Summer's Last(?) Hurrah

There was some deliberation this morning about whether or not to go to the lake.  After all, the forecasted high temp for the day was only 108º.  Water temp: 76º.  With any breeze we'd be chilled to the bone!  We took our chances on the breeze.

With the boat, it's a tight squeeze .



Look at that beautiful empty beach:



Now from the other direction:



Add clean, clear water,



sand between my toes,



and five people I love:

Uh - oh.  I see another swimmer.  The beach is getting crowded.

Heading home.

I love it when school is in session.  ;)  It was the perfect day.

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:1

Diamonds in the Lake With Dad

There is a perverse sort of gratifaction about living in the desert.  Desert living allows you to complain in a bragging sort of way about all the extremes you have to deal with, like heat, wind, dry air, rattlesnakes, dirt storms, and etc.  I love to hate it.  You know what I mean.

So today it was about 115º and the man of the house thought we should go to the lake.  I love the water if I ever do get in (and when it's 115º you either get in or you die of heat stroke); I just don't love the  ±1/2 mile hike in 115º to get to our spot.  Some women love their own comfort more than they love being with their family, and I confess, sometimes I just might be one of those women.  I went anyway.  It was hot.  And we forgot the sunscreen in the van.  I was the only one who wasn't wearing any yet, and I didn't relish hiking across the burning sands to retrieve it.  My knight in shining armor, my Superman, my cowboy in white offered to go all the way back and get it for me, but I declined.  (Amy said I need a tan.)

Rather than post the same scenery for the third or fourth blogging year in a row, I will just post these photos of "Dogpile on Dad".

Amy started it and called for Help.



Help was more than willing.



More Help on the way.



The struggle.



Almost...



VICTORY!!!



And Dad is subjected to the humiliating beauty parlor treatment.

We are looking forward to a reprieve from the burning sun, and  we will be taking a little trip to more civilized climates here shortly.  For more accurate description of desert living, read this old post and its sequel. (That would be more accurate, not more accurate.  I would never exaggerate.  Would I?) ;-)  Better yet, take a scroll through my Gems in  the Desert category.  That'll keep you busy while I'm gone.

Note:  Slightly Synesthetic Alison says the bottom of the lake is the color of Eb (that would be E flat).   The sound of an alarm clock is red, and the dial tone is a smooth orangey brown.   :)   I feel left out.

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Deuteronomy 32:10

Fire Ants

Some fire ants snacked on Emily's arm the other day.  We have lots of them around here, and while they don't go looking for you to hunt you down and eat you, they do feel welcome to sting if you cross their path or disturb their home. 

I don't know if the ants sting because they feel threatened, or if they are just mean.  The get ahold of their victims with their jaws mandibles, then pivot around the bite location to sting repeatedly. It is mildly painful to have one sting, but to have several, or, God forbid, hundreds of them all at once is awful!

These fire ants were climbing up a post, and Emily leaned on it.  In less than seconds she had ants moving quickly up her arm.  Emily hollered to her chivalrous, manly friend, Brandon, to help her get the ants off.  By the time they had cleared them, she had at least a couple dozen stings. 

Her mosquito bites swell to the size of a nickel or bigger.  (No, we don't have mosquitoes here, not many.  These were Missouri mosquitoes. Foreigners.)  Looks to me like she is mildly allergic. Fire ant stings normally look like this.  But look at these things.  This was several hours later. (You'll have to use your imagination. My photography skills are right up there with my helicopter mechanic skills.)  The next morning even her face was swollen.

What I want to know is, might this be a good indication that she is also allergic to bee stings??  Should I be carrying Benadryl everywhere we go?

The sting of death is sin;
1 Cor. 15:56

Mountain 2, Monocogman 0

The mountain won again!  (My post about the first attempt is here.) The preacher and his cohorts tackled Spirit Mountain again on Monday.  Not only did they not reach the top, they found they were on the wrong mountain!  It might have been a good idea to read the guide book before setting out on a big trek.  My dear man did check some blogs and forums to see what other hikers thought would be the best approach to the mountain and the best path to take to reach the summit.  What he didn't count on was the other hikers not having a good sense of direction...

Ever try to live the Christian life without the Bible?  People do it all the time, choosing to read something about the Bible instead of checking out the real Guide Book for directions. Oh, how those little side trails can get us off the track, eh? This adventure was fraught with good sermon illustrations!   

