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Originally Posted by Dina
I am in Wichita Falls, TX, and we have had 65 days of over 100 degrees, with one day in the middle of 99 degrees. Everything is dead, ponds have dried up....it is not the dust bowl, but ranchers have nothing to feed their animals and are selling them. There is no local hay to be had...too dry to grow any. Actually, most of our days have been 108. It was 111 today.
Would you believe that everyone was grumpy?? If I didn't have quilting, I would be going crazy!! I've made 4 quilts in two months....a record for me. |
The drought in Texas is really bad. Please pray we get lots of rain real soon.
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My mother lived in OKC during the dust bowl, and talks about the blowing wind and the dust it brought from western OK. She says about 2:00pm they would have to turn the lights on because it got so dark..People kept towels on the window sills and under the doors, but nothing stayed clean. 1936 and 1980(and 2011) are the hottest summers on record. Today's high? 109! and dry, dry, dry! Thank the Lord for air-conditioning. Mother is 91.
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Originally Posted by cindyw
To learn about the dust bowl you should read "The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl" by Timothy Egan.
One of the Amazon reviewers said this "Beyond a doubt, this was the best of the books I read during this past year. Having had many family members who were caught up in this, one of the worst natural (actually it seems it was more man made than natural) disasters to strike our country, made this work of even more interest to me. Mr. Eagan has not only given us a wonderful account of this era in our nations history, he has made it come alive through his exceptional story telling abilities. This is not a dry (no pun intended), academic history of the great depression. Rather it is a history of a group of people who lived through the worst of it, the great dust bowl at the center of our country. These are real people and the author treats them as such. Very few meaningless statistics mar the story line, few government reports are offered or cited to reduce the human suffering to neatly typed pieces of paper. As you read this book, you come to realize that these people are just like you and me. You read and ponder "what if?" The book is quite readable, quite informative and one that I will no doubt give a reread to in the near future. Recommend this one highly!" Thanks! I have a much better understanding of why the world is in such a mess now... www.timothyegan.com |
I bought a book about life in Kansas in the 1800's and read it at the beach last week. It really made me appreciate the home and family I have now.
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Originally Posted by BrendaY
I've just been reading some posts about how terrible the drought is in Oklahoma and Texas this year, and it reminded of John Steinbeck's story about the family dislocated from Oklahoma (I think it was..).. and all their efforts to find jobs. The "dust bowl" era story made such a deep impression on me when I was young, and I told everybody I knew to read this book..
I do so hope history isn't repeating itself....... |
Oklahomans do not care for the word "Okie" or John Steinbeck for that matter. "Okie" denoted all the ignorant and poor farmers who were lured to California with the promise of work, and then exploited by the fruit growers. I found the book to be crude and vulgar, and I am not a prudish reader. This was a terrible time in our country's history. However, we could be one season away from famine.
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Wow, I never thought of John Steinbeck from that point of view. It's always good to hear another side of things.
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