Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Dike or Dam, Don't Spring A Leak



View from the new dam at Alexander Lake, Panola Mountain State Park.

Anybody remember the story of the little Dutch boy who saved his town by sticking his finger in a hole in the dike?  Are children even told stories anymore? I looked this up...it was written by an American author, Mary Mapes Dodge and was published in 1865. The book was (and still is) "Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates: A Story of Life In Holland".  Now from what I have read of Mary Mapes Dodge, she wrote this book without ever having visited the Netherlands but she was intrigued with the country and tried to learn all she could about it. I found Mary Mapes Dodge to be a very interesting woman. Fascinating really! You may read more about her here! She read some stories about animals from Rudyard Kipling and liked them and suggested that he turn it into a book. The result was "The Jungle Book"! (Wait, you are thinking but Rudyard Kipling was from England! Yes, that is true but he married an American and for a brief time, he and his family lived in America.  I have visited Rudyard Kipling's house in England, Bateman's in Burwash. It is well worth visiting!)

Is it possible that someone could save a town if a leak is spotted in a dam? Not very likely with a finger but how about a boat? This really happened in the 1950's in the Netherlands.  You can read about it here.    1796 people lost their lives due to flooding on Feb. 1, 1953.  That number would have been much higher if not for the Skipper who positioned his boat in the dike. And yes, if you know of any work of fiction you should always look and see if there is a true story that you can connect with it. You know I always do!

There, I really had another post in mind for you...but that will have to wait for another time!  (When I do that post you will see why I thought of the little Dutch boy.)

Hope you are all doing well, my friends. As for myself, I just don't know why I am so busy all the time.  Does time change as you get older and you just don't have enough of it? Why doesn't anyone tell you these things? 


Here is a photo of three people (or are they boxes?) walking across the dam at Alexander Lakes. You can see how wide the dam is now! This took two years for this to be completed! Guess you can see why, they cut most of the trees down near it and it is huge! Oh well, it should hold anyway!




Oh no, I just tried to insert a video and nothing comes up! Y'all know how many times I put songs on YouTube on my posts. I will go into mourning if I am not able to share songs! Anybody have this problem? Let me know what to do! Thanks!




14 comments:

  1. Since my sound is available again I was looking forward to a song from you. Oh well. I remember Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. It is a good book.

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    1. I hope to be able to share the songs I want to share! And thanks for enjoying the videos I put on here! You have no idea how long I take listening to them before I choose one. It has to have the BEST sound quality as possible! :-)

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  2. I enjoyed reading both "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates" and "The Jungle Book" when I was a kid. Here in Edmonton, there's an annual winter skating event called the Silver Skates Festival.

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    1. I am a big fan of children's books. If you don't believe me, ask my son! Our son was known as "the library baby" because we hung around there so much!

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  3. Somehow, the Hans Brinker story rings a bell, but I am not sure I have really read it as a child or remember it from a different context.
    Yes, the background to many works of fiction is fascinating, isn't it; I love finding out more about films and books, and I am one of those people who always watch the extras on a DVD, precisely for that reason!
    The three boxes look funny; do you know what they were carrying?
    So many people have been talking and writing about what to do with their time during "lockdown". Well, I have been working full-time all the time, so I am not short of ideas - just short of time, like you describe it! Don't know how much of it has to do with age; are we just getting slower, needing more time for tasks we used to complete in the blink of an eye?

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    1. The Hans Brinker story is one that I just remember being told, not read from a book...much like "The Three Bears" and "The Three LIttle Pigs". And you know what I am like, I also like to know all the extras with a DVD and I even like to look up where a TV show or movie is filmed!
      I think those three "boxes" were some kind of expensive backpack or something. We thought they looked very funny!
      Could I possibly be slowing up due to age? NEVER! HA!! HA!!

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  4. I don't do videos but have intermittent problems with adding pictures. I just keep trying and sooner than later can fit them in. Keep trying is my advice. I don't know about what stories children read anymore. It used to be we stuck with the old stories like the Jungle Book and Hans Christian Anderson, but now they have many more choices. Hopefully some of the older ones filter through.

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    1. I adore children's books! I know some that are a bit obscure...my son loved his "Alistair"books by Matthew Sadler, which is by an English author, I think. He also loved for me to read "Possum Come A Knockin". I loved that one since he only allowed ME to read that since it had to be done with a Southern accent! I like old stories and new ones!

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  5. I remember that story about the boy sticking his finger into the dam. Just don't know how the hole got patched at the end. Ha.

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    1. I bet a woman had to do it! And then, had to go home and cook dinner, probably.
      I am so doggone funny!!

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  6. I read that Hans Brinker story, growing up, but was never really crazy about it. But I think Dodge was editor of the St. Nicholas magazine for children and I have a few very old copies of that...She was quite famous in her day. I remember the story of the boy with his finger in the dyke. It always made me a tiny bit skeptical, even when I was very young and inclined to believe everything.

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    1. Oddly enough, I don't remember reading that book or having it read to me, I think it was just TOLD to me. I found her life story very interesting, she had to work but she made sure she had time for her sons. Sadly one of her sons died but the other one became an inventor!
      And your comment reminded me of another children's story, the one about the little chicken who thought the sky was falling on his head. I remember wanting to defend him, "Well, HE didn't know, he was just a little chicken!"
      See, I didn't even like a HINT of bullying even in my children's stories!
      And I always believed everything. Still do. It can be a problem as an adult!

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  7. I remember that story about the boy and his finger in the dike too. When we were in the Netherlands, they mentioned it also. It’s amazing how the Netherlands are actually below sea level.

    Quite a few bloggers have been upset with the new blogger program. I haven’t switched over and don’t think I will until everybody tells me how great it is.

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    1. LUcky you to have visited the Netherlands! I would love to but then, there are so many places I would love to see!
      I think it said it is going to change at the end of June whether we want it or not, I could be wrong.

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