Don’t you feel sorry for all those millions of unfortunate souls who live in temperate, predictable, humdrum climates, while we in Kansas get to enjoy the glorious splendor of seasonal fickleness?
Blistering windy summers morph into mild, windy falls which gradually change into ice-age-y, windy winters, which then give way to spring’s warmth and…um… windiness.
Here we are now, for instance, having a delightful temperature dip, as we head toward autumn’s days of leafy breezes. Acorns are falling. Soon, the birch and locust leaves will fall, then maple leaves, the sycamore and oak leaves, then the elephants. Don’t be under one of those babies when they hit the ground!
Elephants don’t generally fall during our Kansas autumns but this year could be different. Our usually predictable political season may be taking a cue from our always-unpredictable weather.
Polls are showing some un-Kansas-like voter shifts. Usually, our political winds blow incessantly from the right, or at least that’s been the case for many years. As a result, we’ve had to get out the rakes and the leaf blowers just to gather all the felled donkeys and dispose of them. The Republican Evergreens never seem to lose their growth.
Now polls are showing that maybe the right-wing extremists have bitten off more than Kansas voters can chew. Brownback, Kobach, and Roberts are all starting to shiver and shake as this new breeze from the center has made Republican elephants a little less secure way out on those far-flung ultra-conservative limbs of theirs.
Change is in the air. So keep an eye on the sky during this autumn in Kansas. I’d love to rake a few elephants off my lawn this November.
Music is Crowson performing "Autumn leaves" on banjo, recorded at KMUW
