I would do a rain dance but I never learned to dance and wouldn't even know how to get started.

We are not used to high water bills but we are getting them now. Having gone to the expense of replanting our front yard with new sod and grass, it’s hard not to do anything we can to keep it alive. Up until recently we have been so blessed with sporadic rain showers since having it installed but now we are in one of those ten plus days of extreme heat with little or no rain in sight. I’m talking hot weather on this Thursday, June 11, 2009. We went from some mid fifty-degree lows week before last to this stretch of blistering mid ninety-degree highs and it’s still so early in the season. I hate to think we will be pouring out water like we are doing now for the next three months! I know this is a minor issue compared to the real world problems that people face each day but it just happens to be one of the many occupying our time and attention at this time.

Our dear neighbor who passed away several years ago used to tell me not to worry too much about the yard since no cows were going unfed because of it turning brown. This was excellent advice, however, it was always hard to take him seriously since his yard was always green. It’s like President Obama’s recent comments on controlling spending and how we need to be very careful with the deficits we are running up. One person likened his comments to the recovering alcoholic who said he had sworn off everything except for beer, wine, and hard liquor. I don’t know where that came from but it elbowed its way into this paragraph so I suppose it can stay. I would guess the song would not have been as colorful had it said, ‘The brown, brown grass of home.’

Many have observed that having put in the new front yard would have been an excellent time to have had an automatic sprinkler system installed. That’s not only astute, it’s also very much on track and I should have also bought stock in Microsoft when it was a start up. Had I put in that automatic system we would miss out on all the wailing and gnashing we do in dragging water hoses and sprinklers from one spot to the next while fighting the wasps, ants, and other unidentified flying objects. I love to see my wife set up the sprinkler, then turn loose of the hose and run for dear life. I suppose those few drops of water could really be dangerous but perhaps not as much as a sprained ankle or broken foot. I do the same thing. I guess it’s an unwritten law that while we have to get the water on the grass we don’t want any of it on ourselves. When it comes down to it we live in our own version of ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ and that helps us to deal with things like an early heat wave. I’ve been listening to some good heavy rain shower sounds on the internet early each morning to help keep my hopes up. I love those nature sounds but would rather hear them in person. I do pray that all is well with you and yours and that God will bless as we continue the journey He has given to us. Amen. ….More later.