Podcast 583-Summer Storm

Podcast 583-Summer Storm. Nothing better than a summer storm to help you forget the bitter cold. It’s well below zero in Minnesota. While Europe and parts of the South consider mid twenties to thirties ‘bitter’ cold, in the Upper Midwest we’re talking minus twenty, thirty or even forty below. This is the kind of cold you don’t need windchill to exaggerate. If you’re in the deep freeze this podcast is designed to provide a half an hour or so of relief.

Last summer I had a chance to record a huge summer storm that rolled through the area. The storm track on this podcast isn’t edited. It was recorded in real time, complete with bouts of heavy rain and thunder. Interspersed throughout the storm are some thought starters to help subscribers to the Bob Davis Podcasts mentally escape.

Maybe when you were a kid your family did a road trip to Florida. Or while in college you and your friends took a trip through the mountains, or the desert. Many have had one of those summer college jobs for some agricultural company that required rolling around on back roads across Iowa and North Dakota, recording the growth of corn, or whatever those companies require people to write down on clipboards.

For me, sitting in a broken down old ’67 Ford Galaxy in the fields and watching the storms roll in across the prairie in Rural Illinois, will always remind me of deep summer. It’s easy for people to say, “Why don’t you get on a plane and go to LA, or Hawaii”. Yes, it sure would be nice. Thing is, not all of us can do that.

As we head into the deep freeze, keep this podcast handy. Put on your headphones for Podcast 583-Summer Storm and prepare to be transported to my porch during an awesome summer storm. Of course, you’ll have to put up with me talking in your ear about places I’ve been and places to go, but it’s better than looking out the window wishing it wasn’t twenty five below.

It is true we welcome the cold weather, at least the first blush and especially at Christmas Time. Trust me, though. You’re going to want to escape. If you can’t get away as soon as you’d like to or at all this year, Podcast 583-Summer Storm is your ticket to paradise. Summer in the Midwest. Storms. Thunder. Steady Rain. The hum of summer insects. Thoughts of rolling down two lane roads cutting through green fields. Freedom is a clean windshield and a full tank of gas.

Sponsored By Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Hydrus Performance.

Podcast 380

Rural Virginia. The road trip continues in the Old Dominion. It’s already hot in the south. As darkness falls, the night is alive with frogs, and insects; Many invading the Mobile Podcast Command Unit. With no bug spray, an interesting collection of available tools was used to rid the unit of critters. A hair dryer, compressed air for cleaning electronics, swatting, biological cleaning spray, and lysol air freshener. Then, finally down to business. A few hundred yards down a dirt road where this podcast was recorded are the remains of a village that has been here since before the revolutionary war. How often do we think about where this country will be in one hundred, or two hundred years. The people who lived here two hundred years ago depended on an expression of modern technology – at the time – to assure their livelihood; The mill. They did not know they were living in ‘ancient’ times by our standards. They didn’t worry about slow Internet, or decry broadcast television and its endless commercial clusters detailing drug side effects or how much cheese is on a pizza. When it comes to the news, this podcast has some stories for political junkies to consider. No one seems to be able to say with any clarity or authority what’s wrong with economy, or why its important. Meanwhile the same story lines regarding the latest GDP numbers keep replaying. Then there is the trans pacific partnership trade authority bill republicans are inexplicably supporting. More executive authority for this president? American citizens can’t review or read the bill and reporters can’t read it either. That doesn’t stop Paul Ryan and the Speaker, and the Senate Majority leader and other so called ‘conservatives’ from supporting it. Meanwhile, the Chinese have apparently hacked all the US Government data bases and extracted potentially damning information about high US officials. How is it possible the FBI can fly over our cities listening to our cell phone calls, but the government is unable to protect our privacy rights from the Chinese? We have a government that can’t seem to protect our rights, is riddled with incompetence and corruption, but seems to be quite capable of violating our privacy, and running amok. Why couldn’t Americans find reasons to shut down the federal government, regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum. And another theme that comes up every time we approach a presidential cycle is ‘why don’t we have an independent political party’. The solution, according to some brainy analysts, yet more candidates in the debates. Sigh. The fact is, American political parties have traded places, shifted and changed names, and have been born and died throughout our history. Sponsored by X Government Cars