The Climate (and not just the weathher) - Septembber 6, 2015

I awoke this morning to a very dramatic thunderstorm, with the wonderful sound of heavy rain on the tin roof covering of my motel walkway. Very nice. Unfortunately, the day remained mostly cloudy, with low dark clouds all day, broken by patches of sunshine. There has also been a dramatic 20 degree drop in temperature, with freezing temperatures in some areas predicted tonight, and snow in the upper terrains of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. More moderate temperatures are predicted mid week- after the Labor Day crowds have left.  Since this was a free day, I started off mid-morning to explore the territory, but  turned back when it began to rain and hail again. Later, when the sun reappeared,  I had more beautiful drives, past the Palisades in Idaho, to Victor and Driggs, over the  mountains and into Jackson, (about which I will have much more to say in a couple of days), and back to Thayne. Nothing exciting, except constant beauty marred only by the Labor Day crowds in Jackson.

As I have mentioned, most of the  small towns in this area of Wyoming and Idaho are heavily Mormon. The sign below, from a log cabin up the road, in Etna, is intriguing. It seems that the house was built by mother and daughter. Then the husband appears and then there are 12 children. I don't think the sign tells the whole story.


Last night I turned on the television in my small motel room (Snider's  Rustic Inn, Thayne, adjacent to Juan's Taco House, which the motel owners also run). The TV gets 100 + channels. Something  to do on winter nights, I suppose.  Anyway, as I flipped through, I came upon a program, coming from a station in Salt Lake, entitled something like  Ex-Mormon Files. It consists, I found out, of an ex-Mormon interviewing another ex-Mormon. I found this surprising. It seems to feature Mormons who have converted to Evangelical Christianity, from what I could tell. This makes me wonder how a program called Ex-Christian Files would be  received in the  Colorado Springs area, or in Birmingham, Alabama. Or Ex-Catholic Files in Rome. Or ex-Muslim files in Riyadh.- I guess it's pretty good  that we can have shows like this broadcast without restriction.

One thing I am pretty sure of: Ex-Presbyterian files would be boring.