Rain Down On Me

As I am winding up this week, we received a nice little rain shower. It was a welcomed and pleasant surprise. This morning, the forecast called for an 80% of heavy rain. When I looked at the radar, there it was - a band of dark green moving across the Gulf Coast region and headed in our direction. But, as happens so frequently and sometimes to our advantage, the fronts often fall apart before they reach Northeast Florida.

By this afternoon, the forecast was for only a few scattered showers.Our region, as is much of the country, continues to suffer drought conditions. There are fires popping up all over the region. Watering restrictions - even water restrictions - are now commonplace throughout the country.At the same time, how many times do I see neighbors watering their lawn when we have a very good change of rain within 24 hours? I even see the sprinklers going during and right after rain. It just does not make sense to me.I grew up in a farming community and I so well remember everybody having a rain gauge. They were always a promotional give-away.

When livelihoods take a gamble on the climate, it was important to keep track of what Mother Nature poured upon us. This was a time well before irrigation and the best forecast came from the Old Farmers Almanac.I see many advertisements and articles attempting to educate the population on how much water a lawn needs and how often. It is often to the benefit of your plants and your lawn to let them get a little dry between their showers.....not to mention, it conserves our most valuable resource that we so often take for granted.Perhaps it is not a bad idea to bring back those rain gauges.