Sunday, October 14, 2012
Seldom is rain “news” around here, but after a
dry period from July to NOW, we finally had some rain Friday night. Not the
huge downpour I was hoping for, but a good steady rain for a while and a few
showers. There’s a Sou’wester coming in later today which bodes for heavy rain
and considerable wind.
This is the second-longest dry spell in our
part of the country in recorded history, the longest being in 1942. We natives
have been getting pretty fidgety – they don’t call us Webfoots for nothing. I
was so excited that I got up in the middle of the night Friday to look out the
window. It was wet, was about all you could say for it. No frog-strangling
street-washing puddle-making downpour, but at least wet. I went back to bed and
must have been dreaming about rain; because I woke up thinking that I felt
raindrops on the end of my nose.
But when I opened my eyes – it was just her
Highness, Fiona the Feline Princess, licking my nose. “Oh, hello!” she says.
“Are you awake? Then you might as well get up and fix my breakfast.”
6:30 am.
The cat won.
I did anticipate either running out in a
downpour to get soaked, or sitting in the van to hear rain on the roof and
watch it run down the windshield. I like to watch rain running down windows,
but our house has such long overhangs on every side that rain rarely reaches
the windows.
But I finally found a video (OK, accidentally)
that satisfies my need – or will when the “real” rain starts. Best of both
worlds and it’s warmer inside the house.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The storm failed to appear on Sunday, except
for about a five mph wind briefly in the morning. In fact, the afternoon was
mostly dry and fairly sunny, although we did have overcast all day.
Today started off mildly enough. I glanced out
the kitchen window when I went for my first cup of coffee, and three fawns,
just losing their spots, ambled down the middle of the street. Since it had
rained again during the night and pretty much cleared the air of the pollution
that has been hanging over our bowl of a valley, I finally started the day
without sneezing my face off. Which Fiona truly appreciated. I have startled
her at times so badly that she ran for cover. Besides, when the sneezing bouts
started before I got her food dishes ready, it was gustatorus interruptous, a
condition she did not appreciate.
But things changed this afternoon. By 3 pm it
was so dark from the gathering clouds that I had to turn on lights. The rain
finally arrived. So – although we haven’t had the high winds (which we don’t
need, living under large trees) the rain is finally pelting down with vigor, a
steady thrumming on the roof (for some reason I’m reminded of a passage in an
Oscar Wilde story) and the gutters are (yes!) sweeping colored leaves furiously
to the sewer grates, which I hope were adequately cleaned out prior to this. I’m
curious to see if the street repairs done by the city will eliminate the “lake”
that usually forms at a certain intersection.
A huge tension was growing across the
population as the rain-free days passed by without a hint of moisture. Now it
has largely dissipated. And my intention of dancing in the rain has also
dissipated. I put on some wool socks and I’m watching out the window, warm and
dry and relaxed. Fiona is, as usual, curled in a ball on the back of the couch,
which is covered with her “VIP” blanket. (Gift from True Value – it says DIY on
the other side, which suits her not at all.)
