Actually got up early today and went to town before the rain started. Got gas and bought stamps at the post office. Gonna catch up on my letter writing. Got some plastic storage boxes to finally put the Christmas garlands to rest. No pondering in the porch swing today. It’s too cold and too wet. Not good dog walking weather, either. The torrential rain is on the way. Rain is the sustenance of earth, though. Always loved to read on a rainy day. A rainy day is like a special gift to slow down and take a nap. I’m nodding off now writing this blog.

Did you know there is a place in Antarctica called Dry Village where it hasn’t rained in 2 million years? Seriously, how do they know that? There’s no water, ice, or snow there. I love these useless facts I stumble upon when I’m wondering about things. Chief had a mind full of all these facts from reading all his encyclopedias. Always wondered how he knew what he knew but never realized till he was gone how much he read the encyclopedias. I’d come home from work and there would be at least three volumes on the kitchen table, a volume or two on the porch and a few on his desk. A pile by his rocker near the fireplace. Never from the same set, either. I believe he read them like most of us read novels. Rosie always called her daddy the encyclopedia of the south. He loved that!

I took two sets of encyclopedias off the bookshelves in the living room here and replaced them with novels. Wish some creative person could tell me how I could make a coffee table from several sets. I bet I’ve got two dozen sets. I’m not getting rid of them but they are hard to store. Guess I could fill up the wall cabinets in the basement.

My brothers and I grew up with the red World Book encyclopedia set. Always exciting when the year book volume came in the mail. I can remember using the encyclopedias to write little paragraphs on various subjects as homework. In the fifth grade we called them reports. As an elementary school child it was hard to read the information and change it into your own words. I’d always get distracted reading other topics.

Chief thought Britannica brand encyclopedias were the highest regarded sets. They were considered more scholarly than other encyclopedias. Lots of their entries were written by famous people. Chief actually had a friend who wrote entries for encyclopedias.

Soon as we started our family he subscribed to Britannica and the volumes started arriving. I loved the World Book sets because they were reader friendly and easier to look up topics. I was always using the B volume for the beautiful pages of bird identification. Always thought the Britannica set was too hard to look up topics and even harder to read. I continued using the World Books through college. Was so happy to see that Wesleyan had plenty of World Books on the shelves near the Brittannica sets.

Aunt Margaret told Chief once that she let her grandchildren cut pictures from her set of World Books for school projects. He harped on that sin she had committed for weeks!

Did a little interesting research and learned that Brittannica was printed for 244 years, the longest running encyclopedia in the English language. They quit publishing the print version in 2010. I remember we got a letter saying they were going digital. Chief took his text on that thought. Get this, though! The World Book is the only encyclopedia still being published. Sells itself as easy to check a fact for homework or research assignments. You can purchase the 2022 set for $999 retail or $899 at their web site.

We have a bicentennial edition of World Book encyclopedias. It’s bound in white and has a row of red, white and blue flag patterns down one side. Never really noticed they were a limited edition till I moved them off the shelf today. We are so used to the instant gratification of research on the internet that most of us don’t have the patience for encyclopedias. I love the internet, too, but I’m going to occasionally honor Chief and do some research in the World Book encyclopedias. Might even get bold enough to open a Brittannica! He would be proud!