When It Rains...

When It Rains…

By John W. Vander Velden

 

The planting season began wet.  Rains that came in late April pushed back my work to the last half of May and beyond.  Wet springs seem to be par for the course.  But when it dried off, it dried off…seriously dried off.  June, July and into August left me concerned.  I’m a farmer, worrying about the weather is in my job description.  You know it’s getting dry when non farmers mention it.  When they begin to speak of brown lawns…yada…yada…yada. 

Yes, it was dry, very dry.  But when the first rains came and I began to breathe again I should have known.  For when it rains…well it rains.  Now we did not get the simply awful multi-feet drowning of the Gulf Coast, so I’ve got no grounds to complain.  Nor did we get the rain that fell only a couple of miles of east of us.   But enough fell to washout Redwood road dragging tons of stone into my field.  For nearly two weeks it rained almost every day.  In the summer, what comes with consistent rains?  Why mosquitos of course.  Swarms of tiny bloodsucking insects that make the outdoors unbearable.  Even the repellent gave no relief.  So all of us that had to work in their universe were and are…miserable!

Now I wonder how long this stretch of wet weather will last.  It very well might reach into harvest.  Mud and combines do not mix well.  But been there, done that, and if the need arises will do it one last time.  You see I, like all farmers, need rain.  So rain is a blessing.  It gives life to the soil.  But like all things there is a point when…well it just gets too wet.  Too wet to cross the ground…too wet for the crops to survive.  But there are many things in life that are just the same.  We yearn for a balance…a perfect balance of whatever so life goes merrily on.  But just as the weather provides me with challenges, so do these other things each of us face.  It’s life.

It is only natural that each of us…farmers and all the rest…would like things to go the way we would like things to go.  Sometimes we need to be reminded that there will be times that when it rains…it really rains.  That things are not within our control.  Troubles come and interfere with our plans.  Things happen that stand in the way of our hopes and dream.  But that is no reason to stop dreaming.  No, dreaming should not be dependent upon fate…good or bad.  So go on dreaming…especially those times when events stand firmly in your way. But dreaming is but the beginning.  It may set a target for a hopeful destination.  But to accomplish the things we dream about, requires more than imagination…it takes work.  It takes work when the sky is blue.  It takes work on those days when dark clouds fill the sky.  It takes work when it rains…

(507 Words)  9-8-2016