Mother Nature has apparently decided that whenever I mow the yard, I will end up wet.

It might be bright and sunny so I perspire – no I sweat. Or it could be overcast and really humid.

For the most part this summer, the regular chore followed the first scenario. I would mow. I would sweat. I would take a break, mow some more and sweat some more. Other times, a sudden summer thunderstorm would appear out of almost nowhere and rain on my parade.

I could look at the weather radar and there wouldn’t be a cloud from Galveston to Key West. But let me get out there behind the mower and suddenly I would hear thunder in the distance. When you can hear the thunder over the sound of a lawnmower, you know it has to be close and it has to be big.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about getting caught in a deluge. Since then, about half the time I cranked up the mower or even thought about mowing, it would rain. I was out of pocket all weekend so I hoped to tackle the yard Tuesday. I wasn’t real happy when it came a downpour mid-afternoon in Robertsdale. A quick glance at the radar showed a small cell in the middle of the county. It looked like it would skim past the house, giving me a shot at relieving the grass of so tall seed pods.

I should have known better. When I started I thought I saw lightning in the distance. I brushed it off to my mind playing games. Then I heard the thunder. (See a trend developing here?) It was overcast and pleasant, but the humid air was thick and hard to breathe. Before I had a chance to start sweating, it started sprinkling. Thankfully, I was able to get the front mowed before calling it a night.

Another look at the radar showed the entire region suddenly covered by rain, in some places serious rain. Meteorologists say it had something to do with a warm front bringing unstable humid air to the region. I think it was because I had the audacity to crank the lawnmower.

I’m wondering if I need to move to the desert and farm myself out as a rainmaker – “Have lawnmower, Will travel.”

On a more positive weather note, fall has officially arrived so things ought to be cooling off a little, making like more bearable as the fall festival season approaches. The temperatures are only supposed to be in the mid 80s this weekend for the Jubilee Festival.

That will also mean folks won’t have to wear shorts to Friday night football games. It’s hard for me to get in the mood for football when sweating in the stands.

I made a quick run back to northeast Mississippi last weekend. We took the critters with us. Marcus got up Sunday morning and had to go to the bathroom. So I led him to the backdoor and and went outside with him. That’s when I realized it was fall. It was more than brisk outside. It was 54 degrees.

William Moore is the Senior Editor at Gulf Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at wmoore@gulfcoastnewspapers.com