Saturday Downpour Drowns Outdoors Initiative

What does one do on another too wet Saturday?

It seems there is more than enough to keep busy with and much of it involves being places outside the home even though at times the rain was falling so hard that driving was a bit dicey.

Let's begin with the second most exciting part of the day--I saw my first earthworm of the season. Now I know many people look for the robins, but we have been besieged with a whole flock of robins all winter--so seeing an earthworm making its way across the driveway yesterday was truly an event to note.

OK, so I'm a bit boring because I get excited about earthworms.

Of course with the rain, there was no way to continue the winter yard clean up and I tried not to even think about it by staying away from The Hope Depot and Lowe's.

But there was a trip to the mall--to exchange some clothes and wander around. I soothed my need to buy something by buying a new pen. Since it was early, not too many people had decided to venture out--so the mall was relatively pleasant. The mistake though was going from the mall to Costgo at about noon. It should have been declared a federal disaster area. I'm amazed how poorly people drive in the rain--drive first and worry about getting wet second! Seems they forget that they are dry in the car. And loading groceries in the rain should be a new Olympic sport.

And then it happened! The climate control system in the Lexus ceased functioning! In the rain and in the parking lot. Ugh! Fortunately the vehicle was and is driveable.

I spent much of the rest of the afternoon in the rain and then in the garage looking for a blown fuse or something I could repair to avoid a trip to the Lexus dealer--to no avail. It's going to have to go. And since Lexus is just a glorified Toyota--who knows what the damage is ultimately going to be. $$$

And as the rain continued to make me more depressed--I decided to work on the taxes and get them closer to being ready for submission.

Thankfully we were going to some friends house for wine and food to overcome the depression that the taxes started to send me into! Ugh. I don't look at the refund/pay line--but rather the overall tax bite. Ouch! I'd rather be swimming with sharks. I'd have a better chance to come out alive.

But the evening with friends, good food and wine was the best part of the day and successfully erased the memories of the rain and gloom. I enjoy talking sports--especially Orioles baseball with my friends and trying to determine if we agree with Baseball America's assessment that the O's will win 79 games this year. I'm still believing for 82!

So this morning the rain has stopped--and we are beginning the process of drying out. Now we can do it all over again.