Monday photo feature

 

If you kept up with my sporadic posts this past winter, then you know I had a couple of "dry-land" workout routines.  Yesterday morning I stopped to take a picture of the spot where I liked to do one of those routines.  What we're looking at here is the place where I did some running and some core exercises and some medicine ball drills.

I know exactly what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "Hey... that ain't no dry land!"  And you're right.  Yesterday morning, at which time the Mississippi River was flowing at about 36.2 feet on the Memphis gauge, my workout spot was under water.

At normal levels, the Mississippi is inside its banks on the far side of that row of trees.  On this side of the trees is what we call the Greenbelt Park, a nice grassy strip of land that's ideal for anybody who wants to walk, run, toss a frisbee, fly a kite, walk a dog, have a picnic, or anything else that one goes to a public park to do.  But when the river rises into the mid-30s, all dry-land activities get put on hold.  On Saturday I paddled my boat over this piece of water.

A couple of days ago I saw a social media post moaning that "The park has been devastated!!!!"  I shook my head and thought, "Come on now, knock it off with the drama already."  Nothing has been devastated.  In a week or two or three--depending on what kind of rain falls upstream--the floodwater will recede as it continues its journey to the Gulf of Mexico.  The park will be muddy for a while, and the grass will be brown, but in quick order the ground will dry out and the grass will green back up and the park will be as good as ever.  I've seen it happen dozens of times.  Then, once more, people can work out, or play, or relax, right within view of the majestic Mississippi River.

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