There is little more exciting and challenging for me than taking pictures in heavy rain or a snowstorm. I had to go out today. It’s a challenge on many levels, and I see it as a test of my creativity. The camera and I were getting soaked, and the mud was half a foot deep; the rain was in my eyes and pouring down my back.

My Leica is supposed to be waterproof, and it is, bless them. I can’t say the same for me. What I try to do is capture the beautiful, gripping sense of being out in a storm with animals and the feeling it evokes.

All this while keeping the lens dry and trying to look through the viewfinder. I don’t adjust the camera, I take the picture as it is and post it as is. This makes some snooty photographers crazy, but then, so am I. We were eager for rain, it’s been a dry summer. We got our wish and more than we wanted. It will be raining throughout tonight.

Today we got hit by the long arm of a hurricane along the bottom side of the country. It had, as promised, a long arm. More later. Stay dry, stay calm. Nature is the most beautiful thing.

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You can smell the rain in this picture.

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Rain on the cut wood from the Apple Tree

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Maria climbed up on the wood pile to spread some tarp. It’s going to be raining heavily for a day or so.

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Fanny stays in the barn with Lulu when it rains. We throw some hay in for them, they are royalty.

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The sheep balked at first, then followed Maria into the back pasture. There is little sheep won’t do for fresh grass. She came back soaked and so happy she went for a long walk in the woods.

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This beautifu photograph is the manure pile in the rain. It’s a work of art.

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In storms, the barn gets messy, the animals are in there all night. Maria cleans it out, no matter what.

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Two of the big hearted sheep went down to graze.

There was much beauty in this also.