When It Rains, It Pours

We have had a drought since having little snow last winter and precious little rain this spring and summer. We are now playing catch-up. In the past few days we have had four inches of rain. Most of it runs off. The damage is already done to crops but at least we can refill our lakes and rivers.
We are fixated on weather reporting in this state. Perhaps due to our severe winter temps and hot summers, we devout a good chunk of the local news hour to weather reporting. Since our weather has had little variation this summer, a good thunderstorm had the local stations ditching their regular programs and spending hours locked onto the last nights stormy weather. I thought it was a bit excessive until I saw some of the damage reports on tonight's news. One western Wisconsin town within 20 miles had 60 to 80 buildings (houses and barns) severely damaged from 100mph straight line winds. I thought the news people were just hard up for some storm forecasting. We survived intact but had a good soaking.
Remember the Morton's Salt Box? There have been several updated versions of the label over the years. The current one has been around since 1968. I'll bet not many young people know that salt can clump in the shaker if you don't use the right brand. Years ago, you occasionally saw a salt shaker with a few grains of white rice in the shaker to keep the salt dry. I guess it all pours now, even when it rains.

Purchasing salt used to be simple and cheap. Didn't a box of Morton's Salt sell for about a quarter not that long ago. If you watch the food channel or any cooking show, you might have noticed the variety of sea salt etc. I found this site and was surprised at the prices.
http://www.napastyle.com/store/category.jsp?category_id=209&rcode=ggl_2006&cm_mmc=Google-_-Salt+%26+Spices_Salt+Boxes-_-salt%20box-_-Broad+Ad_382199296%7C-%7C100000000000000002037
My mom would never have felt it necessary to purchase special salts @ $18. for 9 ounces. I think this is about as silly as designer water and the $4 cup of coffee. I am satisfied that the salt pours when it rains.