The men set off at sunrise for a five-mile hike, expecting to reach the top in time for a hearty lunch.  They hit several dead end trails and some sheer cliffs -- great terrain if you are a free-solo fan, but not for these men who have a bit more sanity, not to mention the responsibility of a family life.  One false move in this wilderness can result in death.  "If the desert heat doesn't get you," says a Las Vegas and Southern Nevada hiking guide, "the sun, sharp rocks, twisting canyons, lightning, flash floods, prickly plants, rattlesnakes, scorpions, elevation, or mountain lions might."  Mildly funny, but true!  A snake bite or even a broken ankle can mean the end, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't have to be free-solo to be risky. The guys wisely turned around and made the descent, but not before setting a few boulders free.  (Don't tell anyone. The cactus-huggers might get after them for changing the landscape.) 

The scenery is gorgeous (if you like brown -- hey, it's a nice fall color!).  Check out the rest of the hike info at the Monocog Blog.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 16:25

Morning at the Lake

It's amazing that after we get all our lake stuff into the van there is still room for us, but we did fit. Barely. Somewhere out of view we have three chairs, numerous noodles and rings, a cooler, several bags, and three more people.  We're good at this packing business (see this post for evidence).

The lake was gorgeous today.  We got there early enough that my internal thermometer was not quite threatening to burst through the top of my head.   The water was oh so clear...

And the beach was almost empty.

Everyone found something to do.

As it got later in the day, the beach began to fill up.  Scads of people parked their stuff under the one tree on the beach, creating a scene reminiscent of Go, Dog, Go!  The only thing missing from the book was all the activity taking place IN the tree and ON the tree!  We saw two people wearing shirts in the water.  I could hear the man's southern accent from many yards away, and then I knew for sure they weren't from around here.

I attempted to take a panorama of the landscape, and if I can figure out how to stitch the photos all together I'll share that later. 

It was a beautiful day!

 

Still Alive in the Desert

The official temperature reading here on Sunday last week (this was in my drafts too long) was 117°, and 113° the day after.  Dad and the kids went to the lake to "cool off", but they almost overheated before they got to the beach.  No one complained of such a thing, but I know they must have -- it's the reason why I did not go with them!  It does help to walk that half mile with one's toes in the water, but honestly, that kind of heat makes me feel like my head is the top of a thermometer, and the mercury is about to burst the glass.

But there are some advantages to the heat, at least one.  I'll try to think of two. 

This week my girls changed roommates, and in the process we washed all the sheets and mattress pads.  It's such a quick job.  Throw 'em in the wash, then throw 'em over the line.  The sheets are dry before the next set comes out of the washer. 

And, earlier I had to pour the last of the honey into a smaller jar, but it had crystallized and thickened at the bottom of a plastic gallon container.  The answer -- put it out in the sun for a few minutes!

The hot evenings keep everyone inside.  At this moment my girls are in the living room harmonizing through the hymn book.  Now that, I like!

Okay, that was three.  Now, reasons to be thankful for (or in spite of) 113°:

1. No snow to shovel.
2. The AC is working.
3. Since I don't want to leave the AC, I can't spend any money. (That's a good one.)
4. I don't need an electric blanket.
5. It's not 120°!  (Yet.)

Ten Reasons to Love the Desert

When we first moved here, I hated the desert.  In fact, I had already decided BEFORE we moved here that I was going to hate it.  And that decision wasn't made when I found out we were moving here -- I already knew I would hate living in this wilderness years before, when, as my DH and I drove through Wikiup, Arizona and we saw a big billboard advertising forty-acre lots for $15,000, he says, "Sal!  Do you see that?! Look how cheap land is out here! We could buy forty acres and move here someday!"  He sounded like he was joking, but somehow, at that moment, I just knew he would jump at the chance if it ever came along.  If I remember right, I stared at him in disbelief, and when I got over my mild shock, with all my wifely submission having flown right out the window, I simply said, "NEVER."  I swallowed hard.  "There's nothing out here but rattlesnakes!  There would be nothing at all romantic about living in this hostile wasteland!"   I think I might have threatened to go home to Mother if he even thought about it. Sure, before we were married I agreed to go anywhere with him, told him I could be happy anywhere as long as we were together and all that romantic kind of talk, but I was assuming he would never want to live anywhere I wouldn't!

Well, you know what they say.  Never say never.  A few years went by, and we were living in Kansas.  Once in a while I would see my DH poring over the Arizona page of the atlas, and I would give him one of those looks we women use.  Little did I know he had actually been praying about moving out here!  That's cheating, don't you think?  Well, the opportunity did come and when it did, he was mentally ready to go.  It was one of those "Honey, while you pray for us to know God's will, I'll start packing" sort of things. 

So you see, my mind was already made up a long time ago.  I just wasn't going to like it.  ...Forward five years.  Here we still are.  Living in the desert has been exactly what I expected, except for the fact that we have not seen one live poisonous creature since we moved in. It's hot and it's dusty, it's brown and it's hostile, and, well, it's just men's territory. Men and boys love this stuff for playing in.  I think it makes them feel manly.   My DH gets on his mountain bike and climbs a grueling mountain "just because it's there", and I think maybe when he finds a wild and lonely place out there, he becomes Terrell Sackett (you have to know Louis L'Amour) until he has to make his way back down the mountain and back to his definitely non-Sackett wife.

