I'M AN ENVIRONMENTALIST: ARE YOU? Does this strike fear in the hearts of some? Well, let us see. Before I go any further, I will state that the above picture is from the Whitewater/Baldy fire in New Mexico. I took that picture in mid June. The fire is still burning as of this date, around 298,000 acres and 87% contained. Most of the fire that is burning is inside the fire lines. While this is the biggest fire in the west this year, that I know of, if is by far one of the least destructive, in terms of cost and human suffering. Although many acres less in size, that distinction will have to go to the fire in Colorado Springs. There are still several fires burning all through the western States. So many they are hardly even mentioned on the national news any more. And when they are, it is accompanied by a commentary from some federal official saying something like this. These fires are burning because of the dry conditions. Well, yes they are. At least, that is one of the conditions. But there are other considerations. So lets look at a couple or three of them.
I mentioned way back when I started this blog, and you can probably find it on my status somewhere, that I am a religious man. Since this is my blog, I will quote ideas, and you can also, but please if you refute me, and I welcome that if you feel so inclined, at least quote from a known source. Now, in the Bible, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the Lord told them to go and dress the earth and take care of it. And they did. But now, these many millennia later, look what we are doing. When I was growing up, on a cattle ranch, the rancher was allowed to run his cattle on the national forest. And logging company's were allowed to harvest trees. And the USFS managed this forest in spite of themselves. And we had fires, but they were manageable, for the most part. Then the "Environmental Movement" came in to being, and the cattlemen were ran off the forest, and the logging companies were shut down, and the forest was allowed to grow wherever and however it pleased. And the streams became clogged, and the forests became a growth of small trees, all fighting for what ever water was available. And we are not dressing or managing the earth. And the commandment given to Adam is still in force today. So, yes the dry conditions play a part in the fire conditions, but the forest unmanagement, governed by all the "Environmental rules" play a huge part in this, and the government needs to step up and manage the forests like they should. As true Environmentalists. Yes, I am an environmentalist. I believe we should be environmentally responsible for the earth. And dress it and take care of it. And this includes cattle sharing the land with the wildlife and logging companies being allowed to harvest trees and keep the forests in a manageable condition. Thus, allowing the streams to run with clear water and the trees to be able to drink as needed, and not fight all the scrub brush and small trees that are allowed to come up willy nilly. Yes, we need to protect the environment, but not to the extreme that is now in place. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.
ROOM SERVICE: I don't want to belabor the issue, but I guess I will, just a little. In my last post I mentioned the traffic woes, or road work woes, of our recent trip to Utah. This post is about that same trip, but it has to do with motel/hotel rooms. Or the lack thereof. Since we are getting a little long in the tooth, or old, as the younger generation will say, we don't make this trip in one day. We break it up in two days, or even three days, each way. With this in mind, a couple of weeks before we were going to leave, I called our favorite motel in Moab and ask to make a room reservation. Nope, can't have a reservation, cause they are full. Same thing with motel choice number two and three. Finally was able to make a reservation at choice number 4. For the return trip, we were staying in the Provo/Orem area, so I called our favorite motel in that area and was able to get a reservation for the night we wanted. So called #1 in Moab again for a room on the return trip. Again, no reservations available. Lucked out with choice # 2 however. Seems to me that gone are the days of just getting in the car, driving until you want to stop and get a room for the night. Don't happen. At least if you want to stay in a town and motel of your choice. Gotta get reservations in advance. Sometimes way in advance. Makes me want to be an Indian. They always have a Reservation. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.
