Best Times to Play Outside

The best time to play outside: 

 3 hours after dawn, 3 hours before sunset. (sunrise and sunset times here) 

The first 3 hours after dawn is when the light is full of fresh hope and new mercy. The wind tastes like hope. Birds are singing. Even the UV rays are attenuated by their long journey through our air. Even better is to start half an hour before dawn, when the light of our star mixes with the light of the far stars, as our atmosphere fades out of the view of the galaxy.

The 3 hours before sunset, the air is heavy with the heat of our star, now pressing around us with the fullness, like an ocean around a fish. Full, like a warm sea. The day is full. Children run about with the crazed emotions of those who don't know they are tired. Heated argument, epic adventures, or laughing hysterically at jokes too mystical to be understood by the narrow minds of adults. They are meant  run off this energy under the unconfined, ceiling of the heavens, as their forbears have for millenia. Gradually the birds wake up again, excited as our sky fades into the galaxy.

One by one the far stars show their faces through the blue veil. It fades, vanishing once more, and we see again through the viewport of our planet, as it hurtles through the stars.

Jan 15     7:32am,   5:43pm

Feb 15     7:12am,   6:12 pm

Mar 15    6:38am,   6:36 pm

Apr  15    5:58am,   6:59 pm

May 15   5:28am,   7:21pm 

June 15   5:18am,   7:39pm 

July 15    5:29am,    7:38pm 

Aug 15    5:50am,   7:14pm 

Sept 15    6:11am,   6:34pm 

Oct 15     6:32am,     5:54pm 

Nov 15    7:00am,   5:25pm

Dec 15     7:24am,   5:21 pm

Chief Obstacles:

1. Obstacle #1  Light shining sideways into your eyes. Strategically place trees, shadecloths, and trellises east of where you intend to hang out early in the morning, or west of where you hang out in the afternoon. Another option is to place play-structures, rose gardens, garden benches, picnic tables, outdoor work tables, such that they are shaded by the house at these times.
2. Obstacle #2 Mosquitos love twilight. 
1. Clothes. Nothing stops a mosquito like fabric. In the winter months we're bundled up like Rangers, and the mosquitos aren't out anyway. In the warmer months, wear long loose linen pants. You can even sew "extensions" of fabric (like really long cuffs) to the ends of pants (they get worn out and need to be replaced anyway). The length and swinging movement keeps mosquitos from feasting on yoru ankles, even if you are barefoot or in sandals. Li Ziqi wears these kinds of pants in many of her summer videos
2. Habitat-destruction During the rainy season, every evening, have the kids help me do a quick scout out the backyard, to make sure there isn't any secret standing water around.
3. Repel with plants Try growing the vaunted anti-mosquito plants (lemon balm, basil, etc) about the garden, around play areas and sitting areas in by garden benches. Secondly, try making some of that "hippie bug spray" as Josh calls it, the essential oils said to repel mosquitos. I'm going to be oiling my skin anyway, why not put in some nice smelling stuff mosquitos don't like.
4. Trap: Try leaving standing water with the mosquito dunks in them, like enlightenment garden channel does. Need to be careful its not drownable to toddlers though.
5. Chemical Spray: Last resort, if things ever get REALLY bad, use chemical repellant. That is where long loose pants come in, since spraying your clothes seems preferable to spraying the skin. But on kids in shorts, need to do what must be done. Aim for the ankles, calves, triceps, and back of the neck/back. And remember not to breathe it in.
3. Obstacle #3 Kids need to be schooled. Because we are homeschooled, this isn't as much of an issue. Schedule school to start at least 3 hours after sunrise, and end at least 3 hours before sunset. e.g. Start school after 8:30 in the summer months, and after 10:30 in the winter months.

UV Indexes and White People

These actually matter. White people aren't used to high UV indexes. They come from the Northern Lands, clinging to the pole of our planet, where the sun is dimmed by the tilt of the earth. Their DNA is exposed in semi-translucent skin, to the dimmer pole-sun. Their skin does not contain enough of the armor of melanin, that shields DNA against our Star's radiation in the more equatorial latitudes.

e.g. in London in late April the UV index maxes out at a 3.  In Phoenix on the same day, its a 9. Being closer to the equator makes a huge difference. Then throw in the never-ending blue sky, and even compared to Dallas TX, we have no "off" days where cloud cover keeps the UV to a 3. Its unrelenting sun all the time. In June and July, Phoenix tops out at 11/12. 

