Never say no to rain in desert

The weather is never far from your mind when you make your living off the land.

You wish it were your friend, but nobody keeps a friend as volatile and unreliable as that. Or at least you don’t keep them around all the time and involve them in a crucial role in your business. The weather is not your friend, even when it is helping you out.

The weather isn’t your enemy either. It has been known to turn on you and ruin your entire year. But an enemy is more than a problem, an enemy is a personal foe. And say what you will about the weather, it usually spreads the pain around.

The weather, at best, I think is a little like a pet. It’s always around and it has the power to make your day either good or bad. It has a short memory and doesn’t seem to learn from its past or from your loud cursing and complaining when it gets the wrong spot wet. It hangs around and you try to treat it like your friend, but it just does what it wants no matter how hard you try to train it or explain why and where it should get things wet.

Personally, I try to always be nice to the weather and focus on a few simple wishes and not get too complicated with what I ask. I figure if you keep it simple and consistent, it’s less likely to get confused or forget.

So, even when the streets are looking like canals, the mail is damp, the roads are rutted and muddy, and the dog smells like he’s wet … you won’t hear me say anything bad about the rain. I’ll help lament those side-effects that aren’t so great, like my friends who have cattle stuck in the pen. I’ll note the extra gas I’m guzzling because I have to take the 4-wheel-drive pickup everywhere. I’m not unaware of the extra weed-control money that’s being spent.

But I’m not gonna say anything to the weather that it might take the wrong way. I’ll always ask it for moisture and it’s just be hypocritical of me to change. So, help your neighbors that need it less than you, but don’t ask the weather to rain less or I might have to come have a serious talk with you.

Audra Brown is fording the fjords in a Ford. Contact her at: [email protected]