RAIN!!!

So, for those of you who do NOT live here, you have no idea - can not begin to imagine or TRULY relate to the excitement that I have felt today.  IT HAS RAINED!!!  This is our first honest to goodness rain since May (I don't remember the exact date...)

  Goodbye dust!
  Goodbye clouds of dust from every vehicle going by!
  Goodbye to inches and inches of dust on my bookshelves!
  (So much dust deserves at least 3 goodbyes....)
  Goodbye nasty brown everything!
  Goodbye guilty feeling upon realizing that the dogs haven't had any water in their dish...
  Goodbye having to water the garden!
  Goodbye dry, dry, dry skin!
  Goodbye brown, dirty feet and that gritty sandy feeling on the floors - even just after they have been mopped!

Of course, the excitement wears a bit thin after... oh... two minutes.  This is what helped it wear thin:

  Hello - Daniel left his windows open - so running out in the rain to close them!
  Hello - to the muddy paw prints left behind as Peanut followed me!
  Hello to wet dog smell!
  Hello to six months of mud!
  Hello to slipping and (almost) killing oneself on wet tiles!
  Hello to rain pouring in through windows that don't seal (esp when it rains sideways)
  and finally...
  Hello to the water leaking from my ceiling and dripping on my treadmill!!!!!

All in all, I am still happy to see the rain.  It is hottest here before the rain comes.  We may still have another few weeks to a month before the rains start in earnest - but we can officially count this the first real rain of the season.