Monday, Monday...

... is going to be another scorcher.  But it's only supposed to sizzle today and then cool off again tomorrow after some storms come through tonight.  We need rain.  Our lawn is so dry that the sparklers the neighbor kids dropped last night started the grass on fire.  Yikes.  Good thing good ol' Mrs. Malcolm thought to get a bucket and put some water in it.  Before I went out they were just having the kids drop the spent sticks on the patio.  Nope, I married an Eagle Scout, safety first.  Be prepared, too.  I got the bucket.  One of the kids was quick-thinking enough to use it to douse the flames.  Her mother was trying to stamp it out.  Good job, EM.

It was a lovely cool day yesterday, not sunny, but not hot either.  Very nice.  I didn't do a damned thing except grill some drumsticks for supper and I enjoyed it.  Don't feel guilty one bit.  Maybe I'm maturing after all.  Nah, probably not.  I just took the day off.  The lawn hasn't grown much since it hasn't rained and I'm not watering the lawn.  Not only do I think that's a criminal waste of water but I read in the paper that Japanese beetles lay their eggs in the lawn and watering the lawn helps them.  I don't want to help them.  Some hatched last week and all my roses are chewed into lace and destroyed.  I found a couple of them on the blueberries the other day too.  When I water them I can't help watering part of the lawn around the garden so I expect them.  Guess I go looking for a natural repellent for the blueberries.  Chemical insecticide would make the berries poisonous.  Grrr.

July 22-India, Punjab Hills, Bahu, Rama and Lakshmana on Mount Pavarasana.  So these two Indian guys went camping, and they took along bows and arrows to hunt... what?... tigers.  Yeah, they're hunting tigers.  They put on their best hunting clothes and jewelry, but nothing that jingles, and they climb up to the top of the tallest hills.  From the clearing up there they can see the land all around.  There is only one tree tall enough to obscure their view.  The tree is heavy with fruit and as the sun goes down a troop of monkeys arrives in the tree to eat the fruit and chatter and squabble as monkeys do.  The Indian men frown at the noisy monkeys.  They shoot arrows into the tree at them but the monkeys dodge the arrows and run away laughing that they made the men shoot all their arrows.  As night falls the jungle grows quiet.  In the deepening darkness they hear the breathing of the great cat as it stalks up their hill, gliding through the undergrowth like a shadow.

Sounds like a parable, doesn't it?  They can't climb the tree, tigers can climb trees.  They can't run, tigers run faster.  Maybe they can outsmart the tiger...  Don't look at me, I haven't a clue.  Time to fix lunches for the week, take a shower, and go to work.  To quote the baby DS, "unfortunely I have to go work," which is what his Daddy would say when it was time for him to leave.  Sat siri akal.  (that's "goodbye" in Punjabi--don't you love the Internet?)
--Barbara