But you know what?  Something life-changing happened recently.  I had a recollection of a day long, long ago, when I was maybe ten years old, when a missionary visited the church where I grew up. I remember hardly anything about her and nothing of what she said, but I do remember that I told the Lord I would go anywhere he wanted me to serve him -- except AFRICA!! Oh God, please don't send me to Africa!  And the Lord was faithful to answer my prayer.  He has not sent me to Africa.  (Well, almost.  But we don't have lions or  hyenas here, and we don't have termites devouring everything made of wood.)  When I thought about that, I felt very ashamed that  I had come here with such a bad, unwilling attitude, in the very place where I knew he wanted me to be!  Here I have been in rebellion against his will for nearly five years.  No wonder I didn't like the desert.  No one can be truly happy or content when they are in rebellion against the Lord.  As much as  I love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to be used of him, my heart simply was not submitted to his authority over me as his child. 

I decided that I had to find some things about the desert to thank the Lord for, or else I was going to shrivel up and die out here, and it would be because of my own selfish attitude.  I confessed my willfulness to the Lord, telling him I was sorry for my hard-heartedness, and immediately I felt a weight lifted from my heart. When I began to make a list of the good things about where I live, I could only think of one positive thing. LOL! (How pathetic!) Now I'm up to ten eleven  twelve thirteen oops, I have one listed twice. Okay, seventeen. The desert kind of grows on you. (I can't believe I'm saying this.) Here is my list so far, and as I come up with more things, I'll add them to this post:

1•  We have no mosquitoes!
2•  We have no grass to mow.
3•  The climate is comfortably dry, at least after you get used to it.
4•  Lots of sunshine.
5•  No mold or mildew!
6•  We have a clean, clear, algae-free lake.
7•  No hurricanes/blizzards/earthquakes!
8•  No snow, snow-shoveling, snow tires, salt-induced rust, heavy winter clothes.
9•  My clothesline is the super, extraordinary rapid-dry model.
10•  Gorgeous sunsets (due to all that nice dust in the air)!
11•  There are people I love here!
3 again•  The dry air really is comfortable after you get used to it.  The cracked lips learn how to stay moisturized,  and that sharp, pointy booger sensation in your nostrils goes away. And you quit drinking a gallon of water every half hour.
12•  When it is -40°F in Minnesota, I will be enjoying 65° F! LOL!  (Thanks for reminding me, Jane!)
13•  Glorious fall mornings.
14•  No neck ache from hunched shoulders, to keep the cold wind from blowing down my jacket. 
15•  No jacket!! (yet)
16•  This time of year, all the windows are open at night.
17•  Some interesting spiritual applications can be made here:
 ~"The rebellious dwell in a dry land" Ps 68:6.  Oh me!  (There are lots of rebels here besides me.)
 ~"But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." Ps 106:14  Oh me, oh my!
 ~" Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work;"  Job 24:5  We have quite a few wild asses locally, and I do mean this in the literal sense, lol.
 ~"For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.  And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water:" Is.35:6,7  We're definitely parched around here.
 ~"Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:"  We have lots of rough and crooked places around here (it's all rough and crooked!), and we have mountains and valleys, too!
 ~"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited."Jer 17:5,6   It's definitely a salt land, and mostly uninhabited.  I'm thankful to have a city here!
 ~And last, this one is a fright! "They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.  And HE GAVE THEM THEIR REQUEST;  BUT SENT LEANNESS UNTO THEIR SOUL." Ps 106:13-15.  This is why I never ask God to move us away from here -- I'm afraid he'll answer my prayer and give me something worse! lol!

I don't mind the desert so much any more.   Heh heh, actually, I'm kind of glad to be here! 

Beach Day

Well, guess what, I did go to the lake, after all, and I took a zillion pictures (thank the Lord for digital cameras). These photos are going to look just like the ones I took last year at the lake.  Same lake, same hot sun, same kids, same swimsuits, even!   It was 115, just like I thought.  We didn't get there until 3 pm, and we still sunburned.  I put my toes in the water a couple of times, and I can't believe the kids actually got in.  (My DH did, too, but he's like that. )  The beach was packed, well, there might have been 50 people there, but that's too many for our liking.  We go wayyyy down on the end where there isn't anybody. Problem is, we have to walk by all of them on our way out.  Sorry about all the pixelation.  Someday I'll figure out how to post photos right, but not right now. I'm going to bed.  See you tomorrow!