It is raining cats and dogs today!

I came downstairs this morning and it is raining cats and dogs!  Immediately, I knew I couldn't even go out and get the sopping newspaper for a bit, and it was a cinch I couldn't do half of the 17 things on my list for today which I meticulously made out last night.  So I drank two cups of coffee and took a Motrin.  (When it rains, my knees feel it and so does my left hip.)   Morton's Salt Company used to have a slogan on their box, "When it rains, it pours!"   But what it did, when it rained, was clot in the box!

I grew up in Mississippi County and the farmers lived for rain, as did their crops.   There was almost jubilation over a downpour.  I would go with my dad to visit his church people and we would pull into the driveways of Earl Presson, Bill Thompson, Mr. Elmore, Allen and Ruth Edwards and they would come out to the car to tell us how much rain they got!

So what did they all mean,  "It rained cats and dogs".   Don't think that they knew that the expression came from Jonathan Swift's book of polite conversation of 1738 when he said, "I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain 'cats and dogs'. "   Refers to a poor sanitation system after a flood when deceased cats and dogs and....rabbits and hens, and old newspapers and disease ridden "stuff" would remain in the streets for weeks.

I'm changing my expression, as of this moment, to "It's raining buckets outside."