It's won't rain!

It won't rain! 

Nature, it seems has a sence of humor when persons predict the weather, be it sunny, rainy or windy. “It won't rain,” is a phrase that has been repeated a lot. During the last few months living in Alaska in the late summer of 1995 after Mom, Lila, Tim and Roy had left, There was just Dad, Caroline, Brian and Brent at the old house on Beverly Lake road. There was lots of work to do as Dad, Brian and Brent would shortly make the long trip from Alaska to South Texas. During a weekend lull, Caroline decided that camping would be fun. There are some states where camping can be alot of fun. Preferably states that do not have ticks roaming in the wild.

Alaska of course falls into this catagory, and as long as it is not winter. Alaska is one of the best places to go camping when factoring in scenery, temperature and climate. As Caroline was in charge, Brian and Brent went too, but happily which would not always be normal in the future when camping was mentioned, and it had to do with rain. The trio was joined by Amanda who was a good conversationalist which was fine since Caroline and Amanda were good friends despite the age gap. And of course Brian and Brent did not mind either. It was a fun camping experience with good food packed and good company. At this point, "It's going to rain," was not the common phrase it would become.

Alaska does not typically get much rain in the summertime, but this camping excursion was an exception. After setting up camp and preparing the fire, Caroline executed a remarkable feat once the rain began and that was that she kept a fire going through four hours of rain with Brian, Brent and Amanda scurrying about the forest near the campground looking for scraps of wood for the fire. The fire did survive however, and later after the respective parities had returned to their tents, Brian and Brent were summoned by the cronic shreiks eminating from Amanda and Caroline's tent. Somehow the daddylong legs seemed to be finding their way into the girls tent and surprizing them.

For some reason, Caroline and Amanda took the befuddled, directionally challenged daddy longs leg's visits with the wrong spirit. Later the group would go out on a boat near evening time and listen to the loons serenading eachother at dusk. Once, a loon popped up about seven feet from the boat and the haunting call of the loon sounded long and serene. Why didn't we bring the camera!? It was a fun camping experience and it did not rain anymore during that camping trip. Other situations regarding camping did not turn out as sucsessfully.

A few months later, and in the state of Texas, Tim, Brian, Brent and Roy were in pathfinders. They had joined a spanish group because there was no English pathfinders available, and marching became a real trial as they did not know their right from their left and none of them understood the marching commands at first. The time came for the pathfinder camporee which was held at Nameless Valley Ranch near Austin. Aunt Iona was one of the guides and she made a delicious porridge in a pot over the fire. That night as it began to drizzle, everyone went to sleep as unsuspecting slumberers.

The next morning it was still raining and had been raining all night. The campground was one big mud puddle and it seemed that everything was wet. Almost a year later, Tim told Mom that he wanted to see what Big Ben was like, but not having the resources then, Mom on one of her free weekends took the boys to areas around the historic cities of Fanin and Goliad around the mid south of Texas.

It was a fun time and finding a campsite, they began to set up tents. There was lauging and joking as the fire was lit, and then the rain came. There were three tents, one of which where the zippers did not work, and it rained hard and long till almost everyone was half wet, but they took it in stride although they hastily packed up camp the next morning.

Going through a nearby town on sunday morning, they passed a toupee shop out of which came a grouchy, cranky looking man who looked furious. The color of his toupee was in stark contrast the color of his hair that was showing under the wig. It reminded Brent of a teacher he had who was about as bald as an egg. When asked by a student if he had thought thought about getting a toupee, the teacher said no because he had seen to many people chase their wigs down the street on a windy day. As Mom and the boys passed the man with the toupee, the expression on his face was one they would not forget and it added to the lighthearted mood of the group.

After the camping trip in Texas, it became expected that if they were going to go camping, it would rain, and this was often the chorus you would hear when camping was suggested.

There was another incident a few years later where the boys went camping and this time nobody got wet, although the weather still had a card to play. Tim by this time had his license and he was not the only one who was exstatic about this except for Mom and Dad. They regarded the situation with dubious concern, but nevertheless, they let him borrow the car keys to the big green LTD which also made Brian, Brent and Roy really happy too. Nevermind that the big lumbering vehicle ran over a stump without hurting the vehicle. It was church campout and the boys brough a tent for Tim and Roy and a tent for Brian and Brent. No one had really told them how cold it can get in the mountains of Arizona which was where home was at that point in 1999.

Brian asked Brent to get rid of the pine cones where they had decided to put their tent, which Brent did as best he could. Not too long after they had been there, the car keys dissapeared, but it was the weekend. Surly they would be found before it was time to leave. Sleeping was not very easy that night. Tim managed to stay warm because he had a warm sleeping bag.

