Rain, Rain, Rain

Where I am sitting right now, the sun is shining. And as much as we needed the rain, did we really need that much at one time?

But, I am complaining, and I need not. We prayed for rain and the good Lord answered. Now the sun is out, so all those plants will reach for the sky.

Jimmy has a nice, fairly large garden. You notice I said Jimmy. Kathy does not work in the garden, for the most part. It is his. Kathy has flowers. I have been watering every night. These last few days they haven’t needed water, even though where they are it has to rain hard to wet the plants. They under the overhang on the porch, in baskets. But we got a reprieve from watering as God took care of it.

We’re planning a brief vacation later this month, and Jimmy is worried about his garden. We have waterers and pickers lined up, and we’re only going to be gone three nights, but he’s worried. Of course, Jimmy likes to worry. I don’t worry like he does.

When I was younger I was a worrier. One day I realized how useless that is. Worry accomplishes nothing. I figured out rather than worry, if there is something I can do, then do it. If there’s nothing I can do, why worry.

Now, I do recommend prayer. Worrying never helps, but prayer can make a real difference. Remember that!

What got me to thinking about the heavy rainfall was the rodeo. I went to the rodeo festival Saturday, planning to eat a little and maybe purchase a few items. When I arrived it was raining, but not real hard. I got to the Depot porch where face painting was taking place. From there I moved around and got a photo of Les Steele providing music for the gathering.

Then the rain really started coming down. I stood around (under a tent) with some others for a half hour, hour, and they discussed what to do about the parade. After some discussion, and several looks at the radar, and the realization that there were few left to parade, and even fewer left to watch a parade, they decided to cancel it. The horses and buggies left. There were two of them that had hung around, and were prepared to parade. There wasn’t much else to take part.

It was so wet, one vendor packing up about 30 feet away from where I was standing was walking through what looked like calf-deep water. Children, who were already soaked, were running through the tent areas splashing the river up on those gathered around. The men in jeans were mostly wet up to their knees where the pants let had gotten wet, and it just kept moving up the leg.

It was miserable. But it wasn’t really, cause there was good company, and we were relatively dry under the tents.

It was a rough day for the Round-up Festival.. They had more vendors than ever before signed up—30 of them. But some never came, and most who did left early. I for one only bought a cup of lemonade cause I wasn’t really hungry and didn’t want to brave the weather to check out the offerings.

I didn’t make it to the rodeo that night, but I can only imagine the crowd was not what they would have liked. Typically, several thousand people turn out on Saturday night. But, this Saturday it rained all day and much of the night.

I pity those cowboys and cowgirls. I bet their times weren’t great. I bet they were miserable. And it has to be even more dangerous doing all those rodeo events in the mud.

I’m sure all those volunteers who worked so hard to get the rodeo grounds ready, then those who work both nights of the rodeo, and all those involved would have welcomed the rain any other time but rodeo weekend. It was unfortunate. But the silver lining is we really did need the rain, and there will be more rodeos. Every year, the first full weekend in June, the Shady Dale rodeo will be held. Hopefully, next year, it will be clear skies, cool temperatures, and beautiful weather for a rodeo.