Wet Stuff

That funny, wet stuff has been falling from the sky quite a bit lately.  We took the photo above Saturday morning, after it rained all night Friday.  Then it rained slow and steady on Saturday night, and we got another light shower this afternoon. Three days in a row of precipitation feels mighty nice.

But it also means the bug population is exploding. Whenever it rains, the termites bubble up from the ground and fly into the air, like some weird, effervescent entomological eruption. But lately we're nearing plague-like proportions.

 And also coming out to eat all these tasty morsels are the arachnids and other bug-hunters.

The chickens are doing their part to eat as many bugs as they can catch.

And the kittens have become such good hunters that they can snatch them right out of the air most of the time.

The prolonged rain should lead to another flower bloom, also.  The lechugillas are the most recent plants to bloom in our area, and I think they can be underrated.  Some people don't realize they bloom at all, but they actually have a very pretty display if you catch the show in time and get up close to the action.

Lechugillas are agaves, and their flowers are similar to those of the century plant.  But unlike the century plant which blooms only once, right before it dies, lechugilla agaves bloom every year.

The rain also shows off how well camouflaged Wrinkles is in her desert environs.  Her red leopard pattern mimics the dappled color of our wet, volcanic sand perfectly.