This morning I was cleaning the house as usual when the rain really started to fall, in buckets it seemed. I became concerned about our goats, Nanny and Angel, totally the wrong name for Angel; devil would be more accurate however that is another story. As for Nanny she is very gentle, sometimes when I am sitting in the pasture she comes over, lays down and puts her head in my lap, her countenance is so calming. However both goats truly dislike the rain especially hard rain, no web feet on those two. So Wade, then five years old, and I dressed in our rain gear and with Tag our Border collie “tagging” along, we set out to put Nanny and Angle under the old empty house, a homestead 1905 vintage, which was on the other side of the acreage, it sets up high in the back and provides a nice dry shelter underneath for the goats and the occasional bit of wildlife that take refuge there.
We no sooner had the goats all snug in their stalls and the rain let up to a fairly light fall and everything sparkled, green and silver. That is one wonderful thing about the Oregon coast, rain sometimes comes in fifteen-twenty minutes spurts with the beautiful sparkling sunshine to follow.
With the goats taken care of we checked on the chickens, picking up the eggs and headed for the house when Nanny started blatting, which I took to mean she didn’t want to stay under the old house with the sun peeping through the gray clouds, so we put the eggs in the house and back we went to tie her and Angel out by the orchard. We took angel out first and by the time we returned with Nanny, Angel was already eating her way through a clump of alder saplings.
So Wade, Tag and I decided to take a walk up the road that lead to the woods above our house, he always liked to stop and watch the rain water flow through the large drain pipe under the road. Wade, like all children seem to delight so much in watching water rushing by. We both delighted in stopping also to watch thirty or forth little birds that were all singing and flitting from branch to branch along the lower branches of a couple fir trees, little brown birds with sharp eyes and beautiful tiny black beaks. Some of which had brown and white striped breasts. They were such a joy to see.
The rain was letting up and the sun was shining again through the clouds. Blue sky appeared again and all the birds started singing and peeping more, all different types of birds and songs…. What a treat!
Standing on the road looking out and down on to our land it was the most beautiful sight. I wished I had a camera to share the beauty with others. The sky shone so brightly that one could hardly look in its direction. All the leaves, and brush came alive with silver sparkle, the fur and pine trees looked too green to be real. Everything was fresh and clean, even the old house came alive with color. We could see the white of the goats against the green of the pasture and the red chickens against the brown soil. The Alder trees were losing their leaves and one could see through them down into the deep woods.
We watched the birds a while longer then started for home. Wade decided to run down the old road to the old house, then across the pasture and up the path to the pumpkin patch. To see his delight of getting there before us Tag and I really had to walk slowly.
Walking down the driveway together, Wade, Tag and I, could see the heat of the sun shining on the bark covered ground in front of the house and shinning on the roof which was causing the water to turn to steam, the house appeared to be smoldering.
Now back inside, we are canning apples, the sun comes and goes but the rain has stopped. The sky is ever changing here on the coast. I find that in the fall and winter here, everything is alive and constantly changing. Living there it was so easy to see the wonders of God…His beauty, His subtleness and His strength.
