Beneath the Wraps

                When we first moved to our house in Tri City, Roland set up a clothesline between two trees.   Initially, he tried the pulley thing so that I could hang the clothes from one position.   It didn't work to our expectations and I spent that first summer walking up and down the line hanging and removing laundry.           I like having the sun dry the clothes and I especially like how it can brighten the whites.   A light breeze will make it dry faster, but a strong wind will make the fabric stiff.   The towels feel like sandpaper either way, so generally, I just toss those in the dryer and add will add clothes that have been on the line but don't seem wearable.   Also, I don't enjoy ironing and would rather have the dryer remove the wrinkles for me.           Roland did put i...

        I remember someone posting this cartoon to facebook.  I laughed as I read it as I relate, both to having been the child and now the mother.  But it isn't just a relationship with mothers and children when this sort of magic happens.  It happens among husbands and wives as well - at least in our family.         I remember many times mom would used to say to dad, "There is something wrong with the car"  and so he would take the problematic car to work and of course it would ride smoothly for him and give absolutely no indication of ever having any kind of behavior problem.  It seemed that way with all appliances - and it wasn't because my dad was mechanical minded.  I think electronics and mechanics just have a way of playing pranks on the female mind.         Take my computer for instance - the pop-ups, the constant threats, ...

            Roland comes off as a domineering parent sometimes.   Jenna absolutely hates it when she is told to comb her hair or wear a coat or dress nicely or what have you.   The more he makes suggestions or "harps" on the subject, the more rebellious she is about it.             I will admit that I am not as observant.   For three and a half years I have tried fixing her hair and seeing it wreck before we get to school.   I stopped fighting.   Richard has only begun.   Although he has been a teenager, he's never been a girl.   We have hormones.   There seem to be chemical imbalance just before that time of the month.   Let it go.             The rain in Oregon is different from rain in Utah.   Desert rain is wet.   It soaks you.   Oregon rain - even wh...