I’m not much of a scientist so; I’ll try not to bore anyone with a lot
of science talk. Try. But, there are no guarantees!
I’m sure everyone is familiar with the water cycle. If not let me
refresh your memory. As the wind blows across the ocean, it picks up moisture
forming clouds, which move to the shore and (usually at the most inopportune time)
it rains. The water on the ground then forms streams, running to creeks or
rivers and eventually, it flows back to the sea. This is by no means a full
explanation, just a quick overview.
Along with providing water, one of the purposes of the water cycle is
to clean the environment. The air is cleaned by the rain, the water by the
ground, and then anything left in the water is churned away in the briny foam
of the ocean. Again, this is a very brief summary.
So, what does this have to do with me? Well, that is my story.
Back when my oldest daughter was baby, my wife and I thought we’d save
a little money by using cloth diapers instead of buying the expensive plastic
kind. So, we purchased a couple dozen cloth diapers and for the first few days,
everything went great. Then, one day when my wife was at work, I got the bright
idea of using the water cycle to my advantage.
The problem with cloth diapers is they need to be washed, right? You
can’t just throw them away. But washing all those dirty diapers is no quick
task and I like to do things fast. So, being wintertime in Wyoming, we had a
nice big pile of snow outside our door and I spread the diapers out on top of
that. After a few more snowfalls and then warm days, I figured the diapers
would be clean - at least by Spring!
No, it didn’t work. Not exactly anyway. In the Spring - after all the
snow had gone away and I again could find them - the diapers were surprisingly
almost clean. The problem was my wife could now see them too. And for some
reason, she didn’t approve! I explained my theory of the water cycle saving us
a lot of work but she just looked at me like I was from Mars!
We ended throwing those diapers away and just going back to using
plastic ones. From time to time, she still brings up my little “experiment.”
But if I remember correctly, I never claimed to be much of a scientist!
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