The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/D4BBF9F377F48251862574A4007BB487?OpenDocument

As if my buddy John (and other pilots I have known over the years) didn't have enough to worry about with currents, and sets, and wind, and high water, and assholes who shine their spotlight right in your eye, and stupid deckhands who couldn't tell the difference between 1200 feet and 600 feet, and fugly cooks who think hotdogs are a legitimate meal, and jackass pilots who tell you they are somewhere and they really aren't, and dispatchers who don't understand that putting a barge in the middle of the tow when it's the first one to be dropped is a bad idea and question your time in the logbook, and of course a billion dollars in cargo, and more importantly upwards of a dozen peoples lives, now they have to worry about low water too. This, coming off the heels of a strange month of August which saw the St. Louis gauge above flood stage just a mere 2 weeks ago. John, if you're keeping it between the blacks and the reds and you still can't find water, I feel for you my man.
It reminds me of the time a coon ass pilot unfamiliar with the Upper Mississippi asked if someone would tell him the spots with less than 15 feet of water. The response was, How 'bout we just tell you the spots where there's more than 15 feet of water. That list is much shorter. I'm guessing that list is real short today.
Stay safe my river brother.