Maybe our high schools should give up trying to offer spring outdoor sports. Let's maybe have more gymnasium sports like volleyball for boys. We wouldn't be in such a funk with the awful weather hovering over us. I launched somewhat of a personal campaign for an inflatable cover over the Big Cat playing field. Would be a miracle lifting up the softball sport for girls. No-go for baseball because the ball goes too far.
All my years with the Morris newspaper, I'd get discouraged in early spring, or maybe all the way to halfway into spring, seeing "PPD" by notes of softball and baseball games. You'd call up a schedule and see "PPD" by the early games, meaning of course "postponed." Nothing like this happens for fall and winter sports. It all really makes spring sports seem like the red-headed stepchild of high school sports. Just not as exciting or legitimate, actually depressing much of the time.
Spring sports parents can be sitting out in the cold and wind in their very sparse numbers. Why do we think this is the way to go?
I'm writing this on April 1 of our most anomalous spring. It's 9:50 a.m. and the plows appear not to have gotten to my neck of the woods, on north end of Morris. I'm out by the soils lab. Looks like some private parties have done limited snow removal. This would at least ensure that sedan cars would have a shot at getting through.
Speculation: the government entities with their plows and graders might be gambling that snow melts fast enough this time of year. Fast enough that we ought to just let nature take its course. Knock on wood or whatever. I made it to DeToy's for breakfast but not without a few nerve-wracking moments.
I killed some time downtown in order to give the plows more time to get out here. No dice: there was no change for my trip home. Fortunately some four-wheel drive pickups had left tracks in the snow I could follow, or I would not have even tried.
I really do like a nice hot breakfast in the morning. Hard to deny myself that. I find it impractical to do much if any cooking at home. I live alone.
I'm back home now after having survived my trip downtown and back. I killed some time at Willie's in the cafe area. I bring my old orange Willie's coffee mug from the days when they had free coffee. Mary Phillip called the mug "retro." Spot-on, Mary. How many of you remember the one-of-a-kind Willie Martin? I'm hoping we see Willie's oldest daughter Edith back home this summer for her 50th class reunion. That would be my class too: 1973.
I write about the train derailments and the Trump indictment on my companion blog, "Morris of Course." You may click on the permalink and thanks. - BW
Being cooped up as a result of the weather has caused me to write these posts more often than I'd really prefer. I hope to retreat back to my usual pace when or if we get some sort of break in the weather. "When or if? Don't we all have to wonder? Snow in April is not a total shock. But it's supposed to be an aberration, sort of here today, gone tomorrow.
I remember one year my driveway got blocked but we could feel certain the snow would vanish quickly. It did. In the meantime I walked to DeToy's for a meal. I walked along the highway on my way back home. I did so properly, facing traffic. Nothing out of order. But I got accosted by a Morris police officer for no valid reason. Oh, he was friendly. But I did not appreciate it.
We no longer have a Morris Police Department. I sure do not miss it. Mostly it was a nuisance.
I did not receive my most recent city water bill. I did get the delinquent notice so I paid a small fine. I visited the city office and discussed the matter. A city employee who overheard my discussion at the front counter came out of her office and said "your neighbor didn't get theirs either."
So it was an admission that there was a glitch on the city's end, as I interpreted it. Didn't get my city water bill? Now I'm waiting for my property tax statement. I decided I'd better visit the courthouse and ask when the statements will be mailed. I wish to take no chances with that. Looks like the statements were probably mailed at the end of last week. But now I cannot assume I will receive all important mail.
The credit card offers? They are in my mailbox all the time, most assuredly.
In addition to going to the courthouse I stopped in at the Post Office. I'll bet the P.O. hates it when there's suspicion that there was negligence on their end. "Maybe it didn't get mailed," Mr. Hill said to me, and I'm in agreement with him on that thought.
For what it's worth, there is no shortage of news reports about how the Postal Service is struggling as it adjusts to "efficiency" programs. One report that I caught, told us "the new (delivery) routes are too complicated for the substitute drivers to understand."
Republican office-holders do not want people to like or appreciate government-funded services. And you know who we had as president for four years. When this stuff starts affecting you personally, your attitudes might start getting adjusted.
The biggest shock would come if we had a big disastrous train derailment in the Morris area. Want to see your property value permanently dip? Would you still want to "make America great again" with you-know-who and his ilk who want to slash regulations all over the place?
You may come to thank God for government regulations. And for a totally reliable U.S. Postal Service. I have seen no evidence that our postal service here has deteriorated, unlike in some metropolitan areas. We're resisting the big city problems pretty well in Morris, at least so far. Now let's see if I get my property tax statement within a few days.
A property tax statement to make one faint? Could be. Remember it's the Democrats who are most likely to favor LGA, "local government aid."
The property tax is a regressive tax just like the sales tax. Republicans prefer the sales tax or consumption tax, would like it to replace income taxes completely. So please think about the main issues that truly affect your life, and not the green M&Ms. Ignore Mike Lindell.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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