The Weather Factor

In our third year of work camping we are realizing the biggest threat to  sustaining a continuous workcamp arrangement isn’t so much whether one can find work, or whether the job and accommodations will be intolerable, as we encountered in Georgia with NPS last winter. It is a matter of dealing with extreme weather or environmental conditions. We came in on the heels of hurricanes and damage the past two winters. We were lucky the job was there to go to both times. Friends of ours found themselves in the midst of massive wildfires last summer in the southwest. This year catastrophic flooding is affecting campgrounds and parks in the Midwest that are the summer home to many RV volunteers like us. As we watch Saylorville Lake rise and fall and threaten to encroach volunteer village we keep our fingers crossed. For now, it looks like we will be high and dry for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for places in the southeast and west corners of Iowa and northern Missouri this summer. As both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers that form the West and East borders of the great state of Iowa swell with the influx of water from all the rivers in Central Iowa that flow toward them at the southern corners, central Missouri has turned into a sort of funnel for all the water as it makes its way to St. Louis where it will all end up in the Mississippi. Central Missouri is inundated with historic flooding that is destroying everything in its path and drowning entire towns. I wonder to myself how many workcampers have been displaced along with the residents of the areas as muddy, debris filled river water continues to flow and mercilessly destroy everything.

Meanwhile it is snowing at Saylorville. Cottonwood that is. The giant Cottonwood trees are blooming and releasing their cotton. It is always pretty, yet a nuisance. This year, we have all commented that there seems to be much more than usual. Maybe the extreme weather has had an affect on the trees. Maybe all the rain has helped them bloom more. Whatever the case, they are releasing their seed readily. I’ve never paid much attention accept when I clean the screes once it finally stops around late June. As my friend and I strolled through Red Feather Prairie yesterday, we came upon one of the majestic 70’ trees in full bloom and saw the cotton balls on the tree poised to be released into the breeze. Down the path a bit I found a lower branch and for the first time got a close look at the seeds. They hang on the tree like clumps of grapes. Thousands of them. It is no wonder there is so much floating around in the air and accumulating along the sides of roadways and lawns, just like early light snowfall in November. I wonder if the Native Americans or Pioneers of centuries past collected this for pillows and mattresses. Here in the 21^st Century we sneeze, curse it when it sticks to our contact lenses, and clogs the AC Units.

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  Bell pepper plants covered in cotton

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  Cottonwood seed pods

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  Full blooms ready to release

We’ll get up each day, sweep the cotton off the patio, watch
the lake level and carry on, thankful that we aren’t fleeing from a major flood,
wildfire or hurricane---yet.

Until Next Time…