Tank Wars and Bottle Rockets

Tomorrow is going to be so awesome! My dad has agreed to give me a hundred and fifty bucks for fireworks as long as I buy some traditional fireworks that my mom will like. Which means lots of fountains, but I know I can get a nice pack of fountains for under a hundred bucks, and then have plenty for some real fun.

I stayed up till after midnight planning the games for tomorrow. I figure some snake races, and smoke signals while we shoot bottle rockets at some targets, and wait for it to get dark; then while the twilight fades we'll have the tank wars. Oh yah! I'll grab some extra long fuses and tie a squadron of tanks together for each team. Then before we light the tanks we'll use lady-fingers and ground flowers to try to thin the ranks. I may even bring out some miniatures for dramatic effect.

I figure I'll grab a few boxes of sparklers to entertain the little kids in the neighborhood, and distract my parents while we get the tanks and fire-crackers ready. If the kids get cranky I can always break out a few boxes of throw pops. The little kids can't resist those, but I like to keep some of those to play around with over the next few weeks.

I'm now off to inform the gang, and spend some money. I can't wait.

Fireworks and Games

The fireworks stands opened today, and of course I bought my traditional party poppers for the game on Saturday. With the fourth falling on Sunday I'll have to combine my game night with fireworks night, but I am thinking that gaming by the light of sparklers might be kind of fun. Of course I recognize that we won't be playing a traditional game night game, but I am working out a couple fireworks games that should be awesome. Now I just need to get my dad to shake loose with a little money.

A Wash with Water

The swamp began to drain its excess water into the drainage wash this morning. Apparently this signals the beginning of the bug swarms. Between changing the water in the ditches and clearing furrows, we began taking turn patrolling the wash for colonies of bugs. I am told that by killing the bugs as soon as the water hatches the larvae we can reduce the bug swarms later in the summer to a more manageable density.

The last time I went down the wash I estimate that by dark it was flowing at about ten gallons per minute. If it continues to rise it could easily sustain another field or two. I would love to leave Diana with another field whether she 'needs' it or not. It would be great to have a rotation field to maintain the land for long term farming. I'll have to find a good time to explain the idea of crop rotation to Diana and Kib.

Growing the Farm

I have found that it is much more difficult to walk the furrows of a heavily watered field. It is too early to see any sprouts, but the water has come in plentiful this month, and all the fields are getting well watered.

This evening after supper I sat with Diana and talked for a while. She really has a kind heart, but she really misses Dale. She is worried about Kib growing up without a father. The hired hands have not been any kind of a father figure to him, and in fact often act younger than he does.

We also talked about her plans to cut more fields. It seems like her desire to grow the farm has pretty much run its course. She now makes a comfortable living, and can go into town when she wants. I broached the idea of clearing and selling new acreage, but she was pretty skeptical. She is not sure she want to share her watering hole. She is probably wise. That would introduce some difficult water squabbles.

Children on the Move

One of the blacksmith's boys, Soltair, stopped by today. He said that Loomis has sent two of his kids in the direction of the capitol, but no one knew why, and Loomis won't even talk about it. Soltair also said that his father had asked him to go to the capitol, and keep his ears out for any word being passed around about the Greenhollow road.

Before he left I gave him a note, and told him to deliver it to the king or one of his sons only. I also told him that if he had trouble to tell them that Anarion sent him. I only explained that Anarion is the name that I went by when I stayed in Darkan. Any other tidings the king may want he will have to seek out himself.

The Swamp Returns

I have decided to try a dawn and dusk approach to the druidic rite. I can walk down every other furrow in the field in about an hour. I make a small pretense of weeding so the other hands don't get too creeped out with the druid stuff, as they call it. They think I am absurd taking care of the field the way I do, and I don't even know if it will have any effect. But I'm in it for a season, and we'll see.

The water in the pasture is rising, and we are starting to be able to drain some of it into the planted fields through a rather well thought out series of tiny canals. I asked Diana about the watering technique, and she credited the drainage ditches to Dale before he died.

She also explained that water rises each month as the moon waxes and recedes as it wanes. She also explained that each month it rises a little higher as we approach the solstices and the equinoxes. So even in the driest years there is some water available every third month.

Sunday Cleanup

There were a lot of bandages and bruises at the services today. Most of the men kept quiet during the services, then went over to the inn to help with what repairs could be made to the furniture. There were a lot of downcast eyes and a lot of apologies, and a general feeling of camaraderie as everyone scattered back to their homes.

I was able to catch the blacksmith and the innkeeper for a few minutes alone. We were all very concerned about Loomis' demeanor, and anxious to prevent whatever plans he was making, but we were extremely worried about the road being closed down, and the economic impact that would have on the town.

The blacksmith said that one of his sons still worked out at Loomis' farm and would personally go for a visit. He also agreed to send one of his sons to the castle to keep his ear to the ground. If the entire region is going to avoid the Greenhollow road we need to know about it.

Beyond that, we didn't settle on any specific plans other than to keep our eyes and ears open.