The weather has changed for the better for us.  Last Friday the 17th in the evening we got a rain and hail storm.  When it was all over we had 0.32" in the rain gauge.  It stayed rainy all weekend and  we accumulated another 1.37", so had a total of about 1.70"  The welcome moisture has really greened the pastures up.  The hay crop is looking up, we may get some hay now so the spirits of every one has risen.

We kept trying to set a time and date to dock lambs, but it stays cool and moist.  So we turned out the older 200 ewes and lambs.

This is our first small pasture that has been grazed close during the winter.  Anything that grows shows green.  The little clumps in the foreground are cactus plants, so in reality the grass is quite short.

Then on May 23 we got to go to town.  The last time we were in town was April 25.  We have been busy in the lambing barn, so hadn't been anywhere to get groceries or anything. The refrigerator was getting pretty bare.  The cupboard was beginning to look like Old Mother Hubbard's.  So at the price of groceries we purchased over $200 worth of groceries.

Tammy and I went over to help Ryan sort cows the other day.  He needed to sort off some cows that he will artificial breed.  Then he sorted off his yearling heifers and brought them over here.  We sorted off three bulls and brought them over here to turn out with the heifers.

Then today we had some rain early this morning.  We got 0.14", but north 6 miles they got 2.50", with water going over the road.  Then this afternoon we got a hard shower that measured 0.70".  But further north they got more rain.  It run water around here.

Here just north of the house is an old dam running into a fairly new dugout.  The dugout was almost empty and the dam was dry through the winter, but had been getting a little water with every snow and rain event this spring.

This is a patch of cactus on what is a hardpan spot.  Now the cactus sets in water.  The splotches on the left are cow tracks through the mud.  These bare patches over a large area are what makes runoff of water to fill the dams and dugouts.  Where there is a cover of grass it slows the water and gives the water a chance to soak in the ground and cuts down on runoff.

I am glad I got my sorghum planted before this rain.  The field was full of hardpan spots and would have taken forever to dry out.