After yesterday’s mild wind storm, today we’re suffering a deluge. I have no way to know how much rain has fallen in the past twelve hours, but I suspect the scientific answer is a lot. Today’s rain is heavy and wet and constant, which is unusual. Typical Oregon rain is light and misty and fleeting.

I have fond recollections of bus rides home from school spent staring out at the seasonal marshes and swamps that formed in the pastures and fields around Canby. It’s a bit early for them, but they’re still a welcome sight. They make me feel at home.

The gutters here at the shop have flooded, and Jeff is outside trying to clear them. Puddles are everywhere. I was soaked simply walking from my car to the grocery store earlier this morning. I’m curious to see Tiffany’s reaction to a wet Oregon winter. She’s spent most of her life in southern California, and this weather may prove a burden for her.

In general, I am disdainful of people who use umbrellas in Portland. Not today. Today you have may use an umbrella with my blessing.


I drove to Hillsboro yesterday to deliver some samples. On Farmington road leaving Beaverton, I was stuck behind a black VW Jetta that was all over the road. The driver drifted into a tree-filled concrete median. He drifted into the neighboring lane. He drifted into oncoming traffic.

“This guy is lucky,” I thought. “If there’d been any traffic, he’d have caused an accident.”

I increased my following distance and kept an eye on the car. I jotted down the license plate. “The idiot is probably jabbering on a cell phone,” I thought, “Or drunk. And it’s only eleven o’clock.”

I followed the Jetta for a couple of miles. I frowned at the driver and stared daggers into the back of his head. Then, at a stoplight, I was startled to see two kittens jump into the back window, chasing each other around the car. A third kitten followed close behind.

At the next stop light, I looked more carefully inside the Jetta. There was a kitten on the driver’s shoulders, and one on his lap, standing at the steering wheel. Another kitten was leaping around from seat-to-seat. My anger faded. Suddenly the erratic driving made sense. I, too, would drive like an idiot if my car were full of kittens. In fact, at that moment, I felt an urge to roll down my window and ask the other driver if I could have one of his. The urge passed quickly when I remembered my poor track record with cats in cars. (Most journeys have involved urine.)

10 Replies to “Wet!”

  1. Jethro says:

    Even today, an umbrella is NOT necessary. It’s mornings like these that remind me how much I love living in the northwest… this is absolutely beautiful. Of course, 6 months from now I will be ready for it to end, but right now it is beautiful.

  2. J.D. says:

    Great. Just great. Now I’m even wetter.

    It seems that this ratty old trailer house has developed a leaky roof. In fact, the roof leaks directly into my INBOX. So much for my newly refurbished office…

  3. Tiffany says:

    So far, I love the rain, I enjoy listening to it. I am sure that I would find it less fun it I was out running errand (which I need to do today). But as everyone says, ask me again in February.

  4. Kris says:

    February!? Ha– We’ll ask you again in May!

  5. Lisa says:

    Lovely. I wish a leak would flood my inbox. Then I could junk the whole thing.

    I’m always glad to see the rain, too. I’ve been teaching Albert to watch the raindrops gather momentum and streak down the windows. Why not enjoy it when we know we’ll all be crazy in February?

  6. Tammy says:

    Everyones talking about February and May. Lets ask everyone how they’ll feel in June when the Rose Festival gets rained out! It’s the Pacific Northwest and I love it. Rain rain rain! From October through June it rains! Could you even ask for a better state to live in?

  7. jenefer says:

    Not every Californian is a beach bunny. And Tiffany is a very flexible person from all her traveling and moving, in my experience. Weather is just weather. Each locale has it’s own burden. I love SoCal for the convenience of being out in the sun, but it is not the best for getting in to a furnace of a car. I imagine that there is less skin cancer in the Pac NorthWest, but statistically more depression. I am not attacking Oregon, just suggesting that Tiffany will do fine there. I think she would do fine anywhere.

  8. Tony says:

    JD – sometimes you same the most idiotic things. The guy in the Jetta was swerving all over the road and could have most likely caused an accident; but since it was caused by cats and not alcohol or him talking on his cell phone its okay.

  9. J.D. says:

    I didn’t say it was okay. I said I was less angry. He’s still an idiot, but at least he’s an idiot with cats.

  10. Lynn says:

    A resounding HA!

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