Strange justice

A few weeks ago, I talked about my love for storms. It was during the time when tornadoes were tearing through Arkansas and flood waters were overtaking Tennessee. I regretted not being there, because I really do like a storm.

Over the years, I have been in the path of tornadoes, but never felt the full punch of one. While I was still a child, my mom took movies of a funnel cloud starting to rotate outside our back window. When I was a young married woman, a funnel cloud passed over our neighborhood, blowing off shingles and tree branches, but doing no real damage (it did touch down in a rural part of the county near our home, taking down a few trees, but that was all). I remember that night, because I was up feeding Jesse, and I heard the signature sound of a train coming before it passed over. Many years later, we were driving to Eric's parents home through stormy weather. The rain finally became so heavy that we pulled over and waited it out at a convenience store. Later, we found out that a tornado had passed through that area only moments after we had pulled over (this is the story that prompted Jesse to tell me "dad would pull over in weather like this" during another one of my tornado escapades). Another day was while we lived in Maryland. The forecast was for bad weather, and I was outside putting up lawn furniture, bikes, etc. when Eric got home from work. We were talking outside when he heard what he thought was a siren. I didn't hear it, so he went in to check the weather. Sure enough, it was a tornado warning, and the track put our home in the storm's direct path (yes, our street on the weather tracking thing they do). He packed us up in the car, and we left. When we came back, we saw that there had been no touch down. But our trampoline was blown into the woods, and the tops of the trees in our woods were twisted off in a path between our home and our neighbors. If it had touched down, our home would have been destroyed.

Even with all that, I still revel in storms (maybe even because of it - who knows). But this past weekend we received a phone call that made it personal. We own property in McNairy county, Tennessee. There was no home on it, just a garage and several large old oak trees. My brother called to tell us that a tornado had touched down in McNairy county, and you guessed it, it hit directly on our property. All the trees along the road were taken out. We will have to go clean this up. It will be no small task, and I dread it. It's now my family that has to do the clean up, taking time and money to do it. There is some sense of justice in that (it's wrong to take pleasure in what does damage to others and that's what I have done through the years). But even in this set back, we can rejoice that no one was hurt and no home destroyed. The sad thing is, I am the one who chases the storms and takes pleasure in them, but it will be my sensible husband who has to use the chain saw and physical labor to clean up the mess.

Garlic

How do you decide how weird is too weird? And if it is too weird, should you let people know? Especially when you are not sure who reads your blog, and who doesn't. But I think I will share this, because someone else shared it with me, and I think it has helped.

I have been sick since last Monday. It started out with exhaustion, followed by aches, chills, and head aches. I didn't feel bad all day every day, or I would have gone to the doctor. But I am usually pretty healthy, so I assumed this would pass quickly. It did not. By Saturday morning I was feeling desperate. The sickness had progressed to what I assume was a sinus infection. I didn't recognize it as such, because I had none of the typical cold-like symptoms. By Saturday, I could feel the pain spreading from the left side of my face to the right side. I didn't want to go to the doctor on a weekend after enduring an entire week, so I resorted to a home remedy. I went to the store, bought juicing carrots, apples, beets, and garlic. I juiced everything but the garlic, and drank it throughout the day. And in an act of desperation, I used my blender to blend 3 cloves of garlic with warm water. Garlic has been recognized for its anti-bacterial effects for centuries. I usually take odorless garlic tablets as soon as I feel myself getting sick, and it seems to help. If it is only a placebo, at least it is one that helps. So why blend garlic in warm water, you ask. To release the compounds that give garlic its healing properties, it must be crushed. The anti-bacterial compounds in the garlic are the same ones that give it such a distinctive and lovely aroma. I did not want to lose any of the benefits that come from from eating a whole raw clove. I also did not want to eat a clove by itself. So I mixed it up, drank down as much of it as I could as quickly as I could. It was not a task for the faint hearted. The drink was nasty - hot and bitter. But I got it down. All that was left to do was to sip my much better tasting juice and wait to see if there were any effects from it. I know there will be skeptics, but I have to say that I could tell within a couple of hours that the congestion was beginning to break up. The soreness in my neck began to leave. Today I am feeling a lot better, although not completely healed. So there you have it. I know that some will say that after a week, it was going to get better on its own. Maybe so, but it didn't feel like it was getting better. I believe the garlic was the turning point in my recovery. I would not use this on children, and would only suggest it as a possibility for adults. But as for me, I am convinced of the benefits of garlic. The downside; I am not allowed to go out into polite society until the garlic smell surrounding me subsides :-)

