Rain and Politics

I just can't believe the amount of rain we've been getting.  All day we had thunderstorms and tonight there was flooding in Park Falls where my sister lives.  They are all right, thank goodness.  4" of rain and at least 2" more expected.  Our front lawn is starting to look like a pond.  If I wasn't surrounded by three natural marshes, didn't have 12-15' of good perk beneath the house, and wasn't 1,600' above sea level, I'd be worried.  My biggest fear is that trees weakened by the tornado that blew through here the end of July will fall and cause more damage.  I'm sure our logger is being held up by all the rain, too.  I worry about the people that live along the Flowage though:  The Turtle Flambeau Flowage was created by a dam.  It is an old dam and I can't help but wonder how strong it is and how it is handling all the water.  We are above the dam so if it should fail we would not be affected, but the situation would be disastrous for anyone living below the dam and near the shoreline.  Turtles, snakes, and frogs are even coming up out of the marshes.  The other night there were two little green frogs on Tom's hummingbird feeder!  How they got there is beyond me.  All I can think is that they got sucked up from the marsh by the wind and dropped on the feeder.  Yesterday morning I went to crack Ed's bedroom window open to let in some fresh air and there was a snake on the ledge.  You know me and snakes!  In my haste to shut the window, the snake got pinched in it so I went and got Tom to take care of the matter. . . .

My uncle and some of his sons have been staying at Dad's all week working on repairing the farm house in between the rain spells.  Yesterday I fixed them a big peach cobbler, a big pan of corn bread, and a big pot of chicken and dumplings. I haven't heard any complaints.  It was a busy day because I awoke early and canned a bushel of sweet corn that lost its sweetness before cooking their meal.  In the meantime, I worked on writing a statement I wanted to say at the Mercer Town Meeting about a proposed zoning amendment that OUTRAGEOUSLY wanted to change the current 2 acre limit for ownership of livestock to 35 acres.  People would not be able to divide their property into 2 acre farmettes, and current owners of livestock with less than 35 acres of land (grandfathered in under the amendment) would be obligated to tell potential buyers of their property that they would not be able to own livestock.  This information was based on an editorial I read in The Miner newspaper.  Boy, I was hot under the collar!

I wasn't the only one either.  A number of people showed up at the town meeting and the Town Board members came in back peddling about the amendment.  They had been hearing from townspeople all week. The story is that the Northwest Regional Planning Commission is trying to force ridiculous zoning and other changes throughout northern Wisconsin and is pushing for agricultural land to be in big lots. The amendment, we were told, was their idea.  (Typical agribusiness -- the bigger the better, and Wisconsin is notorious for goosestepping to whatever the Feds and agribusiness wants.  I have been paying attention to the push in the southern part of the state allowing zoning changes for mega dairies to be located, too).   They are also messing around with Forestry land.  All I have to say is that I will not stand for an outside agency telling me what I may or may not do with my land when that land was acquired before the town even existed.  And even if they couldn't do anything to me, I won't stand for the rights of my neighbors being infringed upon by unjust laws.  I won't stand for it. Urban homesteading, back yard gardening, barter and local exchange will be a base of the new economy, and towns have to realize that and support those issues if they want to attract new residents and survive this Depression.   People need to say, "No More".  You back the bully up against the wall, you put your fist in his face, and you tell him to take a hike or else you proceed to bring down the wrath of God on him.  The Town Board got an earful and I think they heard loud and clear what the people thought on the matter.  I am still worried, however, because several people have told me that matters of this nature are frequently passed in small towns on the sly and over the objections of the citizens.  If that happens here, I will get the names of the people responsible and put them on the Internet so that when the revolution starts to take this country back from the Banksters the freedom fighters will know who needs to be paid a visit.

Enough ranting -- I promise to be good.  Talk to you soon!