A year has passed since we moved to Galesburg; we moved here right around July 15. I just came back from a whirlwind, week-long trip back to New Mexico, so I'm in a better position to know why I moved up here and how much I got from actually doing it. The family is overall much better up here; people have at least a chance of finishing school.
The biggest difference frankly is that the rivers have water in them. I like how the rains pound us, the rivers rise, then it all goes back to gentle green grass and corn growing like crazy. This "knee-high by the fourth of july" thing is just a kind of expression that makes you feel like it's a good summer, because it's always more than knee-high, as far as i can tell, unless you're a schmuck and didn't plant it until june. it's so tall and rich at tha moment that I'm wondering if it's in danger of being pounded by these storms, which, it seems to me, might ease up around late July. I'm not totally sure how it works. But I can tell you, New Mexico is dry as a bone, and although they are used to it, and I even got used to it at one point, there's no real getting used to living in a place that is not meant to be lived in, or which you can't live in without robbing the aquifer of its only life.
As for Galesburg, I find myself frustratingly silent as, having fit right back into the midwest culture, I'm hesitant to speak about things I don't know much about. I really admire the neon-green-jacket people, fixing the lights, taking care of the roads, etc.; they seem unusually competent up here. Down in the mountains we didn't really have them, and my neighbors used to drive around with chainsaws just so they could clear the roads if they had to. I found this out of my league; I couldn't use a chainsaw very easily, much less carry one around in my truck. Here it's nice to have people taking care of the roads, and the EMT, and everything one might need. I'm not really afraid of this storm wiping out power, as I would be in NM; loss of power there was always at least a 4-5 hour ordeal and sometimes more. And even there, the utility guys were good; it was just that there were so many fewer of them, and so much more land. And the mountains made the wild elements wilder.
Galesburg tries to give its people something to do. Now that it's summer, I see this, and I like it. There are just enough of us here in this one town that it's worth their while to have a few concerts and events. And if I can get organized, I'll attend a few of them. Once again, I can't speak too much about what I don't know. I've been pretty busy here with family events, and haven't really got out all that much.
I was not crazy about that haze that hung over for about a week. Glad that's gone, and good riddance, I'll do fine without more of that. Fresh air is a requirement. I guess I should count my blessings. We have it most of the time, and there's no way I'll move out to the Pacific Islands.
