The reality of a ton came to me at a baseball game. It was the final game of a championship series of a summer collegiate league. There was no chance of postponing the game; the kids had to get back to school. A brief but torrential rain came through and left the field a mess so they dragged out what I tend to call kitty litter, but which goes by a variety of brand names; a water absorbing granulated clay mixture. It came in 50-lb bags and they dumped 40 of them on the field. I did the math.