It rained buckets today

Today I woke up, looked out and thought that this would be a great day for a ride. I took my time, drank my morning cup of coffee, ate my cereal and proceeded to take my shower but when I started out the door to tell Jimmy that I wanted to go for a ride, a BIG black cloud appeared. While waiting I checked the bird-feeders and killed time pulling some weeds waiting for that cloud to pass over and when it got directly over head it cut loose with buckets of rain. I think that it even hailed for a second or two...very tiny little bits of ice.

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I hobbled quickly into the house as fast as I my legs would carry me just as it started to rain and decided to check my email. It began to really come down at this point and I watched, from my window, as a group of motorcyclists passed the house. They didn't look like they were having fun and one woman was covered with a plastic bag over her head...NO she wasn't driving...she was the back seat rider, hehehe. When the shower stopped Jimmy came in and told me that he counted 85 bikes in all but that they were not UBAD, our local Christian group (United Bikers Against Drugs) but another out-of-town Christian group.

Daisy stayed dry under the frog's umbrella between showers, while Hopalong sat in the chair behind her.

Despite all the rain we got the temperature was in the 80's and the sidewalks and rocks dried off quickly. There were large deep puddles of water in the grassy areas and pulling weeds was much easier. Jimmy & I took advantage of the wet soft soil in the flower beds and pulled all the weeds we could between showers and we even got wet...but it was fun working out in the rain. I took some pictures between showers, but these pictures were taken before it started to rain. My flowers are starting to bloom but they aren't as big as they should be because they had a lot of catching up to do. They were killed by that mean April freeze and had to start over.

Here's a close-up of one of the flowers that Jybow is standing near in the picture above. It seems that everytime I get set to take a picture, there's a cat in the way. They have to come and see what I'm doing and those of you that have cats, I'm sure understand what I mean.

Only one of the Rhododendron bushes is blooming and it's not very full of flowers. I think that the freeze also damaged some of the buds although this plant stays green year round. You can't see my azalea very well from here, but it's on the other side of these bushes and is very brown. I think most of it is dead and it's not recovering very well. It has VERY FEW green leaves on it...I think I can count them on both my hands & feet. Any suggestions on how I can save it? Should I prune it, cut it down, cut it back, give it food & water???

Here is a close-up of theRhododendron flower...Isn't it beautiful.

My neighbor has three Mountain Laurel's that are in full bloom...I don't think you could possibly fit another bloom on any of her plants, but todays pounding rain took its toll on them and knocked some of the old blooms off and soaked the rest. They kind of look water-logged. I wanted to take some close-up pictures of her Mt.Laurel's but I waited too late...maybe they'll perk up tomorrow.

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On another note: While I was writing this post, I happened to look up at the 11 p.m. news and saw my grandson Matt aiding in a horrific auto & tractor trailer accident on the interstate. Matt works for our county's ambulance service, but he wasn't there as an EMT, but as a fireman. He was using the "jaws of life" to cut someone free and the newsman said that I-75 had been closed for hours this afternoon due to the accident and clean-up afterwards. Matt is such a good boy and I'm so proud of the work he does. The pays not that good, but as Matt says, "It's not about the pay, but about the people you help."