rain rain, go to spain

We all know there’s not much chance of me passing on a nifty survey that’s going around. After what happened to my car last week, you’d think I’d avoid all references to rain – but no, I can’t resist.

Rain Measurement

1. Do you have a rain gauge?  I do not.

2. Is it easy to read? I’ve been reading since I was three or four. I find it pretty easy, although my focus needs work. What’s that got to do with rain?

3. English or metric? Ummmmm… what?? I generally read English. I’m not too up on my metric, although I remember learning the metric system in elementary school because we would all be shifting to it soon. I don’t know what happened with that, and now I’ve forgotten my metric. Again – what does this have to do with rain?

4. Does it snow where you live? Yes, it does snow where I live. And it also…. RAINS.

5. Why don’t we have snow gauges? According to several survey completers, we DO have snow gauges. Or at least people who get lots of snow do. I’ve never seen one. We don’t generally get huge snowfalls. I just measure it with a ruler if I feel the need.

Rain in the Arts

1. What is your favorite rain song? It’s the one I can never remember the name of, or who did it. And I actually just Googled "bee girl song" and the second hit is a Wikipedia article – it’s No Rain, by Blind Melon. Prior to Googling, I searched and searched my iPod to see if I could spot this song I can’t remember or the band I can’t remember. Now it occurs to me that I actually only ever had that on a cassette tape, so of course it’s not on my iPod. And I’m not just becoming senile – I have NEVER been able to remember either that song’s name or Blind Melon’s name, and I’ve always really liked it.  

2. How do you feel about water color?  Water is a lovely color. I also like watercolor paintings. I used to try and paint with watercolors myself. As I am a typical Gemini, my watercolor painting phase was brief and I still have the remaining paint. Somewhere.

3. Ever taken a class?   I’ve taken all kinds of classes. I took classes for 12 years of public school, I took college classes, I took some grad school classes. I took some art classes as a kid. I took guitar classes as a kid, and didn’t learn a thing. I’ve taken yoga classes and aerobics classes and strength training classes.  I’m sure I’ve taken other classes as well.

Rain Survey?? Over here, Rain Survey!

4. Are rain dances effective?  I’ve never had much luck with them. Oh, wait – I’ve never done a rain dance. We used to do snow dances in elementary school. I don’t recall much luck with that either.

5. Who’s your favorite Sadie Thompson? I had no idea who that is, but since I already had Wikipedia up — she’s a fallen woman who goes to Pago Pago for a new life. Oh, okay, it was adapted from a play called Rain. There’s the connection. Apparently there were a number of film adaptions. I’ve never seen any of them.

Rain Sounds

1. Have you heard it on a tin roof? I have, but not often. My mother used to talk about listening to rain on the tin roof when they’d visit relatives in Georgia. I have more of that memory than my own tin roof memories.

2. Do you like thunder? Or lightning? Or both? I’m not wild about either.

3. Do you wake up to close the windows when it’s raining? Only if it’s raining in on me.

4. How are you eavespouts? Is an eavespout the same as a gutter? If so, mine are terrible. We need new gutters. 

5. Does the rain in Spain fall mainly on the plain? Oh, thanks, that’s in my head now.

Rain as an Erotic Medium

1. Ever made love in the rain? That is SO nobody’s business!

2. Ever taken a shower under the down spout?  Not so far. I don’t think it’s likely to happen, either.

3. How do you feel about being barefoot in wet grass? I enjoy it.

4. Do you look good wet? What ARE you talking about??

5. Is there such a thing as too slippery? I’m going to assume we’re talking road conditions now, and say yes, there certainly is.

Rain as Weather

1. Do you keep track of the forecast?  Well, we were keeping track of the forecast last Saturday when Charleston was going to have some rain and perhaps a thunderstorm that night. Which turned into Tropical Storm Barry and killed my car. That’s pretty typical, really.

2. Watch The Weather Channel? Not so much since we got a dish, because we don’t get local weather on it. It wasn’t available when we got the dish – I can never remember to check if it’s ever become available. We used to watch it when we had cable and semi-local forecasts. I remember having some weird music stuck in my head one winter and realizing it was that catchy Weather Channel music they play during "Your Local Weather."

3. Keep a weather web site minimized most of the time?  I did have the Weather Channel minimized but it was always locking my laptop up. I ended up taking it off my work computer for the same reason. When I got a new work computer I got Accuweather update things on Mozilla, so I get the little flashes. And URGENT WEATHER WARNINGS!!! That are usually warning me that it will be windy.

4. Do you like radar? I always liked Radar on MASH.  

5. How do you feel about the accuracy of weather forecasts? See the first answer in this section. I can’t believe we ever dreamed the forecast would be accurate in the first place. Because forecasts are never ever EVER even close around here.

Rain on Your Emotions

1. Generally  – does rain make you happy or sad? It tends to make me a little gloomy because I need sun. Although I enjoy the occasional rainy day. Around here we get a LOT of rain, though.

2. Have you had important events in your life cancelled or otherwise spoiled by rain? Not that I recall. We usually just do whatever we were going to do in the rain. It’s like WaterWorld around here. Even in droughtime.
 
3. Do you like the snug feeling a rainy day can give? I can enjoy a rainy day if we haven’t already had an entire month of them.

4. Do you use rain as an excuse to do pretty much nothing? Oh, I don’t need an excuse to do nothing. Believe me.

5. What is the best thing rain has done for you?  Make everything all nice and green.

Practicalities of Rain

1. Do you own an umbrella? I own several umbrellas. Little teeny ones you can stick in a bag.

2. How are your windshield wipers?  They’re okay. This question made me think of my beloved VW Bug, though, that I got in college and drove for years and years. One of my windshield wipers flew off and I ended up taping it back on. With packing tape. I drove it around like that for ages.

3. How about your roof? My roof has some leaks and really needs to be replaced. Right now that’s gotten shoved down the Priority Line, as keeping the house from falling off the mountain has become a tad more urgent.  

4. Do you wear something on your head when you go out in the rain? I’ll put the hood of my raincoat on if it’s really pouring. I hate hoods. I’m not crazy about umbrellas either. I’d usually rather just get wet.

5. Does the basement stay dry? The universal basement of us all, or my own personal basement? Mine is a little damp. We run a dehumidifier all the time in warm weather.

Rain When You Were a Kid

1.  Do you remember playing in puddles? Not really, although surely I did.

2. Did you have a raincoat? I don’t remember any specific raincoats, oddly. I do remember wanting an umbrella terribly and my mother wouldn’t let me have one. I don’t know why now, but I thought they were SO COOL and I was dying for one. I also remember coming to college, here in Rain Land, without a raincoat. I spent my first three months here soaking wet.

3. Did you ever get in trouble for getting your shoes wet? Not that I recall. My mother was pretty nonchalant about us getting wet and dirty.
 
4. How about mud pies? How about them?

5. Did your mother make you bring in your toys when it rained?  I don’t remember specifically. Maybe we didn’t take toys outside that would be damaged by rain. 

Oh, that’s it – what a looooooong survey. That’s more rain than anybody needs to think about.