Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Storm Worms

After an incredibly dry winter, we've had a bunch of rain dump on us in the last couple of days with more on its way. I don't mind the rain, it can be kind of nice to sit in my living room and listen to it as it drums the roof or looking out the window as it falls gently on the trees.

I credit my husband for giving me the appreciation I have of rain. He taught me that weather happens and life goes on. If we stopped living every time the weather isn't perfect, we'd miss out on a lot of stuff.

Two of my favorite things to do in the rain are to run and to walk my dog. I haven't done much running these days, but my dog always needs to get his walks in. Today we went out to play in the downpour. I put on my rain boots and rain jacket and set out with him to walk down the hill and clear the drains that get clogged with leaves, dirt and other debris - and stomp in puddles. The streams of water can really get moving and sometimes I even put a leaf in it to pretend it's a boat and see how far it goes.

Today, as I was clearing debris, I noticed that some of the pools that filled when the streams were blocked were filled with worms. It was so strange and I don't remember seeing anything quite like it before. I reached my hand into the pools, picked up as many of the worms as I could get into my hands, and threw them back into the dirt embankment. One of the little pools had no less than 50 worms in it! I must have thrown about a hundred today.

Back home again, I cleared our gutters, showered, and curled up under a blanket to do some writing. It's fun to be out in the storm, but it's also fun to be in for it, too.