Why I Love Rain
Rain actually is the best thing EVER! This is mainly because it’s so much fun but rain is also important for other reasons too, like keeping outside clean, or making rainbows happen.
I’m not really sure where the rain comes from. Otter Keeper says it’s from the clouds in the sky, but I’ve seen clouds that also come from our kettle in the kitchen. Otter Keeper has probably got things a bit wrong and I suspect that rain possibly comes from the kettle (or at least has something to do with it).
Teddy and I have made a note to investigate this theory. We plan to get all the pillows from the sofa, make a tower and see if we can reach the sky to see if there’s someone there who we can ask where rain comes from. Unfortunately, as of last Friday Otter keeper has put a ban on any pillow emigration from their room of origin. This will have to be a secret plan. I’ve put Teddy in charge – if anything goes wrong it’s his fault.
When you go out in the rain it’s quite important to wear special clothes. I have a special yellow coat that Keeper puts on me whenever it’s raining. Teddy doesn’t have a special coat, so Teddy has a bag. Sometimes I think Teddy is a bit jealous of my coat but I have little sympathy for him after he went exploring at the post office without me the other week. Besides, I’ve told him he looks very pretty in his bag. It’s a very nice bag.

But the best thing of all to do when it rains is to go outside in the ‘Rain Box’. When we think it might rain (like when Otter Keeper has just used the kettle to make tea) Teddy and I keep lookout at the window. If it does start raining we ask Otter Keeper if we can go outside in the ‘Rain Box’. He doesn’t always say yes but most of the time he does. Otter keeper gets me a cardboard box and cuts a little window in it for me and Teddy to look out at the rain from. He then puts it in the garden for us to go in! It’s so much fun because it’s all cosy and you can hear the sound of the rain on top of the little roof.
I really wish Otter Keeper would join me though – that’s the only sad thing. He says he wouldn’t fit in our box. I suggested that he find a really big box just for Otter Keepers. He thought about it for a while but then said that other people in the neighborhood might think he was a little strange. I don’t what he means … if Teddy and I had our way everyone would go out in their garden in boxes to enjoy the rain!
It’s stopped raining now which is a little sad but it’s OK because Teddy and I are off to make some more by switching the kettle on and off a few times.
I just want to say how much i LOVE this blog! i love reading about otter and otter keepers adventures and think the illustrations are brilliant!!!
oh wow well thank you very much! 😀 I found your blog advertised on the side of facebook a while ago. i’ve noticed other people finding it there too cos one of my friends posted it to another of my friends wall one time. advertising on facebook seems to be a good idea!
I love the rain too and I love your little yellow rain coat but DON”T TURN THE KETTLE ON! That’s a job for otter keeper not little girl otters and teddies…Oh, be careful!
That is certainly a most dashing coat and I can see why an otter would want to wear one. Being naturally waterproof is pretty awesome, but not as awesome as a special coat.
oh yes fear not , me and teddy are always careful !!
I take good care of teddy in the kitchen ever since he burnt his paw on the toaster that time…
it is a wonderful coat isn’t it.. I am rather proud. p.s teddy want to know if you like his bag too ?
Love the story, like always I enjoy reading this blog. That is a pretty cool box you have in the garden. I love your coat, teddy’s bag is also pretty cool, but maybe you can ask otter keeper to get a coat for teddy, you two would look so adorable wearing matching coats 🙂
@Jack The Cat
Yes I have approached otter keeper on the subject of getting Teddy a pretty coat like mine. He says we buy too many things sometimes though so we should wait a bit.
He also says “Teddy probably doesn’t want to go out in the rain and would rather stay inside”
Otter Keeper can say REALLY stupid things like that sometimes….
That is a smashing coat you have for going out in the rain. I have one just like it, but just a bit bigger. But I don’t have a teddy to take out in the rain with me. I’ll have to make do with my dogs. I don’t think they’d like it very much if I wrapped them in bags though, although Teddy looks very dashing in his bag.They’ll just have to get a little wet, but they don’t mind because then they can come inside and shake all the wetness off on me!
Thank you Otter i usually hate the rain and have been pretty down these last few days because it hasn’t stopped but you have cheered me up and given me a whole new way of looking at it, going to go get myself a giant box right now 🙂
oh yes I can thoroughly recommend getting your own box!! and If you can’t find one you can always borrow mine and Teddy’s – we don’t mind.
If only Otter keeper were more like you!!
