It never rains on field trips

One of the Phactor's cardinal rules is that it doesn't rain on field trips. OK maybe once in a while it rains on field trips when teaching rain forest ecology, but then rain is expected. On one memorable field trip, after 4 hot, dry days at the start of a rain forest field trip, one of my charges said, "Where's the rain? Thought this was a rain forest." Late that afternoon a deluge moved in and provided about 36 solid hours of heavy rain. OK then, it's really rain forest, so no whining (actually that's #1 rule on field trips). More than anything this is an attempt to teach students the power of positive thinking, and the futility of getting annoyed at something you cannot control. A little dampness never hurt anyone. However, at the moment my next field trip is 31 minutes away and some sort of precipitation is pounding on my office window. While it probably is rain now, in a mere half hour it will by definition not be raining. Useful rule that.