Things around here have been very dry lately. Kind of ironic after the crazy flooding we were getting just two weeks ago. The waters have receded a little, but the earth is saturated and seems to be taking the dry spell better than it would have otherwise. But now instead of flood warnings, we have fire warnings. And there is a lot of dust everywhere, dry leaves blowing about, pavement that looks crusty and littered. When will it rain again?
My kids have set up a watering hole for their animals, to get them through this dry spell. I understand the wildebeests take it particularly hard.
This watering hole is actually a charming rut in the warped and bubbled asphalt pavement in the back yard, an area that used to function as a driveway leading to the garage, but doesn’t anymore because fences have blocked it off. I tried to tear up some of the asphalt last summer and only got as far as this hole. So glad to see that it can be of some use. As well as the asphalt rocks that came out of it… good for lobbing at neighbors, over fences. Oh, wait, I tell them not to do that.
Meanwhile, there’s laundry to do, and my washing machine has selected this week to conk out. A belt broke or became disconnected, so the thing no longer agitates or spins out the sopping wet clothes. Things did not get particularly clean this last load I attempted to wash—three times—so I gave in and decided it was all close enough to clean. Maybe the dry, dry weather will help everything evaporate faster than it would under normal spring-weather circumstances.
If it’s all too much I can always relax in the tent my kids constructed yesterday. It consists of several dowel rods and two tablecloths from Target. Yesterday, my mother was with the kids for the day, and she reported that they used short bungee cords with hooks on both ends, dangling off a stick or dowel rod, to pretend that they were fishing and camping at this tent. The three neighbor boys were over as well and they were pretending to be one big family with Council and Jose as the mom and dad. They used their baby bath toys as the fish (plastic, with a magnet in the mouth), which were ideal to catch with the metal bungee hook. Then they “grilled” the fish and ate them. Sounds like a plan for lunch. And if I get too hot I’ll stand under the dripping laundry.