The Royce Files

It seems like the flood has taken backseat to Japan and Libya probably because it is a "slow flood flood a coming" as former Fargo dweller Robert Zimmerman might exclaim. I guess that is all right since Japan is in much worse condition than us at the moment. So since the last update, sand bag filling operations stopped in Fargo due to new estimates for needed bags. So somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million sand bags were made. Moorhead stopped last week and Cass County did as well. In 2009 the flood was already here by this time. I think the 2010 flood crest already arrived by this time. But the crest in 2011 is taking its time. Winter continues to exert itself upon the region with weekly snow. I think the precipitation this year is higher than 2009. But it is slowly melting. More snow came this morning. A large community prayer meeting also was held a few weeks ago. For prayer meetings, it was pretty good. It was held in a huge ...

I t's probably pretty old news by now- Dylan has released a Christmas album entitled Christmas In the Heart . I went over to Amazon to listen to a few clips and read some of the reviews of it. It seems to get kind of a luke-warm reception. Either you love it or you think it's less than optimal Bob Dylan. Not being a Dylan-phob, I had nothing to compare to in my mind despite having beeb strangely influenced by his style yet never owning not listening to any of his music [rambling sentence]. Ok, I did hear the ones played on the oldies stations (Everybody Let's Get Stoned, Raining Day Woman?). Coming from a nearly unbiased view I think the album is sort of nostaglia covered with Bob Dylan vocals. The album takes a traditional approach with most of the songs. However, Dylan's distinctive voice attempting to do standards comes off as awkward. It reminds me of a cross between Louis Armstrong and Tom Waits. James agrees when I reached him for comment in the hall. "He...

It has been about 2 weeks since I last updated you on what's happening in my part of the world. With such a full August, September should be reserved for resting. It could be a great national mandate to go to a 25 hour work week. But, alas, the government is more interested in paying for our health care which mean we need to work, and work possibly more. A State Fair post is in the future. And the long promised finale to the bike adventure should go up soon. For now enjoy what I have to say in this digest. In this digest- The Place Where Dylan Slept, BisonTurf Soccer, Melrose Place, Deal Update, Gardening. The Place Where Dylan Slept Bob probably slept many places in his journeys around the globe. Those of us in the northland know the place where he grew up was not Poughkeepsie but Hibbing, Minnesota. I last stopped in Hibbing over a decade ago and found it a decent place. Last month I had the opportunity to stop through the city on Minnesota's Iron Range a month ago. Although ...