RAIN!

It rained on Obama Day. Is that a sign? After 6 months and 6 days here, I finally experienced the thirst quenching rain we have been waiting for. I had some neighbors over to watch a movie in honor of Obama Day and it began during the movie- and didn't stop until noon the next day! The initial drenching was fantastic, but I like the days that have followed more. It seems they have been more typical of the 'short rains'- this season we are in. I am still able to get a significant amount of work done outside although sometimes I find myself hunched over my backpack in my yellow slicker with an umbrella protecting my equipment from the rain. Inevitably throughout the day I will find myself in this situation. The dilemma persists in my head- is it going to stop? Do I give up?... and then it stops and the sun comes out and I swear I hear sizzling as I dry off. The mud is probably the biggest problem, well, second only to the fact that there is no longer dry firewood and so I have reverted back to bucket showers... not nearly as pleasant as 'hot rain,' as one of my friends called my shower. Oh, and the bugs are pretty bad. But I don't really mind. It is so nice to watch the grass grow in what was beginning to look like a desolate wasteland. I have also come to appreciate the purpose of all the poop that has been accumulating. As the rain washes the stench away and spreads it out, it is surely acting as a 'booster' (that's what Rose calls fertilizer) for the seedlings.

It's like spring... except not.