A ride through drought country

 So this morning we went off on a ride to Versailles.  Cliff's Aunt Gertrude was recently in the hospital as a result of asthma problems.  She's back home and babysitting again now; we just wanted to visit with her for a while. 

 I don't recall what little town we were passing through when I took this picture, but just look at that dried-up yard.  This is what our yard will look like in another week, if we don't get rain.

 Pastures are ruined.  

 Aunt Gertrude had four kids to babysit today.  They were having lots of fun; the two younger kids were wrestling in a chair, and the older boys were playing some kind of hand-held electronic game.  I wonder if I'll feel like babysitting when I'm in my mid-eighties.  One of these two sets of siblings is expecting another sibling soon.  Aunt Gertrude can hardly wait to have a newborn to take care of.    

 This little guy is brother to the boy on the right.  The little girl below is sister to the other boy.

 She saw me take the little guy's picture and asked me to take hers.   


Cliff told me to gather up some stuff to take to Aunt Gertrude this morning before we left.  She is always so appreciative of any little thing you give her.  I took a container of peaches, another of tomatoes, a Walmart sack full of potatoes, a couple of onions (because onions are her favorite fruit), a couple of cucumbers, and some packages of ground beef from the freezer.  Unfortunately, the motorcycle trailer rides rougher than we realized.  Half the peaches were bruised when we arrived, and a couple of the tomatoes had bounced out of their container and gotten somewhat bruised.  She called tonight, though, to tell us she got enough peaches to make a pie after cutting the soft spots out.  

 After going by to pay a quick visit to Cliff's cousin Darryl, we headed home.  Sometimes a cloud would block the sun's rays, and when that happened it seemed at least fifteen degrees cooler.    

 This one did a great job of covering the sun for awhile.  

This one, too.  


It was a day well spent, even though we got uncomfortably hot on the ride home.  I rested awhile, picked the last peck of peaches on the tree, and returned Cliff's ladder to the shop.