a lena horne day

OK. I know my cultural references are about as arcane as Joe Biden's.

Probably because I am about his age. I doubt I would have given a thought to a fellow geezer mentioning the therapeutic value of vinyl records. Well, maybe the therapeutic part would have struck me as just a bit too touchy-feely. (And, no, I am not going to take advantage of that line, either.)

For those of you under the age of 70, Lena Horne was a singer with the sultriest of voices who made a name for herself with the Arlen-Koehler classic "Stormy Weather."

I could have saved you all the extrapolation trouble by simply naming the essay "here we go again."

Most of our summer had been relatively dry until September. In an effort to remind us that hubris is a dish best served wet, Tlaloc sent us a minor hurricane and a tropical depression that flooded the local areas that seem to flood in any heavy rain.

We may have another on the way. At least, we will have rain on the way.

For the past week, we have watched a disturbance form off the Pacific of Guatemala. Storms take some time to develop. The odds that it would develop into at least a tropical depression were 90% yesterday. Then, it started moving north with the name Seventeen.

This morning it crossed onto land in southern Mexico. Having lost its heat source in the Pacific, its cyclone potential plummeted to 40%.

But it is bringing wind and rain. Lots of rain.

It appears the storm will spend itself amongst the Mexican deep southern states. But we are certainly not out of the allegorical woods.

All of that activity down south has impacted other weather currents. According to the weather reports, we will be receiving several days of rain as an indirect consequence of Seventeen. Starting this evening and continuing through Friday or Sunday. (On Monday, the house painting begins. I suspect there may be some rain holds before it is done.)

Without Seventeen to deliver the rain here, ours will probably be the usual summer rain. Temporarily flooded streets. Overflowing sewers. And a welcome reduction in temperature. We can hope it will not be worse.

I noticed yesterday that the hills surrounding Melaque are beginning to show that summer is fading. But that is for another essay. Maybe while I am housebound in the rain.