Health, Hospital and a few Great Books

Wow what an adventure the past month plus has been.  I have had some health issues that put me in the hospital for almost a month.  I am so much better now and glad to be able to blog again.  I have so much catching up to do which will probably take me at least a few days if not more.

I typically do not like to just sit idle so I was lucky enough to have some books that arrived.  I read Wake-Robin Ridge, A Boy Named Rabbit, Harbinger and I am on the fourth which is Swamp Ghosts.  I have one more which is Finding Hunter in my possession with one more on the list to get.  These are all by the great Marcia Meara.  If you enjoy a good book, these won’t disappoint.  I’ll be reaching out to her soon that is for sure.  These books kept me sane and helped to make the time fly right by.  In case you read this before I reach out…THANK YOU!

This adventure of mine has made me realize a few things.  One is I need new goals.  I had plenty of time to think of what those will be and I will share those in my next blog tomorrow.  I’m excited about these and have a new appreciation on life.

I certainly will still share my opinions on current events, book reviews etc. but I will be tracking more towards my goals.  Sharing successes and failures.  This is a platform for me to hold myself accountable and share in life’s trials.  I am looking forward to that with all my heart.

Until tomorrow, Peace!

 

The Worst Hard Time–Book Review

Thought I would give politics a break well at least for a day:)

I just finished reading a book titled The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.  This book is about the dust bowl, something that is rarely talked about anymore but a part of history that destroyed so many lives.

The dust bowl came in the 1930’s and is also known as the Dirty Thirties and black blizzards or black rollers.  Their was really two parts to the dust bowl, agriculture and nature weather cycles.  Their was the drought which came in 1934, 1936 and 1939-1940.  During the drought the farmers conducted significant plowing which made the land bare.  When the winds came coupled with the drought, it tore up all the sand and dirt and whipped it into a frenzy.

You would never think that a drought and wind could cause so much destruction but it certainly did.

This book takes a look at those that stayed in their homes and didn’t flee the massive wall of dust.  The remembrances of what it was like is gripping but I will say it is hard to read meaning this book doesn’t sugar coat the horrible environmental disaster.  It also provides pictures of what this was like and the pictures are so riveting, it is almost like you were there.  One specific picture showed sand in the home of a farmer and the sand went as high as the window inside the house.  In one corner the sand was over four feet high.  Can you imagine?

The dust bowl reached as far as New York to Washington D.C. and the visibility was less than 3 ft.  April 14, 1935 went down in history as that is when the “Black Sunday” arrive and centered on Texas and Oklahoma and touched Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas.  It affected over 100,000,000 acres of land.

This book also states that there is no true way to tell how many people died but does state many died while trying to outrun the dust storm and were overcome on the roads.  Others died IN piles of sand in their homes.  This is even after they tried to seal the windows and doors with wet rags.

Some readers have said this book is too depressing but I am a firm believer that you have to educate yourself and try to understand why this happened so we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the past.

It was weird for me because while reading this book, I was constantly thirsty which has never happened to me before.

If you like history then this book is for you but be prepared because it does go into detail and show pictures of what it truly was like.

Enjoy the read and now I am off to my next one that I read about on a blog.

Peace