Via the recently introduced AskORblogs, Oregon-transplant pb asks:

It was farily sunny today in my section of the Willamette Valley, but rain is predicted through next week. I’ve lived here for a couple years, and the rain hasn’t bother me too much. For some reason I’m noticing it this year. Do you have any strategies that help you get through the winter rain?

Okay, Northwest readers (especially transplants like Mac and Pam): what do you do to ease your mind during the endless weeks of rain?

Me? I rarely notice the rain. Actually, mostly I prefer the rain, though it’s nice to have a few days of sun now and then. (Was it the winter of 97-98 or the winter of 98-99 during which we had something approaching 180 consecutive days with measurable rainfall? That was too extreme even for my tastes.)

However, there are some things I do more often during winter than summer in an effort to keep myself distracted:

  1. Spend time with friends! Winter is the season for formal dinner parties and for general socializing. Sure, outdoor meals in the summer are fun, but nearly all of the dinner parties we attend occur during the months of rain.
  2. Play video games! For some reason, computer games do not interest me in warmer months, but during the winter they offer a whole other world, a world in which it never rains. (At least in World of Warcraft).
  3. Read! I read much more in winter than in summer. When I’m buried in a good book, I don’t notice the gloominess outside. (This is especially true if I have a hot tub in which to soak at the same time. If.)

What about? What strategies do you employ to cope with the rain.

Comments


On 18 January 2005 (07:22 AM),
J.D. said:

I forgot one: Movies! Not just Netflix, but actual films in a theater. Usually, we see many more movies during the winter than the summer. Part of this is due to our quest to see every Best Picture nominee, part due to the fact we like winter movies better, and part due to the weather. (This year is an anomaly: we’ve seen hardly anything.)



On 18 January 2005 (08:31 AM),
Jeremy said:

I just continue with my normal life. If I have something I want to do outside, I do it in the rain (unless it is impossible). I just put on my rain gear and go to it.

That being said, I tend to slow down a bit during the winter (with the projects that is) and cook more, eat more, drink more, watch much more TV (not hard to do since I watch virtually none during the summer months).

Here’s to rain! Prost.



On 18 January 2005 (10:31 AM),
Virginia said:

My son bought a place a few years ago from a Californian. He had lived up here for several years and he said he is going back to California. He said in Oregon there are only 2 seasons, “Eleven months of rain and 1 month of relatives.”



On 18 January 2005 (11:49 AM),
Courtney said:

I’m a native Oregonian. I am used to the rain. However, there have been winters when the rain has really gotten to me (1996 for instance…remember the flood?!!). My remedy for endless weeks or months of rain was to take a vacation in the winter to someplace warm, like Hawaii, Thailand, Florida, Australia, etc. I found when I could break up the rain with a couple of weeks of sun, it was much easier to take.

I also agree with Jeremy. You mustn’t let the rain deter you from whatever you want/need to do. If you did, you’d never accomplish anything.



On 18 January 2005 (11:55 AM),
Kris said:

Hot tea, hot chocolate, hot cider, hot soup. Any of those and a good book go a long way to making the winter enjoyable, not just bearable. That and imagining my springtime garden!

Seiously, though, even though the heating bill is the worse for it, I love all the huge windows in our new home. Even on a rainy day there are glimpses of sun, green grass, birds and squirrels going about their business. Doesn’t seem nearly as gloomy as in our former ranch-style cavern.



On 18 January 2005 (04:28 PM),
Schmela said:

I love the rain. I usually try to get out and do whatever I would normally do, not including yardwork in the muck. However, rain means time to spend on good books, movies, friends, games, etc. Rain means coffee and potato soup. Rain also usually means snow in the mountains (except for this week…arrrggh), and the skier in me likes that.

We lived in Albuquerque for 4 years after growing up in Washington. The lack of rain was startling and even a little depressing. I used to crave the summer monsoon season, just for the brief 30 minutes of afternoon rain. Living there, I think I always felt like I should be outside enjoying the sun (all 300+ days a year of it), and I usually felt guilty if I was inside at the computer, reading, or watching a movie.



On 18 January 2005 (05:14 PM),
Rob said:

We just moved back to a place that had more sun; in the end we couldn’t cope with the rain, it became too much to live with.

Maybe we could employ some of your techniques if we have to come back to the rainy northwest.

Thanks J.D!



On 18 January 2005 (06:40 PM),
Amy Jo said:

It isn’t the rain that gets to me, it is the low ceiling of clouds. The lack of bright light leaves me feeling lethargic and grumpy. Folks in DC would give my friend Windy and I strange looks when we walked through the rain, faces turned upward, without the cover of an umbrella. She’s a left coaster too (Northern California, but we can still claim her) and nothing made us both more homesick than a drippy day . . .



On 18 January 2005 (10:34 PM),
Tammy said:

I clean closets and plan my spring garden.

I dont mind the rain at all but then I live in a very bright house with a sunroom attached to the living room. My living room has two sets of glass doors in it. One can almost imagine you’re sitting outside.

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