by Gary Lee
The weather on both the east and west coasts has been crazy with more than enough water coming from the sky. A big portion of South Carolina saw flooding with 15 to 20 inches of rain.
There was loss of life there as many dams were breached and all that water washed away cars, trucks and people as it flowed toward the ocean.
Many roads and bridges were washed out closing part of I-95 for few days.
Over on the west coast, where it has been dry for so long, they got hammered over the weekend with ten inches or more of rain that washed much of the soil exposed by the fires down the hillsides.
Luckily there wasn’t any loss of life but many homes were filled with mud and debris.
There were also many muddy stretches of highway where cars and trucks were stranded, many of which were covered over their roofs in mud.
Many still say there is no global warming causing these natural occurrences in the United States and all around the world.
Over the weekend Typhoon Koppu hit the Philippines with 160 mile per hour winds and over three feet of rain.
Over 65,000 people were displaced from villages, prone to flooding and mud slides.
If three feet of rain fell here many of us would be washed downstream and most roads would be closed for some time.
How many more of these events does it take to wake some people up that deny the pollution we are putting into the atmosphere is causing many of these events?
Some call it 100-year floods while others call it 1,000-year flooding. Whatever it is, it’s epic for sure!
We got some snow locally over last weekend. Two ski mountains in Vermont opened this week.
My brother said the Green Mountains were all white yesterday as he looked across Lake Champlain. Around the Oswego area they had several inches of snow.
The snow and wind knocked down most of the leaves except the beech which sometimes hang on until the new leaves come out in spring.
It was 16 degrees here this morning. A few years back we had two feet of wet snow near this same date.
Several years ago, on October 25, the opening day of big game season, we also had two feet of snow.
Several hunters’ tents collapsed in the Plains and the roads were closed for few days.
Ted Payne put a load of sand in the back of his pickup along with some extra gas and plowed from gate to gate and all the way to the Indian River the next couple of days, freeing many stranded hunters.
Hunters, trappers and fishermen need to check the internet about the opening and closing dates for all seasons.
Each part of the state has been broken into zones and management units so you need to know where you are going to fish, hunt or trap and make sure the season is open for what you may want to fish, hunt or trap for.
These seasons have changed many times in the last few years along with what you may hunt with: rifle, shotgun, bow or crossbow.
Also what you may hunt for might change by a few days each year.
Checking these laws could save you a bundle if you are caught violating the law these days.
There are several people out there that don’t think these laws apply to them so comply and give law enforcement officers more time to catch the real bad guys.
Update on Karen. She came home last Friday and still has a ways to go before you see her smiling face at the Library again.
Thanks again for all the get well cards, calls and letters. They are all encouraging and bring smiles to both our faces.
Recovery is moving slowly but surely to better days ahead.
Be careful while out and about…but that’s another story. See ya.