Most everyone knows that Wyoming gets a lot of wind. In Wheatland; however, it almost never ceases. When I listen to it, I can easily visualize an angry god slashing his whip because a child had broken his mother’s priceless vase. In fact, the Earth is priceless and our Mother is angry. Can you blame her?
The wind has been ferocious this year – even worse than in previous years. It has been windy in places that rarely have strong winds. Gusts topping 70 MPH and more are felling trees and flipping over semis on the highway. In spite of the warmer temperatures, I cannot take my seedlings outside, for fear they will be decimated after I have spent weeks coaxing them out of their tiny seed shells.
They call the wind Maria. You may remember the song from the movie Paint Your Wagon. I know that many places have wind. Wind can be warm or cold, a gentle breeze, or hurricane force. Clearly, we need it; otherwise the air would be suffocatingly stale. Maria seems to want to stick around this year, for reasons we may choose to ignore. We have talked about global warming and climate change for several years now; but always as though it was out in the future somewhere and it wasn’t really happening. It is happening. It is happening NOW.
The freakish weather, the droughts, the fires, and the stronger than usual hurricanes are happening and they are happening far more frequently. Homes are being destroyed. People are migrating and people are fleeing from weather, from oppression, and from war. While more and more human populations become refugees and the number of homeless people increases, will we continue to stick our heads in the sand? Will we continue to allow the wealthy 1% to dictate the law of the land?
I will continue twirling in this dance with Maria, trying to anticipate and stay one step ahead of her. I take my seedlings out for a few hours at a time to give them the light they need, looking for a spot that is most protected from her brutal assaults. While they bathe in the sunlight, I must make sure that they do not dry out. Yesterday was supposed to be the last frost date for this area, but the meteorologists are predicting yet another freeze by the end of the week. Maria is clearly a force to be reckoned with, but I do not intend to let her win our little battle. I will protect my seedlings at all costs.
