Rain

So, it's raining here in KS. It's now monsoon season, spring. Forecast says it's to rain virtually every day this week.

Some people dislike the rain, the mud...flooding. It inconveniences some folk; musses up the hair.

For me, however, there's nothing quite like it.
I grew up in Western Kansas, where all precipitation comes from the side, usually the north, not from the clouds. Rain was rare; when it did come, it was revered. There's nothing quite as exhilarating as the fresh smell of rain. My grandma told the story how that during the '30's they would sometimes pour a pitcher of water on the dusty driveway, then bend over and inhale that sweet smell they'd been so-long separated from.

There's a lot to be said for growing up in a desolate, barren place like SW KS. It makes me appreciate the little things, like, say: other people, trees, and especially rain! I'm always more happy when it's cloudy, raining, soggy. To me, rain means life, liveliness, and (as a wanna be farmer) livelihood.

I have been known to go for a walk in the rain. I've ran naked in the rain. I like to catch rain drops in my mouth. What's more pure, more quenching, than fresh rain?

Alas, it escapes me...
Out at my mom's place there's a 500 gallon tank that once held well water (in my grandfather's day). The tank is still sound, though I'd have it professionally rehabbed and cleansed before using it. I'd like to have that to pump full of well water AND to capture rainwater. I could easily water my whole property (and future livestock) from that tank, if only she'd let it go.

Meanwhile...
I like the sound of rain. I like to watch it rain. I like the patter and patterns of rain on a window. (I wish I had a window in my office!) I like songs about rain. Rain, like food, is an old, powerful word...

rain
O.E. regn, from P.Gmc. *regna- (cf. O.S. regan, O.N. regn, O.Fris. rein, M.Du. reghen, Ger. regen, Goth. rign "rain"), with no certain cognates outside Gmc., unless it is from a presumed PIE *reg- "moist, wet," which may be the source of L. rigare "to wet, moisten" (cf. irrigate). The verb is O.E. regnian, usually contracted to rinan. Transf. and fig. use of other things that fall as rain (blessings, tears, etc.) is recorded from c.1200. Rainbow is O.E. renboga (common Gmc. compound, cf. O.N. regnbogi, Du. regenboog, see bow (n.)). Raindrop is O.E. rendropa; first record of raincheck is from 1884, originally of tickets to rained-out baseball games. Raincoat attested from 1830. Rainmaker first recorded 1775, in ref. to tribal magicians. Phrase to rain cats and dogs is attested from 1738 (variation rain dogs and polecats is from 1652), of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. One of the more idiotic assertions is that it refers to pets sliding off sod roofs when the sod got too wet during a rainstorm. Ever see a cat react to a rainstorm by climbing up on an exposed roof? To rain on (someone's) parade is attested from 1941.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Rainmaker is one of my favorite words/concepts, from the very sound of it to every connotative meaning it may pack.

Listening to: "Have you ever seen the rain" by CCR.