Yea rain!

It is a long held tradition here on the island of complaining about the weather regardless of atmospheric conditions. It is raining, we want the sun! It is snowing, we want the rain to wash the snow away... it is sunny, we want it to be overcast again because we don't own things like air conditioners.

To be realistic, the lament only is spurred on after a long repetitive meteorological event - and the wish for the sun to disappear for a bit is only out of sheer exhaustion. Living with torrential onslaughts more often than not, we Kodiakans have been conditioned, brainwashed, and obligated to make the most of any sunny day.

As a child, the sprinklers and slip'n'slides would be out in full force (my mom was kind enough to hook the hose up to the kitchen sink so we could have lukewarm water). Water balloons and squirt guns prompted battle royale as we ran around barefoot, immune to the stabbing of spruce needles on young foot flesh.

After a good stretch of above 65 heatwave, we'd hit the lake at Abercrombie ... just as it was almost tolerable to swim without generating a good case of hypothermia. (This activity also coincided with the ceremonial removing of tiny leeches from your legs if you decided to walk through the muck at the beach end).

Grown up now, the honey-do list overtakes the fun-things-to-do list. The sun comes out, aside from sweltering work conditions and an overwhelming desire to skip out on it, there is lawn mowing, fence building, painting, car washing, pressure washing the side of the house, gardening, clothes line building... all vieing for completion before the next downpour. Tack on to this the children and their incessant plea to wander to the beach for a bonfire, hot dogs and wading in the surf.... the sun is exhausting.

Which is why I appreciate the fog and mist that rolled in ever so gently last evening. If it manages to hold out, I might just be able to be my own couch potato self tonight.