There is a world of difference between living closer to the Arctic Circle, or to the Tropic of Cancer. You wouldn't think that the difference between latitude 32 (Phoenix) and latitude 52 (London) would more than quadruple the UV exposure. But it does. Like poking an orange with a pin, the angle you poke the orange peel greatly changes how much of the pin you can insert into the peel before you hit the inner fruit. Likewise, the more "orange peel" atmosphere that the sun's rays have to traverse to reach us, can greatly reduce the amount of UV that reaches us.

 The swarthy Mediterraneans of Europe correlate to the latitude of America's 'far-northern' Massachusetts & New England. Arizona and Texas, correlate to Northern Africa and the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, etc. where people either have more melamine-rich skin or drape themselves in fabric like the Tuscan Raiders. Or both.

Daily UV index matters, note the peak hours. Playing outside for 2 hours before 10am exposes you to the same amount of UV as 10 minutes at noon.

Play outside before 10am, and after 4pm.

UV index for April in Phoenix. As the peak index rises with the summer, the entire graph shifts up in exposure, but it always keeps this general shape.

 

Roughly, equinoxes are March 20th and Sept 20th. Solstices are June 20th and Dec 20th. So from a UV exposure perspective, the danger zone is April through September. 

UV index changing with the months. 

Note how Phoenix maxes out almost at a 12. I think the highest London gets is a 6. But given how math works, shift the peak up 2x, exposes you to more than 2x the total UV. E.g. a 12" pizza is more than twice the size of a 6" pizza.

Since the kids are inside from 8 to 4 June through September (too hot to be in the sunlight), the "danger zone" is really March & April, October. This is when it feels nice and cool, but the UV index is still very high (compared to the Northern latitudes to which their ancestors grew up.) So they aren't programmed to avoid sunlight at these nice temperatures, even though the UV index is frying their DNA through their translucent northern skin. This is when insisting on hats is very important.

"Getting a tan" isn't a sign that all is well for a white kid. (My Jenny can tan to Pakistan or indigenous Mexican levels). That melamine deposit is like the reconquista. The UV has already come in and won a major victory. The damaged body then fought back, and erected a make-shift wall of melanin to protect the DNA for the rest of the summer. But there has already been damage done. Battles lost, DNA messed with, collagen destroyed. And the white kids that don't tan, merely means they lose that battle over and over, and can never even muster that makeshift wall.

But kids hate hats.

So be smart. Strategize shade. You'll never get it all, aim for the 80% rule. 

Study them in their natural habitat. Ascertain their habits, where they hang out. And then alter that habitat. Strategize ways to shade where they play 80% of the time. Study their playing patterns. (E.g. make sure the tree's shadow hits the playset after school hours. Put structure near the kiddie pool that shade it in afternoon, when the kids are there. Pay attention to how they play. (e.g. In the early spring, secure some shade cloth to the top of the swing set with cable and T-posts for shade at noon, since the cool weather means they play outside all day, even during peak UV hours, in the summer, note where do they hangout in those cool-but-dangerous hours)

Rig shade (or better yet, grow shade trees) over the key areas they spend 80% of their time. (e.g. the mulberry tree shades the playset in the morning, so I need to rig up a shade cloth whose shadow will hit the playset in the afternoon).  Be aware of how sun angles and seasonal shift move where the shade from the shade cloth (or tree) ends up.

 I plant trees, and then rig up shade, because trees take time to grow. (Pakistan Mulberry Trees will grow SUPER FAST in Phoenix, if you water them a lot)

Shade ideas: 

1. The fastest option, T-posts (8 footers), cable, and shade cloth.
2. Pretty options: Cattle Panel arches anchored with T-posts, with fast-growing vines, and a bit of shade cloth on top while waiting for the vine to grow. (You can wire 2 arches together for a super big arch, depending on your local windspeeds)
   
3. Classy Options: 4x4 lumber posts whose end grain is painted with outdoor paint (or pressure treated), affixed with decking screws, and possibly 2x4 braces. Set in the ground with gravel (better than concrete, drains better). Screw in screw-eyes and hang shade cloth.
   
