Sublime Sunday: It's Raining! - But All Is Not Lost ~ Some Silver ...

I Awoke To A New Day Dawning

And It Was WET!

It started that way, when I first awoke, way too late to get up early. So I lounged about in my fuzzy blankets for awhile, staring out the back window at the 4 pound droplets banging off the garage roof from above. It wasn't much of a motivation to get up and start moving anywhere fast. So I didn't.

The day started out wet, and ended wet. And the in-between was pretty much the same.

Who Wants To Go Out In THIS Stuff?!

Even Stinky the Cat was not enthused about starting the day. She just sat on the pillow, looking out through the 'Stink proof' screens, noting the very wet, belly-high grass out back. The face she made when she finally turned toward the camera pretty much says it all.

Once we joined the day, and started doing SOMETHING around the house, I gave a few thoughts to all this rain, and what it all means. And more importantly, DOESN'T mean. There are many things to be sublimely thankful for, even with all this moisture from the sky slowing down any planned outside work or play. Read On.

At Least It Didn't Look Like This

Many of you out there are still experiencing the true joy of winter. I'll take the rain over this white stuff any day. I admit, it IS pretty, and fun to play around in. But driving in snow in this part of the world is a true hazard. Very few people have a clue what they're doing behind the wheel. Or where their front OR back wheels will end up in the end of their adventure. So you pretty much take your life into their hands, when you venture out. I try not to go anywhere in my truck when it snows.

Though it could be worse...

It Could Be Doing THIS

Worse than snow? The ice storms we get now and then. This was a doozy, and I will take good old rain any day over the ice, and the 'falling everything-else' that goes along with it. One of these storms almost pulled the wires out from the roof of my house last year. I was lucky, other people had a LOT more damage. I know many of you out in SteemitVille have had the same thing this year. I feel for you.

Particularly since...

...It Often Leads To This

Frozen-solid wires.

Which Then Leads To THIS!!

Darkness all around. When that precious electricity goes out -- no heat, no lights, no oven, no toaster -- no other way to cook dinner.

Author's Note:This is the only example I could find in my photos of a complete blackout. This was from the other night, on my bike ride. There's a Canada goose and bucktooth Nutria in this photo. Somewhere.

_{(If you look real close, you can see the gooses' eye, glaring from the mercury-vapor light from above. The dark brown Nutria, good luck!)}

This is what it feels like when the electricity goes out in your house. Couldn't see a goose OR Nutria in the living room if your life depended on it. Probably couldn't cook either one of them either. Even if you DID know how.

"You cannot catch, what you cannot see. You cannot cook, what you cannot catch."
-- I Heard That Somewhere

But luckily, none of those calamities described above happened to me on this Sublime Sunday. It just rained. Hard. And there are many things to be thankful for, when it rains. Hard. The following are just a few examples of the many perks of this all-day rainfall.

It Cleans The Gutters

OK, I guess that is what the gutters are actually FOR, so this might be a bit of a stretch. But it does wash all the leaves and sticks and other roof-gunk off the shingles, and down and out into the downspout. Even though I get my hands all muckity-cold and yucky, cleaning them out. Still, it's something to be happy about. A clean and efficient, rooftop drainage system.

The Rain Washes The Car

So I don't have to. Thank you, rain. I only wish it would rain now and then in the SUMMER, so I don't look so bad from the neighbors perspective, when I STILL don't wash the car.

The Weeds Grow Like A Mad-Dog

The rain gives me endless greens to put in my stir-fry. This is Wild Mustard. It tastes really great in my sauteed veggie melange. And the weeds wouldn't be here, if not for all this glorious water from above. Well, OK, maybe they still would be here. They seem to grow like...weeds, and are way, way beyond hearty. Just ask the weed specialist, @haphazard-hstead.

Just remember: "If the world gives you weeds, make a stir-fry".

The Rain Helps My Sad Little Kale Plants

The neighbors down the street were throwing this Kale away for some reason. Two big pots with plants about 3 feet tall. What a waste. I've been gnawing away at them for a couple of weeks. They're getting down to the nubbins, which makes me sad. And now...they can re-grow.

