Found this bottle while cleaning out the old dump by our house. It’s an annual event where I commune with our forbears — white folks scratching out a living decades ago on stolen land and tossing all their garbage into the wetland.*
I love this new(ish) show on KUMD. Check out recordings from past shows here [Jill Hinners, Deborah Cooper, Cheryl Reitan, Sheila Packa, Gail Trowbridge, Meredith Cornett (total self-promotion, please forgive me), and many others!]. “Women’s Words” airs at ~1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Sundays as part of the Women’s Music Show. If you are a (woman) writer willing to do a short reading from your work, they want to hear from you!
OK, maybe there are more than twelve steps, and maybe they are not-so-easy. But the City of Duluth and the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District promised a “12-year schedule to stop sewage overflows.” That was back in 2004 (I think), so if my math is right we are 8 years into the plan. I don’t know about you, fellow Duluthians, but I am feeling irie!
Here it is early February, and spring is in the air. That means snow-melt, which admittedly won’t be a huge issue this year. But we know from past experience that spring melt and heavy rains can lead to sewer overflows. This is a problem worth understanding, and rather than trying to offer details here, I highly recommend WLSSD’s article on the topic (I and I Solutions – Inflow and Infiltration: When Clean Water Causes Problems!).
Read more about why I love the new storage tank in Canal Park, and overlook some of its less redeeming qualities (and see a photo) by visiting today’s Nature of Modern Life post.
It’s visible in Finland — as in northern Europe, not Finland, Minn.
I’ve been having hot flashes. No, not that kind of hot flash. And if it were, I sure wouldn’t be writing about it here. I am talking about something more insidious: a societal hot flash.
Is anyone else losing patience with media references to “unseasonably warm” temperatures? This is a record-busting winter on all counts.
Case in point, Little Angie’s: “Opulent Ice House Coming Soon: December 9 Until Thaw!” High-end cocktails to be offered in a lounge made of ice blocks. But today I noticed the piled shards of melting ice scattered around the enclosure. They just couldn’t get the thing built.
For more ranting about the Duluth climate-change experience, including a couple of photos, please see my latest Nature of Modern Life blog post.
(And, yes, it would seem that the joke is on me. Winter is here today. Gone tomorrow? We’ll see.)
The benefits of cutting your own — a seasonal question.
Although it’s not for everyone, one thing I love about the cut-your-own experience up north is that in theory it is available to anyone. We own our own land, which simplifies things. But the Superior National Forest offers tree cutting permits ($5 apiece) and anyone is free to go cut one for personal use.* Be sure to follow their guidelines, though.
Read all about the joys of community composting and why you should pay the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District to take your waste and sell it back to you in the spring.
Nature of Modern Life blog: Black Friday — Dig It
Guess how I celebrated Black Friday? With a trip to the WLSSD Composting & Yard Waste Site, of course!
