Complaining about the rain in Western Washington is stupid. The voice in my head (the smart, sarcastic one) says "duh, yeah, of course it's raining. It's late January, that means it's been raining for about two and a half months now, and it's not going to quit for another two and half months. Just suck it up and be happy that the temperature is currently in the high forties and not in the low thirties. You could be trudging out to feed the animals in stinging cold sleet. Enjoy the fact that the rain is at least falling vertically and not flying horizontally at fifty miles an hour."
Then the other voice in my head - the whiny, annoying one - says "But I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being muddy all the time, and of my feet being all wrinkled and white as library paste. I'm sick of wading through liquid poo twice a day. I'm sick of people wrinkling their noses if I get too close. I'm sick of wet clothes and wet shoes and wet hair. I'm sick of this endless cough and the endless phleghm. I can't remember what the sun even looks like - if it comes out for five minutes I hiss like a vampire and cover my eyes. I'm dark-adapted. I'm sure I'm severely vitamin D-deficient."
And the first voice says "oh, dry up."
And the second voice says "Would if I could!"
And it just goes downhill from there.
They say it's a La Nina year, and that accounts for the higher than average precipitation, both as snow and as rain. Okay. I'm not a climatologist, I just want it to quit. It's like Chinese Water torture around here - drip, drip, drip.... I think what I hate most is how there is just no color in the world. The color spectrum ranges from white through charcoal grey (the sky) relieved only by blackish-green (trees) and dark, muddy brown. I've been dressing in flaming red and bright yellow a lot, but it feels hollow.
Yeah, I know, I know - I should get a full spectrum lamp. Maybe I will, before I go on a despair-fueled rampage. It's no wonder to me that the Pacific Northwest has more than it's share of serial killers and suicides. Just gotta hang on until May. We do enjoy the most beautiful summers - can you hear the plaintive note in my voice, the desperate rationalization? Of course, I could go visit my Dad in Tucson. This is the only time I possibly could visit him - I can't take the heat, either. What a delicate blossom I am.
Here's my meditation for today. If we didn't get fifty inches of rain a year, we would have no temperate rainforest. And that would be a tragedy. Maybe instead of visiting Tucson, I should go visit the Hoh.
Weather sucks everywhere. Those so-called climate scientists? They talk a lot about the weather, but they don't do anything about it.
ReplyDeletelol we get an average of 78-90 of rain here.. embrace the mud..:D
ReplyDeleteI also wonder why I'm still living on the wet coast, and haven't migrated to the sunny interior - or down to California. But then again, the vegetation is always lush and green. I love those moss-covered trees we get here, as in your photo - I like to call them "spooky trees".
ReplyDeleteLOL post! Thanks for brightening my day, Aimee. From frigid Michigan. Cold, but we do get a sunny day on occasion, even in winter.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. I have "rider" bog boots - cut like tall english boots - and I have mud halfway up my shins in places.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I remind myself that the summers wouldn't be green if we didn't have rain. I've been contemplating painting the inside of the house with bright colors, and find myself drawn to red more and more.
Get some Vitamin D. Even during the summer, with sunscreen and the angle of the sun, we don't get enough in the northwest - so we're chronically deficient. It's also good for bone health...
Hang in there - it will get better!
I hear ya loud and clear. And yes, find some vitamin D, it will help.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your "warmth" (it's been in the single digits and teens on the east coast), so it's not all bad!
I loved the winters full of rain when I lived on the west coast, but then I was in a city on Vancouver Island and it was all rock or pavement...no mud. I think I'll take 4 or 5 months of cold and snow over constant mud. Oh how I miss that island sometimes though.
ReplyDeleteI so hear you sister! I seriously screamed at the kids to stop everything immediately and get their freakin' coats on asap when I saw the sun for a second yesterday.... We weren't fast enough :-( I could cry right now thinking about it.
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