98 Wednesday Sep 8

Wednesday Sep 8 Day 98

For the past 2 days my morning blood sugars and been perfect. I seems that I am getting a handle on my food intake, exercise and insulin amounts.

Last night after super it began to rain and it is still raining this morning. There has even been thunder with this rain. It is really the first thunder I have heard this trip. I hope this is the last gasp of the monsoons but who knows. Nazan came in to cook my breakfast and his first comment was “Too much rain” in Hindi. Fortunately I had just looked up the word for “rain” so I understood him completely.

Let us now contemplate rain and its various forms.

Firm mist or semi rain - This is when we are up in the clouds and droplets form but you cannot hear the rain drops hit your umbrella. (This is called Seattle sunshine at home)

Light rain - You can hear the rain drops hit your umbrella and if you do not have your umbrella you will get wet over due time.

Moderate rain - There is a lot of water falling from above but the drops are small. You get wet immediately of you’ve failed to bring your umbrella. In this rain your umbrella leaks a little bit and you get drops of water on your shoulders and head.

Heavy rain - do not go out in this. Your umbrella will be of almost no use to try and keep you dry. Your pants will be soaked and your shoes very wet even under the umbrella. This rain is best experienced from the confines of your home. The drops are very large and come straight down.

Gully washer - I have had NO experience with this except from under a roof. The rain gives a constant roaring sound as it hits the ground, trees, leaves and roofs of the buildings. The drops are hugh and there are a lot of them. When they hit, the water rebounds off the ground 6 to 8 inches. You do NOT want to be out in this rain because an umbrella is a joke when trying to keep you from getting wet almost all over.

I can only hear Moderate to Gully washer rain from inside my house with the doors closed..

This past week I have experienced all of these rain forms. I get upset with the Moderate to Gully washer types because they batter the petals off the flowers. I have seen several patches of dahlias I would like to tape but they are looking a bit bedraggled from the rain. When the monsoons finally leave, there are enough buds to replenish the flowers for me to get good images.

Now lets us contemplate the results of the various forms of rain and how one can dry out after wandering around in the rain with either rain gear and/or the umbrella. Pure mist causes the most moisture inside the house. It makes everything damp to the touch. When hiking to get into shape I perspire which adds to the dampness of my clothing making them just plain wet. Last night I discovered a way to actually get almost dry. I purchased a thermal blanket from L.L. Bean (the thing cost a fortune) which is made of synthetic fibers. Moisture does not cling to the synthetic fibers as it does to cotton making everything damp. This blanket is never damp. I bundled up in the thermal blanket and I was dry within 3 hours. My body heat had almost dried my cotton clothes (they were still damp but not wet and I can live with that). It only took me 6 days to figure this out (perhaps I am not a genius after all).

The rain finally stopped and the snows came out late this afternoon. I then hustled to get to the spot I found a couple of days ago for sunset taping. I get there just as the sun was setting and it is exactly what I am looking for. I got to see my first post monsoon sunset in fifty years. Each day when it is not raining I shall go to this spot and set up my cameras.