I really miss having my camera working. Rachel has given me her old one. It needed batteries, and Ben put some in for me today. Hopefully I can post some pictures in near future. I want to post some of the chickens, which have grown so much. Eric has the chicken coop framed, and it is looking really good. The garden is almost completely in. It's taking a while to plant, because I have so much going on and can only work on it a couple of days a week. Today I worked in it, but it was mulching the areas around the fruit bushes. I got my mulch the old-fashioned way - mowing the yard, raking the clippings and hauling them out back. I have used black plastic for mulch for a number of years, and really like it, but I read that black plastic is not good for fruit bushes, so I am putting down a layer of newspaper, then covering them with the grass clippings. It's alot of work, but I like knowing that I am improving the soil and using what I have available in large amounts.

The chickens have almost outgrown the container we've kept them in. Most days we put them out into a small fenced area that Eric made for them. I love to watch chickens as they scratch for bugs. I keep wondering which ones are roosters. I think I may have two - not bad for just guessing in the store. Of course, two roosters are more than I wanted, but at least I do have some layers. I am really proud of the coop Eric is making for me. It's an A-frame, and will be portable (this is a real advantage, so we can move them before they scratch all the grass from a single area). If I remember right, it will have a mesh floor, so their dropping will fall to the ground. Rebekah still has nightmares of cleaning out the chicken coop in Maryland (her job - Jesse got to clean out the goat house - I don't know which was worse - let's just say neither one of them will ever have farm animals for themselves). It's just really going to be nice, and I am very proud of it. I'm proud of my husband for building it for me, and taking the time to make it really nice.

If all goes according to plan, I should have the main garden completely planted and mulched by tomorrow evening. It always gives me such pleasure to do this. After it's done, I just sit an look at it. This year I am experimenting with lasagna gardening in certain sections. I have a small potato patch planted that way, and I have an area that I started last year that will become my herb garden this year. I put down cardboard boxes (or newspaper), then covered it with straw, grass and potting soil. I planted sweet potatoes in it last year, but a rabbit or some such thing ate them before they produced, and I never did anything more with it. After I finish the main garden, I will put concrete blocks around the area, put some more straw and grass clipping in, cover that with newspapers, then garden soil. This will be my permanent herb garden. Speaking of herbs, my echinnacea died again this year. I think it was eaten by aphids while we were down south. I believe it's just a curse. I have seeds, and will start some more. Maybe someday....... I really did have high hopes for this year.

Well, that's it for tonight's update. Tomorrow will be Rebekah's first Mother's Day. I know it will have a different meaning for Kathy too. There are just mother's everywhere, and that's just fine with me.

Ponderings while mowing the yard

We have a large yard. There are many advantages to this, and only a few disadvantages. The main disadvantage comes when it is time to mow it. Even then it's not a huge disadvantage, because we have several in our home who can mow. But sometimes.......

Over the past month the grass grew to great heights. Between the rain, the trip down south, ball games and work schedules, the lawn just kept being put off. This week the day of reckoning came. I mowed some on Tuesday night (missing my son's ball game in order to do it). The front yard grass was so high that I had to set the deck up to mow, knowing that it would take another pass to make it look pretty. Wednesday night was church, and last night ball practice. So today was the day to mow the whole yard to a reasonable height. It took just under three hours, and there are still some areas that need a touch up. But at least it looks like some body cares. Ben has worked at mowing, which is why the whole yard wasn't in the same sorry shape as the front. Eric, who does an admirable job on this, has been working on the chicken coop in his spare time. As a side note, the chicken coop is looking really good. I can't wait until it is done.

