Talk To Scott

My dad used to say that the little things are what made life worth living. Of course, like all of the pearls of wisdom dispensed by my father, this one was on the mark. One of the little things that we San Angelo residents enjoy is the sound of rain on a roof. The recent Seattle-like weather made me think about the things that I think about when it rains.

• I think about the smell of rain. Of course, our fifth grade science teachers taught us that it not the rain we’re smelling; it’s the wet earth that we scent. Whatever, it is, when it rains, it smells good.
• I think about the sounds of rain. I like the pitter-patter on my roof, the sweet sound of a good drip into my flower bed, the gush of running water flowing down the street.
• I think about seeing the rooster in the newspaper. Rain is such an event in West Texas that our newspaper chronicles the event with a special symbol, a red rooster. I don’t quite get why a rooster is linked with rain, but, oh well, I don’t get a lot of things.
• I think about dueling rain gauges. I have a rain gauge in my garage that I will put up when I get around to it. But most West Texans have a rain gauge that they actually use to measure God’s output. It works like this. It rains; my friends all run to the rain gauge, measure their total, and race everyone to the coffee shop to brag about who has the most rain.
• Farmers fit in their own sub-category when it comes to rain. It’s never enough; it’s never at the right time; and it is either a blessing or a curse. I am not giving farmers a hard time. If my job was totally dependent on the weather, I would worry about it too.
• I think about churches and how we alternately pray for or give thanks for the rain. It’s a sign of the rain’s significance to our community.
• I think about turning off my sprinkler system for a while and saving money.
• I think about how this charges wells, fills up lakes(hopefully), greens golf courses, and cleans the streets.
• I think about how it makes everyone feel better. Think about how many people you talked to in the past few days who said some variation of “Isn’t this incredible.” Rain creates a buzz in West Texas.
• One last thing that rains does for me is make want to lay around and snooze. I think about that a lot.