Deflection

The high today was 84 degrees in the smoke. But, by being outside this evening, it does not feel like it is 81 degrees.

Yesterday, I took mom to Respite and they stated that she had a good day. As a matter of fact, they stated that she was doing the best that she has since she started going to the Respite, and I would agree. Actually, from what I am seeing, I feel that she is doing the best since I have been around her in the past year, although her mind continues to deteriorate. When I got here last year, she was up set with the caregiver coming into her house, since they meant that she was loosing her independence. The problem is that she cannot function without caregivers. There is also a lack of people coming and seeing her that does cause loneliness for her. Since her dementia has getting to the point that she cannot follow a plot on a TV program or read, this means that there is very little for her to do and she becomes extremely bored. But, I feel that with me being there, she has mellowed out. Just having family there everyday makes a difference, despite the fact that her sundown makes her feel like no one is there, including myself. Loneliness is a powerful feeling. But, although I cannot get into her dementia brain, I feel that loneliness is causing much of her discomfort. Furthermore, as I have discovered, a person with dementia can still love and be affectionate. It is too bad that more friends and family do not see the affection that dementia people have for each other. But, as I stated at the beginning of this paragraph, I do feel that mom is doing better physical and with a positive attitude. Actually, as a dementia person works through the dementia, it seems like the brain cells that are holding to old beliefs die away and the person becomes easier to be around.

I took mom for a ride this afternoon, and the crops are in poor conditions. The corn crops that were planted early are probably waist high, making the height taller than knee high by the Fourth of July, but the corn is not in a uniform height like it would be with normal rain. Even the crops that are irrigated are not uniform in height. But all of the corps are hurting. Regarding the corps that were planted late, there are bare areas in the fields. In some cron fields, it is like only twenty percent of the corn stocks are growing. From the aspect of the yields, they could be off this year by fifty percent. This is not a good situation. As far as the agriculture news is concern, they are excepting the national corp report by the end of the month and the fear its that it will bring bad new.

Since I was in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio last week, it seems like we have better soil here in the glaciated area of the county. As for the areas south of here, it seem like the top soil has more sand. The area here behind the moraine, there are more low land areas and marches. As the years pasted, it seem like there could be more trees and march grass to make for better top soil, except for the tops of the drumlins that are more sandy. By, regarding my trip last week, it seem like there crops are doing better than ours.

The farmer is going to take a big hit this year. Only corp insurance will save them. After I had a poor crop years ago, I always had corp insurance after that happened. But farmers have been investing in the farms over the past years, like I have seen big/new grain bins being installed. This is going to have a financial impact on the farmers.

But, at this time, it is easy to look at the crops, but what about the livestock. This is really a two prong issue of bad news. First, with the drought, there is not enough water for the cattle and it is too hot for the cable. Does this mean that there will be cattle dying the fields. As for the second prong, there is not going to be enough grain to feed the live stock. If the farmer have to send their livestock to market, it means that there will be lower meat prices at what cost. How is the meat processing plants going to store all of the extra meat? Though question to answer. But, once the meat is used up and there is no livestock in the fields, the cost of meat will skyrocket for an unforgettable future, until there is enough livestock to equalize the demand. The is a tough highway that we are going into for the future.

It is strange: as I was working for the Iowa DOT for so many years, we were always working on flooding issues. Back in the eights, we felt like the flooding issue were catastrophic for transportation. With the improvements that we have made since then around our bridges and culvert and stream beds, the flood issues to do not seems as bad as they did years ago. But, as for those that were studying droughts and floods, they kept telling us that the impending droughts would be worse than the floods. As for us, it was like have you been around Iowa when it is flooding. As of this year, they were correct. Instead of the floods being constructed around river and creeks, the drought covers large areas.

As for those that study climates were telling us, the future for droughts are unclear. Are these drought conditions to last for years to come? Or, this just a bump in the road. Since the Mississippi River was at historical lows last fall, it seems like these drought are here to stay for a while.

But the big questions is who are these droughts going to affect our daily life? As. the price of for goes up in price, how is going to be able to afford the price of food? This is a tough question. Even in this country a food war seem to be impractical. But what happens if it be comes real? Is our government ready to handle a food shortage? With the current conditions of our government, fighting over socialism, it seems like they are incapable to handle such a situation. It is understandable that a civil war could break out between socialism and capitalism, but a civil war over food does not seem to be understandable, like our government does not understand any type of conflict regarding food.

The future is what it is. With the changes that are taking place in this county, it may never be the country that we grew up in all those years ago. It has been stated that we should leave this world as a better place than we grew up in, but, with the present environment, that is never going to happen. So, we can only take comfort in the fact that we live at time when we were able to have a good life. Now, we can only hope that we have enough food for the rest of our lives.

Roger