Interesting tidbit about the weather and the wildfires. Several stories about the fires. One is that the older, traditional people burn off the grass believing it will build up or seed the clouds – the more fires the longer the rainy season will last. Another is that the fires are started to flush out the small animals so that they can be hunted for food. And of course if there are lots of small fires the brush doesn’t build up and they don’t have one huge fire that covers the entire country. The answer is probably "all of the above".
Anyway. Back to AU this morning to report to our work assignments. We started by dropping Pat, Jeanie and Bonnie at the Hartzell School. Pat distributed photographs to each of the kids in the class that she has been working with, and Jeanie continued with the art projects for her class. Today they made candy canes out of pipecleaners and beads (and gave the kids real candy canes so they knew what it was they were making!). And Bonnie was there to take pictures of the school.
Mary and La Donna were back in Technical Services in the Library. La Donna cataloged more DVDs and Mary completed a spreadsheet for books to be sent for rebinding. And Gene, Mary Beth, and James returned to their painting at the faculty duplex. Ron was back at the peace pole holding court and talking with the students – he saw most of the kids that were at the Indiana Scholar Party on Saturday. Dona Lou was back to work in the Intensive English program.
Jerry and Jerry Jo put together a tractor. They thought they were going to help with the harvesting of the wheat. The AU farm has to take turns to rent a combine (hint, hint ... anyone know where they can get one of their own?? Real cheap ... free?) and their turn came sooner than expected. By the time we got to campus this morning the wheat had been combined and they were baling the straw (square bales in case you are wondering). So instead the Jerrys repaired a tractor – had to put the radiator on and a few other bits. Even used the heavy metal clamps that we ferried over here in Dona Lou’s weirdly shaped suitcase (long story – it was sort of shaped like a bag for a sousaphone). Several of the tractors on the campus are from the Tractors for Our Daily Bread ministry out of Manhattan, Kansas – http://tractors4bread.org/_wsn/page4.html – cute little grey and red tractors.
After lunch we returned to LaRochelle. Mary Beth, La Donna, Dona Lou, and Jerry Jo had another appointment with the gardener – this time to go through the greenhouses. There are LOTS of orchids ... not many in bloom ... and Nicholas is repotting them right now so that they can sell them as a fundraiser for the National Trust. He also has lots of bromeliads, ferns (including some HUGE staghorn ferns), a very large shrimp plant, a gorgeous amaryllis with a half dozen large (LARGE) blooms, and lots of other bits and pieces. There are 6 or 8 greenhouses. He also showed us a big stand of Indian bamboo – stalks are probably six inches diameter. Nicholas is just a delight – so knowledgeable ... Latin names, common names, colors, blooming times, and just loves what he does!!
And tonight at dinner time the rain started. Lots of lightning and thunder in the distance and a gentle rain here. The wind died down and the temperature cooled off enough that some of us put on long sleeves and even jeans!
Another day of blessings.
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