Thursday October 3rd, 2019

Well, well, well, and here yesterday I was scratching my head about who else may love Country Western music as much as me ... I can share this touching ballad with you! Thank you, Mr. Coco!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjkLf_X88WM

On another note, people have been mentioning 'rain' a lot in their email messages lately, inquiring if we need flotation devices or if we've gotten our basement dried out yet. I think it's necessary once again to educate you  about rain and this part of Minnesota, historically speaking.

As you're probably well aware -- but I'll repeat, just because I need something to link my story to, northwest Minnesota, unlike eastern portions of Beltrami County and northeastern Minnesota that have hills where water can run downhill and off places to other places; Roseau County, is table-top flat; our lowest elevation at 1001 feet and our highest elevation of 1335 feet resemble nothing more than a wrinkle in the topography table cloth. Accumulations of water, such as in the form of 'rain' have forever plagued this landscape's residents be they human or animal, forcing them to eternally wade, float or swim to where they needed -- or were forced--to go until freeze up at the end of October.

Now the Dakotah and the Ojibwe figured this out pretty early in their occupations; the Dakotah hollowed out the tree trunks of cottonwoods and oaks; the Ojibwe built birchbark canoes. Both were pretty labor intensive projects, especially for the Dakotah who couldn't just whip one out in a day, like the Ojibwe did with their cut 'n paste methodology using almost paper-thin birch bark, thin strips of heartwood or roots as lacing, and a little sap or pitch for glue. I can well imagine that either craft was well utilized here in Roseau County--everyday. These people's heads were screwed on right.

Then the crowds of Europeans showed up about 1870 or so in this part of Minnesota. There had been many white individuals here before then, but no one planned to settle here because, other than a bunch of timber and furs that were rapidly being depleted, there was just a lot of water all over the place, everywhere you'd look. If there wasn't water, there were green meadows and green trees and wondrous ponds that had to be traversed, as I wrote above: wade, float or swim.

But my ancestors, Swedes & Norwegians (maybe even some of my cousin's ancestors, as Finlanders,  were poor people who, after spending a few miserable years in cold and drafty sod-houses in the Red River Valley, were easily flammer-jammeled by the sight of water in the forms of lakes, rivers and creeks, and green meadows of lush knee-high grass and what trees remained after all the good stuff was taken by the timber companies, and thought, "Whoo-eee! Det här är Eden, Ethel! Du måste se det här!"  never giving a thought to what phenomenon of nature created this obvious paradise.

It was rain. There is a saying in this region, that goes something like this: "vær forsiktig med hva du ønsker deg i tilfelle regn, for her oppe vet den ikke når den skal stoppe" as the Norwegians would say. The French, might grunt, "Faites attention à ce que vous souhaitez quand il pleut, car ici, il ne sait pas quand s'arrêter." But the Finlanders, the Finlanders said, "Kuka haluaisi asettua tänne? Tässä ei ole muuta kuin joukko vettä ja miljoona hyttysiä" They had their heads screwed on right too.

A lot of people guffawed when they heard that. "What's a little rain? We came from Norway and Sweden where there was real water on all sides of us and when it rained, it ran down to the sea! Our ancestors were Vikings and seafarers and fisherpeople! We embraced the weather, no matter what it threw at us! We laughed at rain! HOOYAH YOU RAIN! You other Europeans are sissies! Afraid of a little rain? Move out of here! Go to Iowa or some such sissy place where it rains 'just enough to grow the crops and your flower gardens!' Go to Kansas or Wisconsin even. You are a sad people if you can't tolerate a little rain!

And so the smarties went. They had their heads screwed on right. Now their descendants call or email or text, "Is it still raining there? How much rain did you get? Has your basement dried out? When was the last time you saw the sun? "Mother Nature needs her estrogen, wow."

There's an inch of new rain in our rain gauge, over a 24-hour period, that added to the mush formerly called our yard which was inundated by probably over 9-10 inches of accumulated rain we've got since the middle of September. It's interesting to walk anywhere in the yard and sink an inch; fortunately our road coming in here is still somewhat solid being as there isn't the traffic there used to be when I was working, and going in and out of here sometimes four times a day.

That being said, the lawn hasn't been mowed for weeks, although in between showers last weekend I mulched a bunch of leaves that had fallen in places, but I didn't get over the whole estate, besides I want to leave it long for the deer this winter when they take cover here, out of the harsh winds, to paw through the snow. Fortuitously, the grass is getting real deep over the drain field--which is excellent since I use its insulating qualities over it during the winter.

It is true our basement foundation sprung a leak one morning during the biggest deluge, but we discovered it in time, and with the two of us working, we managed to stem the tide using a shopvac and a tube of sealant that is effective underwater. The crack is behind the entry to the house, so we couldn't see it, and under the steps to the basement where we could. We've had four fans circulating air across the floor (only a little area of the western half and near my desk in the Raven office) for ten days. It's really improved the air quality in the house, at least. We can see the moisture within the concrete of the basement floor, but it's staying encased there, so far so good. The old sump pump runs occasionally but we have a new backup for it all plumbed and ready to go.

On Halloween, 1979, when I first moved up here from Iowa, it snowed and the ground stayed white for six months. Tick, tick, tick ... Snow possibility is forecast for October 2 & 3.