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Wind, fire and rain

Mad Jack Hanks
Wellington, Colo.

If you listen closely, you will most likely hear the phrase, “it’s global warming” that causes all of these tragedies to occur like forest fires, floods and tornadoes. Color me skeptical if you like, but I ain’t buying it.

Climate change, yep, I can go for that. The climate is obviously changing as we do, as our planet also does. It has been hotter, colder, windier with more flooding and larger tornadoes at different times in our planet’s history. The recent forest fires here in Colorado have devastated and disrupted so many families in so many different areas of the state. It was so dry and hot for so long and may be again this summer. Presently I am looking at beautiful green rolling hills and snow covered vistas to the West.

San Antonio was recently flooded with heavy rains and last year it was in a severe drought the best of my memory. Those tornadoes in the heartland, especially Oklahoma, just make us realize again what an unpredictable force mother nature can be at times.



At ten years of age I witnessed a tornado rumble past our place some half mile away and yes it did sound like a freight train and yes it was big, black and very scary to a lad of ten. It happened on a clear day after a large rain storm. I slept on the floor of my mom and dad’s bed room that night.

The folks along large rivers like the Mississippi get flooded ever so many years. They expect it. It’s what happens and I suppose because they always seem to rebuild and to replant their crops it is a way of life. We will always have fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes like we always have and we will deal with it the only way we know how, hitch up our britches, clean up the mess and if we choose, replace what was lost with something new.



One thing you can’t replace are precious lives. I was looking through the many photo albums Martha and I put together over the years since we first got married and some before. Gentle readers, that’s my whole life. That’s my history. The history of the Jack Hanks’ family. How would I feel if it all blew away or was lost in a fire? It’s hard to imagine every thing that has been recorded of our lives and our children’s and grandchildren’s lives all gone. Never to be again. It makes you appreciate what so many have lost in these fires, floods and tornadoes.

Is the polar ice cap melting at a faster rate than in the past? Some say they can prove it. Some say it’s because livestock produce too much gas and our autos, tractors lawn mowers and what ever else are causing this to happen. Some would say we are bad, bad folks for living like we do.

We don’t hear a lot about developing countries with their pollution so bad that their citizens have to wear masks to keep from choking to death at certain times. To some, these folks in the far East get a pass for the most part, while we here in the U.S. have our feet held to the fire (no pun intended). Let’s hope and pray for suitable weather for us all and may the “nay-sayers” find someone else to beat up on, even if it’s just for a little while.

Stay tuned, check yer cinch on occasion, stand tall for what America represents and I’ll c. y’all, all y’all. ❖


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