Ramblings

It is hard to concentrate on days such as these. The winds are gusting 46 miles per hour. Some would call it pre-hurricane. That’s not a word but it does describe it.

When I was a child, not that long ago but many miles from here, days like these were unusual in southern Iowa. But on these days we dreamt of kites and whirly-gigs. We flew seldom but we dreamt of it. I never really thought of wind as an entity until I moved here.

Now, where I am now, the winds blow everyday. Some more than others. Today more than most. I think it is not the wind that bothers but the sound. I can get out of the wind by getting behind a wall or object, but the sound is always there. Whether you are outdoors or in, you hear either a blast or a hint of it. When the wind stops or changes directions, you hear it before you feel it.

I’m glad my home is sealed tight because the wind here is more than air. It is made of air, dust, and smells. The air is alright, I thrive on it, but who likes dust? Any unsealed crack will soon fill with fine dirt or sand. The smells are more complicated. The smells are made of three types, scents, odors and stinks. Need I say more? On some days the scents are in the minority.

This is farm country. Makes me wonder why or how I can still eat beef, pork, eggs or chicken. Discover a way to raise any of these without odor and you might make a fortune. They now have seedless grapes, watermelon and countless others, why not odorless beef, pork, eggs or chicken? Wonder how those experiments are progressing. Surely someone is working on it.

DSS