Rain, memories, and our own "big dig"

We're expecting more than an inch of rain today. This morning, Walt is planning to go to the open-air market in Saint-Aignan to get us a guinea hen (une pintade) for tomorrow's lunch — unless the rain is really pouring down. We'll see.

Summer weather is just a memory. This is the Claise River in Le Grand-Pressigny...

...where we took a walk in late August with friends Jean and Nick. Walt and Callie posed for a photo.

Today's rain will be a test of our roof repair, which now dates back nearly three months. Since the roofer was here in June, the only significant rain we've had was back in early August. The roof passed that test. Let's hope it passes today's too.

You can see how brown the grass in the back yard is right now. Soon to change...

Yesterday a big piece of digging equipment was parked out behind our hedge and left for, I assume, the weekend. It's a backhoe of some kind. The work of undergrounding the power lines that bring electricity up to our hamlet must finally be beginning.

Will the grands travaux begin on Monday?

The crew putting in the underground wires will have to dig a trench along the road down the hill a distance of about 500 yards. Then they'll take out the tall concrete poles that hold up the existing wires. At least today's rain will soften up our rock-hard clay-and-limestone soil and make the digging easier.