17 October 2010

Weather or not . . .
The weatherman explained part of the reason that Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday – three days in succession – were the hottest in recorded
history for this time of the year: The soil is so dry that there is no
evaporation to cool it down, even after sun down.

I succeeded! I made it rain! Earlier in the day I bought soaker hoses
to water almost like a drip system, and I left the children’s giant
cardboard boxes – their boats, their castles, their make-believe
“whatevers” – out to tempt the clouds - and it rained! (Of course I
don’t pretend to think that I had anything to do with it raining,
except for some prayers, but it was fun to see the rain come on the
same day that I purchased the hoses and left the boxes out. I’ll be
using those hoses to save the plants until they issue a more severe
water cut back request – or the rains come making watering
unnecessary.)

As I left the house to teach a class of beginning computer users, the
drops started falling. If I hadn’t had plans I might have just stood
out in the rain to feel the water until I began to shiver. The
weathermen explained that the precipitation wasn’t near enough to
remove us from the “severe drought” category, but it was good to see a
true rain storm. The okra and tomatoes still come in, and although we
share with the squirrels, there is still food for us. We may even get
some tomatillos if it doesn’t freeze too soon.


The Big Box:
A couple of weeks ago Emilia and her family came by for a visit.
Emilia saw the largest of the boxes and came up with a plan (which she
did not divulge to me.) In a few minutes she said (in Spanish of
course) “Grandpa, I have a present for you. It is in this big box. I
want you to open it and it is a big doll that you can put in any
position. It will do what you tell it to do, and then when you touch
its nose it will come to life and will be a grandson for you.” I
opened the box. Lying inside the box was three-year-old Levi as still
as could be. I lifted his right arm, and it stayed where I left it. I
lifted his right leg. It stayed where I left it. I crossed his arms.
They stayed where I put them. I was incredulous seeing that a
three-year-old, instructed by a five-year-old could be so obedient
without great fore-planning and a lot of practice. Sure enough, when I
touched his nose he hugged me and indeed, he was once again my
grandson! Emilia had a turn being the doll after Levi came to life. He
instructed me with the same information that his sister had provided.
I opened the box again,and she likewise could be put into any
position. I knew that Emilia and Levi had seen a similar demonstration
in the talent show at the Sanchez family reunion in Mexico in July –
but without the box. A box really can be anything they want it to be.
Grandkids are great!

Attention!
In the past I’ve done “Grandpa Days,” but now we can do “Grandma and
Grandpa Days” for all the little ones who are not in school. It is
kind of funny visiting with the three-year-olds, in comparison to the
5 year olds: The other day Grayson said, “Let’s do the Fire Engine
Puzzle.” But in getting the puzzle, he noticed the Elmo book. “First
let’s read this book.” Then he saw another book, then a truck, then a
ball, then the tops, then he was hungry, so we had sandwiches . . . We
never did put the puzzle together. I was reminded that the age in
years is roughly equivalent to the attention span in minutes. Sure
enough, we did about a thousand different things that day. I don’t
know how long the attention span thing should work, but I suppose I
should be able to concentrate for four and a half minutes more than an
hour. Hmmm.

Drought

The drought continues. We did get a splash of rain on conference
Saturday - to assure us that it still can happen . . .

On the way home from church today I saw hedges, mostly dead, around
homes. I saw properties with grey/brown lawns that any other year
would still be green and soft to walk on. The children's soccer field
is so hard and dry that one of the kids playing there fell and broke
his arm. The soil is as hard as concrete - perhaps harder, and the
grass is dry and thin as paper. There is simply no "give" under the
dry grass to absorb a falling child.

Elsewhere roots of trees are sticking up above the shrunken soil. I am
using the rinse water from the kitchen sink to water our skyrocket
junipers and six year old ground-hugging evergreens around the base of
the sugar maple tree in the front yard, but there is no way to rinse
enough vegetables and carry enough water to be sufficient for the
sugar maple. I hope it survives. (I am reminded of the article of
faith, "and we hope to be able to endure all things . . .)

I drove over Silver Creek, and saw that there are puddles - and a
trickle. I guess whatever water there is upstream is being drawn off
into the deep wells and used to provide our drinking water. It never
occurred to me that being so close to a large stream, Silver Creek,
and a major river - the mighty Ohio, 3 miles away - there could ever
be a drought so significant that it would change our landscape to this
extent. I have given water to the tomato plants, but evidence says not
enough, as several have just shriveled and died. Others continue to
thrive, though the squirrels are so thirsty that they open many of the
tomatoes, sometimes even green to get the moisture inside. If it gets
any dryer, even the squirrels will have to use picks and shovels to
bury their winter foods.

Life goes on, and there are plenty of things to bring laughter to our
souls. Even at church we smile as a youth speaker tells us about the
importance of diligence in all our efforts: "Think of Albert Einstein.
What would we know about gravity if he had given up after his first
experiment failed?" ((I suppose that was a "contraction" of Tomas
Edison and Sir Isaac Newton, but whatever it was, it did prompt some
smiles.)

There is an up-side to the drought: There are fewer mosquitoes out
this year than ever before. We have actually sat on the porch and
enjoyed the air without those pestiferous beasts. That works until the
dogs next door begin their howling. Maybe we are just getting older,
as we are bothered by the barking and howling and whining of next
door's two big dogs. But it was so nice for all those years not having
barking dogs close by. I think that we will invest in the more
powerful birdhouse style dog bark stopper system. The little hand-held
ones seem to be effective for about ten feet, as the dogs back away
from the fence to avoid the high pitched noise emitted each time they
bark, but I understand that the birdhouse unit will transmit a
stronger signal. Perhaps it will quiet the dogs even when they are on
the other side of the yard. I think it is worth the investment to find
out.

We are so thankful for good health and happy children and
grandchildren. We are happy that we have a temple so close, and glad
that a new one will be built in Indianapolis. Folks from up that way
must come two and a half hours to get to ours, so it will save them
much time. Friday night there was an accident on Interstate-65, and it
took the baptismal group from Carmel, just north of Indianapolis 4
hours to get (late) to the temple. The youth were able to complete
their ordinances, but that only after a marathon drive.

We enjoy hearing from all of you and always welcome you to stop by if
you are in the area. We still have fun even if there isn't green
grass. Instead of Bocce, we might even get out the good old board
games! (By the way, does anyone have the rules for the board game,
"Adverteasing"? I got the game at Goodwill for fifty cents, but
without the rules. I can download the rules for $4.00, but if anyone
already has a copy and could e-mail the rules to me, I'd love to check
the game to see if it is worth the space it takes on the shelf -
without spending the $4.00!)