tiger lilies and wind

To create a bug free space outdoors (where I could work while bouncing slightly in a sling back chair), Ed digs out two ancient fans and positions them at both sides of the chair, creating what must be tornado conditions from the perspective of a mosquito. Mosquitoes are not strong flyers. Wind sends them back to where they came from (unfortunately, not too far back, but still, giving a momentary reprieve).

I look at the rattling fans and I have to admire their will to continue. They are old.

But then, so is the little black and white TV in the farmhouse. I ask – can a black and white TV transmit the color of a DVD? Ed shows the dismay of a person who truly thinks his traveling companion entertains absurd hypotheticals. Still, he can't demonstrate the stupidity of my question because the VHS/DVD player, also from some junk heap or other, is pouty and unreliable.

As we take the old Honda motorcycle into town today, I think how curious it is that, for all his dedication to fixing (and using) the old and broken, Ed is not a junk collector. You would not know it by his car or his motorbike, or the ancient John Deer he is now guiding across the wet grass, but this is a guy who keeps a sharp eye out on new technology.

...Even as the project of sending an Internet signal from the sheepshed (the computer hub at the farmette) to the farmhouse has failed him. The only way for me to post is to beat down the bugs and scurry to the shed hub. Or to sit on the porch between two fans spinning madly at my sides, with towering tiger lilies in front, reminding me that summer is not always the easiest of the seasons, even as it is the most delightful.





What do you think, is the wind system working? Can you sit there without bugs? Ed asks.

Yes, even though it’s a little too drafty for me.

We’ll keep the fans on anyway. Did you know it only costs a $1 a month to keep a fan running?
I did not know that. But I’m not surprised Ed knows.