I'm trying to stay positive, but it looks dark from here

It's been a while again. I've had a hard week. First my back went out, then I got the flu or something, and now I have a torn muscle in my leg and I am supposed to stay off of it. That's a tall order. I didn't see my brush goats for days, and I think they were worried that I had abandoned them. I hobbled out to see them on Tuesday, and we added another piece of fence so they would have something to work on until I'm better, but it looks like they will need more already.

We've been having some rain, which has been nice. The clouds have been pretty impressive.

On the way home from checking the goats the other day, I had to stop in the middle of the road to get this next one. It looks like a waterspout. It's just a really intense and apparently very localized rain storm.

The change in the weather has brought the slugs out from wherever they hide during the dry months. When I went up to feed the goats yesterday morning, I saw this beauty. I have never seen one this big!

Banana slugs are Oregon's state mollusk. I'm not sure they ever attained official status, but we love them nonetheless. Who wouldn't love this face?

This morning Farmer Dan called to tell me that the goats were all behind the barn, which meant that they had escaped their enclosure and gotten through a locked gate. I was skeptical, but concerned, so I went out to check on them earlier than usual. They were all exactly where they were supposed to be, so I'm not sure what he was talking about, unless the goats have learned some new skills they aren't telling me about. While I was doing my walk around their area, I got a nice shot of the farm house reflected in the slightly scummy slough.

After my anxieties about rogue goats were alleviated, I stopped by my friend Wanda's house to pick up some arnica to help with the torn muscle in my leg. While sitting on her deck, I happened to look up and this view caught my imagination. I'm not sure exactly why, but it did.

After running the necessary errands in town, I was on my way home when I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed that I had a hitchhiker on my back window. I kept my eye on him all the way home, and he was still there when I arrived, even though I go close to fifty on the back roads. He might have been a little traumatized by the time I pulled into my driveway, but he was still alive, so I'm hopeful he will pull through. Unless he's a terrible garden parasite that I just unwittingly unleashed onto the neighborhood, in which case I am very sorry.

I've only seen this kind of grasshopper once before, also this summer. If anybody knows what it is, I would love to know. They are very cool. They look more like plants than insects.

That's all I have tonight. I'm going to go put my leg up and try to look on the bright side.