Up at 4:00 with the latest round of thunderstorms.The cats are joining me for a glass of wine and blogging as we wait the passing of this round of weather..  Ruby dog is in for the night since she is growing more and more terrified of thunder as she ages. She and  I woke up about 3:00 with a pounding rain, and I with a wet dog nose to my cheek. As I laid in bed I heard a tiny bit of the distinct tick tick  tick of hail and gave up on sleep. Thank goodness it stopped and I am not out checking basil with a flash light in a panic. We have made it through the last two weeks of storms unscathed. So far not even a small tree down on the fences, or gully washers enough to take out the latest basil seedings. The fist light of morning will let me know if we have once again dodged a weather bullet. I will see what direction this latest has come from and check the fence lines.  I have several rows of  tiny basil seedling to check on.  I am sure my  nearly perfect stand of green manure crop  will be laying flat in the morning, but that is a very minor consolation for  thunder rain filled with nitrogen.
         Most of my neighbors got their first cutting of hay safely in the barns in the last two weeks of dry weather.  My winters hay is sitting high an dry in Dave Hahn's pole barn on hay racks awaiting delivery over here in the next week or so.
      I am of to work on the heal turn of a sock. The perfect thing to work as the last  claps of thunder pass overhead and I wait for quiet and a return to sleep.