Roy did not, and being that it was quite cold, he hovered over the fire most of the night. In the morning he looked like a sweep, but he had stayed warm. Brian and Brent did not sleep so well either but not because of the cold. That night when Brian lay down, he felt a significant bump right between his shoulder blades. It must have been a pine cone Brent did not see. If the tent had not been so small it would not have been a problem, but for several hours Brian could not sleep.

He turned over and began pounding the pine cone into the ground, but it was unusually tough for a pine cone. Frustrated, he persuaded Brent to sleep there since Brent had neglected to see the pine cone when they chose their spot. Brent did the same thing, trying to pound the pine cone into the ground by he did not have much luck either. A day later the keys were not found and a phone call on a prehistoric cell phone alerted Mom and Dad to the situation. They were about three hours away and did not look forward to making the trip. Much to Mom and Dad's releif, before the phone call ended, the keys were discovered under Brian and Brent's tent. They had been pounded into the ground a little bit. It was probably the work of some devious squirrel.

Never the less, Tim, always the adventurer was always up for going camping unlike some of his younger brothers. "It is going to rain!" "Oh no, it won't rain!" Those who have lived in Oregon will know that in the winter it does little else but rain, which is not really a bad thing except if you go camping and bet odds that it will not rain. Well, one Sunday in 2001, Tim came to Brian and said, "Hey, let's go camping!" "It is going to rain!" Oh no, it is not going to rain. It will be alright, and it will be fun." But Brian was unconvinced, and Tim could not talk him into it, so he resorted to another strategy. "Mom, could I talk you into persuading Brian to go camping?" Mom readily agreed to put her persuasive power into getting Brian to go camping and she included Brent in the deal."

It was a maternal executive order." "Brian, you need to go camping with Tim along with Brent." Well Brian did not want to go as he was sure that it would rain, but now he was forced to. Years later that executive order was looked upon as a wise choice made by a presider with an understanding of forsight. She knew that time together with sibblings would be treasured and regarded as a golden memory. In their early years, some of the children did not understand why Dad did not go camping much, but later, they learned from experience why.

Well, the camping trip was prepared and nature at the onset of a camping trip never seems to loose her droplets. Nature seems to wait until the tent has been set up and the fire is ready to be ignighted. That is what happened, and the evening found the three brothers huddled in a tent at the top of one the numerous small hills in Oregon looking out at the grey sky drenched with rain.

All there was to eat was cold hard boiled eggs. They ate them in the dark while doing their best to read passages of the Bible and then reflecting on them to one another. Brian did not need to say anything because it was raining, but interestingly enough he was enjoying himself as were Tim and Brent. The attempt to start a fire had failed as well as the attempt to eat hot food. But that did not seem to matter anymore as with the Bible open and being discussed, comraderie took the first priority.

A few years later in 2004, Brian was a director for Oregon youth challenge. At the end of the summer the canvassers always did something fun to wrap up the summer. Someone had suggested camping to which Brain said, "It's going to rain!" And again as in beforetmes, everyone said, "Aw, its not going to rain!" "Trust me, it is going to rain!" This went back and forth, but Brian was eventually outvoted. Brian did not have proof that it would rain, but he knew what might happen. "Well I guess we can go camping but I am telling you that it is going to rain." "Don't be a wet blanket Brian!"

Well, Brain prepared ahead this time. When they arrived at the campsite everyone put up a tent except Brian. When asked why he did not put up a tent, he said that he had decided that he would sleep in the van which had a seat that was actually quite comfortable to sleep on. Once again someone said, "It is not going to rain!" "Well you can sleep in a tent if you want but I am going to sleep in the van." Brian's choice was regarded with an obliging humor, but it did rain that night. Most people woke up half wet the next moring except for Brain who slept perfectly dry in the van with a smile on his face. "He did not need to tell anyone, "I told you so." Oddly enough, several years later in 2011 when he would go camping with Beth his fiance, it never seemed to rain even though it was in Oregon. Perhaps the relevance of the phrase, “It's going to rain!” seemed to decrease more and more as who you would go camping with became the most important factor when camping was considered and suggested. Camping can be a lot of fun, especially if you go with people you like to be around, when bring the right kind of food, appropriate clothing, and you nix states that have ticks and that won't give you a heatstroke. Alaska and Oregon are fine states to consider. So if you are going to go camping, make sure you know what the weather is first, and don't pooh pooh someone if they say, "It's going to rain!" Odds are, even if it does rain, if you are with loved one, you will look back with a smile. If you can also look back on it later for a good laugh, you can think about what you will do when someone says, "It's going to rain!"