Random Thoughts & A Survey

It is once again time for an entry filled with random thoughts on stuff and nonsense. Oh, yeah... And my favorite closet sadist has taken another jab at me with yet another sharp stick, daring me to come out of my hiding place and fill out yet another revealing survey. :-) I also took one of the most scholarly, accurate tests of all time (it's hard to write that with a straight face), which I found on the blog of southern Michigan's best diarist, Kathleen. Both the survey and the test results are included at the end, along with a link to the test (I think) if any of you wish to find out what era you are most suited to inhabit. So, let the random rambling begin:

Ten Random Thoughts on Stuff and Nonsense

• Last weekend my cousin and his wife arrived here nearly unexpectedly from Sioux Falls, SD. They called while still about two hours from town to let me know they would be stopping (they had already been on the road for eight or nine hours). I started up the bulldozer and quickly rearranged my landfill. Amazingly, I was successful in partially restoring it to its original a suburban residential appearance by the time they arrived. That evening (Friday), we went to a local bar with a 1950s gas-station theme. The next morning we went to the top of the Scotts Bluff National Monument to view the surrounding countryside. The view was beautiful that morning. After we finished there, they continued on their journey to Denver, CO (about 3.5 hours south of here), where they were going to attend a wedding. I can only imagine how much they had to spend on gas at $3.00 and more per gallon.

Below is a view of Gering and the North Platte River Valley (facing southeast) with the morning mist enhancing the sunlight. The famous Chimney Rock is barely visible, standing alone, at the left edge of the hills on the horizon (roughly in the center of the picture. Be sure to click on the picture to enlarge it. • As for that bar we went to last weekend, it is located only about two or three blocks from my house, as the crow flies. In fact, it is visible from the back window. Nonetheless, it is the first time I had ever been there. I might have considered going there in the past, but there is no road that leads directly from here to there (how's that for a valid excuse?). Instead there is a very large field, filled with various obstacles, including the ridiculously over-fenced railroad. I could cut underneath the railroad by going through the large concrete culvert that is also behind the house, but I'm not that desperate to sit by myself in a bar full of strangers. Believe it or not, the driving distance to the bar from my house is over a mile, and maybe even a mile and a half. Talk about a poorly laid-out town.

• I applied last week for the job of 'Reading Curriculum Specialist" with the SD Dept. of Education. In my last entry, I told you that I was considering doing it. I applied entirely online and received an email reply from an actual human being saying that they had received it. I hope I know that into which I could possibly be getting myself (are you happy with that grammatically correct, but utterly weird-sounding sentence, Kathleen? :-). I am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to say, "Hey, you're just what we've been looking for! We can sense the 'mindless, bureaucratic drone' in you all the way from here." I shudder even making a joke like that. I'm usually a bureaucrat's worst nightmare, or at least his/her most annoying daydream.

• The very large "Energizer Kitty" just started talking to me from the countertop eight feet away (I'm sitting in a living-room chair). It is named after the Energizer Bunny because, as a kitten, it always kept going and going and going. It turns out that the meowing was merely a prelude. It is now perched on top of both of my arms as I type this, burrowing its head into the side of my right arm (in the elbow crook), totally still, waiting for me to pet it, and purring like a fanatic. Burrowing its head into my arm is its favorite thing to do. This cat would be annoying if it wasn't so... not annoying. I cannot help but laugh at when it is being so insistent.

• Last night, I drank two glasses (OK, frozen mugs) of red wine. I felt my creativity returning to me very quickly; however, it didn't last long, and all too soon I was yawning every five seconds and trying to stay awake while figuring out what to write in this particular entry. Eventually, I had to give up and wait till morning.

• When I was visiting my relatives in South Dakota in late June, my aunt loaned me a box of several hundred old family photographs dating back to almost 1900 (maybe earlier in a couple of instances). Most of them were taken in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. I really should be organizing and scanning them, but the task is such a huge one that I haven't been able to make myself do it yet. I know that once I start, I will enjoy myself almost too much, which means I will keep going until I burn out; and that burn out will occur before I am even be half finished with the box.

• I was looking forward to getting out on the road more this summer and fall, but those wonderfully high gas prices put an end to those plans.

• Speaking of high gas prices, I need to buy a moped. I could then travel all over the midwest at 30 miles per hour, taking photographs and writing diary entries about my experiences. I could even lobby for paved moped trails to be built alongside highways, and maybe even far away from highways. In fact, I could be the catalyst in a new and far more relaxed tourist industry. I could even go back to my favorite adopted hometown in the world (located in South Dakota of course) and organize the "First Annual Vivian Moped Rally." I can just picture 200,000 moped enthusiasts gathered in the wheat fields around town, drinking, carousing, drinking, um..., what else? Of course there would be violent Los Angeles moped-gangs who terrorize other mopeders, as well as the local populace. Their women would naturally be wearing skimpy leather outfits, or nothing at all. Police could get into low-speed chases on dead-end driveways with some of the more rebellious mopeders. For those of you who have seen one of the most hilarious movies of all time, Dumb and Dumber, you will know why we should get Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to host the opening ceremonies. -- OK, enough of that. I've probably given my excellent idea away to some wealthy, unscrupulous diarist or web surfer, who has both the wherewithal and the cash to organize the rally before I can even afford my own moped ;-).

