EVERY 30 YEARS THIS HAPPENS IN SO CAL

LOOK!
IT'S TRUE!
DUCKS REALLY LIKE IT IN THE RAIN!
IT TOOK ME THE BETTER part of a century to actually experience it.  
And, in Southern California to boot!
All you people who live in the real world must think that I have completely oozed out of my gourd..  You're nearly right.  It was nearly 2:20 PM when I heard a strangely deep and rumbling sound that sounded like something I used to hear often in the Summer.  To be sure that I would not miss something unusual, I left my desk and ran outside to check to see if I could be right.  I opened the door and sure enough, there were three or four drops of water about to hit the pavement.  The palm trees were dancing and the Brazilian Pepper Trees were snapping with glee.  The air smelled of lightning and thunder and the pop of hard driven marble sized drops of water began to insinuate itself into my ears.  YES! There was a flash of lightning followed by that familiar low rumble that rolls across the skies.  The rain did not make my world wait long.  It came fast and furious and before long was not really falling, but fairly flying over the surface of the earth.  Yes!  The wind was in charge and the rain just went along for the ride.  I opined that it was now about 2:30 and that by 2:45 we would no longer have this marvelous display of a playful Mother Nature to entertain ourselves.  So, in my light T-shirt and gym shorts I stayed outside under the carport roof.  This was too much fun to tear myself away from after 30 years of deprival. YES! you heard me, 30 years.  It is now about 2:50 and the wind and the rain are still toying with each other.  It must be serious because now the flock of ducks who normally live on the small pond that you see above begin to come back.  This terribly buffoonish thought fills my mind, "It's raining cats and dogs and only the ducks show up."  Now, I ask you, how stupid is that?  I live in a mobile home park.  The roar of the rain hitting all the aluminum is invigorating.  It is Mother Nature making sure that she gets all the attention she needs while the getting is good.  It is now 3:15 and I am having a great time.  I am no longer a grey haired old coot.  I am now a 10 year old child enjoying a thunderstorm.  I take a step out from under the protection of the roof.  Ouch!  That's cold for a southern Mojave Desert kid.  So I duck back under the roof, but there is no way that I am going to re-enter the house.  
By now there are puddles under the carport roof.  Neat-o!  I get my bare feet in there and splash around like there's no tomorrow.  At the end of the carport driveway there is a gutter and, of course, it is full and rushing, but too cold still  because of the driving rain.  So I play in the puddles instead and the wind and the rain and the lightning and thunder are still keeping me company.  
MY CAMERA!  SHEESH! HOW COULD I FORGET?  Into the house I go.  Camera always at the ready on my desk.  See, I'm not that far gone.  I keep wishing now that the rain will not abate because I want the power of the storm to be visible in the picture.  I point it at the ducks.  They are celebrating.  There is not a one of them in the pond.  They are splishn' an' splashn' on the park road in the rain.  They're like I am.  No way they are going to be conservative in the great opportunity to be out in the rain.  Then I think of it.  Wow, how neat not be ten years old any more.  Here I am outside in a thunderstorm where I always wanted to be, 'cept, "You Know Who" [MJT Dion] would NEVER allow that.  Well, "You Know Who" number one is now with the angels and "You Know Who" number two has just joined me outside almost in the rain.  She has never seen weather like this in Southern California.  So we're both two happy little children.

Believe it or not, it is now 3:30 and the rain is beginning to abate.  It's now just a sprinkle.  The Voice from the Kitchen (The cute little girl) has gone back in to prepare to go to a meeting.  Me?  Now that it's not raining much I'm going to play in the water-filled gutter, of course.  You didn't think that I would let all that good water go to waste, now, did you?  Of course not.  Now, I set up the camera, put it on 10 seconds, and here I am, crazy little kid disobeying the rules of the house on 1 Hartford Street.  Barefoot!  
The whole thing came to an end at around 3:40 or so.  That's over an hour! I was out there the whole time too.  Work or no work, I didn't care.  The sun came out and ruined everything.  But I didn't care any more.  I saw one more good, solid thunderstorm in Southern California one more time.  All the more reason why you now know that you don't have to cry at my funeral.