Lately, I have found myself sitting on the front porch in my rocking chair or in the back yard in our old glider just staring out at the ranch. I recently realized what I was doing and why I was doing it. The grass is green! And the trees have green leaves! There are bugs and birds! The chickens are running around chasing grasshoppers and the “four-legs” (the family short-hand name for the sheep and the donkey) are happily grazing in the field instead of standing at the fence staring hungrily at the barn! If I should stroll down to the nearest pond, guess what…it is full of water!Last year by this time, we had already settled into one hundred degree days every day, remember? The nights rarely dipped below the mid-seventies. A scorching hot wind like a blast furnace was blowing hard every day. We had been so long without rain that we never got the spring green-up—instead everything was a shade of brown. Trees lost their leaves or some never even came out. I found myself becoming more and more depressed. I hated going to town or even going outside where I had to be confronted by the destruction. For the first time in thirty years, I started falling out of love with Texas.To rub salt in the wounds, we started having fires. I was terrified that our whole ranch would burn. Then one Saturday a neighbor came tearing up our driveway saying there was a fire up on the highway a half-mile away. We were so blessed that day that there happened to be several fire crews nearby. Within an hour there were fire trucks, airplanes, and helicopters everywhere. Downtown Spring Creek looked like a South Texas oil boomtown for a while. All buildings were saved and no one was injured, but many ancient trees were destroyed. Now we drive past the burned places and we see lots of green. In some ways fire can renew even more than it destroys. You should have seen the carpet of wildflowers that bloomed in the burned spots!Last year I had become convinced that the drought was a new normal for us—that it would never end. Then in late September, my husband decided to have a bulldozer come out and clean out all of our dry ponds so they would be ready for the rain, if it ever happened again. I joked with him that he should know getting a bulldozer here would make it rain. Wesley worked three or maybe four days, and cleaned out the largest pond right as the weekend came along. He parked his bulldozer on the side of a hill and went home. And then it RAINED! Much to my disbelief and relief, most of our ponds filled back up and the earth came back to life. The next time we get droughty, I know what to do—call the bulldozer man!!I hope you are enjoying rolling in the green as much as I am. Take it in and savor it, because last year was proof that it can all go away. And make sure to send up a prayer of thanks for all the rain. (2.4 inches for us Sunday afternoon!) SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com