Fire and Rain

As anyone who reads or watches the news knows, the weather has been reeking havoc on our fair nation. First tornadoes, then the Mississippi and other rivers started to rise with too much rain. Then, it started getting personal when my dad's hometown, Columbus, Indiana went under water. I have an aunt and uncle who still live there as well as other relatives in the general vicinity. After a phone call to make sure they were alright (they were), then my aunt sent some pictures. Here is one of them:

After I found out that my aunt and uncle were okay, the next town I heard was in trouble was Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Well, I know a few people in Cedar Rapids, so back on the phone and on the e-mail to find out how they are. All are fine, but the city is still bad in general. Then I start to hear about St. Louis, then St. Charles and St. Peters, where my parents and grandparents live. Several phone calls later, all is okay with the people I know. Joel then took a trip to Wisconsin and Missouri and saw the Mississippi not far from the Arch. It's crazy!

Then, on Saturday, Northern California started burning. First, a fire on the Napa-Solano county line. It's not near enough to do any harm to us, but first we saw a big plume of smoke, then we couldn't see much of anything as the smoke filled the valley. Its still pretty murky as the fire is not yet out. Then, a freak dry lighting storm started hundreds of smaller fires in the Bay Area and beyond. A couple of big fires were also going in the South Bay, but have since been contained. Joel's flight home to SFO last night was delayed an hour because of smoke. It's crazy!

Hope all is well where you are.

Laundry

As I mentioned in my last entry, the laundry does not take the summer off. However, I approach laundry a little differently in the summer. A while back, I was reading Guideposts magazine, as I do each month. There was an article, written by a doctor who saw how pollution in the environment was affecting the health of people with asthma that he saw in the ER. He suggests many things people can do to cut down on the pollution they are responsible for. The one that stuck with me was hanging the laundry out to dry. Now, I live in an area where outdoor space is at a premium, so I didn't think I had the room to hang clotheslines. But, I do have some hooks outside that I started putting hangers on to air dry a few things. Then, I thought that if I strung some clothesline between some of the hooks, then I could hang some more things out. Well, in my little yard, I now have enough clothesline to put out a whole load of laundry to dry. I sometimes have to be creative, but it works. Now, it does take more effort on my part to lug wet laundry outside and hang it up. But, and this is just me, I could use the exercise. The nice thing is that I can hang things outside and bring them in and fold them when I am ready. No more reponding to a buzzing dryer or dealing with a cold wrinkly load the next day. On a really hot day, it can dry about as quickly as a dryer. On warm day, it will take longer. I have line dryed just about every load I do at one time or another, but I found that towels come off the clothesline very hard and rough. So, I always use the dryer for towels, no matter the season.

Another thing to think about with laundry is what you are using to wash your clothes. A lot of detergents have strong smells and leave residues which can irritate allergies, especially at night. I use safe, non-toxic products that work really well. Check them out here.

Here are some pictures of my clotheslines.

Enjoy your laundry!

Summertime!!!

Well, summer vacation is finally upon us. I know that for many parents, summer can strike fear into their hearts. What will they do with the kids being home all this time? Where will they stay while the parents are at work? But, for a teacher like me, summer still holds the same allure of long lazy days relaxing that it did when I was a kid. You know what they say about the three best things about being a teacher...June, July, and August. So far, my first day of summer looks like this: Sleep in, do a little laundry (yes, the laundry doesn't take the summer off) maybe take Matthew miniature golfing, have some lunch, sit by the pool, have a glass of wine, make dinner, watch some TV, go to bed. That's the life. Other summer highlights so far:
- Matthew will go to Cub Scout camp. Its a day camp that I helped with last year but am taking this year off. It is a great time for little boys. Hiking, crafts, shooting BB guns, telling gross jokes, rolling around in dust and mud, getting sprayed off by a fire engine. What else could they want?
-Our church is having Vacation Bible School, which, coincidentally, is the same week as Cub Scout camp.
-We will make our yearly trek to Oregon. We will spend some time on the coast, some time in Portland with Joel's family, and possibly some time in central Oregon. We are still in negotiations over camping vs. hotel. I like to be in a place that has flush toilets. I don't think that's too much to ask. I'll let you know how that turns out.
-Hopefully, we will get Matthew into swimming lessons again this year. Maybe take him to hit a few golf balls, too.
On a related summer note, I am on a church softball team that plays in a city league. We finally won our first game of the year! Yeah! As many ball players do, we will make sure that next time we play, the same spectators are there and we are considering not washing the clothes we were wearing.
Happy summer everyone!