Though they don't seem to look too keen, even WITH all this rain. Maybe I should face the prospect that I'm not a true Kale specialist. Even though I have had much experience: Dumb Purple Kale Anyway

I Don't Have To Mow The Lawn

Ah yes...it will be quiet on a Sunday for a change. Usually, there is a real backyard Lawn-Boy® symphony going on all Saturday and Sunday. And for some reason, NO ONE can coordinate this activity. One person has to finish, before anyone else can pull their starter cord. Wonder if this is in a bunch of C.C.and R.'s, nationwide.
_{I can't believe it. Someone is out there TODAY, pushing their power mower around in the rain. Give it a rest, Marquartte!}

On further perusal, this whole "I don't have to mow" idea is also a bit of an action-opposite reaction misnomer. I don't have to mow the lawn TODAY, because of rain. But I WILL have to mow the lawn, even more, later. Since it will grow a WHOLE lot faster now, with all this moisture. So maybe that is a big point-counterpoint nevermind.

Author's Side Note: I like to let some of the grass grow long, and only mow paths through the long grass. It is quite gorgeous, and is fun to walk through during the summer months. Because of this, I don't have to mow as often. Though that LAST cutting job of the summer is a real doozywhopper. Last year I mowed 1.25 acres with basically a 13 inch mower deck -- my Stihl® weed-whacker -- I was WHUPPED.

It Fills My Bird Bath For Free

All this rain fills my cool little bird-bath. Which should make the birds happy. Though, I've never actually SEEN a bird sit in this, or take a bath here. Maybe it's too small. But we DO have very small birds around the place. So who knows, maybe the little fake, iron birds in the bath scare them off. But if the birds of the yard DO want to use it, it will now be full. (Then again, who takes a bath when it's raining?)

The Rain Makes A Natural, Shroom-Bath For The Other Critters

The rain is filling up the top caps of the mushrooms in the yard. I think of these as tiny, organic bird baths. Hopefully the mice, frogs, sow bugs, angleworms, snakes, and other creatures of the lawn will use them. I've never actually seen this action either, but then I'm not often sitting in a lawn chair in the rain next to each mushroom all day long, looking. It's my yard, so I say they do use them, whenever appropriate.

I Don't Have To Fill The Cat's Water Dishes

Before anyone gets all huffy here, I DO put out water dishes for the cats. They just choose to not use them. For some reason, the cats would rather drink what I call Skankwater, than nice clean, fresh water. And it's not a chlorine thing. After a day or two, the chlorine off-gasses into the atmosphere.

But the cats? They'd rather drink out of a bucket of old sand and dirt, topped off with rain water. Like this one. I've asked them about this many times, but gotten no believable response.

And Then, It Fills Their Even MORE Favorite Dirty Puddles

Pantera the Cat was drinking out of this little puddle-patch yesterday. What's even better than a bucket of sandy muck? A true muddy puddle, with all the dirt and grit, only MORE 'close up'. Once again, don't ask me why. I'm pretty sure cats don't eat small rocks, since they don't have a crop, like a chicken. So maybe it's a nutrient thing.

Possibly the Schteinn School of the Sophisticated Sciences has an answer to this Big-time Kitty Riddle, but their library is closed up tight today. After all, it IS Sunday. I can wait a day or two to acquire the necessary cutting-edge Science Knowledge. If they DON'T have any info, this might be a great opportunity for a Masters Of Study Thesis for anyone interested in the Cat Sciences. Let me know, and I can put in a good word for you at the school.

It Knocks Their Heads Off

Hard rains knock the stuffin's out of the Dandelion flowers. Which must be a good thing. Their blasted, yet efficient, wind-born seeds won't be spread around so far and wide, if they're all in a soggy pile, at the base of the stem. HA! Take that, you pesky, petulant plants of persistence. Wonder if I could go around blasting them with the garden hose and super fine laser-like spray nozzle, when it's not raining? Another stellar idea for you professional gardeners out there.

"What's He Up To NOW?"

Some guy, out in the rain, taking pictures of things to write about, all concerning the joys of heavy rainfall. He told me his hands were 'dag-gum' cold, but it was well worth it.

This concludes our discussion of why we should all like rain, and hang out in it as much as possible, whenever possible. It just makes sense.

Hope you stay dry and happy, on this Sublime Sunday.

~ Finto ~

Thanks for stopping in and viewing the many splendor-ed things about Heavy Rainfall. If you have any thoughts about snow, ice, lack of electricity, and all the perks of rain by comparison, or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.

Sublime Sunday: It's Raining! - But All Is Not Lost ~ Some Silver Linings To The Rain-Soaked Clouds of Deluge ~ Original Photography and Rather Long Discussion About A Wet Day ~