Cedar Pass Campground, Interior, South Dakota
Then (after the seven years) Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her.” So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant. When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” ~ Genesis 21-25 All I can say is, it must’ve been very dark and lust-filled in that tent that night. So much so, that he couldn’t tell the difference between the two women. And now, the deceiver has been deceived. And he doesn’t care much for it. Isn’t that how we are? We have no problem lying or hurting other people, but when the shoe’s on the other foot, we certainly don’t care for it. And usually we get angry about being slighted. This is why “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12) is so crucial to our faith. And now we have to wonder – now what will Jacob do? And what will God do?
We walked to the Visitor Center this morning before breakfast. Before it got hot. It was really nice when we left, but we could feel the temperature rising with nearly every step on the way back home.
Being holed up inside because of the heat, still provides plenty of opportunities for outdoor amusement. We people watched! The kids next to us scaled the picnic table cover and stood on top, then jumped the 7-8 feet to the ground. One couple, in an effort to enjoy their morning coffee, walked over and plugged their Kerig into the bathroom outlet, then made their coffee on the sidewalk outside. The garbage men came to clean out the dumpster across the lane from us, people came and went at the water fountain in front of us – some cleaning vegetables, some cleaning bodies, some brushing their teeth. And of course, the swallows who’ve made their nest in the bathhouse were flying around all over.
God bless those who take care of these dirty jobs for us!
There’s a Red Flag Warning for the area. That means the fire danger is extremely high. The high winds, the heat and the low humidity, form a dangerous recipe for fires.
After lunch, we felt like we needed to get away from computers and into the fresh air, so we agreed to a short walk around our campground loop. Oh, my, GOOD-ness!!! Have you ever felt 107⁰? I’d say it was a good thing there was a stiff breeze blowing (actually more like a mighty wind at 15mph!), but I think it just made it worse. It felt like we were walking through a blast furnace. Never felt anything like it! One other thing. Blaine took our meat thermometer out to our picnic table. In less than a minute, it read just under 108⁰. That’s in the shade! So we’re thinking our temperature was actually more than the Weather Channel app said it was.
Blaine owns a heat gun. He took an asphalt reading outside our door at 2pm. 137⁰! Yeeeouch!!!
We stayed in the rest of the day, listening to the reassuring roar of the air conditioning units. 😊
In the evening, we got a visitor. . .