4. Really Classy and Pretty Option: Grow a grape vine up wood/cattle panel trellis
5. Super super $$$ option: Build a Pergola or Gazebo
   

Simple Lifelong Strategies for White Children:

1. Make a habit to put a hat on before going outside. Especially in nice-feeling weather, where they won't instinctively seek shade.
2. Make a habit of going outside in the early morning and late afternoon hours. Morning sunlight is so beautiful. Be outside when the birds are most excited. (If mosquitos are a problem, long loose pants that cover the ankles work really well. I will even sew extensions to my pants that don't cover the ankles. Mosquitos mostly go for my ankles and calves for some reason. I think I move my arms enough they don't aim for them as much)
3. Study them in their natural habitat, and adjust their habitat with shade (via tree or cloth) wherever the kids play 80% of the time in higher UV times of day.

A very white baby. She doesn't even have hair to shield that very white head from the UV rays.

 

The Idea of "Unplanned Pregnancy" (And Surprise Birthday Parties, John the Baptist, and Spring)

You know...this year, I really really thought about it, and decided it would be good for my life to have winter end this year.... It may even help the farmers. And it'll lift everyone's spirits to see some flowers, and have a blue sky, so...you know what, let's plan on having Spring this year! Lets see...2023....about March, maybe?

 Let's start in March, we don't want to wait too late in the year because we want to be sure to make it to our family camping trip in June. And if we don't have spring this year it, may be hard to make it through the roads without a snowplow attachment....

As a child, I thought the term "planned pregnancy" was ridiculous. Like "planned spring." Grownups were at it again, overestimating the importance of their Ideas of How Everything Ought to Be. 

Just like their lofty declarations "no pushing or shoving on the playground." We'll just wait till they were busy talking and us kids who knew what life was really like, could get into a rousing game of tag.

When I heard the term "surprise baby", somewhere around 9 or so, I thought it was a compliment. That a kid had the cleverness and chutzpah to surprise their parents with their arrival. Like a surprise birthday party, with all the glee and joy and shocked faces that that entails. I knew a few families, who "thought they were done", and who had a surprise baby. In my childhood mental framework, those kids were like John the Baptist, showing up with angels and prophecies of greatness.

I felt like surprise babies got extra points.

So I used it like a compliment. 

 I still remember, doing laundry with my mom, as she folded clothes and tried to explain to me not to use that term, because people may feel hurt. I was confused. She explained people may feel sad that their parents didn't plan to have them.

But God makes the babies, I thought. So why give a heck whether dim ol' mom and dad were up to speed. They'll figure out what's happening soon enough, and have a few months to get a stroller and the bottles and the baby toys.

God makes the babies. He planned it. So why are these grownups taking so much credit?

I know a bit more about biology now than I did at 9. But that simple fact of my child brain, is true:

God wills every human soul, fashions and places each one into each human body He knits together. 

Sunday after Sunday, reciting "...conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary...."

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of Mary.

And so is every baby. We are conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of (perhaps dim) parents. 

Every human is God's idea. Each of us is made in the heart of God. We are, individually, uniquely, conceived of in His mind, and hand-crafted by His hand.

We are each of us, specifically, willed by God. 

Ruhi looks at family pictures taken more than 2 years ago, and says "Where am I?!" 

I open my mouth to tell her she wasn't born yet, and I hear Ana's little voice piping in "Ruhi, you were in duh mind of God"

Hi? I believe God express mailed me to this residence.

...except in cases of rape, incest...

As a child, I firmly believed that every human being is willed and created by God.

But there were challenges to this belief throughout my teenage years, as I learned more about the world, and just how horrible human beings could be to each other. Namely I learned about the existence of rape, and the worst of all, incest.

How can a good God allow such horrors to be done to people? 

How can a good God permit people to commit such horrors, when they once were little wispy haired toddlers that just wanted the joy of splashing in puddles and eating applesauce?

That is something I still do not have the answer to. Other than I know that God suffers with every human's suffering.

Then the arguments for abortion came, and I had to make sense of it. How could a woman who was raped carry the rapist's child? How can a girl carry a child conceived in incest?

The question is like a punch to the gut. Its horrible. But its edges are blurry. From a burning hot core to each layer emanating from it, retroactively absolving all abortions.

But lets go to the core, because at the heart of the core is where the real question is.

