It SERIOUSLY needs to rain...

This is what it looks like down at the edge of the giant family pond. The pond is about a month away from being no more. Mother Nature seriously needs to think about all of the poor fish, amphibians, reptiles and other hapless fresh water creatures that currently reside at the pond. The fishes' oxygen level is being depleted daily. The turtles are going to have to check out and commence on a treacherous voyage taking them to new lands never seen before, most likely across the dangerous black top which, considering the contest between the turtle and a vehicle going 60MPH, would lead to an unpleasant demise. The frogs will find their way into my back yard, along with the snakes and this will send me into a state of psychosis (from the snakes, not the frogs) of which I'm quite certain would take me weeks to recover.

In my own yard, away from any water source, there are giant cracks forming in the ground...that are being craftily concealed by the dead sprawls of grass. This is a perilous situation in more ways than one. One, I stepped on a hidden crack and almost broke my ankle. Two, I stepped on another hidden crack and almost broke my ankle. There's a pattern forming here, I can sense it!

No innocent creature needs to die a horrible, prolonged, sticky death. I certainly don't need the nightmares from snakes finding their way into my house. And I certainly don't need any broken bones.

SO. I say again, it seriously needs to rain.

Get it right for once!

This is a picture of a central Texas sunset the night before Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast. You can see the bands that were a part of his cloud cover. Very cool, I think.

Just so you know, weathermen are complete morons...

I live in Austin, Texas where a certain weatherman at a certain local weather station stated that without a doubt the capital city would indeed be getting a LOT of rain from Hurricane Ike. A thunderstorm! Rain! A cloudy day! An end to the quasi-drought we've been enduring! Hoo-ray! Days before Ike was supposed to hit I noticed people gearing up for the nasty weather that was to come. I found crowds at the grocery store buying out nearly all the water bottles and ice, lines at the gas pump 3 cars deep...and this was in Austin, which as you should know is no where near Houston! I can only imagine how much worse it was there. Even on Friday, the day before it was supposed to make landfall, the aforementioned weatherman maintained that we would see a 90% chance of rain showers and storms for Saturday. Now I know that Mother Nature can change her mind at the drop of a hat and I'm willing to forgive the unpredictability of a minor direction shift in the hurricane's path, but seriously...It's Saturday in Austin, Texas and I kid you not, I wake up this morning and the local weatherman (who I will forevermore refer to as "Mr. Moron") might as well have said, "Whoops!". He was trying to explain that Ike had shifted from the predicted direction, taking a course that would deprive ATX of any rain, at all. "A big fat zero." inches of rain for Saturday. That's a direct quote, mind you. This is not the first time he's messed up ladies and gents! All year I can account for numerous occasions when he has called for rain and it must have evaporated into thin air...no pun intended. Literally! Where the heck did it go?! I think his computer model forecast interpreting skills are lax. Why do you ask do I care? Because I LIKE RAIN! Can I get one good torrential downpour on my house PLEASE! And yes, I like to blame the weatherman. With one sentence he sets the whole city into a fury of preparing for the worst, making everyone spend money on things they don't need, and he sets me up for a happy day and then all my hopes get dashed when his forecast is wrong...Moron, I tell you! Moron!

I also must contend with the weathermen who like to stand out in gale force winds in the middle of a hurricane shouting into a microphone, trying not to fall over all the while trying to bring the viewers news about "what's going on out there". As I watch with incredulous disbelief at their intelligence level, I keep waiting for a huge piece of debris to knock them over. It is kind of entertaining to watch though...

Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to all of those affected by this hurricane, I sincerely hope that everyone is alright, and I feel blessed that my home and the homes of those I know have gone unharmed. But, seriously. I don't think just a little bit of rain is too much to ask for. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.