Texas and California have at least one thing in common.

They’re both places that have been starving for moisture. Happily — and that’s a relative term, to be honest — California has been inundated of late by rain. Lots of it has fallen in a short period of time over much of the state. It’s caused some mudslides and has damaged some homes and no one wishes that on anyone.

More is on the way.

Sitting out here on the equally parched High Plains, I cannot help but hope: Might our drought get some serious relief soon?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/us/california-mudslides/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

One of my sisters lives in Santa Cruz with her husband. Their travels to and from work and across the dreaded Highway 17 to the San Jose area have been fraught with the kind of hazard they haven’t experienced of late. Punishing rain has made driving a bit of a test of the nerves. Driving along Highway 17 in ideal conditions is a challenge.

Sis is up to it, though. She and her husband — not to mention millions of their fellow Californians — are welcoming the moisture. They need it badly.

So do we.

Weather forecasters here aren’t too optimistic about the short-term future regarding rainfall. They keep hedging their predictions on whether we’ll get significant moisture this spring or summer. Then again, I cannot blame them for trying to predict weather for the next hour, let alone for the next day, week or month.

Two months into 2014 and our rain deficit already is piling up. A lot of us are praying for rain, as in getting on our knees and praying. No doubt there was a lot of it going on in California as well.

Did the prayers bring the rain? It’s one of those things you cannot deny categorically.

So … I imagine we’ll keep praying out here and hope we get some of what has drenched the Pacific Coast.