Rain, rain, come this way.

Gack. Our friend Ben and Silence Dogood returned from a brief vacation to find Hawk’s Haven, our cottage home in the precise middle of nowhere, PA, becalmed in heat, drought, and humidity. Every day, the temperatures shoot up to at or just over 100 degrees F., with the humidity nearing 100%. Rain clouds continuously sweep overhead, sidelining poor Silence with sinus headaches, but pass us by with no rain.

Meanwhile, neither Silence nor I have any heat and humidity tolerance, so we drag ourselves through each day like a pair of beached walruses. (Silence says, “Speak for yourself, Ben!!!” Hey, that was “walrus,” not “whale.” Ow!) Even our normally sprightly black German shepherd, Shiloh, has melted into a semipermanent fur puddle under the ceiling fan in the living room. And the poor plants! Just when they were really growing well.

So please, if you’re getting rain, could you send some our way? And if you happen to know any effective rain dances, we’re more than ready to try them!