White Out

After a pleasant start to the day, based on a balmy early morning 31 degrees when I walked SiSi, the temperature has been dropping and the wind's picked up. Bob Dylan's song, Girl From The North Country, has a line that goes: "To keep her from the howlin’ winds." Every time I looked out the window this morning, that line played in my ear. Western Minnesota has several roads closed due to blizzard conditions and whiteouts caused by winds around 50 mph. When I've traveled in the western parts of the state, I've noticed flashing-light barriers with road-closed signage. I'm not sure which counties or roads have "earned" those barriers and I don't recall ever seeing any in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. MnDOT's on-line Design Manual notes [10-5.04]:

"Emergency Road Closing Gates
 Emergency road closing gates are being employed in some areas of the State to be used in the event of major winter storms or natural disasters such as floods and tornados. MnDOT has not established standards for these devices. Contact the Office of Maintenance for guidelines on emergency road closings and for information on areas using emergency road closing gates."

I'm not sure whether I feel deprived that we don't have these barriers or grateful that the powers that be think we don't need them, even on the highways to Duluth.

deer tracks in the snow        © harrington

Last night, while letting SiSi out to take care of business, we spooked a doe crossing the yard, possibly the same one that made some of the tracks in the photo. The doe must have been within ten or fifteen feet or so of the back of the house. When we opened the walk-out door to the screen patio, the doe bounded down our slope and up another to stand by the pear tree and decide what was going on. I was truly grateful that SiSi didn't decide she needed to go through the screen to play with a new friend.

SiSi the rescue lab                 © harrington

I don't know that Emerson spent time on the Iron Range or the prairie, but he understands snow storms (New England gets to enjoy Winter too).

The Snow-Storm

By Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs; and, at the gate,

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow. 

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Thanks for listening. Come again when you can. Be kind to each other.

Minnesota's Mine Fields

Some years ago I had the pleasure of working with Iric Nathanson when we were both employed by what was then the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. He has a column in the current MinnPost comparing the PolyMet "controversy" with the 1978 DFL split. I don't disagree at all with Iric's analysis. I do wish that government and politics would focus more on (re)solving issues than creating cockamamie compromises or going for a winner take all "solution." (I'm not suggesting the governor is doing either at the moment.) One of the basic questions that I haven't seen addressed anywhere is whether northern Minnesotans (Iron Rangers) would be happy with any source of 360 "high-paying jobs) or if they only would settle for the PolyMet jobs. Another question is what happens (if anything) to the folks who have those jobs when the mine closes in 20 years or so (if it does). Looked at another way, I'm really curious about whether this is about specific mining jobs or the broader questions of economic and community development in northern Minnesota. Does that question fit what my lawyer friends would call "asked and answered?" I don't recall seeing the answer yet nor even reading about the question being asked.

northern Minnesota rocks     © harrington

Have any of you heard of the process called a root cause analysis? It might be helpful to move Minnesota toward a satisfactory resolution to the "PolyMet controversy" (satisfactory, at least, to all except PolyMet investors and employees). One of the reasons the PolyMet proposal appeals to northern Minnesotans is because of the jobs. Presumably, an effective economic development strategy that yielded comparable jobs without the long-term environmental risk should hold even more appeal, especially if the types of jobs involved had a projected life of more than 20 years. I'm not suggesting such results would be achieved in the next year or so. I am suggesting that an alternative to a boom and bust economic cycle should be sought. The folks at Strong Towns have some interesting insights on local growth. Has anyone invited them to take a look at the options that might be available as alternatives to PolyMet? If not, why not? What would a sustainable "New Normal" look like on Minnesota's Iron Range? Are there markers on such a path?

northern Minnesota cairn   © harrington

Some time ago we linked to Wendell Berry's The Peace of Wild Things. Today seems like a good time to share it directly.

The Peace of Wild Things

By Wendell Berry 

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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Thanks for listening. Come again when you can. Rants, raves and reflections served here daily.