*sigh* he misses out on so much because he’s so silly sometimes
Lovely
Hello Otter! You look adorable in your little coat. I bet Teddy enjoys watching the rain with you. I know I would. Please tell Otter Keeper that if he puts prints of the picture of you and Teddy sitting in your box, for sale in the otter store, I will buy one. I’m decorating my son-to-be’s room with otters and other woodland creatures. I think he would like to look at a happy picture of Otter and Teddy in the rain.
why thankyou so much .. I am rather fond of my coat if I’m honest.. although I keep it quiet in-case teddy gets a bit upset because he only has his bag. I’ve told him he should be grateful though … some tedddy’s probably don’t even have bags!
I’ll pester otter keeper to put the print up in our shop. He’s been very lazy where that is concerned. He should be uploading each new story to the shop as they happen but he doesn’t !!
this coupled with the fact that he won’t join me in his own box in the rain makes him a very bad Otter Keeper at the moment!
As with all your stories, I enjoy them without limit, as well as the very beautiful illustrations. What can I say? I love otters! We have a couple of South American otters at the local zoo and they are really pretty animals.
As a sideline, I am really sorry for not havong posted the otters chars of mine as promised. I am working in all-new sketches, and soon will be posted.
please forgive me for the delay.
Always a friensd and a fan,
oscar
What if the rain is made by Kate? You know old ladies love kettles and tea and so on. or maybe there’s a real big kettle somewhere, who knows.
Otter, I need your help. There’s a new kitty at home, but Mikitos, my cat, doesn’t seem happy about it, she makes weird noises and is scared and angry at the same time… I want both cats to be friends but it’s hard… What would you do if a little otter went to live in your place? I need to understand my cat.
=/
Otters are really great this is very true 🙂
teddy’s are not to be underestimated either though (Tedddy says Hi)
we’d love to see your pictures!!
do you use crayons ?
@Kitsune
hmmmmmmmmmm the problem with the cat is a hard one. I’ll speak to otter keeper maybe he’ll know.
I think sometimes it takes time for cats/people/otters to make friends. When I first met otter keeper I was really scared of him and made noises when he came near me … but then he introduced me to teddy who explained that otter keeper was nice and before i knew it we were all friends 🙂
hopefully it just needs some more time ? I hope so
if not i’ll ask otter keeper if I can come over talk to them ( I love cats!)
good luck!!
Hello Otter and Teddy. I just read your new rain story-and I must say it is one of my most favorite Otter Stories ever!I love your raincoat-it looks so wonderful on you! We also think Teddy looks FABULOUS in his new little Rain Bag! It makes him look quite distinguished! Not just anybody can have their own personalized Rain Bag! I just love how your raincoat looks, too. I am sure Teddy will be famous within a day or two and can get a Teddy Raincoat! I wonder what color he will pick??! I know you will exercise extreme caution when near the kettle so there are no more Teddy burns. Arent rain clouds just grand to look at? Being outside and watching it rain is such a beautiful experience- everyone should try it! Ferret and I were sitting in the park this past Saturday playing when the sky opened up! It was a very special time we shared. I am so happy that you and Teddy enjoy the rain from your special rain box! Please let us know of any future rain box adventures, okay? It was a wonderful way to start my day by reading the new Otter story-and I am SO GLAD you and Teddy are happily reunited and things are back to normal and we know more Otter and Teddy stories are on the way!! Ferret and I are looking forward to hearing each and every one of them! Rain is the best thing- it makes everything clean and fresh and new again- and I am so happy for you and Teddy that you have both experienced it for yourselves
@Catherine and Ferret
thanks Catherine!! I’m really glad you and Ferret seem to have such a good understanding of rain like me and teddy! your welcome to come round to our garden any time and go in the little box with us ??
maybe then otter keeper will feel left out and even he will then join us!! that would be a great result
hopefully teddy will get his raincoat soon. although i think if we are going to get anew one maybe i should have it and then teddy can have my old one ?
I think that’s what he’d want to happen – and I really like getting new things ( a bit more than him)
YAYAAYAYY rain!
Hello Otter and Teddy,
Otter, I must say you look stunning in your yellow raincoat! Teddy looks pretty awesome in his bag, too!
I think it would be nice to go out in the rain and sit in a box in the garden. Perhaps Otter Keeper can get a gazebo some time and then you can all sit in the gazebo in the garden and watch the rain. I don’t have a garden anymore but I hope to again some day.
I am sure you and Teddy will be famous very soon and then Teddy can get a nice raincoat like yours! Thank you for the story!
@otter, oh yes – Teddy’s bag looks quite comfy. And I guess the advantage of the bag is that if he gets tired of the Tesco logo, he can just wear a different bag. Instant wardrobe upgrade!
Another lovely installlment from Otter and the long suffering teddy. The illustration is beautiful too, can’t wait to share this with my younger friends.
