by 
As the Red River Fourth of July parade shuffled by, I was sitting in my lawn chair surrounded by wife, daughters and granddaughters, all of us arrayed in our Homegrown Keeter Produce t-shirts. I was minding my own business and taking it all in when the Citizens Against Violence (CAV) float came along. It was really just a pickup with some bunting draped on it and there were several women in the bed waving to the crowd lining the route. As the float drew even with us one of the women leveled her water gun at me with gleeful malice. This wasn’t some little water pistol but a long tube with a pump mechanism that shot a stream of water not much different than a garden hose. Now according to the sign on the side of the pickup, er, float, the CAV advocates against violence against women among other things, yet here was this malicious hussy hosing down an inoffensive elderly gent. Joyce has told me that in her time in the DPD, when answering a domestic violence call, often the cause of the disturbance was some gal chewing on her man till he punched her lights out just to get a little peace and quiet. Maybe water cannon-woman thought she was striking a blow for the sisterhood by drenching me, I don’t know. At least she showed good sense in picking on a man as meek and mild as I.
We had had not even a nibble the last two trips to Red River so this trip I made it our goal that every one of the shorties catch a fish. I’m pleased to say that we accomplished that goal, though it took till the very last minute of our fishing time. By late Thursday morning Rebecca still had not caught a fish while the other three had, and some had caught two. It was getting along toward lunch-time and Vivian and Sophia had put their poles down. Kaylee had stayed at the room to read and help Joyce with lunch. Rebecca was still trying to catch her fish and we set up the unused two poles to help improve her odds. Lo and behold she finally landed a nice one and we were able to head back to our rooms for lunch fully satisfied. That evening Kari cooked up our catch and we had them for dinner. Maybe next year I’ll teach the girls how to clean what they catch.
Because of the dry conditions, people weren’t allowed on the hiking trails but the ladies had the pool to entertain them and took full advantage. Joyce and I used that time for reading and snoozing. Our weather was good and cool enough to be a pleasant break from the heat we left back in the lowlands. Thursday afternoon we were treated to a rip roaring thunderstorm which dumped much needed rain on the area. It was pleasant to nap to the sound of rain beating on the roof and windows. The howling wind made our rooms seem even cozier.
Saturday after we got back home, we had our annual 4th of July celebration on SA. The usual cast of characters was present to enjoy ice cream, hot dogs and volleyball. Parker brought over the water slide and the smaller children did their best to wear it and the trampoline out, without success. It seems people really enjoy our volleyball game. It really isn’t a game so much as a continuous back and forth interrupted by ice cream. Some of the youngsters are getting big enough to participate. Parker and Abigail, of course, but even Kaylee, Rebecca, Carson, Blaison, Colton, etc. jumped in. There were enough people that no one had to work very hard, which is good for those somewhat past their prime. The weather was relatively mild for July 7 and everyone had a good time, I think. It was exhausting, though.
While we were in Red River Chris reported we got a nice shower of .59. The place greened up pretty good but by the end of this week the grass had faded to barely green and I had begun to think I might need to get back to watering trees before long. Though the weather weenies didn’t give us much chance for rain, it puckered up Friday evening and gave a nice shower. I emptied .83 out of our the gauge Saturday morning. That will do nicely if we don’t have to go weeks before the next shower. Friends of Joyce who live two or three miles to the west of us reported getting three inches. It would be better to get showers like the .59 and .83 we’ve gotten over the last two weeks IF that pattern continues. Though SA is under six inches of moisture for the year and normal annual rainfall is around 18 inches, large rainfalls like that three inches cause problems, not the least of which is mosquitoes. I feel sorry for people who don’t live where rain is spotty and infrequent for they don’t feel the joy of knowing Friday evening that they don’t have to spend the weekend watering anything they want to live.