In which I'm grateful. Really. I'm grateful. But I'm not riding today.

Finally.

We were not just due for our annual summer rain, we were long overdue:

 55 days without measurable precipitation breaks all prior records for our region.

Mixed into the dry spell was a long, severe bout of smokey skies courtesy of the wildfires in British Columbia.

The last time we had smokey skies for more than a week, the smoke trapped the heat in, keeping our local temps around 80*F.

This time, our predicted temps were above 90*F, but the smoke was so thick that sunlight was reflected away from the ground, and we stayed a bit cooler, with temps in the 80's.

Air quality here went from "not good" to "terrible."  Riding went from "conditioning pace" to "wander down to the river and then wander back to the trailer."

Last night, relief came at last.  The thermometer reads 61 blessed degrees, and the rain has been falling steadily for several hours.

It won't last.  It will probably stop by mid-day.

But it's wet enough to clear the air, dampen the forest fires, and wash the dust from the squash vines...and wet enough for me to stay home and appreciate the cool drizzle while sitting in my comfortable tea-drinking chair.

Soon, the sun will return.  Today, we are grateful for the rain.