This post was written by Julia Frankenbach, 2013 Project Specialist.
Snow Man, I’m not sure if you’re really there,
But on the off chance you are, well, you’re being quite spare.
In fact, to be blunt, it just isn’t fair
That we’re slaving away while the mountains stay bare.
We MLC staff, see, we love Mono Lake
And we want it to rise, for we all have a stake
In a healthy living lake with water enough
That the brine shrimp can live and the birds can stuff
Their bellies on fresh food that keeps them well
And allows them to migrate to the places they dwell.
What’s more, as it happens, I’m a canoe tour guide
And I’m having big problems with the lowering tide
See, I’d like to be able to launch these boats,
To declare it from shore to shore—“It floats!”
But this shoreline is shallow and rough to the hull
The scraping has turned our once-bright canoes dull
O woe! These deserving canoes, so abused
By protruding tufa: positively bruised
As I drag them and scape them over carbonate rock
By golly, we’ll soon be in need of caulk
Really, just a foot more of water would do
To go from beached whale to floating canoe
So Snow Man, I entreat you, it really is time!
Let’s have us a flurry: a snowstorm sublime
With feet of it up on the high mountain peaks
So in springtime the snowmelt will fill up our creeks
And replenish our lake, bring up its level
So we in a rising lake can revel
Sixty-three eighty’ and falling fast
We’d do anything, Snow Man, for a snowy forecast
And I mean anything! See, Emma and I, we believe
That maybe you’ll yield if we can conceive
Of every superstition and trick in the book
For winning back the snow you foresook.
Just look at our ardor, we’ve been quite devout
Emma’s PJs are backwards and quite inside out
There are spoons under pillows and offerings of ice
We consider these oddities more than fair price
For a good, snowy winter and a rising lake
But if not for the lake, then for poor Emma’s sake!
[…] The Mono Lake Committee raps for more snow: “Snow Man, I’m not sure if you’re really there / But on the off chance you are, well, you’re being quite spare / In fact, to be blunt, it just isn’t fair / That we’re slaving away while the mountains stay bare. / We MLC staff, see, we love Mono Lake / And we want it to rise, for we all have a stake / In a healthy living lake with water enough / That the brine shrimp can live and the birds can stuff / Their bellies on fresh food that keeps them well / And allows them to migrate to the places they dwell. … ” Continue the beat at the Mono-Logue here: An appeal for more snow […]
Its really sad there has not been much snow this winter thus far. I have time off between Christmas and New Year’s and was hoping to come to the Mammoth/Mono lake area for some winter photography. I love the place, been there tons of times in spring, summer and fall but never in winter. I might still choose to come there and am looking for some nature-loving company to shoot some pictures together. I am a professional landscape and wildlife photographer, take a look at my work: http://www.rawcaptures.com
If you are interested, I can even offer you free tips on how to shoot images. Just buy me a beer :)
Please let me know if you or someone you know would be willing to give me company on one or more days between the 26th and 30th.
Happy Holidays.
Cheers,
Ray
Here in SoCal we’re enjoying lovely warm weather over the holidays, while also saying ”ACK! Where’s the RAIN?!!”
Yea Emma and Julia…nice verse…I join you in your prayer for snow…lots of the white stuff! Thank you. Rebecca
Thanks for the explanation on the inside-out pj’s. I was not aware of that superstition. Will you next post a video of the famous MLC snow dance?