Ahhhh.....RAIN!

Living on the west coast, you’d think rain would be a familiar and unwelcome annoyance; we have the reputation of being the “wet” coast. And when it continues for days and even weeks on end, it does become annoying.

But today, as I sit in my home office and listen to the soft gentle patter of drops on the trees outside my window, it is a welcome sound and sight.

We have had the near-perfect summer, weatherwise, in my view. We have had only a few days of oppressively hot temperatures, many days of bright sun with light breezes and moderate temperatures, and the occasional day or two of heavy rain.

Why do I like the rain this morning? Because rain replenishes my shallow well, which was beginning to drop precariously in the last three very hot dry days; because rain refreshes my lawn and my flowers and my pasture and feeds the trees and freshens the creek for the fishes.

And most of all, because rain forces a change of pace on my life for just a day or two. The pigs will choose to stay in their stalls, venturing outside only to do their business rather than go to the pasture where I must keep an eye on them; the outdoor tasks (except feeding Martin and pooper scooping) can all wait for another day; a silence and stillness will descend on my land like that which occurs with the first blanket of snow in the winter.

I will putter around my home doing little tasks that have been left undone while the outdoors beckoned; I will curl up with a book or write a story or shorten those dress pants I bought several weeks ago. I will chat with my mom on the phone and write a thankyou note to a friend and brush the dogs and play with the cat.

And, no doubt, by tomorrow I will be chomping at the bit to get back outside again, rain or no rain. But for today, the critters and I shall cocoon.