Big Ol' Fat Rain

"We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night..." (Forrest Gump,1994)

 Rain in Louisiana is of a different caliber than I've ever seen. Not that I haven't seen my share of rain. In Portland, there is a definite rainy season. It's usually accompanied by kind of dreary overcasts, and sloshy mud until the rain dries up. In La Grande, it's about the same--only you have more black ice after a good rain. In Idaho, well I'm getting foggy, but my childhood memories of Idaho are this: good lightning shows once in a while. Rains infrequently, and is overcast less than over in Oregon. And, when it rained--we ran out to play IN the rain. It was great.

The storms in Louisiana are amazing. It's so hot and humid that sometimes the rain coming down is like God throwing water on a frying pan. There is often steam. And...the amount of rain that comes down is no joke. It's like someone is dumping buckets of water down on the South. Instead of individual drops. I also love the thunder and lightning that accompanies the rain here. However, it scares the daylights out of me to let the kids play in the rain. Getting hit by lightning seems like a viable way to get cooked. When the clouds have stopped their downpour...the rain in Louisiana is no overstayed guest. The moisture dries up quicker than you can say,C'est la vie. You can watch the roads get back to their scorching selves, and little raindrops evaporate like magic into the humid Louisiana air.

                                                                   

                                                                    

These three are from back in May, when we first moved in: