! Thanks for humoring me, those of you who stuck it out until the end!