I think when most people hear that title they probably think of the movie of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. For those of you who have never seen it, the story is about a man played by Hoffman who is a Savant with extraordinary powers of computation. Tom Cruise plays his brother who takes him in to take care of him and their hijinks are funny especially when they hit Las Vegas and Hoffman can count cards so they win all kinds of money. 

But there is a different kind of Rain Man and from early days of humanity individuals have claimed to be able to make it rain. Ol’ Dutch can remember when Tanya Tucker came out with a song about such a man called Lizzie and the Rain Man. It climbed the charts and was very popular at the time of release. 

The song tells a story of a Rain Man who comes to town to make it rain and what the townspeople had to do to help. Beat a drum, keep a fire burning etc. There really were such characters back in the day and they would often shoot off cannons too as they saw how it rained after any major battle where cannons were used. The thought is the chemicals in the cannon shells rose up and rain particles collected on them and so then it would rain. And there is a lot of science in that as now they fly airplanes into clouds and release chemicals for the same effect. 

When Ol’ Dutch began to travel full time in his RV it became apparent that everywhere I went, as soon as I got my fishing pole out, it would begin to rain. And this happened with enough regularity that Ol’ Dutch finally had to admit there was some correlation to my presence and actual rain events. 

I can recall one time Miss Trixie needed to go to California and Ol’ Dutch tagged along. They had been in a prolonged drought and were really needing rain that was as elusive as a sexy woman in a 20 year old marriage. Just nonexistent so to speak. So go we did and shortly thereafter it began to rain. And rain it did for the dams overflowed and mudslides occurred, watercourses flooded and there was an abundance of rain. The poor people then began to complain about too much water and it was then that Ol’ Dutch discovered that even though I could make it rain, I could not make it stop. 

It's pretty uncanny how often these rains occur wherever I am but I have even become a believer myself wherein may be the secret to success. For you see there was an old Rain Main even in the Bible by the name of Elijah and his story is one for the books for sure. If you get time you may want to consult that to see just how he was involved in a 7 year drought busting event. He got so excited at the prospect of rain that he even “girded up his loins” and raced a chariot back to town some miles away winning by a wide margin.  

Now Ol’ Dutch doesn't have anything to gird up my loins with and I am not sure what that even means, but I do use similar techniques when conjuring up a rain cloud.  

So now it appears that Colorado can use more snow to carry them over this summer and Ol’ Dutch is gonna go to the One who can make it rain and see if i can't send a plethora of snow their way. Not being there to get my fishing pole out does lower the odds of success but I believe that if you all will keep beating the drum and keep the fire burning, we can all help out our friends out West.  

You may not pay me to come make it rain, but you will pay me to leave so it stops. Wake up nonbelievers or the rain will never come.

Kevin Kirkpatrick spends his days fishing, hunting, ATVing, hiking or making people laugh. His email is Kevin@TroutRepublic.com. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.