Thursday, August 03, 2006

The Dog Days

So, August sees MFT and AI living in searing heat? I presume, in his cave of goats, Pan JJ is the coolest of us all [although here in the Northwest, it is delectable]. As for Pepe, a little acid rain seems to have melted him completely away.....dommage.
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5 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Others have all the fun! By the way, can you tell what that pseudo-amphor in Mad Mel's hand is?

8/03/2006 7:54 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...

Sustained triple-digits in the Dakotas, at least about a week or so ago. Unless you work outside, it's not too bad. ...I work outside.

We've given up on rain, and water the city trees with the garden hose. I think the weather has snapped though, as we're only experiencing the mid-90s, and even some upper 80s as of late.

8/03/2006 11:17 AM
Tecumseh said...

Dust bowl all over again, heh? BTW, you guys ever read John Steinbeck or John Dos Passos? I used to really like them when growing up.

8/03/2006 11:54 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...

Yeah, I'm familiar with Grapes of Wrath. Dakota isn't that far into it... yet. Or, we're not prepared to move to California (although Dakotans would bring quite a bit of sensibility to the bizarre Republic of California).

John Wesley Powell (Civil War artillery major; lost his arm; late-19th-century geologist; navigated the Colorado River back in the day) advised Dakota, as they were drafting their Northern and Southern state constitutions, to historically consider where the rain had fallen before promoting massive agriculture, especially in the central and western portion of the state.

Now the Dakotas take in about 10 times (maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more) the amount in Federal Farm subsidies than they could ever give back in Federal taxes. It's really quite the set-up, but certainly not as absurd and horrific as the programs (and pogroms) that Stalin and the Soviets had going.

The American West -- even up in northern Louisianna -- remains a strange, strange place.

8/03/2006 5:11 PM
Tecumseh said...

That Louisiana purchase was a pretty good deal, I'd say. Even with all the weather-related problems, the French got the short end of the stick for selling such a huge tract of land for a song. Oh well...

8/03/2006 5:47 PM

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