The November Witch

Harvest is clicking along here at MJB Farms.  We finished up the beans on Monday and moved on to corn.  Yesterday was a big day with seven truckloads (approximately 1000 bushels each) hauled into the elevator.  And that was just part of one field!!  

Captain had to take some time out on Tuesday for a doctor’s appointment.  His right hip has bothered him for...well, years...and he was looking for a referral to a chiropractor.  Instead he got x-rays and a referral to Radiology for a steroid injection into his hip.

The family medicine doctor told him his right hip was “encrusted with arthritis” in addition to two bone spurs, one on the ball and one on the socket.  This is why he can’t bend over to put his socks on; those two spurs bump into each other and it’s like throwing a monkey wrench into a gear sprocket.  Full stop!

He has told a few people about this, and one of those people told him they use chicken grease for the injection to lube it up.  Why would someone say this?  He was freaking out that he is going to grow feathers or start to cluck.  Uff da!

Luckily, no feathers and no clucking, just a fast appointment and a pain-free Captain.  It will take a couple of days for the steroids to fully kick in, and it might last just a month or as long as six months.  If it doesn’t work at all or wears off quickly, he will be looking at a hip replacement surgery at some point.  Bliss and ecstasy.  

For right now, he is just hoping to get done with harvest in time for us to sneak back up to Silver Bay and see them light the beacon at Split Rock in memory of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  

Given all the time we have spent on the North Shore, we are fascinated, and horrified, by the Fitz.  There is an excellent book about it by Robert J. Hemming called Gales of November:  The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  It starts out factual with weather forecasts, recollections from family members of the crew, and statistical data from the ports.  For the portion of the book that actually describes the sinking, it is fiction, using the author’s best attempt at reconstruction of what might have happened.  Then it finishes with factual information on the search and recovery efforts, the investigation, and more recollections from family members.  Really a good read.  

Then, of course, there is the song by Gordon Lightfoot about the Fitz.  Haunting melody and wrenching lyrics bring it to life.  I have that one on my iPod.

The storm that sent the Fitz down wasn’t the worst on the Great Lakes.  In 1913, there was the worst storm seen on the lakes that claimed more than 250 lives, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 other ships.  Called The White Hurricane by many maritime historians, the meteorological setup was similar to what happened in 1975 when the Fitz went down.  November is when cold dry air comes down out of Canada while, at the same time, warm, moist air is coming up from the Gulf of Mexico.  The two fronts collide over the Midwest and create a stew over the lakes that people call The November Witch.  

Sorry, that is probably more history and Great Lakes shipping information than any of you wanted.  Sometimes I get distracted.  However, if you are interested in the lake boats, where they go, what they haul, etc., then you need to check out the website www.boatnerd.com because it has TONS of that stuff including photo galleries of different ships at different places.  Below is a picture of the Arthur M. Anderson, which is the ship that sailed with and then searched for the Fitz.

They say farming is one of the most dangerous occupations out there, but I would have to say that working on one of the lake freighters would rank right up there too.  Here’s to everybody being safe!