• Have I mentioned here in a previous entry that I have now had high-speed internet since mid-July? The local cable-TV company has been running a deal for the highest of the high-speed packages for $19.99 per month for six months. I couldn't pass that up, although I should have, because now the internet is a bit TOO accessible. That's not good.

• Before I end the "random" part of this entry, I would like to direct your attention to the previous entry. Yes, I posted two of them at once! As I was writing this entry, it occurred to me that I had a topic for another entry. Even though it was completed after this entry, I posted it first because it is easier to refer to it from this entry than it is to refer to this entry from it. Why? Because this is a free-form entry, and that one isn't. Does that make sense? It does to me (and that might be why I'm still single :-).

Music-Title Survey

The following survey requires that the person reply to the questions only with song titles by one artist or band. Of all the artists I could have chosen, I picked Alice Cooper -- not because he is my favorite. He's not (although I really like some of his songs). It's just that I couldn't find anyone else with such a wide variety of useful and entertaining titles.

Once again, I thank my favorite closet sadist for pestering me yet again. I tag everyone who wants to be tagged.

Alice Cooper

Any words in brackets [ ] are my own.

Are you male or female: Wicked Young Man 

Describe yourself: No More Mr. Nice Guy 

How do some people feel about you: Pessi-Mystic [This reply is easily interchangeable with the previous reply and vice versa.]


How do you feel about yourself: 1.) Your Own Worst Enemy 2.) Luney Tune ;-p [It would have been fun to joke with 3.) "I'm the Coolest" ;-p.]


Describe your current significant other: 1.) Might As Well Be On Mars, 2.) Wind Up Toy [NOOO! NOT REALLY!!] :-), 3.) Lost In America, 4.) Woman Of Mass Distraction


Describe where you want to be: 1.) Years Ago, 2.) Going Home, 3.) Lost In America [yes, again], 4.) Sanctuary


Describe what you want to be: What Do You Want From Me?


Describe how you live: 1.) Little By Little, 2.) Bad Place Alone


Describe how you love: 1.) You're My Temptation, 2.) Be With You Awhile, 3.) Long Way To Go [till morning, that is], 4.) Gimme ;-)


Share a few words of wisdom: 1.) Spirits Rebellious 2.) It's The Little Things, 3.) Ain't That Just Like A Woman

Preferred Time-Period Quiz

I also took a very unusual survey that I found on Kathleen's blog, and my results are as follows (I don't know what is with all the question marks; Kathleen's didn't turn out that way):
THE FUTURE Famous Ruler: ?

Living Quarters: Futuristic house?

Hardship: ?

You'd prefer to live in a time that's unknown. You like to live on the edge.

What Time Period Do You Belong In? (Updated!)
brought to you by Quizilla

1899

The following newspaper account was published 106 years ago. In light of the present flooding in New Orleans, I was suddenly reminded of it once again. The article was published in the Springfield Times newspaper of Springfield, South Dakota, and concerns a sudden spring flood on the Missouri River. Springfield sits high above the river and was unaffected, but the farmers who lived in the river valley, many near the tiny village of Bon Homme, were inundated in the middle of the night far more rapidly than they had expected. My great-grandfather and his family (same last name as my own) lived in the river valley near Bon Homme. So, keep an eye out for a familiar name.

Also, as you read, keep in mind that "the bottom" is what they called the land lying in the river valley. Also note that this flood took place some years before my own grandfather was born. Comments in brackets [ ] are my own.

April 20, 1899

The Flood At Bon Homme

A correspondent yesterday sent the following concerning the flood at Bon Homme and the island [also named Bon Homme].

Tuesday morning found the bottom opposite the red bridge all under water 6 feet, and rising 2 feet an hour. J.T. Kountz started across with two skiffs to tender assistance to the families whose houses were in two feet of water and others approaching the mark. Mr. Wadams had all his earthly effects on a knoll by the house, the safest spot in sight.

From there Kountz rowed down to Frank Byrnes', who, with all his cattle and hogs, was waiting proffered assistance, should there be any. From there he went down to Frank [Younameit's farm] and found him and his family stowed away in the garret [attic], and the water slowly reaching them. The roof boards were knocked off, and six children and the mother were handed into the skiff, when all rowed two miles across the big expanse of [flood] water to the main land. [One of the six children was only a one-month-old.]

F. Blachnik and wife and five children, with George Royer's family, were then rowed to Frank Byrnes' house to await the arrival of the gasoline ferry "The Swallow" from Springfield, which Mr. Peter Byrnes had ordered down in charge of Capt. Hutton... Mr. Blachnik remained on a ridge with his horses [surrounded by water]. Jake, the Russian miller, rendered valuable assistance in the rescue with his boat.

...Today the people are turning their attention to Bon Homme Island, which is also submerged with families looking for assistance. They will be hard to reach on the swift current with no really good skiff here.

END OF ARTICLE

Update: In the 1950s, the Army Corps of Engineers began building several dams on the Missouri River in South Dakota. The area affected by the flood in the story above, including my great-grandfather's farm, has been permanently under water since the early 1960s.