Sky, Swallow, and Special Patch

The sky looks like it's going to rain, we need rain, so why doesn't it rain?

The picture was taken at eight this morning. Now it's after lunch, the sky looks about the same but it hasn't rained a drop.

According to the National Weather Service, there is only a 30% chance of rain today. Seems a strange forecast with a sky full of rain clouds, but they stubbornly refuse to produce.

There is a power line crossing the back three acres. You can see it in the sky picture above.

Some of the birds love to use the wire as a launch site for their insect collecting and to sit and monitor the activity around their nesting sites.

After fledge day, the Tree Swallows and Bluebirds line their young up on the wire for lessons in how to live outside the nest.

The handsome fellow in the picture is a Tree Swallow.

Our apple trees are in bloom this week.

The earth under the trees isn't suitable for growing grass, just violets and other assorted little weeds wildflowers.

We don't mess with the ecology of that area because in the spring it's a . . .

. . . bed of Morel mushrooms.

In this part of the country people go crazy in the spring hunt for the elusive Morel mushroom.

Morel patches are jealously guarded and kept secret year after year. There are websites with Morel lore, Morel recipes, Morel pictures, Morel spotting updates (not with exact locations) and Morel jokes.

We were handed our Morel patch along with our mortgage. After a late April - early May rain the Morels magically appear underneath three very old apple trees on the north side of the house.

We have never been part of the Morel mania but we acknowledge our patch as something special. We celebrate that specialness by eating them.

So far this year the mushroom crop has been super sparse. It may not be too late, though. Please let the rains begin.