Peeling pack the layers to the white hot core, let us observe the most outward layer of "non-ideal" conceptions. Adultery. 

Adultery is a betrayal, to the beloved, to the children, to the God you sword the oath to.

But there is a difference between an act, and the fruit that God makes from it. As Joseph being sold into slavery, but then saving all of Egypt and his own family too. What men meant for evil, God making good out of. That doesn't mean it was right to lie to their father, and sell their brother. Doesn't mean it was right for Potiphar's wife to lie and get an innocent man locked up for sexual assault for years and years. Didn't mean the ropes, the beating, the slaveblock, the lack of trial and unending years of incarceration were illusory or really not a big deal. They were terrible. But God brought good out of it.

Adultery is a betrayal that God sees as such a big deal that He even prescribed death penalty for it. Then He spared that woman telling her "Go and sin no more", and took the death penalty on himself, to pay her debt. Adultery, like all our sins, cost him blood and slow suffocation on the cross. God does not minimize adultery, or the suffering that it causes all those betrayed. And yet. He sometimes conceives a child even in the midst of that sin, an innocent and holy child, given to the undeserving, as undeserving as we were when He gave us baby Jesus. 

Because God brings good out of even our worst sins. He saved Egypt and Israel. This did not mean that Joseph's brothers did the right thing to beat and strip their brother and sell him to a slave cartel.

And that holy child, conceived in adultery, is from God, is pure innocent good, like the Christ Child coming to a screwed up and undeserving world.

Or to that holy child, conceived in a petri dish by scientists making money or trying to create a clone army (as I think will probably happen). That child is not the property of the scientist who sinned so greatly in exploiting human life. The situation of that's child conception was sin, but God breathed the life and soul into that little zygote, struggling in the petri-dish, with all the other zygotes, as the scientist randomly picks one to sell, leaving the others to be experimented on. God who called Jacob's name, called the names of each of those little ones in the dish, the names only He knows. And He has breathed souls into them, and they are His.

Now, concerning rape. This is worse, because it is not just betrayal, but a violation, a blasphemy on what sex was created to be. Instead of vulnerable love, there is violent devouring. By the time the question of aborting the pregnancy comes up, the woman has gotten away from the violator. She is deeply traumatized, and needs help, and then finds there is a human growing inside of her. How do we comfort her, how do we make this horrific situation right? We treat the child like it is the rape, or at least, the rapists spawn. If we can just delete the "rapists child", it will be on some level, as if we are erasing part of the rape. But are we? No one would say, that if a man has 2 yr old child, and then goes out and rapes a woman, the woman's family may find and kill his 2 yr old child in revenge. But as long as we cannot see the child, as long as it's face is hidden from our eyes, we can feel it is purely the "spawn" of another human, that must be erased.

And then the blasphemy of love gets kicked up a notch, in cases of incest, which is an abomination before God.  This, because it is a blasphemy of all that makes life worth living, is too much to think about. Even thinking about it feels like breathing in smoke, we want to break a window and get out. We want to help get the girl out of the situation as soon as possible, forget it as soon as possible, and act as if it had never been. And abortion seems the fast way, to make it as if it had never been. 

But that's desperate lie, as we desperately claw about for a solution.

You can't undo the horror of rape or incest.

You can't undo it by killing a small human. That sacrifice is not enough to undo that great an evil. Only the blood of a God can wash that away.

Violated women have lived through the "solution" of abortion, and described it as the second rape. Abortion cannot undo the horror that has happened.

We hate that. 

We rage that there is no way to make it as if it never had been. 

The little one is not the abomination. The abomination has happened. The little one is the like the Holy Child, sent to a screwed up horrific world. We may ask God what the hell is he thinking, sending a child to a deeply traumatized girl, to gestate for 9 months!?

I don't know. I have asked Him. He has his reasons. 

All I know is sometimes healing comes in strange ways.

I remember watching a video about a girl in Africa, 13 years old, kidnapped, abused and impregnated by the LRA. She was rescued, gave birth to a little girl. She named her Grace. I wish I remembered the name of that documentary. 

But I remember the face of that child-Saint smiling, holding her little Grace. Her eyes looking at us, over her little Grace's shoulder, through the screen into us. She spoke of forgiveness. 

She must have even forgiven God.