Obligatory PNW Rain Post

As I sit here, the stench of wet dog wafting past my nose, I am trying to figure out what to write about. We went for a walk this morning, me in my new "mango" colored raincoat and Mickey in his fur coat. I don't believe in dressing animals in clothes unless absolutely necessary. The Sphinx cats up the street are an exception, they're adorable in their little cardigans. Now I am paying the price as Mickey's long hair dries and smells to high heaven.

As you may have surmised, it's raining here in the Great Pacific Northwest. It does that a lot. So much that my husband and I have a running joke about whether it is mist, drizzle, showers or any number of other words we can use to describe different levels of rain. The weather forecast of "Rain turning to showers," always makes me laugh. The worst part is I know what they mean.

Rain doesn't stop anything around here. If it did, we'd never get anything done. People walk, run, hike, bike and, of course, geocache in the rain. It was raining yesterday when I was at Pike Place Market and the place was packed. The market is under cover, but there were plenty of booths that had spilled out into the street and people didn't hesitate to explore them. When I left the market, I drove along the waterfront and it was crowded too.

We even have a festival here called Bumbershoot, which is another word for umbrella. Bumbershoot is a music and artisan festival that happens every Labor Day weekend. Even on Labor day you're likely as not to need your bumbershoot.   Of course, around here, the locals rarely carry umbrellas unless they're going to be out in the rain a lot. They're just one more thing to lose and it's just a little rain. It's not like we'll melt.

Yesterday, there was a guy at the market who was carrying his umbrella closed under his arm. It was one of those long ones with the point on the end. The market crowd nearly pushed me into the point. What a way to go, I can see the epitaph, "Impaled on a Bumbershoot at Pike Place Market."