"Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky. The landscape one longed for when one was away ... the world one actually lived in, was the sky, the sky!"Willa Cather
Wunnerful. I actually enjoyed Kansas, but I did miss my mountains. I loved sitting in the porch in Dodge and watching the storm fronts roll in, seeing the lightning drop across the entire storm front. I don't miss the tornadoes. The Hesston Twister passed within 1/2 mile of our house, an experience that still haunts my daughter and one that I don't ever care to repeat.
I love the Rocky Mountains--they're magnificent. We try to get to the mountains every five years or so. But, after about a week or so, I start feeling penned in. The eye can't sweep from horizon to horizon.
My daughter-in-law, Bumberjean, survived a tornado, during her teens, that swept between her house and her grandmother's home about half a block away (in the country). It totally wiped out everything in between--the garage, swimming pool, playground equipment, dog kennel, and trees. It lifted the roof of her house (she was in the basement), turned it a few degrees, and then set it back down. Poor kid was home alone, as her father was at work, and her mother was picking up her brother from basketball practice. My daughter and I had been shopping at the mall when the tornado sirens sounded. As soon as the all clear was given, we headed home, listening to the radio. When we heard that the tiny town of Assaria had been hit, my daughter was certain Bumberjean's family had been affected. We called her as soon as we got home (we didn't own cell phones back then). The poor kid was in shock. I talked to her and tried to be calming and soothing until people arrived on the scene.
I hate the devastation of tornadoes, especially those that take lives. But I love our thunderstorms. The best show on Earth!
I love to travel and always appreciate the different sights, but after being hemmed in by skyscrapers or blocked in by mountains, I'm happy to return to the prairie and the endless sky.
Willa grew up a little over two hours drive away and a little under a century away from me. Her best literature concerned the prairie and the people who lived there.
One of the things I like about great expanses of water is that they evoke the feeling of freedom and eternity like the prairie.
Danged skippy. The drugs, violence and crime were out of control. Not to mention the 387,4566,086 cows that killed any chance at opening an aromatherapy business. Only town in America that smells worse is Jerome, ID. Potato processing is a very smelly business. Peel the potatoes with chemical then pump it out to settling ponds, where it rots. Ugh.
I've never visited Dodge. I keep meaning to get there during their annual celebration, but I haven't made it yet.
What is it about some towns that become overwhelmed with illegal drugs? And, of course, crime and violence follow. Our city had a problem with meth for a while, but diligence seems to be curtailing that activity. Now, we are fighting men without morals or conscience who are selling drugged potpourri and bath salts to minors. One young man under the influence ran onto the highway into a semi's path, and that's the end of his story. That didn't deter the men at all, as they were making fabulous amounts of money preying on children. The citizenry got involved, and the men will probably rue the day they didn't give a cut to Uncle Sam, as it seems their big mistake was not remitting tax on their sales.
Interesting about the potatoes. I'm more familiar with the smell of livestock slaughterhouses. That will turn your stomach.
Looks very much like Texas, I think. I lived near Dallas for four years and was just amazed at how flat it was and how incredibly wide and high the sky is. Say that to someone from here who's never been there and they look at you like you're a nut. Of course the sky is wide and high! But it really is totally different.
I love Texas, too, but I'm glad we have more grass and trees.
The sky is a totally different entity when it surrounds you. As Cather says, elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; here, the earth is the floor to all that sky.
Beautiful. Yesterday the clouds here looked similiar to the third picture. I think I'd go stir crazy after a while though if I couldn't see a hill or a mountain! I guess it's what you're used to.
We do have gentle hills in my part of the state, and further to the east, we have the beautiful Flint Hills.
It is what one is accustomed to. I've lived on the plains most of my life, and I love the freedom and expanse of open land and sky. I can certainly appreciate the beauty of other areas, but I'm most at home here.
Dodge, when we lived there, had a large multi-ethnic population that choose up sides and tried to "rule" the town. The Vietnamese from the "south-side", Hispanics from the "East Side", whites and blacks co-mingled in smaller groups and they'd "rumble" all the time as they battled for the drug trade. This was in 86. A girl who worked for me (I was an ALCO manager for 10 years) came in all shaken because she was forced, at gun point (tell anyone and you die), to hide drugs in her school locker. Took me a bit to get the story out of her.
