Is My Rain Barrel Half Full or Half Empty?

I sought retail therapy. I didn't want to lie on a couch; I wanted to buy a couch. There is no room for another couch in my house and the creaky, lumpy, spotted ones I have are perfectly serviceable. I plan to bequeath them to my children. I went to Home Depot because I do need to buy rain barrels for the house I'm rehabbing in Atlanta. The water drains too close to the house. It must be fixed and I would like to see, in person, the rain barrels that I have been shopping for online while I sit on the couch. I want to feel the quality of the plastic, smell the off-gassing, and see how the light reflects off the moss green or the terracotta. And I want to get off the couch.

Home Depot in Seattle doesn't have rain barrels. Maybe I should have asked or maybe the rumor that rain barrels are illegal out here is true. I try Fred Meyer, but still no rain barrels, only Christmas trees. The Christmas tree that I have in the garage that I got from freecycle is perfectly serviceable even if it is a bit wide for our condo.

As long as I'm out, I get a hot cider from the Starbucks inside the Fred Meyer mini bookstore. I browse and sip. Here are a couple of good titles: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Out of Debt, and Surviving Financial Meltdown - Confident Decisions in an Uncertain World. One of them has a pretty good idea for paying down a mortgage early. I purchase them.

Retail therapy accomplished. I've had steady internal weather for about four hours now; no assaults by unexpected gushers; no windshield wiping of my glasses. I have absolutely no association of my mother with rain barrels.(Although if I think about it, I could create one.) Christmas trees are safe as long as they're artificial, but the puzzle department and the greeting card section are dangerous. I hurried past the red mixer that looked like the one she bought for my niece for her wedding; a last act of giving. And I didn't dawdle too long in the bookstore by the new Beverly Lewis Amish tale. I can't buy her one of those anymore.