Right now there's a lull in the rain, and the clouds are settling onto the ground. The birds are taking advantage of the respite. Several have been pecking at my lawn, and there are now a couple perched on the telephone wires. They keep shaking their feathers, so it must be a bit misty. The clouds are obscuring the trees beyond the orchard. I'd enjoy a heavy fog, but it's unlikely to happen. There hasn't been a single good fog up here in over a year.
Last night I ended up leaving the garage door open all night. Yesterday evening, Timmy decided to take a nap on a box under the workbench, and I didn't want to send her out into the rain, so I let her sleep. She was in no hurry to leave, and ended up staying all night. About six o'clock in the morning she finally left, going around to the back porch to get her breakfast. I had intended to close the door once she had gone out, but by the time I got around to it she had returned, so I left the door open all day.
About an hour ago I let Portia out to the garage, and she found Timmy there. Some angry meowing ensued, and a bit of growling and some hostile stares, but there was no fight, so I left them out there alone for half an hour. When I returned, Portia had retreated to her favorite spot in the rafters, and Timmy was still on the box she had commandeered. Portia came back indoors then, after a few more glares at the interloper and a couple of disapproving sniffs. I'll probably end up letting Timmy stay in the garage until the storms have passed, unless the tom cats discover her there and start hanging around. I don't want tom cats spraying everything out there.
A "for sale" sign has gone up in front of the vacant house across the street. It's been repossessed, so it's a bank sale and the real estate web sites aren't giving out a price for it. Some cleaning up and repairs have been done on it over the last couple of weeks, which it probably needed badly after having had as many as ten people (and one very large dog) living in it for the last year or so (it started out with one couple, plus a single woman and two kids, but more people kept moving in. Just before the foreclosure, there were usually four or five cars parked outside it every night.) The market is still pretty slumpy here, so the place might be sitting vacant for quite while yet. I'm in no rush to see it occupied. I enjoy the quiet.
Portia is wanting to go back out to the garage. I guess I'll find out if her truce with Timmy holds up. The rain has started again, too, so the fog will probably dissipate. It was nice while it lasted.