I want to have a blog post, one of those that flows from
finger tips to cyber space, with maybe a pause at auto correct because no three
letter word is correct. Even two letter words. Proof reading remains the last
job before post. Even then…
I suppose it’s the thick atmosphere choking me these days.
My brain really sags under Foggy Bottom. The Prez who got a wall. We’re used to
that insanity. How about the federal parks bill just passed by the Senate? Some
deserving parks and Joshua trees received great help. This park I live in was
passed over again, for the usual road and building repair backlog.
The Cuyahoga Valley National Park seems to be the only park
that leases back farm land to wannabees. The same farms emanate domained a mere
fifty years ago, allowed to fall into ruin, and now a half dozen of the four
hundred odd small holdings have been renovated and leased. One of the farmers
is loved and supported by the community, but that not enough to weather the
shutdown. Their CSA program is axed for 2019, as the National Park system
attempts its 11.6 billion dollar maintenance backlog.
I turned to more local clips for better news. Sometimes the local local is best of all. In Chagrin Falls, a village enough bigger than mine to
provide Uber service, some poor mother still was called upon to drive her son
home. The Uber driver exited the car often and circled it, bemoaning driving in
snow. Eventually he returned to the village, and that alternate mode, Mom, was
engaged, a week ago. When it snowed.
Shots fired, Wilding Chase! This also from the Chagrin Falls
police blotter, completely stumped me. A Wilding chase. How dreadful. Chagrin
Falls roads are like ours, winding, uphill and down, two lane, through the
Chagrin River valley. After much unfruitful thought, I searched the definition
of “Wilding”, and google returned Wilding Chase, a residential street in
Chagrin Falls.
The National Weather Service issued a Pup Alert!, a small
dog warning. The storm that left inches and inches and inches of snow from
Washington State to Ontario, Canada, has a wet underbelly of massive rain and heavy
wind. A winter storm underbelly in this country generally means rain in the
Ohio River valley and south.
But this storm’s snow ended in Detroit, and the
rain began at Lake Erie. Laura told me over supper, she walked almighty fast to
get to the bus shelter this morning, and not be blown down the road or soaked to the skin.
My son drives a truck for a living. He stayed in his house in a suburb of Detroit for the last few days because the roads are so bad. And he usually drives in anything.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDelete...I am so glad you did the search to save me the trouble of understand what a wilding chase is. Capitalised, is what it is. Don't even get me started on proofing. Beats me how I can go over a thing with all my tools and aids and bifocals and still miss those pesky typos!!! Stay warm and dry dear friend. YAM xx
Coming from a farming community, I have seen the small farms absorbed by real estate and larger farms. Lots of thriving houses and barns I remember are now in ruins decades later.
ReplyDeleteKeep dry and warm.
Here we have 32,500 acres of former farm land and crossroad towns now owned by the federal government as a recreational park. It's a fine park with millions of visitors annually. To become a park, the former farms were bought out and the valley turned into Washington DC's vision of bucolic heaven. Sadly, many of the buildings purchased are unkempt or torn down. But half a dozen old farms were restored and are leased for farming. John Trapp is one of the lessees, and runs a successful farm. I provided a link to his and the other farms.
DeleteTrapp Family Farm? Descendants of the Von Trapp family who fled Austria in WW2?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the rest of this, my mind is in its own fog today.
And mine.
DeleteI don't know if this man is a relative of the Austrian Trapps. He is a hard working and successful farmer, all behind two horses. He has expanded in the years I've watched the farm, and returned hundreds of acres back to farming and pasture and intelligent rotation.
DeleteA quilting friend posted on FaceBook that dogs should be kept indoors when the weather is freezing cold 32 deg. as their ears and tails will freeze in 5 min! Did not know that. Not surprised that small dogs can be blown away by the winds. Just never thought of it and we don't have any pets other than the neighbor's cat that I share/feed and play with on occasion.
DeleteNever heard of a pup alert from the Weather Service, but nice touch for small dogs. I know when we lived in Montana and had our corgi, we occasionally had to dig out an area for him to take care of business, otherwise the snow was so deep in the back yard we would have lost him.
ReplyDeletebetty
The wind gusts were fifty plus miles per hour, and driving the rain through and through anything in the way.
DeleteI thought you were using a German preposition in your blog title for a minute there. We're water-logged out west at the moment. I'm back to riding the bus; the thought of trusting a Lyft driver to not hydroplane while driving is beyond me at present.
ReplyDeleteMy formal German education is limited to one failing semester in college. I believe I can still count to three.
DeleteUnlike me, my dogs loved the snow. In fact, given a choice, they would probably have moved to Alaska.
ReplyDelete‘Pup Alert!’ Who knew? Bet it had a cold wet nose and a waggy tail.
ReplyDeleteLX
It's always the things which really matter to people that get passed over in the budgets. Art is the last consideration in architecture.
ReplyDeleteThere is an abandoned horse husbandry farm near me that the park owns.It consists of a craftsman style house, a big midwestern barn of the style coveted by John Grey, a smaller out barn, and a stable barn of perhaps twenty stables. All falling to the ground, overgrown with vegetation. I've followed it photographically and occasionally posted about the ruin and neglect. My anger does not move the federal government. There is no shame in Washington for evil deeds, large or small.
DeleteThat's just criminal. Waste like that is evil.
DeleteTG we missed the rain this time. Lots of snow but no rain.
ReplyDeleteThe cycle of snow and rain this year is disturbing. We had a pile of snow yesterday and rain this weekend. Quite a mess.
ReplyDeleteLocal, Local news is always the best and truly gives us the news that affects our lives. Unfortunately, they, like farms, are disappearing quickly from America’s landscape.
ReplyDeleteNone of it ever ends, does it? There are only breaks in the weather, short seasons of light and hope. Be careful, be careful, be careful.
ReplyDeleteLook to the days lasting longer. I suppose that's what we should do.
a week of sewing kept me off social media and quick scans are boring. I pass over all things political, avoid the news. the siren song of spring is calling.
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine’s Day. Thank you for your blog which I enjoy a great deal.
ReplyDeleteGenie
I hate auto correct
ReplyDeleteMy google search result: Michael Wilding - actor in Stage Fright.
ReplyDeleteHeard my first blackbird of the year today. He's singing for St Valentines!
Happy Valentines day dear you. I often thing thank yours at you for the wonderful and soft towels. Ditto for all your posts. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine some of the roads drivers drive on.
ReplyDeleteOh, my, I missed that alert.......https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/mbz33x/small-dog-warning-tiny-dogs-blow-away-in-wind-national-weather-service-alert-midwest-cleveland-vgtrn..........But I do not have a small dog anymore.......Happy Valentine's Day, Joanne!
ReplyDeleteI tried to grab the accompanying photo for my blog picture, but couldn't save it anywhere. It was the essence of rain and wind, wasn't it. The adult folks nearly off their feet.
DeleteThe more local the paper, the more interesting the news, but the more errors in spelling and punctuation - it's a trade-off!! Here, at least :)
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think of a craftsman style house being allowed to fall down anywhere. Such a waste.
ReplyDelete