Thoughts On Rain and Boundaries

Still no rain here at the (formerly) Boggy Thicket – it’s now been 100 days since we’ve had any measurable rainfall.  There are huge fires burning all across Texas in this, the driest of springs in over 40 years.  Over One Million Acres already burned, and burning bans in effect for almost the entire state.

It almost (but not quite) makes me wish hurricane season would hurry up and arrive.

This lack of rain got me thinking about something I saw several years ago.  There were scattered showers around the Houston area – the normal condition for this time of year – pretty much normal at any time really, and what should be happening today.  Looking out the front door at work, we could see that the parking lot was completely dry, but just past the curb, 100 feet from our door,  it was raining to beat the band.

Everyone had to take time out to come and look, there were lots of oohs and ahs, some wows and even a couple of damns.  Everybody who saw it agreed it was amazing.

Granted, you don’t get the chance to see something like that very often, but if you think about it, it has to be pretty darn common.  After all, everything starts and stops somewhere. Nothing is infinite except maybe the universe, and science tells us the universe is expanding.  Please tell me how anything can expand unless it has finite boundaries.

Every raincloud that ever dumped its load dropped it somewhere, and that somewhere had to start and stop at some finite line.  Let’s consider the example of a stationary rain cloud 3/4 of a mile in diameter – You and about 6,500 of your best friends could set up shop shoulder-to-shoulder and watch it rain from 1/8 of a mile away and still have room for beer coolers and a barbeque pit.

Humans do seem to be fascinated by boundaries, though.  I guess that’s why we’re attracted to the seashore, or the rim of the Grand Canyon.  It’s why even city dwellers enjoy a sunrise or sunset over a discernable horizon.

We’re even drawn to artificial landmarks like the Four Corners where the boundaries of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico come together.  Even after the National Geodetic Survey announced in 2009 that the marker was in the wrong place, people still flock there by the hundreds to get their picture taken standing on the (wrong) spot.