Friday, May 25, 2012

WIND--a rant and a poem


Even though I know better I still think there is some connection between farmers planting fields and wind.  It seems the moment all the grain and potatoes are in the ground and the dirt is all fluffy and loose the wind comes roaring out of the southwest and blows for days.

That fine topsoil is picked up and blasted through the air.  Sometimes Interstate 15 has to be closed for the blowing dust and danger to high profile vehicles. 

At the same time bushels of flying-saucer elm tree seeds take off, scatter through the air and stack in drifts everywhere.

Then, when the air is full of dirt and elm seeds, we get rain.  It doesn’t rain water, it rains mud. And the elm seeds stick in the mud on my car.  As soon as I wash my car it all starts over again. 

I’d take photos of my muddy car and the elm seed drifts but it’s raining AND blowing at the moment.  So I’m blogging.

Okay, enough ranting.  Here’s Robert Frost’s take on a windy day.  I was thinking of it as I took my morning walk:

NOT OF SCHOOL AGE

Around bend after bend,
It was blown woods and no end.
I came to but one house,
I made but the one friend.

At the one house a child was out
Who drew back at first in doubt,
But spoke to me in a gale
That blew so he had to shout.

His cheek smeared with apple sand,
A part apple in his hand,
He pointed on up the road
As one having war-command.

A parent, his gentler one,
Looked forth on her small son
And wondered with me there
What now was being done.

His accent was not good.
But I slowly understood.
Something where I could go--
He couldn't but I could.

He was too young to go,
Not over four or so.
Well, would I please go to school,
And the big flag they had--you know

 The big flag: the red--white--
And blue flag, the great sight--
He bet it was out today,
And would I see if he was right?

10 comments:

susan m hinckley said...

Delightful poem...and what an adorable picture! I hate the wind. Nothing makes me crankier. And today is a very windy day in St. George. But then I'm in St. George, so it's hard to be cranky. But I knew better than to try much in the way of a hairstyle...

Buttons Thoughts said...

Beautiful and I love the pic. Windy here today but I am lucky to be surrounded by high fields of grass blowing in the wind I have no complaints I wish you could see it Leenie I know you would love it.
Have a nice long weekend. B

Anzu said...

As soon as washing my car, it becomes dusty by yellow sand which is carried to Japan by the wind from deserts on the Chinese continent.
Moreover, having to park it under a tree at school, so my car becomes a camouflaged vehicle in the stormy day. ┐(´(エ)`;┌

Terry and Linda said...

My windows are filthy as so is my car and it is still blowing. High wind advisory again today....65 mph and I ready for stable normal weather!


Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

Sarah said...

I like the poem. I don't like the sound of raining mud though! It has been very windy and hot here the last few days, and all sorts of things are blowing around, including Starbucks table canopies, seeds and dust. My car is now even more full of dust than normal!

jeanie said...

Love the poem!

Here, on a hot day you see the wide main street with centre parking under the gorgeous trees, and the world knows whether you are local or not by your decision on whether to park their or not.

It seems the berries are very delicious if you are a bird - and have a mesmerising enough effect to ensure that they do ALL of their business at the same place, if you get my drift.

We have had a few decent dust storms that seem to carry the whole Simpson Desert across to the ocean, but not of late, thank goodness.

Right now, we have, in my grandmother's words, "a lazy wind" - because it is so lazy it goes right through you rather than around.

CarrieBoo said...

I love your writing (and I love those birds in the post before... wow!)... raining mud... so descriptive. It does seem like everything starts to shake up just as everything is prepped for farming. So many obstacles.

Thanks for sharing your wind. ;)

Val said...

Revel in the coating of mud and elm seeds. Because they are not a pile of cat vomit/poop. I have been driving such a mini-sculpture around on the hood of my Tahoe for three days. At first, I thought it was well-digested vomit. But when none of those fleabags had the common courtesy to re-eat it, I started to think it might be poop.

I am waiting for rain.

Gorilla Bananas said...

Having been downwind of some pretty bad smells, I'm no fan of the wind. Do you have windbreaks in your part of the world?

Leenie said...

Our trees break wind...

but they don't seem to stop these southwesterly gales.