Will rainy weather carry over into Masters?

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

-- Mark Twain

I was driving to work in Thursday morning's downpour thinking, "The Masters Tournament begins a week from today. I wonder if it will be raining this hard?"

Our Chronicle weather blogger Preston Sparks wondered the same thing. So he asked three respected weathermen from our area TV stations for their Masters Week predictions.

Go to Come Rain or Come Shine and see what they say. (Hint: You might need to keep that umbrella handy.)

FOUR ON THE FLOOR: College basketball's famous annual championship weekend is here featuring the Final Four. Ever wonder where that expression came from? (No, it's not the Sherlock Holmes adventure Sign of the Four .)

According to the NCAA, its first record of the phrase was in the 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball Guide, and was coined by Cleveland sports writer Ed Chay.

FAULT FINDING: If your marriage grows difficult, South Carolina is trying to make your divorce a bit easier.

The State newspaper reported that South Carolina's Supreme Court has approved new forms that allow for a simple divorce without involving an attorney.

The forms are available online and free of charge at courthouses statewide. Filing completed forms with the clerk of court costs $150.

But it's not for everybody.

You have to be separated continuously for one year, have no children, have no marital property and no marital debt, which certainly limits the chances of conflict.

DANGER ZONE: The latest threat to the environment? Lawn mowers.

In fact, South Carolina is trying to get older mowers off the lawns of the Palmetto State.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control sponsored a lawn mower exchange program last weekend in Charleston. Officials say older mowers not only pollute as much air in an hour as a car on a 200-mile trip, but nationwide about 17 million gallons of gasoline is spilled annually by men trying to fill their lawn mower tanks.

Who knew? I sure didn't, but from now on I'll be careful.

TODAY'S JOKE: Bill Wood of Hephzibah shares this one.

A teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs to her class. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to gather the building materials for his home.

She read, "And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow full of straw and said: 'Pardon me, sir, but may I have some of that straw to build my house?' "

The teacher paused then asked the class: "And what do you think the man said?"

One little boy raised his hand and said, very matter-of-factly, "I think the man would have said, 'Well, I'll be darned, a talking pig!' "

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.