Rainy Days and Glum Days Always Get Me Down

What is one to do, on a rainy day in Memphis, or Minneapolis, or wherever we are (none of the above), except to look for light? In our case, I decided to put some lights over and under the kitchen cabinets.

I just read that the Missouri River, which begins somewhere up near Yellowstone Park, and meanders to St. Louis to form a partnership with the Mississippi, may remain above flood stage through August! Lots of snow, last winter, and unrelenting rain, have saturated the ground and turned our optimism soggy.

I have wanted to spray weeds in the lawn (actually, wildflower seeds that the rain and wind redistributed), but when it is not pouring down rain it is blowing too hard to mess with sprays. Since we live on a sidehill, we don't worry about water puddling, but we do occasionally think about sliding down to the bottom lands.

The Missouri River is on the west side of the State, and we are on the east, or Mississippi, side. Where we are it is the Minnesota River that comes meet the Mississippi, in St. Paul.

Once, this whole center of the nation was part of a great sea that laid down all the limestone beneath us. The fossils of sea critters are part of our sand and gravel. A little more rain, and we may be there, again.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Friends-- My step-father of 35 years died this morning. His name was Conrad Royksund. He was 86 years old. He was born into poverty on a farm near Puyallup, WA. He was the first member of his family to attend college and earned a PhD from the University of Chicago. He paid his way through all of that by fishing in Alaska. He spent his professional career as a college professor. I met him when I was just 3 years old and don't actually have any memories of my life befor e he was in it. He was intimidatingly smart, funny as hell, and worked his ass off. He taught me to meet people with kindness and decency until I was certain they could not be trusted. He taught me to meet ideas with carving knives until I was certain they could. I will remember him as one of the bravest, most curious, and funniest people I have ever met. He left this world with a satisfied mind. We are so grateful. Dan Hubbard

The Sea is Rising

Let us just step back: two hundred and fifty years ago, or so, the ships of England and Spain had drifted onto a whole new continent, as they saw it, from far north to a savagely cold south; pole to pole, as if there were such things. Millions of people already lived here, some of them still hunters and gatherers; some of them very wealthy, indeed! Gold and silver stolen from the southern Americas funded Spanish and English dreams. There was land, lots of land, under starry skies above, rich land, and oil and coal and iron ore. The whole western world learned how to build industries not on simple muscle power, but on steam and oil. We farmed, too, of course. All we needed was cheap labor--slave labor from Africa, mostly, so the ships came with slave labor. Chinese labor built railroad beds where there had been rock cliffs. Europeans, long used to killing each other for good, religious reasons, brought their religious savagery with them. ...

At the Last Game of Year 2017"

Just like in the Bigger Leagues: No balls and five strikes. Add caption "I suppose he had something in mind." "Lift it! Lift your foot one inch!" "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go!" Faster than a speeding ball In the Hearts of His Countrymen There are body-parts that wear out, and mind-games that go, but Jerry's spirit is indominable.

SmokeSound

Search This Blog