October 4. 2015. Harper, Texas. The Wild Mississippi.

People say that television is no good but I have observed that if you read the guide on the screen, I am able to find engaging programs.  I agree that much on television is junk, but with so many channels, programs of value can be found.

This morning I was checking the guide on the TV to find when the football games begin, when I spotted a program on the National Geography channel called The Wild Mississippi.  As I live part time in Mississippi but know very little about the state, I assumed the program would be about the wild life in Mississippi, so I started watching.  But I was wrong.  The program was about the wild Mississippi River from the north to the Gulf of Mexico.  I began watching the program when commercial fisherman were fishing through the ice in the river in the cold north.    I did not know they did that.   That season, the ice on the river was thick and the snow was heavy which meant flooding all along the mighty Mississippi.

The whole program was a two hour show but I had missed the first half hour.  The film was made the Spring of the flood so the show showed wonderful pictures of the flooded river and the impact on the wildlife.  The pictures were astonishing.   At one place the river was 3 miles across.  They showed a flying squirel  remove her babies from their nest because a snake was beginning to climb the tree.   And beavers could be seen close up building another den when their old lodge was flooded.  Watching that show this morning made paying for the Dish satellite TV worthwhile.    The Wild Mississippi restored my faith in TV.