Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain

    Third day of rain, and three more forecast.  It is 5:30 am, and the gurgling of rain in the downspout gently wakes me.  The rain is light, and I wouldn't even notice it except for the patter in the downspout. 

    It would be easy to engineer a spout that would be silent, but would we want to.  The rain dribbles down the center of the pipe and free falls to spatter on the base, each drop drumming on the flat metal saying, "Here I am.  Hear me.  It's raining.  Again."  We could say "Shhh", by tilting the spout so that the rain would slide down silently.

   But then the storm might pass silently past and we could sleep right through it.  We might miss the whole thing.  I do miss the crashing, thrashing, flashing rain of Missouri.  In Missouri it really knows how to rain, and you don't sleep through one of those downpours. No, Sir.

   "Hush, Children, don't cry.  Just stay here in the storm cellar with Mommy and Daddy, and soon the rain will pass."

   At least each afternoon it has cleared long enough for some outdoor activity. 

   Sunday, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and I went to Turlock, CA, to have lunch and then watch while daughter accepted an award for painting at an art show. 

   Monday, I took my scooter, and escorted Emma, a resident of the old folks home, on her new scooter, around the parking lot.  We did figure eights, and backed in circles, and parked, and made three point turns in a practice session.  She is very uncertain and hesitant in her driving.  At one point, I parked and waited while she circled the entire lot solo.  I know now how my flying instructor felt when he sent me off around the pattern on my first solo.  But she made it back, though delayed by automobile traffic.  Whew.

   So, rain on, gurgle and splatter.  By the end of summer we will be complaining about cloudless skies and asking, "When's this drought going to end?  We sure could use some rain.".