I’m learning to trust what’s around me, not what I’m told online!

I keep an eye on the weather, it helps me plan my priorities for the next day and week. Will I need to water the allotment? Will my seedlings fry? Do I need to keep the polytunnel door shut? Can I wash the bedding? All those sorts of questions need answers and usually I turn to the BBC weather page.

I don’t know why I use the BBC one – I don’t trust them in anything else. I think it’s because I find their weather page easier to read if I’m being honest.

Anyway, last Friday, I took a break from cleaning the house and went to the garden with our dog, Scooby. I thought brushing him would be relaxing for both of us and I was right. It was a lovely sunny afternoon – perfect you could say. Anyway, as I was brushing him, he did this thing where he pointed his face to the sky, closed his eyes and sniffed the air. He looks extremely cute when doing this but I didn’t have my camera to hand so I can’t show you.

What I can tell you is, the last time he did that, we had a storm. So I asked him, as you do, ‘Are we going to have a storm Scooby’? He didn’t answer, just kept on sniffing so I kept on watching. I told our son we would take Scooby out a little earlier for his walk because he said it would be stormy later even though the forecast said it would be a little light rain. I wasn’t taking any chances.

I was right to.

That night was the biggest thunderstorm we’ve had. The rain pelted down, the sky lit up like something biblical. It was amazing and a little scary at the same time. And as much as that amazed me, I was more amazed at my little furry weather monitor. I was also pleased to realise I’ve learned to ‘read’ him and trust him when it comes to things like this.

So in future, I’ll be skipping the BBC forecast and instead, I’ll watch Scoobs when he goes out to the garden first thing. I certainly know which one I have more faith in!