Saturdaying

I finally bought a pair of decent leather sandals, the kind with adjustable straps with velcro closures. Time will tell whether I like them. I'm perfectly happy with my cheap flip-flops, but they do tend to be problematic sometimes when I am driving, so I decided to go for something a bit safer, but still open enough to let air flow around my feet. It's not even mid-June and temperatures here have exceeded 100 degrees F, so I felt a certain urgency to get prepared.

The temperatures and lack of rain are, again, causing problems for north Texas. There are water restrictions in place all around us, including Dallas. I hope people understand the reasons for the restrictions and adhere to them. It's no trouble for me to live by them; I simply set the irrigation system to water only during periods of the day when it is permitted. I might cut back even more, but for the fact that my foundation has had severe problems with cracks and buckling in the past, costing well over $10K, and I cannot afford it again...nor do I want to. I would rather keep the ground sufficiently moist to prevent the problems.

With all the complaints I (and everyone about me) has about this weather, it sometimes help put things into perspective to think about people who were in this area 100 years ago. In 1906, there was no electricity or telephone infrastructure, no air conditioned home, no air conditioned (or otherwise) cars, no modern sewer system and water distribution system. Yet people got by. So can we. The people in 1906 were idiots, as are we, for settling in this area unfit for man nor beast, but they were survivors. I shouldn't complain so much. People tend to adapt very quickly to modern conveniences, to the point that those conveniences become...or are perceived to be...necessities. I suspect people can just as easily adapt in the other direction.

I heard a sobering thought along those lines (adaptability) recently in a news story on the radio about people considering high-mileage cars due to the high price of gas. The guy talking about people adapting said people can quickly adapt if they need to, but he was not optimistic that people would stay with a "cutback" adjustment if gas prices were to drop again. Rather than recognizing that they are capable of dealing with it, he said people would quickly start buying gas-guzzlers again, abandon any conservation measures they had taken, etc.

More later...whenever.