It's been raining in Phoenix for three days solid and tomorrow's forcast is for more of the same. Flights are cancelled at the airport, interstate highways are closed, and some roads are so flooded that certain schools will be closed tomorrow. It's so rainy that my dog wouldn't go outside and pooped next to the toilet in the bathroom.

I spent some time with the girls today to find out how they were dealing with the rain. The ground in the chicken run is flooded and earth worms by the 100s are sacrificing their lives to escape the soggy and suffocating depths of their burrows for a breath of fresh air. Good to know that I have such healthy soil, but I'm kind of bummed that the girls are eating all the worms.

I noticed that some girls stayed dry as they waited  for a pause in the downpour before going in search of food. Others happily passed the day forraging for worms until they were soaked to the bone.

As I was snapping a few pictures, Chica-Mara-Choochoo (my Dominique) jumped down onto the ramp and plotzed -- legs sprawling -- on what I'm calling her "egg belly". It was a pretty hard landing and I drew in a quick breath upon hearing the thud, but she walked away, seemingly unfazed.

She layed an egg today in the shape of a jelly bean. You can clearly see a circular flattened imprint of her fall on the egg shell. What seems to me to be the strangest thing of all is that I happened to witness this event and I now know exactly why I found a strangely-shaped egg. I think this is conclusive proof that if a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody there to hear it, it DOES nonetheless make a sound. It seems like there is a life's lesson in there somewhere too . . . your work doesn't have to be noticed to someday make a mark.

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." --Nelson Henderson