Friday, April 04, 2008
the worst hard time
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan.
this was a good book, but it got a little repetative and long at the end. i told krista, “i get it, it was dusty!”
the book discussed why the dust bowl happened, how it affected the farmers living in the area, and how it affected the entire country in different ways. i honestly thought “the dust bowl” was like a month or two of dust storms (which i envisioned to be big, dust filled tornadoes) and that was it. no. it went on for several years. an almost daily onslaught of dust and dirt from about 1930 to about 1936. i had no idea.
in the early 1900s, land was very cheap in the great plains. it was covered in prarie grass that buffaloes and other herbivores ate, and the grass was very resilient to droughts and the conditions of the plains. but then farmers came in--because the land was cheap--and tore up the grass in order to farm the land. that was fine and dandy, the government was happy because shit tons of wheat were getting produced, and we were fulfilling our manifest destiny.
well, then, wheat prices plummeted because the supply far outweighed the demand, plus there was that little thing called the depression. so, tons (literally) of wheat rotted in silos. the farmers couldn’t sell their wheat, so they were dirt poor along with the rest of the country.
then came the droughts. this sucked all on its own, but now the land had been stripped of its grass AND there were no harvests to “anchor” the topsoil to the ground. and this lack of anchoring, combined with the droughts and some other freaky weather, allowed the topsoil to be picked up by the wind. the unceasing prarie wind (no mountains or valleys, just flat).
these “black blizzards” were like tidal waves of dirt. at least twice, the wind was so powerful and the dirt so plentiful that the dust storms reached chicago and new york.
the dust storms caused “dirt pneumonia” in humans. animals who couldn’t find shelter were found dead with their internal organs filled with dirt (stomach, lungs, etc.). they went blind because of the dust scraping their eyes. roads were drifted over. it was not a good scene.
this situation sparked one of the first environmental conservation movements in the US. someone in FDR’s circle realized what was going on and why, and made suggestions about how to stop it (crop rotation, furrowing, planting trees and prairie grass, etc) and enacted conservation districts, so that one douche wouldn’t ruin it for everyone. this guy also shocked everyone by saying it was man’s fault that this happened, not nature’s. what a concept!
it was an interesting read in that i knew absolutely nothing about the dust bowl. there was an epilogue, but it didn’t say how that area was doing now. i’d like to know if it is farmable, if the conservation worked, if there are still decades until the topsoil is regenerated and usable.
it could have been about 80 pages shorter, but other than that, it was a good book.
posted by sarah on 04/04/2008 at 04:01 PM
Thursday, April 03, 2008
potty talk
the lush, it has been claimed.
also, i’ve decided to try making my own deoderant/dusting powder. in the summer especially, i get really bad boils in my armpits and my cooter area because of the heat, humidity, sweat, clogged pores, etc. shaving my pits only adds to the problem, but i’m very concious of my pit hair after about 3 days of growth when wearing sleeveless shirts.
the deoderant/anitperspirant i use works, but i’m not too keen on the aluminum, and antiperspirants clog your pores, only adding to the boil problem. i’ve tried the natural deoderants at whole foods, but they did nothing to quell the stench of a hot philadelphia day.
do you think this homemade stuff will work? is it safe for near my cooter? do you have any deoderant suggestions?
yes, this post was too much info.
posted by sarah on 04/03/2008 at 08:50 PM
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
technical difficulties
i’m trying to knit krista some socks. the first two patterns i wanted to do annoyed me so i frogged. the third one that i tried last night i don’t think she’ll like. so i’m going to put those aside. clearly they’re not meant to be right now.
however, i do have three squares of the blanket done and blocked. i’m not sure where or how to store them until all the squares are done though. suggestions?
the clapotis for my secret pal has been done for a while, but i didn’t get around to uploading pictures until this weekend. so, here it is. dyed the yarn myself too. hope she likes it.
i wish i knew how to alter pants. i have such a huge problem with pants. they fit in the waist fine, but in the hips and thighs they are HUGE. i took them to one of the asian drycleaners and they said they couldn’t alter them becasue of where i need it altered. can they really not be fixed? it really looks unprofessional and just makes me look bad to have all that pooling at my hips and ankles. and i can’t get a job interviewing in jeans!
