Wanting more rainy days and nights

So California is in a drought situation again. Well, we've endured it before. But, it really doesn't seem possible with the torrents we've received lately. Last week's deluge on my roof left my fields looking more like a lake; the green, lush grass that was wanting to spring forth buried under several inches of the wet stuff we are lacking.

With such impending peril of limited water to keep this state green, the hard pounding rain is a blessing from above. I reveled in the thought of 40 days and 40 nights as it left the ground saturated.

I can't remember many instances when I looked forward to so much rain. Most of the time I've been ducking the thought, needing to get out in the wide open spaces and enjoy the sun beating down.

If it is possible to improve our deficit of rainfall, let it pour, I say.

My poor animals are huddling beneath their shelters, mostly looking out at it coming down. But when it all stops and that green stuff has grown tall enough for them to nibble, they too will be rolling in the clover with delight.

For my dogs, it's the thunder that forces them to seek shelter. They don't mind the rain so much, but into the dog house they go when the cracking in the sky follows the bolts of lightning. Sometimes I have to bring them indoors they get so frightened.

It happened last week during the torrential downpour. Hail the size of dimes stacked up against the house and on the lawn as the gully washer pounded.

What is beautiful about these recent storms is that after they have hammered down, they let up so clear skies can appear for a bit before the rain comes back again. So there is some reprieve from the negative side of the weather patterns. As far as I'm concerned, it can pour down 40 nights as long as long as strategic weekends have clear skies for the most part. I really hate to see special events drenched after so much work goes into them - especially non-profit events. Last weekend's sports show wasn't daunted by as much as a threat of rain during the daytime hours.

I remember the year of El Nino, back in the mid 1990s when it rained and rained and rained and rained every event out. Only the toughest survived it.

My barn flooded each week and I remember taking the wet and dry shop vacuum to the rescue. I siphoned out gallons of muddy water from the stalls that fortunately had rubber mats on the floor. This went on as a weekly ritual, me not knowing what else to do. I had built a bank of road base around the barn hoping the water would be diverted, but apparently didn't cover all the low areas well enough. It seemed El Nino would never come to an end, so between breaks in the weather I drove to the landscape materials guy and purchases two pickup loads of road base. After pulling up all the floor mats I dumped road base inside the barn to raise the ground level about eight inches all the way from corner to corner and replaced the mats.

When El Nino cut loose again, my horses were high and dry indoors. Of course they had to walk through the muck outside for a few more weeks, but at least they could get out of the wet.

I planned the barn my animals live in better than the last one, but mounding-up road base topped with decomposed granite so the water will not affect the interior of their stalls.

I can't imagine living on the river with the danger of flooding looming over my worry system. This year might be safe, but don't count on the rains stopping. We have reprieves now and then, but some years fool us and we have rain all the way to mid June.

Don't get too hasty about putting the raincoat, umbrella or tarps away, we could be in for a pleasant surprise that will ease the drought scene. I sincerely hope that's what happens.

Just pray that it doesn't put the damper on those fund-raising events that all of the non-profits count on to keep operating. So let the waters pour down on the weekdays and let the weekends soak it deep into the ground.