Thanks.
Dear Otter,
It is raining here too. How delightful to have your new story to make the rain into a nice thing. I have been looking for a good box to take out into the garden, but as I am a good deal larger than an otter I have not been able to find one yet.
I love the picture of you and Teddy in your box, it is so nice and blue.
Make sure to get nice and dry and warm when you come inside. I want you and teddy to stay nice and healthy.
Clouds have always been one of my favorite things, they make the sky more interesting and can be very beautiful. We love this story, your box looks like such fun. I love listening to the rain on roofs too. We hope that one day otter keeper will put all your stories in a book so that we can buy it.
I looove rain!! totally agree with otter. I wish I had an otter-keeper box, but I must agree with otter keeper, other people might think it a bit odd 😉 the sound of the rain on the windows and roofs is lovely though, and so is the smell of the streets and forests after a shower.
ooh, I love your coat, Otter! I wish I had one like it. It’s sad that Otterkeeper won’t buy Teddy a coat too- my Teddy (well, he’s a giraffe really, but he’s a teddy too) has one and he loves it. So I’m sure your teddy would too.
But, I have some thing super to tell you about rain. I know something EVEN BETTER than a box (it’s true!) you can get these special things called “tents” from the Argos catalogue. They’re like little houses that you put together with special sticks and guess what? they don’t get all soggy in the rain like boxes do. Maybe Otterkeeper would buy you one?
Otter, you’re looimg so lovely in your little yellow coat and i think that Teddy looks very cute in his bag; too 🙂
I really hope that otter keeper will change his mind and tries to get a huge box, so he can join you and Teddy 😀
Otter, you’re looking so lovely in your little yellow coat and i think that Teddy looks very cute in his bag; too 🙂
I really hope that otter keeper will change his mind and tries to get a huge box, so he can join you and Teddy 😀
Dear Otter
I love your raincoat! I wish I had one just like it. I really love rain too. The sound of the rain, when you lie in bed just about to fall asleep, that’s wonderful!
Hugs!
Dear Otter,
I just want to say how much I enjoy reading your adventures. I agree with everybody that you look so adorable in your yellow rain coat, it’s very fashionable and practical. And teddy also looks cute in his little bag. XOXO
Dear Otter
I think you really are the cutest thing since Winnie the Pooh :o) I stumbled upon your blog and started following it and just looking at your pictures. You are very cute :o) and also very clever – love your idea of going out to enjoy the rain in boxes. My bed is under a window on the roof of my house and I love listening to the rain.
I think Otter Keeper is so very lucky to have you. Please be careful not to go missing like Teddy. That would really be awful.
Lots of hugs from Iceland
(ps.we have a special valley in Iceland with your name on it! It’s called Otradalur and is very beautiful)
Hey Otter !
What did you do with the kettle this week ? We had a cloudless sky all the time and it was so awfully warm that I slept in the washbasin. You must explain the trick with the kettle to me however because I made an exploration to ours which wasn’t quite concluding. I don’t feel so good now because I realized I risked my life and TT’s.
First time I must say that our kettle is different from yours, there must be different sorts as there are different sorts of otters. Ours is (or I’d better say “was”) and – I’m a bit embarrassed: it whistles like me when I’m angry. When keeper isn’t in the kitchen on time, he spits his head off. That’s very strange and only then, there’s some white smoke coming out. Keeper always forbade me to get near to him so I already knew he could be dangerous but nobody can stop a clever otter ! TT was very reluctant though: he feared to be knocked out by the kettle’s strange head. To prepare my visit to him, I looked at the little book I have and where I can find pictures and names of many animals and the places where they live. I didn’t find any living in the kitchen except mouse. Since he whistles like me, I was suspecting him to be a disguised otter prince or and otter robot. I know kitchen robots exist ! And I was eager getting to know him : TT is sometimes a bit boring and I must encourage him all the time to be more intrepid ! I decided to make an approach whilst keeper was out.
I wanted to propose kettle a spitting contest because there was a bag with cherries in the kitchen (I love cherries and, of course, spitting out the stones through the whole flat or from the balcony onto people leaving the house) but, as I began with spitting some on his neck and his back, I only heard a strange noise, something like “klonk”: either he was a robot or a prince wearing an armour. However, he didn’t seem to be interested and I was quite vexed because, generally, everybody likes to play with me : TT never objects !!!
