The Native Iowan

Monday morning here. We saw 50mm/2inches of rain over night. Our little steam is now a biggish babbling brook. Another night (day) of rain like this and we’ll start seeing some flooding. The cattle show no interest.

Many regions round us have been hit hard by both Alfie and the aftermath. A lot of rain has fallen on the coast. South of us, into NSW, the rivers are up and the rains continue to fall. We have been very lucky thus far. Mamma said its better to be lucky, than good looking…

Here is today’s weather picture:

We can expect the weather to hang around for a couple more days.

Which means not much is going to get done. Schools are closed. Over 200,000 connections still without power. Trains, buses, airports, all are compromised, either not on schedule, or at risk of being cancelled. Rail-lines need to be inspected and potentially repaired before trains can run. I did check international flights into BNE and see quite a bit of activity. Im sure there are very many highly stressed travellers either looking to fly in, or looking to fly out.

This is the sort of weather event that leaves folks stranded in airports.

Makes me think of the many times Ive been stuck in an airport, in a city I didn’t want to be in. Some airports are better than others. Some cities are better than others. For many years I traveled with a pandanas mat, folded up in my carryon. Mostly for the baby that was usually traveling with, Id unfold the mat and the kid would have a nice space to be. The mats were big enough for mom and dad and siblings. Everyone could stretch out.

But any airport is better than your car stuck in a snow drift in Iowa. Always kept my sleeping bag in the back seat of the junker-car I was driving. Made for some cold, miserable nights but survived them all.

And the beat goes on.

Need to go out and check on the farm, maybe work on a stick. Have a couple very nice sticks on the table. This weather puts me behind in my mowing but it does mean I get to do a bunch of whittling…

Wood not war

More later