Once again, Mother Nature has shown its unpredictability with a late winter snowstorm and relentless rainfall. Last weekend, after a couple of days of nice weather, the clouds rolled in. It dumped two to three feet of snow in the Black Hills, dusted the prairie with a light white coating and then continued to rain for days.
There have been all kinds of postings on social media - complete with hysterical commentary, such as: “Hello, Mother Nature, I'd like to speak to the manager.”
In the hills 20 miles west of us, trees have fallen, power lines are down, and power is out. On the prairie, the water has run out of holes to fill and has saturated the high grounds too. Dams are full, earth is giving way, and fingers are crossed that it will all hold together. Rivers and creeks run high and fast, flooding over or washing out roads, making our journey to town risky or impossible.
The buffalo move through it as they have for hundreds of years, unaffected and shaking off the water from their shaggy coats.
And we move about checking on things in areas that we can get to and we make lists and plans for worse case scenarios for the repair needs that will follow; downed fences, dam repair, back-hoe rental for digging new drainage channels, sump pump for removing water in basements, etc.
Like so many across the world that experience nature’s climate changing elements, we push our sleeves up and take care of what needs to be taken care of. Trying to protect what we hold dear, including the Earth itself.
Facing these issues on this Memorial weekend humbles us as we think of our tenacious fallen soldiers who rolled up their sleeves, fought the ultimate battle for all of us and sacrificed the most by giving their lives. Their strength and bravery remind us to carry on - because that’s what we do.
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