I thought he might sleep and I remembered keeper was always turning a button underneath the kettle, probably to awake him. So did I but the kettle remained stubborn and the only thing I noticed was that he began to sweat a little and the kitchen got warmer so that I began to sweat too but he still didn’t answer. I decided I must help him and cool him like me and I opened the tap of the sink nearby and spilled some water onto him : at first it didn’t work and the water drops just dried on his metallic back but I don’t know why : when I was spilling water at his feet, he made noises like “pssschttt!!!, pssschttt!” and “bomp ! bomp!” and when I insisted, he was bouncing a bit like me but he was very awkward and you could hardly see it. I had some pleasure though because I was bouncing at the same time in the sink with water dripping on my back as if I’d take a shower.
There was only one thing that began to worry me : the kettle had such a bad smell that I concluded he couldn’t be an otter robot since we, otters, are very very clean and always smell very good – I hope you’ll confirm this ! There was some smoke too, but at his feet and not out of his head. I was really annoyed and began to insult him with no result and I was angry and a bit anxious too : I don’t like smoke ! I went back to the drawing room to reflect with TT how I could tame the kettle as keeper came back and was afraid by the smoke. I immediately told her that it wasn’t me but the kettle. She already guessed it and turned the button off. She then took a potholder and put the kettle into the sink where he seemed to get almost crazy making a great “PSSSCHITTT!!!” I didn’t know though why keeper was so distressed and took me into her arms and cuddled although it was very warm ! She said she was so happy I was still alive and she felt so guilty leaving home too quickly and I wondered how she could have gone out with the button turned on. I was very embarrassed now, especially when she said there could have been a great fire if she hadn’t been back on time. TT was looking at me as if he had already known this before; he seemed to make me big reproaches from the depth of his black eyes while I was just putting my head next to keeper’s ear trying to explain that she hadn’t to feel guilty. This was too much at the moment and I loved that she worried so much about me.
After a while, she went back to the kitchen and looked at the feet of the kettle and said he wouldn’t be useful any longer and must be thrown away. I asked her whether he could be dangerous even in the litter box but she just smiled and answered he would only be if he hadn’t any water in his belly and was heated at the same time since he’s transforming water into steam. She added steam has been very important for lots of machines like trains and she showed me a picture with a big black thing making a huge cloud : she said she was speaking about former trains. I must confess I’m very happy we don’t take those giant kettles for our holydays but you must ask Mr. Darwin how kettles could evolve trains and why we still have kettles and no steam trains. It’s probably the same procedure as with dinosaurs and I’m not very proud I ruined a kettle. There’s one less on the planet and if we keep on being rude with them, they’ll be endangered species like us. I don’t like them at all because they’re so dangerous and they use the water I need for swimming to make clouds and if they’re bad tempered, they’ll burn down your house but all the problems we have with climate and its changing may be related to the future extinction of tee kettles and the desertification of kitchens. So it’s probably better we don’t harm them although they could be as naughty as volcanoes.
I hope you’ll appreciate my contribution for saving the planet : me and you putting our reflections together we’ll be as great as Mr. Darwin, won’t we ? And you must ask YOUR keeper to draw already our otter monument for the Natural History Museum. Maybe you can help him making some sketches with your crayons to inspire him ! At the moment, I’m exhausted by the kettle exploration and you know how awkward my keeper is when she must make a drawing. She says she makes caricatures. I don’t know what it means but there’s one certitude : I don’t want to have an otter caricature. I want to have a real monument with you, Teddy and TT !
Lots of love
Louloute
Oh ! I made a mistake telling “I wondered how she could have gone” . I wanted to write “She wondered”. Keeper says this was a lapsus ! I didn’t understand what she meant. She told a certain Mr. Freud who was as important as Darwin found this out and readers would understand this term. I hope so and I’ll explain TT later because Teddies always do lapsi -he! he! that’s a funny word, isn’t it ?- especially when they are going out to find future husbands for us!
I love this picture of the rainy day. The hues of grey and blue are just beautiful!!!! I love reading these otter stories.
Can’t get over how beautiful and unique each piece of art is. Always something new and exciting. It makes me smile.
Hey Otter,
I love this picture of you in the rain sooo much I want to put it in my little son’s nursery. His nickname is Otter because when we was born he was so fat cute with big brown eyes and he slept with his hands curled up under his chin. Do you know if Otter Keeper sells prints of his artwork?
good morning Otter and Teddy
If otter keeper ever appeared in one of your adventures, I could see him inside a big appliance box with just bit’s of him– shoes and hands–sticking outside of the Windows . It could be a Rain Box skyscraper with otter standing on Keepr’s head for a panoramic view. It has just end started to rain in Oregon after a beautiful summer. Waiting to put on socks and try out my new saddle shoes.
Lovely story about rain, it rains a lot where I live, which keeps it nice and green but I get a bit fed up with it sometimes. I’ll have to be like you and enjoy it more.