Yesterday I told Bernie that I hadn't seen such a rainstorm since Lil was about four years old. It had poured all morning, so much that the water in the gutter out front was lapping over the edge of the sidewalk.
I put on my river sandals and went out to clear the leaves and branches away from the storm drain. Chilly, yes, invigorating, oh yes. Howie helped me, cheerfully biting at leaves in the gutter in spite of the rain falling on us.
Today I admitted to Bernie that we have not had this much rain since the El Nino year back in uhhhh, was that 98 or 99? One of those, no matter. Today we've had gentler rain than yesterday, but almost unbroken all day long. The north side of the house has two inches of water standing in the low parts, and everything is deeply soggy.
When Lillian was done with her homework, we went outside to the street during a break in the rain. She rode her skooter up and down the street with Sebastian leaping along beside her, barking like the Hound of the Baskervilles. Howie joined in for a while, racing with Lillian and then back to me, so excited to be running full out that his hackles raised from his shoulders to his tail.
Sebastian had a hackles moment, too, when he stole the neighbor's newspaper from their driveway, and Lillian chased him up and down the street trying to take it from him to return it to the rightful owner.
We ate a delicious beef stew with french bread to cheer us, kept the fire going, and turned on lights in the house to stave off the darkness under the clouds. Thank God for the rain, and thank God in three weeks the almond orchards will be in bloom.
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