I know I will be pilloried for this, but somehow, I just have to think GO MUSKRATS! These little rodents were just doing what they always do, looking for food or building a den when they tunneled into a levee in NE Missouri, sending the swollen Mississippi roaring towards the small town of Winfield. The burrows the muskrats created caused the already waterlogged levee to become unstable, causing a 20-30 foot wide breech.
Hundreds of people using countless sandbags were hoping to hold the rising waters at bay. The US Army Corps of Engineers, police, sheriff, National Guard, volunteers, everyone... all their heroic effort.... poof!... done in by a muskrat looking for love, or a bit of food. Unfortunately, and unwittingly, the muskrats have unleashed a wave of devastation for the citizens of Winfield. As this is written, a second sandbag levee looks like it could help save at least most of the town.
But really, can you imagine the look on the muskrat's face when the water came rushing in?? Remember Slim Pickens riding the atomic bomb in "Dr Strangelove"? I have a vision of a mess of muskrats looking much the same way, riding clods of mud and debris as the waters swept them to oblivion.
YEEEEEEE HAAAWWWWW!! WOoooooo hoooooo yeeee haaaaaawwww!
Poetic justice, don't you think??
I just gotta think that somewhere, in a muskrat tavern, the locals are are brewing a legend over potent muskrat ale. Tales are being born, children will beg their parents to hear the stories, perhaps an old song will gain a new stanza...
And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' in the Mississippi mud
It looks like muskrat flood
(apologies to Willis Alan Ramsey and Captain and Tenille)
The night the muskrats took on the levee... and won the battle, at a great price.
No comments:
Post a Comment