Let's just deal with the rain.

Rain, rain, rain. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.

But it won't. It just keeps raining, so we're going to have to learn to put up with puddles, drips, sprinkles, sprays, floods and such.

Not that we want to. ''The rain is great, but if I hear one more person say, 'Well, it's OK because we need the water' - I'm going to scream,'' says Tiffany Casey, of Salt Lake City.

Listen to Helen Bero: "I do the right thing and plant plants that are drought-tolerant and now they have died. Next thing I know there will be mushrooms sprouting up everywhere," the Salt Lake City woman says. "Besides that, I finally got a pedicure and I want to wear sandals!"

Todd Weiler, an attorney at the Salt Lake City firm of Parry Anderson & Gardiner, wants to send this memo to everyone: "Please STOP praying for rain. Your prayers have already been answered!"

Here is the thing that is clear: we need counseling from the experts - residents of Portland, Ore., (36 inches a year) and Seattle (37 inches a year), where drizzles and gloomy skies are just part of life and weather reports include "sun breaks."

"The problem with gray, gray skies for weeks and weeks is you get depressed, low energy and morose," says Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle. "There is a reason why the whole coffee thing started here. We need uppers.

"We drink coffee all day and then alcohol all night and then we fall asleep. If you guys are going to enter a Biblical era of downpours, you need to get with the caffeine and booze," he says. "It's really all about substance abuse."

If it starts to downpour, duck into a bar, he suggests.

Good idea, says Paul Powers, an assistant professor of religious studies at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, which he describes as having an "intensely developed indoor culture."

Between Portland and Seattle, there are more coffee shops than "about anywhere in the world." His theory: Getting highly caffeinated helps make up for a lack of sunshine.

"There isn't really any other explanation for the amount of coffee people here drink," Powers says. "It's a combination of adjusting in the long run with coffee, beer and just ignoring it."

Tom McDonald, a transportation engineer with David Evans & Associates in Bellevue, Wash., says it's a good time for Utahns to get to know slippery, slimy backyard creatures.

"Everybody here has a pet slug," McDonald says.

He also says we might want to start cataloguing shades of gray and cloud textures just for fun.

And parents: Keep an eye out for really big puddles. "The great thing is driving through puddles with the windows open," he says. "Kids love it."

Other than that, "It's just another typical weather pattern on the planet Earth. Just go out and do what you do," McDonald says.

Marty McOmber, spokesman for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, relays this suggestion from the mayor: Plant trees and grow forests.

"It works well for us," McOmber says.

Besides great coffee, McOmber credits Seattle's rainy weather with creating a good music scene and birthing grunge.

"There's nothing better to do outside but hang out in the garage and play music," he says.

Perhaps Salt Lake City's music scene will bloom, McOmber says.

Meanwhile, he proposes we do as the Seattleites do and learn rain doesn't hurt - which is one of the "strange adaptations, short of growing gills" made by residents of the Emerald City.

With that in mind, de rigueur clothing for rainy climates includes the "Seattle Sombrero," available at REI, and plenty of Gortex and fleece.

It's all about the clothes, actually, says Cathy Sorbo, a Seattle comedian and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"Somebody did once say there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing," Sorbo says.

Seattleites suggest we give up canvas, cotton and leather and go slick with our coats, hats, pants, etc.

Once properly clad, just get out there.

"We go out all the time in the rain," Sorbo says. "You have to, or else you're sentenced to a life indoors."

That said, Seattleites like their movies and cafes, she says. "There is a whole lot of renting going on."

And as for umbrellas, these wet state residents say either get a fun one or don't bother.

"Nobody here wears raincoats or carries umbrellas," Savage says. "If you see someone carrying an umbrella, they aren't from here."

brooke@sltrib.com

Rainy day jokes

Q. What do you call two straight days of rain in Seattle?

A. A weekend.

Q. What did the Seattle native say to the Pillsbury Doughboy?

A. Nice tan.

* A newcomer to Seattle arrives on rainy day. He gets up the next day and it's raining. It also rains the day after that, and the day after that. He goes out to lunch and sees a young kid and asks out of despair, ''Hey kid, does it ever stop raining around here?''

The kid says, ''How do I know? I'm only 6.''

Q. Where is rain saved?

A. In cloud banks.

Q. What's worse than raining buckets?

A. Hailing taxis.

* ''I can't believe it,'' said the tourist. ''I've been here an entire week and it's done nothing but rain. When do you have summer here?''

"Well, that's hard to say," replied the Seattle resident. "Last year, it was on a Wednesday."

* Seattle B.O.: Third day without rain

* Gortex: What Seattleites are born with instead of skin.

Sources: Cathy Anderson's Seattle weather jokes, www.the4cs.com/~cathy/seattle.html; www.slanguage.com; www.weatherimages.org