pray for rain

Apparently, I've been living under a rock (it's not the first time) and the Dakotas are currently experiencing droughts comparable to the Dust Bowl. Since corn stalks produced so few cobs this year, farmers are actually employing sunflower seeds for feed. With worsening conditions many farmers have been reduced to selling off their herds entirely.



As if things couldn't get any more glum there, the town of Mitchell, SD just announced that they will not be restalking the Corn Palace this year. I happened to visit the Corn Palace this summer and though I was a little disappointed (I had high hopes for an actual palace in a big field made of kernals), the Corn Palace is a really neat attraction and probably the only reason anyone stops in Mitchell. I'm a little worried about how this turn of events will effect the town's economy this year.



Realistically, I should be more worried about the state of agricultural disaster that's being declared in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming and other plains states. It's going to take years for these states to recover agriculturally and economically provided that the rain actually does come eventually.



Is it me or is the weather moving in more extreme directions these days? Global warming anyone?