Rain, glorious rain!

Ah, it's pouring down rain tonight here in Melbourne - at last! I am very happy about this. The pussins are not.

I love the sound of the rain on the roof. I love the way it makes the ground smell good, and I love the way it helps my garden perk up after weeks and weeks and weeks of dry, dusty weather.

The pussins do not love the rain though. None of them.

Podder hates the slightest bit of damp - he won't even walk on the grass after I've done the watering. He consciously and deliberately objects to the rain.

The other two however .... they're a bit different.

Fatpuss is the funniest. He's got such fat, thick fur that he usually doesn't feel the rain for some time, especially if it's a light dusting. He will sit outside with the rain gently falling on him for hours, and then finally, when the water starts to penetrate his fur and touch his skin after what seems like an age, reality dawns upon him.

It's quite amusing to watch. One minute he's there in the garden, checking things out, snapping at cabbage moths, examining the dirt .... and the next minute his eyes are as wide as saucers as he realises what's happening. You can see it in his face as he recoils in horror:

"oh my GOD! I am WET! It's WET out here! Its - it's RAINING ON ME!!!!!!!!!"

And then he'll dash for the back door and miaow like someone's holding him down and threatening to withdraw his food supply, until one of us lets him in.

The Grimthlet too, he's a different kettle of fish. He knows it's raining on him, but he engages in a silent battle of wills with the weather, steadfastly stoic in the belief that he can stop the rain through sheer mental effort ... that, or outlast it, at least.

Of course this never works. But he'll sit out there resolutely, frowning crossly and willing the rain to stop, certain that he's going to win this one through sheer stubbornness and obstinacy, despite all evidence to the contrary.

And then we have one cranky puss on our hands.