July Rain

See those rain drops at the tip of this sunflower's leaves?
 

On the East Coast, we are finally getting real rain.  At the Guilderland Community Garden, the rain gauge showed nearly three inches of rain since last night.

I forgot to photograph the rain gauge at the Community Garden,
but isn't the intense blue of this flower, near the gauge, something?

If you are happy to be getting this rain, you can thank my writing plans for it. 

At this time of year, sunflowers are starting to bloom and I thought it would be a good idea to write about how enjoyable it is to see them.

After hearing about this, the weather gods must have said, “If he’s going to write about ‘sun,’ let’s fix his wagon and let it rain, rain, rain.”

The rain is great and let’s hope it continues for a few more days, to make up for the deficit up until now.  Those sunflowers will still be blooming by then.

Along with the rain, we are enjoying a new backyard neighbor.  A young red-tailed hawk decided it wants to watch the yard from the peak of our shed and an oak limb.  I hope this hawk is mowing down the small rodent population. 

Even if he or she is not, it is delightful to see such a big bird so near.  The other morning, when I came out, the sound of the door opening startled the hawk and it swooped off across the yard, showing its broad wingspan.

 

The news is filled with lots of fear and bad things lately.  But this hawk is a reminder that there is always a potential for things to get better.  In the 1960's, hawks, eagles and other birds of prey were on the decline because of pesticides and the perception that they were varmints.

The pesticides are gone and people now like birds of prey.  So these species, once on the ropes, are back again - - to the point where they can appear outside the backdoor.  That's good news if I ever heard it!