I asked the General if she wanted to ride with me to the bank yesterday afternoon. I had a work-related deposit that I needed to make. The round trip from our home to the bank is fifty-two miles. She was working on needlepoint at the time, and she almost declined. On the other hand, it was the only chance to get out of the house that was on the horizon.
Around the corner, a landscape crew was putting in a new lawn. A truck load of sod was parked in the street and the same landscape crew that need to put finishing touches on our rock filled yard were the workman. However, they had started that project long before they started ours and halted because of water restrictions. I was surprised they were putting in sod. We are still in stage-IV water restrictions.
An hour and a half later when we returned home, they were still busily working. I thought nothing more of it until last night. The General is primarily an inside person, and I was surprised when she suggested we sit on the porch in the early evening. We had not yet had dinner, but I wasn't hungry.
It was probably about ten degrees cooler than it had been in the evenings last week. It felt good to be outside. We didn't really make small talk while we sat on the porch, but we didn't attempt to solve any of the world's problems either. It was simply a nice time to talk and soak in the outdoors.
Normally, golf carts make their way up and down our street. We only saw one or two yesterday evening. I found it strange since the weather was pleasant for a change. We are quickly approaching the "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" and it is seldom that people walk by the front of our home. If you want to watch people, you find them in the view behind our home. Golf enthusiast don't seem to pay much attention to the weather. The golf course is usually busy. In addition, the look of green grass is a welcomed sight compared to view of other places in our neighborhood.
It was after 8:00 p.m. before I suggested we go inside. We warmed up leftovers for dinner in the microwave and then went upstairs to see if I could find a movie. I don't remember how far into the movie we were when I noticed lightning through the windows.
My hearing aids aren't working, and I was unaware that it was raining. The lightning-show outside the windows intensified and the sound of a BOOM associated to a crescendo of thunder almost shook the house. It garnered both of our attentions.
I had an immediate flashback across two-decades when a bolt of lightning struck our home. The boom sounded just like it did then. I paused the movie and went to look outside. The rain was exactly what the neighbors with a freshly installed sod needed for their lawn. For that matter, it was the kind of rain we need for the few xeriscape plants planted amid our rocks. I've been using bottled water to keep the newly planted xeriscape alive. Once the plants are established, they are not that water dependent.
The heavy rain was a very welcomed surprise. We don't have a rain gauge. As it was in the days of Noah when God told him to build an ark, rain wasn't even a word. It had never rained before. Since we've moved into our home a year ago, we have been living in pre-rain days.
The General told me yesterday that Mexico City only has a two-week water supply left. I found that very disturbing. What happens to our neighbors to the south could soon be our same circumstances.
When I was a kid growing up, my mother would often say, "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." Did I mention that I really miss her presence?
All My Best!
Don
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