6 Reasons to Go Walking in the Rain

*  The dogs assume you are NOT a booger-head who breaks your promises.

*  You can freak out the mailman twice in one day. (Once as you leave the house with the dogs who think he's lunch, and once as you encounter him at a random time during your walk with the dogs, who still think he's lunch.)

*  You can work out that lingering stiffness in your back and neck that comes from knitting for too long in front of the television.

*  Self-righteousness works off at least a hundred extra calories. It's like going swimming in the cold or running in the heat. You're not just exercising, you're suffering.

*  The sound the rain makes as it hits the leaves, knocking the yellow ones a-fluttering to the sidewalk, is like fairies in gold-plated booties pattering across a tin roof.

*  You might encounter--and exchange banter--with a utilities worker standing in a hole of someone's yard.  His head and shoulders might be peeking out, and the dogs might be hysterically flummoxed by said man-in-a-hole.  You might carry the image of the man-in-a-hole with you for the rest of the day.  He might--just might, mind you-- reserve a place for himself in a book.  So, remember that: walk in the rain = man-in-the-hole.  And all that that implies.