You think it might rain?

I guess they weren't kidding when they predicted rain coming our way last week!
Our new rain gauge measured a whopping 5.5" when I emptied it on Tuesday during the one dry day we had and it's showing another 2.5" as I speak.
Looking at the forecast we're not done for a while yet!

But of course a little rain won't keep me from my walks .. ha! .. I'm not 'made of doll-shit' as they say in Holland. (I know, that's not a very elegant saying but hey, I didn't come up with them.)

Sometimes I had to run for it!
Look at that sky!

The little waterfall I discovered in the river this summer, which looked so pretty ...

            

It is now almost invisible! When the water comes up any higher it will disappear altogether until next summer.
I now realize that that's the reason I never knew it was there. It was completely under water!

              

Not only are the days wetter and cooler but definitely a lot shorter as well, especially with the weather we're having.
Sunset is around 5pm at the moment and when I go out for a little 'stroll around the block' in the late afternoon I have to watch the time to make sure I'm in before dark!

         

         

Despite all the rain these LBBs (Little Brown Birds) thought they needed a bath in between showers.
The pond is still low but it is filling up rapidly. Soon they won't be able to use the shore as a bathtub anymore!

 

They take their bathing serious, it thought they were going to drown themselves!

                                                     

                                                    

 
The feeders are buzzing all day long. It's mainly House Finches at the moment:

               

I found lots and lots of Inky-cap mushrooms down by the river:

                                   

And these funny looking little ones in the meadow next to us. I think they look like fried eggs! 😁

          

The herd of Elks is still hanging around. I think there are more of them every day!                                      

Mating season is almost over and the biggest, strongest bulls have gathered quite the harems!

I only discovered one bull in this herd (laying down in the back) but they are a little far away, even for my zoom, and I can't get a very sharp picture.

                         

 

Lets see, what else ... oh, yeah, I got a new sewing machine!

My old one had given up the ghost, it was a cheap machine I'd bought at a thrift store and it never worked very well. Although James tried to keep it going and did some repairs every now and than it basically was a 'lemon'. Oh well, it happens ..

                                

      

This particular one I'd researched online and is described as reliable and sturdy and although quite pricey ($209) I decided it was probably the last one I'd ever buy and thus worth it.

Cheapskate as I am, I chanced a last look at Facebook's Marketplace to see if I could find a second-hand close-by for less and 'whaddayethink' there was one listed in McMinnville!
It turned out to be a new machine, OK 'new', from 2023 that is, but never used, never taken out of the box even, and for only $100!

                                           

I picked it up on Wednesday when I went grocery-shopping in Mac, and so far I love it!
I tested it and it works and it looks and feels great but I still have to read through the manual to figure out all possibilities, etc. So far, so good though!

On top of that, I got a new phone as well! I've been cursing at my old phone for a while and James finally had enough of it and bought me a new one!
I guess Christmas has arrived early for me!

                          

Nothing fancy really but a step up from my old one, with a much larger memory, which hopefully allows me to finally download a few apps that I'd love to have and which my old phone didn't have enough 'room' for (the Merlin Bird ID, a plant identification app and the Map my walk app, to name a few) and a much better camera which hopefully makes it possible to not always have to lug my (bigger and heavier) camera around.
So far it's been a bear to get everything copied over, installed and secured but we're making progress ... modern technology, not for the faint of heart!

I'll end with a (rather bad) picture of the Beaver (full) Moon rising over our meadow, which was the last of the four consecutive super-moons occurring in 2024:

The Beaver Moon takes its name from early Native American tribes as well as American colonists, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, when beavers begin sheltering in their lodges after gathering enough food to last the winter.
Fur trappers, the almanac stated, used this time also to hunt beavers for their pelts.