a thunderstorm, a rainbow and plenty of dips in the river!

yesterday we heard thunder and watched a thunderhead come together.

we were looking forward to running around the yard, nekkid, in the rain - something we love to do!

but that thunderhead made some loud noises, rained brutally - but for only 5 minutes. we didn't even have time to down tools and get out there! and then it passed and the sun broke out - so beautiful!

and out back - a beautiful rainbow reminding us of the covenant in Genesis 9...

and we felt like Ezekiel felt in 1:28. truly a wonderful experience. followed by another beautiful day to give thanks for.

we went for our morning walk around the garden and found these 2 little beauties. SciFiChick would be impressed.

and remember when i made the herbed sun-tea, let the herbs sit in the water in the sun all day and then put it in the fridge overnight? well, today i strained it and we had beautiful lemon balm, mint and honey sun tea.

aren't the borage flower ice cubes to die for?

i just love making funny, little crazy things that you can't help but smile about. every sip of that tea made us giggle.

we did our chores and it was off to the river. and here is where we need to make a confession. we normally pride ourselves on walking to the river - it's a quarter mile down and a quarter mile back - but we have been cheating and jumping on the atv. we're bad. the river was as beautiful as always.

of course we had to wear our blue cups smeared in tanglefoot. for any of you who think the black flies, mosquitoes and deer flies are bad...you need to meet a horsefly! yes - the horseflies are out! think of a deerfly on steroids - yep - that bad!

because we were in such a rush to get to the river, i prepared a very simple meal. i chopped up our two tomatoes and opened a can of beans - bahahahah!

in the rush, we forgot utensils to eat with. hence the "eating rock" in the above picture. yes, we found a flat rock, rinsed it in the river and used it to eat beans. we're sophisticated when necessary - otherwise we just figure out a solution and go with it - bahahahah! we laughed our guts out watching each other eat beans with a rock!!!

we had several dips and swims - it's like balm for your soul!

every time we dive in jambaloney goes first and he says "unos dose trekkies" - we make up stupid sayings all of the time and that is one we have used at the river since we first got here. and he always dives in first and then i dive in. but on one of our dips - he said "unos" and i dove in. after we came up from the dive, he said "you didn't do it right!" - bahahahahah! i like to keep the man on his toes!

it was a wonderful few hours at the river. it pays off to get up early, play your morning cards and discuss the day, get to work, get your chores done and go to the river for a few hours. then you come home, finish your daily chores, and start your evening. oh and pick up and pet cats. here's the rat cat giving jambaloney the stink-eye for interrupting his "kitchen dance". yes, i have to pick them all up, make up silly songs to sing to them while we "kitchen dance". these cats have us so trained!

after supper, which i forgot to take a picture of, the clouds came rolling back in. they are beautiful.

jambaloney is working on his contract and even though he had a ton of supper, keeps talking about about making himself a chicken burrito with leftover chicken from last night's supper and leftover beans from dinner at the river. that man eats a lot. but he works so hard - he deserves it! he's almost got the basement completely re-arranged - not an easy job - and built himself a practical work bench. plus he's been working on his contract every day. he's a hard worker. if my dad were alive he would say "you sure know how to pick them, minnie". and i would say "yes. yes i do".

sending lots of love to all of our blogging buddies. *lots*