Rain On Top Of Rain

We have had months of snow & cold here in Northern NY and lately it has been rain on top of rain. It is May. Mother's Day has passed. This morning it was a mere 40 degrees at my home in Chaumont, NY. Is it any wonder I write this at 11:00PM next to a fire in the wood stove & a half a bottle of Merlot in my system?

View in my rear view mirror driving South on Rt 81 in the rain.                                                             photo by Gary Walts

Yesterday I spent 12 hours in the rain.  What a day I had. I went out to my 1999 Dodge Caravan at 7:30Am and started out of my driveway, headed for Colgate College in Herkimer, NY. I was going to photograph their commencement.  As I depressed the brake pedal while starting the van,  my foot went almost to the floor. That's not good. I moved back & forth a couple times in the driveway, hitting the brake pedal, and then the brake light comes on. Great. I lift the hood & see that the brake fluid reservoir is dry. What does that mean? It means no brakes. I have no idea what the problem is because the day before I drove it and the nrakes were fine. I have to leave.  I load most of my crap into the Better Half's car and head out.

All this time it was raining. I get to Colgate a hundred & five miles later. I must park a half mile away from the Commencement and walk to it in the rain under the oversized, yellow raincoat that I take with me in all inclememt weather. I arrive there at 10:00. I make a few pictures and am ready to leave at 11:00 for an hours drive Herkimer where I am to photograph college lacrosse game for some national title. The game is between Onondaga Community College & Essex something or other. It rained all the while on the drive. The game lasted until near 4:00. OCC won, 12-9. It rained the entire game. I was dry from my waist up, but my feet & legs were soaked. Yuk. I edit & transmit back to the Post-Standard 6 pix from the game. Then I drive home. It took 2 hours & 27 minutes to get from Herkimer to Chaumont. It rained every mile of that drive. I got home at 7:30PM, in time to see the finale of CBS' Survivor. I spent 12 hours in the rain. That's enough to take the edge off of almost anyone's Spirit.

Then this morning I turned around and spent today ramming the roads & streets in the rain for the Post-Standard. I am sick of the rain. It is now after 11:00PM & I am half pickled with Gnarley Head Merlot, a 2008 vintage. The rain is scheduled to continue for the next 3 days or so. That's nice. Tomorow I will go out in the rain and jack up my van & try to figure out what happened to my brakes. In a perfect World I would pull my vehicle into the garage and work on it in there. But the garage is so full of other shit, including my 1978 Corvette, that there is no room.

So that's the way it is in My World in Northern, NY.