Western Minnesota doesn't have the problems that the northwest portion of the state does. But during our weekend trip to visit Alan's Dad, we found some of the 4" of rain seeping into the basement at the farm and spent a few hours rolling up carpeting and putting furniture up on 2"x4"s.
Driving back to the Cities on Monday, we saw many spontaneous lakes and rivers, adding exponentially to Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. We're experiencing what Alan calls the perfect storm of spring flooding: warmer than average temperatures, frozen ground, snow melt, rain. End result is much sandbagging in the flood plain of the Red River of the North and lots of flooded fields in the plains of western Minnesota. So odd to see ducks, geese, tundra swans bobbing around in whitecaps and corn stalks.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
More smoking ban, please
We two Minnesotans attending a concert across the border tonight (wonderful Irish music and dancing) and innocently wandered into a bar for a nightcap. A wall of SMOKE hit us on the way in--we were in Wisconsin! No smoking ban and 10 people puffing away. We bolted down our drinks and escaped from Wisconsin. Thank you, Minnesota Legislature, for the Clean Air Act. And I say this as a reformed smoker.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wally Lamb
I'm halfway through Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed" and I'm torn: I wish it would never end and I can't put it down so, damn it, it's ending. Well, it's also a library book so I have a deadline, so to speak.
This guy is a WRITER! Best book I've read in years. He weaves the story of a relationship around the Columbine school shooting. His descriptions and character development are absolutely riveting. At over 700 pages, it's daunting until you read that first paragraph. Then all you can do is hold on and keep turning those pages.
This guy is a WRITER! Best book I've read in years. He weaves the story of a relationship around the Columbine school shooting. His descriptions and character development are absolutely riveting. At over 700 pages, it's daunting until you read that first paragraph. Then all you can do is hold on and keep turning those pages.
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