Posts Tagged ‘earthquakes’
Fading Light
Not all sunsets are spectacular scenes, but that one looks like there is some symbolism occurring. Cyndie captured the weird sky on her last walk of the day with Asher. We are home from the lake! The drought continues to wither most of our grass to within a slim margin of its life, so there’s not much urgency to mow.
My partner in ranch operations has requested I mow the hay field to knock down the weeds since we were informed the neighbor won’t be attempting a second cut of hay. I guess now is as good a time as any. Diesel fuel probably won’t get cheaper any time soon.
Today is Wisconsin’s primary election to determine candidates for November’s general election. I don’t usually vote in primary elections because I am unaffiliated with any political parties. Cyndie has volunteered to be a poll worker and will be putting in a long shift from noon until after the polls close this evening. She wants me to vote since Wisconsin primary elections are open and I can choose any party, as long as I stick to just one.
I’m more inclined to let each party hash it out among themselves, and then I’ll weigh in after they show me which candidate they have to offer for November.
I will not deny that the pessimist in me fears our democracy is a fading light. I wish I could believe that our elections will get us out of the mess the current administration has created, but both main parties are responsible because none of the people in office with a lick of sense has figured out a way to curtail the insanity. Merely saying they object without doing anything about the daily malfeasance has gotten nowhere.
It would be great if any campaign promises to fix what is broken by getting elected in the midterm election actually came true, but there isn’t a great track record throughout our country’s history to inspire hope from the usual rhetoric.
Getting to rub our dog and the horses again after four days away was a welcome portion of my otherwise uneventful day. Asher’s coat smells like he rolled in something stinky, and the mares were all business at feeding time, but seemed happy to see us bringing a return to the usual routine.
Our health and safety feel all the more precious after viewing videos of Colombia’s powerful earthquake as it was happening. That’s something that cell phones with quality camera features have made a powerful impact on for newsworthy events. I have never been in an earthquake, but seeing videos recorded during quakes that were happening in Venezuela in June and now the one in Colombia yesterday has given me a more intense sense of what it must be like.
The ever-increasing prevalence of surveillance cameras has also recorded as-it-happens depictions of the shaking that have been very informative for me.
I suppose people living through major earthquakes are equally impacted by watching the increasing numbers of tornado videos getting posted these days.
The drought we are suffering in our region isn’t nearly as dramatic. You won’t find many videos of grass slowly getting burned to a crisp by the sun.
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Conflicting Thoughts
There’s a battle raging in the available space of my brain between the wonderful goodness all around us and the repeated failings of improvement where the needs are well known. We just heard an update on progress to vaccinate for COVID-19 that lamented the low percentage of the neediest people receiving shots, despite the advanced knowledge that this should be the priority. Even when there is broad public awareness of the need to get the first vaccinations to the communities most impacted by the virus, insufficient effort to make this come about leaves things to play out as usual with the advantage going to people of privilege.
It is a lot easier to talk about what “should” happen than it is to actually enact the changes needed to achieve high ideals.
Sounds a little like the way things always go in our governmental system. Two-party politics for passing legislation advancing the lofty goals of a nation results in a lot of sounding off but very little in the way of bringing lasting positive change. Progress is slow for the poor and disenfranchised citizens of our country.
We have passed the 1-year milestone since the pandemic took over all of our lives and Cyndie and I have thus far dodged illness. Others we know have not been so lucky, including some who are currently suffering symptoms. We are sending love to those of you experiencing the virus first-hand.
News reports announcing crazy-high numbers of small earthquakes in Iceland, combined with several other notable recent quakes around the planet suggest something big is about to go boom. It’s a strange threat to contemplate from our relatively stable geographic landscape.
A strong spring melt is underway at Wintervale and the chickens are thrilled over the ever-expanding “tillable” terrain becoming exposed again.
The south-facing slopes are free of snow but the rest of the forest is still covered like the surfaces of an old-fashioned freezer. Walking the trails is a fascinating demonstration of how much chill emanates from the icy carpet below.
Delilah loves to pause and rub her face in the snow-cone texture. Her head was all wet at the end of a walk yesterday from rolling in the slushy snow.
It’s incredibly calm and soothingly optimistic with the promise of spring unfurling right before our eyes. The animals all seem giddy and I guess that is contagious.
It’s a welcome contrast to the more unsettling thoughts looming.
Here’s to visions of the days ahead when COVID sufferers can come walk our trails, breathe the health of our forest air, and hang out with our chickens for a while.
We’ll send you home with fresh free-range eggs.
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Relative Something 