Looking Magnificent in Yellow

The word magnificent came to mind and the only one that seemed appropriate.  Glorious was adequate but just did not capture the moment.

After almost a year of no measurable rain, a month of wildfires, a weekend of high winds, I awoke to the sound of thunder early this morning.

Knowing that thunder meant lightening and lightening on dry terrain meant nothing but trouble, I kept the fire dept scanner going throughout the night.  Having another fire start while our world slept is one of my worst nightmares.

Everyone knew that the rains on the radar last night out to the west of us had the potential to give us rain and just as likely the potential to pass us by.  It was the lightening that worried us most.  We watched the last night's radar and the lightening strikes and held our collective breaths.

I laid in bed in the wee hours of this Sunday morning thinking about that Sunday morning not long ago and the series of events that created the most frightening day I can remember.  Ordinary days that become extraordinary.  Extraordinarily awful and terrifying.  I thought about the smoke, the fire, the sirens and helicopters, planes, radio transmissions, packing essentials and the day to day worry of the next fire that was just waiting for all the right elements to converge in that next game changing moment.  I held my breath as the I listened to the thunder and watched the flashes of lightening dance on the curtains by my bed.

Then I heard it.  The sound of rain hitting my window.  Softly at first then I heard that low roar of rain pouring on the roof.  I exhaled.

I waited for the morning light to go out on the porch and see what I've been waiting to see for the better part of a year.  Isn't that simply unimaginable?  Anyone waiting for almost a year to see rain.  Can you even imagine?

By the time I could see the back yard, water had already begun to stand in places.  This would indicate that it was a good rain indeed.  Prior to this morning, when I had set the sprinkler in the yard, it would take hours for water to puddle on that thirsty powdered soil.  All I could think when I saw the water standing in the back yard was that it was all going to be absorbed into the ground, into the plants and into their very thirsty roots.

I noticed my rain barrel was overflowing, another wonderful sight.  In my world, there is no such thing as too much rain.  While its too late to undo all that has been done by it's absence, so much has been prevented by it's presence today.  Today, not one person in My Town will worry about a fire starting.  Not one single person. 







To find My Town, locate Austin on the map then look for the little circle with the plus sign inside.  That's me in all that magnificent yellow.

I must admit, we look magnificent in yellow.