September 19, 2013. Harper. Texas. Rain.

In the Hill Country of Texas, rain is important, or rather, the lack of rain is important.   The topic of rain comes up in every conversation.  It takes a while to get used to the attitude but soon we also assure people that we too are praying for rain.

I first observed this attitude the summer we worked at a camp in Arizona.   It rained during lunch where the campers and staff were enjoying their food together.  All the campers cheered and pounded on the tables.  I looked puzzled.  The camp director informed me that the children had not seen rain since last July so they were thrilled with the arrival of rain.  But it was different than any rain I had known before.  The rain came down hard, and then stopped and the sun came back out again so we continued with our normal activities.

Mississippi gets 52 inches of rain a year, which is a lot.  The foliage and grasses are lush and green.  But not so in the Hill Country of Texas.   So far at the ranch, we have had almost 2 inches of rain.   For the whole year we had under 6 inches in 2012.  Our grass is green.  Today it rained twice so people are rejoicing.  It is unusual to come here from Nova Scotia where people long for the sun, not rain.

Even the signs outside churches plead for you to pray for rain.  It is all very interesting, how people lead their lives worrying about the weather.   It does look better at the ranch after two inches of rain!!