Massive Mumblings from Malaysia

Fields of Opportunity
[Iowa's lame motto]




Last night I went with my dad to check on the sheep that are grazing at my cousin's place. That translates into a 30 minute drive there to count the sheep. While there, we looked in at the rabbits and used the flowering can to fill their water bowls up. It was just like when I was young and responsible for rabbit chores nightly (my father spoiled us and did them in the early morning). My sister said that sometimes, when she's home in the later afternoon, the thought "Have I done my chores yet?" flashes through her mind. The worst was in the winter. My dad would lug two 10 gallon buckets of hot water to the barn and we'd have to submerge the frozen watering bowls to defrost them. Dipping a hand into the hot hot water in the cold cold weather was never a pleasant thing. But it is a nice memory.



We took backroads to my cousin's, mostly gravel. I felt starved for the scenery, staring and trying to engrave it into my mind. The rolling hills, corn, sky, of course. But also the precise colors, the way the light fell, the total composition. Sometimes it seemed that the landscape was posing, just waiting to be photographed or painted.

On our way home, we stopped for some ice cream. Though I knew we had at least a gallon bucket back home and I wasn't particularly hungry, I had some for old times sake. Years ago, our parents would load us up into the car--dressed in pajamas--and head to Dane's Dairy for a cone on a hot summer night.