River Ramblings.....

    The normally busy weekend traffic on Highways 212 and 23 was halted for 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon as more than 400 motorcycles traveled into Granite from Olivia and then turned and headed toward Redwood Falls.
     The annual KMS memorial motorcycle ride has grown into a good sized event that raises money for scholarships in the names of five soldiers who died in the service to their country including Granite Falls’ native son Matt Kahler, The bikers started and ended their day in the tiny river valley bluff-side town of Franklin.  At the end of a long day of riding they had, by all accounts, a great time there.
    It is a challenge to get photos of a two-mile long string of motorcycles but we’re blessed with some scenic background settings. Last year when we took photos of the event at “The Lookout” on Highway 212 east of town the bikers were headed east.
    This year they were running westward and we needed a different setting so Eric Monson and I set up camp at the intersection of Highway 23 and Highway 67 near the Yellow Medicine County Museum. I crawled up on the rock ledge on the west side of the intersection about 30 feet above the highway and took some shots and Eric set up at street level on the east side of Highway 23.
    The motorcycles were escorted by the Granite Falls Fire Department. The Granite and Upper Sioux police departments along with a handful of National Guard soldiers stopped traffic as the motorcycle motorcade wound its way around the corners and on to Redwood Falls.
    It was quite a sight and a very nice tribute to those fallen soldiers.

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    The sound of rodeo fans also filled the air this past weekend as Region 2 of the Minnesota High School Rodeo Association’s kicked off their season Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Lee-Mar Ranch along Highway 212.
    Last August saw the return of high school rodeo performances to Granite Falls. It was well attended and went well so it was a natural to return the event here this year. The Lee-Mar Ranch is a perfect setting for rodeo events. There is plenty of spectator seating and there are plenty of livestock pens and chutes. With nearly 150 junior high and senior high school kids participating, the crowds were sizeable. Their families filled the nearby pasture with horse trailers and campers of all sorts and even a few tents. A good number of local participants were cheered on by their families and plenty of area folks were there too. It made for a good-sized crowd.
    Our three and a half year-old grandson Kian was more than happy to tag along with us for the Saturday night performance. There is plenty for a youngster to watch at a rodeo. The horses, the bulls, the cowboys and cowgirls are all interesting to those young eyes. Even after an hour or so when a kid can start to get a good case of ants in the pants, a rodeo offers plenty to keep him interested. It is quite a scene and it’s great to have it happening here.
    Of course, this doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes a lot of cooperation and coordination by a lot of folks and a number of organizations to make an event like this happen. Everyone involved deserves some thanks.
     I’ve only ridden a horse a few times and certainly never came anywhere close to trying my hand at riding in a rodeo. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun to watch, however. It is exciting and the students at this rodeo are there for the fun and a chance to take a victory lap around the arena on their horse and a Blizzard at the local Dairy Queen. That’s quite a reward for the hard work they put in. I hope it all happens here again next year.

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    I jumped at the chance to get some lawn mowing done before it rained last Thursday evening. As the clouds rolled in and the wind came up I knew my time behind the mower was short. Before I got two more swaths done, the newly cut grass was stuck to my shoes and the bottom of the mower and I was soaked. It rained hard for about 45 minutes and then tapered off. Before I dumped out my rain gage, it showed .6 inches of rain had fallen in that short time. It seemed to rain about as hard as was possible, or so I thought.
    Well, I was wrong.
     Later Thursday the sky rumbled and opened up with a deluge that was way more intense than the evening downpour. In less than two hours, my rain gage nearly filled up showing another 4.9 inches making a total of 5.5 inches for the evening.
    That rainfall was too much and came too fast for most drainage systems to handle. With the ground already saturated, there was very little chance of the rain soaking in fast enough and the storm sewers backed up causing some streets to flood. Water was pouring into the sanitary sewer systems and began to back up into basements in lower elevation areas in town. It got to be a real mess.
    The lights were on at many houses at 1 a.m. Sump pumps were running and people were moving things up off their basement floors in order to keep things dry or, if it was already too late, they hauled it outside after the rain stopped. There was a lot of basement carpet removed that night and the next day.
Some folks were gone when all this happened and came home to a mess. Others were on hand when the water started rising and some were able to keep ahead of the surge of water and wastewater.
    It was quite a night and quite a mess to clean up over the next few days. Let’s hope it stays dry for a while. I love to see it rain once in awhile but two or three month’s worth of rain in one evening is more than too much.