Rain!

Our area of Van Buren County has been particularly hard hit by the drought.  Storms go north of us, storms go south of us, but we just haven't been able to catch a break.  On a personal level, I have been doing everything I can to help out.  I watered bushes and trees that I have never needed to water before. I have negotiated with every deity that I think might have an interest.  Today I even went so far as to hose off my car.  That must have been what did it, because when I came home from Kalamazoo on I94, I could see gathering clouds in the distance.  By the time I got to Paw Paw, I could see rain falling off in the distance.  Instead of going to the library as was my plan, I turned off by Maple Lake toward the north, then west, then north again, trying to intercept the storm.

Success!

Some thirsty soybeans get a drink

    I drove through roadside puddles that momentarily floated my car, and I drove with the window down and my arm hanging out so I could refresh my memory of the sounds, the feel, the smell of the rain. When I completed my interrupted trip to the library,  two little boys were dancing around in the library parking lot with their tongues out.  Their mom put the skids on their plans to take off their clothes so they could take a shower with the soap suds appearing on the asphalt. A family of crows didn't need to take off their clothes to shower.  They flew up into the high top of a bare tree and started preening and shaking their feathers as the rain washed the dust from their plumage. All around, people were going about their business with relieved smiles on their faces, commenting on the rain. I don't know if this is the end of the drought, but it certainly feels as though Mother Nature at least threw us a life preserver today.