Havin’ a Windy Heat Wave

  

Last Saturday was the annual Wharton Garden Club Plant Sale.  Members plant seeds, root, or (in some cases) buy plants and donate them to the sale.  I had rooted several plumerias, rose cactus (pereskia), and a few other things plus I had promised to work at the sale.  I got there early, helped with set up and stayed answering questions and such until it was over at 1pm.  Helped with clean-up and was done.

Now, for some odd reason, while the calendar says it’s May, here in my part of Texas, the controller of the weather says it’s August.  A very windy August (like pointing a hair dryer straight at your face on high) that is hot, humid, hot, windy, hot wind, humid, hot outside.  This means – the outdoor temps were

with wind.

By the time I got home at 2pm, I was past hot and well into melting.  I took a very cool shower and I swear, all the steam in the bathroom was a result of the water hitting my skin!!

The reason I mention this is – yard work is officially done until, the weather controller decides to cool things down – a lot. 

That said, about the most interesting thing I’ve been doing since, is a little crocheting, a few crafty things, and reading.  It’s been a while since I shared a story, so here’s one in case you're having hot windy days. 

Origin of the Wind
A Tale of the Blackfoot Nation
Edited by S.E. Schlosser

Napioa, who made the Earth, at one time had with him the wolf as his companion. 

He also had with him an owl, which he employed to look for things for him when it was dark. As he was travelling around, he saw a lodge in which were a man and a woman. In this lodge were two bags; one contained the winter and the other the summer. He told the owl to look in and see what there was inside the lodge, and when he looked he saw the two bags. Napioa said that he was going to place some months in each bag, and make the summer and winter of equal length. But he was unable to reach them because the woman stood guard over the bags with a long piece of ice in her hand.

Napioa was determined to gain possession of the summer and winter bags. He told the prairie chicken to steal the bags. It snuck into the lodge, got hold of the summer bag and ran out of the lodge. Furious at the theft, the man and woman gave chase.

Desperate to escape the man and woman, the prairie chicken hid in the long grass. The man and woman cut the long grass to get the bag. The frightened chicken clung close to the earth, but part of the extremity of its body was chopped off by the knives. During the struggle the bag burst with a very strong gust of air which became the world’s very first wind.

Sometime after this, Napioa, having burnt himself, was anxious for a wind to blow to cool himself. He went up to the top of a mountain and began making medicine, and the wind soon began to blow. It blew so hard that he had to hold on to the bushes, but they were torn up by the roots. At last he caught hold of a birch tree and firmly clung to it, so that by the force of the wind and his weight marks were forever left upon the bark of the tree.

 

12 May 2022