Hi, my name is Leigh, and I am a pluviophile...

The rains have arrived!

Glorious, saturating, overflowing, rain...

I never thought I would be so happy to see mud again. Every time I head out onto the farm I intentionally drive through every puddle so that the resulting spray painted effect of muddiness covers my bakkie like a coat of armour which is then flaunted around the village with pride and joy - until Corks forces me to wash it all off - such a spoilsport...

I just cannot get enough of the stuff. I know that in about 3 weeks time I will be hating it, but for now I'm going to revel in the splendour of glorious wet earth.

In the last two weeks we have had close to 100mm of rain. There is actually water in the top dam near the highway for the first time in over 6 months. The picture on the left was taken just over a week ago - the entire dried out surface of the dam littered with the skeletal remains of thousands of fish. If you look at it today, you would hardly believe that it even looked like this at all. It's such a sight for sore eyes to see precious water once again flowing into the dam.

The weather has been tumultuous, to say the least. The storms have blown in fast on strong North Westerly winds and dumped torrents of rain amid flashing lightning and deafening thunder. There has been a wild kind of desperation to them, as though they're in some sort of race. I'll even admit that the thunder has made me jump on several occasions. Mother Nature deserves the utmost respect and lightning is not something to smirk at around these parts...

Luckily, so far there has been no real damage from these storms, apart from the odd fallen tree and stuck vehicle. Just lots and lots of much needed rain and runoff. The pastures have awakened with renewed vigour - who could have imagined that the Kildare desert still had some life in it after all? - and the cows were absolutely thrilled to return to eating grass again after an 8 month period of being fed anything that we could find to keep them going.

The drought has broken and our hearts are full of hope once more...

There's a new Spring in my step!

Spring has sprung in the Midlands!

And not a moment too soon as we are still desperate for some rain... Temperatures are soaring and everything is "greening up" - a welcome sight for tired eyes. Tired of looking out over dust and brown, dead nothingness. All of that is changing now, and there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. One thing is for sure, everyone is a lot happier now that the grass is growing! It feels like a dead weight has been lifted off our shoulders. We still have a long way to go, but it feels more bearable now with everything around us making an effort to be alive again!

And boy have we had life in the last few days! A baby boom from the heifers - 25 new babies in 2 weeks! There are calves EVERYWHERE! It's such a welcome sight to have all these little moos running around. Its awesome to watch those first few wobbly steps as a new born calf finds her feet, and so incredible to see them instinctively head for that udder the minute they have the standing thing wrapped up. Nature is amazing.

 Being Spring time, there is the mandatory need for a major change. This usually comes in the form of an epic spring clean. This year it has come in the form of a veranda face lift! Out with those raggedy old draughty windows, and in with some functional spacious retractable doors! Gin and tonic evenings on the stoep just stepped up a level...

Before...

Destruction!!

The end result - magnificent!

There is finally some water in the dams (thanks to 24hour pumping out of our new boreholes) and we have been grafting at pivot maintenance to get the irrigation back up to speed after 8 months of dormancy! Replacing stolen cables, resurrecting hidden hydrants, and digging up 600m of old pivot lines to build new transfer schemes, have all been worth it just to see that first bit of water being irrigated onto the Kildare desert after the most debilitating drought in over a century - something that could become a more regular occurrance with global warming. It literally brought tears to my eyes watching that pivot start up again for the first time since I got back to work after Isla was born. That's how long it has been! Hard to believe that a whole year has passed since the arrival of our little monkey changed our lives forever...

At least someone is appreciating the warm weather - hows this sexy little chick in her cute farm cap? She cant wait to get into the little pool her aunty Robz got her for her 1st birthday. Definitely got those thighs from her mom. Not too sure about that complexion though - must be a serious throw back from the Irish/Welsh genes!

I'm pretty sure that she will have to share her pool with a couple of labradors though... they cannot wait for Summer. Neither can we to be honest - that rainfall!! Bring on the floods!!