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.