Greetings from Lake Langton!

When we asked Mother Nature for rain, the Head Gardener and I forgot to include a request that said rain be of the long, slow, soaking-in variety.  We won't forget next time.  When the rain finally slowed to a light drizzle, I stepped outside with my camera and took a few pictures to share.

Looking west from the front gate

According to a Weather Underground station based in my subdivision, we have received 4.41 inches of rain this morning.  Most of that rain fell within a 90 minute period.  When the rain began to fall in earnest, I was NOT cozied up on my comfortable sofa cuddling my anxious dog.  I was in my little red truck, trundling down the Katy Freeway towards home in a torrential thunderstorm.  Visibility was about 1/10th of a mile and by the time I made it to the entrance to my neighborhood, the streets were beginning to flood.   

Looking north from the sidewalk

It's been a good two years since we've had this kind of flooding in the cul-de-sac.  Fortunately the street drains quickly when the rain tapers off.  The most disheartening thing about such heavy rain can be how little of it actually soaks into the soil.  I'm doing my best to be grateful for that which does soak in.

I stood at the water's high point on the sidewalk to take this southwest-facing shot.

Another band of storms, thankfully MUCH less intense, is passing through as I write.  I'm hoping this gentler rainfall will continue off and on throughout the day.  No more hail or tornado warnings, please, Mother Nature?  

The camera caught a burst of lightning as I looked to the south.

The Head Gardener and I had planned to do some bulb planting this week but we may have to postpone our endeavors until the ground dries out a bit.  That's the kind of change in our plans we'd be happy to see.  The HG says that we can pull weeds instead: she feels I have been remiss in keeping up with my weeding duties, especially where the chickweed and Poa annua are concerned.  We're trying not to think about how many more of those weeds there will be thanks to the rain!