Today is a gloomy, gray day, with rain threatening, and completely unsuitable for working outdoors. Of course, since we are getting into the rainy season, each afternoon has been turning dark and stormy, with rain coming down in amounts anywhere from sprinkles to downpours that result in visibility reduced to halfway up the front of the property.

When the rains came after a couple of months of no rain at all, we were happy. It saves the trouble of watering, and the ground definitely needs it. But there are Issues, as we say. And we’ll get to those. First, we’re going to back up a bit, and wander back into May.

It’s a (very) small town here. Small enough that the actual town in which we live doesn’t have its own post office. The nearest PO is in another pretty small town.

The railroad runs directly behind the PO, and we were fortunate enough to be there picking up a package, to get a modern view of what it must have looked like many years ago when a train ran through town on its way to somewhere and you might be standing outside the PO.

One of the many things I like about living out here is the wide open nature of the land and sky. It isn’t Montana by any means, but it’s still a better view than other places around town I’ve lived. The afternoon of the PO visit, for instance, a storm rolled up from the west, colored by smoke from the fires that were still burning at the time.

When everything clears, at dusk you get views like this.

What’s not to like about that?