Mukilteo Musings

Day 26 and Counting

We are now in second place to the 1953 record of 33 straight days of rain. Over 12 inches of rain have fallen in a rather steady weeping for 26 days now. It is not all bad; it seems to have united us and reminded us of our true culture of wetness. The last two dry winters were freaky and this is more like normal. I do believe I read somewhere that it is not uncommon to have about 90 days of mostly rain. No records are set because usually there is a day or two of a break.

The usual forecast this time of year is "40 degrees and chance of rain". Everything is multiple shades of gray and the sky drizzles. But this year the weather is "40 degrees and rain" so it is not really all that different.

When we get breaks, the water has a chance to drain out of the rivers, creeks, and lakes. And a slight breeze dries the soil out--squeezes the sponge so to speak--so that the lawns and hillsides can soak up a little more. The problem is we haven't had any breaks so our ground is like jello. Hillsides slide and trees tip over. The rivers aren't draining so there is flooding.

Five Good Things About 26 Days of Rain

1. Al Roker has mentioned our 26 days on the Today Show.

2. We have no guilt feelings about cuddling up with cups of steaming coffee and watching the Seahawks play the Redskins tomorrow on TV---yea, even me.

3. This gave me an excuse to order my birthday present out of L.L. Bean--something I have wanted for years. Waterproof clogs for gardening....and I ordered them in purple. Now, I can slip something on and off of my feet easily to get the mail in the rain, to get the newspapers off of my wet driveway, and to clean up dog poop in my soggy back yard.

4. The asthma that affected me in Paris and on the dry airplanes has disappeared. Moist air does wonders for all organs of the body.

5. As I have said before, we love to talk about ourselves here. We are not unlike the French with our provincialism. For example: The Seattle PI newspaper's "Sunless in Seattle--When it Rains We Blog" blog.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/weather/
And another example is the Everett Herald's editorial this morning suggesting that all of this is reason to celebrate and we should create a festival or something:
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/13/100edi_editorial001.cfm
"Yes, roads, train tracks and houses are taking the brunt of ongoing mudslides. Yes, rivers and streams are flooding or threatening to do so. Yes, Seasonal Affective Disorder is more prevalent than the flu. Yes, it's hard to have a totally good hair day. No, wet dog fur will never be an appealing fragrance. All these things are true...
But if we can just break the record, then we can celebrate. We can invent a Rain Festival o' Fun to mark our heritage of wetness. Events can include contests for puddle jumping, creating the biggest wall of water by driving through a puddle, and best mold sculpture."

Of course, the editor reminded us that when Lewis and Clark got stuck in this place for the winter, they nearly went mad and couldn't get out of here fast enough.


Five Bad Things About 26 Days of Rain

1. The roof on the old section of our church is like a sieve. Somehow it seems like providing our needy families with food is more important than our roof. But, the water damage is not good--not good.

2. My husband is acting completely justified buying that damn exercise bike that takes up an entire room. I refuse to use it. I continue to walk and yes, I come home soaked. I'm going to make him use it the entire Seahawks game tomorrow.

3. The mice and the rats want to come inside where it is dry. When we opened the garage door the other evening, a little mouse scurried in. Dave chased him out with a broom. Kaley felt sorry for the little rodent. Not me! The pest guy was here the next day.

4. Our house smells like a wet Golden Retriever and so does my car and probably so do I.

5. But the WORST and the cruelist thing about all of this rain is that all of the STICKS at Mukilteo Beach are water logged. Yesterday, in the rain, I took Apolo to the beach because he loves to swim. He doesn't like the rain but he loves to retrieve sticks. (Plus, I wanted to see a sea lion which I did.) I must have thrown 35 sticks into Puget Sound.

This beach is covered with all things wood--stumps, logs, and sticks of every imaginable size and shape. None of it--none of it floats anymore. I picked up a stick and thought--"Ok, this one is not so heavy; it should work." I threw it and it was suspended vertically just beneath the surface. Apolo swam out confused and returned looking at me like I had played the meanest trick on him.

Over and over again, the sticks would sink. Yea, we need a break to dry out the sticks.


Mukilteo Beach---old picture because my camera is broken but that stump is still there though it probably weighs another 1000 pounds.

UPDATE: On Sunday, January 15 it did not rain at Sea-tac so the 1953 33 day record still stands and 2006 is in second place at 27 days. When we went to church yesterday, it did sprinkle on us but Edmonds is not Sea-tac and a sprinkle is not enough. But today, Monday, it has been raining all day so we only had one day of a break.