[rlmorel]

It has been dryer than normal here in New England, and the grass is turning brown. We haven't had rain for several weeks, and temps have been over 90 degrees most days.

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.

[FlingWingFlyer]

We had our first rain in two and a half months here yesterday.

[Navy Patriot]

Has the EPA declared your hammock a Wetland yet?

Or has the County fined you for Trapping Runoff?

[Arcadian Empire]

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.

[ConservativeMind]

We’ve had our first real rain in over two month this past week.

It was so nice.

[knarf]

It's been ages, but I have always danced in the rain if and when I had a partner.

You were blessed today.

[Bob434]

i splashed water on my face today, does that count?

[central_va]

Today, it was up to 93 degrees and about 70% humidity = Almost every day in Virgina during the July / August months.

[nickcarraway]

In before climate change.

[mairdie]

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.

[Oorang]

What a wonderful day for you and very well written. I could hear, feel, and smell the rain as I read your words.

[rockrr]

We haven't had rain for several weeks, and temps have been over 90 degrees most days.

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!

[AlaskaErik]

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.

[SaveFerris]

Aw shoot, I want to live in your little shed. :)

[McGruff]

Driest summer I can remember. How do you make grass green, mine’s all brown?

[Fester Chugabrew]

https://youtu.be/yhTSrtJ4F94

[JudyinCanada]

What a delight to read!

As it happens, we have thunder storms rolling in as I type. I actually set the clock so I could be up to watch them. I knew they were coming through after midnight, and I didn’t want to chance sleeping through them.

There is nothing like a cleansing, refreshing, invigorating downpour.

When my kids were growing up, we lived on a nice country property with ditches across the front. When the heavens opened up, it would soak the lawn and fill those ditches fast (they were about 2 1/2 feet deep). The kids would run across the lawn a bit, then dive, then it would be like a slip and slide and into the ditches they’d go lol. Such fun to watch the innocent delight of soaking wet kids splashing around in the ditches.

Thank you for posting your endearing rain story at just the right time!

[JudyinCanada]

Oh, and your yard is gorgeous - hats off to your dear wife.

[ryderann]

I remember when folks were afraid to get a few drops of acid rain on them.

[Berlin_Freeper]

You might raise your hammock a few feet to avoid the flood. 😉

[Jvette]

What a lovely yard and delightful essay!

When I was a kid, we used to ride our bikes in the rain. So much fun. The ditches would fill and we splashed through them. The community pool was a place we spent a lot of time in too. I loved to be swimming when the rain started and would stay until finally ordered by the lifeguard to get out.

Once, driving from New Mexico to Missouri there was driving rain. We could hardly see in front of us. All our luggage was on the rack on the roof of the car and one of the bags fell off out into the middle of the freeway. My sister and I volunteered to retrieve it and sat soaking wet with the suitcase on our laps until we reached a hotel. All of us kids were singing that old Sprite commercial, “Feel the rain on your face, Sprite is a natural taste.”

A great memory that we often recall when we’re together.

We get very little rain in Las Vegas. Last week I had my 11 month old grandson for the afternoon when there was a light rain. I took him out on the patio and we held out our hands to feel the drops as I explained this is rain. He loved it and kept blinking his eyes as the drops hit his face.

Thank you for sending me down memory lane for a bit.