October 26, 2009. Harper, Tx. The Weather.October 24, 2009. Harper, Tx. Home Again.

Usually the weather at the ranch is wonderful, at least when we are in town.  Yesterday was perfect with the sky blue and the breezes light and the sun shining brightly.  But in the middle of the night the weather changed and soon the winds were strong and the rain was pouring down cats and dogs.  In other words, it was a wonderful time to be snug in bed.  Today it rained all day, sometimes hard and sometimes light, but always rain.  In Texas they call lack of rain drought and for three years at the ranch we have had a lack of serious rain for almost three years, but since the rains began two months ago, eleven inched of rain has fallen so the grass is green and the cows are happy.  It is certainly different around here since last April.

I have never lived in a place where people embrace rain.  Today, everyone spoke to us about the rain, but always to say how pleased they were to have a bit more rain.  Here they take for granted  the sun will shine but they are always grateful for every drop of rain.  It is interesting the contrast with the good Nova Scotia folks, who are always very apologetic when the sun does not shine.  Our habit when we are travelling is to ignore the weather and just decide our activity and dress according to the temperature and precipitation.  Our good rain coats are always with us, so mostly we ignore the weather.  But no one else does, so we are always discussing the weather.

Ken and I decided that this is the first day we have spent at the ranch where the rain fell all day.  Here, in the past,  we could really ignore the weather, because mostly the sun shone and the sky was blue.  Today, the folks in the Hill Country were thrilled with the day of rain and so was I.