A visit from Hurricane Bill...

Hurricane Bill traveled up the East coast this past weekend causing astronomically high tides, 12 to 20 foot waves and mega amounts of rain. It stayed far enough from the mainland so the winds were minor 30 miles inland where we are. Downeast they were a little stronger. The skies began to get gray on sunday afternoon with thunder and lightening preceding the rain.

When the skies opened up, torrential rains dumped water on us that accumulated in a hurry. The puddle in the photo is the result of 5 minutes worth of rain. Of course, this was at chore time and I can't remember ever being as wet as I was when I was finished. Thankfully it wasn't cold!

Not sure my muck shoes are ever going to dry out though.

Tragically, some people just can't pay attention to warnings posted by officials who know what they are talking about. On Mt. Desert Island many people visit Thunder Hole on their vacation. It is a rock formation on a cliff side where the surf pounds and the waves are fascinating on a sunny day. On sunday they were amazing and dangerous. A family of three were too close and were swept out to sea. The little girl did not survive. Several people were washed out to sea that day and fortunately no one else perished. Several broken bones and bruised bodies. See more on that story here: Acadia

The ducks thought they were on holiday....they couldn't decide which puddle they wanted to take their bath in :) We have a Mama duck setting on 12 eggs in a nest she made in the middle of my bee balm. I've gotten over being cranky about the damage to the bee balm and enjoy watching her from my kitchen window. The Indian runner ducks are very entertaining and are great slug eaters.

This is how Jinx and Jade occupy themselves during a thunderstorm :) Smart Kitties.

The last two days have been sunny again and 85 - 90 degrees. I'm struggling to can and pickle in this weather without AC. They are promising cooler temps by Wednesday evening....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have several heads of cabbage to process and the cucumbers are growing like crazy. We are getting red tomatoes even though blight has shown it's ugly face here and is starting to affect my plants. Many, many people lost all their potatoes and tomatoes. It's been a tough year in the Northeast for gardens and forage crops. Soon we will be pulling up all our plants in the front garden and preparing the soil to plant our garlic crop. Yum!

Thanks for stopping in for a visit. Hope it's sunny where you are!