When I moved to the Tri-Cities, one of the big selling points to me was their claim that they average "310 days of sun a year!" I grew up on the wet side of Washington State, so by birth and raising I qualify as one of the Moss People. Aging tends to whittle away at one's tolerances for discomfort, though. I want to be able to ride my horses and I refuse to ride in anything colder than 40F, in anything resembling rain or snow or drizzle. Of course, we also get blistering heat over here in the desert, and days when "windy" doesn't even come close to describing the gale-force winds doing their best to remove the tin roof from my horse shed. Even so, I truly believe in my heart that I get more "riding weather" here than I would there, and so don't miss the other side of the Cascades too terribly much.
There is one aspect in which this part of the state resembles THAT part of the state, and as we have had some unexpectedly warm December and January days (following a two-week cold snap in early December that had my chickens begging to become housepets), we have now entered an extremely early Mud Season.
The desert side of Washington has cold winters and hot summers. In between each, they have Mud. And its not that we don't actually get the advertised 310 days of sun a year...its that the 55 days of rain? Yeah, they fall CONSECUTIVELY. Or so it seems. Its almost enough to make me miss the constant drizzle in Seattle. At least you get to experience that rain surrounded by huge evergreen trees and lakes. Out here? Oh, the desert has color in the late spring, when the purple sage starts to bloom and the wildflowers come in. The trees are verdant and the warming spring air makes everyone just a little bit giddy. But not now. Now its just shades of brown, and its wet to boot. Snow I don't mind, nor wind (much anyway), nor heat, nor storms. But this? Endless days of murky skies and being ankle-deep in muck everytime I go out to feed the horses? Someone please take it away.
I only have what, 48 more days of this? Someone plug in my lightbox and break out the antidepressants, or I might not make it until the sun comes back.
