Weather Words

Ah, sleeping in the rain! Well, at least we sleep in the rain until the animals get nervous during the thunder and lightning and the wind whips the elm tree out front making it whoosh and clatter as small branches rain down upon the roof. This makes us feel for those folks who are just waiting for Fay to make landfall down around Florida. That has to be nerve wracking.

Today a great clap of thunder accompanied the loss of electricity at our school. My students just sat there and then looked at blank screens when the lights came back on. No one really got too upset when they discovered that Microsoft Word had saved their work. It was just one of those glitches that come along in life. So much of life is like the weather: if you don’t like it, just wait around long enough and it will change.

Somehow many of the events in our lives are surrounded by weather that takes us back in memories each time we feel those circumstances again. It was a crisp, hot day the day we brought our first son home from the hospital. Fog and cool winds remind me of my second horse. Tornado weather makes me think about our daughter and her fear of storms. And snow reminds me of the year the lake froze over and the children built a snow man “as big as daddy.”

When we aren’t feeling well, we say we are a little under the weather. If we are feeling particularly sophisticated, we are feeling “cool.” A minor temper tantrum can be “losing our cool” or “getting hot under the collar.” Doubts of any possibility become “a snowflake’s chance in July.” Oh, we blame the weather for a great many things.

When the weather became cool and crisp in the fall, the cattle would kick up their heels and the horses would “feel their oats.” We are all definitely affected by changes in the weather. And then there is the grass. Yesterday the grass became green while it rained. If any sun comes out tomorrow, it will grow at least four to nine inches. When the ground dries out enough, it will be time to get out the tractor and mow the stuff.

Time to get off the computer! The lightning feels as if it is coming in at the back door. Wonderful weather—for sleeping!