New Weather
We had a big rain last night, and now I get to use words like turgid because the earth is full and swollen with water. Digging, if digging needs doing, will be easy and I have some I want to do. Formerly wilted leaves are fat with water and standing tall, and if you’re a tree it’s a good way to go into winter, with a belly full of water. On my little plot of earth, the rain gauge says we got an even inch. That’s six gallons on a square yard. If more falls today it will probably run off and head to the rivers.
The lightning and thunder woke me at midnight when the storm edge rolled through. I went and stood on the porch to watch and listen. The clean gutters worked. No rain spilled over the sides. It ran straight and true to the downspouts, filling rain barrels on the way. And the morning air smells sweet, and it’s cool, too. A front is moving through, changing the weather, first the rain, then the cold. We’ll be down in the 40s by mid-week. It will be a good time to have a solid house to call a shelter.
I remember the days when my home was less than solid. Right after my Navy stint I lived in a mobile home for a year attending junior college, followed by years of garage apartments, and space heaters. I learned to love sweaters and heavy blankets. And then I joined the ranks of energy savers, and set my thermostats high and tried to remember the ancestral days of pelts, wood fires, and huddling. Those were the days when we thought saving the planet was a good idea. Seems a fool's mission these days, but it’s ingrained and I’ll keep trying because as Edward Lorenz showed, little changes over time can have a big impact.