<H3><U>Opuscula</U></H3> <DIV ALIGN=CENTER><FONT FACE=HELVETICA ARIAL SIZE=+3><B>Stringing lights <BR>Before November</B></FONT></DIV>

 

Today is October 29, 2014. It currently is 85^o F; the relative humidity (RH) is at a comfortable 54%, and there is a gentle, 4 mph, breeze.

The trick or treaters will be hitting the streets Friday; in our neighborhood there will be a lot of dark houses - observant Jews don't celebrate the pagan/Christian holiday.

My wife's natal anniversary is 3 days into November, Election Day is 5 days; hence, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Today, as I rode out to add to the larder^* I drove past a truck bearing a sign that read: " Miami Christmas Lights". I might add that I was neither in Miami nor even Dade County.

It put me in mind of Ely Nevada.

Ely is a small town located between a copper mine in Ruth and a copper smelter in McGill; the county seat of White Pine County. There are other "population centers" in the county, but in some cases (e.g., Lund) cattle and oil rigs outnumber people.

Ely is located in a valley. The catch is, the valley FLOOR is at 6,000 feet.

Translation, it gets cold - very cold - in Ely well before Thanksgiving.

Unlike the local gated community that hired the Miami company to "light it up," in Ely the Jaycees strung the lights. Back then, the Jaycees were the movers and shakers in the county; Jaycees and "retired" Jaycees (labeled "Exhausted Roosters") were involved in almost every civic and political function.

Ely - Nevada in general, but Ely in particular - is a place that believed in tolerance. The town had all manner of people; different races, different colors, different religions. About the only people the folks of White Pine County would not tolerate were people from "across the state line" who came to Nevada to do things they would be ashamed to do in Utah; rather like conventioneers sans convention. Other "close to the border" towns had the same problem.

Nothing is perfect, not even Ely Nevada. But it was an experience, a generally good experience.

Still, that was Ely then and the Ely now may be far different.

I think the Ruth mine has been abandoned; if it was, the McGill smelter likewise must be abandoned. As I understand it, the State is the main employer; Nevada built a prison nearby.

 

^* LARDER, according to two on-line resources I checked, has nothing to do with "lard," pig fat shortening. My sources, should you care to read what I read are:
Wikipedia
Merriam- Websster.com