Here Comes the Sun, er rather Rain

It has been weeks since we've had any measurable rainfall here in our neck of the English woods.  I recalled the weather forecast app on my iPad listed a 70-80% chance of wet stuff falling from the sky today, so I rolled out of bed and had Ollie at the dog park by 8:30 this morning.  The 6th grader was awake, but still piled up in her bed messing around on her computer, so declined my invitation to walk a few laps while Ollie cavorted with his canine buddies.  I didn't even bother to poke my head into the teen's room.

The high today is 55, so I've had to break down and turn on the radiators because there is a definite chill in the (house) air.  The teen, with her single digit body fat, has been using a portable space heater in her bedroom because she's always cold. In contrast, the younger daughter wore some capris, sandals and a sleeveless top to the first middle school dance Friday evening.  As for me, I'm somewhere in the middle - comfortable most of the time but kicking off covers in the middle of the night when the occasional hot flash hits.

It's a good thing the beast got to run around off leash for about 45 minutes this morning because it started drizzling once we returned home and hasn't really stopped since then.  As expected, Ollie really needed to go potty when it was coming down rather steadily and I had to break out the umbrella.  As soon as he cleared the door, he lowered his perky terrier ears and looked around as if to ask, "What the hell is this?"  Of course, it didn't hurry along the whole toileting process - stare at the trees to see if he can spot his squirrel enemies, snuffle towards the side of the yard where he never relieves himself, strain against the leash and get pulled in the right direction of his usual "watering" spots, sniff around for 5 min trying to find just the right location, shake the rain off his fur numerous times because he's getting wet as he whiles away the minutes out in the elements and then finally squat to tinkle.  No need to impress any other dogs or mark his territory with some acrobatic leg lifting moves in our backyard, thank goodness.  

One thing I'll never understand is why most British houses don't have covered porches because it's not as if it's possible to pretend this is an arid climate.  Two weeks without rain has people using the word drought around here.  We do have a bit of an overhang, probably a 3 foot square, above the front door.  However, the french doors leading onto the patio and back garden walk you right out into the weather.  If we owned this home, the first thing I would have done was add some sort of back patio covering so I don't have to wrestle the dog on his leash and an umbrella while trying to keep the rain and cold from pouring into the house.  This makes me appreciate my generous back porch in Texas, a covered area that holds sufficient outdoor furniture to seat 10 people and still have room to spare.  Maybe not everything is bigger in Texas, but I can safely say the porches are.