Monthly Archives: August 2025

Jackie Wells-Fauth

This has definitely been a tricky summer for rainfall. First, I was afraid there would be no rain, and now, it looks like the best way to get rain is in a deluge. A summer of contrasts, to be sure. Now I love the rain, just not inches of it in minutes! It can be very inconvenient—not to mention dangerous.

All this leads, of course, to what I want to talk about now. We were driving home from the cities, and I didn’t check the weather. I have always had a kind of contempt for those phone apps where they send a picture of the weather radar. Why not just find out what the weather will do in the old-fashioned way—by waiting for it to happen?

Okay, so I was wrong. Our sunny drive home from the cities was rudely interrupted by a set of storm clouds, building in the sky ahead of us. Roy was sleeping and I was driving, so I didn’t bother to check his phone radar. Those clouds were to the north, and they were far away. No problem, right?

Except that I drove into overcast skies with alarming rapidity. Then, before I knew it, there were sprinkles on my windshield, enough for an occasional swipe of the windshield wipers. After that, lightning began to appear in the sky ahead of us. What happened to my sunny day?

Sure enough, the light sprinkle turned into a heavy rain and then a downpour and then a deluge. I drove, cursing, keeping my eye on the taillights of the car in front of me and hoping no one was coming up too fast behind me. Roy, awakened by my whining, advised that perhaps we should pull over. Good idea.

We pulled into a farm driveway, hoping for a break. It didn’t help. The rain was coming down in sheets, blown across the roads and fields by an incredibly strong wind. We knew this couldn’t last forever (or so we hoped) and sure enough, within about ten minutes, it had let up somewhat. Not enough for me, but for Roy, it was important to get his pretty little car away from there before hail set in.

“I’m not driving in this,” I stated, my teeth still chattering.

“Then let’s switch; I’ll drive,” he said.

“I’m also not getting out in this,” I declared. There is the dilemma: how do we switch places with our old bodies in a car with bucket seats and a nervous dog in the back?

Roy began this little dance in the rain by laying his seat down completely and sliding into the back with said nervous dog. It was then for me to drag myself, bad knees and all, across the console and somehow, into the passenger seat. I was midway across when it occurred to me that I should have removed the water bottles from the console!

With every joint I have popping, I began to think that maybe getting out and getting wet wouldn’t be so bad. The rain increased at that moment just to convince me that somehow, I was going to have to complete this weird, car version of Twister without the benefit of leaving the car.

I somehow got my butt on the passenger seat, but with the seat still in the reclined position, I couldn’t brace myself to get my legs over. I ended up laying back against the dog, with my knees in my nose, so that Roy could climb over the driver’s seat and get behind the wheel.

He had already gotten the car in gear and was headed down the road, still in heavy rain, when I finally got all of my working parts in some semblance of the way God intended and left the dog to her backseat alone.

I’m trying to take comfort from the fact that at my age, I was actually able to complete that little dance with only minimum damage to my body and a complete loss of dignity, but I’m afraid that this is just one more grudge I have against the wild rain antics that this summer has presented.

May you all stay dry and upright through this summer. And would someone please show me how to put that weather radar app on my phone?

Jackie Wells-Fauth

I am one of those lucky people who won the in-law lottery. I have very few in-laws who are hard for me to like and some of them are down-right wonderful.

I state this first, because I have always counted my two sons-in-law among them. Marty and Charles married my daughters, and we get on extremely well. I appreciate this, not to mention that they are kind of characters—in widely different ways—and I enjoy both of them.

That is, until this past weekend. Both of them, along with my daughters, are very tech-savvy and I have consulted with them on many issues—always successfully. So, when it was decided that I needed to upgrade my phone, I naturally sought opinion from my children, including the sons-in-law.

My daughters were advocating a type of phone that was a little fancier than I would probably need, and I was debating with myself whether I should try that or just stay with the phone I have and forget it. I do so hate change!

It was then that Charles spoke up. “If you get this type of phone (I honestly don’t know what he called it), it might be easier. It’s kind of… (he hesitated and then plunged in) dummy proof, so it’s easier to use.”

You have to know this serious young man to appreciate that I seldom have a chance to pick on him. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I went for it.

“What are you trying to say, Charles?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He hastened to explain that he just thought it would be simpler to use, and I was getting all set to pick on him some more, when apparently, Marty thought the water must be fine, so he jumped in with his brother-in-law.

“You know, my friend calls that kind of phone a Fisher Price toy phone,” he stated. Marty is kind of the joker of the crowd, so I didn’t hesitate to turn on him as well.

“I have always defended you two, been on your side, bragged about you and this is what you say to me? I have never been so offended!”

The bad news here is that neither one of them was at all bothered by their statements or my high indignation. I threatened them with everything I could think of right down to writing them out of the will (no final expenses for them to pay) and it didn’t change their attitude one bit.

It also doesn’t matter that they both have had to pull me out of the tech knowledge pit about a thousand times. I always have questions and problems and while most of the time they are fairly polite about my ignorance, I know that there are moments when they are mentally face-palming themselves. I understand English literature, not tech and I know for a fact that if Shakespeare had done his writing on a high-tech medium, I probably never would have read it!

Still, to have my sons-in-law join forces to make clear their lack of confidence in my abilities to handle a high-tech phone stung a little. This will be the subject of my general harassment of them for the next half a year or so. And I am fully confident that it will not bother them at all, because I won’t be harassing them on a high-tech phone!

In the end, I had my daughter buy the phone—their recommendation, but I wasn’t letting them help; it would be better to torment my daughter with it. I’m sure the phone will be fine and because it is not too complicated, I might be able to use it, but not to call them.

In truth, Charles and Marty, I really do love you boys—if the opinion of a dummied-down, Fisher Price kind of woman means anything to you!