Monday, March 31, 2008
hork
woke up in the middle of the night last night and ended up horking a few times. not fun. didn’t go to work today and slept until about 3pm. i feel completely fine now though, so i guess it was somethign i ate? i dunno. i had a 1.5 hour long conference call tonight and it made me want to kill myself. i hate it so much.
have to go to work tomorrow, and wednesday muckity mucks are in the office, so we have to dress nice. which i always hate.
sometimes i really miss my old self who said fuck all. i want to continue work on my sleeve, but i’m afraid of the professional consequences down the road (if i ever get a more professional job, which i don’t want, but those are the ones that pay the bills, right?).
i am rambling. time to go to bed.
posted by sarah on 03/31/2008 at 10:44 PM
Sunday, March 30, 2008
thank you
my birthday picture. i’m restarting the tradition.
i want to say thank you to my friends who made my birthday special this year. yes, they all got me presents, but it was more about the fact that they were thinking of me than the fact they got me a present. it’s nice to be thought of and i’d been feeling un-thought of lately. so it was happy-making.
caitlin got me some lovely violets, with an awesomely awesome note.
blogless bethany got me extraordinary uses for ordinary things. i am so excited to look through this and find out what else i can do with baking soda and vinegar!
rebecca got me the new fix it yourself manual. because even though i don’t own a home, there are enough freaking problems with my apartment that i need to learn how to fix some basic stuff myself. (though, it has a section on how to re-cane a chair, and i’m not sure how many people have cane chairs...)
emily got me pirates of the carribean 3, which has johnny depp in it, who is hot and amazing (much like em).
i bought myself this yarn, which i felt a little guilty about, but dude, it’s totally awesome.
so, anyway, even though i was being all emo-angsty about the whole thing, it turned out to be an okay enough birthday, and my friends made me feel special and loved. (krista did too of course, but that happens pretty much daily.)
i hope to do better this year with remembering friend’s birthdays. because everyone deserves to feel special sometimes, especially the people that i care about.
posted by sarah on 03/30/2008 at 07:27 PM
i can feel it coming
wow. long day. went to bed at 1. got up at 4.30 to take k to the airport. went back to sleep until 8. went to target and ac moore to get a few things. freelanced. napped for 3 hours. did the dishes. worked until just a few minutes ago.
it is 57° in here. after three years of this i really still do not understand why 57° in here requires a hoodie, gloves and a scarf, but 57° outside is perfectly pleasant. it confuses me to no end.
tomorrow (sunday) i am going to be crafty. i need to draw a grid on the mats i got to be a blocking board. i want to get out some fabric and iron it. i want to hang our clothes drying racks, though i don’t know if our walls are sturdy enough (our walls are weird. in some places they’re hollow and don’t support anything. ghetto construction ftw.) i also want to chillax and watch some tv, but i don’t know if i’ll have time to get to that. so much to do and so little time!
posted by sarah on 03/30/2008 at 12:49 AM
Friday, March 28, 2008
can. not. concen...
seriously. i cannot function today. i have a headache which i’ve had for three days now plus i’m reading some not very well written chapters and i’m just blanking. i’ve browsed the internet to within an inch of its life, and i feel guilty because i DO have work to do. but fuck. sometimes there’s just those days, you know?
and i’m nervous because krista’s flying home tomorrow and i have all these plans for things to do while she’s gone and i really want to do them but i know i won’t because i’m lazy and also have freelancing to do. meh.
i wish i were not as lazy as i am. i could get so much more done.
i owe $448 for the biopsy i had a couple weeks ago. i am so fucking pissed because i thought the $90 i paid to my derm covered it. but that was just for her to DO it, not have the lab analyze it. fuck. that wasn’t in my budget.
have good thoughts tomorrow at 6am for krista’s flight!
posted by sarah on 03/28/2008 at 02:47 PM