Hallelujah, it worked!!!

     When I first spotted this work of art on campus early in the morning, I thought it might be a political act, protesting the over-use of water to maintain lawns during a drought - obviously a bad idea, yet embedded in our culture.  But then it rained!  So, the whole point of it must have been an abstract kind of rain dance, and it worked!  Very nice. 
     This brought back memories of the year I taught in eastern Colorado during a drought.  It was winter wheat country, and lots of wheat farmers were hurting, and worried.  I took some of my students to Denver to see a live performance of a play called "The Rainmaker" then on to Boulder to visit the National Bureau of Standards' Atomic Clock and NCAR's exhibit on hail storms, rainbows, and other atmospheric delights.  Got into a little trouble when we returned.  The Rainmaker was too political for the tastes of the parents (the students loved it) and Boulder was perceived as Colorado's version of Berkeley, CA.  Just full of hippies, tree huggers, and lefties.  To top it all off, I took the same group to see Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Alan Ginsberg, and Ramblin' Jack Eliot perform at the Colorado State University football stadium.  Dylan had that same magic.  The concert began on a hot, sunny afternoon, and after four hours he led a group sing of "A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall."  Around 10 minutes into the song, a great group of storm clouds came over the front range and we had an intense rain storm.  Dylan was God.  We ignored the fact that the same weather pattern happened practically every day during that time of year.