Who'll stop the rain?

The weather has turned chilly and gray, and it's put me in a bit of a funk. I'm not ready for the dreary, wet winter weather that will predominate the months between now and, um, June.

When I got home from work and running an errand, the heavy cloud cover made it look as if the sun was already setting for the day. That made me realize that daylight saving time would be ending soon, which has the double whammy effect of making the sun set earlier, plunging all the after-work hours into darkness and forcing a reset of the body clock to get up even an hour earlier in the morning.

It's damn hard to drag my ass out of bed when it's dark outside and cold inside at ungodly early hours of the morning. Fortunately, the time change won't kick in until November this year, but that's getting way too close for comfort. And I've actually been turning on the heat in the bathroom the last few morning to help fight off the chill and the urge to plunge back into bed underneath the covers and go into hibernation for the winter.

Perhaps the funk is made worse by the fact that I'll soon be marking another birthday. It doesn't feel like I've made much, if any, progress with my life in the last couple of years, so I could do without that milestone as a reminder.

Some people in this part of the country actually claim to like the winter weather here west of the Cascade Mountains, with all it's rain. Someone today even told me they enjoyed listening to the heavy rain that fell the other night. I did enjoy those occasional showers we would get when I was living in the desert. I loved the electric smell of rain after a long dry spell. Those showers were refreshing, rejuvenating and mercifully brief. But I honestly can't see how people can like the unrelenting rains -- the "liquid sunshine" -- for which this area is known. Maybe that's just something longtime residents here have to tell themselves in order to keep themselves from slitting their wrists every winter.

It may be time to warm up the old "songs about rain" 40-song playlist on the iPod.

Speaking of that, here's the top 5 most frequently play songs from my iPod from the rain playlist.

5. Rain on the Scarecrow -- John Mellencamp
4. Over the Rainbow -- Ray Charles and Johnny Mathis
3. If It's Gonna Rain -- George Strait
1 (tied) Rhythm of the Pourin' Rain -- Vince Gill w/ Bekka Bramlett
1. Something Sexy About the Rain -- Kenny Chesney