Jack Russell Puppies, Rainstorms & Flooded Fields

Two days ago our little Jack Russell terrier produced six minute puppies. There is nothing quite like getting up in the morning and going out to check a very pregnant dog to find that that she has very efficiently just got with the job all on her own during the night and is proudly settled in her nest with the puppies all clean, fed and content.Dottie is an excellent mother, very protective of her puppies, seeing off the curious labradors with much growling and warning against them taking one more step towards her nursery.

We are in the throes of a torrential rainstorm which has gone almost all night and most of the morning.
I have found that the poor old farmhouse has sprung a leak and I have had to place bowls to catch drips. This happens only very rarely thank goodness! The water running down the yard has been torrential with cataracts pouring off the fields behind the house and down a set of steps giving the appearance of a raging miniature waterfall.
The cattle are miserable in this weather and this morning when after milking, Elder Son opened the gate to let them out to their field they sensibly refused to out prefering to stay in their shed!
We have just returned from our local town and have passed many fields under water where the river Teifi has risen so high as to flood the fields and saw farmers trying rescue sheep from an 'island' in a field and trying to prevent the panicked sheep running into the very fast-flowing swollen river that has covered the area all around them. What a nightmare! (Okay, I know none of what we are experiencing is comparable to what has happened in Florida, Texas and the Caribbean but nonetheless it is very damaging and makes the daily work more difficult and at times dangerous, for both men & livestock.)
Despite the inconvenience of rain on a biblical scale there are compensations such as the perfect and huge rainbow that spread its span across the farm this morning in one of the few moments when the rain ceased and a weak sunshine was able to gleam palely. As I look out now through the farm office window through the now fine smirr of rain the raindrops are hanging like diamonds on the branches of the leggy rambler rose only to slide of the leave with a shiver. With the easing of the rain the birds are starting to sing again and wood-pigeons resume their gentle purring in the trees around the yard. The skies are beginning to clear and there is a hint of sunshine and the raging torrent down the yard is slowing up.