DOES SPAGHETTI GIVE YOU INDIGESTION: My loving wife and I recently returned from a trip to Ewwtah, and we did get a bit of indigestion while we were there. And no, it was not from spaghetti. But from some one elses dinner plate. How is that, you ask? You didn't ask. Well, if you are still reading along, I will tell you any way. As we traveled along, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, we constantly ran into road work. Not road construction, mind you, but road work. No matter what was being done, it was road work. And we constantly saw signs that said, and I quote, "End of Road Work." They were wrong, cause it never ended. Just took infrequent breaks. Aww, he's digressing, you think. Not really, cause this is just a preview to what this is all about. In 1997, or some where thereabouts, a committee of important people in their own minds, announced that Utah in general, and Salt Lake City in particular, would hold the 2002 winter Olympics. And with that announcement, the State of Utah went into a frenzy of road construction. Uh, road work. And it hasn't stopped. Or even taken an infrequent break. At least from the time you exit Provo canyon or what ever it is called, at Spanish Fork, and it continues until you reach Hill Air Force Base, or some where in that vicinity. So where does the spaghetti come in. Well, if you ever travel those roads, you will see. These new roads twist and turn and exit across traffic, ( example: try to make a left turn to the Hampton Inn in Orem as you are heading west on University Parkway.) Can't be done. First, you have to traverse left into the oncoming lanes about three blocks before you actually get there. Then when you get to where you can finally turn, you slant across more oncoming lanes. You just hope the traffic lights never fail. Or that there is never a power failure. And the streets down by the Inn, where you used to turn left to get there. Oh, they are still there, you just can't use them. Someone was definitely eating a plate of spaghetti when they were designing these roads. And downtown Salt Lake City. The have reintroduced street cars. Or trolley cars, if yoiu like. Oh, they don't call them that, but that is what they are. And they run with the traffic. In between the lanes. And they stop when the cars stop at red lights. Except when they have the right of way to turn across traffic to go somewhere. Again, I hope the lights never fail, or if you are in the vacinity you will want to call your friends. Cause they probably aint never seen a wreck like that ones going to be. So, how do you avoid this mess. Eat a steak and take the back roads. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.
WERE YOU EVER ACCUSED OF SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T DO? And I would suppose that any one who has graced this earth with your presence for very many years, has been so accused at least once. By a friend, an acquaintance, someone that you don't even really know. Or even a family member. A parent, a child or even a spouse. Did it make you feel bad? Angry? upset? Maybe even aching for revenge. How soon did you realize that they had made a mistake and you could overlook it? How soon did they realize it and offer an apology. And did you accept the apology and forgive. These are all things for us to think about. And while we are thinking about them I will tell you a story about a man I work with. Wanting to pickup some donuts on his way to work, he stopped at the doughnut shop. They weren't going to open for a few minutes, so he leaned back and shut his eyes, then drifted into a light sleep. The next thing he knew, someone was tapping on his car window. It was a local gendarme, or cop as we are used to saying. And he was falsely accused, and given a citation. For what? Why for impersonating a law officer. Sleeping in front of the donut shop. So, watch what we do, and watch that we don't accuse others, at least until we know the whole story. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.
IS IT REALLY AGAINST THE LAW? I think I have mentioned in the past that I retired from mining early in 2009. Two years later, I went to work for a mining contractor. After a year or so, the job was finished, and we were all laid off. After two months of being retired again, I went to work for the mining company that I had retired from. In a temporary job that will not affect my retirement income. And the ditch bank I write from, or about, is in a rural area. An area that makes most rural areas look highly populated. And there is a lot of wildlife there. No, not the bar hopping kind of wildlife, but the actual real animal type of wildlife. Specifically Elk. No, not the club but the animal variety. And some of the people I work with would like to hunt an Elk and have ask if I would give them a landowners permit and let them hunt on my property. I told them I have no landowners permits and my land is just a few acres, even though there are Elk there. So, in a joking manner, they decided they could come to my ditch bank and poach an Elk. Then one of them mentioned that poaching was against the law. As in illegal. And not the sick bird type of illegal, but actually a crime. So they decided that since poaching was against the law, they wouldn't do it. And on that basis, I am here to tell you, that since poaching is against the law, remember that the next time you decide to eat a poached egg, don't do it, cause POACHING IS AGAINST THE LAW. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.
