Here's one of the realities of printing a newspaper about 34 hours before it hits the streets: stuff happens. Don't believe me? Was it raining when you went to pick up this paper?

Probably. At least that's what the weather forecasters were saying early Thursday. If their prognostications hold, there is a 60 percent chance of precipitation today. We didn't count on that when we devoted two-thirds of our front page to the biggest outdoor events of the year.

We've got Stones to roll at Wallace Wade Stadium, CenterFest to stroll downtown, and beers to sample at the DAP. (See frosty glass of beer on the front page.) We don't need no stinkin' rain -- at least not today.

Sure, we desperately crave moisture, with our thirsty lawns and shrinking reservoirs. But did it have to rain today? Did someone have to pay the past-due rain bill today of all days?

Hopefully, the forecasters will be dead wrong. The skies will empty through Friday, and today will be ushered in with bright sunshine, butterflies and the kind of Disneyesque images that follow a storm in the cartoons.

If we're lucky, maybe this old adage will come true: "Rain before seven, fine by eleven."