Mar 25, 2010 by Naomi.

Yes I did. I once again took the McNary Ed Center tub of pelts and skulls to a science night. This time it was for Liberty Christian School and the turnout was sparse. The hostess cited football, basketball, dance, and just too much all at once that keeps families on the go, especially since the displays of science data had to be set up at 4 pm, hours before the public was invited to see them. I wasn’t in the best of moods. My jaw still hurts from the tooth pull over a week past and I would rather have stayed at home snuggled away from the hard wind and chilly rain. Like I said I did this many times before in a number of public schools and kids are delighted to touch pelts of real animals. Yes, everyone delights in grabbing handfuls of beaver or coyote hair. However tonight there was a different display, one with which dead skins cannot compete. A local 4-H club brought live rabbits. Individuals representing ten different breeds were hopping around on little rug patches munching carrots and receiving ahh’s and ooo’s many times over from adults and children alike. Oh yes, and baby chicks with enough wing feathers to try and escape their cage. Quite a show. My next date is in three weeks and I will probably do it again.

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Mar 25, 2010 by Naomi.

Ever hear that seaman’s ditty: Blow ye winds heigh ho, A roving we will go? Today we had wind blowing up the dust and pushing me around on the freeway. At 15 miles per hour. Bicycle riders do that speed but with a real physical effort. When driving it is about the speed of a golf cart. Not fast. When driving a car it is too fast to go through pedestrian traffic. What about driving through a wind? One that blows freely over the open spaces of agricultural fields? Today it was enough to keep desperate concentration on driving. Ever so gently the wind pushed me toward the right lane, toward other cars driving slowly to lessen the pressure. Dirt filled the air. My eyelids feel gritty with the dust. I stopped at the Community Center for a fitness session and the wind fairly snapped the car door open even within the protection of a bluff and the big building. My hair is short but it felt as if the wind would blow it off my head. I have a school visit this evening to show animal pelts and skulls so I must face another walk in the blow. Weather reports showed wind speed at 8 mph with gusts up to 15 and more from the west southwest. High wind is not an unusual occurrence in the Tri-City area. Many mature trees lost their balance and turned up their roots to the onslaughts in the past. The trees that were left dug in their heels. I think they are here to stay. Maybe when the sun goes down the wind will slow down too.

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