WHERE DID THE RAIN GO?

Old folks watch the weather.  Young folks just run into it.  Now that I'm old, I'm a weather watcher, and I'm seldom surprised by what happens.  Weather comes in all forms, but the thing we watch the most is the prospect of rain.  Here in the Texas hill country of central Texas, we've had damn little of it for the past few years.  We're luckier than some sections of Texas where they've had essentially no rain at all, but it's been dry here.  Our streams, rivers, lakes and ponds are either mostly gone or are at dangerously low levels.  And then a few days ago, it started raining.

Most of our prospects for rain this spring have turned out to be disappointments.  Clouds would come, the air would smell like rain, and then we'd either just get sprinkles or nothing at all.  And then wind has been relentless this year, making matters worse.  I hate wind.  After living in the Oklahoma panhandle for 30 years, you either learn to tolerate it or hate it.  I never took to it, never got accepting of it, and that's part of the reason I left that country.  I'm somewhat of a yard person, like growing plants, and I like for them to bloom and do whatever they're supposed to do.  That takes water, and we've had little of it except what comes from a garden hose.  The rain that started falling was welcome.  In fact, I was overjoyed to see it come.  I've always loved the rain.

Yesterday was a particularly good day with thunderstorms moving through.  All told, my rain gauge showed four inches, and we'd already received almost two inches before that.  My back yard turned into a pond for a while, and the patio room at the back of the house flooded.  But we didn't have high winds that damaged anything, no hail . . . just good old rain, and lots of it.  I'm still watching the weather because the forecasts are for more rain, or at least a good chance of rain for another week yet.  I'm ready for it.  We not only need the moisture in the ground, we need some big time run-off.  We need rivers and lakes full of water again.  We need farm ponds full again and some wet fields and crops for a change.  I realize it takes more than what we've had to end an extended drought, but the blessed rain over the past few days is a big help.  It can rain on my parade any time it wants to.