Over Good Ground

The most extraordinary thing happen this afternoon. We had a rain storm that was, as they say, a gully washer. It rained so hard that new small "creeks" formed on the road and down the hillside. We also had a thunderstorm that rattled and rolled across the foothills and scared every animal far and wide.... including us. Surprisingly... it all settled down and for a very short time a sliver of sun hit the ridges on the other side of highways 49. Then I noticed something ...

Toward the southeast, a rainbow was forming. It was just a flag of color that looked like it was coming right out of my neighbor's pasture... like one of his cows was turning into a magical unicorn.

At the same time, from the north end of this rancher's property... right over his house, another rainbow started. Another cow exploded. It was as if something very special was going to happen... you know... one of those magical experiences that changes your whole life. I expected small spaceships to arise from both of these colorful spots.
Then it kind of did. The color grew and lengthened. I tried to find a place to take pictures that would do this whole transformation justice but I wasn't far enough away. I had to split the images up because I could not capture the whole scope of this.
A huge rainbow grew before my eyes. It rose over south Jackson and came together high in the air.

From north to south, this rainbow arched over our hills like a beautiful luminous ribbon of color and at the top, right in the middle, was a star like light.

Maybe the rainbow was going through a cloud or something but I think this is what they call a sundog. It wasn't very strong and didn't show up in my photo very well but it was there at the very top of the rainbow.

This was such a pretty rainbow but a little off its feed because the idea that a rainbow is a sign of the rain ending was not true... it rained again later and it's suppose to rain for days.., but while it lasted it was lovely.
I should check with my neighbor and see if there's a pot of gold at each end of the rainbow where it first appeared. We live in Gold country and you never know what might be laying on the ground over there besides cow patties.
Here are more photos of the rainbow. What a cool experience. What a magical happening.

 Do you see the violet color?

 Do you see the second rainbow forming on the right?

Oh my...