I love to mow, because it gives me uninterrupted time to think great thoughts. At least they seem great while I'm out there. Today I was thinking about just what a wonderful gift language is. And equally great is the gift of literacy. I've heard the saying "readers are leaders" for over twenty years, and I've always believed it, though I don't believe I always understood just why it was true. Avid readers have access to all the accumulated knowledge of all the great minds throughout the years. What a wonderful gift!!!! Knowledge does not have to be forgotten with the passing of time, but can be built on and added to by those wise enough to make use of the written word.

I think part of the pain of death is the loss of a shared history that necessarily comes with it. All that a person is, all that he knows, all that he has done is lost if not recorded while there is life. A civilization, I think, cannot excel if there is no way to write down its history, which is nothing more than the collective stories of individuals. The gift of language and literacy is a means for keeping a person alive, even though they are dead, and to preserve a nation wise enough to learn from those who left a written record of the reasons why things were done as they were.

This is just some of what occupied my thoughts while mowing. I am not satisfied with how it sounds now that it is written, but I suppose it's because thoughts always seem more profound while sitting on a riding lawn mower.

A Clarification

I love a good storm - it's true. But not storms that result in lives lost and property destroyed. I cannot fathom what folks in TN. have gone through - often floods can be anticipated and prepared for when the rivers rise in the spring. But this flood could not have been anticipated. I am grieved when I think of the lives lost. I am sorry for people who have lost everything they had. I am sorry for those whose lives will be spent cleaning up the mess for days to come. I am sorry to have made light of such a serious situation.

Stormy weather

It was supposed to storm today.

I've been watching the weather all week, and while the worst is supposed to come tomorrow, we were "promised" a rainy day today. It rained enough this morning to cancel the ball games, but other than that it's just been cloudy, windy and gray. I had worried myself for several days, trying to find time to plant my garden before the rains came. Yesterday I worked in it for several hours and I have the sunburn to prove it. I got almost all the bedding plants in, but waited to plant the seeds. Seeds could be washed away if it does rain as much as promised.

I shouldn't complain. Tornadoes hit hard in Arkansas, and much of the area I grew up in is flooded tonight. West Tennessee got over 12 inches of rain. Parts of the interstate are closed, and a good part of Millington, TN is under water. At last report, five people have drown in the flood waters. I shouldn't complain. But I do love a good storm.

I think my love of storms came from my childhood. I spent many a night huddled in the hall while the tornado sirens wailed and daddy stood on the porch watching. But other times he would take us out into the weather, driving around to see what we could see. Once, when a severe tornado devastated Jonesboro, Ark., we drove over to see the damage. Mom took movies as we drove down street after street looking at the damage. This wasn't just a random trip to see the misery of others; my grandparents lived just outside of the city.

My husband grew up in northwest Pennsylvania. Tornadoes do hit in Pennsylvania, but not with as much regularity as in the southland. His childhood was not spent with the regular ritual of huddling in the hall while the sirens blew, thus he does not share my fondness of a good storm. He will not be the one jumping in the car to see if we can find the funnel cloud - but he will watch the blow-by-blow weather reports as the local stations monitor the weather. He will be quick with the comic remarks, and is fun to ride with while trying to get away from a storm (we have several funny stories about storms and the double wide trailer - but they won't be told tonight). But the truth be told, he is the one with good sense when it comes to storms, and every family ought to have someone with good sense.

So today it was supposed to storm....
The storms will come. We are forecast to have severe storms tomorrow, and could see rainfall amounts up to 10 inches. The creeks will rise, and I will drive around to see them as they rush furiously under the bridges. I will wonder just how many times the creeks can rage like that before the supports are damaged, and my life will follow a pattern that began in childhood. And my children, who have learned from me, will stand on the porch and watch the storm as it rages on its way......