The Royce Files

Lots of things to discusss. So let's get on with this digest. Red River Basin Flood Spring has finally sprung upon the landscape on the Great Plains. The always anticipated spring snow storm never arrived. The flood waters continue to recede in Red River Valley. As of yesterday I could see most of the paths by the river. This by no means will abate the continuing debate concerning future flood control. It was just heating up as the crest arrived a few weeks ago. A North Dakota diversion seems very popular. It gets more good press then a Minnesota diversion which the Corps of Engineers have stated would be the most cost effective solution. Neither solution seemed to answer adequately the concerns of pushing floodwaters further north . Our hydrology correspondant, DJ George, has advocated some form of water retention for years and not only because of flooding but to increase available water sources in the Valley. U.S. Representative Colin Peterson seemed to echo DJ ...

Still covering football today. I found a blog post on a topic I was planning to write about- Ireland international  Richard Dunne  of Aston Villa. Not to be confused with Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Dunn although both men are having a decent campaign in the English Premier League this season. (As a side note Aston Villa and Blackburn were the first 2 Premier League shirts I bought years ago.) Anyways, praise to Richard Dunne. Man City decided to scrap their captain and fan favorite at the beginning of the season despite Dunne not wanting to leave. But the new owners must not have rated Dunne being a top defender and sold him on to Aston Villa to make way for a bunch of big money defenders. The City defense has suffered. Sorry, Micah Richards, but your form at the back has been bad. Meanwhile, over at Villa, Dunne has proved his mettle by becoming one of the league's top defenders helping Villa crack into the top three. I think I w...

Some of the very first entries of this blog in 2003 were about football of the association kind (soccer to the yanks.) I have occasionally written about the sport on the blog but have not for a long time. Probably because I don't have any photos to go along with an entry. Nonetheless, in the English Premier League we've got some fine competition this year. The usual suspects are at or near the top (ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal) but the league is not a one horse race.  A few other teams are poised to challenge the likes of the previous notably Aston Villa, Manchester City, Tottenham and yes, even Liverpool may be in the thick of the battle to top the table. 10 points separate 5th position City (and Aston Villa at 6th) from top Chelsea. ManU are 2 points off but Arsenal are 4 points off having only played 19 games thus far compared to the 20 the others have played. That's the numbers. Although Chelsea will be without their top scorer Didi...