Posted on 08/20/2022 9:14:31 PM PDT by rlmorel
We had rain today. It was beautiful. When was the last time you intentionally stayed out in the rain to get wet? I spent an hour laying in this hammock in a deluge of rain we have not had for a while.
Today, it was up to 93 degrees and about 70% humidity. I was putting together a gas grill, I just felt hot and sticky. I bought a new grill, a Weber Performer, one of those that uses charcoal with a propane tank to get it started.
We are replacing the equivalent one we bought around 1998. I has served us well. The handle for the cover had rotted off, and I had used aviation safety wire with twist pliers to fasten it back on, but it gave up the ghost and became unusable. But 24 years is nearly ancient in the world of gas grills.
Anyway, by the time I was done, my hands and forearms were smeared with charcoal dust. I went inside to put some tools away, and I heard...rain.
And it was coming down nicely, though not hard. It looked to be short lived, and not much rain.
I was done working and it was time to relax. So I went out to my hammock in the light rain, covered by grape leaves from vines my wife had planted, so I could reach up and eat some grapes as I lay there. I wasn't getting too wet, due to the thick roofing of grape leaves. So I lay there watching it rain from my hammock in the corner of our fenced in quarter acre. We live in Ranch Land, but...it is very private in our back yard, which my wife tends to near Garden of Eden levels for me.
It is simply beautiful. And I love laying in my hammock. It gives me room to think. I would have liked to smoke my pipe, but...it became far too wet.
As I lay there, it began to rain harder...and harder. The drops became bigger.
But the temperature dropped, and it felt wonderful to lay there, hot and sticky in that hammock, and have the torrent just come down and cool me off! I could hear it nearly roaring around me.
I could nearly hear the earth and the vegetation drinking in the water in large gulps. My wife has two beautiful "Wandering Jews" in hanging baskets off the pergola I built. They seemed to be stretching and reaching out to gather up as much water as they could.
I lay there, and became completely drenched. It cooled me off. It cleaned me. That was one of the most wonderful things I have done in years. I cannot remember the last time I was in the pouring rain willingly. It has been years.
As my wife and I have gotten older, the heat keeps us inside. We don't go outside much when the heat is up. But I realized today...we don't go outside much when it rains, either. We tend to run inside, jump in a car, or get under an umbrella or a roof.
It occurred to me that I hadn't taken the time to register the feel of unprotected rain.
When I was a kid, I lived in the Philippines for a few years back in the Sixties (Subic Bay). The torrential rains during the monsoon seasons were legendary, and as a kid I was always out in that rain. Soaked through and through. And I loved it. On the base, they had a network of concrete culverts that would channel that rain, and dozens of yards of culverts often came together during that wonderfully heavy rain to form a river of raging white water several feet deep, emptying into a concrete pillbox with iron bars to keep kids like me from being swept into the underground parts. Our parents would be horrified if they knew we were swimming in those things. I have no doubt the force of that water would have put me right through those protective iron bars.
But it never did. And then, at night, when our parents were down at the Officer's Club, I would climb up on the flat roof of our two story concrete house (by shinnying up the flagpole attached to the side of the house) and watch the storms sweep in from far off, as we were on one of the highest points on the base. I could see the lightning going sideways through the far off clouds, turning them a beautiful milky burnt orange color, and I would watch them approach until it was no longer safe.
As I lay in bed, the torrential rain outside would collect on the flat roof and run off in a waterfall at the corner right outside my bedroom and splatter noisily on the concrete driveway about 25 feet below.
Over the course of my life, I ache to think how much I loved that sound, and how little chance I have been afforded to hear it again.
Over the course of an hour, I heard the rain raucously hitting the earth and trees, and I lay outside, part of it, not looking out a window at it. I am certain my wife looked out and saw me and wondered why I would lay in the rain to get soaked to the bone. But I think she knows me well enough to understand, even if she might not agree with it!
It was the most fantastic and relaxing sound to me, that 25 foot waterfall right outside my window hitting that concrete, and today, it brought me back.
My wife and I were in Florence, Italy some years back on our anniversary, and we got caught in driving rain, and both got soaked so far though that I had to dry out my wallet, as if I had fallen into the ocean fully clothed. We went to a restaurant, and they wouldn't admit us because we were too wet. So we found a less expensive place right near the river, and had a great meal, dripping onto the floor, watching the rain come down.
If you can't tell, I sure do love the rain.
We had our first rain in two and a half months here yesterday.
Niiiiice...
Or has the County fined you for Trapping Runoff?
I was vacationing up in Ruidoso, NM for a couple weeks. It rained in the afternoons last week. This week Thursday and Friday were a day rains. It rained today, the entire drive back to Texas. I could have complained, but it’s been so hot and dry in Texas, I relished 60° and a deluge.
I live in the Pacific Northwest and I am always disdainful of those who run and hide when a light rain falls.
Personally, I will walk for hours in it.
This is the Pacific Northwest, and rain, along with the forests that grow because of the rain, is what it is famous for.
We’ve had our first real rain in over two month this past week.
It was so nice.
You were blessed today.
Awesome. We had about two months of 100 degree days straight. It’s been pretty bad. Next week we’re looking a a week of 80 degree days. Beyond Meat would love our lawns. They all are Extra Crispy.
i splashed water on my face today, does that count?
Today, it was up to 93 degrees and about 70% humidity = Almost every day in Virgina during the July / August months.
In before climate change.
My deepest thanks for that wonderful description. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed your writing. Anytime you want to create a new essay, put me on your readers list. You’ve made us all think back over our forgotten childhood pleasures.
What a wonderful day for you and very well written. I could hear, feel, and smell the rain as I read your words.
Former Pac NW guy here. I know the rain and snow. 9 months of the year. It’s abnormal to bitch about the heat and sun when it’s cold, damp, and wet a majority of the year.
Congratulations! Here in the Pacific Northwest it's been similarly (yet uncharacteristically) hot and dry. I saw two different days top 101. I lost most of my strawberries, my raspberries, and my blueberries. We had a really wet winter and spring so I'm not complaining.
That's a very inviting yard!
Your yard looks gorgeous. Kudos to your wife for making that beautiful and relaxing spot.
I’m in the “Inland Northwest” near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. This and last summer have been very warm with lots of days over 90 which is really unusual here. Last year we have 40 days over 90 and this year (so far) 25.
I went to bed last night around 11 pm and looked out the bathroom window to see almost nonstop heat lightning lighting up the clouds from the top side. The whole sky was flickering white for some seconds, go dark, and then repeat. This went on for maybe 30 minutes and then the light rain arrived, but it lasted less than 15 minutes. It was really spectacular and quite eerie because there was no thunder at all. Just the flashing and brightening clouds over the mountains to the east towards Montana.
We’ve had nothing but rain for over a month now and quite frankly, I’m tired of it. All our smoke jumpers have had to go outside to find any work.
Aw shoot, I want to live in your little shed. :)
Driest summer I can remember. How do you make grass green, mine’s all brown?
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