In the movie, “Carbine (short barrel) Williams,” Jimmy Stewart’s character, Williams, explained to the prison warden (Wendell Corey) the experience he had while confined to a dark room. He realized a person cannot think of two things at one time. At first, he focused on his back pain; then he went to childhood memories like fishing and hunting and the joy he got working on his guns. While in the dark room he visualized taking his guns apart and putting them back together. This constructive thought helped him survive the week long punishment of the dark room. It didn’t stop there though; Williams persuaded the warden to let him clean and repair guns. While doing that Williams created the M-1 35 caliber rifle, which was the first carbine approved by the Army. The gun was quite an aide to the army being five times lighter than their current rifle. Williams earned his parole and created 68 more patents in his lifetime.

This story brings up the choices we have in daily life. Do we want to think about stress, worry, and pain? Let’s choose constructive, creative focus to relieve stress and the other puzzles which are present. Remember, we can only think of one thing at a time.

Here’s an example of how my memory of childhood joys aided in relieving my stress and strengthening my creativity. My favorite TV show was “Fury,” which was a story about a beautiful black stallion which shared a love with a ranch boy. After watching the show, I would go outside and be with Mother Nature and re-enact the scenes. The memory of playing outside helped me with the major task of preparing a 4′ X 10′ X 28′ hole to store three three-thousand gallons tanks to store rain water. My first task is to prepare a path which leads to the filter pump house which will be between the new tanks and the four current tanks. The path for easier travel down the slanted hill will be at one corner of the hole constructed from rock.

This is where my childhood memories helped. All my life rock hunting has been a joy for me. This rock hunt was for a variety of sizes: thin but large for wall, flat and thick for steps, filter rocks (french drain style) and wedges for hole fillers. The fossils in the rocks also aided in making the wall attractive. Puzzles and games were also a joy in my childhood, so I pictured this task as a complicated, three-dimensional puzzle. Placing each rock so the rock fit securely and didn’t wobble was like finding the locking piece in the puzzle. Quite often, one rock will click into place with the rock it is placed beside like a keystone in an ancient rock archway.

The excellent fit amazed me because the fit seemed “meant to be.”

The puzzle reminded me to visit my childhood more often and remember why the world fascinated me as a child. Remember each day you have a choice to worry and be stressed or look at the problem at hand – relate the problem to something from your childhood or go to a joyful memory for relief and, more often than not, a solution to your problem will appear, your creativity will be enhanced and hopefully, you’ll help Mother Earth in some way. The Rainwater Harvester (18,000 gallons) has been a treasure to us, and I wish more citizens would choose to construct them to conserve and protect our water resources. If enough of you respond to me with interest concerning the construction of a rainwater harvester, I would be very happy to supply steps and other sources to contact.

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