Remember those? What happened to them? I have not seen a light rain shower in years. And only one rain of any kind for weeks. I am starting my rain dance in the morning!

-- Granny Hen (cluckin along@cs.com), August 12, 2002

Answers

Granny we still get them occasionally but with it being so hot it's not enjoyable to be outside long enough to really savor it. With all the trees around when we get a soft rain it raises the humidity and doesn't seem to cool off like I remember from my youth so we end up with what I describe as a southern rainforest.:) We really need rain here too, it's getting so dry-many plants are dying even though I water them but the forecast puts us at a 50% chance for rain on Weds. I remember as a kid going out in those rains to look for the shiny rocks that would sparkle when they got wet. Oh for the 'good old days' when a shiny rock was all it took to make the day a good one.

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), August 12, 2002.

Granny - Does anything smell better than a soft summer rain? My sis was up from Houston this weekend and we took a ride looking at some land and got caught in one of those easy summer showers. It was so fresh smelling, but of course being from Houston, my sis thinks stale barn air is fresh smelling! The humidity was bad though. I guess we're used to it. My web name 'HaloHead' does not refer to angelic qualities but to naturally curly blonde hair in the humidity of East Tex.

-- Jackie (HaloHead012@cs.com), August 13, 2002.

Granny Hen , I forgot what rain smells like .It's been so dry for so long. I read a report in a British newspaper last year that said because of enviormental changes from industrialized pollution , the soft consistent summer rains that are needed to grow crops of food , are now replaced by long dry periods and flooding rains . Those extremes are having a negative affect on crops and it seems to be getting worse . I didn't give it to much thought last year cause I had one of the best food gardens in years and the rains were hard but I have steep sloping land so flooding wasn't a problem. It did wash away some good top soil . It did flood here last year on the flat lands. I haven't seen a rainbow in a long time , remember them ?

-- SM Steve (Unreal@home.com), August 14, 2002.