WHAT WOULD YOU SUPPOSE WOULD BE THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD? I have a couple or three in mind. Well, maybe two, and I will lump sports jobs in to one of those. I am thinking of professional sports players. You know. Those that get paid unimaginable amounts of money to PLAY. A basketball player is paid to play basketball. He shoots the ball at a hoop, and it goes in 50% of the time, more or less, depending on the player and the day. Or they are paid to guard a player of the opposite team and keep him from putting the ball in the hoop, and they get it in any way. Since I am not a foot ball fan, I will only say that football players are paid to score points and keep the other team from scoring points. And they succeed some of the time. Yes, I know that if they are really bad, they will be fired, or traded or whatever they do to get rid of a player, but still; well I'll get into the still in a bit. And baseball. a baseball player who is considered a good hitter if he hits the ball and reaches base a third of the time, for a batting average of .333. If he is able to hit 400, he is considered great and paid a huge salary. But what does that mean. At a 333 average, that means he hits the ball and safely reaches base 333 times out of 1000 times at bat. 400 times out of 1000 times at bat. That means that he doesn't make it 777 times or 600 times at bat.
Now, how about a weather man, or woman. They never have to be right. They predict that something MAY happen. "There's a chance" it may rain or snow or blow. It may be a certain temperature today, or tonight. If it happens, then he says well, I said it could happen. If it don't, then he says, well I said it was a chance. Now, what does all this mean? Lets discuss this in a sentence or two.
When I was working for an airline, many decades ago, as a station agent, I figured weight and balance on the airplane before it left the airport. The balance had to be right every time. Not just 33% of the time, or just a chance that it is right. But every time. Thousands of airplanes leave the ground every day, commercial and private, with the balance figured in so it will fly correctly. Every time. When I was working in the mining industry, I ran a shovel, the one in the picture at the start of this blog. I had to load 200 tons of material on a huge haul truck about 200 times a day. And not tear up any equipment or hurt any one. And if I didn't, I heard about it. If I succeeded in doing this 33 to 40 % of the time, I wonder if I would be retired now, after working there for 40 years. I think not.
Of course I realize the weather predictions and the sporting teams are not really good examples of what I am saying, but it made a good blog, didn't it? And they are paid very high salaries for what they do, or don't do, compared to myself and millions of other people who have to be right every time, all the time. Can you imagine a Dr. being right just a a third of the time. His, or hers insurance would sky rocket, and they would lose their license in a short period of time, I think. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.
MONEY: We all want some. Some more than others. As in; some have more than others. Some want more than others. I was going to blog about the movie Hunger Games, and the money, as in millions spent for tickets to see a movie about teenagers killing each other, but have decided to take a little different tack. I have not read the books, nor seen the movie. I don't intend to do either. Not saying I won't, but I don't intend to. However, having talked to some who have done both, I will say this. the books are set in a future time, and it seems that there are a number of folks, teenagers, who are rebelling against the government and the dictatorial ways that have came about. There is also a lot of dialog in the mind of the female lead character about the process that is going on. This is in the book. A lot of that is eliminated in the movie. At least that is what I understand from what I have been told. I still don't want to read the books or see the movie. I'm old, and I just don't understand why otherwise sane people would want to stand in line for hours, paint up and dress up to fit the theme of the movie, and pay huge amounts of money to see this movie. To me, there are just so many better things to see and read and do. Still, I do understand, just a glimmer, the theme of the books. Perhaps not so much the movie.
On a little different note, people spent a huge amount of money buying a lottery ticket this past week. Well, maybe not so much on an individual basis, but collectively a huge amount of money. The view from the ditch bank is that if all the ticket money for the Hunger Games and all the money from the lottery ticket sales, were combined, and put in the proper hands, how much hunger in the world could be alleviated. Not all, by any means, but it would be a great start, and much more beneficial on the larger scheme of things. Just saying. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.
