People in the country are obsessed with rain... and understandably so. Life depends on water... gardens can’t grow
without it, animals (and people) need it to drink, and for goodness sake, we
can’t have the fishin’ hole dryin’ up because there hasn’t been enough rain. It’s something we count (inches), and count
on, out here in the country. If we don’t
get enough of it, things can get bad real quick. We grow what we eat. No rain means substitutions (irrigation,
hauling water to the animals, etc.) have to be made somehow before the garden
starts to die.
We have "dry spells" here at times, especially as the sweltering
heat of the summer move into the dog days of August. The weeks are filled with hot, humid days
with no rain in sight, temps soaring to the tiptop of the thermometer, day
after day after steamy day. Gardens that
had bumper crops all summer start drying up.
Yards became dust bowls when mowers cross them. Even the butterflies slowly disappeared for
the year. Then the cooler temps and the
rain returned. The hummingbirds dance in
the raindrops, washing the dust from their glimmering feathers. The birds sang happily in the trees, and you
could almost hear the grass in the yard sighing a long, low
"Ahhhhhhh". The cooler temps will
eventually allow for open windows and fresh breezes wafting through the house. Everything looks greener... and happier
somehow.
A farmer or gardener plans their days around the rain. Rain is a double-edged sword to them. It’s needed for growing things, but too much
can keep them out of the fields and gardens.
Gardeners can practically hear the raindrops seeping through the ground
to their green beans and corn and squash.
They can also “hear” the weeds growing, and if it gets too wet in this
red clay country we live in our here, tractors and such can get stuck up to their
axles pretty easy. So it’s a balance
they are constantly wanting... just enough rain, but not too much.
Of course, back when we were kids, rain meant a totally different
thing. It meant playing in the rain
(when there was no thunder and lightning), splashing in the puddles, and making
“mud pies”. Frogs often came out in the
rain, so there were those to chase and catch (and put back down before they “wet”
your hand). Rain coats? Nope... only if you were going somewhere,
like church or school. We'd come back in
soaking wet, head to toe, and happier for it.
It was like the rain brought with it another world, another reality of
sorts, full of things to see and explore.
Even the raindrops stuck to leaves became sparkling jewels of shimmering
light. Getting wet was the whole point
of the thing, not something to be tiptoed around and avoided. Daddy got no end of pleasure out of waiting
for one of us to walk under a tree, then he'd shake it really hard and cause
all the stuck raindrops to fall down on us.
We’d run away screaming and laughing, because it was one thing to wet
yourself with hose or rain or something, but quite another to be showered on
unexpectedly.
My Grandmother Berteen always had a sayin’ about everything, and rain was
no exception. When we’d be dashing from
house to car, or car to store, with the rain just pouring down around us...
she’d always tell me that the trick to not getting wet was actually very
simple. You just stepped between the
raindrops. It seemed completely possible
to me at the time, so I’d always give that some thought every time I was out in
the rain. I never have perfected the art
of “stepping between the raindrops”, but I continue to try.
When I think about rainy days, I always remember our summer family camping
trips. Reams of heavy duty clear plastic
were always strung from the trees over the campsites to create a canopy for
those rainy days. We always knew it
would rain sometime before we finished our week or so camping, so this was just
part of setting up the campsite. Up the
tents would go, then came the plastic canopy.
Only then were other things unpacked and put into place. It was the job of us kids to take the broom,
on rainy days, and "sweep" the underneath of the plastic where the
puddles of water were forming, to keep it drained off. If you timed it "just so", you
could splash a cousin or sister or someone.
Laughter followed... well, for everyone but the one being splashed. I imagine keeping all us kids (sister,
brother, plenty of cousins) entertained during rainy days was quite the chore
for Mom and Dad. As for the adults, this
was when the card games came out, and you'd find clusters of them here and
there, huddled around some picnic table or other, in the dry, playing cards and
laughing about something or other.
Sand is a hard thing to keep out of tents when camping at the beach, but
wet sand... that was impossible to keep out of them. And then there was the problem of tents
leaking. If the tents had been properly
waterproofed before the trip, aaaaand if the covering of plastic over the tent
hadn't blown up at a corner by the wind during the storm, you just might be
able to keep dry. Stay away from the
edges though... don't touch the canvas of the tent. That would cause the dreaded drip - drip -
drip of rain to be able to get through the canvas, wetting beds, clothes, and
anything else. Nothing was quite as
horrible as waking up in a puddle of wet blankets and beds.... but it always
happened to someone. It always seemed
like magic to me how the rain would stay out if I didn't touch it, but came in
if I did. Yes, I confess, the curiosity in me made me touch that forbidden
canvas sometimes, haha.
Some people really love rain... it brings on thoughts of cuddling up with a
warm blanket, a good book and a warm cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. It is, to some, the most soothing sound to
fall asleep by. It's often seen as an
inspiration to those going through difficulties (... dancing in the rain... ),
and restful to those whose busy days are forced to slow down because of it. To some, however, raindrops are the tears of
the Earth itself... an outward sign of inward pain... the grey of the skies
painting a picture of the very soul.
Rain is written about in the Bible.
It’s used in novels to often cast a grim and dismal scene in vivid
description. It’s used in songs and
poetry. It is something that everyone
can relate to in some way or another.
Whether you love it, hate it, or just see it as an important part of the
very stuff of life itself... rain seems to draw as many emotional responses as
the sunshine, or snow, or wind does. It
has inspired many songs, both comforted and depressed folks at different times,
and is the very essence of life itself on this big blue marble we all live
on.
Are you humming “I Love a Rainy Night”, “Rainy Night in Georgia”, “Singing
in the Rain” or “Rainy Days and Mondays Always Bring Me Down”.... or maybe some
other song?
“Man, despite his artistic pretensions,
his sophistication and many
accomplishments,
owes the fact of his existence
to a six-inch layer of topsoil
and the fact that it rains.”
