Saturday, May 21, 2016

Greetings From Colorful Colorado




     I cannot tell you how glad I am to see sunshine!  Last week I felt like John from the Lil' Abner cartoon with a storm cloud hovering over me.  Every.  Where.  I.  Went.  It started when I was leaving Chicago.  The rain followed me out to Davenport, IA; back to Cleveland, OH; down to Wheeling, WV; up to Scranton, PA; down to Allentown, PA; out to Edison, NJ; back up by Scranton; down to Harrisburg, PA and finally out to Indianapolis, IN.  From 4:00 Monday afternoon until noon Saturday, I was in almost non-stop rain.  I got a few 3-4 hour breaks during that time, but that was it.  Oy Vey!  I wouldn't last a week in Oregon.

     It's rare for me to complain about wet weather.  In 2006, I was living in Casper, WY when a lightning strike started a wild fire up on Casper Mountain.  I watched from my front windows as the fire made its way down the front of the mountain towards the city, wondering if we would get the order to evacuate and if so, where would we go?  Ash fell like snow, the whole city smelled like a camp fire and wildlife walked the city streets as the fire chased them down off the mountain.  Scary times.  Thankfully, they got the fire under control before an evacuation order became necessary.


     That experience changed me.  I used to whine about rain or snow if it lasted more than a day or two.  Not anymore.  Now my philosophy is: the more it snows in the winter and rains in the spring, the less it burns in the summer.  Sure, sometimes snow or rain effects my ability to do my job efficiently, but I can live with that.  I appreciate the wet weather now; but I was just as appreciative of the sun when I finally saw it again.

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