Thankful

 

After too many years of too little rainfall,
we are finally being blessed.
Even the foggy days are blessings because
they indicate that there is moisture in the air and on the ground.

The day after Thanksgiving,
we took a little jaunt into the hills.
We hit up our favorite historical town and found it FULL of people.
So, we didn't stay long but opted for a drive over the reservoir
to check out the drought damage.
We had heard of long buried towns reemerging
from their watery graves.
Of railroad tunnels, ancient dams, and roadways
being rediscovered by curious hikers.

Three years ago this was a fairly typical low water level
before the mountain snowmelt filled it up again.

 

 

 

This is what it looked like this fall.

 

The water is usually pretty close to the bottom of the bridge.

 

This reservoir is usually so deep that gangsters that live the high-life
have been known to drive cars filled with evidence into these waters to hide their
low-life deeds.

It would be pretty hard to submerge a car in this little bit of water.

 

The good news is that it is raining.

And even though we would need tons of rain to technically get out of the drought,

we are thankful for every little drop we receive.

 

In pleasanter news...

Here are some pictures of our day together.

Tiana had jumped up on this wagon, sat down, scooted back

and then got splinters in her bottom!

That was a shocking experience for her.

 

Photo bombed!

She is scared to death of this old jail.

The happy smile is only because she was not inside.

 

They are happiest climbing on the rocks.

 

This seems like a strange and troubling business partnership.

 

 After a warm and sunny day, the clouds rolled in again
 and gave us a few more days of much needed rain.

 

 

*****************

Lately I noticed that when I told Tiana to do something

she would mutter under her breath, "I will not" or something

to that effect but then would happily go do what I had asked.

One day she said it a bit louder than usual and I was kind of fed up with it

so I told her that yes she would do what I had asked.

She came to me, looked me in the eye, and said that she was being the first son

that we had recently read about in the Bible.

The first son had told his father that he would not do what asked but then

went and did it anyways.  The second son had told his father that he would do

what was asked of him but then did not do it. 

 In the end, the father was more pleased with his first son for his eventual obedience.

This was her way of her life imitating the Bible.

Maybe she thought we would be more pleased with her actions

 if she expressed disobedience first.