The rain fell softly and steadily all day, with just enough of a break to allow me to go outside and take a picture or two of the clouds hanging over the Holston Mountains.John and I picked four baskets of tomatoes, which I then turned into velvety rich marinara. The garden has done nicely, this year, although the weeds are never under control enough to suit Mr. Dewey. I've told him to quit looking at Martha Stewart magazines! Actually, the garden looks pretty good, considering... .
We are in a multi-year drought, so the rain is a welcome visitor - and one we hope will stick around for a few days. These rains are the inland remnants of Hurricane Fay, and they are late. It's wondrous to think we live close enough to the coast to get hurricane rains. But we do!
It was 4 years ago this Labor Day (give or take a week) that we came down here on our whirl-wind house hunting adventure, and we were treated to rains from Hurricane Ivan: 20 inches over night out here in Carter County. It was a mixed blessing: difficult to get around in, and hard to keep the shoes clean, but it was great to see which homes passed the seal test!
Today's rains were nothing like that. We picked our tomatoes in a light drizzle which intensified almost as soon as we got back to the house. Mr. Dewey enjoyed the steady hum of rain as he snoozed, and I enjoyed the cool fresh air as I did my canning in the downstairs kitchen. What a luxury that second kitchen is! I can close off the upper level and keep the heat down here - and since there is no venting, I can have the windows open in the lower half even as the air conditioning is running upstairs. Even so, partitioning the house means we can do without the AC - we may have used it a total of 10 days all summer, and I expect there will be no more need for it, this year. That sits well with this dirt-worshipping, tree-hugging liberal couple!
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