Honest to goodness pouring-down rain.

I think the rain started around 3:00 this morning..... the noise woke me up and I remember looking at the clock and then turning over.  Hearing the sounds of rain against the roof and the windows has become such a rare occurrence out here in the Hills these past few years. (Is it really rain? Or is it Memorex?  -- Now there's an oldie but a goodie.)

When I woke up again at 7:30, it was still raining..... pouring, actually.  First thing I did was go out to the balcony door and look outside at the pond.  Wonder of country wonders--- the pond was filled nearly to the top. It's just so nice to see that much water in that big hole in the ground.  When we first moved here, I had innocent visions of having a rowboat... my husband and I could row (or, he could row) from one side of the pond to the other..... we could listen to the birds, watch the ducks, look at the cows and goats in the neighbor's pastures.

The previous owners had even left a big wooden picnic table down by the pond.  After this rowboat adventure, I thought we could even have lunch down by the pond, at that table under the pecan tree. The gourmet lunch, of course, would be carried out there in a pretty little wicker basket complete with tablecloth and fancy napkins.  (Amazing what your imagination can conjure up with just one thought of a pond on your property.)

All of the above has never happened, nor is likely to happen.  Let me rephrase that.... it will definitely not happen.  Ponds bring snakes.... and this city girl doesn't want to be anywhere near even the possibility of a snake.  (Which is another reason why we didn't get more chickens..... chicken coops also attract snakes.)  That picnic table is now up on our backyard deck.  And we've never even used it out there, because wasps and bees like to congregate underneath the top of that table.

We never did buy a rowboat either..... the pond is certainly big enough for a nice afternoon of rowing back and forth to watch birds and feed the ducks...... but the pond has spent much more time being just a big empty hole in the ground because the weather gods haven't exactly given us our Texas share of rains for the past four years.

But today, that big hole in the ground is a pond..... a real pond, filled nearly to the brim with all of that rain-water.  And it looks pretty darn beautiful. Country wonders will never cease.