Mariah

Way out here they have a name
For wind and rain and fire
The rain is tess, the fire's Joe,
And they call the wind Mariah.

The words to this old song came to mind the past few days. We had the most of unusual winter storms. Unusual because of the direction and duration of the wind. It went on and on like a not very good sermon. It came from the west north west as opposed to every other blizzard I've had a part in here in Nebraska where they always come from the NNW. That approximately 9 degrees differnce doesn't mean much if you own a cement driveway in front of your house and need to clear it. On the farm it puts drifts where they have never been before and has all the farmers talking. It meant that all of the E-W roads were mostly blown clear except for drift causing obstructions like groves of trees and houses. The same roads you avoid when we've had a big blow from the North. The N-S roads on the other hand were impossible this time.
The wind blew from the west so long and so hard that I'm pretty sure the snow piled on my farm must have first hit the ground somewhere in Wyoming.
The problem is this. I have all of my corn bins to empty this month. I wisely sold the corn last fall before corn doubled in price. I usually don't have to pay Uncle Sam much in taxes anyway so why start now is my theory. The second problem is a drift 30 feet wide and about 200 feet long that sits right smack dab in the middle of all of the grain bins. There is mud under that snow and I can't push it because where it needs to go to is already full of deep snow and the wind has driven the snow into the consistency of cement. So I've called in a man with a Caterpillar or dozer tractor to push the snow for me. I can't let the snow melt where it is or it would be muddy here for a month and I'd never get the corn hauled out of here.
The good news is it was 43 degrees here today. That is also the bad news. We've got surface water and mud and a lot of it because of the melting snow.
Todays lessons:
1.If you know about how much money you are going to make next year...be happy.
2.If you just have one lawn and one driveway to take care of ...be happy.
3.If you must pay the United States Treasury a lot of money each year...be happy.
4. If worrying about the weather isn't a year round, daily concern for you...be happy.
5.If you live on a farm...be very worried but happy.