Raining Ducks and Geese

I knew first thing this morning that it was going to rain today, big time.

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No matter how much I worked with my bangs, they curled every which way. That kind of humidity can only mean a major downpour.

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I don't mean raining cats and dogs. I mean raining ducks and geese!

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It was about noon today when the heavens opened.

Rain ran off the schools' roofs in thick sheets like wild waterfalls. Heavy, rushing streams nearly a foot deep raced across the parking lots.

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Naturally, I had to be out in it to attend meetings in other buildings.

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Teachers huddled against walls. Students screamed with laughter and gleefully stomped through every stream.
It reminded me of another downpour 4 years ago, August 2005.

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The first 3 photos were taken on New Year's Day 2007 at a pond a few blocks from our house. My sons often go fishing there.

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On that occasion, my kids walked there with their visiting cousins to feed the ducks. The pond hadn't frozen over yet.

It was a completely different picture in August 2005. As the kids and I drove home from school that day, the rain was so heavy we could barely see the front end of the car.

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This was the sight that greeted our eyes when we turned into our neighborhood. The pond, at left, was spilling across the road and into a neighbor's front yard. Fallen pine trees floated across our path.

In this shot you can see how the creek now extended into the yards of homes across the way.

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Up the road, my friend Wyndie's family had to sandbag their kitchen.
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Ducks and geese from the pond swam serenely across the road and frolicked about in peoples' yards.

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We had to take an alternate route home.

While I snapped pictures, some of the geese waddled over to our car and honkily scolded us for interrupting their play.

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I love storms, so I found all this exhilarating.

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And that's why, when I'm caught in a rainstorm, I now think to myself:

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"It's raining ducks and geese!"