I know it's raining cats and dogs because I can see the poodles

I am not a big fan of rain, and right now, according to my Apple phone, North Georgia is in the middle of a "Flood Watch" that started yesterday and will last until at least this evening. The rain has been pouring down, upsetting everyone's plans (well, maybe not everyone's) and interfering with normal daily activities to the extent it can.

Things could be worse. We could live in Malibu, California, or Hong Kong where mudslides occur (I still remember the one in the film "The World Of Suzie Wong" unless my brain is playing tricks on me again). Speaking of California, the communities of Malibu and Pacific Palisades and Altadena in Los Angeles County could have used some of this wet stuff last year. Unfortunately, they burned to the ground because nearby reservoirs were empty.

Don't tell me to have a stiff upper lip, wear overshoes, and carry an umbrella. I might do that in an emergency but not as a part of daily existence. Places like Seattle and Jolly Olde England and the Amazon rain forest may be nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I think I remember that the Olympia peninsula in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington receives more rain than any other part of the United States. Parts of Florida run a close second. When we lived in Palm Beach County for six years (I was with IBM in Boca Raton), one year we received 108 inches of rain. And Hillsborough County, where Tampa is, is called the lightning strike capital of the nation. In Florida, it may pour and pour, but half an hour later the sun is shining and the ground is dry because all of the water has been absorbed into the sand. Georgia, which has red clay, is not so fortunate. When deluges like the one we're currently getting come, the ground quickly becomes saturated and downright soggy. Any low, flat places flood quickly. Fortunately, we live near the top of a hill, so unless the rain comes down in such amounts that the tops of the mountains are covered and there is enough water to float Noah's Ark, I should and will stop complaining.

This is my second post of 2026 and my 2,318th post since the blog began on September 28, 2007.