A summer storm, New Mexico style

We had a typical New Mexico summer storm here the other day.

There was thunder and lightning and wind and hail for about an hour,

and the sun was shining the entire time.

Smooch and I stayed inside for the worst of it, taking pictures through the windows

or from the front porch.

The storm cell must have been parked squarely over my roof.

I never got a good look at it as I was sure the hail would leave dents in my face, or worse, in my lens.

Mrs. Hughes, not the brightest bird in the coop, ran out a few times, thinking the storm was over,

only to find out the hard way that it was not.

Edith waited until the hail stopped to strut her stuff.

The herd was safe in the barn during the storm but anxious to leave because 

hail + metal roof = torture when your ears are this big.

Reason #12 that George hates his grazing muzzle:
he can't open his mouth to take in all the smells.

While I was behind the barn taking pictures, I kept hearing what sounded like a very large waterfall.

Perhaps I had been pelted by hail afterall? Then I located the source of the noise and it was indeed

a waterfall, though not nearly as large as the din it was making. Water from the corral was rushing

into this new and mysterious storm drain. I kept waiting for it to fill up and overflow, but it never did. 

Unbeknownst to me there's an extensive sewer system underground, likely constructed by

a very busy crew of rabbits and rodents. I can only hope it doesn't collapse into a giant sink hole.

Then again, a small pond might be a nice addition to the pasture.

Lucy didn't want to get her muzzle muddy and came over to ask if I would remove it.

I told her I was too busy taking cloud pictures.

She told me I was being a hard-ass.

I'm not sure where JohnnyCashCat weathered the storm.

He eventually dragged his wet self back to the feed room for dinner.

 In my capacity as a weather nerd, I report my daily precipitation totals 

to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network.

Here is the precipitation map from the day of the storm:

Not surprisingly, all the other weather stations in the vicinity reported no precipitation at all.

For once, it was my lucky day to get all the rain.