Oopsie daisy… 

Life just isn’t going so well in some quarters…

Wednesday morning when the wind was blowing in the 40 mph range, a 320 foot crane at The Wind Farm of All Places toppled over. It was being moved from one location to another when it went “BOOM”. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Installation of the first phase of turbines covers 10,000 acres and stretches nearly 10 miles east to west along Interstate 70. A second phase that doesn’t have a starting date established, will bring the totals to 22,000 acres and 15 miles. The first phase is supposed to generate about 100 mg watts of electricity annually. The second phase is supposed to add another 150 mg watts of power. Whether they do or not will remain a mystery as power companies don’t like to give out that information. And, on down the line, in not too many years, it will be 22,000 acres of broken, tumbled non-functional turbines. Turbines do wear out. Landowners who reaped the benefits of the towers will want taxpayers to pay for decommissioning and removal of the monsters from their land.

Meantime the powers that be at the state level are now saying they will be good stewards of the land and they don’t want the Holcomb expansion for that reason and others. They are also saying they will locate new wind farms on cultivated land. TOOOOO LATE. They’ve already ruined forever one of the finest vistas in Kansas with their inaction and short-sightedness and we won’t forget that.

Brit and I met at the coffee pot this morning and exchanged our usual greetings of the day. Then he labored up the stairs to get out of Jeff’s way and I did the same by heading down to my cave. I’ll see him again when we get hungry as we go about town scavenging for food. I miss my morning toast. We have two more weeks of this, at least.

Ringo is not happy with the arrangement. Brit and I not in the same room, or even on the same floor in the house, so that makes it difficult for him to show off his herding skills. He runs the stairs like he was training for a marathon to make sure we’re where he thinks we should be.

Jeff has a helper today. She picks out the wood, cuts the angles and pounds it in place. That way Jeff can nail the boards in place and make more progress on a daily basis.

Does anyone else in town ever wonder what’s going on with law enforcement in the county? There never seems to be an disposition of anything, although I’m sure some cases must see a conclusion. What happened with the “imminent arrest” of persons in Wilson who allegedly were responsible for the many thousands of dollars of vandalism? What happened to the car chase where all the charges were made because…supposedly…the lives of law enforcement personnel were threated (because they were speeding). What ever happens with all the law suits against the county jail/personnel that are settled out of court? What does that cost taxpayers? I’m left wondering about a lot of things.

I’m going to the hospital for lunch (they usually have vegetables!) and see Dewey who is a patient there. Dewey is one of Dane’s friends in Wilson and he’s become our friend too.

It looks from the progress they are making, my bedroom might get back in order so I can at least get in and out of it. The bed is piled with clothes, but if they get the furniture back in place, I can at least get to my closet. There is no hope that I’ll be able to use it for a couple more weeks because of that small technicality…no bathroom. I’m stuck in the basement on the couch for the duration.

The weather is stunningly gorgeous.

Later…

KansasPrairie.net

9 November 2007