North Country snow season #phenology

Local meteorologists seem pretty sure that somewhere in Minnesota will get a load of snow this Friday and Saturday, they just seem to be having a little problem pinning down the track of the storm. Since we have our freshly tuned snow blower back from the shop, I believe the heavy snow band should set up well to our North and West. Unless, of course, many of the good folks who live to our North and West have also had their snow blowers attended to, in which case we might be sufficiently outnumbered by those who are also prepared that the heavy snow will end up in our yards. We won't know until the storm is over where the bubble of preparedness (remember the Cone of Silence from Get Smart?) set up and deflected the storm track.

early snow

Photo by J. Harrington

Today, the down jacket insert got added to my Winter coat. The hoses have been disconnected from the outside faucets and the water supply to the front faucet turned off. (We can't find a shut-off for the back faucet.) A tow strap has been added to the Jeep's storage compartment in hopes that it will only be needed to extract others from snow banks. My transition from Autumn to Winter clothing will probably continue to limp along for the next several months, until it's time to reverse the process come Spring. It still seems to be too early for breaking out the flannel-lined jeans. That can, I hope, wait until after Thanksgiving.

All the local ponds are still open water. The extended forecast has daytime temperatures continuing to rise well above freezing. Initial soil-freeze dates for St. Paul range from early November to early January. That's a two month range. We've got a pocket gopher tearing hell out of the backyard this week, so I'm not even going to guess about ice cover forming.

Far South of here, in a normal year, mallard and pintail pairs would start courting in a week or so. Maybe El Nino and La Nina don't affect waterfowl courtship very much, I just don't know. The tundra swans are reported to have recently arrived at the Mississippi bottoms near Brownsville in southeastern MN. Last year they were hanging around our neighborhood into early December.

December, tundra swans

Photo by J. Harrington

Despite some recent aberrations, many of us still have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. That suggests we should be sure to be generous to those who have less. Tomorrow is Give to the Max day in Minnesota. Think about who you most want to help and be sure that you don't get caught in any snow storms originating in the vicinity of Washington, D.C.

Falling Leaves and Early Snow

By Kenneth Rexroth

In the years to come they will say, 

“They fell like the leaves

In the autumn of nineteen thirty-nine.”

November has come to the forest,

To the meadows where we picked the cyclamen.

The year fades with the white frost

On the brown sedge in the hazy meadows,

Where the deer tracks were black in the morning.

Ice forms in the shadows;

Disheveled maples hang over the water;

Deep gold sunlight glistens on the shrunken stream.

Somnolent trout move through pillars of brown and gold.

The yellow maple leaves eddy above them,

The glittering leaves of the cottonwood,

The olive, velvety alder leaves,

The scarlet dogwood leaves,

Most poignant of all.

In the afternoon thin blades of cloud

Move over the mountains;

The storm clouds follow them;

Fine rain falls without wind.

The forest is filled with wet resonant silence.

When the rain pauses the clouds

Cling to the cliffs and the waterfalls.

In the evening the wind changes;

Snow falls in the sunset.

We stand in the snowy twilight

And watch the moon rise in a breach of cloud.

Between the black pines lie narrow bands of moonlight,

Glimmering with floating snow.

An owl cries in the sifting darkness.

The moon has a sheen like a glacier.

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.

Returning to our roots?

Yesterday we mentioned Utah Phillips in our posting. I'm embarrassed to admit that, until I "discovered" him through the efforts of Ani DiFranco, I knew nothing about him. Then I learned that he was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World [IWW] (the Wobblies). That got my curiosity going and I found out the the IWW hadn't just faded away. It has offices in Minneapolis and seems active in other Minnesota locations and world wide.

renewable energy construction jobs

Photo by J. Harrington

In light of the (political) events of recent days, as the mainstream media like to say, I think some folks these days might want to consider becoming a Wobblie. Here's one reason I think so. It's from a key statement on the Twin Cities IWW web site:

The IWW seeks to be "One Big Union" for all workers. We recognize that unionism is not about government certification or employer recognition, but about rank-and-file workers coming together around common interests. Because of this, we have often stood out for organizing workers that the "business-style" unions of the old AFL, and to a large extent today's AFL-CIO and other mainstream unions, were/are either unwilling or unable to organize due to racist, sexist or "craft" prejudices, bureaucratic practices and harmful "jurisdictional" divisions, over-reliance on labor law, or simply because a certain group of workers may be seen as "un-organizable." As a result, the IWW has often been ahead of the times within the labor movement. (emphasis added)

rural solar farm

Photo by J. Harrington

Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips collaborated on several albums including Fellow Workers and The Past Didn't Go Anywhere. Maybe it's time to rejuvenate unions like the IWW, in case the Democrats don't manage to remember in the immediate future that two of their greatest constituencies have historically been labor and environmentalists. Those two groups, working together on creative, win-win solutions offer the best hope I think we have for a desirable future. It would be nice, but not essential, to do so as Democrats, or, in Minnesota, as members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. Remember, "We all do better when we all do better!" How could Democrats have forgotten something that basic? And wouldn't it be wonderful if recent elections resulted in a massive strengthening of an anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-prejudice labor union?

Solidarity Forever, written by Ralph Chaplin, is perhaps the most famous IWW song. It's sung to the tune of John Brown's Body.

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run

There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun

Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one

But the union makes us strong

 

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong!

 

It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade

Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid

Now we stand outcast and starving 'mid the wonders we have made

But the union makes us strong

 

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn

But without our brain and muscle, not a single wheel can turn

We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn

That the union makes us strong

 

And of course, more verses have been added:

 

It is we that wash the dishes, scrub the floors and chase the dirt

Feed the kids and send them off to school and then we go to work

Where we work for half wages for a boss that likes to flirt

But the union makes us strong. 

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.