Reading the story by Carol Mowdy Bond this week, “Canadian County wheat yields look good,” I noticed farmer Jerry Lingo mentioned he had wheat that was too moist for the grain elevators as the harvest was getting underway.
Then the dry wind came. I hope someone was not wishing too hard for hot, dry weather for the harvest because they got it. I think it was 50 mph Tuesday and Wednesday and the temperatures dropped for a spell, only to return to hot, hot hot.
Swimming pool water is not as cold now. I’ve watched two boys pretty much learn to swim better already this summer.
And one of the experiences a few days ago scared me badly.
Rob, 14, with autism, loves the water. He floats and swims and kicks around in any depth no trouble. He can tread water all day.
This summer, with the expectation that the housing addition swimming pool would be closed due to the pandemic, we set up an above ground one. It has destroyed the grass, though it will grow back. And it takes up room but boy, do the boys love it.
Until this summer, Rob had only gone under water one time. That was at my Dad’s pool when Rob was 5. Rob just walked right in in his clothes and kept walking until his head went under and he held his breath. Then he came up. He didn’t go under again, and I figured, just doesn’t like the feeling of being submerged. I don’t know. Rob does not talk.
Well, I was filling up the back yard swimming pool and it was about oh, 2 feet deep when I went inside and came back out a few minutes later and looked in the pool. Rob is now 6 feet and 1 inch tall and about 200 pounds. He was lying face down on top of the water, his face under water. He was not moving.
I don’t think my hands even touched the sides of the four foot tall sides. I remember being in mid-air thinking, “How much time do I have to revive him?”
I landed and was by his side and screamed, “Rob!”
He just turned over and got up and smiled at me. He is now opening his eyes underwater too. It took 14 years to do this for him.
He is going under water and holding his breath for 5 to 10 seconds, and swimming underwater for the first time. But man, you forget how quickly something can happen around water. Hope everyone will remember that at the lake this year.
The hot days of summer are here. And the good news, the neighborhood pool has reopened!
Read about Yukon’s Friday Funday’s turtle races in the next edition of the Yukon Progress.
Robert Medley can be reached at cancountynewsman@gmail.com