I called the cops after I sent her home (no way the poor dear could work all rattled and crying) and explained the situation on the Q. T. They did a full school sweep the next morning and arrested several people including my employee (had to keep it looking like she hadn't ratted out the real villain) and the "charges" against her were, mysteriously, never filed. I think the police may have talked to her parents in advance because she said it was odd that they weren't freaked out by her arrest, just came and picked her up with a lot of other parents.
We're having the same issues here with the bath salts and "spice". Also some mysterious substance that police think is a plant fertilizer that kids are smoking and going straight over the edge. Two kids wigged out in a parking lot and one asked the ambulance attendants if he could eat her socks while the other "petted" the ambulance and giggled about how soft and fuzzy it was. A few have had seizures and ended up in the hospital. Our state crime lab cannot determine exactly what this substance is and have sent it off to DC for analysis. "Spice" has been deemed illegal now by our local powers. I hate drugs almost as much as people who abuse children.
And feed lots and slaughter houses? That is what keeps Dodge afloat. 7-8 feed lots and 3 slaughter houses. I really don't miss that town at all.
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I still prefer my Blue Ridge Mountains, tho. <3
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We rarely get the chance to have so much sky over land - too many hills! But I get skies like that over water, sometimes.
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My daughter-in-law, Bumberjean, survived a tornado, during her teens, that swept between her house and her grandmother's home about half a block away (in the country). It totally wiped out everything in between--the garage, swimming pool, playground equipment, dog kennel, and trees. It lifted the roof of her house (she was in the basement), turned it a few degrees, and then set it back down. Poor kid was home alone, as her father was at work, and her mother was picking up her brother from basketball practice. My daughter and I had been shopping at the mall when the tornado sirens sounded. As soon as the all clear was given, we headed home, listening to the radio. When we heard that the tiny town of Assaria had been hit, my daughter was certain Bumberjean's family had been affected. We called her as soon as we got home (we didn't own cell phones back then). The poor kid was in shock. I talked to her and tried to be calming and soothing until people arrived on the scene.
I hate the devastation of tornadoes, especially those that take lives. But I love our thunderstorms. The best show on Earth!
So, you had to get out of Dodge? :)
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The Rocky Mountains are so beautiful, but I'm always glad to come home to the prairie.
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One of the things I like about great expanses of water is that they evoke the feeling of freedom and eternity like the prairie.
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What is it about some towns that become overwhelmed with illegal drugs? And, of course, crime and violence follow. Our city had a problem with meth for a while, but diligence seems to be curtailing that activity. Now, we are fighting men without morals or conscience who are selling drugged potpourri and bath salts to minors. One young man under the influence ran onto the highway into a semi's path, and that's the end of his story. That didn't deter the men at all, as they were making fabulous amounts of money preying on children. The citizenry got involved, and the men will probably rue the day they didn't give a cut to Uncle Sam, as it seems their big mistake was not remitting tax on their sales.
Interesting about the potatoes. I'm more familiar with the smell of livestock slaughterhouses. That will turn your stomach.
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The sky is a totally different entity when it surrounds you. As Cather says, elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; here, the earth is the floor to all that sky.
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It is what one is accustomed to. I've lived on the plains most of my life, and I love the freedom and expanse of open land and sky. I can certainly appreciate the beauty of other areas, but I'm most at home here.
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I called the cops after I sent her home (no way the poor dear could work all rattled and crying) and explained the situation on the Q. T. They did a full school sweep the next morning and arrested several people including my employee (had to keep it looking like she hadn't ratted out the real villain) and the "charges" against her were, mysteriously, never filed. I think the police may have talked to her parents in advance because she said it was odd that they weren't freaked out by her arrest, just came and picked her up with a lot of other parents.
We're having the same issues here with the bath salts and "spice". Also some mysterious substance that police think is a plant fertilizer that kids are smoking and going straight over the edge. Two kids wigged out in a parking lot and one asked the ambulance attendants if he could eat her socks while the other "petted" the ambulance and giggled about how soft and fuzzy it was. A few have had seizures and ended up in the hospital. Our state crime lab cannot determine exactly what this substance is and have sent it off to DC for analysis. "Spice" has been deemed illegal now by our local powers. I hate drugs almost as much as people who abuse children.
And feed lots and slaughter houses? That is what keeps Dodge afloat. 7-8 feed lots and 3 slaughter houses. I really don't miss that town at all.
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