Hallelujah for the rain

link Audra Brown

Local columnist

Rain, oiled leather and the smell of freshly turned earth have to rank as some of the best smells there are. First off, let’s all give a hearty hallelujah.

It rained. I mean, it RAINED! And enough to do some good, even.

If you’re not happy about the blessed moisture, then best keep your mouth shut. Living in a desert, water from the sky is kinda like magic — wondrous, transformational, and dadgummed rare.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t particular inconveniences caused by a rain. But I’d much rather be stuck in the mud than in the sand — or really bad, in a pile of manure.

In recent weeks, I’ve had to pull my pickup out of the mud, ford 18th Street and wade through the particularly nasty muck that is a set of boggy corrals. But I’m still smiling — and so is the world.

It’s amazing how much better the world looks, smells and sounds after a good rain.

The grass turns green, the air breathes easier and sweeter, and the birds and the frogs start singing.

If you want proof that farmers are the most ridiculously optimistic people, just wait for a spring rain. Plows and planters start coming out of the woodwork, sowing circles to everything from cotton to corn, milo to hay grazer, and who knows what else.

So go outside, take a deep whiff of that smell, give thanks for the rain and pray for more. And if you don’t like it, for heaven sakes, don’t tell anyone. Them’s fighting words in the desert.

Audra Brown writes about life on the farm. Contact her at:

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