The Raincoat and the Umbrella

These are two objects that are largely foreign to those of us in Southern California. Just to show you how rare this rain event is that we're having this week, about 5 or 6 years ago I won a gift certificate to a shopping mall and decided to use some of the money to replace my raincoat that was probably 20 years old. I bought a very nice London Fog overcoat/raincoat...which has sat in my closet since then.

This week was the first time I've ever worn it.

We've had rain every year but never anything that came in such volume that one of my other waterproof jackets couldn't handle it.

And I have a magical umbrella. It disappears. Twice this week I've torn up the house trying to find the dumb thing because it's used so rarely I forget where I put it. I couldn't find it again yesterday, looked everywhere, in all the cars, all the places where I thought I might have left it, all to no avail.

This morning I went out in the backyard to see if I could resurrect my water pump in anticipation of today's downpour and sitting on the BBQ was...my umbrella. It apparently decided to get a little fresh air and spend yesterday's storm in the rain and hail.

It's in the garage drying out now...I think.