Throughout the history of our country and the world, water is possibly the most 
precious of all commodities. Last year, in California, water rationing prohibited the 
application of water for lawn maintenance as many homeowners converted their 
lawns from grass to gravel. In the old days, attempts to locate water was called 
dowsing and a dowsing rod, divining rod or witching rod was used.The rod was a 
Y shaped twig that supposedly jumped upon contact with a water source. Our 
grandfather would whittle the rod to educate us as to its benefits. Not that 
interested in the historical use of the device and with a multitude of orchards in 
the area, we would use the rods as "apple  launchers." By jamming an apple on
the rod and whipping it like a fishing rod, the stick would propel the apple and 
increase the velocity.  There were many an "apple whipping" encounters, back in the 
day. My brother Kevin held the record for hitting two heads with one apple from a 
"launcher." Kevin first nailed Pumpkin Head Hulick  and the apple ricocheted into 
the helmet of Bob "Head" Krestel. When the story was shared with Baton Rouge's 
the late Jessie Dominick, he commented, "Kevin and those two all had  heads "like 
a lion."