Monday marked the end of a long month in which weather was more than stuff of small talk, but in a year marked by uncommon weather occurrences – January’s surprise snow, a mid-April frost and this spring’s tornados – what’s the big deal about a few soggy afternoons, right?

Still, after a steady series of damps days and one particularly memorable night of strong-enough-to-change-the-landscape winds, I ran into several folks singing the “rain, rain, go away” blues.

There was Patti down at the Trustmark drive-through, who suggested customers might soon need a boat to maneuver through her lane.

There were Maggie and Annie, who’ve had their pool time cut in half lately, and their mom, who has crunched the numbers on their membership fees. “We try to go almost every day to get our money’s worth,” she told me during a discussion of the regular afternoon showers we experienced last week.

Then there’s Brenda, who, because of all the rain, planned to take her grandsons to Jackson’s children’s museum, an outing where inclement conditions wouldn’t be a factor. “Or I could find another closet to clean,” she kidded.

And someone sent this email from their Brookhaven backyard right after what he called “another tropical squall” interrupted his barbecue: “Fortunately I got the coals just right and meat and ‘shrooms on before the deluge, but I am soaked.”

But for many, rain delays cut hard into the work day. Know any loggers or roofers or hay farmers? Even troopers said that pelting showers shut down their Crystal Springs roadblock last weekend for an hour. “It’s too dangerous because people can’t see as well or stop as well,” one officer told me.

A mowing crew explained that rains coming at the end of the week are especially hard because most customers want their yards cut right before the weekend.

“You don’t want to cut in the rain or right after the rain, but you’ve got to cut sometime,” the crew chief shared. He went on to describe recent conditions as similar to living in a rainforest. “Wet and rainy. Step out of the door and the humidity is like a wall.”

And speaking of humidity, a tire repairman named Tommy had this to say about that weather element in relation to his long-sleeved shirt: “Let me tell you something. I could be standing out here naked and sweating just as bad,” he spouted off, causing a chorus of snickers to rise from a crowd of listeners.

But not everyone is complaining. For Roy, who over the course of several June days emptied more than seven inches from the rain gauge he monitors, the abundant rain isn’t such a bad thing. Known throughout the area for his lilies, the green thumb says his Passion in Red and Yellow Explosion varieties have never looked better.

“We have them in raised beds, so they haven’t suffered because they drain well. All of my lilies have really outdone themselves this year because they like a lot of water.”

Which brings up an important point. While the rain may affect our recreation and our vocations and even our moods, at least we’re not having to water our yards.

“I just hope it doesn’t go to the other extreme,” Roy was careful to mention, voicing aloud what a lot of us are thinking as our patio cushions dry out and we float into July.

Wesson resident Kim Henderson is a freelance writer who writes for The Daily Leader. Contact her at kimhenderson319@gmail.com.